Wednesday 25 January 2017

No 11913, Wednesday 25 Jan 2017, Spinner


ACROSS
1   Liberation given by excitement following Spinner's return, having missed it badly! (12) EMANCIPATION {ME<=}{ANtiCIPATION}
10 Bolt's timekeepers starting late! (5) LOCKS cLOCKS
11 First woman drinking, next is drunk? That's great! (9) EXTENSIVE {NEXT+IS}* in {EVE}
12 Manages extremely chaotic tresses (6) CHAIRS {c...iC}{HAIRS}
13 Dove flies around bird above (8) OVERHEAD {DOVE}* around {RHEA}
15 Ambassadors descend on some lavishly ornamented carpets (9) DIPLOMATS {DIP}{La...y}{Or...d}{MATS}
16 Alcohol or liver? (4) BEER {BE-ER}
20 Yes, a cryptic that's simple! (4) EASY*
21 Grave trouble to one's mum! (9) MOMENTOUS*
24 Points to vehicle knocked over by planes travelling around speed of light (8) SUBJECTS {BUS<=}{JE{C}TS}
26 Head of venture is working with Spinner for insight (6) VISION {Ve...e}{IS}{I}{ON}
28 Play screened with a bit of improvisation at home (9) RESIDENCE {Im...n} in {SCREENED}*
29 Tear into extremely transgressive rubbish (5) TRIPE {RIP} in {Tr...vE}
30 Spray, entrance & trap insect (9,3) CARPENTER ANT*

DOWN
2   Nearly miss chance to travel  with men who perform service (9) MECHANICS {MISs+CHANCE}*
3   Openings of nose or slits designed to inhale air, ultimately (8) NOSTRILS {Nose}{Or}{ST{aiR}ILS*} &lit
4   Frosts with flavouring that has no special smell originally (4) ICES {spICE}{Smell}
5   Play 1v1 games, they provide leisure! (10) ACTIVITIES {ACT}{1V1}{TIES}
6   Disregard respectable man who's lost his head (6) IGNORE sIGNORE
7   Sound as one pierces snout (5) NOISE {NO{1}SE}
8   Chunk of boy's hair (5) BLOCK {B}{LOCK}
9   Commercial features in upcoming short film on front runners (7) LEADERS {AD} in {S}{REEL}<=
14 Note Spinner's opening with an empty clue (10) IMPORTANCE {I'M}{PORT}{AN}{CluE}
17 Education definitely ruined it — Gained nothing in the process! (9) ERUDITION {O} in {RUINED+IT}*
18 Sandy area covers beginning of St. Andrews' final course (7) DESSERT {DES{S}ERT}
19 Tougher critters prowling about (8) STRICTER*
22 Rejected revolutionary's final offer (6) TENDER {RED}{NET}<=
23 Subordinate to run frantically all over Germany (5) UNDER {UN{DE}R*}
25 Principal in charge runs after graduates (5) BASIC {BAS}{IC}
27 Caressed fabric (4) FELT [DD]

GRID

26 comments:

  1. Thanks Spinner. Completed in 20 minutes.

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  2. I Be-er is the indiator, Live= Be or=er ? Then shouldn't there be an indicator either after or OR as er as an indicator for doubt? Where does this clue fall? with ye- crypto-analysts? any er-- rror?

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  3. After solving the first few clues, thought the theme was "Hair".
    Nice easy one with Spinner featuring in a lot of clues which is a standard feature of Spinner puzzle..but no cricket reference today.
    Thanks Spinner.

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  4. Raju:please read my reply to your query.

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  5. Nice one,Spinner. Thoroughly enjoyed solving it. 😊

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  6. On 15a .. is some the indicator for taking l from lavishly and o from ornamented? I mean after yesterday's few discussion... should we leave some behind? 😀

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    Replies
    1. I've clarified my stance on this before :) I use 'some' to pick only the first letter, the same way as 'a little' or 'a bit of'.

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    2. Similarly, can I use 'some' to pick up two or more letters from within a word to serve as the component of a charade? Recently I think I wrote one such clue but even if I persuade myself to use it, it will take several months before it sees the light of day.
      ***
      If we go along with your device/convention, how does 'some' apply to the opening letters of two words following the instruction?
      Can it be defended as the particular setter's convention?

      Delete
    3. The first point -
      How many letters does 'some' tell us to pick? I believe picking one letter, as we do with 'a little' or 'a bit of' is a better proposition than allowing any number of letters. This, is what I'm defending as the setter's convention.
      Gridman 11096 -
      23 Officer to fix a part of mine for paper folding (7) ORIGAMI
      A part can mean any number of letters from 'mine'. Here it stands for two letters. So the solver does apply the context to the clue and decides to pick 2 letters. I still find it acceptable. I guess it is a matter of the setter's preference.



      The second point - Can some be used to take first letters of more than one word? Here I'm just going with how acrostic indicators are employed, where we don't really indicate how many words the indicator applies to. But I do concede that 'some' doesn't work as well as other indicators when more than one word is involved.

      Delete
  7. Thanks for the comments :) Yes be-er was intended as Colonel had parsed. The clue is a raging question, indeed.

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  8. Late (not time taken) in doing the CW and dropping in here.
    Enjoyable one from Spinner- as usual. Thank you.

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  9. very nice grid...enjoyed it thoroughly

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  10. Could solve in full after what seems ages. Thanks Spinner

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  11. CV & DEEPAK; I parsed it alright but my question is under what classification does the clue fall? From the items listed in the left side of the blog? There is no mention against the parsing done in the blog , except:BEER {BE-ER}

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