1 - Story about a revolutionary nobleman (7) - {A}{C}{COUNT}
5 - Good for nothing lawyer's endlessly late (7) - {DA'S}{TARD
9 - Assorted translation of Tamil with a bit of Urdu for a class (9) -{M{U}LTI
10 - Arab ruler's a male always (5) - {A}{M}{EER}
11 - Bear chews pie with no honey — last of honey's run out (6,3,4) - WINNIE THE POOH
15 - Looking after queen's livelihood (6) - {CARE}{ER}
17 - Setter's white stick (6) - {I'M}{PALE}
19 - It traverses holes — primarily of cleats and espadrilles? (8) - {SHOEL*}{A}{C}{E} How did CAE become ACE. No AInd for 'holes'
22 - Haughty criminal's coming down (13) - {CON}{DESCENDING}
25 - Swift attack without power (5) - {RA{P}ID}
26 - Distribute beer for motivation (9) - {RATION}{ALE}
27 - No longer bound to compile crosswords for nothing (3,4) - SET FREE [DD]
28 - Fool sits awkwardly with supports (7) - {ASS}{ISTS*}
DOWN
1 - Donations from members change hands (4) - A(-r+l)LMS
2 - Ex-wife wearing Mini could be a source of conflict (4,3) - {C{OLD} {W}AR}
3 - No one turned up to support a Parisian's marriage (5) - {UN}{I}{ON<}
4 - Hot current carrying a hint of rain (8) - {T{R}OPICAL}
5 - Humble editor got work when retired (6) - {D{EMOT}E} <-
6 - Tie excited male into position (9) - {ST{ALEM*}ATE}
7 - Solvent of good quality (7) - {ACE}{TONE}
8 - Shady Arabs? Champions must be wary of them (10) - {DARK}{HORSES}
12 - Managed bad credits with electronic cheques? (5,5) - DEBIT CARDS*
14 - Grease starts to excite some directors of repute at the French movie awards (6,3) - {PALM}{E}{S} {D}'{O}{R}
18 - Detective turned up in Patna — fantastic Indian town (7) - {PAN{IP<}AT*}
20 - Dogs almost had fangs removed (7) - {AFG(HA
23 - Straightens some hair on Sunday (5) - IRONS [T]
24 - Chaos in dining room (4) - MESS [DD]
Hi
ReplyDeleteMini- Car (Cooper) reminded of The Italian Job. T(R)OPICAL, SHOELACE, CON-DESCENDING, WINNIE THE POOH, RATION-ALE, SET FREE, CARE-ER, ACE-TONE, EUROPEAN*, AFGHANS*, DEBIT CARDS were nice. Self reference in IM-PALE was well done. The Police Inspector who went back into PAN(IP<-)AT was excellent. The plural PALMES D’OR got me at first, I had not noticed the awards in plural. It finally ended with a tie between ST(ALEM)ATE and STA(LEMA)TE.
Puzzle was okay overall.
ReplyDelete1A: Was foxed by “about a revolutionary nobleman.” I was all the while thinking that it was reversal indicator for a nobleman.
15A Nice
13A: Nice anagram. Should there have been an indicator in the end, like “say”?
17A: Was kind of misled here ‘cause was reading “setter’s” as possessive and not “setter is.”
19A: Is there an anagram indicator or am I missing something here?
22A: My favorite. Nice one
27A: Spiffy, looks like you don’t have to do it anymore.
28A: Nice
1D: Thought this was vague.
2D: Nice
3D: UN = support?
6D: Thought, position = STALEMATE is far-fetched
12D: Nice anagram
18D: Fantastic is an anagram indicator?
20D: AFGHANS: Thought correct, thought this could have been avoided.
Good morning
ReplyDeleteLiked DASTARD, MULTIFORM,WINNE THE POOH, EUROPEAN, CAREER, CONDESCENDING, ALMS (very good), DEBIT CARDS, CHINA TEA, AFGHANS etc.
18D - Although PANIPAT features in Mahabharata as a city founded by the Pandavas, it is more of a historic city with three noted battles having been fought there, than being a fantastic (something to do with fantasy) or legendary city, in my opinion. Comments, anyone?
19A Is traversing doing double duty, as Aind and as literal def?
ReplyDeleteVJ,
ReplyDeletea Parisian's = UN in French
I have heard of Chinese Tea and Tea China, but China Tea ..
ReplyDeleteOr perhaps 19A is an &Lit.
ReplyDeleteSHOEL A C E* &Lit
VJ
ReplyDeleteposition = STATE and not STALEMATE which is TIE
VJ, that is what I felt, hence my 833
ReplyDeleteThanks Deepak
ReplyDeleteVJ, please look at last line of my first post.
ReplyDeleteKishore, yea, I got it. Your comment gave me the hint. Perhaps setter wanted "traverses" to act as an AInd even for C A E. It's a stretch, but nice.
ReplyDelete6D: Thanks Kishore and Deepak. I got this answer in a hurry, without reading the clue properly. I take back my comments.
ReplyDeleteI have come across the term "China tea" and it's indeed recorded in Chambers.
ReplyDelete9 - Assorted translation of Tamil with a bit of Urdu for a class (9) -{M{U}LTIa*}{FORM} How does A get deleted. Is 'bit' doing double duty?
ReplyDeletetranslation of Tamil = MALTI
bit of Urdu for a = M(-a)(+U)LTI
class = FORM
14 - Grease starts to excite some directors of repute at the French movie awards (6,3) - {PALM}{E}{S} {D}'{O}{R}
ReplyDeleteIs it me or has Spiffytrix erred ? The French film festival is Palme D'or whereas Palmes D'or is a champagne. One is in Cannes, other might be in cans. Both give a heady feeling probably.
Mostly spiffy clues with a couple of iffy ones.
ReplyDeleteLiked Darkhorses best.
On the other hand Shoelace as noted by Colonel.
Is having a career same as having a livelihood ?
Demoting is humbling ?
Bhavan, I think that's exactly what Kishore has pointed out in his first comment. Perhaps there's an error. All search results for "palmes d'or" are related to the drink and not the movie award.
ReplyDelete1 - Story about a revolutionary nobleman (7) - {A}{C}{COUNT}
ReplyDeleteI took this as
about = CA (circa)
revolutionary = AC<-
nobleman = COUNT
@ Bhavan
ReplyDeleteSutti sutti vantheenga
(loose translation: You came round and round..)
Can I say our pundit will be happy for having canned the...
palme d'or is the award.
ReplyDeleteWhen the same director or any other film personality gets several such awards over some years, he gets palmes d'or, as that is the plural form of the term.
The def given in the clue is 'awards'.
So where is the problem?
@Bhargav : Sorry, I didn't get what you were saying : )
ReplyDelete@CVasi : I probably invented it. I'll put it down to playing Tennis in the hot sun before posting : )
19A A shoe lace is what traverses the holes of cleats and espadrilles. So what is the problem? Unless the problem is with 'primarily'
ReplyDelete1 - Story about a revolutionary nobleman (7) - {A}{C}{COUNT}
ReplyDeleteI took this as
about = CA (circa)
revolutionary = AC<-
nobleman = COUNT
I was wondering what the anno was but didn't really think further.
After your note:
Yours doesn't work for me because between CA (about) and 'revolutionary' (rev ind) we have the intrusive 'a'.
I thought and I conclude:
about a revolutionary - C (about) A (a) followed by the rev ind.
It is great that the work of this composer raises questions but after further thinking we do get a satisfactory explanation. We can't say the same thing with some work of certain composers where questions remain unanswered.
That means the setter bestows a great deal of thought on his work.
@Suresh: I was also under the impression that the answer is a composite of SHOEL*+(A)+(C)+(E)
ReplyDeleteSuresh
ReplyDeleteI agree with your anno. There is no prob with 'primarily' to indicate initial letters.
No prob either in 'traverses' doing double duty. Def is 'all in one'.
@CVasi : For some reason I was looking at revolutionary are a reversal indicator.
ReplyDeleteAgree with your comments about the setter.
Good Morning all
ReplyDeleteAfter reading all the comments above the clue looks it can be solved with a bit of hard work. But how much hard i tried i couldnt get through even half way. hmmmmmmmm there is always tomorrow, there is always sankalak, gridman.
Mathu
16D - Church in Darjeeling may be smuggling a flavoured drink (5,3) - {CH}{IN}{A} {TEA} Church smuggling? Richard will object :-)
ReplyDeleteTrue, Deepak, some solvers may have found this sacrilegious or blasphemous. But I am not a religious bigot.
However, I am scared to call myself broad-minded because some pun-loving friends here are likely to read into a different connotation of the word broad. ;-)
Richard, lol, it's a catch-22 kinda situation.
ReplyDeleteRichard @10:36,
ReplyDeleteGot a chuckle out of that comment, my friend.
Broad, a la, Gabriela?
Satya, for Goodness' sake, please don't bracket the poor girl into that category.
ReplyDeleteYup, you're right Richard. She's too talented and gorgeous to be categorized as a mere broad. My apologies.
ReplyDeleteI so want to add some pun here, but it is way too late in the night and i still have a quiz to make for my class tomorrow.
Wish I had Kishore's pun-creating brain. :-)
And a prolific puncreas working full-time.
ReplyDeleteThis niña has been popular right from the times of Chris Columbus, when she accompanied Sand Merit and Pinta.
ReplyDeleteSatyanga chepta unnara ?
Kishore,
ReplyDeleteNeevu maathado tharah ee prapanchadalli yaarigu maathadakke baralla. Satyavagi heLthayiddini. :-)
Andhaa ijja Richard maarayare? :-)
I think lot of guys will agree with RM in LLVL:
ReplyDelete...
I feel a premonition that girl's gonna make me fall. ...
Ijji, TuLu barapujji.
ReplyDeleteThis is multilingual, Sathya, since you know both English and Kannada:
ReplyDeleteHelthi(a)ndre aarogya.
Look for two meanings to this line, both in Kannada, but one of them with a word in English.
In all fairness, this is for the benefit of the rest of the friends here.
ReplyDeleteSatya's 12:18 in impeccable Kannada meant:
'No one else in this world can speak like you do'.
The next line in TuLu: 'Isn't that right or not, Richard?'
12:21 (in TuLu) No, don't understand TuLu.
For those knowing Kannada:
ReplyDeleteWhile in a wedding feast in Bangalore the server
asked: Saaka Beaka?
My friend from Chennai, a glutton, immediately retorted: Saakle koncha, Beakla koncha!!!
Nice one, CGB.
ReplyDeleteCGB: ;-), I didn't put that one up (had heard it from my Mom, a Madrasite) for fear of offending TamBrams from Tambaram.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Saakle baekla mean?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteVJ
ReplyDeleteYou see 'saaka?' means 'enough?' (podhumaa?)
'baekka?' means 'want? that is, want more?' (venumaa?'
So when the server asks 'saaka, baekka?', the unsatiated says 'saakle ondhu, baekkle ondhu' meaning 'serve me one in this and one in the other, or serve me both, please!'
It is an old joke.
sometimes when we expect more (overexpect) we tend to say
ReplyDeletesaakkashtu...bekkashtu. ( enough is enough even if you want its only enough )
mathu
Thanks Chaturvasi... Nice :)
ReplyDeleteMay be on sabbatical/erratic for a few days as my father is undergoing surgery tomorrow.
ReplyDelete