Can someone explain a bit of wordplay to me?

[StarvingButStrong]

This is truly utterly mundane and pointless, but it's left me puzzled (hah!) for a couple of weeks.

The Sunday crossword puzzle, Los Angeles Time, August 22, 2010.

The title of the puzzle was "Poetry in Notion", and the trick to the 'long' answers was that they were phrases/titles with one word replaced by a similar sounding word used in describing poetry.

Here are the themed answers:

in couplets therapy = in couples therapy
good ode boy = good old boy
verse class = first class
sonnet boom = sonic boom
iamb Legend = I am legend
Catcher in the Rhyme = Catcher in the Rye
American Idyll = American Idol

BUT

Dactyl Gallery = ??????????



Anyone?

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by StarvingButStrong

This is truly utterly mundane and pointless, but it's left me puzzled (hah!) for a couple of weeks.

The Sunday crossword puzzle, Los Angeles Time, August 22, 2010.

The title of the puzzle was "Poetry in Notion", and the trick to the 'long' answers was that they were phrases/titles with one word replaced by a similar sounding word used in describing poetry.

Here are the themed answers:

in couplets therapy = in couples therapy
good ode boy = good old boy
verse class = first class
sonnet boom = sonic boom
iamb Legend = I am legend
Catcher in the Rhyme = Catcher in the Rye
American Idyll = American Idol

BUT

Dactyl Gallery = ??????????



Anyone?

I have to assume much more than this is going on, but gallery is a dactyl. I haven't tried to find a pterodactyl connection yet, but that's the only thing else that comes to mind.

[x-ray vision]

Tactile Gallery?

[Zeldar]

Just so I don't miss the opportunity to mention a "verse form" along the lines of the limerick, anti-ballad and haiku, here's a decent description of the Double-Dactyl that might make for some fun challenges if enough people hop on board and start a thread for the purpose.

ETA: I believe x-ray vision has your connection!

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by Zeldar

Just so I don't miss the opportunity to mention a "verse form" along the lines of the limerick, anti-ballad and haiku, here's a decent description of the Double-Dactyl that might make for some fun challenges if enough people hop on board and start a thread for the purpose.

I've written a few in the past; love double-dactyls.

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by Robot Arm

I've written a few in the past; love double-dactyls.

Care to share them? I've yet to try one. Anti-ballads and haiku I have done plenty, and a limerick or two. But the requirements are hard to keep straight in the Double-Dactyl.

[kittenblue]

So the clue was, "exhibit of poetic feet" and a dactyl is a "type of foot in meter" therefore Dactyl Gallery...but from there, I think tactile is the best answer I can think of, too

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by Zeldar

Care to share them? I've yet to try one. Anti-ballads and haiku I have done plenty, and a limerick or two. But the requirements are hard to keep straight in the Double-Dactyl.

It's tough to find a good subject whose name fits that double-dactyl pattern, for one thing. "Cardinal Ratzinger" would have been perfect, before he became pope.

Some friends of mine used to do a monthly challenge of some type of creative endeavor. Really, it could be anything. A few years ago, the challenge was three double-dactyls; even specifying three six-syllable words that had to be used in the second stanzas. My efforts for that challenge are a bit dated and parisan, now.

This one, however, is timeless:

Flippity Flappity
anas platyrhynchos
Do things flow like water
Off of your back?

Don't try to navigate
Echolocational
Tested by Mythbusters
"Quack, damn you, quack!"

[Zeldar]

Impressive, Robot Arm! I suspect that didn't just come to you in a flash.

[StarvingButStrong]

Originally Posted by x-ray vision

Tactile Gallery?

Good answer! Good answer!


My subconscious itch has now been scratched.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Erm, I believe y'all may have it slightly wrong (or at least incomplete).

'Dactyl' is derived from the Greed 'daktulos', meaning 'finger'. The term evolved, at least medically, to mean 'digits'.

The medical term for a person having more than 10 fingers (or toes) is polydactyly.

The clue "exhibit of poetic feet" makes the "answer dactyl gallery" perfectly logical.

In this case,

Dactyl / poetic = feet
Exhibit = gallery


mmm

[x-ray vision]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

The clue "exhibit of poetic feet" makes the "answer dactyl gallery" perfectly logical.

Right, but "dactyl gallery" is supposed to be a play on words on another term that already exists and the OP wanted to know what that term was (see examples in the OP).

[kittenblue]

And I found the definition of "A type of foot in meter" straight from the Wiki about dactyls...where I'm sure the term is explained as having come from the word for digits.

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by Zeldar

Impressive, Robot Arm! I suspect that didn't just come to you in a flash.

Thanks. I think somehow I got the idea that I might find a good six-syllable, double-dactyl subject in the taxonomic name of some animal, so I started surfing around Wikipedia. Most of the genus names wouldn't work, but I eventually stumbled on anas platyrhynchos, and the rest of it followed from there.

I don't actually know if the stresses follow the double-dactyl pattern or not.

[movingfinger]

Hm. A DD from the sixties still sticks with me, although I guess the subject may make sense only to those of us in our sixties or so.

Higgledy piggledy,
William O. Douglas, Judge,
Had a propensity
for a young wife.
When she declared he was
unconstitutional,
he found a younger one.
Justice runs rife.

[Hilarity N. Suze]

Hogamus higamus
Men are polygamous
Higamus hogamus
Women monogamous

(Somebody dreamed this, I forget who
Doubtless a male, though. Probably not true.)

[staili]

This clue has also been bothering me, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one! I'm not sure tactile gallery is right. I believe "dactyl" is supposed to be pronounced with a short i sound in the second syllable, while "tactile" has a long i. But I can't think of any other possibilities (which is why it is so bothersome!).

Here is another one like it. I saw the musical, "The Producers," and they had a part where there were fake show titles that were bad wordplay ("Katz" for "Cats," or "The Sun Also Sets," that kind of thing). One of them was, "Dog in the Barn" (or maybe "A Dog in the Barn"). What was that supposed to be?

[CalMeacham]

Maybe a reference to Aesop's fable of The Dog in the Manger?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dog_in_the_Manger


That's what I would immediately take from it.

[x-ray vision]

Originally Posted by staili

This clue has also been bothering me, and I'm glad to see I'm not the only one! I'm not sure tactile gallery is right. I believe "dactyl" is supposed to be pronounced with a short i sound in the second syllable, while "tactile" has a long i. But I can't think of any other possibilities (which is why it is so bothersome!).

According to merriam-webster.com, the short i pronunciation is the preferred.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tactile

[BigT]

I've only heard tack-tile instead of tacktle as a southernism,