Wednesday 27 June 2012

No 10500, Wednesday 27 Jun 12, Gridman

ACROSS
1   - Leaves from Goa file (7) - FOLIAGE*
5   - Sailor goes after girl — a divine form (6) - AVATAR {AVA}{TAR}
9   - Soul suffered before extremely repulsive insect (5) - LOUSE {SOUL*}{E}
10 - A hardy skier may not be inclined to this downhill (4,5) - EASY SLOPE [CD]
11 - Dom sent away the farthest (7) - ENDMOST*
12 - Relaxed sound that is acceptable in usual place of activity (7) - PURLIEU (~purr){PUR}{LIEU}
13 - Had a row? (5) - OARED [CD]
14 - Small traders may not have this kind of difference between CP and SP (3,6) - BIG MARGIN [CD]
16 - Trivia — not for big drinkers! (5,4) - SMALL PEGS [DD] (Addendum - SMALL BEER [DD] - See comments)
19 - Check the French musical instrument (5) - TABLA {TAB}{LA}
21 - Attack a sailor, we’re told (7) - ASSAULT (~a salt)
23 - Just butcher hurt pig (7) - UPRIGHT*
24 - One should go easy on this if one does not want to become too tight (4,5) - HARD DRINK [CD]
25 - Old Spanish leader drops old coin (5) - FRANC FRANCo
26 - Secret daughter not doing business (6) - CLOSED {CLOSE}{D}
27 - Settle in narrow street for Italian pasta dish (7) - LASAGNE {LA{SAG}NE}
DOWN
1   - Growth on man’s upper lip by no means real (5,9) - FALSE MOUSTACHE [CD]
2   - The French subject to wash clothes (7) - LAUNDER {LA}{UNDER}
3   - A study circle I organised finally for nasal tissue (7) - ADENOID {A}{DEN}{O}{I}{D}
4   - Let a celeb turn out to be worthy of being picked (9) - ELECTABLE*
5   - A concession covering extremely fragile writer (5) - AESOP {A}{E}{SOP}
6   - A small nation — old kingdom (7) - ASSYRIA {A}{S}{SYRIA}
7   - Liking a party circle (7) - ADORING {A}{DO}{RING}
8   - Thing that is by no means faked (7,7) - GENUINE ARTICLE [CD]
15 - Good Faulkner dissected one of American folk duo (9) - GARFUNKEL {G}{FAULKNER*}

17 - Southern American in a lawsuit after losing international (7) - AUSTRAL {A}{US}{TRiAL}
18 - Some spoil our destiny in French city (7) - LOURDES [T]
19 - Austerities from penances undergoing capital alteration (7) - THRIFTS (-s+t)THRIFTS
20 - Gabbing about universal beginning (3,4) - BIG BANG*
22 - Heard to have made an attempt (5) - TRIED [DD]




19 comments:

  1. People talking without speaking,
    People hearing without listening,

    Wow, those words remain: planted in my brain, still remains...

    One of my all time favs.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fans of The 20d Theory, please raise you hands.

    Hope Penny drops...
    before Amy Farrah Fowler

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raising both hands, one for Simon & 15D and another for The 20D Theory ...

      Delete
    2. raising both hands for the Big Bang!!

      Delete
  3. 16A ends with 's' but 15 down has third letter as 'r' garfunkel?? , col please clarify???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Think that one should be SMALL BEER, not pegs

      Delete
    2. I did the CW without the grid. That's why the error. Small beer I suppose it is.

      Delete
  4. Was it HARD, was it EASY,
    Was it SMALL, was it BIG,
    Was it GENUINE, was it FALSE...

    And guess what, the opposites seem to be symmetrically opposite, if you get what I mean...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Interesting observation

      Delete
    2. As usual, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

      Delete
  5. 21A - remembered an old conundrum:

    Difference between attacking a person and slaughtering an animal -
    One is assaulting with intent to kill and another killing with intent to salt. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. In 3D, how is "study" = "den" ? col help me...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Meherish: A brown study- a den where one browses and relaxes with a book, all curled up and with a chota peg nearby withgaram garam pakodas on a rainy day .A personal library or private room where one can meditate.

    A den also means a lair for animals or for dopeys to dum maaro dum.

    May be that's what Col was doing when your query came in and hence I beat him to it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lourdes is more like a town, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For all I know you may have visited Lourdes and in any case you may have a point, going by the Wikipedia entry that refers to it as a commune or town, but on two occasions the NYT crossword has had clue to the effect that it is a 'city'.

      Though in popular sense a town is considered small and a city 'big', Chambers defines city as (among others) 'an incorporated town that has or had a cathedral'.

      Many Internet articles refer to Lourdes as a 'city' (perhaps in the loose sense of 'where citizens live'.

      Delete
    2. That's a meaning of the word 'city' that I hadn't come across before, so thanks for directing me to it.

      While I don't have access to the latest edition of Chambers, their online dictionary restricts this usage to places in the UK, in addition to the condition to they be places with a royal charter.

      And no, I haven't visited the place. :-)

      Delete
  9. Another thought on Lourdes (though I am stretching imagination to some extent):

    18 - Some spoil our destiny in French city (7) - LOURDES [T]

    Telescopic is perfectly correct. Changing the clue slightly it can become:

    18 - Some spoil our destiny in the French city (7)

    city=def (to my knowledge, it is still a small town as Navneeth says)
    the French=LES
    spoil=anagram/insertion indicator
    our=our
    destiny=d
    L(OUR D)ES or LOURDES*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gridman's explanation shows what a cathedral can do to promote a place to a city. That was a revelation.

      Delete

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