Thursday 20 June 2013

No 10804, Thursday 20 Jun 13, The Phantom

Trying out the new table format using an excel table 'HTMLised' using TABLEIZER.


ACROSS


1 U.S. State not covered in showers predicted for tropical wetland (10)RAINFORESTRAINF{OR}EST Anno not clear (Addendum - RAIN FOREcaST - See comments)
6 & 10 Critical decision to perform duties of Brahma or Shiva? (4,2,5)MAKE OR BREAK  [CD/GK]
11Breaking up unity is no good; leads to undoing (7)UNTYING{UNITY}*{N}{G}
12Set to work making motorcycle engine perhaps (3-6)TWO-STROKE*
13Scumbag growls displaying violent behaviour (5)AGGRO[T]
14A table listing Arabian Sea leads to set of maps (5)ATLAS{A}{T}{L}{A}{S}
15Gratis hits in football, result of opposition’s fouls (4,5)FREE KICKSE
17Echo of low sound reflected about in report, is backfire (9)BOOMERANG {B{OOM<=}{ER<=}ANG}
21Samosas are spoilt, therefore rejected aggregate (5)AMASSsAMoSAS*
22Trendy review about public transportation (5) TRAMSTRAMS<= Put in {RE}{BUS} first and got confused.
24A standard three-foot baton? (9)YARDSTICK{YARD}{STICK}
26Concise symbolic story describes men returning at a lively tempo (7)ALLEGRO{ALLEGe}{RO<=} Not sure of Anno (Addendum - ALLEG(RO<=)y - See comments)
27Gaudy display by admirer is not bad sounding (7)FANFARE{FAN}{FARE}(~fair)
28Two lads losing their heads over plaything (2-2)YO-YO {YOb}-{YOb}<=
29Is Pretty Cap” novel not using a printed copy? (10)TYPESCRIPT{IS+PRETTY+CaP}*




DOWN


1 Romania — East German’s place to settle (5)ROOST {RO}{OST}Why East? (See comments)
2 Misunderstanding writer’s take about British rejecting the Italian’s spirit (9)IMBROGLIOIM{BR}IG{LI<=}O Anno not clear (Addendum - {IM{BR}{OG<=}{LI<=}O} - See comments)
3 Parties meant specifically to break fasts perhaps (7) FIESTAS{F{IE}STAS*}
4 Take illegal cut and head off to leave hurriedly on river (4,3) RAKE OFF{R}(tAKE OFF} ?
5 Gay without hesitation breaks in to grasp as one wriggles out of embrace (7)SQUEEZE {S{QUEer}EiZE}
7 Copying a protocol message between computers (5)APING {A}{PING}
8 Song, seers composed absorbs attention (9)ENGROSSES*
9 Plainclothesman? The Christian Apostle (2,4)ST MARK {ST {M}ARK}
14Whimsical to live in trees with solitude essentially for nothing? (9)ARBITRARYARB(-o+solITude)ITRARY
16Noisy celebration over tea upsets Ravi in moral science class (9)CHARIVARI{CHA}{R{RAVI*}I} I wonder if this word had Indian origins?
18Flag with directions to wave (6)

ENSIGN {EN}{SIGN}
19Tom, Dick or Harry or Andy including wild boy (7)ANYBODY{AN{BOY*}DY}
20Assemble a cage in iron for female ruminant (7)
GIRAFFEGIRA{F}{FE} Anno pending (Addendum - {RIG{<=}{A}{F{F}E} - see comments)
21Spies sent up nab sailors carrying selenium and poison (7)ARSENIC{A{R{SE}N}IC<=}
23A couple of lines in prayer at heart to calm (5)ALLAY{A}{LL}{prAYer}
25Paid obeisance to join the Spanish, overcoming ego (5)KNELTKN(-i+el)ELT





80 comments:

  1. Nice new format of posting. Wonder how it is for handset users.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi
      Sorry again not good for THC app on iPhone cannot read the annos

      Delete
    2. NN,
      Hold your phone in the horizontal position and the post will look fine.

      Delete
  2. 1a : showers predicted = RAIN FORECAST
    US State not covered = remove CA

    ReplyDelete
  3. 26a: concise symbolic story = ALLEGOR(-y)
    men returning = OR -> RO
    at a lively tempo = ALLEGRO

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1d: {RO}{OST}Why East?
    East = OST in German
    'Place to settle' is the definition

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks good, Deepak.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 20d: GIRA{F}{FE} Anno pending
    assemble = rig up = GIR
    a = A
    cage in ... for = containment indicator
    iron = FE
    female = F
    ruminant = GIRAFFE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not clear how 'cage in iron for female' leads to FFE. Is it {F{F}E} then it is female caged in Iron

      Delete
    2. I think the setter meant the same, although it didn't come out as clearly as your version.

      Delete
  7. Still not sure of IMBROGLIO.

    This is a very nice puzzle from Phantom.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Misunderstanding writer’s take about British rejecting the Italian’s spirit (9)

    IM{BR}{(OG)(LI)<-}O

    IMO: In my opinion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bravo, Sandhya. That is the only one I had not been able to crack.

      Delete
    2. It's high time Sandhya joined the band of setters, unless she is already one from amongst the new lot

      Delete
    3. Why 'No way'. The way is clear if you go via CV ;-)

      Delete
    4. Have you penned a testamentary document ?

      Delete
    5. Then, there is a way

      Delete
  9. Replies
    1. Zugzwang of the Col.'s gambit deftly side-stepped by Sandhya...

      Delete
    2. 852 is after 851 ;-)

      Delete
    3. Sandhya, there is a landslide in your favour. Give it a serious thought.

      Delete
    4. @Richard: 'One swallow does not a summer make!'

      Delete
  10. Thanks to KKK for the link to TABLEIZER

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad to be of assistance, Sir!

      Think there is even a simple option to remove the borders if the 'table' seems to un-blogly for people.

      @Kishore Sir, the formatting is spot on! Well played!

      Delete
    2. Thanks, KKK. And no 'Sir' please. After all, 3Ks are more than 1

      Delete
    3. KKK,

      Looked for the option to remove the borders but couldn't find it. Do let me know how to do it.

      Delete
  11. CHARIVARI I wonder if this word had Indian origins?

    Sounds like how a Andhraite might address an Iyengar gentleman with respect... on the lines of Srivari (remembered the old movie Srivarikku premalekha)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, that should be Srivariki premalekha

      Delete
    2. The movie and theatre listings in "Punch" used to be titled 'London Charivari'

      Delete
    3. That Iyengar gent could be Ravi Chari*?

      Delete
    4. Is the celebration about Hari & Ravi's marriage?

      Delete
    5. Is the celebration about Hari & Ravi's marriage? :P

      Delete
  12. Col,

    Typo in anno for 20 D. Should be RIG<-

    ReplyDelete
  13. Another great cw from the Phantom

    ReplyDelete
  14. Looked fine on my mini iPad.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wonder what happened to Skulldugger?

    ReplyDelete
  16. 21d reminded me of old lace. Beautiful comedy...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Refer KKK's 9:53 and my 10:30,

    Borders removed, looks better now

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col,


      Sorry I could not reply earlier. Looks much better indeed! In fact, you could, perhaps, look at experimenting with, maybe, thinner borders and then finally decide if removing them altogether is indeed thee best option.


      Cheers!

      Delete
  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice Puzzle Phantom. very interesting.

      Am surprised that your changes weren't carried out, because I literally bug The Hindu with so many changes and they are promptly made (it's a different thing that there are still mistakes creeping in , I spoke a bit too early with tomorrow being my turn)

      Delete
    2. Sorry AD, I deleted the post to which you had replied, as it was too long.

      Delete
    3. Split it i three parts and reproduced below.

      Delete
  19. Hello everybody,
    Assuming the dust has settled, shall attempt to address a couple of issues which had cropped up:
    20 D: Assemble a cage in iron for female ruminant (7)
    Not clear how 'cage in iron for female' leads to FFE. Is it {F{F}E} then it is female caged in Iron

    Cage in iron: Cage made of iron: FE. For female: F comes in F E. I thought this came out clearly.

    4 D: Take illegal cut and head off to leave hurriedly on river (4,3) RAKE OFF {R}(tAKE OFF} ? Yes
    6 D: Noisy celebration over tea upsets Ravi in moral science class (9) CHARIVARI. {CHA}{R{RAVI*}I}.
    Upset Ravi was intended as reversal, being part of Down clue. However, the anno works both ways.

    ReplyDelete
  20. This clue missed the attention of the purists amongst us:
    21 Samosas are spoilt, therefore rejected aggregate (5) AMASS sAMoSAS*.

    And the debutant's CW carried this on May 13:
    22 Collect rotten samosas that are not big (5) AMASS (SAMosAS)*.

    There was a lot of discussion here about the use of abbreviations in deletion/ addition into an anagram fodder. I had then changed the clue to a simple charade, for this reason and also since it would have been a near copy of Aspartame's puzzle. Was surprised to it appear unchanged today. Funnily, just yesterday I had requested a spelling correction and it was carried out. I had, well in advance, submitted four other clues requiring changes but were not done. Think setters should pay more attention the first time. No damage done, but would have been satisfied had these appeared.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Coincidentally Aspartame's puzzle also carried this clue, which appeared in today's puzzle:
    17 Al Gore left dancing brisk ballet movements (7) ALLEGRO (AL GORE L)*.

    Hope you enjoyed today's offering.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Do anyone of you face the issue of comments after getting published, suddenly disappearing? Happens frequently to me. There was one I posted under Kishore's 9.01, it was there for a while, now not seen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somehow quite a few of your comments have gone into the spam folder, don't know why. I have restored all of them from there.

      Delete
  23. IM{BR}{(OG)(LI)<-}O
    IMO: In my opinion

    Can anyone explain the anno please?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. IMO: In My Opinion = Writer's take/interpretation
      BR: British
      IL: Italian
      GO: spirit/verve/zest
      IL + GO reversed(rejected)

      Definition: Misunderstanding

      Delete
  24. In 16D can anyone tell me what does "in moral science class" imply ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RI = Religious instruction. That has been referred to as 'moral science class' which is debatable (not from the theological perspective but if it is another instance of the indirect abbreviation indicator discussion from yesterday)

      Delete
    2. I thought I had read somewhere that RI was an abbrv for moral sc or instruction.

      Delete
    3. Thanks Bhavan and Phantom.

      Delete
  25. I prefer the clue-first blog format, and this formatting is great on the eyes. (Windows Desktop/Firefox)

    I thought 9D was rather nice, or at least the cryptic part 'Plainclothesman' leadning to ST MARK. I didn't get the anno. until I saw the blog post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But is man = M a valid abbreviation? Male = M is known to me, but not sure about the former.

      Delete
    2. Well, then it should be! ;-) I've always thought it was. Man - Male is close enough, except for some official stamp of approval.

      Delete
  26. Sandhya,

    Re Imbroglio. Slight corr in anno: IL: 'the' in Italian.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Phantastic opherring phrom Phantom : Orkut's clues were hit by gremlin as some of them were beset with hieroglyphic symbols !@#$%^& !!

    Clues of my day: IMBROGLIO & CHARIVARI. Annotation for the former was very convoluted whereas, the latter was ribtickling- so many Infdian names like Ravi and Chari, Hari . Very unusual word to appear in a cryptic crossword.

    I went at this crossword like a dog with a bone and struck off all the clues in 20 minutes flat and then sat down to parse and so many pennies dropped like a One -armed bandit !!

    Thanks Phantom. Your creation was phantasmagorical.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Really nice one from Phantom. Plainclothesman was my COD.

    ReplyDelete
  29. The use of 'M' for man in Plainclothesman is a valid point. I too initially had misgivings about it's use. Had checked with Shuchi @ crosswordunclued, who confirmed that it had been used in a few Guardian puzzles. Here's a clue from Arden which appeared recently (on 5th June) where M is abbreviated for man.

    13 A man from South Africa went on to propagate it (6) AHIMSA (A + HIM + SA)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I might add that I was expecting the question on this as well as on the SAMOSAS issue (after seeing it in print today).

      Delete
    2. In the Arden clue, it seems man gives HIM. not M.

      9d is an excellent clue. Guardian or not, I am not sure if 'm' can be used for man. My edition of the Chambers dictionary does not have 'man' for 'm' but a crossword dictiionary has.

      Do we go by what the general dictionaries say or what the specialist dictionaries have or what convention dictates?

      If we accept 'm' for man, tell me in what context it is sued.

      OTOH, we use the abbr. m for male in several contexts.

      Baby born, m, 2.5kg, fair, w/ scar on forehead.

      Delete
    3. Sorry pasted the wrong clue.

      7 Point man to lead the fighters is seen as *"ingratiating"* (6) *SMARMY* (S + M + ARMY)

      Delete
    4. Sorry pasted the wrong clue.

      7 Point man to lead the fighters is seen as *"ingratiating"* (6) *SMARMY* (S + M + ARMY)

      Delete

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