Tuesday, 9 February 2010

No 9761, Tuesday 09 Feb 10, M Manna

Some excellent clues today, it appears that the Maestro made the entire CW today and sent the novice packing except at one or two places
ACROSS
1 - Nullify what could be neat, for example (6) - N{EG}ATE*
4 - The players got on getting dressed (8) - {BAND}{AGED} Neat clue
10 - Goad is all right when going in to raise dough (7) - PROV{OK}E Nice clue
11 - Don’t ban it as ordered (7) - ABSTAIN*
12 - Behold, morning reveals the right earth (4) - {LO}{AM}
13 - The front of the study (10) - FOREGROUND [CD] Neat clue
16 - It was dropsy that made English old (6) - {O}{E}DEMA*
17 - To the physician anything but an ill wind (7) - {DR}{AUGHT}
20 - In the corner erect another hide (7) - S{ECRET*}E Nice clue
21 - Place of turmoil on board ship when explosive projectiles are fired (6) - S{HELL}S
24 - Agree about the mess being bad, with the rating (10) - ASS{ESSM*}ENT Nice clue
25 - Pen a note affecting the viewer (4) - {STY}{E}
27 - Vulcanised rubber with one bit shaped to a point (7) - EBONITE*
29 - Disadvantage of French desert (7) - {DE}{MERIT} Nice one. Never knew that MERIT and DESERT were synonymous
30 - A worker about 25 who doesn’t turn up for work (8) - ABSENTEE Anno pending
31 - Old city takes in certain moneylender (6) - U{SURE}R
DOWN
1 - French ruler worth 20 francs (8) - NAPOLEON [DD]

2 - Fine speech is expected from a fashionable area (4,7) - {GOOD} {ADDRESS}
3 - Sound horn, going either way (4) - TOOT
5 - A chum takes half hour and quarter to be with dabblers (8) - {A}{MATE}{UR}{S}
6 - Very worried, indeed, it’s flapping in the air (10) - D{IST*}RAUGHT Nice clue
7 - Tailless animal in India (3) - GOA(-t)
8 - Ned due to divest himself of a title (6) - DENUDE*
9 - Last company of the French may lure you into a trap (5) - {DE}{COY} Poor clue
14 - Windsor, for example, would not require his services (11) - UPHOLSTERER [CD] Too vague a clue to get without all the crossings
15 - Taking off the stamp (10) - IMPRESSION [DD]
18 - Impressed by Oriental bolt (8) - STAMPED{E}
19 - Senators’ resolution needs his sanction (8) - ASSENTOR*
22 - Film cases may be heard in it (6) - CAMERA [DD]
23 - Spoilt Denis becomes derogatory in an insinuating way (5) - SNIDE*
26 - Graduate returns as an ordinary seaman (4) - {AM<-}{OS<-} )
28 - Approves sanctions (3) - OKS [E]


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21 comments:

  1. Richard9 February 2010 at 08:41

    Good Morning.

    Agree with all your annos today.

    30A - A worker about 25 who doesn’t turn up for work (8) - ABSENTEE Anno pending

    A worker = A BEE, with SENT inserted. Can't get it.

    Can anyone help?


    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  2. Richard9 February 2010 at 08:44

    28D - Approves sanctions (3) - OKS [E]

    OK is noun form and 'Okay' is a verb. So for 'approves' as a verb it should be 'okays'. But then, you know, there is something called the 'crosswordic' licence, a la 'poetic'.

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shuchi9 February 2010 at 08:49

    If the answer the clue 25A was SENT, 30A would make sense.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Col_Gopinath9 February 2010 at 09:10

    @Richard
    Since OK is OKAY I think OK'S is acceptable for OKAYS. Okay or shall I say OK!!
    That reminds me of a word I hate to hear the present generation use, 'Anyways', I don't know why they use it instead of just Anyway. You hear all the English speaking Hindi serial actors using it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chaturvasi9 February 2010 at 09:21

    'Anyways' is in Chambers but marked as dialect, US.
    In other words, it is used in the US.
    Our johnnies and jillies who go to the US and who speak English as she is spoke there use 'anyways'.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chaturvasi9 February 2010 at 09:23

    Re the use of 25 in 30A I have my own views but I will keep them to myself.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Richard9 February 2010 at 09:36

    Colonel

    Your mention of ANYWAYS reminds me of some people asking for CURDS when having a MEALS.

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chaturvasi9 February 2010 at 09:41

    And would they ask for rubbers?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Col_Gopinath9 February 2010 at 09:43

    @Richard,
    What is wrong with asking for CURDS? It's there in my Oxford Concise.
    @Chaturvasi
    Now that you mentioneit, I looked it up in my dict and found it there, notwithstanding I find it jarring when it is used

    ReplyDelete
  10. Richard9 February 2010 at 09:52

    Maybe you are asking for more than a single cup of curd aka yogurt aka yoghurt.

    I was travelling in a suburban bus some years ago. When it was leaving a bus-stop after a brief stopover, a woman came running, trying to board, which was not noticed by the conductor. A fellow-passenger screamed in Kannada 'Obru ladies bartare' (One ladies wants to come in). The bus made a halt and she joined us.

    I asked the guy as to why he had to say 'ladies' while it was a sole lady. He tried to justify saying the plural form was a mark of respect for the womenfolk.

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chaturvasi9 February 2010 at 09:57

    The point Richard makes is that CURD itself would do for the product. The plural is unnecessary.
    Of course, milk 'curds' or 'curdles' where it is a verb.
    I think it's non-English speaking people who use the word 'meals' when 'meal' would do. You can hear one Tamilian say to another at a wedding: "Enna, meals saapida polaamaa?"
    Does he have the intention of returning to the panthi after he is done?

    ReplyDelete
  12. sriks79 February 2010 at 10:07

    For Windsor, I think the setter might have had this in mind
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windsor_chair
    Hence needing no upholsterer

    ReplyDelete
  13. Shuchi9 February 2010 at 11:34

    Re the use of 25 in 30A I have my own views but I will keep them to myself.

    Ditto.

    What is wrong with asking for CURDS? It's there in my Oxford Concise.

    'Curds' is all right, as I understand. It's acceptable to use it in the plural. Remember the nursery rhyme: Little Miss Muffet, Sat on her tuffet, Eating her curds and whey....

    The only place where it's wrong to use the plural is when it's used in combined form, like 'curd rice'.

    I used to find 'anyways' jarring earlier, but have got slowly accustomed to it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Col_Gopinath9 February 2010 at 11:52

    @ Chaturvasi

    I suppose "Enna meals saapida polaamaa" comes from the notice at the hotels which say "MEALS READY" !!

    @Sriks7

    There is no doudt about what the setter had in mind after getting the answer, my point was that it could not be derived without the crossings, FACILITATOR would also fit, if you looked at the clue without any crossing

    ReplyDelete
  15. Col_Gopinath9 February 2010 at 11:53

    Our kids are fed up with us when both of us jump at them the minute they use 'Anyways'

    ReplyDelete
  16. Col_Gopinath9 February 2010 at 11:54

    Shuchi has set the curds issue with the popular Nursey Rhyme

    ReplyDelete
  17. Richard9 February 2010 at 16:38

    The intruder's post above, in Chinese characters, translated into English, reads:

    At 3:21 pm on February 9, 2010 more said ... thing of the past would have gone, the future is more vague and unknowable thing, only now is real ...........

    ReplyDelete
  18. sriks79 February 2010 at 20:46

    I did not know Windsor was a type of chair.
    I knew only about the place & palace.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Col_Gopinath9 February 2010 at 21:38

    Richard,
    I never knew you are a linguist

    ReplyDelete
  20. sriks79 February 2010 at 21:55

    Also I had come across the phrase
    "got... just deserts", but only today realised that desert was a synonym for merit.

    ReplyDelete
  21. kontikki11 February 2010 at 05:37

    Colonel,

    I think the phrase "boarding and lodging" displayed in hotels is wrong. Should not the right usage be "board and lodging"?

    ReplyDelete

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