Saturday, October 12, 2019 — Sweet Sorrow

Introduction

In today's puzzle from Cox & Rathvon the setters wish us farewell twice over.

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^*)

---

^* num = numeration

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

(Horizontal separator)

---

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 program, 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 directly from a dictionary or at least phrased in a non-misleading fashion similar to one that would be found in a dictionary
• 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 (for example, defining topiary as "clip art")
• a "whimsical definition": a definition "invented" by the setter often by extrapolating a non-existent meaning for a word from a similar word (for example, defining a bird as a "winger" [something possessing wings] or a river as a ''flower" [something that flows] or to extrapolate that, since disembowel means 'to remove the innards of ', that discontent must mean 'to remove the contents of')
• a "definition by example": the presence of one of these is often flagged with a question mark (for example, defining atoll as "coral?" where an atoll is but one form that coral may take).

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 other varieties of definition (such as cryptic definitions, whimsical definitions, definitions by example, etc.) 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	Mean-sounding // place for roaming youth (6)

HOSTEL~ — [to some] sounds like (sounding) HOSTILE (mean)

4a	Standard tirade /is/ glaring (8)

FLAG|RANT — FLAG (standard) + RANT (tirade)

9a	Awfully appealing // tip (9)

LAGNIAPPE* — anagram of (awfully) APPEALING

Lagniappe^[5] is a North American term for something given as a bonus or gratuity.

11a	Left priest // petting zoo animal (5)

L|LAMA — L(eft) + LAMA ([Tibetan Buddhist] priest)

12a	Lively dance rattled stewpot (3-4)

TWOSTEP* — anagram of (rattled) STEWPOT

13a	Big party: // female blowout? (7)

SHE|BANG — SHE (female) + BANG (blowout)

14a	Valediction /for/ Yale to reuse in translation (3,3,5)

{SEE YOU LATER}* — anagram of (in translation) YALE TO USE

17a	Mannerism // that is causing starts? (3)

TIC — initial letters (starts) of That Is Causing

19a	Scatter, as seed /for/ swine (3)

SOW — double definition; a verb and a noun

21a	Valediction // came with scattered rice (11)

ARRIVED|ERCI* — ARRIVED (came) + (with) anagram of (scattered) RICE

23a	Flood prevention old /and/ in need of repair (7)

DAM|AGED — DAM (flood prevention) + AGED (old)

25a	Cheese /in/ bed eaten by Rita (7)

RI(COT)TA — COT (bed) contained in (eaten by) Rita (†)

27a	Scheme involving one // figure in a cockpit (5)

P(I)LOT — PLOT (scheme) containing (involving) I ([Roman numeral for] one)

28a	Land // at Corsica roughly (5,4)

{COSTA RICA}* — anagram (roughly) of AT CORSICA

29a	Sondheim busted /in/ the pursuit of pleasure (8)

HEDONISM* — anagram of (busted) SONDHEIM

Scratching the Surface
Stephen Sondheim[5] is a US composer and lyricist. He became famous with his lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story (1957). He has since written a number of musicals, including A Little Night Music (1973), Sweeney Todd (1979), and Sunday in the Park with George (1984).

30a	Second-rate bird // dog (6)

B|EAGLE — B (second-rate) + EAGLE (bird)

Down

1d	Bad breath: // sadly, Lois has it (9)

HALITOSIS* — anagram of (sadly) LOIS HAS IT

2d	Italian gent /and/ head of Spain pay no attention (7)

S|IGNORE — S (head [initial letter] of Spain) + IGNORE (pay no attention)

3d	Be // bigoted, losing face (5)

_EXIST — [S]EXIST (bigoted) with the initial letter removed (losing face)

5d	Town in England // is first to be heard (5)

LEEDS~ — sounds like (to be heard) LEADS (is first)

6d	Flower // adorned log behind a running back (9)

{GOLDEN ROD}< — reversed (running back) following (behind) A in aDORNED LOG

7d	Spot a guy on front of train // not budging (7)

AD|A|MAN|T — AD ([commercial] spot) + A (†) + MAN (guy) + (on) T (front [initial letter] of Train)

8d	Guitar’s fourth faint G // string’s sound (5)

T|WAN|G — T (guiTar's fourth [letter]) + WAN (faint) + G (†)

10d	Hot // horseshoe stuck in tree (7)

POP(U)LAR — U ([letter that looks like a] horseshoe) contained in (stuck in) POPLAR (tree)

15d	Ape // shot a gun at Ron (9)

ORANGUTAN* — anagram of (shot) A GUN AT RON

16d	Servant drunk /in/ bars (7)

TAVERNS* — anagram of (drunk) SERVANT

18d	Vandyke’s position, knowing // pottery (9)

CHIN|AWARE — CHIN (Vandyke's position; a vandyke^[5] is a neat, pointed beard) + AWARE (knowing)

20d	Weakling was first // dressed somewhat like a nun (7)

WIMP|LED — WIMP (weakling) + LED (was first)

22d	Running after the leader /and/ going off? (7)

_ROTTING — [T]ROTTING (running) with the initial letter removed (after the leader)

23d	Department head’s foremost // intellectual quality (5)

DEPT|H — DEPT (department; abbrev.) + H (Head's foremost [initial letter])

24d	Cuts off the end of // landing platforms (5)

DOCKS — double definition

26d	Go after // bit of heroin in piece of luggage (5)

C(H)ASE — H (bit [initial letter] of Heroin) contained in (in) CASE (piece of luggage)

Epilogue

The inspiration for the title of today's review comes from 14a ad 21a. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet bids farewell to Romeo with the line "Parting is such sweet sorrow".

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 Advanced 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