Thursday 9 June 2016

No 11722, Thursday 09 Jun 2016, xChequer


My nemesis is as fiendish as ever today!! Completed after a 3 hour battle (with liberal breaks in between).

ACROSS
7   Good lines, a blooming vintage vessel (6) ARGOSY {A}{R{G}OSY}
8   Falls around date to enter events (8) CASCADES {CAS{CA}{D}ES}
9   Partial employment rise perhaps merely goes to show partial employment (8) NEPOTISM {EmPlOyMeNT+rISe}* What's the role of 'partial employment'?
10 Old band together through parole (6) ORALLY {O}{RALLY} Orally/parole? (Addendum - ORALLY = PAROL(~parole) - See comments)
11 You might cross these when talking to kid (5) TEASE (~ t's)
12 Organisation without a vice? Better to be here, perhaps (6) CASINO {C{A}{SIN}O}
14 Edited clip hid the queen's decision making method (6,9) DELPHI TECHNIQUE*
17 Card-carrying guard entering PIN (6) ARDENT ? [T] Definition not clear. What is the relevance of PIN? See comments
18 Fights in resort town close to Cannes (5) SPATS {SPA}{T}{c...eS}
22 Bit of code language to start with (6) MORSEL {MORSE}{La...e}
23 Maintained power in rhythmic cycle through controlled drumming (8) RATAPLAN {RA{TA{P}LA}N}
24 Pre-school clothes means socks? (8) CLOBBERS [DD] Why pre-school? (Addendum - {CLOBBER}{S} - See comments)
25 Absolutely dull, empty library) (6) FLATLY {FLAT}{Li...rY}

DOWN
1   Envious of new watch, craving to own (5-4) GREEN-EYED {GREE{N}-{EYE}D}
2   Holy men for one being reportedly holy but easily crossed (6) POROUS P(-i+or)OROUS
3   Contribution from agency nicknamed 'Doubting Thomas' (5) CYNIC [T]
4   Floor remains carpeted, is not fancy (8) ASTONISH {ASH} around {IS+NOT}*
5   Vehicle running during key election's back outside delivering some food (8) MACARONI {MA{CAR}{ON}In}
6   Haggard blackbird? (5) MERLE [DD]
8   Companion primarily alongside fighting random armies (7-2-4)  COMRADE-IN-ARMS {Co...n}{RANDOM+ARMIES}* &lit
13 Dummy in game, South in relation to partner (4,5) AUNT SALLY {AUNT} {S}{ALLY}
15 Thank God beer is a hit, adding to momentum (6,2) PRAISE BE {P}{BEER+IS+A}*
16 Cast idle, snug in featherbeds (8) INDULGES*
19 Completely opposed park cutting tree (6) POPLAR {PO{P}LAR}
20 Hide loss of last month, post money order (5) MOULT {MO}{ULT}
21 Solid state hard substance (5) STUFF {S}{TUFF}(~tough)

GRID

41 comments:

  1. Not a satisfactory solve. It was a struggle to parse. Too many crazy clues.
    Agree with Col

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tough!
    9A: I took partial employment as the definition & the first partial as letter picker

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is no letter picking in the clue only a deletion

      Delete
    2. I considered the latter partial employment as anagrind.

      Delete
  3. 4 Pre-school clothes means socks? (8) CLOBBERS [DD] Why pre-school?

    I think Clothes: CLOBBER and pre school means before S.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 9A. Nepotism is partiality in employing people and in this puzzle, use of selected (partial) letters from the clue.
    There is a problem with 7A. Online, it was not accepting ARGOSY, it accepts AROGSY.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Use of partial letters means either the beginning or end is removed it cannot be used for removing random letters

      Delete
  5. Totally horrible xword. Most clues were totally irrelevant and not at all helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 17 Card-carrying guard entering PIN (6) ARDENT ? [T] Definition not clear. What is the relevance of PIN?

    Card-carrying: (adj) Avidly devoted to a group or cause [Free dict]
    PIN: telescopic indicator

    ReplyDelete
  7. Couldnt get orally..rataplan..merle...

    ReplyDelete
  8. 2D. POROUS. The parsing is not clear to me. What indicates deletion of 'i' and insertion of 'or'?

    ReplyDelete
  9. 10 Old band together through parole (6) ORALLY {O}{RALLY} Orally/parole?

    PAROL: by word of mouth. More properly parole. A French word, which means literally, word or speech. {Free dict}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I assumed PAROLE to be an alternative sp for PAROL and THROUGH to be a linking word.

      Delete
    2. Note, xChequer has used THROUGH as a linking word in 23A too.

      Delete
    3. Pronunciation of PAROL and PAROLE is the same

      Delete
  10. Partial employment rise perhaps merely goes to show partial employment (8) NEPOTISM {EmPlOyMeNT+rISe}* What's the role of 'partial employment'?

    The PARTIAL at the beginning of the clue indicates picking only few letters of EMPLOYMENT RISE. The PARTIAL EMPLOYMENT at the end of the clue is the defn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Partial employment: Showing favouritism at work

      Delete
    2. The 1st 'partial' adds to the surface without any part in letter picking which is done by 'goes'

      Delete
    3. In which case it is extraneous

      Delete
    4. Oops, Didn't realise Vasant & Prasad VDS had already commented about this clue!

      Delete
    5. Sandhya. In 23 A:Maintained power in rhythmic cycle through controlled drumming (8) RATAPLAN {RA{TA{P}LA}N}

      I felt 'through' is not a link word but a container ind. TA(P)LA going through RAN. There is no other container ind. to work with.

      Delete
    6. You are right again! :)

      Delete
  11. Some beautiful clues. As usual the long anagrams are very nice. P is for 'parking' but as 'park'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Think it comes from Automatic cars. P=Park, N=Neutral etc. OED has it as well

      Delete
  12. A tougher one today. I had quite a few holes when I decided to throw in the towel & come over here for the solution.
    Partial employment as defn for nepotism was my defn of the day

    ReplyDelete
  13. Driving me nuts and driving me out of crosswords!

    ReplyDelete
  14. A few good clues today..the online version threw a few unnecessary spanners in the works - unnecessary, as the xword is tuff enuf :) w/o online making it worse :) Merle good lord :) rataplan another.. Macaroni rather a poor clue IMO.. also porous .. but other than that fine.. :) however not like the usual xchequer.. hmmm

    ReplyDelete
  15. What we have here are 128-bit encrypted clues. The setter will make a great cryptologist.

    ReplyDelete

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