Friday 24 April 2015

No 11377, Friday 24 Apr 2015, Buzzer


The shape of the grid tells me that maybe there's something afoot, but I can't find it.

ACROSS
1   Lob's due in a tennis match? (5,7) MIXED DOUBLES {LOB'S+DUE}*
8   Party is a big hit (4) BASH [DD]
9   Hear hear, site to see (5,5) CATCH SIGHT {CATCH} {SIGHT}(~site)
11 Said to follow church hymn (6) CHORAL {CH}{ORAL}
12 Timidness or lacking heart could cost team in the front (4,4) COLD FEET [CD] (Addendum {COuLD} {FEE}{Team} - See comments)
14 On the way back encounter rain (4) TEEM <=
16 Indestructible cross left outside (7) ETERNAL ExTERNAL
18 Nice day turned toxic (7) CYANIDE*
19 A songbird with new rendition (4) WREN [T]
22 Always boxed in case, English drink (8) BEVERAGE {B{EVER}AG}{E}
23 An objection can disrupt (4,2) BUTT IN {BUT}{T IN}
24 Crimes of men involved in feuds (10) ENORMITIES {EN{OR}MITIES}
26 Difference in chap from chapel for Christmas season? (4) NOEL {NO EL}
27 Soft and squishy a mango tree's fruits (12) POMEGRANATES {P}{A+MANGO+TREES}*

DOWN
2   Descent from air nice then, for a change (11) INHERITANCE*
3   Old prison mostly is beat (5) EXCEL {EX}{CELl}
4   Find fault with tenor standing in for fellow (6) DETECT DE(-f+t)TECT
5   Provide cover in court with one carrying a gun (9) UPHOLSTER {UP}{HOLSTER}
6   Kaleidoscope displaying floral arrangement (3) LEI [T]
7   Black article after article in wash (5) BATHE {B}{A}{THE}
10 Man what a week. It's a laugh (3-3) HEE-HAW {HE}{E-H!}{A}{Week}
13 Supporting popular standpoint say (3,8) FOR INSTANCE {FOR} {IN}{STANCE}
15 Sweet preparation of grenadine (9) ENDEARING*
17 Wantonly vile, rotten, gut-wrenching monster (6) WYVERN {Wa...lY}{VilE}{Ro..eN}
20 Rising temper consumed one monarch (6) REGINA {REG{1}NA<=}
21 Boundary like four, but going over (5) SIXER [CD] (Addendum - {IV<=}{ER} - See comments)
23 Place for Arabs possibly (5) BASRA*
25 Butter and jam (3) RAM [DD]

GRID

44 comments:

  1. 2 Timidness or lacking heart could cost team in the front (4,4) COLD FEET [CD]

    CO(u)LD, FEE (cost) + T(eam) ... Nice one.

    ReplyDelete
  2. All of us have read/heard of the English grammar book by Wren and Martin.
    It just struck me now (ref. 19a) that both the authors bore the names of birds as 'martin' too is a kind of bird - it's a perching bird like the swallow.
    'Perching' birds are said to belong to the Passerine family.
    A notable feature of passerines is the arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back) which facilitates perching.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 21st July 2010:

      Deja vu
      KISHORE12:12 pm GMT+5:30
      Grammar book authors Wren & Martin have been thrown out of the window. Luckily for them, both of them are birds and can fly.

      Delete
    2. Kishore

      I have been so many years behind you. But I am glad I have a mind such as yours (barring maths and accounts!)
      It's great that you remembered your Comment and traced it with the site search facility.

      Delete
    3. Oh no, sir. You are miles ahead ...

      Delete
  3. Lovely clues esp. MIXED DOUBLES, BUTT IN, CATCH SIGHT, POMEGRANATES

    ReplyDelete
  4. 26 Difference in chap from chapel for Christmas season? (4) NOEL {NO EL}

    NO for pl?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Difference between CHAP and CHAPEL is that there is No EL

      Delete
    2. Chapel, Chap No el in Chap

      Delete
    3. Calls for out-of-the-box thinking! As far as I am concerned!!

      Delete
  5. One of the breeziest puzzles of Buzzer. The paper guy messed up. Was up from 5.30. No delivery at all. I had to go out to buy one and started at 8.10 .. Was done before 9 am which is a record for me as far as Buzzer is concerned. Too many brilliant clues to specify in particular. 12A takes the cake though

    ReplyDelete
  6. MB, the initial letters of the first two across answers spell out ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But another Commenter sits plumb in a slot.

      Delete
    2. Remembered the old May & Baker (later Rhone-Poulenc) product which had the abbreviation MB on the bottle caps (which were manufactured by MetalBox), I used to wonder whether MB meant May and Baker or MetalBox ... probably the former ...

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    3. A mixed bag may contain many valubles!
      Thank you MB for your clarification of my doubt yesterday (Yellow?) Saw it late.
      Lovely enjoyable (usual Buzzer)) CW today, though I missed a few.

      Delete
    4. Neither a Mixed Bag nor a Metal Box, just an MB that you all know!

      Delete
  7. Jammy? (incidentally that is the nickname of Dravid!)

    ReplyDelete
  8. My 9.34 is in response toCV's 9.22.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Meant to write the following yesterday but couldn't...
    ;'Or' for gold comes from heraldry.
    "The names used in English blazon for the colours and metals come mainly from French and include Or (gold), argent (silver), azure (blue), gules (red), sable (black), vert (green), and purpure (purple). A number of other colours (such as bleu-celeste and the stains sanguine, tenné and murrey) are occasionally found, typically for special purposes" (Wikipedia)
    I remember the word 'gules' from a stanza in Keats's Eve of St. Agnes:

    Full on this casement shone the wintry moon,
    And threw warm gules on Madeline’s fair breast,
    As down she knelt for heaven’s grace and boon;
    Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest, 220
    And on her silver cross soft amethyst,
    And on her hair a glory, like a saint:
    She seem’d a splendid angel, newly drest,
    Save wings, for heaven:—Porphyro grew faint:
    She knelt, so pure a thing, so free from mortal taint.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think I am honored by CV Sir

    ReplyDelete
  11. My 9.57 is in response to Paddy's 9.34 (2)

    ReplyDelete
  12. 17D reminded of the old Vauxhall WYVERN and Velox taxis in Coonoor. Sturdy vehicles they were.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Simply super xword from Buzzer...1a, 16a, 4d, 17d, 20d ... among many gems.. !!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Suresh@10.33-

    One of my relatives was a proud owner of a Wyvern for a very long time and he enjoyed driving it around. Beautiful car and absolutely dependable.But I did not connect until I saw your comment.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I meant for 21d's wordplay to be: IV(four) <-

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I felt it wasn't a CD, given the wordplay. Got as far as IV but not beyond that.

      Delete
    2. How do we account for the ER?

      Delete
    3. We'll have to use cricket terminology where a "six" = "sixer", because Buzzer refers to boundary, four etc.

      Delete
  16. Can someone please explain how butter and jam is RAM 25d? I'm a newbie and would love to learn

    ReplyDelete
  17. http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=jam&title=thes

    From this you get JAM = RAM synonym.Ram is also a male sheep which (head) butts hence 'butter'.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Can someone please explain 24a how to parse? Enmities is feuds but how dies OR come from men or "of men"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OR comes from other ranks ... A military term

      Delete
    2. Thats toooo... Well.. anyways Thanks Aakash!

      Delete

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