Saturday 13 March 2010

No 9789, Saturday 13 Mar 10, M Manna

The Maestro at work today all by himself, resulting in an excellent set of clues. No gaffes today like in yesterday's opener.
ACROSS
1 - Only a couple of pupils entering an examination is most incredible (7) - T{A}{LL}EST
5 - Vehicle to get on for a picture (7) - {CAR}{TO}{ON}
10 - Able to refuse French one throwing a ball (6) - {CAN}{NON}
11 - The point in folly that becomes madness (8) - {IN}{SANITY} (Correction - IN{S}ANITY - Thanks to Sandhya, see comments berlow)
12 - Honour change of course in return for a place with a view (6) - {GAZ}{EBO}<- )

13 - Your ills may turn out to be imaginary (8) - ILLUSORY*
14 - Stop and take it easy having found the car won't start (6) - (-c){AR}{REST}
15 - Runs scored as byes at cricket (6) - EXTRAS [E]
18 - Need to improve again text that's ready for publication (2-4) - RE-EDIT [E]
20 - A wave that flattens out (6) - ROLLER [DD]
23 - Start or finish for scholastic session in United States (8) - {TERM}{IN}{US}
25 - Subjects of some comment he messed up in making (6) - THEMES [T]
26 - She is discretion itself (8) - PRUDENCE [DD]
27 - Groups of Scout patrols (6) - TROOPS [DD]
28 - The failure of touching pleas maybe (7) - {RE}{LAPSE*}
29 - Self denier like this French model in charge (7) - {AS}{CE}{T}{IC}
DOWN
2 - Supreme glorification of any principle made out by Ava to Jack (6) - {AVA}{TAR}
3 - Descriptive of grain that is ripe but not cropped? (4-5) - LONG-EARED [CD]
4 - New York copes correctly to fainting fit (7) - SYNCOPE*
6 - Jack to explain free pardon (7) - {AB}{SOLVE}
7 - Camps made temporarily (5) - TENTS [CD]
8 - Prison escape from a sudden disturbance? (8) - OUTBREAK [DD]
9 - Diana's curious but impartial (13) - {DIS}{INTERESTED} Nice clue
16 - Consequently the note has a warning of course (9) - {THE}{RE}{FORE}
17 - Try out a military gun-carriage? (8) - {RE}{HEARSE}
19 - Number of workers are only in possession temporarily (7) - {TEN}{ANTS}
21 - Oil test goes awry; that's an understatement (7) - LITOTES*
22 - President enters Asian capital to see famous oracular site (6) - DEL{P}HI
24 - Aimed to corrupt Press and TV (5) - MEDIA*

GRID

27 comments:

  1. 11 across: The point in folly that becomes madness (8) - {IN}{SANITY}

    I feel the anno should be: IN{S}ANITY
    S = point
    Inanity = folly

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  2. Colonel, How is 'RE' for 'touching' in 28A?

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  3. I agree with Sandhya on Anno for 11A

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  4. Good morning Colonel

    Certainly no gaffes like yesterday, although I suspect that some like 15a, 27a, 7d are the evil twin's work. There are some pretty good clues, but nothing spectacular as M.Manna's puzzles usually have.

    I'm not so keen on the one you liked - 9D. DIS + INTERESTED is the natural make-up of the word; I prefer charades that break the word more creatively. Besides, Diana = DI is an overdone cliche.

    My picks are the anagrams at 13a and 21d.

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  5. A good X-word.
    I got all except 17 Dn.
    12 Ac Gazebo was a good one. OBE + (zig) zag<-
    I agree with Sandhya about 11 Ac. It is 'S' in 'inanity'

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  6. Thanks Sandhya,
    I was not happy with the anno of INSANITY when I put it in initially, but then I forgot about it and let it go.

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  7. @Sembhayya,
    RE = of = about etc

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  8. @Venkatesh:
    Could you please clarify '(zig)+zag'?

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  9. Hello everyone

    Had completed the puzzle early. Responding late.

    Many easy and straight-forward clues.

    10A - Able to refuse French one throwing a ball (6) - {CAN}{NON} - Since CAN = 'is able to' the clue should have been prefixed with 'Is'.

    9D - Diana's curious but impartial (13) - {DIS}{INTERESTED}- I fully agree with Shuchi that 'Di-for-Diana' clue is overworn. By the way, the DISINTERESTED is often misunderstood and used in wrong context like 'uninterested. Being disinterested is like having no vested interest in a given matter.

    21D - LITOTES. A new word obtained through a search.

    Didn't someone mention here a few days ago that we get to learn a lot of new words while solving THC?

    I bumped into this interesting tidbit yesterday.

    'He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.' - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway).

    'Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?' - Ernest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)


    Richard

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  10. Correction: Please read 'By the way, the DISINTERESTED' as 'By the way, the word DISINTERESTED....'

    Richard

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  11. How is hearse a military gun carriage

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  12. Good morning. The word JACK is used in 2D and 6D. Can anyone explains its significance ?

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  13. Jack is a sailor, also called AB(able bodied seaman),Tar, Salt. Common expressions in CWs

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  14. @Suresh,
    Military + RE = Royal Engineers

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  15. Gun-carriages are used as hearse's for VIP funerals

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  16. Thanks Colonel. That is what I thought but did not feel that a hearse can be equated with a gun carriage.
    I thought that a gun carriage was meant primarily for warfare with military honours for a dead VIP only being a subsidiary usage.

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  17. Hey, what's obe? I googled and it got me nowhere.

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  18. "She is discretion itself (8)"

    A real nice one...

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  19. 'CARTOON','PRUDENCE','AVATAR' and 'LITOTES' were thoroughly enjoyable...

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  20. @ Dan

    OBE = Order of the British Empire

    Richard

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  21. Colonel,
    I am a THC novice.I notice the frequent usage of clues having a 'french' connection.How do I decipher this?

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  22. Thanks Richard... Didn't realize that it could be an acronym.

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  23. @Ravi. The word French indicates that the word before or after would have to be translated into French in the answer

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  24. For instance if it says 'the French' it could mean 'le', 'la' or 'les'

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  25. Thanks everyone for answering all the queries. I was off to a Golf tournament in the afternoon and just got back, don't ask me how I fared though:-((, still a novice at the game, hopefully shall do well one day.

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