Monday 16 May 2016

No 11701, Monday 16 May 2016, Spinner


ACROSS
1   They might be used in general anaesthesia? (5,7) WHOLE NUMBERS [CD]
10 Tribute to a good man (5) TOAST {TO}{A}{ST}
11 Extremely cold water? It is inside ice pan! (9) CRITICISE {Cold}{w..eR}{IT}{IC{IS}E}
12 Kings regret taking one side before other side's introduction to scene (6) RULERS {RU{L}E}{R}{Sc...e}
13 More intense setter's not involved in restoring cryptic (8) STRONGER RESTORiNG*
15 Passionate engineer erecting ground (9) ENERGETIC {E}{ERECTING}*
16 Clue's success describes Spinner, essentially (4) HINT {HI{spiNner}T}
20 Bowl to openers of Sydney Sixers (4) TOSS {TO}{Sy...y}{Si...s}
21 Some intoxicants in rum - Ablest of sailors need them in an emergency (9) LIFEBOATS {In...s+ABLEST+OF}*
24 Transport for those who hate flights (8) ELEVATOR [CD]
26 Rub the wrong way, quarrel and retreat (6) BURROW {BUR<=}{ROW}
28 Tragic solution - Hollow tube containing life-ending smoke (9) CIGARETTE {CIGAR{lifE}T*}{TubE}
29 Pierce nose with tip of ring (5) BREAK {B{Ring}EAK}
30 It belts out songs by past actor (6,6) RECORD PLAYER {RECORD} {PLAYER}

DOWN
2   Prime news: Is he Laden in disguise? (9) HEADLINES*
3   It rarely turns dramatic (8) LITERARY*
4   French city is pleasant (4) NICE [DD]
5   Indian team's form is sustained (10) MAINTAINED*
6   Journalist tried playing, got out! (6) EDITOR {O} in {TRIED}*
7   At the end, buzzing insects return to bite (5) STING {STIN}{b...nG}<=
8   Mine for extremely soft mineral (5) STORE {SofT}{ORE}
9   In embassy leader's absence, releases confidential matters (7) SECRETS SECRETeS
14 Cheer pilot manoeuvring aircraft (10) HELICOPTER*
17 Block made rent free after introduction of interest (9) INTERFERE {In...t}{RENT+FREE}*
18 Continue to vomit after stale tacos, for starters (7) STRETCH {St..e}{Ta..s}{RETCH}
19 Incomplete article on leaders of bureaucracy in American district (8) COLUMBIA {COLUMn}{Bu...y}{In}{Am...n}
22 Note lack of finish in brick structure (6) FABRIC {FA}{BRICk}
23 A king in fear is sleepless (5) AWAKE {AW{A}{K}E}
25 Dying Queen embraces senility (5) EAGER {E{AGE}R}
27 Little princess starts to cry (4) WEEP {WEE}{Pr...s}


20 comments:

  1. Nice cw Spinner :)
    21A I thought Ablest of sailors..... was the definition & was struggling for the anno :P

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  2. Thank you, Spinner and DG! My CsOD were 21a and 24a - brilliant!

    I am travelling and the online crossword solving feature was a huge boon. The automatic checking, though, continues to be a drag! :(

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  3. Lovely one from Spinner...nice mix of wrong ones, flippers,leg spinners on very good surface(16A,20A)..
    Hopefully you are a leg spinner

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  4. An idle question re 4dn. French city is pleasant (4) NICE [DD]
    I think the French city is pronounced like knees or niece. Nice, in the sense of 'pleasant' is pronounced differently like nighs.
    Is pronunciation of any consequence in a DD clue?

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    Replies
    1. Pronunciation has no consequence in a DD clue

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    2. ... unless there is a homophone indicator?

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    3. That is one of my bugbears!

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    4. If there is a homophone indicator, it would no longer be a DD clue, right? And I feel the fact that pronunciation doesn't matter in DD is what provides for delightful possibilities to clue 'entrance', 'supply' and the likes.

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  5. Neat delivery from Spinner..did fine with it :) Elevator CD was nice.. 28a was the best tho :) did not like Lifeboats tho - (Ablest of)* is fne and so also the definition but the introduction of I into the fodder using the device "some intoxicants" is not very elegant.. some usually indicates more than one letter.. maybe principally or some other device may be more suitable IMO..

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    Replies
    1. oh and whole numbers also another nice CD :)

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    2. Thanks for the comments :)

      To explain my POV, I feel the usage of 'some' to indicate more than one letter is unfair, because it is precisely that case which provides multiple possibilities. When 'a bit of', 'a little', 'a trace of' etc are perfectly acceptable to pick the first letter, I feel 'some' falls in the same category. And as a matter of consistency, all my puzzles use some only to indicate first letter. Agreed that a totally new indicator to pick first letter would do the trick, but it may not sit as comfortably, from the surface aspect of things. Would love more comments on this line of thinking.

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  6. Spinner does not fail to deliver- lives up to his reputation. Enjoyed after a few days break. Thank you Spinner.

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  7. What a way to start the week! This was a truly delightful puzzle!! Many thanks, Spinner. :-)

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  8. Hot day began with cooler! What a relief

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  9. What a delightful CD- 1A! I was numbed for a while.

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  10. Thanks to thc, and Spinner, a chilly day here in Nagoya is made warmer
    . Stayed indoors solving ET crosswords clippings brought along.

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  11. I have no pretenses to be Kishore ! Mine is an open book ! I merely used my son's Tab which was lying handy nearby.

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  12. Does the Sunday crossword not appear in the Interactive site? If not, why not ? This was perhaps overlooked in our Sunday 15th's comments.

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    Replies
    1. No it doesn't appear in the interactive site. Nobody here knows why not. You will have to write to The Hindu and ask why not!!

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