Tuesday 28 March 2017

No 11966, Tuesday 28 Mar 2017, Arden


Tough going in the NE corner

ACROSS
1   Fleece talk, spam and scam exposed (6) ALPACA {tALk}{sPAm}{sCAm}
4   One therefore supports electric plant (8) ACANTHUS {A}{CAN}{THUS} Electric/Can ? (Addendum - {AC}{AN}{THUS} - See comments)
10 Mostly noisy, Asia in chaotic state (9) LOUISIANA {LOUd}{ASIA+IN}*
11 Once a WI player makes runs, he comes back in (5) NURSE {RUNS}*{hE} Not sure of Anno [T] See comments
12 After port wine, I follow my interest (7) PASTIME {P}{ASTI}{ME}
13 Leaves money in the US (7) LETTUCE [DD]
14 Vehicle carrying student, a girl (5) CLARA {C{L}AR}{A}
15 Compulsions to modify this into payments (8) FETISHES {FE{THIS*}ES}
18 Sounds increased, bit terrible (8) GRUESOME (~grew){GRUE}{SOME}
20 Remember taking interest in flower (5) LILAC {I} in {CALL<= (call back)}
23 Pure wine bottles are OK (7) REFINED {RE{FINE}D}
25 Accepted rule over condition of dress (7) UNIFORM {U}{N{IF}ORM}
26 Hotter, after second page, colder (5) ICIER spICIER
27 Watchful with Bevatrons working (9) OBSERVANT*
28 Moved from one place to another by plane, downgraded (8) MIGRATED {MIG}{RATED}
29 Rinsed out being all the more supercilious (6) SNIDER*

DOWN
1   Herb — the last of basil goes in special concoction (8) ALLSPICE {b..iL} in {SPECIAL}*
2   Once a state put pressure on another (7) PRUSSIA {P}{RUSSIA}
3   Found an IT company to remonstrate (9) CASTIGATE {CAST}{IGATE}
5   Daily draw mostly uses exotic dish (9,5) CHARLOTTE RUSSE {CHAR}{LOTTE Ry}{USES}*
6   Bit of verse relaxes everybody (5) NONET Anno pending (Addendum - {NONE}{T} or (None tense) - See comments)
7   Harry's said to have commented on woman's formal dress (7) HIRSUTE (~her suit)
8   Feel threatened by a good player holding on (3,3) SEE RED {SEE {RE}D}
9   Wrap food hog away and work close to home in South Africa (4,2,4,4) CAPE OF GOOD HOPE {CAP} {HOG+FOOD}*{OP}{homE} (Correction - {CAPE} {HOG+FOOD}*{OP}{homE} - See comments)
16 Leon and Doris struggle to move forward (7,2) SOLDIER ON {LEON+DORIS}*
17 Sabre rattling — I'm racist (8) SCIMITAR*
19 Back wearing hoop, going down river (7) RAFTING {R{AFT}ING}
21 Story teller surfaces in 'fat cat' (7) LEOPARD {POE}<= in {LARD}
22 It's rum making a statement of fact (6) TRUISM*
24 Standard American support for opera (5) NORMA {NORM}{A}

GRID

28 comments:

  1. 4 One therefore supports electric plant (8) ACANTHUS {A}{CAN}{THUS} Electric/Can ?

    One: AN, Electric: AC

    ReplyDelete
  2. 1 Once a WI player makES RUNs he comes back in (5) NURSE {RUNS}*{hE} Not sure of Anno
    [T]<-

    ReplyDelete
  3. Agree with Col..tough going in NE corner..once see red fell, Acanthus & Nurse were got..innovative def of Nurse..but being a T clue, the tougher definition could be got..
    A wonderful puzzle to start the run

    ReplyDelete
  4. India need 87 runs to win.Only Rahul Gandhi can lose from here.
    Joke doing the social circle

    ReplyDelete
  5. 6D NoneT = none tense = relaxes everybody?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Plausible - but I think "none tense' will more properly be "everybody relaxed" or "all at ease".

      Delete
  6. I generally don't do The Guardian quick CWD in TH supplement. This morning some clue caught my eye and I took a pen and went on to fill in. Quite fast. Answers to two clues that I thought quite fitted had to be revised in view of crossings. Kishore and Padmanabhan, I know you do it regularly - what was your experience?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Normally I do the Quick CW with my evening tea and invariably I get stuck at a number of places.
      After seeing your comment I did it now and surprisingly I did it without a hitch.
      Was SELLOTAPE one of the answers which you had to change

      Delete
    2. No, not SELLOTAPE, a term that was so familiar in Indian households some decades ago.
      At 21a and 16d we might think of other answers before discovering the ones that fit there as per crossings.
      If it had not been so smooth as of today, I would have abandoned it after a few tentative answers! I am not a fan of these 'quickies' (are they?)

      Delete
    3. Yes, I also normally do it in the evening, but did it now in view of the points mentioned.
      Yes, 16D- raisins was my initial reaction. But did not have a problem with 21A.
      Normally, they are easy except when they refer to place names in England- which is fairly common. Sometime,our attention is drawn to the wide variations between the terms used (and of course the spellings) across the pond,as they say.

      Delete
    4. All these years I have been spelling it as 'cellotape'

      Delete
  7. 4A should normally have been a down clue for support to work. I have got used to Arden's ways though I do not agree with the correctness of the cluing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Support=back..why cant it be used in an across clue?

      Delete
    2. One therefore backs electric plant. Does this lead to the answer? Not sure

      Delete
  8. Wrap food — hog away and work close to home in South Africa (4,2,4,4) CAPE OF GOOD HOPE {CAP} {HOG+FOOD}*{OP}{homE}
    The anno misses an extra E. Where does that come from?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what I thought but second guessed myself after seeing the annotations.

      Delete
  9. You are right- there should be 2 E's, but only one at homE.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. cape: Synonyms from Dictionary.com: http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/cape

      Delete
    2. Made famous once by JJ- when she first started using it.

      Delete
  10. Is there a context for Port to be abbreviated as P? Or a reference? I was stuck trying to fit in left for port. Also is it fair to use igate which is a pvt company name?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never seen P for Port.

      Also AC: electricity/ current. Haven't come across it's use as electric

      Delete
    2. http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/p

      Delete

deepakgita@gmail.com