I’m sure there are many better cutesy clues one could use for ‘are’. “Pirate’s rousing d’être” comes to mind.
You’ve switched arguments. I was rebutting your assertion that
Total, arithmetically
is improper comma use. Now you have switched to arguing against my OP that “total arithmetically” does not clue to “ARE”. You say that the clue is 100% appropriate and accurate but you have not said why. It may be grammatically correct but it does not adhere to generally understood crossword conventions for cluing.
I never said they should have made it easier, which was never the point at all. I am saying that they should have made it correct. **Chronos **sums it up perfectly a couple of posts above.
Two and two are four sounds good to me. Perhaps this was from a Saturday puzzle where the clues are intentionally misleading. It’s up to you to sort them out. i won’t even look at a puzzle past Wednesday, but my wife zips through them all.
It is improper.
I said that “Total (arithmetically)”, a true parenthetical, would be grammatically accurate and easier.
You’re not making any sense. You said that the clue should be able to replace the word in a sentence. “Total” does follow this rule. You tried to argue that the clue is “total arithmetically” which is wrong, and I explained why it is correct as typed and why the sentence adverb would not be included as part of the synonym.
It is correct, you and Chronos are wrong.
You did not explain why. You simply explained that is your belief. If the adverb is not part of the synonym, there is no way to distinguish this clue from a clue where it *would *be part of the synonym. The issue is not one of grammatical correctness but communication of a clue.
The comma use I proposed would be equivalent to this, which is not proscribed by any rule of grammar:
Fred’s film needed to be exposed, photographically.
(to distinguish from a movie that needed more publicity)
Well, if that’s your argument, I guess we’re done here.
It is proscribed according to Oxford.
More examples:
I posted this earlier. If this isn’t enough of an explanation then I’m wasting my breath.
Right. I read it earlier. It explains the sentence adverb, one use of an adverb. It does not describe any uses that are incorrect, such as my example.
I think what matters is not whether someone would use a particular form, but whether someone reasonably could. If someone said to me “two and three total arithmetically five”, while I wouldn’t award them any points for rhetorical style, I wouldn’t be able to fault their grammar or their meaning. Therefore, the sentence is equivalent to “two and three are five”, and the substitution test passes.
The only real objection I can see is the plurality one, i.e. whether it is grammatically correct to say “two and three are five” rather than “two and three is five.” “Two and three” is plural, but “five” is singular, so which form of “be” do you stick between them? Neither seems entirely satisfactory. I would guess that speakers of British English and similar would favour the plural form, while American English speakers would favour the singular?
If someone said to me “two and three total arithmetically five”, I would wonder what an “arithmetically five” is. Even taking out the “arithmetically”, saying “two and three total five” is still stilted. Totalling is what the person doing the sums does, not what the numbers do.
Is there a rule that the clues have to be directly substitutable into an equivalent sentence? Because I would not assume so. Thus I would just read “total arithmetically” as “a word that means the same as “total” when used in arithmetic.”
You won’t find a list of rules for cluing, but there are certain conventions followed by all reputable crossword constructors. Anytime a clue is a direct synonym for fill, then they must be directly substitutable using the same parts of speech, verb tense, noun number, etc. (There are some rules for grid construction that are required by some publishers.) For example, in today’s LA Times:
Has to pay => OWES
Lost patience => HADIT
Needed an eraser => ERRED
Clean some more => REWASH
Went too far => ENCROACHED
Surrendered => CEDED
Once you know the answer, it is clear that the clue was intended the way you read it.
If they meant “a word that means the same as total, when used in arithmetic”, then they’d need a comma.