Tuesday 1 June 2010

No 9857, Tuesday 01 Jun 10, Neyartha

Some doubtful annos.
ACROSS
1   - Car with a piano driven around by a mental patient (9) - PARANOIAC*
6   - On reflection, gets rid of line on letter (5) - SERIF<-
9   - Gas Gauss replaced with sulphur in a criminal act (5) - AR(-g+s)ON
10 - This groom is a steady chap! (9) - {STABLE}{MAN}
11 - Endorse opening (7) - INITIAL [DD]
12 - Briefly teach revolutionary about bad PR in Brussels, say (6) - {hCA{RP<-}ET<-} ?
14 - Stag perceives loss of power (5) - GRASpS Never heard of this meaning for stag

15 - Court worker (6,3) - TENNIS PRO [CD]
17 - A fruit can get crushed when taken in a state of deviance (9) - {A}{BERR{ANC*}Y}
19 - Painter's friend following cry from the east (5) -{BOS<-}{CH} ? CH from Companion of Honour like yesterday?
20 - Short public announcements online? (6) - TWEETS [CD]
22 - Cloak landlord provided with California port (7) - OAKLAND [T]
24 - Grounds for status bar modification (9) - SUBSTRATA*
25 - Bush's expression of surprise when entering court (5) - {W{AH}OO}
26 - Mug caught by creep (5) - SIDLE  Anno pending
27 - Nuclear weapon, a sordid failure (5,4) - {DIRTY} {BOMB}
DOWN
1   - Auditor's seizing main sets ruined by insects (7,8) - (~preying){PRAYING} {MANTISES*}
2   - Understood written up plan outside to give a country look (9) -{RUS{TICAT<-}E}
3   - Girl employed by NASA regularly ignored by the governesses (7) - {Na{ANNIE}Sa}
4   - Signal unit to develop shielding (10) - INSULATING*
5   - Boxer Ali, prior to getting caught for power to take part in a game (4) - (-p+c)CLAY
6   - Courses upsetting Bill, say (7) - SYLLABI*
7   - Prema initially goes way down to develop a new plot (5) - pREMA(+p)P
8   - It may be used to go over in a detailed approach (4-7,4) - FINE-TOOTHED COMB [CD]
13 - Article on lousy ark designed for a member of the Jurassic Park? (10) - {AN}{KYLOSAUR*}
16 - Nut with injured hip restricting Tom's turning up at 10 (9) - {PI{STAC<-}H*}{IO}
18 - Naughty lettering censored? Not good to give a new name (7) - RETITLEng*
19 - American cycle track (7) -BIKEWAY [E]
21 - Flagged letters from Zagreb Bedouin (5) - EBBED [T]
23 - Severe complex (4) - HARD [DD]

20 comments:

  1. Hi,

    Liked Fine toothed comb and Abberancy. Tried Stable boy/lad before confirming man. Liked ref to Cassius Marcellus Clay and remembered the song Black Superman. 12a Brussels is a type of carpet. Not clear on Bosch, Praying (auditor's seizing?)

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  2. @Kishore,
    Auditor is the indicator for a homophone

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  3. Illustrations for TP and FTC were great.

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  4. @ Col. Aaaha, Thanks

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  5. 26a: Seems to be a homophone of 'seidel' (beer mug), 'caught' being the homophone indicator. When you catch what someone is saying, you 'hear'.

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  6. 12a: "Brussels, say" = Brussels, for example.
    There is a carpet that goes by the name Brussels carpet.
    http://www.onelook.com/?w=brussels+carpet&ls=a

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  7. 12A: Revolutionary often used as a reversal indicator???

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  8. I feel 12A is a very poor clue. Agreed there is a BRUSSELS CARPET but there is absolutely no indication of a carpet. There are carpets from all over the world linked to just the name of the city/country including our very own Kashmiri.
    BRUSSELS say can mean anything with BRUSSELS in it's name.

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  9. 26A, again no indicator that it is a German word, if Neyartha had use 'Beer mug' it would have been better as 'Bier seidel' is a Beer mug in German

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  10. 12 A - I thought revolutionary was usually used for 'Che' the rebel. This clue was confusing for other reasons as well, as already pointed out.

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  11. Revolutionary is also used as a reversal indicator

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  12. @ Col: Agree with you that it is a poor clue, Brussels could indicate so many things including sprouts, Flemish, Flanders and what not and similarly carpet could be from any of the many places.

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  13. @Colonel
    What does the picture of the red flower beneath'wahoo' denote?

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  14. @Sumitra,
    Sorry I forgot to highlight that the definition in the clue is BUSH. WAHOO is a type of bush. You can read about it by checking out the link provided. The flower shown is that of the WAHOO bush.

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  15. We were talking of Oxymorons the other day. Here are some interesting ones.
    1. Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?

    2. Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?

    3. If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?

    4. If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?

    5. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

    6. Why does "slow down" and "slow up" mean the same thing?

    7. Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing?

    8. Why do "tug" boats push their barges?

    9. Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there?

    10. Why are they called " stands" when they are made for sitting?

    11. Why is it called "after dark" when it really is "after light"?

    12. Doesn't "expecting the unexpected" make the unexpected expected?

    13. Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposites?

    14. Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite things?

    15. Why is "phonics" not spelled the way it sounds?

    16. If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it?

    17. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

    18. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

    19. If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?

    20. Why is bra singular and panties plural?


    21. Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead?

    22. Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase?

    23. How come abbreviated is such a long word?

    24. Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?

    25. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

    26. Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?

    27. Christmas - What other time of the year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?

    28. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway ?

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  16. Cargo is on the ship, but Shipment is usually on the road.

    But, Fair sex is appropriate even if women are dark because they are so fair in their treatment of others ;-)

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  17. 3 Misspelled is always 'misspelled in dictionaries, unless they are misspelled.

    6&7 B'cos we fill in forms and turns out it is same as filling out forms.

    17 ET is the big brother

    28 appropos Bangalore, why do we drive on the footpath and walk on the road?

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  18. Col's illustration of 15a reminded me of Ptennisnet (any one here remember him?)

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  19. Ptennisnet the egyptian volunteer from Asterix the Legionary

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  20. Yup, the guy who talks in hieroglyphics and wants a room facing the street, thinking he has joined some of conducted tour instead of the Foreign Legion. Did you come across any such characters whilst in the army?

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