Tuesday 28 July 2015

No 11458, Tuesday 28 Jul 2015, Gridman


RIP Dr Abdul Kalam

ACROSS
1   Animal skin in reserve in safe place (8) HIDEAWAY {HIDE}{AWAY}
5   Almost mention America's reputation (6) STATUS {STATe}{US}
10 Shall we sound green? (7) LETTUCE (~let us)
11 Abjectly servile son's over-indulgent (7) SLAVISH {S}{LAVISH}
12 Lifted the article (without head) by newspaperman (6) HEFTED {tHE}{FT}{ED}
13 Strained voice in squabble following trip not being completed (8) FALSETTO {FALl}{SET TO}
15 Big lie: No female's up to the task (4) ABLE fABLE
16 Excellent vehicle for good old ship employee-trader (10) SUPERCARGO {SUPER}{CAR}{G}{O}
18 Niche I can't yield to the craftsman (10) TECHNICIAN*
20 Fourth letter and the fifth returned? One needs time to correct (4) EDIT {abcDE<=}{1}{T}
23 Pro's to-do to put up lintel support (8) DOORPOST*
24 Mask that is knocked over deliberately? (6) DOMINO [DD]
26 Measure lawyers try to ban (7) EMBARGO {EM}{BAR}{GO}
27 Railway track employee turns over conventioneer's pin-on (4,3) NAME TAG <=
28 Levels precious stone left out of plan (6) STRATA STRATAgem
29 Short boy, white, trips badly on vessel's prow (8) BOWSPRIT {BOy}{W}{TRIPS*}

DOWN
1   When 50 per cent of willingness is absent (4-11) HALF-HEARTEDNESS [CD]
2   Conscientiously compliant in saying “levy complete” (7) DUTIFUL (~duty full)
3   Employer follows sailor — one who might mistreat (6) ABUSER {AB}{USER}
4   Got on with a good engineering design, for starters (4) AGED Acrostic
6   Carry on business with security group in field (8) TRANSACT {TRA{NSA}CT}
7   Giggle about women in social network (7) TWITTER {T{W}ITTER}
8   Is it where pupils get ideas? (6,2,7) SCHOOL OF THOUGHT [CD]
9   Relaxed ace at rest in station wagon (6,3) ESTATE CAR*
14 Heir's victory on operating room (9) SUCCESSOR {SUCCESS}{OR}
17 Encourage — apparently thus when you can't be at a place where you should be? (8) INSPIRIT [CD]
19 Defeat Chennai's top tennis player, at times (7) CLOBBER {Ch...i}{LOBBER}
21 Nomad more ironic about newspaper (7) DRIFTER {DRI{FT}ER}
22 Orderly universe of commanding officers and medical officers (6) COSMOS {CO'S}{MO'S}
25 And the German officer's to cancel an action (4) UNDO {UND}{O}

GRID

19 comments:

  1. A great start to the morning - thank you, Gridman! My COD (also my LOI!) was 19d - it brought to mind Murray's masterful use of the lob (if I were to set a tennis-themed crossword, I would perhaps use "Murray at his defensive best" to clue the LOBBER part!).

    "Newspaperman" giving {FT ED} is an ingenious clue, but it does lead to FT being clued as "newspaper" twice in the puzzle.

    The succession of words ending in O around the periphery (FALSETTO, SUPERCARGO, DOMINO, UNDO, EMGARGO) made me wonder whether there was some pattern emerging, but I can't see anything.

    Thanks to DG for the blog!

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  2. Took 17d as a charade defn=encourage wordplay yields 'in spirit'

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  3. What a way to have samosas before nine! Thanks GM

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  4. 2 Excellent very long CD's in 1 & 8 D propping up the grid.
    Agree with Abhay on 'Newspaperman'.

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  5. 12a.... i thot lifted played two roles... as definition as well as part of word play... lifted the article i thot was theft... without head heft and newspaperman being ed as usual...

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    Replies
    1. Not sure how "Lifted the article" can get us to "theft" - it can, at best, give us "thieved". To get theft, we would need the gerund - "Lifting the article..." - which would then not fit the definition.

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    2. After we get the answer, our minds sometimes work mysteriously in our efforts to parse. If setters' minds are crooked, the solvers' minds are more crooked.. Only a cold, clinical analysis will reveal the intricacies of wordplay. The destination having been been reached, let us not worry too much about the road taken.

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    3. Srividya could mean (Theft)- (The) = ft

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    4. I took it as

      Lifted = Definition
      the article (without head) = (-t)HE
      by
      newspaperman = Financial Times Editor = {FT}{ED}

      Lifted = {(-t)HE}{FT}{ED}

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  6. Col.'s anno for 12A is not clear, since it looks like he has taken 'newspaperman' to indicate 'ft'only.

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    Replies
    1. Newspaperman = Financial Times Editor = {FT}{ED}

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    2. Newspaperman = Newspaper man = FT man = FT Ed(short for Edward)

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    3. True that CV sir...about crooked minds :) lol.. i guess the anno is important so we add Newspaper titles to newspaper man in future

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    4. True that CV sir...about crooked minds :) lol.. i guess the anno is important so we add Newspaper titles to newspaper man in future

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  7. My doubt is why 'Newspaperman' has to be FTED and not just ED (which is normal) It could be THED as well.

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  8. Agree with Padmanabham. Newspaperman (journo/ Ed) can't be both FT Ed & Ed

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    Replies
    1. As usual Raghu I do not agree with you. It can be either.

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  9. In 25d 'the' is not required. Otherwise it can mean 'der', following 'and'.

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  10. I first referred German for THE only. Subsequently referred for UND

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