ACROSS
8 - A martinet (14) - DISCIPLINARIAN [E]
9 - Leaf vein (6) - MIDRIB [E]
11 - Undiluted alcoholic drink (8) - STRAIGHT [CD]
13 - Weedy annual grass (5) - CHEAT [E]
16 - One does fix the battery points (6) - {AN}{ODES*}
19 - Agent speculator ends the share business (6) - BEARER ?
21 - Minimum patterns found in rugs now woven by adults (8) - {GROWNU{P}S*}
23 - One who fights for a cause maybe! (8) - ACTIVIST [E]
24 - A memento (6) - TROPHY [E]
26 - Expert actor trains out a slow goer (14) - {PRO}{CRASTINATOR*}
1 - Allowed in the maid working in the last flat of Edward (8) - {ADMI*}{T}{TED}
2 - Henry will not accompany the customer (4) - US
3 - Grand batik design on the gear (6) - {KITBA(G)*}
4 - Bring up the Spanish girl with Lawrence (7) - {EL}{EVA}{TE}
5 - A member of the Church of England (8) - ANGLICAN [E]
6 - A crucial conflict (10) - ARMAGEDDON [E]
7 - Lucky character Uncle puts up on the camp bed (6) - {MAS<-}{COT}
12 - Following factor of an one act play (10) - {AFTER}{PIECE}
15 - Rival can organise a funfair (8) - CARNIVAL*
17 - Initially check out the cipher written on the box — a shade of blue (8) - SAP{PHIRE
18 - Shake up a girl, one in front of the gallery (7) - {A}{G}{I}{TATE}
20 - An armed guard (6) - ESCORT [E]
22 - Selecting the bell sound after work (6) - {OP}{TING}
25 - Swear words in a boat house (4) - OATH [T]
I thought initially I shall join the club for 26as, but lemme wait a little and see if I am eligible.
ReplyDeleteMemento of 24a, along with dais, being some of the words mostly pronounced in a wrong way during our conventions, speeches and seminars.
19a something to do with bears, bulls and stags of the market? Def could be agent=bearer, speculator=bear, ends share=re,business=verbiage
ReplyDeleteAgree with your comment, Deepak, the quick one was probably tougher, with few people remembering Black Maria and The Bends.
ReplyDeleteGood morning all, three-day hiatus was killing ! Nice to be back.
ReplyDeleteThe ER in Bearer is weird. Maybe Share business is broker. end of share business is ER.?!!
ReplyDeleteI'm broke, courtesy a broker.
ReplyDeleteGood one Kishore:))
ReplyDeleteAny ideas as to how sap can be box
ReplyDeleteGood Morning
ReplyDeleteEasy one???Sorry Colonel. I am lost on Armageddon, afterpiece, Anglican. Took a lot of time for procrastinator and valiance ( i stuck with gallant and chivalry). I too gone with Broker.
Nice to see the connection restored after 3 day hiatus.
Good day
Mathu
Mathu,
ReplyDeleteBy easy one I did not mean that the CW was easy, what I meant is the 'easy' clue type, wherein the clue is a direct definition of the solution like you will find in dictionaries.
Thanks Colonel. Now i got it.
ReplyDeleteThe frustration NJ gives me creeps. is it over tomorrow? Blank grids frightens me a lot.
Mathu
Kishore at 10.09:
ReplyDeleteWas that a breaking news?
Now better put the brakes.
NJ has changed her style a little, whether for better or worse I will not comment yet. Today's Cw with so many E clues is definitely not to my liking
ReplyDeleteDeepak, Suresh et al
ReplyDeleteLet's call today's crossword CryptEase!
:)
ReplyDeleteNice name CV
ReplyDeleteMathu! My CW soulmate! :)
ReplyDeleteI start every NJ CW thinking... "OK.. no preconceived notions.. let's give it a fair shot!"
Invariably, I end up frustrated by 11am... and it really does spoil my day.
Hence, I decided that today, I'm not going to stick with it for the rest of the day... I'm glad I didn't!
NJ is so twisted, that after the first hour or 2, I won't even get simple type clues... 'cos my brain is working too hard trying to figure out devious connections and innuendos in the clues!
@ CV 10:46 - I second the motion! :)
Like Deepak and Suresh have pointed out, lots of straight clues today. Looks like NJ had to set this puzzle in a hurry. Anything more than 2-3 straight clues is too much.
ReplyDeleteCryptease sounds nice.
Hari, don't worry. You'll crack it soon.
... question time for me! :)
ReplyDeleteThx in advance:
10A: What does CE stand for => Church?
14A: Got the clue, but conventional spelling of the note is "TI" not "TE". Maybe it's referred to in some dictionary or the other as an alternative spelling for the note "TI", but that's not clever... that's just trying to be devious. Not cool in my dictionary! :-D
1D: Again, got it, but was wondering where an extra T came from. How does Edward become TED? TED is Theodore...
12D: factor = PIECE... Is this just from experience? What's the reasoning behind this? The obvious but somewhat vague (to me) similarity... like piece of the puzzle, is a factor in the puzzle. Or is there something else?
17D: Anyone figure out where SAP came from??
Okeeeeyy.. That's that I suppose. :-)
Cheers all!
CV1046: If you write a limerick on that, I think I can guess how it will go, keeping in view words that rhyme with it.
ReplyDelete@ VJ 11:22 - Thx for the vote of confidence VJ! My only worry is that I'll lose interest in NJ's puzzles... as they don't entertain like everyone else's, and that's really most important to me. :) Unfortunately, she's been setting the bulk of the puzzles so far. Hopefully, some of the new setters will take over and reduce her prolificity!
ReplyDeleteHari,
ReplyDeleteYes CE is church
TI and TE both are used for note.
Edward can be TED or ED both are acceptable
factor = PIECE... Okay nothing wrong here
Your guess on SAP is as good as mine!!
Maybe SAP came from Box = SPAR and NJ forgot to delete the R
ReplyDeleteCE is short for Church of England.
ReplyDeleteTed is also Edward, Like Ted Kennedy
Your reasoning on factor is right. Nothing esoteric here
If you can find how Sap means box without being sapped let us all know
All us saps being boxed in the grid by NJ !
ReplyDeleteHari@11.30
ReplyDeleteThough it is frustrating to solve NJ's puzzles in full,a few words really stand out everyday( of course after seeing the answers and anno's here!).
For an expert, NJ may be annoying but for a Learner to appreciate "crosswording" thrill,some are indeed enjoyable.It is after all a game and you don't have to solve all the words everyday.
Today's Ac 14,16,21, 26 and Dn 1,3,4,5,7,18,22 were all enjoyable.
I get only 40% of NJ correct.
If NJ took a little care about grammer and blatant errors, it would be quite enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteHari, like you wrote in one of your earlier comments, you have to give your best shot without forming any preconceived ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think it'd help if you could somehow make yourself forget who the author is 'cause more than the setter, (I feel) it's the clues that we should be concerned about. And instead of forming an opinion based on a couple of inconsistent clues or the name of the setter, it'd be less frustrating if you could divert your attention on that particular clue you're trying to solve. If you find something nice, carry it. If you don't like it all, just forget it and move on to the next one hoping that it's gonna a better one.
12 D - Following factor of an one act play (10)
ReplyDeleteAN one act - grammar?!
Sandhya,
ReplyDeleteGrammar is not NJ's forte!!
Sandhya, perhaps it would have been better had it been "an one-act play." I think both "a" and "an" would work here. Need confirmation on this.
ReplyDeleteWell Sandhya the 'an' made me think, for a long time, that it was an anagram.
ReplyDeleteVJ An is not correct grammar any way you look at it. An precedes a vowel sound, not a vowel
ReplyDeleteSuresh, true that, but in this particular case, I think I'd make an exception 'cause it doesn't sound as bad as say, "an user." That's why I felt both "a" and "an" would work.
ReplyDeleteTalking of Ed and Ted, we find that MI6 is full of Ed, Ted, Ned, Red etc in Anthony Horowitz's South by Southeast, a spoof with several allusions to North by Northwest from Hitchcock.
ReplyDeleteRegarding 'an' I agree with Suresh. Also note that William Brown usually mispronounces a vowel sound preceded by an an by saying a n~, as in 'a Nindian'
ReplyDeleteVJ In my view an one sounds terrible
ReplyDeleteSuresh, I think it's about "an one-act" and not "an one." The former doesn't sound bad IMO, maybe 'cause of the word that appears after hyphen or the way I pronounce it.
ReplyDeleteEven I was confounded by 'a one..' in the past. I was surprised to learn that one is pronounced as 'wun'. I reckon that it is expectedly strange as the 'w' sound is not native to any of the Indian languages.
ReplyDeleteMy anno for SAP: people sometimes write ASAP on boxes. In the clue, the em-dash was intended as a minus sign so that "written on the box -- a" is actually [ASAP - A = SAP].
ReplyDelete:D
The boys said,"Come with us please,
ReplyDeleteWe plan to go to watch a strip tease"
I said "No, no, no,
Dont you guys know-
I am planning to do NJ's Cryptease."
Kishore (and the blog) are back with a bang!! Just as well.
ReplyDeleteKishore, throw Demi in and we'll all say "more moore more."
ReplyDelete@Kishore(20:44): Is NJ's Cryptease more exciting?! :P
ReplyDeleteNavneeth. Your explanation for SAP is quite brilliant and is most likely to be the answer. The clue was not as bad as it looked, though written on the box foe ASAP is not the most convincing
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a tongue-in-cheek explanation :)
ReplyDeleteI think "written" is the anagram indicator. There's no other word in the clue to suggest that "cipher" has to be anagrammed. So I'm not sure if "written on the box" should be taken literally. NJ somehow thinks that "sap" is some kinda container. Don't know how
VJ Out is the anagrim indicator
ReplyDeleteI still go with Navneeth's explanation
ReplyDeleteThat anno of mine was indeed facetious, although not far-fetched, but with NJ one never knows.
ReplyDelete