Saturday, 14 May 2011

No 10154, Saturday 14 May 11, Gridman

ACROSS

1 - Advertise jacket for trendsetter (11) - {TRAIL}{BLAZER}

9 - Spear, say, used in endless attack (7) - {ASS{EG}AI}(-l)

10 - After a short time, learner's rage dissipated as a whole (2,5) - {A}{T}{L}{ARGE*}

11 - Least order for what's no longer fresh (5) - STALE*

12 - Dispossessor? (9) - EXORCISER [E]

13 - Signs from some strobe lighting (5) - OBELI [T]

15 - Kept up that you and I are overwhelmed by the corrupt (9) - {S{US}TAINED}

18 - No-good perpetrators? (4-5) - EVIL-DOERS [E]

21 - Agent returns to see the Italian in danger (5) - {PER<-}{IL}

22 - Are rather rushing to American rock band (4,5) - RARE EARTH*

24 - A divine working for extra (3-2) - {A}{DD}-{ON}

26 - Colonist's decisive blow? (7) - SETTLER [DD]

27 - The French sang about a type of pasta (7) - {LA}{SAGN*}{A}

28 - Teresa and Emile put out feature of some modern pills (4-7) - TIME-RELEASE*

DOWN

1 - Proofreader's instruction for changing ‘layout' to become ‘outlay' (9) - TRANSPOSE [CD]

2 - Confused in the main (2,3) - AT SEA [DD]

3 - Don't keep up with foolish, big Handel (3,6) - LAG BEHIND*

4 - What lazy Eli sort of does (7) - LOITERS*

5 - Crept up to grab key zenana's top enthusiasts (7) - {Z}{E{A}LOTS<-}

6 - What's old about insurance company (5) {RE}{LIC}

7 - Time-server? (8) - PRISONER [E]

8 - Rush up to the animal (4) - DEER<-) 14 - Eastern plane has speed to leave the country (8) - {E}{MIG}{RATE}

16 - The sort of drilling that sizes up a bore (9) - APPRAISAL

17 - Rendezvous about Oriental line sketch (9) - {D{E}{LINE}ATE}

19 - Some heard rumours sustain this part of an organ (7) - EARDRUM [T]

20 - Head of Office leaves train for a Reading academic (7) - {SCH(-o)OL}{A}{R}

22 - Girl got up (4) - ROSE

23 - Election Commission almost tardy in applause (5) - {EC}{LAT}(-e)

25 - Theory of one declaring he is an idol brought up (5) - {DOG}{MA}

Posted from my IPhone which I have to use as there is a powercut and my Laptop has crashed :-(

32 comments:

  1. Phew! Took me almost 2 hours to type and format this post on my Iphone

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  2. @Colonel: Hats off to you :)

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  3. Great commitment, Colonel Deepak.

    I have not heard of 'advertise' being one of the definitions of 'trail'(1a).

    Clues like those for 12 are unfair to the solver (and there is a fair sprinkling of these in the CW - 26, 7,16) as they do not define unique answers and one cannot be sure of the solution without the aid of the crossings. One of the good practices of clueing is to ensure that each clue can be parsed by itself to get the answer.

    Not sure how we get the 'a' in 'Zealots' from the parsing of the clue for 5.

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  4. Sandhya

    How many hats do you wear at a given time?

    Will your hat make other heads (with hats or without) turn at Cannes?

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  5. 'trail' is a 'tv or cinema trailer'. And what is a trailer but an ad or promotion?
    I do not agree that a crossword must not have clues such as 26, 7 and 16.
    27 is a DD as the Col has pointed out.
    7 is a CD.
    16 is an elliptical clue from the phrase 'appraisal bore'.
    If every clue is an anag or a charade, capable of being solved individually with the letters or components, it will be boring.
    Clues such as the above can be solved with some crossings; that is why the puzzle is called a crossword.

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  6. Of course, in the clue 'trail' is a verb. As a verb, it means 'to advertise (a forthcoming event) by a trailer'. See Chambers.
    G usually is very careful about v/n, grammar, idiom, usage, etc.
    I do realise that you did not say it was wrong, only that you had not heard.

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  7. For people like me who are in the oil industry, it is easier to understand and appreciate "Appraisal Drilling" but for others they have to wait for crossing letters to arrive at the answer with some googling.

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  8. Good show, Deepak. It brings to mind the phrase : ...., a miracle takes a little longer. Hope your lappie recovers early.

    I am yet to start on today's CW.

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  9. Col.'s commitment is just amazing and surpasse all expectations-evn for an admirer like me! Thank you Gridman for another enjoyable edition.
    No blog yesterday? I could not see it in archives either.

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  10. Quite happy with the clues, except 16d, which as Rengaswamy has rightly noted, requires domain knowledge. But still fair game I think, keeping in mind the various flora and fauna that we encounter in the crossies.

    BTW, CV, remember there were a pair of assegai on the wall adjacent our dining table?

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  11. I am in full accordance with Padmanabhan's views - Col's tenacity is amazing. Kudos Colonel.

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  12. Padmanabhan,
    eBlogger, the site which hosts my blog was under maintenance yesterday that is why yesterdays CW was not posted

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  13. Kishore
    I do remember!
    What is the plural of 'assegai'?

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  14. @Colonel : Kudos to your patience. Enjoyed today's crossword. What a relief to solve the puzzle and also savour the clues. Rather than getting mad as to how a clue works.

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  15. Good clues. Thanks G. Liked the 7 letter telescopic answer(19D)

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  16. Col: thanks for taking the trouble despite all the hassles. Came back yesterday after enforced absence from NJ, and was disappointed not to see the blog post!

    Was wondering about the Anno for 14D: I solved it as {EMI{G}RATE}. More than one ways to skin a cat I suppose

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  17. CV 1149: There you have me. I did ponder on that when writing my previous post. Similar to goose, in the anecdote. A tailor, ordering for two tailors'irons (goose), is perturbed about the plural, tries the following alternatives:

    Please send me two goose.
    Please send me two gooses.
    Please send me two geese.

    The gives up and pens:

    Please send me one goose.

    PS: Please send me another one too.

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  18. The 'The' in the seventh line above may please be read either as 'Then' or 'He' as per your convenience and taste.

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  19. That was a good one,Kishore.On line dictionary says it is assagais.Alt.spelling assegai is also given (for the singular,I mean)

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  20. BTW, what I have is from a subclass of the assegai, more correctly to be identified as an iklwa, got by me from my African sojourns.

    You can read more about the iklwa at:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaka

    Another word from Zulu which appears fairly regularly is impi.

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  21. Bhavan,
    I have sent you an email, please check and reply

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  22. Are rather rushing to American rock band (4,5) - RARE EARTH* Minerals could be better clue.

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  23. @Colonel : I've done so. Thanks

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  24. Recall any Telescopic clues (enu >=7) with good surface?

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  25. Ajeesh : Don't remember from where, but:

    Believes Cape Elizabeth is hiding place for fugitive (7)

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  26. Bhala,
    I'm curious about your anno for {EMI{G}RATE}.

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  27. Bhavan@15:41(IST),
    Nice one. It even goes over three words.

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  28. @Navneeth 16:43
    Sorry for late response. Actually, pls just disregard my comment. I think the answer was just staring me in the face and I thought there was a logic in my solution, but did not pay close attention to the parsing. No doubt the version given by Col and others is the correct and only fitting Anno

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