Monday 3 March 2014

No.11022, Monday 03 Mar 2014, Aspartame

Aspartame has me stymied today!

ACROSS
6 Studio had rest then rehearsed a little (7) ATELIER  (had=ATE rest=LIE R) Anno not sure
7 Backing European Union’s silence was at the heart of disagreements (7) BRUSHES (EU'S< has SH) but then I am lost (SERB< around U SH)
9 Character at a confluence (5) DELTA CD,DD
10 Yell around barren manufacturing plant (9) CRANBERRY (CRY around BARREN*)
11 Attentive prisoner (7) CAPTIVE DD
          Like the ones at political rallies, brought by the truckloads
13 Travels across Jharkhand’s border to find creeks (6) FJORDS (FORDS across J)
15 Stress relieving physical activity? (13) WEIGHT LIFTING CD
19 In France, one is not odd. That’s mismatched! (6) UNEVEN (UN EVEN)
20 Wave entered capital and it caused a flood (7) SURFEIT (SURF E IT)  -not sure of capital, may be refers to first letter of entered
          This one evoked recent memories of deluged London
23 Girl to comment on the radio feature (9) DIMENSION (DI ~MENTION)
24 Cold cream on infected skins (5) GELID (GEL ID, infectious diseases) See comments
26 Fit worker and eastern leader into yoga related activities (7) TANTRIC (ANT R in TIC=fit)
27 She gets a hint from one who was rescued (7) EVACUEE (EVE gets A CUE)

DOWN
1 Snack with bits of meat, egg and lettuce (4) MEAL Acrostic
2 Celebration of boxer revolution starts with a leader of Daqing rising up (6) DIWALI (W I D< ALI)

3 Spit stew, broth etc. on Asian (9) BROCHETTE (BROTH ETC on E=easterner/Asian)
          After getting the penultimate letter in the crossing, I almost thought spit was expectorate. When an expectant orator clears his throat before speaking, is it an act of expect-oration ?
4 Cleaned half the rubbish on glossy black aircraft (5,3) JUMBO JET (JUnk MBO JET) Anno incomplete (mumbo JUMBO JET)  See comments
5 Rang others playfully for a little while (5-5) SHORT RANGE (RANG OTHERS)* imo, little while would be short time and not range ...
6 Offer supplement before operation, say (6) ADDUCE (ADD ~USE)
7 Spill guts of hobbling vagabond (4) BLAB (BL AB)
8 Most cunning priest turned back and left Sylvester to work (6) SLYEST (SYLVESTER -REV<)*
12 Promotion for select soldiers at the end of August (10) PREFERMENT (PREFER MEN T)
14 Revolutionary princess’s prophet carries holy book (9) DISSENTER (DI'S SEER carrying NT)
16 Colourful representation of naivety? (8) GREENERY CD
17 Scholar located and subdued dreadful din (6) PUNDIT (PUT around DIN*)
           Would have punned (on) it ... but my grid had holes in it
18 Food loaded with carbs given to saint to trick left democratic front (6) STAPLE (ST APLE) STODGE (ST dODGE) See comments
21 Hotchpotch silver coating given to book after rebinding edge (6) RAGTAG (R AG TAG)
22 Element puzzling niece often (4) ZINC (Z I N C)
25 Praise twin upon return (4) LAUD (DUAL<)

19 comments:

  1. 6 Studio had rest then rehearsed a little (7) ATELIER (had=ATE) Anno not sure

    had = ate
    rest = lie
    rehearsed a little = r


    7 Backing European Union’s silence was at the heart of disagreements (7) BRUSHES (EU'S<
    has SH) but then I am lost

    European = serb <-
    union = u
    silence = sh

    24 Cold cream on infected skins (5) gelid

    cream = gel
    infected skins = id ? Chambers has id as infectious diseases

    18 Food loaded with carbs given to saint to trick left democratic front (6) STAPLE (ST APLE)

    saint = st
    trick = dodge (-d) left democratic front

    ReplyDelete
  2. 4 Cleaned half the rubbish on glossy black aircraft (5,3) JUMBO JET (JUnk MBO JET) Anno incomplete

    (mumbo-) JUMBO + JET

    ReplyDelete
  3. 1d For us, Tamilians (at least Madrasis), snacks (noruku theenis) and meals (sappadu) are entirely different

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tried to justify the few I filled in after filling up- meaning I tried to put the cart before the horse. I feel this is the difference between hard and easy. It is not the words or their (may be obscure) meanings.One is never sure until we look into the blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You see what I meant earlier in these columns? I'm still trying to disentangle my head out of my locked knees !!

      I think, Aspatrame should come in more often for us to get inured to his wily ways of cluing !~!

      Delete
  5. There is a cartoon strip about Monday morning blues jst above the Quick CW in The Hindu today!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replies
    1. I reckon, fighting shy to accept defeat to Aspartame ? Ort else, still trying to figure out how to fill the grid ?

      Delete
    2. Logging in late. Too many gaping holes in the grid ! And I humbly and seriously accept my defeat to Aspertame !! And as our losing captains in Cricket generally say, I shall take positives from this defeat and hopefully put up a good show next time around !!!

      Delete
  7. Wonder what's in store for us tomorrow, now that Sankalak has gone to the happy hunting grounds

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Today our district is observing a total bandh protesting against a project aimed at diverting our lifeline river Netravati. So logging in late.

      After a Spinner spin tomorrow, it would have been Sankalak s round. Sincerely hoping that some of his already submitted puzzles have remained unpublished with TH, so we will still have the pleasure of solving his cws.

      Delete
    2. Forgot about Spinner. I don't think it will be right for The Hindu to use Sankalak's CW unless he had permitted them to do so in such an eventuality.

      Delete
  8. My laptop is back after a clean-up operation!! Will have to start getting used to Windows 7 and Office 2007 as that's what they put in after the purge. I hate these changes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is a hang-up everyone has until you get the hang of it.

      Delete
    2. We have a hung jury on that call

      Delete
  9. Hi everyone,

    Sorry I was unable to post earlier as my net has been acting up.
    I am experimenting around a bit till I figure out the right difficulty level.

    21 D is Ragbag - R(rebinding edge)+ [AG]+B(book)+[AG](silver coating)

    The subsequent ones should be easier to solve.
    If it's any worth, I had to break my head too trying to make this crossword.

    ReplyDelete
  10. RE. Sankalak's CW's his son can give the permission to publish the CW's already submitted by him. Maybe, TH can add a caption honouring him. Everyone including his family and our family, should be happy. Maybe CV can take it up and get it done.

    ReplyDelete

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