Thursday 21 July 2016

No 11757, Thursday 21 Jul 2016, Gridman


ACROSS
1   Making sense of company at this place by odd neta (8) COHERENT {CO}{HERE}{NeTa}
5   It sucks (6) VACUUM [CD]
10 Stern joke about artist possessing appeal (7) PURITAN {PU{R{IT}A}N}
11 Gossip wife buried in vast expanse with little glory (7) CHINWAG {CHIN{W}A}{Glory}
12 Counsel retired hard up and without capital (6) EXHORT {EX}{sHORT}
13 What one who doesn't mind may say (3,2,3) NOT AT ALL [GK]
15 Tax obligation (4) DUTY [DD]
16 Local rider going round mountain chain (10) CORDILLERA*
18 Too clever a cleric? (10) ARCHDEACON [CD]
20 Not pro (4) ANTI [CD]
23 Unaware enough to be home with no money at all (8) INNOCENT {IN}{NO}{CENT}
24 Plan to perform in a short time (6) TACTIC {T{ACT}IC}
26 Big stayer distributing mineral (7) BARYTES*
27 Shout of disapproval about posh talk is a source of concern (7) BUGABOO {B{U}{GAB}OO}
28 Key duo scattering old currency (6) ESCUDO {ESC}{DUO*}
29 Note ever-vacillating New Delhi's top priest (8) REVEREND {RE}{EVER*}{ND}


DOWN
1   The star that would give 'hep dice'? (7,8) CEPHEID VARIABLE  [RA] Would never have got this without Google!
2   Protective gear for Dhara doing acrobatics in hard time (4,3) HARD HAT {DHARA}* in {H}{T}
3   Service club's old-fashioned phone (6) ROTARY [DD]
4   Sister's report is contrary to all (4) NONE (~nun)
6   A long way to engage a hack who is friendly (8) AMICABLE {A}{MI{CAB}LE}
7   Figure out what one may do with a tangled web (7) UNWEAVE {UN}{WEAVE}
8   Angel could claim to provide for stars (10,5) MAGELLANIC CLOUD* Same remark as for 1D
9   Agreement by one on musical instrument (9) ACCORDION {ACCORD}{1}{ON}
14 No moaner's displaying prominent feature on face (5,4) ROMAN NOSE*
17 Trained cadet due for transfer (8) EDUCATED*
19 Church's new ploy almost toward the middle (7) CENTRIC {CE}{N}{TRICk}
21 Significant lack of a kind of furniture, apparently (7) NOTABLE {NO TABLE}
22 Twist Tamil leader's point of view (6) TANGLE {Ta..l}{ANGLE}
25 Limited groove for French priest (4) ABBE rABBEt


17 comments:

  1. Liked this one a lot :) esp Rotary .. Type of phone is clever :) the astronomy things I guessed from crossings and wordplay :) could not parse exhort .. Tks colonel

    ReplyDelete
  2. Many new words...yet the wordplay led to the answers! Thanks GM

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gridman star gazing today. Some words these long ones!Nice cartoon once again from Me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But I have not booked to see FDFS of Kabali!

      Delete
    2. The star is all over the place. You can gaze at him without booking a ticket.

      Delete
    3. I will be seeing Kabali FD at Waltair Club.

      Delete
  4. GM, you are astronomical with clues today!

    ReplyDelete
  5. A very nice offering from Gridman.

    18A Too clever a cleric? (10) ARCHDEACON [CD]

    My take anno : {ARCH + DEACON}

    ReplyDelete
  6. 2 astronomical pillars holding up the CW at either end today! Both not so well known but cluing and crossings easily led us there.
    My! My! I am feeling devout to both the CW and the cartoon. Back to good old times.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Was wondering how Gridman filled the grid..did he use these two long ones as starting points & build the grid around them or was he "cornered" into filling them?

      Delete
    2. As I have already said, setters generally start with long words/phrases or a couple in the perimeter.
      Starting with small ones before moving into the two long ones would have driven me into a corner - in the sense that no possible answer might have been possible even with two or three given checked letters.
      A setter might put these phrases from out of his head. But these two had no chance of coming from the said source.
      I must have taken it from a crossword dictionary - of which I have several.
      For a 14-letter word or phrase, all that I need to do is look under 14 where in alphabetical arrangement there will be the list.
      This time I chose an unusual phrase, and having done so, for the symmetrical slot I chose another unusual one.
      Care needs to be taken in clueing these phrases, of course.

      Delete
    3. Thanks Sir..that was enlightning..

      Delete
  7. Recently I saw an old movie where a man was using the rotary dial furiously, days when cell phones had yet to be discovered. I was wondering how much things have changed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Clarification - Will clue carry the answer?

    ReplyDelete
  9. No. Not supposed to. As the name suggests, it should only give a clue and not the answer itself.

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com