Monday 10 June 2013

No.10795, Monday 10 Jun 13, Scintillator

Scintillator has me in trouble with 1a and 20a, in addition to a few doubts about the ones I solved. Monday blues are back again!

ACROSS
1 1000 rupees will buy, on cutback, say, no vegetables (6) GREENS (G RS around EEN ??)  
      See comments
4 Rabbit zone? (4,4) CHAT ROOM CD
9 Run into a program’s checks (6) ABORTS (A BOT'S around R)
10 Palace constructed from mostly poor sand? (8) BASILICA (BAse SILICA) Correction (BAd SILICA)
     Palace, I am not so sure... See comments
12 Farewell to a geisha? (8) SAYONARA CD 
       Goodbye once more, after AfterDark
13 It is doable to make up whiteness (6) ALBEDO (DOABLE*)
15 Fill fully and light-fry on the outside (4) SATE (SAuTE) 
      Many's a time I have sated myself with satay
16 Where an organ must be eye-catching (5-5) FRONT PAGES CD
19 “Make martini cocktail before a kiss”, she would command (10) DOMINATRIX (DO MARTINI A X)*  Correction (DO MARTINI* X) 
     As worded, the ending of the word would be A X, since only martini is anagram fodder. Guys with grand-daughters, daughters, wife(s), sisters, aunts, mothers and grand-mothers, imagine any lady's picture here, from age 0 to infinity, (with apologies to the ladies).
20 Green flag (4) Addendum JADE 2  
     See comments
23 Supplier’s very last alternative (6) VENDOR (V END OR) 
      I took this to be TAIL OR initially
25 Don’t chisel diamonds that fail to impress (3,2,3) CUT NO ICE
27 Sleazy one is in trouble with marijuana (8) STINKPOT (STINK POT)
28 Flab is ungainly initially around bones (6) FIBULA (FLAB Is Ungainly)*   
     The def. seems to be plural, whereas the answer is not fibulas or fibulae or fibulæ. I can feel it in my bones that something is jarring here.
29 Swing back far within a fast lane (8) SPEEDWAY (DEEP< within SWAY)

30 Superstar’s life-story (6) LEGEND 2
     Remembered Dr Gayathri's book on Shivajirao Gaikwad

DOWN
1 Shops having partial gross rate (7) GRASSES (GR ASSESs)
2 Environment of electronic firm’s set-up (9) ECOSYSTEM (E CO SYSTEM)
3 Becoming aware of emptiness with lack of essence (6) NOTING (NOThING)
5 Reports say ambassador will patch up (4) HEAL (~H.E.'LL)
6 Drunk rightly swallowing soft tablet (8) TRIGLYPH (RIGHTLY* around P)
7 Oxygen burning in an oil source (5) OLIVE (O LIVE)  
      Surprised to see a blue olive? Well, I am not, since I am chromatically challenged
8 Soothe mad woes in grassy fields (7) MEADOWS (MAD WOES)*
      Reminded me of Jeeves' predecessor
11 A parrot fluttering evenly (3,4) PRO RATA (A PARROT)*
14 Green verminous snakes without mandibular skins (7) ENVIOUS (VErmINOUS)*
17 I’d a gutter cleared with thankfulness (9) GRATITUDE (I'D GUTTER)*
18 Truths are so plain (8) UNCOOKED CD
19 Tears off a girl’s banians (7) DIVESTS (DI VESTS)
      Do you think the clue leads to Di's vests ?
21 Dishonest dealer rings market leader for a gem (7) EMERALD (DEALER* around M)
22 Raw in pure form (6) UNRIPE (IN PURE)*
24 Endlessly deviant? On the contrary, innocent (5) NAIVE (dEVIANt)* Correction (dEVIANt)<  
      See comments
26 Ingredient of chocolate drink (4) COLA (T)


   Note: After completing the cartoon, I realised the driver is not on the right side (if one considers that Freeways and Speedways exist only in the US#, and not in India@). But I thought I'd get away saying it is a right hand drive car in the US and what you are seeing is two lanes going in the same direction. However, the car is not pulled up next to the shoulder, sorry!
# An autobahn by any other name...  @ Toll-roads in India are certainly not free nor speedways 

47 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks, Deepak. But do you think the clue says it all?

      Delete
    2. I was initially thinking of KALE a green, but could not flag it properly, so let it be

      Delete
  2. In line with Richard's suggestion, I have shifted the comments to the line after the anno, so that anno-seekers are not distracted.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1 1000 rupees will buy, on cutback, say, no vegetables (6) GREENS (G RS around EEN ??)

    My take:
    NEE<- (~nay = no)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what I thought too. But was not satisfied with the cut in cutback. Will update to this, but would like to see some more ideas, if any.

      Delete
  4. For the blog to be pleasing and less distracting to the viewer and to impose more keystrokes on the blogger:

    Can the comments in italics be indented from left so that the clue numbers are all in one array?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good suggestion. Tried that, does it look better now ?

      Delete
    2. Better. But still some work is needed! Try hanging indent!

      Delete
    3. I could not find the indent tool, so made do with inserting a few blanks.

      Delete
    4. There is no indent tool in blogger

      Delete
  5. 19 Tears off a girl’s banians (7) DIVESTS (DI VESTS)
    Do you think the clue leads to Di's vests ?


    No.

    You should know that girl's banians = 'girl has banians' in wordplay.

    That is number one, as TV debaters would say.

    No. 2 Do girls possess and wear banians? I thought they wore slips. camisoles, some Hindi word that I can't spell properly and which I believe is used in Tamil Nadu too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They used to call it 'paaDi' in olden days

      Delete
    2. In Chennai, roadside vendor ladies keep their money in-vest-ed

      Delete
    3. Lady vendors would be a better choice of words.

      Delete
  6. Chemise - that's the word I wanted.

    It's a pucca French word.

    I thought people were using some Hindi word. Maybe the pronunciation of the French word took on its own forms in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere in India.

    Shiftless people!

    ReplyDelete
  7. 10 A Palace constructed from mostly poor sand? (8) BASILICA (BAse SILICA)

    Doesn't mostly BASE yield BAS? Unless one reads it as BAS + ILICA

    24 D Endlessly deviant? On the contrary, innocent (5) NAIVE (dEVIANt)* On the contrary signifies opposite correctly, but can it be the anagrind?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The correct anno for 24D is:

      dEVIANt <

      On the contrary signifies reversal here

      Agree on 10A

      Delete
    2. To add to 24 D's anno my contention is wrong. Contrary also signifies an anagram.

      Are you also agreeing on the second part of my post re. 10A?

      Delete
    3. I'm naive enough to say that 24 D is a very well written clue.

      Delete
    4. 10 A Palace constructed from mostly poor sand? (8) BASILICA (BAse SILICA)

      Doesn't mostly BASE yield BAS? Unless one reads it as BAS + ILICA


      The anno should be {BA(-d)}{SILICA}

      Delete
    5. Thanks, Deepak. That makes sense.

      Delete
  8. In Wordpress I achieved the hanging indent by using relevant HTML tags in the HTML mode.

    Am still trying in Blogger. Don't know if I will succeed.

    Still living and learning.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Editing in HTML mode for each comment will be time consuming.

      Delete
  9. Thank you.

    All this by way of exchange of ideas. Was not suggesting that a blogger should follow any practice set by a member. Each blogger - who is after all volunteering - can do it the way he likes. Even if it is downright simple, we will accept it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Slight change in the anno for 19A. Should be DO MINATRI* X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How come the anagrind is in the middle of the fodder ? That was my initial question.

      Delete
    2. Make a martini cocktail... would have fitted the bill

      Delete
  11. Kishore,

    Where is the problem with the clue?
    19 “Make martini cocktail before a kiss”, she would command (10) DOMINATRIX (DO MARTINI A X)* You have one extra A making it 11 letters.

    Make: DO, MARTINI cocktail: MINATRI* before (a) Kiss: X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right. I was blind to the A in martini.

      Delete
    2. I thought you were only colour blind, didn't know you were A blind too

      Delete
    3. :-)

      If you want proof of colour blindness, I missed the green theme

      Delete
    4. Being A blind has it advantages. You get to see 'all kinds' of movies at a very young age.

      Delete
  12. Lots of green stuff today Greens.Jade,Grasses,Olive,Meadows,Envious,Emerald,Unripe from what I could make out.

    Had a tough time cracking today's cw.

    ReplyDelete
  13. That's surely a subtle way of hiding the theme.

    Ramesh, great that you discovered it.

    Scint, congrats! Your labours are not wasted!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Add Uncooked (salad), Ecosystem to the list.

      Delete
    2. All the greenery reminded me of this cumulative song:

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

      Delete
    3. So Monday morning blues giving way to Monday morning greens ?

      Delete
    4. But now it is past a

      Delete
    5. Take 2 :
      So Monday morning blues giving way to Monday afternoon greens ?

      Delete
    6. How did you guess our lunch menu ?

      Delete
  14. Scintilator does titillate our brains . As tasty as Palak paneer, but not so smooth. Introducing words like DOMINITRIX,

    MY CLUE OF THE DAY: chat room. Why are RABBITS compared to motor mouths?.

    ReplyDelete

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