Monday 20 February 2012

No 10390, Monday 20 Feb 12, Gridman

Gridman's stumped me today!!
ACROSS
1   - End. (4,4) - FULL STOP [DD]
5   - Difficulty a conventional person heard (6) - STRAIT (~straight)
9   - Everyone at hand from the beginning (3,5) - ALL ALONG {ALL} {ALONG}
10 - Improvement from a State act (6) - UPTURN {UP}{TURN}
12 - Bring female out to make plates (4) - ETCH fETCH
13 - I hector pal rudely for being one who is fond of teddy bears (10) - ARCTOPHILE*
15 - Abuse one in business (6) - TIRADE {T{I}RADE}
17 - Officer in charge on street is showing no emotion (5) - STOIC {ST}{OIC}
20 - Appeal to sustain branch of peace (5) - OLIVE {O}{LIVE}
21 - Girl begins dressing prepared meals (6) - DAMSEL {D}{MEALS*}
24 - Desire for good, thin sound quality (10) - GREEDINESS {G}{REEDINESS}
27 - What you have here is what a detective looks for (4) - CLUE [CD]
29 - With mouth agape, confessed to being a last character (6) - (Addendum - AMAZED {AM}{A}{ZED} - See comments)
30 - Clumsy person has top class meat thrown back all around him — reason is poisoning (8) - (Addendum - TOXAEMIA - {T{OX}AEM<-}{IA<-} - See comments}
31 - D __ the defeated shrinking back, having dealt in used goods (6) - (Addendum - RESOLD {RESOL<-}{D} - See comments)
32 - Bachelor somehow enticed a newly married man (8) - BENEDICT {B}{ENTICED*}
DOWN
1   - Skirts could be flaming red when the dynasty is gone (6) - FLARED {FLAming}{RED}
2   - One in circuitous call for small flowers (6) - LILACS {L{I}LAC<-}{S}
3   - Back off, leave English county and be moody (4) - SULK Anno pending (Addendum - SUffoLK - See comments)
4   - He has sleeping drug — a great many fall (5) - OWNER dOWNER
6   - Convertible driver's option for a fill? (3,2) - TOP UP [DD]
7   - Bali unto creating a plant (8) - ABUTILON*
8   - Bent cent? Deny circulation (8) - TENDENCY*
11 - Lot of papers, by the way, in a continuous flow (6) - STREAM {ST}{REAM}
14 - Dainty biscuit? (4) - NICE [DD] Isn't Nice a brand name?
16 - Fellows under a head of department get extra things (3-3) - ADD-ONS {A}{D}{D-ONS}
17 - Moistens up in difficult situation (4) - STEW WETS<-
18 - Hippie with fine taste in the arts? (4,4) - (Addendum - LONG HAIR [DD] - See comments)
19 - Film obliquely (8) - SIDEWAYS [CD] ? ([DD] - See comments)
22 - Some reunion folks, some calumnies (6) - ALUMNI [T]
23 - Caught up with no-soft go (6) - (Addendum - DEPART TRApPED - See comments)
25 - Think about daughter in the pink (5) - DREAM {D}{RE}AM Anno not clear (Addendum - DWELL {D}{WELL} - See comments)
26 - Hit second particle (5) - SMITE {S}{MITE} (Correction - {S}{MOTE})
28 - Finally placed porter in valley (4) - DALE {D}{ALE}



30 comments:

  1. 30 - Clumsy person has top class meat thrown back all around him — reason is poisoning (8) -

    T(OX)AEM< IC

    Clumsy person OX
    has top class meat thrown back= First class meat= I C MEAT<
    all around (encapsulation indicator) him i.e OX — reason is poisoning

    ReplyDelete
  2. 14 - Dainty biscuit? (4) - NICE [DD] Isn't Nice a brand name?

    Though it started as a brand name, today like Marie many manufacturers are using it to describe that kind of biscuit eg. Newly started Bisk Farm. I am not sure if patents are involved..

    ReplyDelete
  3. 3 - Back off, leave English county and be moody (4) - SULK Anno pending

    SU(-ffo<)LK

    ReplyDelete
  4. 31 - D __ the defeated shrinking back, having dealt in used goods (6) -

    RESOL<D

    D LOSER<(the defeated shrinking back)
    DEF: having dealt in used goods

    ReplyDelete
  5. 29 - With mouth agape, confessed to being a last character (6) -

    AM A ZED

    ReplyDelete
  6. 25 - Think about daughter in the pink (5) - DREAM {D}{RE}AM Anno not clear

    D WELL

    18 - Hippie with fine taste in the arts? (4,4) -

    LONG HAIR anno pending

    ReplyDelete
  7. 30 - Clumsy person has top class meat thrown back all around him — reason is poisoning (8) - TOXAEMIA Same parsing as Kishore mentioned, except top class is AI

    18 - Hippie with fine taste in the arts? (4,4) - LONG, HAIR (DD)
    1.A person with hair longer than the norm, especially someone viewed as bohemian, non-conventional or a hippie
    2.A person with a deep interest in the classical arts, especially music
    19 - Film obliquely (8) - SIDEWAYS [CD] ? DD http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideways
    23 - Caught up with no-soft go (6) - DEPART trapped<- (-p)
    25 - Think about daughter in the pink (5) - DREAM {D}{RE}AM Anno not clear D + WELL

    ReplyDelete
  8. 25 - Think about daughter in the pink (5) - DREAM {D}{RE}AM Anno not clear
    D WELL

    ReplyDelete
  9. 31 - D __ the defeated shrinking back, having dealt in used goods (6) -[B] RESOL<-D

    ReplyDelete
  10. 29 - With mouth agape, confessed to being a last character (6) -[B]AMA Z ED?

    ReplyDelete
  11. In essays, short stories and novels, when a name cannot be disclosed for some reason, it is usually given in the form of the initial letter with a dash for the rest of the letters. Kishore (or any other member) will bear me out.

    Thus, in Clue 31a it should have been printed as D__ (without a space between the letter and the dash).

    Most subeditors nowadays are not aware of such conventions.

    ReplyDelete
  12. 26 Dn SMITE is not fitting with 30 Ac TOXAEMIA.

    ReplyDelete
  13. First time i saw an unfilled post ( 5 ) i believe. But Kishore and Bhavan a m a z e d me by their solvers.

    Good day

    Mathu

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for the toughie, Gridman

    ReplyDelete
  15. Thanks everyone for the solutions. Gridman really stumped me today.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I wonder how many of us had heard of ABUTILON before today.

    Interestingly, it is also called Indian mallow!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have neither heard the word abutlion nor Indian mallow.

      If you give me an Indian word for it I may (remotely) have heard of it.

      Delete
    2. And of course, the TOX...something and the meaning of benedict.

      Delete
  17. So tough.. So many difficult clues! A wake up call for me, this puzzle! I'll draw some comfort from the comments here - that the venerable solvers too found some clues tough..

    ReplyDelete
  18. At the end of the day, I'd still like to raise my humble voice against NICE and SIDEWAYS. I feel it would be a bit odd to be looking for A Fish Called Wanda or a biscuit called Tiger.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nice is not really a trade name. See the article below.

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

    Re SIDEWAYS it is the name of a movie and is acceptable

    ReplyDelete
  20. All in all a lousy puzzle. Leaving so much ambiguity. Any day give me sankalak

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I see that comment as being a bit harsh. Of course, one could hope for smoother surfaces, but saying that most of the clues are lousy and ambiguous is taking it a bit far, IMHO. There is a difference between "I can't figure out the answer." and "This isn't in the dictionary and the setter is pulling things out of thin air to suit his needs" -- the latter being what one or at least I would associate with ambiguity.

      Fair disclosure: I failed miserably in trying to solve today's grid, but new words and references weren't the sole reason for it.

      Delete
  21. Am checking this in the night, and not sure how many would read this comment. This CW is a classic example of the contrived cluing by many compilers of THC. As one of the commenters expressed, Sankalak stands out in stark relief. Miles away from great compilers like Rufus.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Monday 20th: Spent the whole night due to Maha shivrathri, solving this puzzle and thanks to Gridman for keeping me awake and burning midnight power in these days of shortage. I'd call this puzzle , by far, a lesson in Beja Fry. Not too clever by half for the compiler to educate us in mind-reading.After all, we all are mortals.
    @5 Down DWELL and 26 Down: SMOTE ( haven;t we done before SET, LET and PUT being used as present, past and future tenses ?). One Across; could have been just .(4.4)for the sake of brevity. ? why End? Recently, I came across X., as a clue which could indicate any number of answers.

    ARCTOPHILE( whoever wants to love teddy bears amongst us?) & ABUTTILON (Spoonerism for ABLUTION?) and TOXAEMIA? Have a heart , Gridman, we DO NOT want to learn any more new words!! What next? AXOLOTL? MY tongue got tangled between my teeth!

    ReplyDelete

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