1 - Its fall denotes the end (7) - CURTAIN [CD]
5 - Street a meeting-place (6) -{A}{VENUE}
9 - Love in the morning for most of sixty minutes (5) - {AM}{
10 - Stranded fare? (9) - SPAGHETTI [CD]
11 - Famous but apparently incompetent (7) - {NOT}{ABLE}
12 - Tom backs CIT's revised procedure (7) - {TAC<-}{TICS*}
13 - The sort of flight or option that makes it unprecedented (5) - FIRST [CD]
14 - Pompous about flu in Thai quarters (9) - HIFALUTIN*
16 - Sticky insect has another insect within (3,6) - OIL{BEE}TLE Never heard of this beetle before
21 - Canadian cop makes relation blow her top for a short-time (7) - (-a+mo){MOUNTIE}
23 - Sign a number is lionlike (7) - {LEO}{NINE}
24 - Gear for retirement? (9) - NIGHTGOWN [E]
25 - A girl in distress was a knight's quest (5) - GRAIL*
27 - Competitors' records (7) -ENTRIES [D] Smart again
DOWN
1 - In which orders pass from one link to another (5,2,7) - CHAIN OF COMMAND [CD]
2 - Early bird? (7) - ROOSTER [CD]
3 - Turn to get hold of mug and a tumbler (7) - {AC{ROB}{A}T}
4 - Sunshine falls timorously on top of the army building (6,3) -{NISSEN} {HUT} brings back good memories of army life. These temporary huts are still used by our army at many places even in Bangalore, with some of WW II vintage!!
6 - Chela, it was hit just (7) - ETHICAL*
7 - Straighten out (7) - UNTWIST [E]
8 - Complaint is Denise, with son, planned poorly (4,3,7) - {PINS AND NEEDLE*}{S}
15 - Slippery customer going into a country is independent, in a way (9) - {FR{EEL}ANCE}
17 - Less advanced in years, unknown makes way for learner in an armchair (7) - (-y+l){LOUNGER}
18 - Give the right to label (7) - ENTITLE [E]
19 - Must be under doctor during a dry spell (7) - {DR}{OUGHT}
20 - Indian wise men go north after alternative art (7) - {OR}{IGAM<-}{I}
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteWell, well, what can one say about most of today's clues? Creative, clever, crafty.....
A bit of challenge. But enjoyed completing well in time. One of the best from Gridman in recent days. Almost nothing to complain about.
OVERWHELM, AVENUE, DROWN, NIGHTGOWN, BREEZE, DROUGHT and a few others were easy ones.
10A SPAGHETTI, the 'stranded' fare
11A NOT+ABLE
12A TAC <- TICS*
- Nice ones.
14A - Had heard this word several times in conversation in the past. Had never bothered to find out the spelling and exact implication. A Google search helped.)
16A - 'BEE' within OIL BEETLE - good one.
21A - A female relative one would immediately think of is a niece or aunt. Who would think of AUNTIE losing her first letter: Very clever.
23A - LEO+NINE
1D - CHAIN OF COMMAND - 'link', 'orders' and 'command' - good play with words.
3D - the one who 'tumbles'
4D - A new word learnt after a Google search.
- All nice ones.
8D - Very cleverly constructed. Made me work out for a while where exactly the anagram fodder lay.
15D - Here the eel could not give a slip.
17D - YOUNGER minus Y plus L - liked this.
20 oR-IGAM-I<- Well made,
Re Clue 4d
ReplyDeleteGridman must have had the following line from Pope's Rape of the Lock in his mind:
Sol through white curtains shot a timorous ray,
And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day.
On the addition + deletion clues, I don't why but I get the ones with add/del quickly if they are in the beginning or end, but if they are in the middle like yesterday's 17Ac (Pecuniary), I tend to really rest my pen for a while. More practice I would imagine should help, as always.
ReplyDeleteMy CoD was describing Spaghetti as Stranded fare..I had to sit for a while and admire it..A toast to Gridman for that gem.
3D is not clear. Is Turn for ACT, and mug used as a verb?
ReplyDeleteToday's puzzle was real good.
ReplyDelete10A totally confused me 'cause I kept reading the clue as "Standard fare." It didn't happen once, but more than a couple of times.
8D: Had some trouble here.
2D: Gridman has some nice ideas. "Capitalist," "Early birds," "NotAble," "NoMad" et cetera.
14A: A new word.
Giridhar, yep.
ReplyDeleteTurn = Act. Kinda synonymous
(http://thesaurus.com/browse/turn)
Mug as in, Rob (verb form)
"rob" and "a" in "act" to give "Acrobat."
http://thesaurus.com/browse/turn
@ CV 8:50
ReplyDeleteMaybe the second word in the second line of the poem quoted should read 'opened'. Otherwise it does not make sense. I don't remember the poem very well.
Like this poem, many are my favourites and I have no doubt that the word is 'oped'.
ReplyDeleteOpe/oped, as you know, is a poetic word.
Good morning all
ReplyDeleteNice to get some very easy picks today first and third top quarter boxes especially made by job easy.
got knotted in denise with son planned just trying with "with son" rather than "planned" execution.
enjoyed really.
Thanks and good day
Mathu
Thanks VJ.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the surface of 23AC mean?
ReplyDeleteSign a number is lionlike
@ Shyam
ReplyDeleteLeo (sign) + nine (number) - LEONINE = lionlike
23A: The surface doesn't read nice. I'm not sure what it's supposed to mean. Maybe a couple of punctuations would have helped.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Sign a number, it is lionlike?
ReplyDeleteThe Col, in a message, says his Net connection is down. Perhaps he may not be able to post here, at least for a few hours today.
ReplyDelete... or If we have to do with the same sentence., maybe..
ReplyDeleteSign, a number, is lionlike.
Looks like there won't be much discussion here today. Here is some trivia (inspiration from Gridman):
ReplyDeleteThis is a word game I came across many years ago at a party. Many of you may have heard this earlier. Ideal to be used in English classes or at corporate or family get-togethers.
Those who know the answer already or happen to solve it at once can just say they know. Let's hold back the answer until Friday 5 pm IST. This would give others a chance to work on it.
The game goes like this.
Some words in the following sentence are missing. The missing words in all three blank spaces are made of the same set of letters in the same order. But the number of words could be diferent in each case.
The ....... surgeon was ....... to conduct the operation because there was .......
Get cracking, folks!
I repeat. Post only responses now, but actual answers only at 5 pm IST.
read different in the place of diferent.
ReplyDeleteRichard, it's a nice game. Looking forward to solving it :)
ReplyDeleteRemember playing a lot of fun games on IRC back when chat rooms were popular. Used to be hooked to Games-Ridiculous (a trivia game) and Games-ABC (where random acronyms were thrown out by the bot and we users form our own sentences in the given time. Each user later votes for their favorite sentence made by other users. The person/ sentence that gets the maximum vote wins the round).
I think it'd be nice if we could play a crossword game here sometime. Well, a poster makes a cryptic clue for others to solve and the one that solves it first (with the anno), writes the next clue and so on.
Thanks VJ, I am sure a lot others would take a shot. The answer is so simple. A lot of 'Oh my' and 'How couldn't I' kind of whispers may be heard.
ReplyDeleteI know better. It happened to me too, ages ago.:-)
@ Richard
ReplyDeleteI know the answer. And I posted the answer too before reading 'Post only responses now, but actual answers only at 5 pm IST'. So deleted my post immediately. Hopefully, I haven't ruined anybody's fun :)
@ VeeVen, Thanks, I too am hesitating to post the answer since it is all quiet here. Will wait for another half an hour or so. The suspense should not be kept for too long.
ReplyDeleteOk, here is a small clue: The set of letters begins with N and end with E. @ VJ Just read your post. You can work on this.
From Richard's clue -notable, not able , no table
ReplyDeleteOh yea, "inspiration from Gridman." The biggest clue.
ReplyDeleteNice one, Giridhar.
ReplyDeleteBingo, Giridhar. Congrats. Also I showed 7 dots to represent 7 letters. Hope you all liked it.
ReplyDeleteRichard, you got anymore?
ReplyDeleteTry this (I drummed it up instantly):
ReplyDelete....... the maestro demanded a ....... as his fee.
It was ...... that ...... was not for Ma!
The ........ had, unlike that of the women's, was ........
ReplyDeleteAnother one from me:
ReplyDeleteThe ...... in the bedroom was a ...... that brought great luck to the family.
I think all the sentences are written in such a way that there are some clues within as to what the words could be.
Re the last one - ma's cot , mascot?
ReplyDeleteI'm completely clueless :(
ReplyDeleteGiridhar's MASCOT answer is correct.
ReplyDelete