Thursday 22 September 2011

No 10265, Thursday 22 Sep 11, Arden

Excellent offering from Arden, really enjoyed the CW today.
ACROSS
9   - Beginning of a character (7) - INITIAL [DD]
10 - Some French port Minerva helped to set up inside (2,5) - LE HAVRE [T<-]
11 - The flea doctor had pain (7) - DAPHNIA*
12 - A portion other than inner radius (7) - EXCERPT {EXCE{R}PT}
13 - Enjoying a dip due to a barrier in front (9) - WALLOWING {WALL}{OWING}
15 - Avoid the girl getting promotion (5) - EVADE {EV{AD}E}
16 - Drain pipe initially allowed in the river (7) - DEPLETE {DE{P}{LET}E}
19 - Cook sold one some food (7) - NOODLES*
20 - Had them defeated, bowled out (5) - EATEN bEATEN
21 - It is a mere trifle to get hold of a say, oriental (9) - BAGATELLE {BAG}{A}{TELL}{E}
25 - He fusses over some flowers coming up under the bridge (7) - SPANIEL {SPAN}{IEL<-}
26 - Fed up and do nothing, in practice though not in law (2,5) - DE FACTO {DE F<-}{ACT}{O}
28 - Uncle Sam follows another uncle to the centre (7) - NUCLEUS {NUCLE*}{US}
29 - Gluttony that finally gripped a city (7) - EDACITY [T]
1   - Opening success, party with woman later (6) - WINDOW {WIN}{DO}{W}
2   - Slipped away, leaving papa to drive off (6) - DISPEL SLIpPED*
3   - People have some interest in their look (4) - MIEN {M{I}EN}
4   - Walk a little, covering the base for example (6) - ALKALI [T]
5   - The pesky caller generally creates some irritation within (8) - ALLERGEN [T]
6   - It is fashionable to know, but not fashionable to back off (7,3) - CHECKED OUT (Addendum - CHICKEN OUT {CHIC}{KEN} {OUT} - See comments)
7   - Finished with transport maintenance (8) - OVERHAUL {OVER}{HAUL}
8   - They have no belief in warm underlying layers (8) - HEATHENS {HEAT}{HENS}
14 - Unusual reliance on QE II, perhaps (5,5) - OCEAN LINER*
16 - Talking gets no publicity, but gives one some protection (8) - DRESSING adDRESSING
17 - What is mine? A cent may be, it is nothing much (8) - PITTANCE {PIT}{TANCE*}
18 - Blood flow gets affected when you break some limb (8) - EMBOLISM*
22 - The device is tagged in a way (6) - GADGET*
23 - Put away when Army brass is back with the family (4,2) - LOCK IN {LOC<-}{K IN}
24 - Moneypenny, could be the name given (6) - EPONYM MONEY(P)*
27 - Fibre making foot loose (4) - FLAX {F}{LAX}



36 comments:

  1. WALLowing and WINDOW. (-b)EATEN with EDACITY. CHICKEN(out) and HEAT HENS. EMBOLISM and DRESSING. PITTANCE and BAGATELLE. OCEAN LINER at LE HAVRE. NOODLES and chow Mein (or rather MIEN).

    I first came across MIEN in Tennyson’s The Beggar Maid, which started with the words ‘Her weapons across her chest she laid’ ;-).

    http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-beggar-maid/


    Overall, nice CW from Arden. COD NUCLEUS.

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  2. Another very good puzzle from Arden. Really like the style.

    6 It is fashionable to know, but not fashionable to back off (7,3) CHECKED,OUT

    (CHIC)(KEN),(OUT)

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  3. 6 - It is fashionable to know, but not fashionable to back off (7,3) - CHECKED OUT

    CHIC fashionable
    to know KEN
    not fashionable OUT

    BACK OFF=DEF

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  4. Thanks Bhavan & Kishore
    I was a bit hasty in putting in that answer there without thinking too much

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  5. Cartoon for 29a reminded me of Kannada author (I dont recollect who :-( ) who said : Cigarettes / bidis are bad things. So I burn them.

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  6. Was it TP Kailasam?

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  7. Ref to TPK took me to 'Namma Tipparahalli Balu Doora' a spoof on It's long way to Tipperary. Paddy, the English one has a ref to you.

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  8. Quote:
    Paddy wrote a letter
    To his Irish Molly-O,
    Saying, "Should you not receive it,
    Write and let me know!"
    "If I make mistakes in spelling,
    Molly, dear," said he,
    "Remember, it's the pen that's bad,
    Don't lay the blame on me!

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  9. Excellent crossword. Thought chicken out, wallowing and pittance were really good.

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  10. While I agree there are some superb clues (18D is my COD) there are quite some blemishes as well.

    20A: Had=eaten is good, but 'had them'? How does one ignore 'them' without any instruction? I was looking for a word with 'em' somewhere...

    8D: Does HEAT underlie HENS?

    25A: Use of 'under' in an across clue. 'Some flowers' to define a type of garland? Unfair for me.

    Arden's love for [T] clues is back. 29A has no indicator. A couple of others seem to have definition somewhere in the middle.

    24D:Is there a word Moneypenny? Think it should be separate, else it becomes some form of an indirect anagram.

    Overall not very satisfied with this one.

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  11. And chemistry lovers will find 4D faulty. Base is not an example for alkali, it is the other way around. To quote from my Chem book, 'All alkalis are bases, but all bases are not alkalis'.

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  12. Moneypenny was M's secretary from James Bond.

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  13. I think "finally" in the edacity clue is a good indicator.

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  14. @Suresh: Oh I see. Even in that case, penny must be a separate word to be substituted by P.

    @David... How can finally be a T indicator? We need some kind of containment indicator, right? And wait... fear/panic can grip a city, but gluttony?

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  15. And as two words it won't make sense at all

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  16. Finally is not a T indicator. It is what it means. The last part of the clue.

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  17. I didn't have a problem with any emotion gripping a city. It sounds pretty Much like the overblown headlines in the sensationalist press!
    ... And I tried it out with the other 6 deadly sins, and it pretty much works with then too ;-)

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  18. And I tried it out with the other 6 deadly sins, and it pretty much works with then too ;-)

    LOL... Anyway 4 telescopic clues makes things bland. Especially when it is so obvious like in EDACITY.

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  19. Kishore-
    I thought only Col.was standing up in 23D,but you brought me in from nowhere! I second your choice of COD-the 2 uncles.Liked it very much in the first go itself.
    Quite a few anagrams,but with different but suitsble Aninds.Enjoyable in a way.
    Found today's a little harder than yesterday.

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  20. Paddy, I just thought I would Molly-fy you with all the colleens, mots and what nots.

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  21. Tough one! Took nearly two hours to get all.

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  22. Fed up in 26A is not quite appropriate for an across clue?

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  23. Is Arden British? Brits like Dee, QE II and
    Moneypenny gave me a tough time today!

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  24. Excellent and enjoyable one today. Crafty wordplay and smooth surfaces. Definitely prefer this style to NJ/MM.

    Edacity was a new word for me. Really loved 17D

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  25. I'd wondered too and thought I'd detected a definite British education in the wordplay. Arden too means Shakespeare to me ( but thats probably because that was the name of the text edition we worked from)

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  26. I'm a late -Lateef;I do the Hindu late nights and cannot post my comments the same day and hence miss all the fun.I post them to DG and he is kind enough to transfer them here. My Notebook refuses to blog me in and I wait for the next day to get on to my PC, as the Note book becomes the sole property of my soul mate to chat with my seeds abroad at nights . DG posted this in yesterday's. I reproduce the same, lest all of you missed the last two clues mentioned.

    Have a go at it folks.

    ''Too many cryptic liberties taken by the compiler.Too many one letter placements. Could do with a bit more intricate clues--ahem, like NJ-ji's.


    Today,whilst doing the Telegraph cryptic crossword,from my collections, came across these very unusual lights:

    Unusual combination of destructive and constructive forces (4)

    Make a difference (5,2,8)

    Couldn't wait to share with ye-all
    Have a go, folks.

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  27. Struggled quite a bit today, but most of that my own problem :)

    Once I hit 2 Telescopic clues, I wasn't looking for more, so that threw me off a bit.

    But specifically I found these few things a bit odd:

    I could not get "lei" from flowers in 25A and was completely thrown off by the word underlying in 8D. (Sudalmani already pointed these out among others)

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  28. Lovely puzzles, yesterday and today, very enjoyable.The '2 uncles' clue is familiar, seen it somewhere sometime.
    What was the theme in scintillator's puzzle 2 days ago?

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  29. Sumitra @ 13:05,

    There was no theme but there was a Nina hidden in the CW which was
    'THERE IS NO THEME FOR THIS CROSSIE' :-)

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  30. Today's was an 'arden
    (apologies - that pun probably only works with a Yorkshire accent)

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  31. Regarding accents, see yesterday's (and also day before yesterday's) 'Hu' links!

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  32. @Col,
    Thank you, thought that was for Buzzer's CW

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  33. Looks like all of us are ARDEN(T) lovers.

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  34. Wonder if Spiffy is back or else we will have Cryptonyte tomorrow

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  35. There are quite a few 'some's featured in today's clues. But I'm beginning to like Arden's style, and I think I may have to take back what I said about its being Sankalakian. Perhaps in its ease, it more or less is -- slightly tougher, perhaps; but the cluing style is not quite the same.

    Sudalamani,

    20A: Had=eaten is good, but 'had them'? How does one
    ignore 'them' without any instruction?


    To borrow Feynman's words:

    1. Read the clue
    2. Think really hard
    3. Write down the answer (and then move on to the next clue)


    In 8D, treat "underlying" as an adjective in the cryptic.

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