Wednesday 1 April 2015

No 11357, Wednesday 01 Apr 2015, Lightning


ACROSS
1   Power struggle to seize grain market where there is undercutting (5,3) PRICE WAR {P}{RICE} {WAR}
5   Frank on the radio channel (6) STRAIT (~straight)
9   Doctor up to face interesting activity (3,2,3) CUP OF TEA*
10 Master to lend what is owed (6) SUBDUE {SUB}{DUE}
12 Core of hadrons decayed to produce inert gas (5) RADON hADRONs*
13 Touts risk travelling to borders (9) OUTSKIRTS*
14 Heads struck ten score for repeat performance (6) ENCORE {tEN+sCORE}
16 Turn setter as well as that woman drug free (7) MEANDER {ME}{AND}{hER}
19 Bone turns me off (7) STERNUM*
21 Enjoy pickle (6) RELISH [DD]
23 Reckon to bury before end of night (9) INTERPRET {INTER}{PRE}{n..hT}
25 Buzzer finished checking second crossword (5) DRONE {D{cRo...d}ONE}
26 Lack of interest for a course on extreme psychology (6) APATHY {A}{PATH}{p...gY}
27 Final charge by spa (8) FAREWELL {FARE}{WELL} Definition is a bit of a stretch
28 Plants split, redistributed to save essential fruit (6) TULIPS {T{frUit}LIPS*}
29 Struggling to merge unknown rules on shapes (8) GEOMETRY {TO+MERGE}*{Y}

DOWN
1   Right in the steps of say Marshall and Holding (6) PACERS {PACE{R}S}
2   Lack of caution cutting right cheek (9) IMPUDENCE IMPrUDENCE
3   Mischievous, somewhat self indulgent (5) ELFIN [T]
4   A little admiration upfront is wonderful (7) AWESOME {AWE}{SOME}
6   Box to fetch ring from Chennai to Mumbai? (5,4) TRUNK CALL {TRUNK} {CALL} Those were the days when you had to book one and wait endlessly for it to mature!!!
7   Snake in ladders (5) ADDER [T]
8   Slash rate, certain to make a fortune (8) TREASURE {RATE*}{SURE}
11 Control a discharged gas (4) STEM STEaM
15 Possession of landlord's joint (9) OWNERSHIP {OWNERS}{HIP}
17 Lying with attractive woman on ones cot at last (9) DISHONEST {DISH}{ONES}{coT}
18 Ambitious worker following a saint and pious king (8) ASPIRANT {A}{S}{PI}{R}{ANT}
20 Pure lake (4) MERE [DD]
21 Artist to sketch fierce competition (3,4) RAT RACE {RA}{T RACE}
22 Position of democrat primarily exposing tactic (6) DEPLOY {D}{Ex...g}{PLOY}
24 Follow origin of the attack (5) TRAIL {The}{RAIL}
25 Daughter to enlarge vision (5) DREAM {D}{REAM}

GRID

19 comments:

  1. 6D An alternative to the trunk call was a lightning call. Costed 8 times more I think.

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  2. An awesome puzzle comprising of simple words! MEANDER was the last one in for I had to spend some time to guess that H (deletion) could be for Drug! Thoroughly enjoyed solving. Thank you very much Lightning. :-)))

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    Replies
    1. Addendum - pl read 'comprising of simple words as solutions/answers'.

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  3. Past tense of cost, v.
    If used intransitively, the past tense is 'cost'.
    The ticket for 'Komban' first day first show cost me Rs 500.
    If used transitively, the past tense is 'costed'.
    Kishore costed the project at Rs 26 lakhs and opined that it would be a viable investment.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks CVji. Now I clearly understood the correct usage of cost and costed for past tense.

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  4. I had to DEPLOY a FAREWELL to samosas today, but really enjoyed solving the puzzle.

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  5. Nice puzzle. In 27a, don't both final and farewell mean the same as an adjective?

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  6. I liked Buzzer coming into the CW with his drone!
    Thank you Lightning for the enjoyable CW and of course the samosas.
    Can someone clear MB's doubt (mine as well)- H for drug?

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    Replies
    1. In slang, h for heroin and c for cocaine are used. It may also be a reference to Schedule H, a class of drug. I'm not sure which one is intended here. The first one sounds more apt to me.

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    2. I interpreted it as the former - H for heroin. Schedule H would be a bit too roundabout, IMO.

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    3. Thank you SS & Abhay for clearing my doubt as well.

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  7. Yes, Awesome was really awesome!

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  8. Farewell reminded me of 'a farewell to Arms'- a nice book and a movie.

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  9. Day before yesterday it was BEAUTY(Incognito), Yesterday PEACH(Skulldugger) and today DISH(Lightning) all evoking beautiful women! Can we expect one tomorrow as well?!

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  10. Thank you for an enjoyable puzzle, Lightning. The nod to a fellow-setter at 25a was very adroitly done! Many great clues in there. Some interesting definitions that seemed a bit odd at first but - on a little reflection - turned out to be quite valid: master for SUBDUE, reckon for INTERPRET, final for FAREWELL, position for DEPLOY, ambitious for ASPIRANT.

    TRUNK CALL was a very well done clue, but I think Madras and Bombay would have worked better here - by the time they became Chennai and Mumbai, STD call were commomplace and one didn't really need to depend on trunk calls anymore.

    Thanks to DG for the blog.

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  11. A doubt about something I have seen in a few other crosswords too: RAIL clued by using "attack". "To attack" is "to rail at/against/about", not just rail by itself. Am I missing something here?

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