Thursday 24 September 2015

No 11508, Thursday 24 Sep 2015, Afterdark


ACROSS
1   Strong bishop besieged by ebola, somehow passed away (4-6) ABLE-BODIED {A{B}LE-BO*}{DIED}
6   A little part of gigabit (1,3) A BIT [T]
10 US e-tailer gives free (2,7) AT LEISURE {USETAILER}*
11 Overthrow from second gully, pressure at boundary (5) UPEND {gUlly}{P}{END}
12 Perhaps, a losing gambler's eternal hope (3,2,8) LAW OF AVERAGES [CD]
14 A type of window Orientals constructed for ants to escape (5) ORIEL ORIEntaLs*
15 Employ agent to go around getting help to procure a type of postage cover (5-4) REPLY-PAID {RE{PLY}-P}{AID}
17 Man on horse is behind time, in a mess, from another standpoint (4,5) THEN AGAIN {T}{HE}{N AG}{IN+A}*
21 Teacher returns in the afternoon with crystal (5) PRISM {P{RIS<=}M}
22 Go ahead, plan a marriage, organise the beginning and the end (5,3,5) ALPHA AND OMEGA {GO+AHEAD+PLAN+A+M}*
24 Leading royal airmen detect attacks rapidly with this equipment (5) RADAR Acrostic
25 Fielder's trousers taken by spinner (5-4) SHORT-STOP {SHORT-S}{TOP}
26 Strikes in fightback (4) TAPS<=
27 Tom's cards shuffled, large point in a game (4,6) CATS CRADLE {TOM+CARDS}*{L}{E} (Addendum - {CAT}{S CRAD*}{L}{E} - See comments) How many of you remember this? I do, but I never knew this was its name.

DOWN
1   No matter what, a dubious company will be on street corners at last (2,3,5) AT ALL COSTS {A}{T ALL} {CO}{ST}{c...rS}
2   L'il Yankee found with spurious drug is blameless (4-5) LILY-WHITE {LIL}{Y}-{WITH*}{E}
3   Filled to capacity with British (IMFL) cocktail, union leader walks in (7) BRIMFUL {BR}{IMF{Un..n}L}
4   One of the two magistrates depositing mud around central court's opposed to in-absentia ruling primarily (7) DUUMVIR {DU{coUrt}M<=}{V}{In-...a}{Ru...g}
5   Say, I let go of medicine (3-4) EYE-DROP (~ i){EYE}-{DROP}
7   Magnify the contents of cables sent (5) BLESS [T]
8   Without cap, stood out in a commotion (2-2) TO-DO sTOOD*
9   Country lacking acreage goes without food (6) HUNGRY HUNGaRY
13 By mistake, sampled a pint of arrack first; formed a lump in throat (5,5) ADAMS APPLE {SAMPLED+A+Pint+Ar...k}*
16 Well-fed soldiers coming behind a large unit hunted out the barbarian (9) ALIMENTED {A}{L}{1}{MEN}{hunTED}
18 A player needs constant and right energy to have a goal (6) ASPIRE {A}{S}{PI}{R}{E}
19 Dar es Salaam demolished dams, removed from a water body (4,3) ARAL SEA {daR ES sALAAm}*
20 Say, sergeants seem to lack common sense under fire (7) NONCOMS {COMmON+seNSe}*
21 University officer's crop in bad condition, decomposition is back (7) PROCTOR {CROP*}{TOR<=}
22 To make sense of advertisement, state article appearing before (3,2) ADD UP {AD}{D} {UP} D and article?
23 Essentially betting earns crore getting a run (4) TROT {b..T..g}{e.R.s}{c.O.e}{g..T..g}

GRID

30 comments:

  1. Tom's cards shuffled, large point in a game (4,6) CATS CRADLE How many of you remember this? I do, but I never knew this was it's name.

    I used to love playing this as a kid. :)

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  2. After 3 consecutive days of sumptuous feasts..AD serves dessert toppings...delicious & mouthwatering...DUUMVIR was the only new word but cats cradle & shortstop were also new terms...

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    Replies
    1. DUUMVIR reminded me of Dharamvir.

      Wonder why our setter took away fielder's trousers?

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    2. To teach the slip a lesson for dropping catches. If Slip was a woman, then the setter may have slipped out with the slip, of the slip, for the slip.

      Delete
    3. I think the overthrow in 11 A must have got the spinner's goat.

      Delete
    4. who would have "taken the pants off the fielder"

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  3. Reposting from yesterday. Got my ixl userid & password. Hope everyone has got it as well. All the best to the participants

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  4. At last a samosa to munch! Enjoyed it! Thank you Afterdark. :-)))

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  5. 27A anno needs correction: (CAT)(S CARD)*(L)(E)

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  6. Thanks for the samosa AD! Enjoyed solving

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    Replies
    1. He made a token appearance on Sunday (Spl) !

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    2. Had my eyes laser-treated, for cataract, which kept me away from laptop, tab, mob. Thanks Raghu for noticing my absence and thank you MB for noticing my presence on Sun. By the way, CATARACT seems to be a nice word for clueing, with two CAT or two auditors (CA AC<-), ART anag, RA, TRACT, CAR, CARAT etc, words int.

      Delete
    3. Pl read words int. as words in it.

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    4. It's so nice to hear from you after long time, Ram. Hope everything is back to normal now. Participating in IXL 2015?

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    5. I am yet to graduate to that level pl. Let me complete Anon, Exa, Xcheqr, Spinner, Lightning et al, then think of that level. Yes approaching normalcy.

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  7. Curiously shortstop is a term from baseball and not cricket. This is usually written as a single word. We have a rarely used long stop in cricket!(probably at junior level where the wicket keeper may be weak)

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  8. Col. is right in saying that almost all of us would have played cats cradle without knowing the name.

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  9. Nice one from afterdark... got most but missed samosa coz put down taps as raps ... thot spar reversed:) hence 23d stuck too. Could not anno for 20d and 22d
    .. tks for tat

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  10. Good one from AD. Could finish about 75%. Liked Short-Stop . Good that S in Spinner is not capitalized else our Vatsan would have been in trouble.
    Some doubts. Second gully is a standard cricket term? I have seen married as M. marriage also? Why cocktail in 3D? Of in 13D affects cryptic reading I thought. Also 20 D. seem lacking common sense or other way?

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  11. To my knowledge second gully is not a std. cricket term. Only we have slips 1,2,3...As it is the margin is narrow and so there cannot be gully no. 1,2 etc.

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  12. We may try writing a clue for CATARACT using components suggested by Ram.
    Eye problem makes artist fall back in double-act that's gone wrong (7)

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  13. Ram,
    Get well soon. Agree with you on ISL. In any case Col. is giving it to us as Sunday Specials. But going by past experience it was within reach of THCC friends (at least the initial parts)

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  14. Normal cat got confused following the artist. It makes the vision hazy.

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  15. Seeing an endless cat-rat act abandoned due to bad eye-sight (8) (cat rat ac)*

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  16. Thanks. AD for the Additions &Deletions delectables !! Enjoyed thoroughly.

    THEN AGAIN was an excellent clue. I had pondered over Man on Horse-- RIDER and behind time-- LATE as an anagram indicator and then I rode on the NAG HE behind Time and INA mess !! That was some Horseplay of mind !! I cll your clues as a mental contortionist's dream !!

    ReplyDelete

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