Tuesday 11 January 2011

No 10048, Tuesday 11 Jan 11, Cryptonyte

Got lost in today's chemistry class, not my favourite subject.
ACROSS
1   - You are right in between good, good audio system (8,5) - {S{U}{R}OUND} {SOUND} (Addendum - {S{UR}{R}{OUND} {SOUND} - See comments)
9   - Short film's conclusion is unnatural (7) - {P{LAST}IC} No indicator for insertion of Last.
10 - A nervous meeting? (7) - SYNAPSE [CD]
11 - One horn animal (5) - RHINO [CD] or is it {RH(I)NO*} if so where is the AInd
12 - A trick to accept bribe cleverly: coat the surface with a polymer (9) - {RU{BBERI*}SE}
13 - Unknown organic compound to reportedly fog the past (10) - {Y}{ESTER}{DAYS(~daze?)}
15 - Gold comes before aluminium it is said (4) - {OR}{AL}
17 - Relative energy lost is agreeable (4) - NIeCE
19 - Perhaps a diamond with partner having one's name chiefly (10) - {CARD}{I}{N}{ALLY}
22 - Soured rum drunk can be hellish (9) - MURDEROUS*
24 - You love scrambled egg? (5) - OV(U)LE*
25 - Delay surrounding broadcast of tweet essentially about cattle class storage (7) - {L{AIR}AG}{E}  
 New word for me.
26 - A tower that leads ships? (7) - TUGBOAT [E]
27 - Shattered Bertie wordlessly to bow out like an aged relative (5,8) - ELDER SISTERLYbow* Shouldn't this be SISTERLY ELDER ?
DOWN
2   - Surgical treatment removing good components of RNA (7) - URACILSg*
3   - Controlled valued particle being brought in (8) - {RAT{ION}ED}
4   - Cluer's gone off the boil (5) - ULCER*
5   - Didn't listen to princess weep with eye red towards the end (9) - {DI}{SOB}{EYE}{D}
6   - Small amounts of recoil's taking head off (6) - bOUNCES
7   - Sharper column comes after pin-up (7) - {NIP<-}{PIER}
8   - A new implementation of socialist work when thousand have been displaced (12) - {RED}{EmPLOYMENT}
9   - They are fun to be with, the donkey and the elephant perhaps (5,7) - PARTY ANIMALS [CD]
14 - One assists in a church to do seances properly (9) - DEACONESS*
16 - Deprive voice against new rogue (8) - UNTONGUE  Anno pending
18 - Friendly drink (7) - CORDIAL [DD]
20 - Chemical radical gets award, substituting electron for oxy group at the ends (7) - {LAUR(-e+oxy)XYL} (Correction {LAUR(-e+oxy)OYL} - See comments)
21 - Pacific ocean has many eaters in the main (6) - {SE{D}A}{ThE} What is the significance of eaters here?
23 - Broke ties for second places (5) - {SITE*}{S}

GRID
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59 comments:

  1. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 08:37

    Hit wicket today. Wrote Synapse in the place meant for 9a and had a merry scratching game. Anyway, all those chemicals overwhelmed me. The lower half was MURDEROUS. Hats off to Deepak for managing it in spite of Chem being his bete noir.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deepak Gopinath11 January 2011 at 08:38

    Don't thank me. Thank Mr Google.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 08:40

    For 16d, I can only recall the Hindi dialogue "Zabaan kheench loonga/doonga ! ". I am already untounged and hence typing this out. I feel someone has been pulling my leg...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bhavan11 January 2011 at 08:41

    9 - Short film's conclusion is unnatural (7) - {P{LAST}IC} No indicator for insertion of Last.

    's = has, containment indicator. If that is so, in the expanded form the surface reading is ugly.

    27 - Shattered Bertie wordlessly to bow out like an aged relative (5,8) - ELDER SISTERLYbow* Shouldn't this be SISTERLY ELDER ?

    Wasn't even sure if there was a word/phrase like Elder Sisterly

    21 - Pacific ocean has many eaters in the main (6) - {SE{D}A}{ThE} What is the significance of eaters here?

    eaTErs ? in the main or principally to indicate heart of the word ? Dicey.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 08:41

    And Mr Tharoor for 25a...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 08:45

    26 - A tower that leads ships? (7) - TUGBOAT [E]

    The innovative use of tower a la flowers like Exe, Dee, et al gives some satisfaction today.
    Should use of such nouns (named on their verb functions) lead to classification other than E ?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 08:50

    20 - Chemical radical gets award, substituting electron for oxy group at the ends (7) - {LAUR(-e+oxy)XYL}

    A small typo, I think.{LAUR(-e+oxy)OYL}, thought the link is correctly spelt.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Shyam11 January 2011 at 08:54

    days~daze was bad. Btw, why are donkey and elephant party animals??

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 08:58

    Something to do with political parties ? elephant I think is an election symbol and donkeys, well you know most of them get elected ...

    ReplyDelete
  10. Deepak Gopinath11 January 2011 at 09:07

    Shyam,
    The Donkey and the Elephant are the symbols of the Democratic and Republican parties respectively in the US.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Shyam11 January 2011 at 09:29

    Thanks Col. In hindsight, I would like to withdraw my days~daze comment as well. Not much wrong with the homophone or the definition fog=daze. Only the surface is a bit implausible.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Shyam11 January 2011 at 09:36

    Reg Bhavan's 8:41 comment, Short film's conclusion is unnatural, in the cryptic reading becomes

    Short film has conclusion = (is) unnatural

    So I think the clue is fine. I do not think the surface has to make meaning with the 'has' in place. Would love to have expert opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  13. veeramanisarma@gmail.com11 January 2011 at 09:54

    surround has two Rs

    ReplyDelete
  14. Shyam11 January 2011 at 09:57

    You are = UR (in SMS lingo, which the setter fails to mention, perhaps because it has become ubiquitous)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Shuchi11 January 2011 at 10:12

    9 - Short film's conclusion is unnatural (7) - {P{LAST}IC} No indicator for insertion of Last.

    Apostrophe-S expands to "has" in the cryptic reading. So far absolutely fine.

    The problem then happens with the connector "is" - the cryptic reading becomes "Short film has conclusion is unnatural". By strict standards, in this case either the connector "is" should not be there or there should be a comma before it. But that's a very pedantic point, the clue is all right I think.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Suresh11 January 2011 at 10:22

    I am absolutely UNTONGUEd by 16D. Any ideas how this one fits in

    ReplyDelete
  17. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 10:40

    9 - Short film's conclusion is unnatural (7)

    ---

    I think the reservations expressed about this clue are valid.

    Yes, the surface reading is smooth.

    But when we expand the cryptics the clue becomes (as stated above) "Short film has conclusion is unnatural".

    Suppose we rewrite the clue in journalese

    Short film's conclusion unnatural (7)

    do we redeem it?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 10:51

    I have been rolling my mind over

    21 - Pacific ocean has many eaters in the main (6)

    I am yet to get a really convincing anno.

    Pacific - def
    ocean has many - SE(D)A [so far so good]

    How does the rest... wait a minute... just now hit upon an idea. Are we meant to take TE from eaTErs? If so, TE is at the heart or core of the word. Does 'in the main' convey the idea that TE is the essence of 'eaters'?

    Finally, the surface reading seems to be none-too-apt.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 10:52

    As for 16d, try as I might, I am unable to see light. Any help will be appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 11:00

    ELDER SISTERLY is an odd term and may not be readily found in any dictionary (I haven't looked up) but I think it is OK. I absolve the setter of having used a phrase for the nonce.
    However, I think the phrase is most likely to be used as an adjective and so the enu could have been (5-8).
    I asked Lalli to come with me to watch the adult film, but she put on her elder-sisterly manners and said 'No'.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 11:07

    surround has two Rs

    Indeed.

    Deepak, what the commenter seems to mean is that you have a typo in the answer entered above.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Suresh11 January 2011 at 11:15

    Eureka 16D UNTO =against
    N=new
    GUE = rogue (ref freedictionary.com, intyrn referenced to Websters)

    ReplyDelete
  23. Suresh11 January 2011 at 11:16

    Trust readers can understand the typo or tupo

    ReplyDelete
  24. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 11:19

    Suresh
    I did considered the anno as you have given but I could not find any support for gue = rogue from my paper dictionaries.
    I don't use the online freedictionary and if it indeed returns a match it must be from the 1913 Websters. The current edition may have discarded the word.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Suresh11 January 2011 at 11:22

    CV It is 1913 Websters.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 11:22

    Also I had reservations about unto = against Unto means until (as in UNTO HIS LAST).
    ONTO might mean 'against' (While fleeing from the police, the thief dashed onto a post) but I am not sure if 'unto' means 'against'. But I could be wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 11:25

    Sorry
    ...did consider...

    ReplyDelete
  28. Shyam11 January 2011 at 11:26

    Good find, Suresh. But none of UNTO=against or gue=rogue or 'untongue' is present in the Chambers.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Suresh11 January 2011 at 11:29

    CV I had the same reservations as you on unto. Just putting down what I think is the intended anno

    ReplyDelete
  30. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 12:03

    I believe that words such as UNTONGUE pop up when setters use crossword software or crossword pattern search software for wordfind and wordfill.
    Could one change the dictionary option from the 1913 Websters to a modern or more recent dictionary?
    Crossword dictionaries such as Bradford's Crossword Key Dictionary, Oxford Crossword Dictionary or Longman Crossword Key are unlikely to have old, outdated words such as UNTONGUED as these are edited by a human.
    All this is merely as a piece of information. The intention is not to criticise the gridfills.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Bhavan11 January 2011 at 12:07

    Good detection Suresh.

    I'm happy to learn new words but not so sure if having to use enigmatic building blocks to get there makes me enjoy it.

    Specifically in this puzzle, LAIRAGE (which I haven't known before) was fair enough in its construction to arrive at the word.

    On the other hand, LAUROYL (it was easier to reverse engineer)and UNTONGUE haven't given me the same satisfaction.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Suresh11 January 2011 at 12:10

    Echo your sentiments Bhavan. I did not even attempt to find Lauroyl, since I do not have the onerous task putting up the solution at 8:30 like Deepak. I just left it blank thinking it would be some strange chemical I need not bother about.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 13:01

    I mentioned UNTONGUED in a post above. Quite unconsciously.
    But we are more likely to use this form rather than UNTONGUE.
    When I came to know of the heinous act that was perpetrated by my friend, I became quite untongued.

    ReplyDelete
  34. VMA Nair11 January 2011 at 13:35

    While searching for the anno of 16 D, I saw a new rogue who cuts out his own tongue and sews his mouth shut.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murmur_(DC_Comics)

    :)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 16:16

    UNTONGUE seems to have ununtongued many people and unleashed a slew of comments !

    ReplyDelete
  36. Padmanabhan11 January 2011 at 17:57

    In the link provided by Ajeesh, I found the following sentence-

    Murmur is one of the villains being controlled by the Top during the Rogue War story arc

    Does this Murmur connect the rogue & untongue?

    ReplyDelete
  37. Venkatesh11 January 2011 at 19:02

    Col Deepak,
    11 - One horn animal (5) - RHINO [CD] or is it {RH(I)NO*} if so where is the AInd

    (I HORN)* = animal RHINO (we have one horned rhonos of Cochin-China discussed a few months back in this forum)

    This is a good example of &lit

    ReplyDelete
  38. Venkatesh11 January 2011 at 19:11

    Saw CV's comments on THC Orkut site. Surely the wording needs improvement.

    May be members can try. My suggestion:
    Animal with one horn (5)

    ReplyDelete
  39. Venkatesh11 January 2011 at 19:13

    CV,

    The clue in THC 29 June 2010 was:
    It is renowned for its horn formation — one centrally placed (5) {RH(I)NO*}

    Would you agree that this is an &lit one?

    ReplyDelete
  40. Venkatesh11 January 2011 at 19:17

    Here is one from Shuchi's site Crossword Unclued:

    Could be a one-horn animal (5) RH{I}NO*
    &lit with (Anagram + Container)

    ReplyDelete
  41. Richard11 January 2011 at 19:30

    Kishore missed mentioning today's date: 11-1-11.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 19:44

    The clue for RHINO that Venkatesh cites above from an old THC is from an MM puzzle. It is indeed an &lit clue and a good one at that.

    Gridman has had:

    Animal horn I break (5)
    I butt into a hideous horn. What an animal! (5)

    Note that both use HORN and I.

    Could we write a clue for RHINO without this overused breakup?

    Gridman has had one on a completely different tack. But let it wait.

    The next time any setter is faced with the word RHINO, he's likely to be in a fix.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 19:52

    I don't recall whether the clue that Venkatesh cites from CU is from any UK puz.

    I have the same criticism: Is 'one-horn animal' propah English?

    ReplyDelete
  44. Shyam11 January 2011 at 19:55

    My instinct says Cryptonyte is going to come hard at us when his slot comes next :)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Venkatesh11 January 2011 at 20:27

    Tony,

    Bully for you!

    While your clues are really enjoyable, a few may benefit from some fine tuning.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Navneeth11 January 2011 at 20:27

    Chaturvasi@19:44,

    Greek letter contained popular word for nose (5)

    Howzzat? I even left the poor animal out of it. I wouldn't argue if you said it was a bit vague.:)

    ReplyDelete
  47. Navneeth11 January 2011 at 20:29

    Contained, contains. Whatever.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Venkatesh11 January 2011 at 20:42

    A mix of this narcotic without medicine concerns the nose (5) {HEROIN -E}* RHINO

    ReplyDelete
  49. Chaturvasi11 January 2011 at 20:47

    Navneeth

    A good one, avoiding even the animal!

    ReplyDelete
  50. Navneeth11 January 2011 at 21:07

    Venkatesh@20:42, Ecstasy is an illegal drug almost everywhere, and I don't think it would qualify as a medicine.

    ReplyDelete
  51. Deepak Gopinath11 January 2011 at 21:45

    Odd-toed ungulate sounds like German flower with love (5) - (~rhine){RHIN}{O}

    ReplyDelete
  52. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 22:08

    So many rhinos remind me of John Wayne and the movie HATARI. All around East Africa one sees houses surrounded by fences bearing the Kiswahili words HATARI SITIMA. Danger-Electricity.

    Richard, I am waiting for the date ten months later :-)

    My half-pennorth:

    NATO reports the rudderless Mil Mi-4 in Romania for a north-east Indian animal.(5)

    NATO name for Mil Mi-4=HIND
    rudderless makes it=HIN
    Romania country code=RO
    in=insertion indicator
    R(HIN)O

    Postiviely Kafkaesque or NJesque, dont you think ?

    ReplyDelete
  53. Anonymous11 January 2011 at 22:15

    Incidentally, the above movie also had 'Baby elephant walk' a tune by Mancini which is played quite frequently by during Jet Airways landing/takeoff.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qei_ccdgTMU

    BTW, the Pink Panther theme was also composed by him.

    ReplyDelete
  54. VMA Nair11 January 2011 at 22:20

    Right handed batting !Scored duck or this animal? (5)

    ReplyDelete
  55. Navneeth11 January 2011 at 22:21

    Right, sunrise in Japan (out of France) reveals animal (5)

    ReplyDelete
  56. Padmanabhan11 January 2011 at 22:52

    Kishore,
    Richard conceived the idea and you will deliver it after 10 months! Great!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Padmanabhan11 January 2011 at 22:54

    The latest/ fashionable(in)contained in a Greek letter (Rho)

    ReplyDelete
  58. Anonymous12 January 2011 at 07:11

    Paddy,

    An extra long gestation period. That's inconceivable, impregnable and unbearable !

    ReplyDelete
  59. Anonymous12 January 2011 at 07:21

    Catarrh in ones head hides an animal (5)

    ReplyDelete

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