Monday 30 May 2016

No 11713, Monday 30 May 2016, Arden


Enjoyed the Monday morning outing from Arden.

ACROSS
1   Bit plump, but he made safe journey finally (6) CHUBBY {CHUBB}{j...eY}
4   Express doubt on call to involve him in the killing (8) BUTCHERY {BUT}{C{HE}RY}
9   Sailing out, one lost the message (6) SIGNAL SAiLING*
10 Female on the run with boyfriend carrying a torch (8) FLAMBEAU {F}{LAM}{BEAU}
12 City of Lincoln – Rabbi will want to return (8) ABERDEEN {ABE}{R}{DEEN<=}
13 Fluff roll, happiness cut short (6) BUNGLE {BUN}{GLEe}
15 Determine aim – wandering in the morning (4,8) ANTE MERIDIEM*
18 Even he is part of group making annual report (7,5) BALANCE SHEET {BALANCE} {S{HE}ET}
21 Don assumes university is under pressure (6) DURESS {D{U}RESS}
22 Guy having red wine was a piano maker (8) STEINWAY {ST{WINE*}AY}
24 Changing leadership – a disaster for West (8) OCCIDENT (-a+o)OCCIDENT
25 Under one's feet some pets nip around (6) INSTEP [T<=]
26 Cursing us – it's so hot outside (8) SWEARING {S{WE}EARING} There's an extra E in the clue See comments
27 Short tribute for working capital (6) BEIRUT tRIBUTE*

DOWN
1   Acts like Robinson Crusoe (8) CASTAWAY {ACTS}*
2   Tune sung sadly, they are balmy (8) UNGUENTS*
3   He is after black money – the promoter (5,10) BRAND AMBASSADOR {B}{RAND} {AMBASSADOR}
5   Not a nice fruit, they say (4) UGLY (~ugli) A seems extraneous
6   Subject will use conceptcrime will be solved (8,7) COMPUTER SCIENCE*
7   Go with blue, green and a touch of yellow (6) ENERGY {GREEN*}{Ye...w}
8   Off to buy ecstasy, that's for sure (3,3) YOU BET {TO+BUY+E}*
11 Live on royalty, able to hold a drink (4,3) BEER CAN {BE}{ER} {CAN}
14 Bill introduced to cut outlay finally, due to heavy consumption (7) EDACITY {ED{AC}IT}{o...aY}
16 It's the main ingredient (8) SEAWATER [CD]
17 When placed under supports, does not move (5,3) STAYS PUT {STAYS}<=>{PUT}
19 Loves to embrace girl, we deem it disgraceful (6) ODIOUS {O{DI}O}{US}
20 Nothing clear about the voice (6) ORACLE {O}{CLEAR*}
23 Bull not caught immediately (4) ANON cANON


34 comments:

  1. Easy one. Steinway needed help for fine tuning.

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  2. What a brilliant crossword, Arden - thanks a ton! The surfaces are to die for. Too many favourites to pick a COD, but I think 23d stands out just that little bit higher - first among equals, as it were.

    One question: should the "He" in 3d be "HE" instead? I remember some discussion here about capitalisation, and the overall consensus seemed to be that while false capitalisation was fine, to omit capitalisation where it is necessary was not on. In this instance, "HE" gives us ambassador; "He" will not really give us that unless we assume the second letter to be capitalised too. Any views, anyone?

    Thanks for the blog, DG!

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    Replies
    1. I think it should have been HE but then the solution would have been a dead giveaway.

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    2. So what? HE is High Excellency and 'he' is that man. He cannot give 'ambassador'. That is a fact. We would not know if there is a misrepresentation or misprinting.

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    3. I thimk this stretch of imagination is fine as all ambassadors are addressed as His Excellency.

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  3. Replies
    1. "Changing leadership" tells us that first letter has to be changed; it doesn't specify what that letter must be.

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    2. Nowhere. 'Changing leadership' indicates change in the first letter of Accident

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    3. Thank you. So we have to get it from the def.- Western.

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  4. I agree with DG on the "a" in 5d: not only is it extraneous, it spoils the definition a bit - just "not nice" would work so much better as the definition.

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  5. Very enjoyable and clevva clues today from Arden:) Chubby was a hoot..he made safe !! wow.. balmy def for unguents, very punny :) ANte meridiem has a nice surface too :) Not able to understand the parsing for Steinway tho.. is guy = stay?? what happened to red? Please help.. also Swearing.. i suppose is a typo?

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    Replies
    1. Red is the Anagram indicator

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    2. tat is rather unsual...is there a precedence for this Colonel? Using red and previously blue as anagram indicators ?? I do not think this should be allowed.. :(

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  6. 'guy wire' is a stay wire and gives stability.

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    Replies
    1. this seems too obscure a reference and something not seen from Arden as yet by me! is there a precedence for guy = stay?

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    2. Not obscure Srividya, it is used quite often

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  7. 'stay' for support is used in 17D as well.

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    Replies
    1. Yes .. this is common parlance and supported by thesauri..

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  8. New colourful aninds found today! BLUE in 7Dn. and RED in 22Ac.
    I understand 'blue' for 'sad'...'red' for?

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    Replies
    1. Red: to make angry as in see red

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    2. Oh! I see! Thanks Vasant. So Blue = Sadly...Red = Angrily :)

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    3. am i the sole voice here? expressing objection to the use of these as anagram indicators.. assuming the colors stand for the emotion - sad or anger..whatever, it is just not possible to imagine them as change creators.

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    4. I thought they were fine..went well with the surfaces

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    5. Srividya,
      BLUE: unhappy, miserable.And as in vulgar, improper, dirty, racy, naughty

      RED: revolutionary,

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    6. are these accepted worldwide?

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  9. Superb Puzzle!Among so many outstanding clues, loved Balance Sheet the most for the sheer beauty of the surface. Castaway was awesome; so were the long ones alongwith Chubby,Flambeau,Anon.

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  10. Raghu @ 12:33 pm

    Ha! This revolutionary RED suits the clue 22Ac as anagram indicator! Thanks, Raghu.

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  11. Amazingly crafted long anagrams ! Did all the three last crossies of Arden with a lot of satisfaction. He almost plays telepathy with the solver ! Bravo ARDEN !

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  12. Thank you Arden. Enjoyable and stimulating puzzle. Couldn't solve EDACITY and FLAMBEAU, as I do not take recourse to dictionaries to solve.

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  13. My apologies for 26A. The original clue was: Cursing wife- it's too hot outside. For some inexplicable reason I changed it at the last moment. Moral of the story- Don't fix it if ain't broken.

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  14. Please read the last sentence as 'Don't fix it if it ain't broken' .

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    Replies
    1. Reads as good as the CW itself!

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    2. That has happened to me.
      Repeated checking introducing a mistake!

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  15. Brilliant crossword from Arden. Loved the neat surfaces and smooth clues. Very enjoyable.

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