Wednesday 2 January 2013

No 10660, Wednesday 02 Jan 13, Sunnet

 An inbuilt word building exercise from Sunnet today.

ACROSS
1   Begins contracting street murals (6) STARTS {ST}{ARTS}
4   Knives discovered looking back inside sink’s drain operation (8) PONIARDS {PO}{NIARD}{S} [T<=]
10 Rush took printed matter inside and redecorated the surface (9) REPAPERED {RE{PAPER}ED}
11 Narrow source of light (5) TAPER [DD]
12 Question a pretender (5) POSER [DD]
13 Self-confessed bellhops are those that bring in stuff (9) IMPORTERS {I'M}{PORTERS}
14 Authorise one to give a name (7) ENTITLE [DD]
16 Only half a magnetic coil (4) SOLE SOLEnoid
19 Record band (4) TAPE [DD]
21 Jacket with shirt for woman hunter (7) TRAPPER (-w+t)TRAPPER
24 Procedure to remove fluid from pliant asp (6,3) SPINAL TAP*
25 Merry Spanish saint stripped off kilt (5) PLEAT Anno pending (Addendum - PLEAsanT - See comments)
26 People I heard on the radio (5) INDIA ? Anno pending (Addendum - [CD] - See comments)
27 Half of on-site allowance given for rehearsal (9) ITERATION {on-sITE}{RATION}
28 Rama’s wife going back into some forest tract (8) TREATISE {TRE{ATIS<=}E}
29 Sailor with bulging viewer? (6) POPEYE {POP}{EYE}

DOWN
1   Well-built trainer’s assistant (8) STRAPPER [DD]
2   Fitting answer knocked off oxygen from opponent (8) APPOSITE (-o+a)APPOSITE
3   I trap unruly animal (5) TAPIR*
5   Man who saw nothing to choose between mother and wife (7) OEDIPUS [GK]
6   Bury gangster with beheaded actuary among other things (5,4) INTER ALIA {INTER} {AL}IA Anno pending (Addendum - {INTER} {AL}{aIA} - See comments)
7   Performer gets the attention of those inside (6) RAPPER [DD]
8   Accentuate some silky plait (6) STRESS {S}{TRESS}
9   Glorify this era cut off from the Garden of Eden (6) PRAISE PaRAdISE
15 Replaced a pear tart pan (4,5) TEAR APART*
17 A prince with little desire (8) APPETITE {A}{P}{PETITE}
18 Claim to sound like nine-year-olds perhaps? (8) PRETENCE (~pre-tens)
20 Involves surgically separating part of rectum from intestines (7) ENTAILS ENTrAILS
21 Is Innkeeper an eavesdropper? (6) TAPPER [DD]
22 A bladder reportedly to support (6) ASSIST {A}{SSIST}(~cyst)
23 Screen puzzle (6) RIDDLE [DD]
25 Soft article dividing one with Indian ancestry (5) PIANO {PI{AN}O}

LINK TO SOLUTION GRID

Posted by at
Labels: ,

32 comments:

  1. Bhavan2 January 2013 at 08:33

    Very nice puzzle indeed

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bhavan2 January 2013 at 08:35

    Some answers:

    25 Merry Spanish saint stripped off kilt (5) PLEAT Anno pending PLEA(-san)T
    San = saint in Spanish

    A kilt might be pleated but does a pleat by itself mean kilt?

    26 People I heard on the radio (5) INDIA ? Anno pending
    India is the NATO code for I, but is "People" sufficient as definition?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath2 January 2013 at 08:36

      I had the same doubts as you Bhavan

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath2 January 2013 at 08:40

      'I heard on the radio', would have been sufficient

      Delete
    3. Bhalchandra Pasupathy2 January 2013 at 13:48

      Reg Pleat and Kilt: As a verb, one of the definitions for kilt from the Free online dictionary is 'to put pleats in (a cloth, skirt, etc).

      I think it is legit.

      Delete
    4. VP2 January 2013 at 13:59

      Chambers (online) has the verb form (1 to pleat something vertically) too. Was not aware of it though.

      Delete
    5. RameshJ2 January 2013 at 20:35

      For pleat, yes it was clued as a verb as Bhala & VP have noted.

      Regards People = Country, http://thesaurus.com/browse/people seems to support the view that 'Country' and 'People' are synonyms. Hence People should be treated as the Defn & I on radio as the pointer to the answer.

      Delete
  3. Bhavan2 January 2013 at 08:36

    6 Bury gangster with beheaded actuary among other things (5,4) INTER ALIA {INTER} {AL}IA Anno pending

    ...
    beheaded actuary = (a-)IA
    AIA = Associate of the Institute of Actuaries

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath2 January 2013 at 08:36

      A little far fetched

      Delete
    2. RameshJ2 January 2013 at 20:38

      Actuary = FIA ( Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries ), a qualification like CA has has been in existence in England since 1894.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath2 January 2013 at 22:10

      Still it is far fetched. Like if I said beheaded army officer it could be (c)OL or (m)AJ or (g)EN

      Delete
  4. Col_Gopinath2 January 2013 at 10:51

    TAPE -> TAPER -> TAPPER -> TRAPPER -> STRAPPER

    ReplyDelete
  5. Col_Gopinath2 January 2013 at 10:52

    Surprising that there are no comments other than from Bhavan!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown2 January 2013 at 11:14

      Maybe because the others, like me, are still struggling to complete it!
      Poniards was a new word, for me.

      Delete
  6. SandhyaP2 January 2013 at 11:29

    Twenty-one answers contain the letter P!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SandhyaP2 January 2013 at 11:31

      Twelve words contain AP consecutively.

      Delete
    2. Richard2 January 2013 at 13:59

      My! Research, sheer research, backed by great patience. :-)

      Delete
    3. RameshJ2 January 2013 at 20:42

      The entire cross word used exactly half the alphabet. A,E,I,O,U,S,T,P,R,N,D,Y and L

      Delete
    4. Deepak Gopinath2 January 2013 at 22:04

      Ramesh,

      The 'M' in 10A spoilt your plans

      Delete
    5. Bhalchandra Pasupathy2 January 2013 at 23:26

      Col, you probably refer to 13A, but I admire your patience in verifying, though Ramesh probably thinks you're a killjoy!

      Delete
  7. Bhalchandra Pasupathy2 January 2013 at 13:11

    Normally get late, later than usual today, doing it online and experiencing connectivity issues apart from the usual power outage.

    Absorbing puzzle today. Liked many clues (eg 13A) while some surfaces didn't mean much to me (eg 10A). I suppose 13A to a purist would have been self-confessing rather than self-confessed. A nicely concealed telescopic clue for PONIARDS which is also not so common a word. Pop for bulging could also raise a question. But I liked it on the whole.

    Still haven't figured out why Riddle is Screen, though the puzzle part provided the solution with the crossings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan2 January 2013 at 13:28

      I had the same question regarding the mismatch of pop & bulging.

      Riddle = Screen as in both meaning "sift" or "sieve"

      Delete
    2. Raghunath2 January 2013 at 16:23

      Pop: bulge not bulging

      Delete
    3. RameshJ2 January 2013 at 20:51

      10A : Rush took printed matter inside and redecorated the surface
      Should be read as : Rush ( Limbaugh) took printed matter inside and redecorated the surface. Where Rush is to taken as the first name or some shortened version of the first name.

      Merriam webster define "pop eye" as "an eye staring and bulging (as from excitement)"
      http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pop%20eye

      Delete
    4. Bhalchandra Pasupathy2 January 2013 at 23:28

      Ramesh: I did (take Rush as a person's name), but still? But don't get me wrong, I liked the puzzle

      Delete
  8. VP2 January 2013 at 13:54

    Had a couple of blanks in the end which the blog duly resolved. 8 DDs is a bit on higher side.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bhalchandra Pasupathy2 January 2013 at 13:58

    Since we seem to be lean on comments today, shall chip in with one more.

    Not entirely happy with 18D and 22D. For 18, tence for tens is something we might accept in India, but I doubt the same elsewhere.

    For 22, there is no legal word as a homophone for cyst, and generally accepted practice I believe is not to have a made up collection of letters.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RameshJ2 January 2013 at 21:03

      The question for 18D IMO should have been on pre and not on the tence part. Pretence/Pretense ( Both can fit in ) have the shortened e vs pre tens which will have the elonagated e. On Tens vs tence, in all the dictionaries that I tried listening to, I could not find much difference.

      22D is a good catch. Will keep it in mind in the future.

      Delete
    2. Bhalchandra Pasupathy2 January 2013 at 23:32

      Had a question on the pre but did not voice it. Actually my comment was because I read something in Shuchi's blog about how Indian crossies differ from the UK and how we are more tolerant of homophones (not surprising considering that no two states would pronounce a given word in a similar fashion)!!!

      And re 22D, not at all trying to catch anything, just a remark in a forum where I believe we are all good friends

      Delete
  10. RameshJ2 January 2013 at 20:31

    Thanks to all who attempted the CW & a double 'Thank you' to those that took the trouble to express an opinion about it or give feedback.
    Still trying to balance life & crossword and hence the hugely delayed response.

    ReplyDelete
  11. raju umamaheswar3 January 2013 at 17:28

    Ramesh: I'd give 90% for your attempt. Moast of us are used to the English crossies and I do admire the Indian flavour put in by our compilers

    I didn't like 22 down at all !! Too far-fetched.!Similarly, 26 across- INDIA is very outre !! why radio? Why not just I ?

    10 across: REPAPERED : This is often seen in the English papers. I annotated it as REED for RUSH which is a plant and PAPER as printed matter. Your annotation is new to me.

    4 across: PONIARDS is very refreshing, especially for newbies !

    I also just now completed your sunday special of 9th Dec, 2012, as I was away. You do put in a few weird clues unheard of in our lingo-- What say CV?

    ReplyDelete
  12. polyglot6 January 2013 at 12:45

    26 Across : Radio is misleading. "PEOPLE I HEARD ON AIRWAVES" would have been most appropriate !

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)