Stumped by 4D and 10A with two options for 2D.
ACROSS
ACROSS
1 - Go to the father in front of the ship (4) - {PA}{SS}
9 - Exempt to go off the usual course (4,2,9) - MAKE AN EXCEPTION [CD]
10 - An explorer's game (4) -???O or A (Addendum POLO - Thanks to Kishore)
11 - Jethro will be the last to weave the fine net (5) - {TULL}{E}
13 - Cover for the church physician (5) - {LEE}{CH}
16 - Correct him proverbially in between (7) - IMPROVE [T]
18 - An extra tyre maybe (5) - SPARE [CD]
22 - Young one regularly crawls on the top floor (4) - {C}{A}{L}{F}
23 - It's the bottom of the drain to be cleaned (5) - NADIR*
24 - Bishop is out of a game in the harbour (4) - QUArrY
25 - Adam and Eve's mythical place of stay (3,6,2,4) - THE GARDEN OF EDEN [E]
DOWN
2 - Needleshaped leaves as of the pine (7) - ACEROSE or ACERATE ? [E]
4 - Endlessly complain about an incomplete old song (5) -?A??? (Addendum - CARpOLd Thanks to Venkatesh, see comments)
5 - Former one is the French outcast (5) - {EX}{I}{LE}
6 - Recycled long paper, user finally made to be used for all things (7,7) - {GENERAL PURPOS*}{E}
7 - Mad animals are finally put up in the borders of Ireland (6) - {S}{TUP<-}{ID}
8 - Lift up the hard short pillow (7) - BOLSTER [DD]
17 - Security will deny getting the girl for a second (6) - REFUs(+g)GE
19 - Ask for the queer character on the street (7) - {REQUE*}{ST}
20 - Moves slowly in stages (5) - EDGES [CD](Correction [E] )
21 - Ungulate mammal of arid country (5) - CAMEL [CD](Correction [E])
SEND TO COVENTRY, MAKE AN EXCEPTION, THE GARDEN OF EDEN and GENERAL PURPOSE all spanned across (down?) 15 characters, but surprisingly only 4 letter words in the first and last rows. Unusually, the last down does not end on the last row. REFU(-s+G)E was nice while regularly regularly appears and another favourite of NJ’s ‘tip off’ appears too. POLO was great. Possibly the world’s costliest game given the cost of horses or elephants whichever you prefer.
ReplyDelete10a POLO (Marco and game)
ReplyDelete4d C(AN)ON ?
3D NonSENsical is right !
ReplyDelete(from yesterday)
ReplyDeleteA new member posted the following anno for yesterday's 26d:
Regarding 26d: disc = al(b)um
The clue is: Graduate has an empty disc (4)
ALUM in the sense 'graduate' is rather new to us in India. It's not in Chambers but a dictionary search online shows it up. So there's no problem in accepting it. It might be popular in the US. (Our Americophile, VJ, should know.) We might thank the compiler for moving away from the chemical meaning and letting us know of a different usage.
However, I am afraid the clue on the whole doesn't work for me.
The clue is: Graduate has an empty disc (4)
I can't derive ALBUM from 'disc'. An album is a collection of discs. Even 'discs' cannot be given as the def for ALBUM.
Secondly, when a word is 'emptied', 'made hollow', etc, etc, all the letters except the first and the last must go. If ALBUM is emptied, you get AM after removing LBU.
For removal of a single letter (B here), the wordplay device has to be more appropriate and precise. I think it is used without understanding the principles of crossword clue construction.
25A - Adam and Eve's mythical place of stay (3,6,2,4) - THE GARDEN OF EDEN [E]
ReplyDeleteI am not a religious bigot. But I register my protest here. It is wrong to refer to the Garden of Eden as a mythical place.
Deepak
ReplyDeleteRe clue classification:
20 - Moves slowly in stages (5) - EDGES [CD]
21 - Ungulate mammal of arid country (5) - CAMEL [CD]
Deepak, I must diagree here.
Neither of these is a CD. There is nothing cryptic about these. Both are S, for 'straightforward'.
@ Col
ReplyDelete4 - Endlessly complain about an incomplete old song (5) -?A???
I don't know why the trouble over a simple clue
Endlessly complain CAR[-p]
incomplete old - OL[-d]
Defn: song [b]CAROL[/b]
LOL Richard.... You won't believe this... After reading the clue, I was wondering what your reactions would be.
ReplyDeleteWell while politically incorrect, .............
Yesterday we had a new member here, NJVaasi, a creative derivative from New Jersey.
ReplyDeleteBy chance, an inspiration from our own NJ and ChennaiVasi? I hope there is no copyright infringement. ;-)
Graduate has an empty disc (4)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Chaturvasi here.
Well, while "album" and "CD" are used interchangeably ("like I bought the new CD of Coldplay" or something like that, where CD is a band/ singer's album), an album is never referred to as a disc or vice versa. So "disc = album" is not fair IMO.
This is my anno. I know it's stupid.
Graduate = ALUMNA
has - connector
an empty = AN becomes empty, meaning A and N in ALUMNA become "O," making it ALUMO
now, an empty disc = O disc = O disconnected.
So we finally have ALUM
ALUM also means "graduate."
Venkatesh @ 8:48,
ReplyDeleteWhat's simple for someone may not occur to others. I am sure you too must must have come across clues which were simple but never struck you?
In case such a situation has not arisen in your case then I must say you are a whizz at Crosswords.
14A Controlled Henry by the way on the bench out for instance (7) - {H}{AND}LED Anno pending
ReplyDeleteAnno allowing for NJ
And = by the way
Led = Led(-ge<-).
Suresh, Awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteYou are right Suresh, ledge being a bench and NJ's favourite ' out ' for reduction.
ReplyDeleteWe are left being 'handled' now !
ReplyDeleteCol: Your illustration between 13a and 14a works for both: Handled the leech
ReplyDeleteNice observation.
ReplyDelete@ CV/Col
ReplyDeleteS, for 'straightforward'
Is this a new terminology proposed?
So far in this blog we have been using the annotation [E] for "Non-cryptic, easy type clue".
Pl advise.
By straightforward CV meant E
ReplyDeleteI used S for Straightforward. I don't mean to say it must be necessarily used by others.
ReplyDeleteI don't prefer to use E because even a non-cryptic, straightforward clue might defy a solver. If so, it's not E, is it?
S could also stand for synonymic, for a clue like Purchase (3) merely invites you to supply a synonym for the word 'purchase'.
A CD, whether it's easy or difficult, is one where there is no obvious wordplay such as hidden, charade, homophone, acrostic, etc, etc, but where you get the answer out of the top of your head.
21a's relative appears in today's Bangalore ET4391 as 7d One's got the hump at awful Red Army do (9).
ReplyDeleteAlso in same CW, a delightful one: 19a Spooner's criminal with nurse finding hiding places (4,3,6)
Kishore @11:12
ReplyDeleteI too thought that the Spooner clue was a nice one when I solved this CW a few months ago.
Spooner's criminal with nurse finding hiding places (4,3,6)
ReplyDeleteNOOK AND CRANNY (hiding places)
(Spoonerism applied to CROOK AND NANNY)
Col saab, are you clairvoyant? You have already put the picture for my first clue in 1112 post !
ReplyDelete@CV
ReplyDeleteYour point is well made that a clue could be easy or difficult.
My suggestion is that where there is uniform understanding, then we can follow that. Col has already spelt out the current conventions for Annos (in the column on the left)and we have been following those. He has explained that it covers non-cryptic clues.
Col mentioned earlier on this blog that what is easy for some may be difficult for others though they may be experts; there are times when the clue fails to click with the best of minds.
Introduction of new terminology may confuse newcomers & beginners. If it is agreed by consensus that E stands for straight definitions (easy or difficult), then we can continue using that.
Kishore @ 1909
ReplyDeleteWhich picture are you talking about?
The dromedary with the camel.
ReplyDeleteWe had CV quoting Nash's Llama some days back.
ReplyDeleteHere is Ogden Nash's THE CAMEL
The camel has a single hump;
The dromedary, two;
Or else the other way around.
I'm never sure. Are you?
The above poem was printed on the US Ogden Nash stamp along with some others:
ReplyDeleteTHE TURTLE
The turtle lives twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.
THE COW
The cow is of the bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk.
CROSSING THE BORDER
Senescence begins
And middle age ends
The day your descendants
Outnumber your friends.
THE KITTEN
The trouble with a kitten is
THAT
Eventually it becomes a
CAT.
Kishore,
ReplyDeleteThat picture has been there since 8:30, in any case a Dromedary is also a camel.
By the way do you'll know, there are Bactrian Camels (the double humped ones) in Leh. Leh used to be part of the famed silk route and these Bactrian Camels which fell sick were left behind there by the traders, some of them survived and flourished.There is a place near Hunder beyond the Khardungla Pass where there are Sand dunes and these camels, I had the good fortune of seeing them when I went there in 2006
ReplyDeleteCol 2015: That is exactly why I asked if you were clairvouyant. A dromedary at 830 along with the camel.
ReplyDelete@ Venkatesh
ReplyDeleteI respectfully submit that I did not ask Col Deepak to use S instead of E. He can continue to do what he has been doing.
However, when I classify a clue like the one mentioned I wouldn't call it E for Easy. I do agree that certain straightforward crosswords published in newspapers or books may appear in a section titled 'easy'.
In my note above I classified it as S and then helpfully added 'for Straightforward'.
The Colonel is under no obligation to adopt it. But I will continue to use it when any explanation is done.
Venkatesh,
ReplyDeleteLet me put matters at rest. What I mean by E is when the Clue is just a plain and simple definition of the solution as one would find in a standard dictionary and that is what CV means by straightforward. I for my convenience have called it E, CV just typed S for straightforward, you are welcome to call it X, Y, Z or whatever you feel like. So let's leave it at that.
Straightforward means almost the same thing as easy in some contexts. But S could mean "straight"
ReplyDeleteOr we could just see it as E for explicit (i.e. if it suits).
ReplyDeleteParaphrasing the camel from 1942; which is just a metaphor for today's discussion on the non cryptic clue.
ReplyDeleteThe easy one has no cryptic,
The straightforward one too,
CV uses one, DG uses another,
VJ is explicit too.
Re the issue of S and 'straight':
ReplyDeleteJust a stray thought to end the day with - S can mean 'soda', and 'straight' can also mean 'neat' or 'without soda'. It's a bit confusing! ;-)
Talking of humps and forgetting camels, dromedaries and camelopards (giraffes) for the nonce, I remember 'flying the hump' phrase of WWII: flying heavy transport planes on India-China missions over the eastern Himalayas.
ReplyDeleteRichard 2232
ReplyDelete'Straight' drinking may effect straight thinking and put one in dire straits.