Tuesday 20 January 2015

No.11296, Tuesday 20 Jan 2015, Lightning


Lightning is 29

Across
1 Box eccentric horse (8) CHESTNUT (CHEST NUT)
5 Spirit of unstable one, not entirely emotional for starters (6) PSYCHE (PSYCHo Emo...)
9 Department to rip off oriental cabinet (8) WARDROBE (WARD ROB E)
10 It is assumed that frozen water is not good upfront (6) OFFICE (OFF before ICE)
12 Verse of detailed song in religious education (5) RHYME (HYMn in RE)
13 Vehicle's diagram is something kept as a cherished item (9) AUTOGRAPH (AUTO GRAPH)
14 Chomp four bits (6) NIBBLE (2)
16 Applause from king leaving for victory speech (7) OVATION (ORATION-R+V)
19 Terminate mice stricken by plague, say (7) ENDEMIC (END MICE*)
21 Withheld estimate to shelter the most aged (6) ELDEST (T)
23 Insane ape gouged teacher (9) PEDAGOGUE (APE GOUGED)*
25 European entering revolving door in an event for cowboys (5) RODEO (E in DOOR*)
26 Hardened judge leaving hurt (6) INURED (INjURED)
27 Improper to rub black coal on high speed airliner (8) TURBOJET ((TO RUB)* JET)
28 Deal with unknown agreement (6) TREATY (TREAT Y)
29 Sapper likely to be trustworthy (8) RELIABLE (RE LIABLE)
          especially the THCC boss...

Down
1 Firm protected minor — one showing fear (6) COWARD (CO WARD)
2 One catching the worm, rarely flying across Belgium, Italy and Germany (5,4) EARLY BIRD (RARELY* across B I D)
3 Brief part of intersection (5) TERSE (T)
4 Annoyance shown by shadow government’s head at end of ordinance (7) UMBRAGE (UMBRA Gov.. ord..E)
6 Fraud's age changed for protection (9) SAFEGUARD (FRAUD'S AGE)*
7 Tea boxes in porcelain (5) CHINA (IN in CHA)
8 Factor, perhaps to replace grand, stylish animal (8) ELEPHANT (ELEGANT -G +PH)
11 To return to wealthy German (4) OTTO (TO< TO)
          Like Beetle Bailey's Sarge's dog ...
15 Yet begums going bananas after you (2,2,5) BE MY GUEST (YET BEGUMS)*
17 Embezzlement by trustee in form of employment providing extra money (6,3) INSIDE JOB (IN SIDE- JOB)
18 Establish meaning for 6-6(6-5)? (3,5) SET POINT (2)
          Reminds me of the days of Lendl, Connors, Evert, Navratilova, Becker and Graf, when I used to watch tennis ... 
20 Secretive about a guy leaving for all to see (4) CAGY (CA GuY)
21 Run from old girlfriend winning over engineer (7) EXECUTE (EX CUTE around CE<) (EX E CUTE) Thanks to Abhay, pl see comments
22 Detest old piercing instrument (6) LOATHE (O in LATHE)
24 Snuff out measure to protect university (5) DOUSE (DOSE around U)
25 Priest losing final buck (5) RABBI (RABBIt)

GRID

59 comments:

  1. Typo in Anno of 21D it should be EX CUTE over E

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tend to go along with DG. But was unsure of the anno for CUTE. Vasant, how would you annotate CUT?

      Delete
    2. 21 Run from old girlfriend winning over engineer (7) EXECUTE (EX CUTE around CE<)
      If the above means

      old - EX
      girlfriend - CUTE
      winning - c/c ind
      over - rev ind
      CE- enginner,

      I have a question and a comment.

      How do we really derive CUTE from girlfriend?

      'cute' is adj meaning 'pretty, endearing, sexually attractive'.

      'cutie' is someone who is attractive. I am not sure if it means girlfriend. To a man his girlfriend may be a cutie, but every cutie may not be a girlfriend. In any case, 'cute' is an adj and I don't think it can be used as a noun.

      Excuse me for writing what occurs to be immediately on reading a clue, sol and breakup.

      Finally 'Cuticura' is a favourite brand of talcum powder (LV/Sowmya: has it been used in BL brand crossword?) How do you think the brand name is derived?

      When someone said it aloud, my young granddaughter, during a visit from the U.S., said: "No, you don't say it like that. You say ..." I can't reproduce the American accent that Indian children born in the US use.

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    3. EX=old girl friend
      EE=Engineer
      CUT=Win
      EE over CUT
      Now putting it in words just does not sound right.

      Delete
    4. The same sentiment expressed in 844. On Cuticura, remembered that white and coloured oval shaped tin and pleasant smell. Many Indians pronounced it like KuTTY (our Keralite friend) followed by koora (our Telugu greens). Abroad, I heard it pronounced closer to CUTIE queue ra

      Delete
    5. But if we have CUTE=Pretty Girl we are one E or one C short & Only one E for engineer? as per COL's Anno

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    6. Vasant, agree with you. Something seems amiss other than the miss referred to as gf aka cute/cutie. Will wait for others to weigh in before amending ...

      Delete
    7. Let me hasten to clarify that I have not solved the clue myself and have not parsed it.

      My remarks must be taken to just suggest that we can't derive 'girlfriend' from 'cute'.

      Delete
    8. So were are still at sq. 1

      Delete
    9. Wonder where the problem lies assuming CUTE - GF.

      Old GF winning over Engineer = EX GF over E(Engineer from Chambers) = EX CUTE over E = EX E CUTE.

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    10. OT for the solution, but still on the question of girlfriend=cute/cutie, would anyone dare calling her any adjective / noun that is not endearing ? Calling her a rose, a lily, or Champa if fine, but any adventurers intrepid enough to refer to her as a cactus ...?

      In the prelude to this song from Tumse Achcha Kaun hai, Shamsher 'Shammi' Raj Kapoor addresses his beloved/s as "Hello, my sweetie ... Of course, of course" followed by "Hello, my love, my dove, my cactus plant ..."

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT1-pc3VJpI

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    11. Ref. to K's first paragraph, since we are talking about ex, one may call her anything!

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    12. Burning our bridges, are we ?!

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    13. CV SIR - 9.03 - No, haven't yet clued this in BL. I think the name is derived from the Latin words cutis - skin and cura - care. Did some googling but could not really verify from thie site. However chanced some really fun articles written in 1907 about all these "new fangled" nostrums that promise cures (sic) :):) Apparently a Ponds product had even been touted once as a cure for meningitis!

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    14. Heard of Buck-U-Uppo, Soumya?

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    15. Ref.to Kishore @ 1.55-
      I recently chanced to watch 'The Bridge on the River Kwi".

      Delete
  2. 2 One catching the worm, rarely flying across Belgium, Italy and Germany (5,4) EARLY BIRD (RARELY* across B I D)

    It should be Denmark and not Germany

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why substitute Deutschland for Germany when Denmark is available?

      Delete
    2. You will, no doubt, recognise the new song Deutschland Uber Alles car services ...

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  3. Nice one from Lightning. Happy to have completed before the Cricket match starts. Thanks, Lightning, for an entertaining puzzle. :-)))

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  4. Some nice clues. Like the CD: INSIDE JOB.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have considered that as a charade. IN + SIDE JOB=form of employment providing extra money

      Delete
  5. I have a question on 22D-
    Is lathe a piercing instrument? I don't think so. it is a machine tool.
    My grouse is that it robbed me of my samosa!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Piercing is the insertion indicator for O=old to get into lathe. But is lathe a machine or an instrument, I leave it to the engineers, civil or otherwise ...

      Delete
    2. Piercing is container indicator; instrument is Lathe. That is the beauty of a devious surface.

      Delete
    3. Tool would have been a more appropriate word without affecting the surface

      Delete
  6. Kishore,
    I missed my AWAD yesterday and was wondering where did you get 'Ultracrepidarian' from. Got it only this morning. It IS useful,at times!
    Did you notice yesterday's cupboard became wardrobe today with china coming in elsewhere?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I did. The china has been cast away and clothes installed there. Ul...n came in handy.

      Delete
  7. 10A- Is the def. 'It is assumed' ? I am not able to follow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A little odd perhaps, but an office is assumed (by the incumbent)

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    2. that is right; remember you assume office

      Delete
  8. A small typo in 4D- It is 'Umbra' in full incl.A.

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  9. Thank you Kishore & Vasanth for all the clarifications.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good one from Lightning - thanks to setter and blogger!

    Re. 21D: I parsed is as {EX}{E}{CUTE}, with EX coming from old girlfriend and CUTE as a synonym of winning (as in "winning smile") going over (around) E(ngineer).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's spot on. Thefreedic has: CUTE as: appealing, sweet, attractive, engaging, charming, delightful, lovable, winsome, winning.

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    2. That sounds plausible. Great one Abhay!

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    3. By the way that's what I said at 8:34

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    4. You hadn't elaborated and it looked no different from what all of us wrote.

      Delete
  11. Very good entertainer from Lightning. Simple elegant surfaces (for eg 7D) . a pleasure to solve

    ReplyDelete
  12. I agree. 7d is an excellent clue.
    I know that NYT and other has occasionally used crosswords submitted by Indians (from this country or here back from the US or still living there).
    Wonder if any UK paper has used a full-fledged cryptic crossword by an Indian.Anyone know?
    But then with so many setters waiting in line to be admitted in the panel, chances of Indians gaining a foothold there are slim, I think.
    To the credit of UK papers, they, of late, seem to be admitting some new hands.
    No paper including TH has open doors - in the sense you submit a crossword and if it is acceptable it will be used.
    They always have a panel of reliable setters who will keep up the supplies. If floodgates are opened, scrutinising the submissions, picking out the material, etc, becomes labour-intensive for which there is no wherewithal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree about 7D.. Also I was wondering it would be acceptable as
      Tea boxes made of porcelain (5)
      As in , pretty lingeries 'in' silk
      Pretty lingeries 'made of' silk ..

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    2. I would go with the published version.

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    3. Though it's a good clue somehow boxes made of porcelain seemed strange. Coincidentally isn't tea also 'China'?

      Delete
    4. Maybe:

      Tea cups in porcelain?

      Delete
  13. Yes .. My question was only if the substitution would be acceptable

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I referred to the clue and not yr comment though it had the same words as I'd written as a coincidence.

      Delete
  14. MB,
    Nothing much seems to be left in the match to watch, unless of course we are able to get a few wickets for nothing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nothing left in the match. That's why I am here going through all the comments! It will be a miracle if India wins today!!

      Delete
  15. Did anyone answer CV's query 9:03 on Cuticura?

    Cuticura was discussed here way back in 2010, on July 9, to be precise. It was a Sankalak day. (Oh, so nostalgic!)

    I would recommend to everyone that day's comments - so much of fun.

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  16. Richard @3.17- so much of fun and so interesting. Thank you. Would it have been possible w/o a computer database?
    8D in Sunday TOI CW- First-day cover? (3,4)

    ReplyDelete
  17. fun indeed.... thanks for taking us back to 'good old days'

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  18. I'm on cloud nine today showered with lightning's. gift. Iwas able to draw solace for my last week's drought. Thamks lightning.

    ReplyDelete

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