Saturday, December 1, 2018 — Elementary, My Dear ...

Introduction

As Sherlock Holmes might have said about today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon, Elementary, my dear Watson^* as the setters walk us through the Periodic Table of the Elements.

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^* This phrase^[7] is never uttered by Holmes in the sixty stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle although he often observes that his conclusions are "elementary" and occasionally calls Watson "my dear Watson". The phrase became familiar due to its use in a series of fourteen American films based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories released between 1939 and 1946 in which British actors Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce played Holmes and Dr. John Watson, respectively.

I invite you to leave a comment to let us know how you fared with the puzzle.

Solution to Today's Puzzle

Falcon's Experience ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - solved with aid of checking letters provided by puzzle solving tools █ - solved but without fully parsing the clue █ - yet to be solved

Click here for an explanation of conventions and symbols used in explaining the parsing of clues.

The purpose of this article is to explain the conventions and symbols that I use on this blog in explaining the parsing of clues.

Legend: The following symbols are used in reviews: "*" anagram "~" sounds like "<" indicates that the preceding letters are reversed "( )" encloses contained letters "_" replaces letters that have been deleted "†" indicates that the word is present in the clue

The review of a clue takes the following general structure:

#a/d   Clue containing parsing markup (num^*)

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^* num = numeration

Explanations pertaining to the wordplay (or first definition in a double definition)

(Horizontal separator)

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Explanations pertaining to the definition (or second definition in a double definition) and solution.

Explanatory Box

An explanatory box provides additional information about the clue. In most cases this information will not necessarily help in solving the clue but provides information about the clue. In the case of the weekday syndicated Daily Telegraph puzzles, such information is often intended to help the North American solver appreciate how the clue may be perceived by a British solver. These boxes may also provide information on people, places, films, television programmes, works of art and literature, etc. mentioned in the clue. Although the titles of these boxes will usually be drawn from a standard list, I do occasionally throw in a title specifically suggested by the subject at hand. The standard titles include: Scratching the Surface - an explanation of the surface reading of the clue Delving Deeper - in-depth information pertaining to a subject mentioned in an explanation The Story Behind the Picture - for weekday puzzles, information about an illustration found on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What did he/she/they say? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a remark made in a review or comment on Big Dave's Crossword Blog What are they talking about? - for weekday puzzles, an explanation of a discussion on Big Dave's Crossword Blog One box that may provide information that could prove helpful in solving the clue is the following: Here and There - for weekday puzzles, discusses words whose British meaning differs from their North American meaning

Note that there are many types of cryptic crossword clue and it is not my intention to exhaustively go through all of them here. I will only deal with clue types to the extent necessary to explain the conventions and symbols used on the blog. Furthermore, be aware that, in the world of cryptic crosswords, there seems to be an exception to every rule.

With one exception that I can think of, cryptic crossword clues provide two routes to the solution. These are commonly referred to as the definition and wordplay. While these terms serve well for most clues, there are some cases where the more formal terms of primary indication and subsidiary indication may be more appropriate.

Most cryptic crossword clues consist of a definition (primary indication) and wordplay (subsidiary indication). The definition may be a "precise definition" (a definition that is either taken straight from a dictionary or at least phrased in a non-misleading fashion) or it may be a "cryptic definition" (a definition misleadingly phrased so as to misdirect the solver either with respect to the meaning of the definition as a whole or to an incorrect sense of a word used in the definition).

The only type of clue that I can think of where there are not two ways of finding the solution are those in which the entire clue is a cryptic definition.

I identify precise definitions by marking them with a solid underline in the clue and cryptic definitions by marking them with a dotted underline.

In clues in which both definition and wordplay are present, the two parts of the clue combine to provide an overall meaningful statement (the surface reading) which usually bears no relationship to the underlying cryptic reading of the clue. In some cases, an extra word or phrase will be inserted into the clue to create a meaningful link between the definition and wordplay. I define clues which contain such a link word or link phrase as having an explicit link and clues which contain no link word or link phrase as having an implicit link.

I mark the existence of an explicit link by enclosing the link word or link phrase between forward slashes (/link/) and mark the existence of an implicit link with double forward slashes (//) positioned between the definition and wordplay.

Examples

A few examples may help to illustrate these points more clearly.

The first example is a clue used by Jay in DT 28573:

• 4d   Fellow left work // a failure (4)

Here the definition is "a failure" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as F (fellow; abbrev.) + L (left; abbrev.) + OP (work; abbrev. used in music) which gives us the solution F|L|OP. The double forward slashes (//) between the definition and wordplay indicate the existence of an "implicit link" between the two parts of the clue (that is, no extra words are inserted into the clue to form the link).

The second example is a clue used by Giovanni in DT 28575:

• 29a   Female going to match // travels with mother in advance (10)

Here the definition "female going to match" is cryptic (the setter is attempting to misdirect our thoughts to a sports event rather than a marriage ceremony) and thus is marked with a a dotted underline. The wordplay is {RIDES (travels) + (with) MA (mother)} contained in (in) BID (advance) giving us the solution B(RIDES|MA)ID. As in the first example, the double forward slashes indicate the presence of an implicit link.

The third example is a clue used by Rufus is DT 28583:

• 18d   Knight caught by misplaced big blow /is/ staggering (8)

Here the definition is "staggering" which is marked with a solid underline to show that it is a precise definition. The wordplay parses as N ([chess symbol for] knight) contained in (caught in) an anagram (misplaced) of BIG BLOW producing the solution WOBBLI(N)G. Finally, forward slashes mark the link word (/is/).

I also use distinctive underlining to mark &lit.^[7] and semi-&lit. clues. Note that the reviewers on Big Dave's Crossword Blog generally prefer to refer to these clue types by the less pretentious names of all-in-one or semi-all-in-one clues respectively.

In an &lit. clue^[7] (or all-in-one clue) the entire clue provides not only the definition (when read one way), but under a different interpretation also serves as the wordplay.

In future, I will mark such clues with a combined solid and dashed underline. Although this is a departure from past practice, it would seem to make more sense than using a dotted underline as I have in the past). Henceforth, the dotted underline will be reserved for cryptic definitions.

In a semi-&lit. clue (or semi-all-in-one clue), either:

• the entire clue acts as the definition while a portion of the clue provides the wordplay; or
• the entire clue acts as the wordplay while a portion of the clue provides the definition.

For these clues, I will mark the definition with a solid underline and the wordplay with a  dashed underline. This means that a portion of the clue may have a solid underline, a portion of the clue may have a dashed underline and a portion of the clue may have a combined solid and dashed underline.

One final clue type is what I characterize as a cryptic definition comprised of a precise definition combined with cryptic elaboration. For example, in DT 28560 (setter unknown) the following clue appears:

•  26d   Heroic exploit, whichever way you look at it (4)

As the entire clue is a cryptic definition, it is marked with a dotted underline. The 'precise definition' is "heroic exploit" and is indicated by a solid underline.

Given the numeration, the precise definition could give rise to at least two solutions, DEED or FEAT. However, the 'cryptic elaboration' ("whichever way you look at it") indicates that the solution is a palindrome thereby immediately eliminating one of the two obvious choices.

Note that the part of the clue that I have called 'cryptic elaboration' does not provide a second independent route to the solution (as the wordplay would do in most other types of clue). Rather it merely provides a piece of additional information (elaboration) related to the 'precise definition'.

Again, this approach is a departure from past practice, but like the other changes mentioned previously is intended to remove inconsistencies in the way that I have been applying parsing markup to clues. The markup rules that I have been using until now evolved bit-by-bit over a long period of time resulting in some degree of internal inconsistency.

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Across

1a   Gold rush // summer, in part (6)

AU|GUST — AU ([symbol for the chemical element] gold) + GUST (rush [of air])

4a   Shining // silver rubbish (8)

AG|LITTER — AG ([symbol for the chemical element] silver) + LITTER (rubbish)

9a   Second of two bar drinks // Cher laced with arsenic (6)

CH(AS)ER — CHER (†) containing (laced with) AS ([symbol for the chemical element] arsenic)

Cher^[7] (born Cherilyn Sarkisian) is an American singer and actress known as the Goddess of Pop.

10a   Gift // of iron hoop (8)

OF|FE|RING — OF (†) + FE ([symbol for the chemical element] iron) + RING (hoop)

12a   Lacrosse team getting into dope bothered // ruler (9)

PO(TEN)T|ATE — TEN (lacrosse team; a metonym derived from the number of players on a team) contained in (getting into) POT (dope) + ATE (bothered; worried or annoyed) 

Lacrosse^[5] is a team game, originally played by North American Indians, in which the ball is thrown, carried, and caught with a long-handled stick having a curved L-shaped or triangular frame at one end with a piece of shallow netting in the angle. In men's field lacrosse^[7], there are ten players on each team (box lacrosse^[7] teams are comprised of six players, while women's field lacrosse^[7] teams have 12 players).

13a   Help // Virginia Institute with aluminum siding (5)

AVAIL — {VA (Virginia; abbrev.) + I (Institute; abbrev., e.g. MIT - Massachusetts Institute of Technology)} contained in (with ... siding) AL ([symbol for the chemical element] aluminum)

14a   Unpleasant // sodium dump (5)

NA|STY — NA ([symbol for the chemical element] sodium) +STY (dump)

16a   A Serb, weirdly, holding silicon // golf club (7)

{BRAS(SI)E}* — anagram (weirdly) of A SERB containing (holding) SI ([symbol for the chemical element] silicon)

In golf, brassie^[5] is an informal name for a number two wood.

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Origin: so named because the wood was originally shod with brass

A Serb^[5] is a native or inhabitant of Serbia^*, or a person of Serbian descent.

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^* Serbia^[5] is a republic in the Balkans that was once part of Yugoslavia.

19a   Sailor /and/ miner collecting argon (7)

M(AR)INER — MINER (†) containing (collecting) AR ([symbol for the chemical element] argon)

21a   Iodine swallowed by celebrity // raga player? (5)

S(I)TAR — I ([symbol for the chemical element] iodine) contained in (swallowed by) STAR (celebrity)

In Indian classical music, raga^[5] can denote either:

• each of the six basic musical modes which express different moods in certain characteristic progressions, with more emphasis placed on some notes than others
• a piece using a particular raga

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The sitar^[5] is a large, long-necked Indian lute with movable frets, played with a wire pick.

23a   Copper penny I had /for/ a boy with a bow (5)

CU|P|ID — CU ([symbol for the chemical element] copper) + P (penny) + ID (I had; contracted as I'd)

In Britain's current decimal currency system, a penny^[5] (plural pennies [for separate coins] or pence [for a sum of money]) is a bronze coin and monetary unit equal to one hundredth of a pound. The abbreviation for penny or pence is p^[5] ⇒ In days gone by, a piece of candy might have cost 1p.^*

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^* Brits would say "sweet" rather than "piece of candy". I am also not entirely certain whether penny candy would have still been available in 1971 when Britain adopted its current decimal currency system. In the former system, a penny was equal to one 240th of a pound (and was abbreviated d, for denarius).

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In Roman mythology, Cupid^[5] is the god of love who is also known by his Latin name Amor^[7]. He is represented as a naked winged boy with a bow and arrows, with which he wounds his victims. The equivalent in Greek mythology is Eros.

24a   Head liner // to lead a grandma (3,6)

TO|P B|A|NANA — TO (†) + PB ([symbol for the chemical element] lead) + A (†) + NANA (grandma)

26a   A nickel's put in orchestra spots /for/ musicians (8)

PI(A|NI|S)TS — {A (†) + NI ([symbol for the chemical element] nickel) + S ('s)} contained in (put in) PITS (orchestra spots)

27a   Officer // reversed neon sign (6)

EN<|SIGN — reversal (reversed) of NE ([symbol for the chemical element] neon) + SIGN (†)

In the British infantry, an ensign^[10] is a colours bearer.

In the US and some other navies, an ensign^[5] is the lowest rank of commissioned officer, above chief warrant officer and below lieutenant.

Delving Deeper

Ensign[7] is a junior rank of a commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries, normally in the infantry or navy. As the junior officer in an infantry regiment was traditionally the carrier of the ensign flag, the rank acquired the name. This rank has generally been replaced in army ranks by second lieutenant. Ensigns were generally the lowest ranking commissioned officer, except where the rank of subaltern existed. In contrast, the Arab rank of ensign derives from the command of units with an ensign, not the carrier of such a unit's ensign, and is today the equivalent of a major general. French-speaking Canadian Naval officers also use the terms of enseigne de vaisseau de deuxième classe and de première classe as the French term for acting sub-lieutenant and sub-lieutenant respectively. However, French-Canadian sub-lieutenants use the short form of enseigne instead of lieutenant. The rank "ensign" is also used to refer to second lieutenants (NATO OF-1) in household regiments of the Canadian Army.

28a   Boiling // sulphur hit Gene Wilder (8)

S|EETHING* — S ([symbol for the chemical element] sulphur) + anagram (wilder) of HIT GENE

Scratching the Surface
Gene Wilder[7] is the professional name of Jerome Silberman, an American stage and screen comic actor, director, screenwriter, author, and activist.

29a   Concluding words // are apt about helium (3,3)

T(HE) END — TEND (are apt) containing (about) HE ([symbol for the chemical element] helium)

Down

1d   Without help, nabbing top // mobster (2,6)

AL CAPONE — ALONE (without help)  containing (nabbing) CAP (top)

Al Capone^[5] (1899–1947), nicknamed  Scarface (show more ), was an American gangster of Italian descent. He dominated organized crime in Chicago in the 1920s and was indirectly responsible for many murders, including the St Valentine’s Day Massacre^* .

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^* The St Valentine's Day Massacre^[5] was the shooting on 14th February 1929 of seven members of the rival ‘Bugsy’ Moran's gang by some of Al Capone's men disguised as policemen.

Capone^[7] was born in Brooklyn (New York) and began his life of crime in New York City before moving to Chicago. Capone inadvertently insulted a woman while working the door at a Brooklyn night club and was slashed by her brother Frank Gallucio. The wounds led to the nickname that Capone loathed: "Scarface". Capone's boss, racketeer Frankie Yale, insisted that Capone apologize to Gallucio, and later Capone hired him as a bodyguard. When photographed, Capone hid the scarred left side of his face, saying that the injuries were war wounds. Capone was called "Snorky", a term for a sharp dresser, by his closest friends.

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2d   Big // soldier and little soldier (5)

GI|ANT — GI (soldier) + ANT (little soldier)

A GI^[5] is a private soldier in the US army ⇒ she went off with a GI during the war.

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Origin: Contrary to popular belief, the term apparently is not an abbreviation for general infantryman, but rather derives from the term government (or general) issue (originally denoting equipment supplied to US forces).

A soldier^[5] is a wingless caste of ant or termite with a large specially modified head and jaws, involved chiefly in defence.

3d   Seriously // clever, catching seabird (7)

STERNLY — SLY (clever) containing (catching) TERN (seabird)

5d   Some trimming affects // slip (5)

_G|AFFE_ — hidden in (some) trimminG AFFEcts

6d   Room 101 returned // cold sheets? (3,4)

{ICE CAPS}< — reversal (returned) of SPACE (room) + CI ([Roman numeral for] 101)

7d   Sort of flu vaccine // adversary kept in shelter (9)

T(RIVAL)ENT —RIVAL (adversary) contained in (kept in) TENT (shelter)

Trivalent influenza vaccine is a synthetic vaccine consisting of three inactivated influenza viruses, two different influenza type A strains and one influenza type B strain.

Delving Deeper

Trivalent influenza vaccine is formulated annually, based on influenza strains projected to be prevalent in the upcoming flu season. This agent may be formulated for injection or intranasal administration. The quadrivalent flu vaccine is designed to protect against four different flu viruses; two influenza A viruses and two influenza B viruses. For years, flu vaccines were designed to protect against three different flu viruses (trivalent vaccines). Trivalent vaccines include an influenza A (H1N1) virus, an influenza A (H3N2) virus and one influenza B virus. Experts had to choose one B virus, even though there are two different lineages of B viruses that both circulate during most seasons. This meant the vaccine may not protect as well against the group of B viruses not included in the vaccine. Adding another B virus to the vaccine aims to give broader protection against circulating flu viruses.

8d   Entertain // on the subject of strong wind at sea (6)

RE|GALE — RE (on the subject of) + GALE (strong wind at sea)

11d   Coach good in Quebec // element (6)

CAR|BON — CAR ([railway] coach) + BON (good in Quebec; French word meaning 'good')

15d   Poles came loose /in/ an unspecified spot (9)

SOMEPLACE* — anagram (loose) of POLES CAME

17d   Put bar in a new alignment // quick (6)

ABRUPT* — anagram (in a new alignment) of PUT BAR

18d   Decreed // or condescended in speech (8)

OR|DAINED~ — OR (†) + DAINED {sounds like (in speech) DEIGNED (condescended)}

20d   Seafood // dish ref cooked (7)

REDFISH* — anagram (cooked) of DISH REF

A redfish^[5] is any of several species of bright red edible marine fish.

21d   Wayward Hun acts // loyal (7)

STAUNCH* — anagram (wayward) of HUN ACTS

The Huns^[5] were a warlike Asiatic nomadic people who invaded and ravaged Europe in the 4th–5th centuries. Hun is also an informal derogatory term for a German (especially during the First and Second World Wars).

22d   Society manages // ranges (6)

S|COPES — S (society; abbrev.) + COPES (manages)

24d   Giant // sun engulfs it (5)

T(IT)AN — TAN ([bask in the] sun) containing (engulfs) IT (†)

A titan^{* [5]} is a person or thing of very great strength, intellect, or importance ⇒ a titan of American industry.

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^* In Classical Greek mythology, the Titans and Titanesses^[7] were members of the second order of divine beings, descending from the primordial deities and preceding the Olympian deities. Based on Mount Othrys, the Titans most famously included the first twelve children of the primordial Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (Father Heaven). They were giant deities of incredible strength, who ruled during the legendary Golden Age, and also composed the first pantheon of Greek deities.

25d   A story about cold // girl who went down a hole (5)

A|LI(C)E — A (†) + LIE (story) containing (about) C (cold; abbrev.)

Alice^[7] is a fictional character and protagonist of Lewis Carroll's^* children's novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass (1871). A child in the mid-Victorian era, Alice unintentionally goes on an underground adventure after accidentally falling down a rabbit hole into Wonderland; in the sequel, she steps through a mirror into an alternative world.

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^* pen name of English writer Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898)

Epilogue

I hope everyone enjoyed today's chemistry lesson.

Key to Reference Sources: 

^[1]   - The Chambers Dictionary, 11th Edition
^[2]   - Search Chambers - (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary)
^[3]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (American Heritage Dictionary)
^[4]   - TheFreeDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[5]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford Dictionary of English)
^[6]   - Oxford Dictionaries (Oxford American Dictionary)
^[7]   - Wikipedia
^[8]   - Reverso Online Dictionary (Collins French-English Dictionary)
^[9]   - Infoplease (Random House Unabridged Dictionary)
^[10] - CollinsDictionary.com (Collins English Dictionary)
^[11] - TheFreeDictionary.com (Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary)
^[12] - CollinsDictionary.com (Webster’s New World College Dictionary)
^[13] - MacmillanDictionary.com (Macmillan Dictionary)
^[14] - CollinsDictionary.com (COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary)

Signing off for today — Falcon