Wednesday 17 June 2015

No 11423, Wednesday 17 Jun 2015, Spinner


ACROSS
1   Uninitiated rider follows horse's lead in sport (6) HOCKEY {Ho..e}{jOCKEY}
4   Associate from Prime Minister's office about to be mobbed by party workers (8) COMPADRE {C{OMP<=}ADRE}
10 Decompose Lead-free smoke (7) MOULDER sMOULDER
11 Draw lots of drawings (7) DOODLES {D}{OODLES}
12 Army officer's negligence leads to breakdown (8) COLLAPSE {COL}{LAPSE}
13 Queen's call is mistaken (6) ERRING {ER}{RING}
15 Swimmer to escape score of zero (4) DUCK [MD]
17 Audiotaping jingle with electronic cable (9) RECORDING {R{E}{CORD}ING}
20 Circular patterns for cooking Dokla in vessels (5,4) POLKA DOTS {PO{LKA DO*}TS} Who all remember 'Little Dot'?
21 He basically inherits on ancestor's end (4) HEIR {HE}{In...s}{a...oR} &lit
24 Individual takes training in public (6) OPENLY {O{PE}NLY}
25 Operator resulting in value-addition (4,4) PLUS SIGN [CD]
28 Endlessly large ice formation (7) GLACIER {LARGe+ICE}* Semi&lit
29 Fantasize about silver buried in one mine (7) IMAGINE {1}{M{AG}INE}
30 Green revolution that is beginning to strengthen sources of power (8) ENERGIES {GREEN*}{IE}{St...n}
31 Happy reporter's dead (6) ELATED {ED} has {LATE}

DOWN
1   India’s top investigators entering location of murder (8) HOMICIDE {HOM{India}{CID}E}
2   Hard clue set to trap solver ultimately (5) CRUEL {C{s...eR}UEL*}
3   Make oneself beloved with close attention (6) ENDEAR {END}{EAR}
5   Chance of defeat demotivates spineless leaders (4) ODDS Acrostic
6   Project on hollow rocket accepted by arrogant engineer (8) PROTRUDE {PRO{TekcoR<=}UD}{E} Anno not clear. How is hollow rocket reversed?
7   Love affair beginning to destroy marriage (9) DALLIANCE {De...y}{ALLIANCE}
8   Flag hoisted bearing emblem (6) ENSIGN {EN<=}{SIGN}
9   Goal inside soccer ground leading to increase in volume (9) CRESCENDO {END} in {SOCCER}*
14 Remembrance for slain goat arranged (9) NOSTALGIA*
16 Operations head and retiring agent had to work together (9) COOPERATE {COO}{PER<=}{ATE}
18 Moving stealthily, king enters, brooding (8) SKULKING {S{K}ULKING}
19 One weird variety of plant (8) IRONWEED*
22 Stare, girl! Stare through girl! (6) GOGGLE {G}{O{G}GLE}
23 Attack beast to cause pain (6) ASSAIL {ASS}{AIL}
26 Setter's spot occupied by one fool (5) IDIOT {I}{D{1}OT}
27 Correct time to lament (4) TRUE {T}{RUE}

GRID

35 comments:

  1. I remember Little Dot as well as Little Lotta.

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  2. Nicely tossed up one from spinner.

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  3. Nice puzzle. Missed out on 17Ac & 6Dn. Maybe not correct time to lament! An enjoyable solve though. My COD truly is 27Dn. Thanks Spinner.

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  4. I am a desi. Polka dots dress would remind me of the girl in Amul ads and then the full-bodied Miss Fonseca in MM's pocket cartoons in ET.
    Richard? Kishore? Please come to my aid.

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  5. These girls are far from dotty, aren't they?

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    Replies
    1. CV, not only Miss Fonseca, but also Rajni Nimbupani !

      Yeah, I remember Little Dot, Lotta. Henry, Hot Stuff, Screaming Mimi, and the Hostess Twinkies in the ad opposite/ behind them

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  6. 4A was the googly for me. New term. I could not place the PMO properly.
    Anyone remembering Miss Fonseca of the famous polka dots? Nostalgic?
    A doubt aboyt 16D- Is the def. 'To cooperate' or 'to' serves just as a connector?
    Smooth interesting clues nicely spun.

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  7. I entered before reading CV's comments.

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  8. Sorry about my comment on 16d. I meant to say- "is 'to work together' the def."?

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  9. Thank you Spinner for the samosas! Enjoyed solving.

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  10. Do polka dots have any particular size?
    Do they all have to be of the same size?
    I have seen sari designs where the dots are of different sizes, some big, some small. Are they stll called polka dots?
    What if the dots are of different colours?
    -- Doubt Dhanabalu and Muzhoo Sombaeri Murugesan

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    Replies
    1. All variations acceptable, different sizes different colours

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    2. I've understood polka dots to mean largeish dots (say, over 0.3cm in diameter), even-sized, symmetrically placed and not too widely spaced.

      If the print doesn't fit the above description, I wouldn't call it polka dots.
      Tiny/widely spaced/different-sized dots would be simply 'dots', and very tiny dots 'pin dots'.

      If the polka dots had different colours, I would qualify it: multicoloured polka dots.

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    3. TIC: what happens when the polka dots are the same colour as the background?

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    4. And you deem yourself colour-blind!

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    5. Ergo hoc, ergo propter hoc

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    6. Je, unaweza tafadhali kutafsiri?

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  11. Sorry about my comment on 16d. I meant to say- "is 'to work together' the def."?

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  12. Greetings to all!

    First up apologies for 6D. There ought to be a reversal indicator there somewhere, which I think got lost while I was revising the clues.

    To answer Paddy Ji's query,

    I think 'to work together' = 'to cooperate' and not just 'cooperate'. The 'to' is just the connector.

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  13. Beautiful clues. ENERGIES and DALLIANCE are my CoD picks

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  14. The clue for CRESCENDO - excellent.

    Endlessly large ice formation (7) GLACIER {LARGe+ICE}* Semi&lit
    Not a semi-&lit, more like a case of wordplay partially doing double duty. A different starting word (e.g. 'mostly') could have made it into an &lit.

    Also curious about 20a. Is 'dokla' an acceptable spelling variant for 'dhokla'? Why is the word capitalized?

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    Replies
    1. I am amused when people from the north pronounce dosa with a hard D. Spinner's revenge for that maybe ...

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    2. Haha! Although the whole clue can be seen as an attempt to bridge the Dokla-Idli shape disparity. Maybe I should clue about cuboidal Idlis in future puzzles, to set right the balance.

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  15. I intended the clue to be an &lit. Since a glacier is an expansive mass of ice I felt the hyperbole 'endlessly' was justified. I think 'mostly' doesn't quite convey the same thing.

    Dokla- I spelt it such because of the wordplay obviously and because that's how it's spelt on the menu of a shop near my place. I'm not sure if it's a no-no.

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    Replies
    1. D capital, so I thought you may know someone with that name:))

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    2. Thanks for the clarification Spinner. 28a doesn't work as &lit for me if that was the intention. But a nice smooth set of clues overall.

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  16. Thank you,Soinner, for the clarification. Nice CW today and enjoyed solving it.

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  17. Sorry for the typo in Spinner's name!

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  18. Re the exchange K and I had earlier during the day. It was a bit of fun:

    Ergo hoc, ergo propter hoc ('So this, therefore because of this' in Latin)

    Je, unaweza tafadhali kutafsiri? ('Would you please translate?' in Swahili)

    Hapana, mzee! ('No, senior!' in Swahili)

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  19. How would you read 31A? Happy that reporter's dead or Reporter, the happy sort, is dead?

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    Replies
    1. I didn't quite think of the other possibility. In my mind, I was happy that the reporter's dead. Seeing by the looks of intensity/helplessness on their faces these days as they stand in the foreground of events they cover, I doubt there are any happy reporters left :P

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