Thursday 22 October 2009

No 9668, Thursday, 22 Oct 09, M.Manna

Some big new words today. Foxed by a couple of answers and annotations
ACROSS
1 - Set wrong about gold and silver safe keeping (7) - ST{OR}{AG}E*
5 - Large predatory insects (7) - LOCUSTS [E]
9 - Moves on wheels (5) - ROLLS [E]
10 - Tuna nicer when spread? Doubtful! (9) - UNCERTAIN*
11 - Depression of values causes widespread fright, to many in Spain (6) - PANI{C}S* What is depression of values doing here? Is it part of the definition?
12 - Going round the open country is sheer delight (8) - P{LEAS}URE
14 - Lovely smell sounds like a wanderer (5) - AROMA (~a roamer)
15 - Old soldiers set on drill (5,4) - T?A?N ?A?D The old soldier is foxed here?
18 - Then one’s chipping the ball in to win (2,3,4) - ON THE N{O}SE*
20 - Rice mixed up around fifty reveals a trace of the past (5) - RE{L}IC*
22 - Spare man crocked. Hard cheese! (8) - PARMESAN*
24 - It can project an optical counterpart (6) - IMAGER [CD]
26 - Craving post-Christian clarity of speech (9) - {AD}{DICTION}
27 - Prepared to tax the French to demand more payment (5) - {E}XA{C}T* is as per definition and {E}XA{L}T* is as per word play. Which is right?
28 - Spin the French out with a Greek letter (7) - EPSIL{O}N* Where did O come from?
29 - Fault that needs patience, though it’s a source of dread (7) - {BUG}{BEAR}
DOWN
1 - Dropping the subject of torture? (9) - STRAPPADO [CD] New word, result of a Google search
2 - In the middle of the moorland one perceives the lover of Arden (7) - ORLANDO [T]
3 - Fool around – call about a colleague (9) - {ASS}{O}{CI{A}TE}
4 - Tall flightless birds (4) - EMUS [E]
5 - What the pub charges? (5,5) - {LOCAL} RATES or FARES [CD]
6 - Assembly place of ancient Roman tribes (5) - CURIA [E]
7 - Bone cup, alas is broken (7) - SCAPULA*
8 - It implies ability to judge and decide with intelligence (5) - SENSE [E]
13 - Garden paling puts Spanish uncle in high spirits (10) - E{TIO}LATION New word for me. Had to Google search this one too.
16 - Rail workers take me back to mountain in Germany (9) - NUR{EM<-}BERG Anno pending
17 - Last month’s speaker has room for improvement (9) - {DEC}{ORATOR} What is the definition here? 'Has room for improvement' cannot lead to the answer
19 - Dear, it’s not proper to use harsh censorious words (7) - TIRADE*
21 - Pledge to carry the cases (7) - LUGGAGE Anno pending
22 - Pact to end hostilities (5) - PEACE [E]
23 - A large number found Lee to surpass the other ten (5) - E{X}{C}EL*
25 - He avoids those considered inferior (4) - SNOB [E]


GRID

18 comments:

  1. 15 A, I have train band.

    http://www.yourdictionary.com/trainband

    ReplyDelete
  2. No clue on Nuremberg, except guessed it from the crossings.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Jotter,
    Trainband as one word which you refer to means 'a band of citizens trained locally as a militia' which has no link with the clue provided by Mr Manna!

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  4. Colonel,
    You're right. The only (far-fetched) link is "old soldiers" and "militia"

    Mr Manna however has not proved particularly relevant in his annotations today, though.

    Perhaps somebody else is able to read Manna's mind...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't read Manna's mind but certainly I can give the anno for 17dn. But I am afraid you will have to wait for some time as I intend writing a full-fledged analysis of this crossword in my blog. I shall post a comment here after uploading my writing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rail workers take me back to mountain in Germany (9) - NUR{EM<-}BERG

    rail workers = NUR (got this from a Google search, EM<- and mountain = BERG, and "in Germany" serving as an adjectival definition.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Last month’s speaker has room for improvement (9) - {DEC}{ORATOR}

    "has room for improvement" as in, has a space (e.g. drawing room) to decorate. Another adjectival definition, which I think is quite witty.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Old soldiers set on drill (5,4) TRAIN BAND

    "drill" also means "train in the military". IMO the clue ties in well as a cryptic definition for the dictionary meaning of TRAIN BAND.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 17 - Last month’s speaker has room for improvement (9) - {DEC}{ORATOR} What is the definition here? 'Has room for improvement' cannot lead to the answer

    I was about to post a comment on this. But Shuchi has already responded on the lines of what I wanted to express. I too found the clue witty.

    Great minds think al....?

    Richard

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  10. As NUR stands for National Union of Railwaymen, shouldn't there be some indicator in the clue that it is an acronym, more so since the crossword is appearing in an Indian newspaper? He could have used indian ones like INTUC etc

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  11. Moreover NUR ceased to exist from 1990 having merged itself with some other union

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Raghunath,
    To answer you question in yesterday's blog, we have one more of Manna tomorrow and then it's going to be Neyartha interspersed by a Sunday, so an entertaining Saturday and Monday is in the offing.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 11A When they talk of Panics I think they are also referring to a dictionary def of panic in the Financial and stock markets, which is normally associated with a fall in values of stocks. Maybe the economic mayhem of the last 18 months is telling on Mr. Manna

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  14. Agree about NUR, Colonel. It wasn't even a direct hit through search, I cooked up "National Union of Railwaymen" based on "rail workers" and found it fits.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Suresh,
    Agreed about the Stock market connection, however 'Depression in values causes widespread fright' should result in PANIC and not PANICS

    ReplyDelete
  16. LUG = Carry
    Gage = place bet on = pledge?

    ReplyDelete
  17. An anlaysis of THC 9668 appears here:

    http://dailydozen.blogspot.com/2009/10/thc-9668.html

    ReplyDelete
  18. Excellent analysis, Mr. Chaturvasi

    ReplyDelete

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