Friday 30 January 2015

No.11305, Friday 30 Jan 2015, Aspartame


Aspartame is cho chweet, just like 20

Across
9 5001001000? (11,4) COMBINATION LOCK (CD,Combination of L=50,O=0,C=100,K=1000)
10 Ancient emperor captured Ohio, New Zealand. It has some value! (3-4) NON ZERO (O NZ in NERO)
12 Divine being to leave daughter with chairman (7) GODHEAD (GO D HEAD)
13 When corrected, fetid clue is false (9) DECEITFUL (FETID CLUE)*
14 Furnish broken down dun within borders of an empire (5) ENDUE (DUN* in EmpirE)
15 Brew flowerless plant employing setter to taste a little (7) FERMENT (ME in FERN, Taste)
18 Again, media to squash … (7) REPRESS (RE PRESS)
21 … articles in New Statesman about 17 dishes (5) NAANS (A AN in New Statesman)
23 Field of medicine from a corner of another medicinal field (9) NEUROLOGY (NE UROLOGY)
25 Mart decorations showcased design style (3, 4) ART DECO (T)
26 Bond charmed, seduced 3 leaders of Portugal (7) RAPPORT (RAPT holding PORtugal)
29 Elected group about to strike with new toxic spray (6,9) INSECT REPELLENT (IN SECT RE PELLET with N)

Down
1 “What a scammer would never admit, honourable one” (4) ICON (I CON)
2 Truly mean criminal (4) AMEN (MEAN*)
3 Demon destroys vile telegram (4,4) LIVE WIRE (VILE* WIRE)
4 Bribe and benefit (3,3) PAY OFF (2)
5 Exceptional vice of chairman of grazing range (8) SINGULAR (SIN Anno not clear) (SIN Grazing URAL*, with grazing on double duty) See comments
6 Tense in a corner (2,4) ON EDGE (2)
7 Lie on bed rolling when jobless (4-4) BONE IDLE (LIE ON BED)*
8 Southern assassins killed liberals for a couple of dollars and vehicles (8) SKIDDERS (S KILLERS-LL+DD)
11 It’s bone he chews — not thin, but fat (5) OBESE (IT'S BONE HE-THIN)*
15 ‘Stir up army’ is a crazy movie (8) FANTASIA (FAN TA (IS A)*)
16 Chopped, roasted little turkey for exam (4,4) ROAD TEST (ROASTED T)* If T is to be derived from Turkey, it has to be the country and not the bird, I think. Is it kosher to put it in lower case, though Turkey would spoil the surface?
17 Cuisine of roti and curry with aloo base (8) TANDOORI (ROTI AND aloO)* semi&lit
19 Teenage party properly starts off on time (8) PROMPTLY (PROM aPTLY)
20 Babassu & garlic contains carbohydrate (5) SUGAR (T) Is it ok to have the intrusive &?
22 Talk about small fruit on the radio (6) SPEECH (S ~PEACH)
24 Green prune I cultivate (6) UNRIPE (PRUNE I)*
27 The French wearing spectacles get migraine (4) OLEO (LE in OO) Looks like a typo for margarine, which is oleo ..., though spectacles and migraine seem to gel well
28 Many thanks to business leader (4) TATA (TA TA)

46 comments:

  1. To answer the question at 20 dn: No.
    Also, shouldn't it be 'contain'?

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  2. 5A Exceptional vice of chairman of grazing range (8) SINGULAR

    {SIN}{G}{ULAR}*

    G seems to be on double duty.

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    Replies
    1. Sandy, could you please elaborate? I still don't get it. ULAR* from?

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    2. URAL - though it should be URALS

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    3. Plus, wouldn't it be an indirect anagram?

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    4. WordWeb: URAL - adjective
      Pertaining to, or designating, the Urals, a mountain range between Europe and Asia

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    5. Yes, it is an indirect anagram, which is a no-no, I guess.

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    6. wow Sandhya, this clue had me scratching my head. Is there a solution you cannot annotate :-)

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    7. +1 Bhavan. I would never have got it

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    8. Annotating comes next. How can Sandhya solve every single clue on earth :)

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    9. You guys do all the hard work, I just chip in with the annos! :)

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    10. We are just small fries, ... but you know chips are more popular ...

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  3. Is the phrase 'fetid clue' acceptable?

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  4. 16d: A word that requires initial capital letter must have it in the clue. In this instance we can say that the setter is not thinking of the place but just expects us to take letter t from the word.

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  5. Oops, prematurely released at 6:47 instead of 8:30 and two early birds dropped in ...

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    Replies
    1. Proves that 'The early bird gets the worm'

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    2. +1. Just logged in out of curiosity to find nothing wriggling, but nits to pick.

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    3. Raghu, nits too are edible, just like worms. Ask any monkey. On a lighter note, I hear that an American newspaper published a headline, after watching an Indian TV news channel, that said, "Obama participated Modi's monkey bath"

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    4. You're right. Seen plenty of nitpicking in Ranthambore, Kanhan etc.

      What time do you get your paper that you blogged today at 6.47? The guy here delivers not before 7.20 -7.25. I thought the clock at home had slowed when I dropped in here at 8.19

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    5. And if that means that you solved today's puzzle in a maximum of 30 min, hats off. At 8.30 I was still breaking my head. For me Aspartame gets into the league of Neyartha and Skulldugger.

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    6. I felt today's was much better that the earlier ones. 9A is the best and probably up Kishore's street being based on numbers.

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    7. I too thought the puzzle was good ..

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    8. Raghu, the numbers in my street are two and three digit ones ...

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    9. Even adding those will not be near enough 9a, I suppose.

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  6. Scored 60% only. I second you Sri

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  7. 24 Green prune I cultivate (6) UNRIPE (PRUNE I)*

    Have a doubt about the placement of anagrind and have seen it being used in that fashion. Should it not precede the fodder. It would have been correct if it was cultivated

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  8. Since I could not think of samosa, I had tandoori naan for breakfast!
    Shuchi had a take on false capitalisation some time back. It is probably time now for non capitalisation!

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  9. I am joining the 'hats off to...' list for Kishore for doing it in double quick time & PS for cracking the hardest of nuts!

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  10. Possibly the easiest one so far from Aspartame.

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  11. Don't have a problem with 20d ..since it's contains it's fine .. If it were 'contain' then it would suggest that 'and' must be taken ..

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    Replies
    1. I don't agree. Any clue must follow grammatical rules. That is, It must be grammatically correct.
      WP cannot dictate the wording of the clue.

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    2. I agree .. But I feel that when the grammar is faulty , only surface is ruined ., when WP is faulty the clue itself is ruined ..

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    3. Sorry... This argument is specious.

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    4. I'm with CV on this. There is no exception to using proper grammar whether it is for surface or cryptic reading.

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  12. MB,
    The ball is turning the wrong way in Australia. No samosa there also!

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    Replies
    1. You are right. In fact, I'm not watching the match now, the result is well known! Not our day!!

      Delete
  13. Nice puzzle. To be honest I never thought I could make it today but thanks to well laid -out clues it was feasible.14a- I savoured the trickiness in the clue (whether endue or endow). In essence a natural sweetener. Thanks Asp.

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  14. Challenging but xtremely enjoyable.

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