Tuesday 16 October 2012

No.10595, Tuesday 16 Oct 12, Skulldugger

I apologise for the half baked blog. Was stuck in a meeting. Thanks Colonel for stepping in with the formatting.

ACROSS
1 Soccer brouhahas end in intense finale (9) CRESCENDO (END inside SOCCER*)
6 Unending darkness doomsayer’s end? (4) NIGH (NIGHt)
8 Sailors finding land difficult to understand? (8) ABSTRACT (ABS + TRACT)
9 King, 25, expresses impatience (3-3) TUT-TUT (TUT reechoed)
10 Do they graze in cyberspace? (6) ELANDS (E-LANDS)
 11 Game soldier, stationed in the borders of Algeria, provides defense (8) APOLOGIA (POLO + GI inside AA)
12 Confused young babes end up in cloisters (6) ABBEYS (Y BABES)*
15 Forgotten, strange knot inside Gold Spot? (4,4) FORT, KNOX (KNOT* inside FOR got X)
16 Cripple’s shoe marked by wear and tear (8) SABOTAGE (SABOT + AGE) Thanks Sandhya
19 Without hesitation, carry out duty (6) EXCISE (EXerCISE)
21 Designed the decks (8) SKETCHED (THE DECKS)*
22 Strained Oriental, with Parvati’s protection, heads West (6) SIEVED (E inside DEVI'S<=)
24 Where they buried man in olden daze reportedly (6) DOLMEN (M inside OLDEN*) Thanks Sandhya
25 Hollow instrument ’e held made repetitive noises (8) REECHOED Anno pending (ECHO inside REED)
26 Calves skinned and dressed (4) VEAL (cALVEs)* &lit
27 Discerning Premier goes down to receive subjects (9) ELECTIVES (SELECTIVE with S moving to the end)

DOWN
1 They plot inqilab, accepting turncoats in their midst (5) CABAL (T<=)
2 Specialists getting close to peace treaty (7) ENTENTE (ENT + ENT + E)
3 Seafood gives bellyaches (5) CRABS (DD)
4 If it’s this bad, it can’t be that bad (3,4) NOT, HALF (CD)
5 Send off course (9) OUTSOURCE (COURSE)*
6 Circuitry indicative of functioning broadband in the plural? (7) NETWORK (NET + WORK)
7 Sort of rice bowl engulfed by flood in America (9) GLUTINOUS (GLUT + IN + US outside O)
 13 Singularity or coal pit (5,4) BLACK,HOLE (BLACK + HOLE)
14 Striking transformation from Black to Red, say (3,6) SEA, CHANGE (CD)
17 Endlessly disingenuous diplomat’s best suited for the job (7) OPTIMAL (dIPLOMAT)*
18 Legend or sell-out? Embraced sport for money! (7) ENDORSE (T)
20 Reportedly, a European of Russian literary importance (7) CHEKHOV (~CZECH OF)
22 Woman accosted by alien! Headline in scandal _____ (5) SHEET (SHE + ET)
23 Pointless fighting with them! (5) EPEES (CD)




46 comments:

  1. lol. THC sure is a roller coaste ride. yes @ rita, missed out going through blog yesterday, since i had few early morn surgeries. but yes, i did get everything right and was on cloud nine.but todays was so tough, i felt my cranial cavity is packed with clay.i didnt know a SINGLE answer. having said that,i now realise CW is more about understanding the layers than just anagram solving and in between the word clues. i hope to do well in future, as and when i solve clues every day.

    good day all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. rightly said..i got only two today but a full grid yesterday..good evening..

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  2. Oh! still under a state of shock

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  3. 16 Cripple’s shoe marked by wear and tear (8) SABOTAGE {SABOT}{AGE}
    24 Where they buried man in olden daze reportedly (6) DOLMEN DOL{M}EN*
    25 Hollow instrument ’e held made repetitive noises (8) REECHOED REE{CHO}{E}D (CHO?)

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  4. 25 Hollow instrument ’e held made repetitive noises (8) REECHOED REE{CHO}{E}D (CHO?)

    RE(ECHO)ED

    ECHO - Hollow
    REED - Instrument
    Held - fodder indicator - REED held ECHO
    made Repetitive noises - REECHOED

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have updated the blog with the annotation.

      REED = hollow instrument
      ECHO = e, from the phonetic alphabet

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  5. I was more than half way across the well and felt I was doomed. Glad I am not alone!

    4D- filled in 'not very' and got stuck in that corner.

    Glad I nwas able to get BLACK HOLE,SKETCHED,CRESCENDO,SABOTAGE,ENTENTE,TUT TUT (was not sure),ENDORSE,EXCISE to name a few.

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  6. Hats off to all those who solved the CW today!! My upper storey felt pretty clogged! Could only get Cabal, Nigh, Abstract, Tut Tut, Abbeys, sea change, Black hole, sketched, endorse and sheet. After that - blank.
    Anyway, good to exercise those grey cells....
    Good morning all.

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  7. Great, Bhavan, Rengaswamy, Sandhya et al for the annos I could not get. And missed out Dolmen, wrote Common instead, and trying to figure out how it could have been a grave.

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  8. Hi all

    Had to leave early in the morning and drive over 80-plus kilometres of country roads towards my project site. Did not get the print version in time. Reached the spot some time ago.

    I too would have had the same woes like the ones poured in the above posts. Only wizards like Bhavan, SandhyaP and some others could have solved this.

    Thanks Paddy for remembering me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wizards, the Col included.

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    2. I don't think I am in the same league as Bhavan, Sandhya and CV

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    3. Oh, I missed CV's name, which should have appeared first.

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    4. Deepak is in a different league with his ability to finish any crossword by 8:30. Bhavan did it today but he may have an advantage since he is in a different time zone.

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    5. Irrespective of the time zone the total time available to complete the crossword by 8:30 is still 2 hrs 15 min if the same is up at 6:15 IST

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    6. Oh! I was not sure when the online crossword comes up. Guardian's is up very early. That is why I said 'may'.

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  9. Compared to the rest of us all of you (incl.Richard,Suresh) are way above and we are still learning.Mastering all setters is really tough and it needs a lot of time,patience and good memory.

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    Replies
    1. delightfully tough.
      loved tut-tut, veal, fortknox, outsource and chechov.
      24A- why reportedly?

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    2. I had the same doubt. I took it as olden days and missed the anagram. This way the clue can become an & lit perhaps?

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    3. daze doing double duty as anag ind and ~ days ?

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  10. 24A-
    Bhavan's ref. leads to - "tol men",perhaps incorrectly,leads to "dolmen". Perhaps, that is where reportedly comes from.

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  11. Toughie all right, surfaces tend to lead one up the garden path. Very interesting though.

    A very minor flaw in 18D? Tense not in agreement.

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    Replies
    1. I think it's all right... "sport for money" is the definition and embraced is the hidden word indicator

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  12. "21 Designed the decks (8) SKETCHED (THE DECKS)*"

    Am I missing somethin' or the clue is????

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Designed is both the Defn & Anagram Indicator

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    2. I thought so, but not sure if it's considered fair.

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  13. Lovley tough one today. Faced difficulty in the southwest grid. Ended up looking here for Dolmen. Lots of clues putting their hands up to be picked as the Cod. Randomly picked Sea Change as my Cod.

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  14. @Richard & Colonel: Please don't include me your league - I just manage to figure out annos once in a while - many times after you wizards put in the answers!

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  15. Col.

    Page review no. is back to normal(nearing 9 lacs).Great !! Any idea about reason for the goof up?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No idea at all. Blogger has these glitches once in a way

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    2. Wonder if "Get Idea" will work here

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    3. You've got to be Abhishek to get it...

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  16. Could not finish today's CW - got stuck with some clues and decided to look here. But liked it nonetheless. I particularly like Skulldugger's references to some of my favorite topics (Black Hole/Singularity from today, Half life/Schrodinger's Cat from the last CW).

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  17. after seeing the answer it look easy..otherwise...appaadaa...romba kashtam....my day was unmade..

    mathu

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  18. Orkut is not allowing to post today 17.10.12
    10596 Klue Klux Klan
    Across
    1 Fire up, hustle, and then droop pace (11)
    9 Goddess at artist’s heart (3,2,2)
    10 Tool one fires audibly (3,3)
    11 A month of expedition? Not for yours truly! (5)
    12 Fish wrongly diagnosed without initial neck examination (7)
    15 Commission left stumped? Precisely so! (4)
    16 Restrain fish by trapping in close confines (10)
    18 Mutinies irritate, rile nobles (10)
    20 Position line-up with no problem initially (4)
    23 Rum — a rarity for you and I (7)[b]CURIO US[/b]
    24 Bar headless spectre from rally (5)
    26 Not right to throw tantrum in sport (6)[b]MUTANT(-r)*[/b]
    27 Reminder of the culture one is not into (7)
    28 Turnouts at PM’s address for ballets, say (11)
    Down
    2 Yak, say, crossing U.K. town (6)
    3 Ease up, woman! The girl’s back (4)
    4 Vitalities of adult boasting in state’s housing (10)
    5 Ornateness of mercurial chorister short of Bach’s works (8)
    6 Badger and assess thought (7)
    7 Hold on to agent hauled up from the grave (9)
    8 Cigarette advert overwhelms Elizabeth (6)
    13 Intimated in hell, you fed daughter (10)
    14 Conquest of the French trapped in department (9)
    17 Supreme, directionless, last-minute mayhem (8)
    19 Smell of boutiques is not dreadful (7)[b]BOUQUET(-is)*[/b]
    21 Old fiddle’s tales of the lizard (6)
    22 Block withholds feisty mierkat (6)
    25 A sign of love for valets (4)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can already hear the howls of protest coming for this puzzle :)

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    2. 28 Turnouts at PM’s address for ballets, say (11)

      My COD. Lovely surface reading

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    3. Agree with you, Renga. I have already prepared a post on today's date (Wed Oct 17) xpressing the same, to be submitted at 8-30 am

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    4. Bhavan, I am stuck with some clues in the upper half. Cleared all in the lower half, many of which I got at first look.

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