Friday 22 April 2016

No 11682, Friday 22 Apr 2016, Buzzer


ACROSS
1   Second Sprite I had during game is plain (4-7) SELF-EVIDENT {S}{ELF}-{EV{I'D}ENT}
9   Institute, mediocre at educating groups (6) CREATE [T]
10 Loyal supporter beginning to accept breaking law (8) STALWART {ST{LAW*}ART}
11 Inquisitive one on the inside is buzzing (5) NOISY {NO{1}SY}
12 Criticise study after study receiving money (7) CONDEMN {CON}{DE{M}N}
13 Free time for book it is learned (8) LITERATE LI{-b+t}TERATE
15 Cirrus is pronouncedly watery (6) SEROUS (~ cirrus)
16 Sneaky chap, heartless rat (6) COVERT {COVE}{RaT}
18 Bad silt, it can cut up edges of a building (8) BASILICA {BAd}{SILt}{It}{CAn}
20 One drug induced experience (7) UNDERGO*
21 At first pious members of lower house backed a religious text (5) PSALM {Pi..s}{MLA'S<=}
22 Go through annals about some Africans (8) ANGOLANS {AN{GO}LANS*}
23 Doubly senseless going outside of society (6) INSANE {IN{S}ANE}
24 Memento that represents nowadays (2,3,6) AT THE MOMENT*

DOWN
2   Look over fire pit (7) EXAMINE {EXA<=}{MINE}
3   Showy adornments not new or hot (5) FIERY  FInERY
4   Have a curved tool to pop end of black blister (7) VESICLE {'VE}{SICkLE}
5   Identifying nature of some Adivasi song aided in appreciation (9) DIAGNOSIS [T<=]
6   Date one by one? (3,4) NEW YEAR (1/1)
7   Bombastic and affectedly darn long? Quite (13) GRANDILOQUENT*
8   Declaration of professional name by a setter (13) PRONOUNCEMENT {PRO}{NOUN}{CEMENT}
14 Consequences that frame criminal (9) AFTERMATH*
17 Ethereal medium doesn't last (7) ENDMOST {M+DOESN'T}*
18 Group turning around deficit to flourish (7) BLOSSOM {B{LOSS}OM<=}
19 Mediator in trouble after raising an issue (7) LIAISON {LIA<=}{1}{SON}
21 Present philosophy in solid shape (5) PRISM {PR}{ISM}

GRID

48 comments:

  1. Good one . Thanks for the anno for New Year

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  2. Re 6 dn: I am not sure how many will agree. But I will try...

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    Replies
    1. You mean date is incomplete w/o year following? (As in 22.04.2016)

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    2. Was it too subtle? OK, I will rephrase it:
      Re 6 dn: I am not sure how many women will agree. But I will try...

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    3. I rephrased what I wrote at 8:49. That statement - or the rephrased statement - is to be read in conjunction with the clue at 6dn. Get it?

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    4. I got it Sir, after reading the rephrased version ;-)

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    5. Round robin.... Flirting from flower to flower ?


      (Not a typo)

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    6. The clue is gender neutral

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    7. You mean 'Date' has two sides?

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    8. Ok, on rereading and rereading I missed the word 'women' in the rephrased version that's why the question. Got it now, though I got it in the first version itself

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  3. New Year was seriously cute :) liked this one..tho wat with diagnosis, serous and vesicle a bit medically :) needed help with serous and vesicle - basilica and psalm quite nice clues, at the moment very clevva; endmost weirdly took me time .. didnt spot the anagram .. thanks Buzzer

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  4. What a terrible puzzle. Most clues make no sense. What is the need of 'it is' in 13 across? In 23 down we are expected to split doubly senseless to produce the definition This is the limit

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  5. 23A- Is the def. 'Doubly senseless'? I don't expect Buzzer to put the def. in the middle.

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    Replies
    1. Actually it is Insane as In(s)ane . I find its OK . if you can break it as 'Senseless, senseless going outside of society'

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    2. Doubly senseless - interpret this as 'senseless senseless'
      The first instance is def, the second component in wp yielding INANE.
      Some novel approach.

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    3. This explanation sounds reasonable and good

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    4. Paddy, There was no other way to indicate the definition that's why it appears to be in the middle

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    5. Usually Buzzer uses / in the clue. Like Senseless/ foolish to go out...

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    6. Thank you everybody. Happy now.

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  6. Stumped by 16A and 17D. 'Ethereal' in 17D as anind was new to me! Took it for definition...hence the trouble! Quite a tricky one but enjoyed solving the rest. Thank you, Buzzer. :)

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  7. What a lovely puzzle...read & reread the clues..so deceptive!so wonderfully worded!
    New Year took a long time & was the last one in after stalwart...loved the long ones which were easier & helped in getting most of the others...

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  8. I really liked this one...tough enough to take time and thought but not too tough for samosas...!

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    Replies
    1. So those samosas not only take time in coming but one eats them savouring every bite. Not like that scene in the old Tamil film for the song 'Kalyana samyal saadham' where the goodies come too fast and are consumed too quickly by the man with gargantuan mouth.

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    2. Watch
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDBEDNyhbSc

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    3. We are having a lot of that this season

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  9. Thank you for reminding an interesting and enjoyable scene.

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  10. 5D: Is "in appreciation" the reversal indicator? To mean "going up" since it is a down clue?

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    Replies
    1. If I may comment on that device.
      When a component in a solution in a Down slot is in reverse, setters use inds. such as 'up', 'raised'. The contention is that while in an Ac slot the reversal reads from right to left, in a Dn slot the reversal reads from bottom upwards. While that is so, some setters may not follow even that convention.
      Now, in the above telescopic clue, the hidden reversal is from right to left only in the clue that is written from left to right. In the clue the word is written as usual from top to bottom. So why the use of 'appreciation'?
      What do others think?

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    2. I solved it without thinking and without too much thought to the reversal indicator. I think that is fine for me. I do not remember whether this is followed in UK crosswords too.

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    3. As far as I know it's not followed in UK crosswords. Whether that is so or not, the question is: is there any logic in the use of the device in the present instance when the ans in the slot is from top to bottom.

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    4. I think reversal indicators like raising, rising, up etc should only be used in Down clues, though it's written horizontally.

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    5. I would prefer a pure reversal indicator rather than up or down in this case. However, here 'in appreciation' can be read as 'in return for' so I think it works.

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    6. I agree. "Going up" is a valid and often used reversal indicator in a down clue, but this is the first time I'm seeing something like "in appreciation" used for the same purpose.

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    7. But 'in return for' has the additional 'for' which doesn't convey the correct meaning.

      Ramki, setters try to use different indicators to suit the context, as long as the meaning is correct

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    8. I am not sure if my readers have understood correctly what I said at 3:38. Is there any lacuna/mistake in what I have said? I have no time now to re-examine it as I am now going out to attend a Carnatic music concert. Will review after I return.

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    9. I have no problem as long as the intention is conveyed whether it is up or down, left or right, east or west India is the best :-)

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    10. I think it's a pretty interesting question... While reading the clue, the answer in it appears right to left. So "in appreciation" is not pertinent with regard to how the word appears in the clue... Maybe it just points to how the word would appear on the grid when that particular component is viewed separately, that is, in this case, bottom to top.

      Above being said, I think these unique indicators make a lot of sense. If how the word appears in the clue is the only criterion; all common down clue indicators like up, going up, climbing etc would become unusable and I feel that would be like a lot of restriction...

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  11. I think Mahesh is an IT programmer. He reduces every conceivable thing to a binary: terrible/terrific, bad/good, awful/awesome, yes/no, 1/0.

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    Replies
    1. Alas, the dichotomy of life ! no grey areas ?

      Lets learn to live and let live !

      I saw today a new idiom! NAILING A JELLY TO TREE ! I liked it very much !

      We all should desist from trying to do it !

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  12. Enjoyed Buzzer Samosas!
    Regarding the binary thing: There are 10 kinds of people; one who knows binary...

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  13. Let me return to the topic that I raised yesterday.
    First of all, I trust I am not seena s belabouring a point.
    Please note that I am not talking about reversal indicators in Down clues in any general terms.
    Take the clue
    Pulls up the grass (5)
    This clue involving rev of DRAWS (pulls up) is considered to be suitable only in a Dn slot. Why?
    The answeer is written as follows in the dn slot:
    S
    W
    A
    R
    D
    Clearly it's DRAWS up (going upwards from bottom)
    In the clue yesterday
    Identifying nature of some Adivasi song aided in appreciation (9)
    I was not talking only about the use of the rev ind.
    The ans is written in the grid as follows

    D
    I
    A
    G
    N
    O
    S
    I
    S

    Where is reversal? When there is no reversal, why is the rev ind used in the clue?

    The point I am trying to make is: the rev ind would make sense if the ans in the slot was to be written weirdly as
    S
    I
    S
    O
    N
    G
    A
    I
    D

    When the answer is written in the normal way from top to bottom, the rev ind "in appeciation" in the CLUE TEXT is strange.

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    Replies
    1. The reversal is, because the string in the clue is SISONGAID and not DIAGNOSIS

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    2. Exactly! In a clue that is written from left to right, if a letter string is to be read from right to left, it is only backwards. The question of a letter string going up in a Down slot may be indicated as going up in the clue. When the letter string in the Dn slot is normal, why this ind of 'appreciation'?

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    3. I think I will now close my correspondence on the subject!

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