Saturday, February 2, 2019 — BYOB

Introduction

One might say that today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon is a rather cheesy affair — in fact, that is pretty much Henry's observation in the first comment below. As expected, readers have risen to the occasion with a smorgasbord of cheesy puns.

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

A Note on Notation

I was in a lazy mood today and decided to shorten the notation for abbreviations in the parsing of clues. Thus:

• L(eft) replaces L (left; abbrev.)
• SP(anish) replaces SP (Spanish; abbrev.)
• M(iste)R replaces MR (Mister; abbrev.)

I might continue to use the old style in cases where further elaboration is provided:

• E (empty; abbrev. found on fuel gauges)

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.

hide explanation

Across

1a   Get clues, or crackers /and/ cheese of a sort (10)

GLOUCESTER* — anagram of (crackers) GET CLUES OR

Gloucester^[7] is a traditional, semi-hard cheese which has been made in Gloucestershire, a county of south-western England, since the 16th century, at one time made only with the milk of the once nearly extinct Gloucester cattle.

Delving Deeper

Gloucester cheese is also used every spring for the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake[7], a sport considered to be dangerous due to the lengthy, steep Gloucestershire hillside (50% downhill gradient at over 200 yards) in which the event takes place. From the top of the hill, a 7–9 pounds (3.2–4.1 kilograms) round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down the hill, and competitors then start racing down the hill after it. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. The competitors are aiming to catch the cheese; however, it has around a one-second head start and can reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour (110 kilometres per hour), enough to knock over and injure a spectator. [You can see the cheese just left of centre in the lower part of the picture.]

6a   Hot sandwich with cheese // left in opera house (4)

ME(L)T — L(eft) contained in (in) MET (opera house; New York City's Metropolitan Opera House^[7])

10a   Boy eating lean, // strong cheese (7)

S(TILT)ON — SON (boy) containing (eating) TILT (lean)

Stilton^[5] (trademark) is a kind of strong rich cheese, often with blue veins, originally made at various places in Leicestershire, a county of central England.

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Origin: So named because it was formerly sold to travellers at a coaching inn in Stilton (now in Cambridgeshire, England).

11a   Bit of tea in bed, with mature // kind of cheese (7)

There are several possible variations for the parsing of this clue. One could insert the extra T in COT and then add AGE:

CO(T)T|AGE — {T (bit [initial letter] of Tea) contained in (in) COT (bed)} + (with) AGE (mature)

or one could add AGE to COT and then insert the extra T either before or after the T in COT:

CO(T)T|AGE or COT(T)|AGE — T (bit [initial letter] of Tea) contained in (in) {COT (bed) + (with) AGE (mature)}

[As you may note, the markup does not necessarily indicate the order in which the steps are performed. Thus the same markup can result from two different parsings.]


Cottage cheese^[5] is soft, lumpy white cheese made from the curds of skimmed milk.

12a   Small wedge at the front is second // type of cheese (5)

S|W|IS|S — S(mall) + W {initial letter of (at the front) Wedge} + IS (†) + S(econd)

Swiss cheese^[5] is cheese from Switzerland, typically containing large holes.

13a   Cheese // constituent swallowed by feline (9)

CA(MEMBER)T — MEMBER (constituent) contained in (swallowed by) CAT (feline)

Camembert^[10] is a rich soft creamy cheese named for a village in Normandy where it originated.

14a   Revolutionary’s take on // cheese from England (8)

CHE|S|HIRE — CHE (revolutionary; Argentinian Marxist guerrilla leader Che Guevara^[7]) + S ('s) + HIRE (take on)

Cheshire^[5] is a kind of firm crumbly cheese, originally made in Cheshire, a county of west central England.

16a   Time edition/’s/ thin paper (6)

T|ISSUE — T(ime) + ISSUE (edition)

Scratching the Surface
In the surface reading, Time[7] (often written in all-caps as TIME) refers to an American weekly news magazine founded in 1923. In addition to the US edition, Time also publishes several regional international editions. A so-called "Canadian edition" which was essentially the US edition with Canadian advertising and a token amount of Canadian editorial content was discontinued in 2008.

18a   Sullen // operator entering a certain code (6)

MOR(O)SE — O (operator; despite the common expression being dial O for operator, one actually dials the numeral 0) contained in (entering) MORSE (a certain code [used in telegraphy])

20a   Least lengthy // celebration of cheese? (8)

BRIE|FEST — split (4,4), the solution would denote a celebration (FEST) of cheese (BRIE)

Brie^[5] is a kind of soft, mild, creamy cheese with a firm white skin.

23a   Widely distributed // Spanish display of data (6,3)

SP|READ OUT — SP(anish) + READ OUT (display of data)

24a   Stuff containing last of one // kind of cheese (5)

CR(E)AM — CRAM (stuff) containing (†) E (last [letter] of onE)

Cream cheese^[5] is soft, rich cheese made from unskimmed milk and cream.

26a   Tossed outside, I // took political action (7)

LOBB(I)ED — LOBBED (tossed) containing (outside) I (†)

27a   Superficial // wound, initially, in a Tudor novel (7)

{OUT(W)ARD}* — W (Wound, initially [initial letter]) contained in (in) anagram of (novel) A TUDOR

28a   Gluttons finally consumed // fill (4)

S|ATE — S (gluttonS finally [final letter]) + ATE (consumed)

29a   Soft cheese // ruined a lunch fete (10)

NEUFCHATEL* — anagram of (ruined) A LUNCH FETE

Neufchâtel^[5] is a soft white French cheese, originally made in Neufchâtel-en-Bray, in Normandy.

Post Mortem
With all the checking letters in place, my initial attempt to place the remaining letters resulted in a couple of letters being transposed. The non-existent "word" I came up with looked more like a misspelled German word than a French word.

Down

1d   Sharply inhales // vapour, by the way (5)

GAS|PS — GAS (vapour) + PS (by the way; postscript)

2d   Mineral // oil mixed by climber (7)

OLI*|VINE — anagram of (mixed) OIL + (by) VINE (climber)

Olivine^[5] is an olive-green, grey-green, or brown mineral occurring widely in basalt, peridotite, and other basic igneous rocks. It is a silicate containing varying proportions of magnesium, iron, and other elements.

3d   Mentions // tourist attractions through a loudspeaker (5)

CITES~ — sounds like (through a loudspeaker) SIGHTS (tourist attractions)

4d   Cushy job // popular in firm (8)

S(IN)ECURE — IN (popular; trendy) contained in (in) SECURE (firm)

5d   Men cap off // lodge in a military fashion (6)

ENCAMP* — anagram of (off) MEN CAP

7d   Paints // moniker in city trains (7)

E(NAME)LS — NAME (moniker) contained in (in) ELS (city trains; elevated railways)

The El^[5] is a US term for:

• an elevated railway [or, in the US, railroad] (especially that in Chicago)
• a train running on an elevated railway [or, in the US, railroad] ⇒ the El rumbled by

8d   Handling // explosive, around a metre shifted (9)

T(REATME*)NT — TNT (explosive) containing (around) anagram of (shifted) A METRE

9d   Poison // turkey one stuffed in hunger (8)

P(TOM|A)INE — {TOM ([male] turkey) + A (one)} contained in (stuffed in) PINE (hunger; long for)

14d   Kingsley appearing in old king’s // underwear (9)

C(AMIS)OLE|S — AMIS (Kingsley; English novelist Sir Kingsley Amis^[5] ) contained in (appearing in) COLE (old king; from the nursery rhyme "Old King Cole"^[7]) + S ('s)

15d   That fellow’s great fear: // Latin (8)

HIS|PANIC — HIS (that fellow's) + PANIC (great fear)

Post Mortem
It was certainly a "doh!" moment when I twigged to the correct solution. I hadn't thought of "Latin" in the sense of "Latin American" and I was also considering that "That fellow's" might parse as HE plus a contraction of "has" (which would be a charade indicator). However, it was easy to pick the correct solution from the lineup of suspects assembled by my wordfinder application.

17d   Total loss, // with unexpected forfeit (5-3)

W|{RITE-OFF}* — W(ith) + anagram of (unexpected) FORFEIT

19d   Lightly cooked crumb /in/ cheese dish (7)

RARE|BIT — RARE (lightly cooked) + BIT (crumb)

Rarebit^[5] (also Welsh rarebit) is a dish of melted and seasoned cheese on toast, sometimes with other ingredients. The name is an alteration of Welsh rabbit^[5] (probably originally used humorously).

21d   A gentle radical /is/ refined (7)

ELEGANT* — anagram of (radical) A GENTLE

22d   Friday, further expected // cheesy dish (6)

F|ON|DUE — F(riday) + ON (further; having made better progress than expected, we decided to continue on) + DUE (expected)

24d   Surprise // Conservative at church (5)

C|AT|CH — C(onservative) + AT (†) + CH(urch)

Catch^[5] is used in the sense of to surprise (someone) in an incriminating situation or in the act of doing something wrong.

25d   Get on the podium /and/ kibitz in audition (5)

MEDAL~ — sounds like (in audition) MEDDLE (kibbitz)

Post Mortem
Initially, the Olympics did not enter my mind and I could not see beyond MODEL (thinking of a model posing for a life drawing class). Again the correct solution was readily apparent from the list of suspects provided by my wordfinder application.

Epilogue

In today's puzzle, the setters provide the cheese for the Super Bowl party but you'll have to bring your own wine.

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