Tuesday, 6 March 2012

No 10403, Tuesday 06 Mar 12, Arden

ACROSS
9   - Dressage music (7) - RAGTIME {RAG}{TIME}
10 - Effort to put up the painting gets an audible cry (7) - TRAVAIL {TRA<-}{VAIL}(~wail)
11 - Representations heard as they clash against each other (7) - CYMBALS (~symbols)
12 - Cordiality gets a measure of pleasantness (7) - AMENITY [CD] (Correction - {AM{EN}ITY} - See comments)
13 - The devil gets some credit, is he working in the church? (9) - SACRISTAN {SA{CR}{IS}TAN}
15 - It takes two to contain anger, no doubt (5) - TANGO {T{ANGer}O}
16 - Probability of finding a novice here in church (7) - CHANCEL {CHANCE}{L}
19 - Humiliate and drag off into the river (7) - DEGRADE {DE{DRAG*}E}
20 - The plant is in Uttaranchal, up in the mountains (5) - LUPIN [T]
21 - The bottom line for these fishermen, at the end of the day (3,6) - NET PROFIT [CD]
25 - Faulty hormone could throw some light (7) - MENORAH* Seems to be an error here in the fodder
26 - British rail carries very little weight for delivery (7) - BOUNCER {B{OUNCE}R}
28 - Nowadays you could communicate with the fool's half sister (7) - TWITTER {TWIT}{sisTER}
29 - The nobleman could be enraged (7) - GRANDEE*
DOWN
1   - Fight some pick up as he parks a car first (6) - FRACAS [T<-]
2   - A state when tailless rodents become asexual (6) - AGAMIC {A}{GA}{MICe}
3   - The core group within the family raised the capital (4) - LIMA yLIMAf<-
4   - It could be black group that is making the society pages (3,3) - JET SET {JET} {SET}
5   - Struggled with the arts review at home with the editor (8) - STRAINED {ARTS*}{IN}{ED}
6   - Strong, yet ineffective — perhaps Woods is behind The Times (5,5) - PAPER TIGER {PAPER} {TIGER}
7   - Doctor had a nice house (8) - HACIENDA*
8   - Drunk English army colonel could be wielding one (8) - CLAYMORE {E+ARMY+COL}* I may have placed one, not wielded it!!
14 - Home movie cost will go up in flames (10) - INCINERATE {IN}{CINE}{RATE}
16 - A state of friendship could be a disastrous thing (8) - CALAMITY {CAL}{AMITY}
17 - Subsidiary matter could add to the team (8) - APPENDIX {APPEND}{IX} 9 or 11 ?
18 - Cattle pine, hooter follows (8) - LONGHORN {LONG}{HORN}
22 - To secure nothing in parts of West Indies (6) - TOBAGO {TO}{BAG}{O}
23 - The mask will disappear once Bill gets in (6) - FACADE {F{AC}ADE}
24 - Object to obtain is under the pitch (6) - TARGET {TAR}{GET}
27 - State when you finally recall a bowler, say (4) - UTAH {U}{TAH<-}



24 comments:

  1. As foreshadowed at S&B, Arden is now 'ahead of the Times'

    11a reminded of the climax scene in the filming of Que Sera Qera in The Man who knew too much.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 12 - Cordiality gets a measure of pleasantness (7) - AMENITY [CD]

    My take: AM{EN}ITY

    ReplyDelete
  3. (Re ToI crossword)

    In the Sixties and for some decades later the ToI crossword was by arrangement with the Daily Mail.

    I am sure that when any ex-Bombaywallah talks of having solved the ToI cwd on train, he is almost always referring to this.

    I too solved it regularly when I, as a college student, was on a holiday for a month in Jamnagar, Gujarat, in 1966. (This wasn't my introduction to crossword but a higher step from the easier cryptic crossword with which I was then familiar in Madras.)

    The cwd has since been discontinued in the main section of ToI, which now carries a US straightforwad puzzle in the supplement that is supplied along with the main paper.

    Raju: We in Chennai get the supplement 'Chennai Times' which is full of local ads. It is in this that the US straightforward appears in an unreadable format. Unreadable because you're not expected to read it. What the hell are you trying to do without taking in the ads. Then there are the the legs of those girls and all the finery that they are wearing, the dishes that are available in restaurants, the films that are on show in multiplexes, the exhibitions in trade fair, etc., etc.

    Raju, do you get any supplement with ToI in CBE? Maybe you're getting it, but depending upon the ad level, the supplement may be attenuated - in which case they might not be including the US cwd - which is a 'take it or leave it' item for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A friend of mine who knew my interest in chess problems called me some months ago and told me that an area-oriented supplement issued with ToI carried the feature and readers could send their solutions. I did. (The Hindu had an excellent quarterly chess problem solving tournament some decades ago but has since discontinued that.)

      But over weeks I found that the paper had no regularity or uniformity in carrying the feature. I would find that the supplement that I received in my area did not have it (when I was eager to see names of correct entrants or the next in the series) whereas my friend's copy had it. The week after they will have it but not a word about the solution that was missed!)

      Thus the paper did not have in mind the interests of the reader: all that they wanted to do was fill the supplement with ads and if there was space, the feature went in; if it did not, the feature was dispensed with.

      And today ToI on front page is talking about having increased their readership. There cannot be a bigger joke than this.

      I would rather sleep than wake up to such a newspaper. Not a paper but a product that promotes products.

      Delete
  4. 8D Claymore, referred here, is a large two-handed sword used formerly by the Scottish Highlanders. The anti-personnel mine, shown in the illustration, is named after this sword.

    Amity seems to be popular with this setter. It has been clued in twice in this Cryptic - 12A (cordiality) & 16D (friendship).

    ReplyDelete
  5. Strong, yet ineffective — perhaps Woods is behind The Times (5,5) - PAPER TIGER {PAPER} {TIGER}

    PAPER TIGER is a noun, while the definition points to an adjective.

    10 - Effort to put up the painting gets an audible cry (7) - TRAVAIL {TRA<-}{VAIL}(~wail)

    Not exactly homophones: TRAVAIL and TRA-WAIL have different pronunciations.

    The 'WILL' in clues 14D and 23D can be replaced by a TO, since there is no future tense involved in the solution.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VAIL in Travail and WAIL are pronounced the same way so no problems there

      Delete
    2. No, Col. All standard dictionaries have different phonetic indicators for V and W. I am sure the Chambers has the differentiation. The lower lip touches the teeth when pronouncing VAIL. This does not happen for WAIL. (I do not know how to describe the pronunciation process for WAIL!)

      Delete
    3. I know it is not exact. But it is fine for CWs IMO. Very few homophones are exact.

      Delete
    4. Re Paper Tiger, the reading is so smooth that I do not mind. Maybe the addition of the words "He is" in the beginning may be better. What do others think?

      Delete
    5. I can accept it too. Replacing "Strong yet ineffective" with "Paper tiger" in the clue doesn't make the sentence seem bizarre for me.

      Delete
    6. Shyam,

      Phonetic indicators for V and W may be different if seen independently. But if you see the pronunciation of Travail and Wail in the dictionary as well as on some online dictionaries where you can hear the pronunciation 'vail' in Travail and 'Wail' by itself have the same pronunciation and I too have been pronouncing it accordingly all these years. The 'W' you are talking off is as in 'Wall' whereas the 'W' in 'Wail' is different.

      Delete
    7. Fur puritans and elocutionists, travail would be pronounced as a V and not a W. Listen to it on Mirriam Webster online dictionary and it will sound different.

      But I agree that the difference of pronunciation does not make it a faulty clue.

      Delete
  6. 17D team = IX
    Probably referring to the team of nine reindeers said to pulls Santa's sleigh!

    ReplyDelete
  7. 25 - Faulty hormone could throw some light (7) - MENORAH* Seems to be an error here in the fodder

    Errors and Omissions expected in THC.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Col & Shyam: There We ( OUI: phonetically?)go and reVisit again ! As Shyam puts it correctly, V ouill entail a twisting up of the lo-(w)er lip to touch the lo-(w)ER teeth. No doubt,South Indians are taught by their convent educated OIVES to pronounce V as vee. Then vonly it is correct?Any way, OY orry? vee(South) Indians. are like that only!!

    Like the inimitable Bengalis( OI not Vengalis?)pronounce Yudhishter as judhishter and Yogakshema as Jogakhema. My OIFE becomes my brother's Bhavi. vell, vell !!

    Another time for dear old Malayalis's and their endearing travels by Loris to go to CHEEmbur to play Bol.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had a tough time with a Bengali friend trying desperately to make him pronounce A, while he kept on O ish. Finally I asked him what is the first letter of the alphabet and he promptly replied (without a moment's hesitation) O !!! No doubt I gave up. No offence meant. Habits die hard. Each language has its idiosyncrasies which can't be changed. Shall we say-Say in Rome as Romans say?

    ReplyDelete
  10. paper tiger seems harmless enough!

    ReplyDelete
  11. As a young lad, I was in Durgapur near Calcutta and people used to
    call me as Varghab!!

    ReplyDelete

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