Sunday 20 September 2015

Special, Sunday 20 Sep 2015, Ramki Krishnan


Three answers per commenter (Annotations compulsory) till 6 PM
Please provide all your answers in one comment.


ACROSS
5  Sleep, removing glasses, and swallowing drugs for a forceful discharge! (6)
7  Provide endless bonds / stocks (8)
9  Bird, losing two tail feathers, is eating, sleeping and standing (8)
10 Beg girl's boyfriend to switch sides  (6)
11 Swear words exchanged during a match (8,4)
13 Curious kid is likely to succeed (4-2)
15 Philosopher's not initially happy to fiddle (6)
18 Saying "Shame!" "Ruin!" "Rot!" "Undone!" (2,3,2,5)
21 Drop John's group? Not quite (6)
22 On reorganization, most of Google will shortly become a child's toy (8)
23 Just wrestling? Use a bind! (8)
24 Concoction of essentially walnuts, sugar, chocolate, fruit - a sweet, ultimately! (6)

DOWN
1  Pressurized to come back for ice cream and pudding perhaps (8)
2  Chap is next to a doctor from the east in a flight (6)
3  Medicinal plant possibly grown in excess? Not good! (8)
4  Having love inside, prevents signs of ageing (6)
6  Some woman or man, dying in a battlefield (8)
7  Old, gnarled tree in English county (6)
8  The peer's fencing weapon (4)
12 Mole (n): A footloose chap, almost a killer? (8)
14 Unnecessary jabber on ship (8)
16 Reportedly tie hostile American sea creature (8)
17 Fellow's stiff is cold… (6)
18 …poison! Sound the alarm! (6)
19 Farewell melody about love lost, primarily (2,4)
20 Warring Ninja abandons weapon at last, becomes a non-violent person (4)

Across Lite version can be accessed at RAMKI 4

Enjoy.

93 comments:

  1. 20 Warring Ninja abandons weapon at last, becomes a non-violent person (4) JAIN (NINJA - N)*

    ReplyDelete
  2. 14 Unnecessary jabber on ship (8) NEEDLE SS

    ReplyDelete
  3. 8 The peer's fencing weapon (4) E PEE

    ReplyDelete
  4. 6d Some woman or man, dying in a battlefield (8) NORMANDY :: hidden in 'woman or man dying'
    18d …poison! Sound the alarm! (6) TOCSIN (homophone of 'toxin', 'sound' (v.) being the hom. ind.)
    19d Farewell melody about love lost, primarily (2,4) SO LONG :: S(O L[-ost]ONG

    ReplyDelete
  5. 11A. MARRIAGE VOWS (CD)

    18A: TO ERR IS HUMAN (shame ruin rot)*

    ReplyDelete
  6. 7d: EXETER = English county {EX}{TREE*}
    4d: STOOPS = signs of age (O inside STOPS)
    12d: MELANOMA = killer (MOLE N A MAn)*

    ReplyDelete
  7. 24 Concoction of essentially walnuts, sugar, chocolate, fruit - a sweet, ultimately! (6) NOUGAT {walNuts+suGar+ chocOlate+frUit+A+sweeT}*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder whether the original clue had sugar coming after fruit - that way, the order doesn't need the shifting of just one letter. I am not sure this was intended as an anagram. Over to you, Ramki!

      Delete
    2. Concoction on double duty as Definition and Anind?

      Delete
    3. Mukund: The whole clue was intended to be the def. Works?

      Delete
    4. Abhay: Thanks for the feedback. I had intended it to be an anagram, but you are right - to make it more effective, the ingredients could have been given in a different order right?

      Delete
  8. 17 Fellow's stiff is cold… (6) FRIGID {F}{RIGID}

    ReplyDelete
  9. Enjoyed the puzzle a lot, Ramki - thank you! MARRIAGE VOWS is my COD.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 20D: JAIN=(NINJA, -N)*
    18D:TOCSIN=(~TOXIN)
    23A: UNBIASED=(USE A BIND)*

    ReplyDelete
  11. 22 A: GOLLIWOG (GOOGL(e)WIL(-l))*

    ReplyDelete
  12. 13 A: Curious kid is likely to succeed (4-2) ODD + S, ON
    21 A: Drop John's group? Not quite (6) CAN + CEL(-l)

    16 D: Reportedly tie hostile American sea creature (8) NAUT IL US ~ Knot, Ill, US

    ReplyDelete
  13. Apart from putting down answers, some Comment may be added in praise or by way of critique.

    For example,
    In 18d is the placement of hom ind OK? My point is when you sound the alarm, you say ''tocsin' and hear 'toxin'.
    20d: Is the def 'a non-violent person' for word reqd rather broad? But then in UK crosswords definitions are usually highly masked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CV Sir: on 18D I agree with you. The surface was worded that way in an attempt to make a story with the the previous clue (which referred to a cold corpse!) but you are absolutely right. The way it is phrased, the hp ind seems to refer to alarm than poison.
      On 20D: Yes it is a slightly broad def, but again, the choice of def was to go with the surface story of a violent Ninja gets converted :) And IMHO non-violence is one of the essential attributes of Jainism, isn't it?
      Always grateful to get feedback from veterans like you. Thanks a lot!

      Delete
  14. All 3 answered; I wont make up as last time I went on adding....

    ReplyDelete
  15. Making up for 18A

    9A: PRESTIGE

    PIGE(-on) eating REST (sleeping) / Def: Standing

    ReplyDelete
  16. Came Late; but found the puzzle highly entertaining; the trademark style of the setter is very evident: crisp, pithy clues; nice surface stories; a good mix of all types of clues

    ReplyDelete
  17. 10A - {G){(-l+r)ROVE(-r+l)L}
    15A - T(-h)INKER
    2D - {HE}{GIR<=}{A}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi... is from the east valid in a down clue

      Delete
    2. Hi... is from the east valid in a down clue

      Delete
    3. Srividya: Oops - that is a slip-up from my side. Should have used a different reversal indicator.

      Delete
  18. My last one.
    3 Medicinal plant possibly grown in excess? Not good! (8) DUNGWORT {DU{NGOWR}*T} Def : Medicinal plant.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Write a clue dor DESSERTS without the rev. of 'stressed'.
    Submissions here upto 12 noon Monday.
    I will select the most favorite of mine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They having a bit of sugar leave a taste of sweetness! (8)

      &lit - leave = desert containing a bit of sugar - (S) + a taste of sweetness (S)

      Delete
    2. Final course rats drowned in a ship on the contrary (8)

      Delete
    3. Mere sweet dishes like these without sulphur are what is deserved (8) DESSERTS
      (mere=)JUST + DES[-s]ERTS = what are deserved (JUST DESERTS)

      Delete
    4. Quits eating basically sugary sweets (8)
      Quits = DESERTS
      eating = container ind
      basically sugary = S
      sweets = def

      Delete
    5. Inserting commas in my attempt...

      They, having a bit of sugar, leave a taste of sweetness (8)

      DES(S)ERT(S)

      Delete
    6. They often finish a meal (8) - CD

      Delete
  20. Now that all the clue's are done, I guess it's safe to say: A quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
    Well done Ramki, Well done!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Bombadil. You're inadvertently using greengrocer's apostrophe. Maybe you're remembering it from a recent Anax crossword where he had a clue for this phrase.

      Delete
    2. Thank you Bombadil.
      Yes - as I'm sure many of you would have seen, the grid is a pangram.

      Delete
    3. Hey Chaturvasi Sir

      Oops, typo :)

      Delete
  21. Spoilt dress set for post-meal sweet stuff (8)

    ReplyDelete
  22. The concoction clue does work.
    'Concoction essentially of' reads better I think. Maybe 'essentially' can come after the list of fodders and before the dash.
    I am talking of better surface reading, not wordplay which is OK. An all in one clue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agree; an & Lit Clue when nicely written really works like Mohsin's clue for Jigarthanda & so many others

      Delete
    2. I'm afraid it doesn't work fully as &lit - nougat doesn't contain chocolate! Great clue nonetheless.

      Delete
    3. I'm afraid it doesn't work fully as &lit - nougat doesn't contain chocolate! Great clue nonetheless.

      Delete
    4. Abhay: Nougat per se doesn't contain chocolate but nowadays nougat is associated with Nougat Chocolates i.e caramel filled with nougat a la Five star or Bar One & almost all associated with chocolate industry say nougat to mean Chocolate filled nougat bar..

      Delete
  23. Enjoyed the crossword Ramki (a la SUNNET) !!

    ReplyDelete
  24. That was quick work by the bloggers ! When I opened the Acrosslite, I saw only 26 at 11 am and at noon 56 and all done !! Marvellous word play and excellent additions and deletions-- Spooner at his best i n Grovel Glover !!
    Very scintillating and sparkling , RAMKI !! you've made your MARK !!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Thanks Ramki.... very enjoyable xword

    ReplyDelete
  26. Thank you Col for publishing the grid in the blog, and thanks to all the solvers for your valuable feedback!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Very nice! Liked the puzzle.

    17 Fellow's stiff is cold… (6). I think you could have had 'and' or 'with' in place of 'is'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Raghunath. I inteded to use "stiff" to mean "corpse". 's used to indicate possessive case (corpse of the fellow) in the surface reading, and as a connector in the cryptic reading. As I mentioned in another comment, was trying to make a mystery story with the 2 consecutive clues 17D and 18D (death by poisoning) but maybe it didn't work as intended :)

      Delete
    2. Fellow's corpse is fine, but fellow's stiff, is it OK?

      Delete
  28. CV at 11:30

    Saints entering Sahara say not right to look for ice-cream and cake (8)
    Saints=SS
    Sahara say = DESERT
    not right = anag. indicator
    (SS+DESERT) = DESSERTS
    Defn. Ice-cream and cake

    ReplyDelete
  29. Rested , had a s-sunday maybe(8)
    DE(SS)ERTS*
    Sunday, maybe=Definition

    ReplyDelete
  30. 'Stiff ' as noun means corpse.
    So 'fellow's stiff' is as good as 'fellow's corpse'.
    But I don't like either expression.
    The fellow's shirt is blue in colour.
    The girl's necklace is scintillating.
    In both sentences above the fellow and the girl are alive and still possess the articles.
    For me 'fellow's corpse' doesn't mean much. I can understand the long-winded 'The corpse of the fellow'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why not Fellow's corpse. Like Mr. X's corpse. Mr X's corpse is cold?

      Delete
    2. Well, I am not saying it is wrong.
      I don't like it. I won't say or write "fellow's corpse'. That's all.

      Delete
  31. Write a clue for FRIGID that is absolutely OK and above reproah. No competition. Just tries from anyone.

    ReplyDelete
  32. French Inspector-General's single daughter is sexually unresponsive (6)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Sorry for typos that happen when I use IPad.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Primarily formal and stiff (6)

    &lit - (F)(RIGID)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Nice crossword Ramki. Couldnt try it earlier, but just finished it. Marriage Vows was my COD too:)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Clue for 'Desserts'-
    A drop of sugar in arid regions is sweet.

    ReplyDelete

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