Saturday 27 December 2014

No. 11277, Saturday 27 Dec 14, Spinner


Good stuff for the most part. Liked ASCENT, AGREEING, CROSSING, COVER , COOLANTS, ASININITY and WEARINESS. However some of the synonyms/abbreviations seem far-fetched to me. Also repeated use of the same constructs (husband=H, that man/woman=HE/HER/SHE, Spinner=I) were not to my liking either. Looks like I got out of the wrong side of the bed today!

ACROSS
1 Bank has no source to money (6) ASCENT [hAS + money=CENT] 
4 Tricks with a bit of ingenuity create chances (8) CHICANES [Ingenuity CHANCES]* Not sure anagram indicator between fodder works
10 Puts money into fashionable undergarments (7) INVESTS [fashionable=IN + undergarments=VESTS]
11 Female superhero? (4,3) IRON MAN [Fe=IRON + male=MAN]
12 Settling for a young girl with a little intelligence (8) AGREEING [A + young=GREEN + Girl outside Intelligence]
13 Calling for attention to that woman’s lost husband (6) CAREER [attention=CARE + that woman=HER - Husband]
15 Hood and cape cover nocturnal being (4) COWL [Cape + nocturnal being=OWL]
17 Increase in regular charge (9) INFLATION [IN + regular=FLAT + charge=ION]  ION=charged particle?
20 Adoring mail to one who would lend you a ‘Spinner’? (3,6) FAN LETTER [spinner=FAN + one who would lend=LETTER]
21 Gamble on first letter or second letter (4) BETA [gamble=BET + first letter=A]
24 Integrated and tuned properly with basic instruments (6) UNITED [TUNED + Instruments]*
25 You might need at least one to solve this clue (8) CROSSING [CD]
28 Such a person has Cyclopean vision (3-4) ONE-EYED [CD]
29 Sister has a civil engineer’s degrees (7) NUANCES [sister=NUN outside A + Civil Engineer + 'S]
30 Editor initially alters/changes Shelley’s conclusion on a type of wind (8) EASTERLY [Editor + ALTERS* + shelleY]
31 That man’s back in vehicle reserved for those who are late (6) HEARSE [that man=HE + back=ARSE]

DOWN
1 Compliance with a tender can put right initial errors (8) ABIDANCE [A + tender=BID + CAN* + Errors]
2 Caught deliveries from fielding position (5) COVER [Caught + deliveries=OVER]
3 Ate duck with that lady (6) NOSHED [duck=NOD outside that lady=SHE] duck=nod?
5 Spinner goes into that woman to produce successor (4) HEIR [spinner=I inside that woman=HER]
6 Coal’s not burning due to liquids that prevent heating (8) COOLANTS [COALS NOT]*
7 ‘No urn’ became disastrous; Cricket Australia left out champion (6,3) NUMBER ONE [NO URN BECAME - Cricket Australia]*
8 Many a star’s hot (6) SUNDRY [a star=SUN + hot=DRY] dry=hot?
9 Madness due to a tiny sin I made (9) ASININITY [A TINY SIN I]*
14 Draft some baffling clues endlessly and publish (9) BLUEPRINT [Baffling + cLUEs + publish=PRINT]
16 Exhaustion arises when thrashing and kicking husband out (9) WEARINESS [ARISES WHEN - Husband]*
18 Commercial involving Jekyll finally taking ecstasy and his alter ego, organic compound (8) ALDEHYDE [commercial=AD outside jekylL + Ecstasy + his alter ego=HYDE]
19 Generosity left a really good engineer saving seventy euros, tops! (8) LARGESSE [Acrostic]
22 Our ref resolved commotion (6) FURORE [OUR REF]*
23 Freedom for engineering prospect (6) ESCAPE [Engineering + prospect=SCAPE] Is E for Engineering from say B of E?
26 Provoke dog to follow lion regularly (5) INCUR [lIoN + dog=CUR]
27 Poem on village’s kinky lady following Spinner without any top (4) IDYL [spinner=I + LADY - Any*]

32 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Clue indicates past tense and from Chambers: nosh slang noun food. verb (noshed, noshing) intrans to eat.

      Delete
    2. From thefreedictionary: NOD: 2. incline, bob, bow, duck, dip

      Delete
  2. 23 Freedom for engineering prospect (6) ESCAPE [Engineering + prospect=SCAPE] Is E for Engineering from say B of E?

    Chambers gives E = Engineering

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  3. An article on Page 6 of The Hindu, Bangalore Ed "1,000 villages to be declared open defection-free on Republic Day" !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Being a professional fault-finder as an online editor, I too noticed it at first sight.

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    2. Apart from headlines, even the first paragraphs of news items often have basic grammatical mistakes. I have notice a couple in the past three days.This just takes away from reading pleasure. And the Readers' Editor, when he rarely notes a terrible spelling mistake, calls it a 'spelling quirk'. What is a 'quirk'? That the sub-editors did their jobs right but some technical glitch mysteriously altered the spelling at some later stage?

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    3. Another item from today's paper.... not a quirk, but a bus that goes close to the speed of a commercial jet

      http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/bmtc-bus-put-on-sale-online/article6728564.ece

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    4. I am not sure if they will prescribe norms, a la political defections, on the threshold beyond which defections (sic) will be permitted enmasse!

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    5. That brings me to an old joke: a person who had just come to a town in England asked his hostess as to the location of the w/c. She, to his surprise, told him, every Sunday on the lawn opposite the town hall, duly presided over by Rev. Thompson. She had, of course, mistaken the w/c to mean the W.C.

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    6. All ye-grammar gremlin fiends: You've the rap(p)ed the knuckle right . I used to write the Kenya Press for such bloopers when they used the word rape for rap, referring to the politicians being pulled up !

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  4. The word the thliipped through twice above !! read write to the press

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  5. I have a doubt. Someone pl. clarify
    'That woman' refers to 'She' or 'Her'?
    With my limited grammar, I understood that it has to be "that woman's" to become her. But I have frequently seen the use of that woman for 'her'. Am I wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I gave it to 'that woman'
      I gave it to 'her'
      Passes the substitution test so it seems good enough ..
      On the other hand 'that woman's ' would also work for 'her' as :
      It's 'that woman's ' thing
      It's 'her ' thing
      Further , 'that woman's' could also equal 'hers' as
      It's ' that woman's' !
      It's 'hers' !

      It's all a matter of the context we regard thus
      Hope that didn't confuse things more for you !
      Merry Xmas all !

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    2. What did you give her?....

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    3. Only a curious question? It kills the cat!
      No viewpoint as a setter?!

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    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. In 31A, it is 'He' for that man (I presumes man's is for the surface reading)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the setter intended 'he' for 'that man' and 's as 'has' so that it works like 'that man' has 'back' , compelling the solver to join the parts together . He can correct me if he wishes.

      Delete
    2. Yes, Aakash is right. The 's is meant to be read as 'has'
      .

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  7. 8D-Can sundry be called many? It is closer to diverse,assorted than many as in sundries for extras in cricket.

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  8. ASCENT, NUANCES & ESCAPE failed me. As pointed out by Col, prospect is SCOPE only - how it leads to scape? Anyway happy to solve the rest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prospect also means ". a view or scene, esp one offering an extended outlook", which is the same as scape.

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  9. wonderful web,the one,spun&woven by the spider,the master-weaver using fine-warped yarns as in 4,11,13a & well- wefted ones as in 18 d . The resultant fabric comes out so nice, perceptible to the commoners like me owing much credit to the Spinner. Thank you the spinning master.

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  10. Thank you Sridgar. You have given it some clarity.I was also thinking on those lines only, but seemed round about.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Her = That Woman sounds fine to me. Can you see that woman? = Can you see her?

    When the wordplay part of the clue fro 4 across is read with a comma as follows -

    " with a bit of ingenuity, create chances", I feel it's a clear enough instruction to rearrange 'chances' with 'i'.

    Whether this is acceptable to solvers, I'm not sure.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Duck=Nod and Dry=Hot are both listed in thesaurus as valid synonyms.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you Srivatsan.
    Mine was a general query and you are not the first one to use it. My confusion arises when it is used for both Her & She. Then we have to decide depending on other things like crossings etc.

    ReplyDelete

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