Sunday 29 September 2013

No 2758, Sunday 29 Sep 2013

Enjoyed this one. My COD 17A.

ACROSS
1   Study occupied by a senior clergyman (4) DEAN {DE{A}N}
3   Director in golf club longing to acquire the lot (5,5) WOODY ALLEN {WOOD}{Y {ALL}EN}
10 Interpret former patent (7) EXPLAIN {EX}{PLAIN}
11 Appropriate, a truss (very large) (7) APROPOS {A}{PROP}{OS}
12 A bishop put in a new villa close to shrine - that's handy (9) AVAILABLE {A}{VAIL{A}{B}L*}{E}
13 Suspect definition (5) SENSE [DD]
14 Really funny TV channel - cracking (4-9) SIDE-SPLITTING {SIDE}-{SPLITTING}
17 Fly lengthy stages, with old man at the front (5-8) DADDY-LONGLEGS {DADDY}-{LONG LEGS}
21 Sudden round of applause in Oval, inappropriate after Surrey's start (5) SALVO {S}{OVAL*}
23 Notices plastered across front of office opening in Milton Keynes? (9) ECONOMIST {ECON{O}{M}IST*}
24 Cakes - girl's got her sixth in her mouth! (7) ECLAIRS (+e)ECLAIR(-e)S
25 One associated with Queen, happy to bring in copper (7) MERCURY {MER{CU}RY}
26 Further snake shows renewed energy (6,4) SECOND WIND {SECOND} {WIND}
27 Guide young man round far side of stage (4) LEAD {L{E}AD}

DOWN
1   Two letters for radio presenter (6) DEEJAY (d j)
2   Valued a piano, much admired (9) APPRAISED {A}{P}{PRAISED}
4   Several books in one vehicle (7) OMNIBUS [DD]
5   Reach an agreement with party over a vintage port? (2,1,4) DO A DEAL {DO} {A} {DEAL}
6   A burden shouldered by the directors in general (6-3-5) ACROSS-THE-BOARD {A}{CROSS}-{THE-BOARD}
7   Short row about winning flower (5) LUPIN {L{UP}INe}
8   Gets gen distributed about small savings (4,4) NEST EGGS {NE{S}T EGGS*}
9   Parliamentary proposal an oily Tory made, ludicrously (5,3,6) EARLY DAY MOTION*
15 Start school (9) INSTITUTE [DD]
16 Greek hero you'd assess, mistakenly, as forgotten (8) ODYSSEUS {YOU'D+asSESS}*
18 What supervisor did about bladed hand tool (7) OVERSAW {OVER}{SAW}
19 Jazz musician, proficient guy (7) GOODMAN {GOOD}{MAN}
20 Remained sober, reportedly (6) STAYED (~staid)
22 Ring up about island shrub (5) LILAC {L{I}LAC<=}
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20 comments:

  1. Chaturvasi29 September 2013 at 08:31

    Please see late last evening/next morning Comments under yesterday's blog on Skull's CWD.
    Join in, if you like.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deepak Gopinath29 September 2013 at 08:34

    10:30 Special by Afterdark

    ReplyDelete
  3. raju umamaheswar29 September 2013 at 08:42

    Orkut has gone kaput !! last of the across clues and entire down clues have been spun off into cyberspace !! Cannot solve !! Have to be content with the comments today. will try Afterdark after morning tomorrow !! G'night to me and good morning and good day to ye=all !!

    ReplyDelete
  4. VJ29 September 2013 at 09:09

    I thought yesterday's late-evening discussion was pretty interesting. I should say I'm with CV and Bhavan on this one.

    As we know, there was an ex THC setter who boldly copied clues from various foreign publications without changing a single alphabet. That I feel is a clear violation and sheer laziness. To be inspired by a clue is one thing and lifting it without changing nothing is another. That being said, I'd definitely cut Skulldugger some slack i.e. even if the setter had taken an already published clue and improvised on it. However, it's also possible that the setter could've thunk this one up on his own. Well, if the setter had decided to use "in the outskirts of" device, he/ she ain't gonna have many cities to choose from - there ain't many popular cities starting with C and ending with E that readily springs to mind (or perhaps my geography is limited!!!). I could think of Charlottesville and Cologne and if I was a setter I'd have picked the latter 'cause it reads better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous29 September 2013 at 11:35

      On the main issue, I think that unless there is absolute similarity, we should not make an accusation of plagiarism. And even in that case, one swallow does not make a summer, as coincidences do take place, as recently seen with Bhavan's clue. Many swallows, like in the previous case, of course can make an accusation stick.

      Delete
  5. Deepak Gopinath29 September 2013 at 09:13

    VJ,
    Cities starting with C and ending with E are aplenty Coimbatore, Carthage, Constantinople and so on and on

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VJ29 September 2013 at 09:36

      OMG, Coimbatore, how could I have missed that? Still, Carthage is not all that popular - at least when compared to Cologne and I don't there's anything like Constantinople now. It's an old city.

      Anyhoo, all I said was, there are not many cities that one could recall easily with that combination (C___E). There could be many small cities and towns across the globe meeting the above parameter, but the ones that majority of the people would recall is limited, i.e. recognizing at the spur of the moment.

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath29 September 2013 at 10:39

      An internet search will throw up plenty. Some others which come to mind easily are Cambridge, Carlisle, Chesapeake, Cheynee, Charlotte

      Delete
    3. VJ29 September 2013 at 11:24

      Of course, an internet search will throw up plenty of results for every possible combination and I don't deny that. The point is, only a handful of those results could be considered popular and easily recognizable to many.

      Even in your above list, I would say, Cambridge is likely to be known to many but not sure about the other 3 considering that we're not in the US.

      The point is, we cannot ignore the possibility that the word "Cologne" appearing in 2 different puzzles is merely a coincidence.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous29 September 2013 at 11:29

      Clyde or Cuddalore take your pick

      Delete
    5. Chaturvasi29 September 2013 at 11:48

      To VJ: Especially if the two setters are males and are used to dabbing eau de Cologne on their face after the customary morning shave.

      Delete
  6. Chaturvasi29 September 2013 at 11:53

    There is an interesting Comment by Shuchi under Saturday's blog.

    With AD's spl and Sun THC today, the Col's blog on Skull's CWD does not show up on the opening page of THCC.

    Hence this alert.

    Please don't miss reading the late Comments there.

    Any further Comments on the subject, please place under today's Sun THC.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Shrikanth29 September 2013 at 12:08

    I had missed the entire discussion yesterday. I am not at all happy with this accusation. As CV Sir pointed out similar software usage can give similar word break-ups. And as Bhavan pointed out why should one clue of 30 be a stolen one!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chaturvasi29 September 2013 at 12:43

    Deepak

    Don't know why a single comment of mine has appeared many times. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
  9. VMA Nair29 September 2013 at 18:56

    14 and 26 A anno explanation please

    ReplyDelete
  10. Chaturvasi29 September 2013 at 20:24

    14 Really funny TV channel - cracking (4-9) SIDE-SPLITTING

    Really funny - def
    TV channel - - side - I think it's a slang in the UK. If you ask someone 'what side is it on?' you mean which TV channel is it on?
    cracking - good on surface reading - leading to 'splitting' - part of the phrase reqd

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chaturvasi29 September 2013 at 20:26

    Further snake shows renewed energy (6,4) SECOND WIND

    Further - second
    snake - not a noun meaning the reptile but a verb meaning coil, wind
    shows - (link word)
    renewed energy - def. See dict.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Col_Gopinath29 September 2013 at 20:27

    Really funny TV channel - cracking (4-9)
    Really funny = Definition = SIDE-SPLITTING
    TV channel = SIDE
    cracking = SPLITTING

    Further snake shows renewed energy (6,4)
    Further = SECOND
    snake = WIND
    shows renewed energy = Definition = SECOND WIND

    ReplyDelete

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