A good opener from Arden.
ACROSS
ACROSS
9 - Cereal said to cause dental problem (7) - SORGHUM (~sore gum)
11 - Right to exist in the globe, it often weighs heavily on one
(7) - BARBELL {BA{R}{BE}LL}
12 - Dishonourable police officer on count (7) - IGNOBLE {IG}{NOBLE}
13 - Hired to implant eggs, gave new life (9) - RENOVATED {REN{OVA}TED}
16 - American raced around in a vehicle which was not new (4-3) - USED-CAR {US}{ED-CAR<-} (Correction - {US}{ED-CAR*} - See comments)
19 - Shifting target before a race (7) - REGATTA {TARGET*}{A}
20 - Midshipman and others are part of a corolla (5) - PETAL {shiPman}{ET AL}}
21 - Demarcate building which has become weak (9) - MACERATED*
25 - Insisting a lawyer produce the fellow on time (7) - ADAMANT {A}{DA}{MAN}{T}
26 - Exorable to allow nine characters within (7) - LENIENT {LE{NINE*}T}
28 - Ruler measure on Iron (7) - EMPRESS {EM}{PRESS}
29 - A month of work for Paul the predictor (7) - OCTOPUS {OCT}{OPUS}
DOWN
1 - Things are equally intense all along the line (6) - ISOBAR [CD]
2 - Practice air escape (3,3) - DRY RUN {DRY} {RUN}
3 - It is worn to keep people away, reportedly (4) - SHOE (~shoo)
4 - Charm a beast over time (6) - AMULET {A}{MULE}{T}
5 - Shock with an exhortation to let one’s hair down a little more
(8) - BEWILDER {BE WILDER}
6 - Such sweetness is fine (5,5) - ICING SUGAR [CD]
7 - Weakest charge, before the cream had left (8) - FEEBLEST {FEE}{B{L}EST}
8 - Caught between aliens over a period of time and so on…..
(2,6) - ET CETERA {ET} {C}{ET}{ERA}
14 - Was in two minds and left, feeling sick inside (10) - VACILLATED {VAC{ILL}ATED}
16 - One in France put out of the victory stand (8) - UNPLACED {UN}{PLACED}
17 - They plan manoeuvre to find the total energy of the system
(8) - ENTHALPY*
18 - Being farthest it is but a speck among others (8) - REMOTEST {RE{MOTE}ST}
22 - Clubs permit those who are young and inexperienced (6) - CALLOW {C}{ALLOW}
23 - Relationships draw on energy backup system (3-3) - TIE-UPS {TIE}-{UPS}
24 - It is extremely deplorable to be put on trial, one would hate it
(6) - DETEST {DeplorablE}{TEST}
27 - Some eggs are in the carton, it’s to keep them safe (4) - NITS [T]
Hi all
ReplyDeleteCould not get a few on top. Liked RENOVATED, USED CAR, REGATTA, MACERATED, ADAMANT, LENIENT, EMPRESS, OCTOPUS (May he rest in peace!). SHOE, VACILLATED, ENTHALPY, REMOTEST, DETEST, NITS and others.
To pick one of 27D, I feel that a hyphen was not necessary in 16A.
16A - Perhaps it is not reversal of RACED but an anagram. Right?
DeleteI thought so too.
DeleteRight, right
Deleteno way, could i have solved this mother of difficult cw clues, good morning Richard... we are the early birds here... :D
ReplyDeleteHi, no one-upmanship, er.. one-uppersonship. It is just that after 8-30 pm I would be busy with work, just like your surgery sessions. :)
DeleteAlways politically correct, Richard. How do you person-age that?
DeleteDifficult Doc??
DeleteMy comment @ 8-35 should have read It is just that after 8-30 am I would be busy with work, just like you could be with your surgery sessions.
DeleteNice one. Barbell reminded me of bar bells which usually ring out around 10pm...
ReplyDeleteAnd regarding Paul, Richard, St Peter is now using his services and winning football bets, much to the chagrin of other saints.
sorghum??isobar?? now, come on.
ReplyDeleteWhat's wrong with them?
DeleteSorghum was a new word for me. I used to have only sore eyes at times.
DeleteDid you not read the word in the Geography text books in the days of your youth?
DeleteI do not know how it looks like or tastes like though.
During my school-days there were not many English-medium schools. May not have had the chance to come across the word in the vernacular. Nice to have learnt SORGHUM today.
DeleteAfter the other day's pawan kare SOR, today it is the time to sing GHAM uthane ke liye... ;)
Rukh se zara naqaab uTha do, mere huzoor...
DeleteGeography books, like youth, may be only a distant memory. What is now left is only sore gums.
DeleteKishore, 11:59 The late Hindi comedienne Tun Tun (you know her real name), in an interview she gave me many years ago, had said that if she had a naqaab to be utaaroed, the response could be Tera jalwa jisne dekha woh TheDaa ho gaya...
DeleteYup, old Uma had a double barrel name !
Delete...and a double-barrel look as well!
DeleteNice one from Arden. St Peter is reportedly winning most bets with other saints as he is said to be consulting Paul the octopus.
ReplyDeleteNow you are taking your issues beyond the Pearly Gates, eh?
DeleteJust a part of my travelogue: bin there, done that!
DeletePearly gates are next to the sorghum in one's mouth
DeleteWell, well, well.
ReplyDeleteI may be raising a hornet's rest but I have to get if off my chest (duly covered with a banian, if not anything else at this moment).
Solve a crossword. You might get 100 per cent, 75, 50 or just 10. Try to improve. Look at the answers later and see if the clueing wasn't fair and why you did not get the answers. Sometimes the setter may have been careless and you didn't get the word which you had vaguely known. Castigate him! Sometimes it may be a word that had not swum into your ken till then. But the setter has given you an opportunity to add more words to your vocab. You may be grateful to him for that or not even grateful.
But -
Please don't ask how the hell the setter can include words like that.
Sorghum and isobar are not so rare that a person who comes to solving crosswords because he has some interest in - even if not a penchant for - words might not have come across them before.
I could go on and on but I shall stop - at least for now! (Detractors have publicly accused me of ranting.)
I think there are a couple of issues.
ReplyDelete1A: Isn't the homophone indicator wrongly placed? It's like, "sore Gum" is said to cause SORGHUM, the solution.
26A: Is "characters" a sufficient anagram indicator?
Lovely one from Arden again. Bewilder was the clue of the day for me.
ReplyDeleteToday's crossword was :
Request clipped sleigh rider to be nice (8)
Pleasing ?
DeleteFor Krishnan@10:01
DeleteHow did you derive it ?
My apologies to Colonel for what has now become the daily delete routine.
request is plea took kat out of skating for sleigh rider.
DeleteLet me rephrase the clue
DeleteRequest clipped sleigh rider perhaps, to be nice (8)
Relished
DeleteI finally got your point. I clued the definition as a verb and not as an adjective.
DeleteFor @D.Srinivasan 10:20
DeleteHow did you derive it ?
Another shot at it. Hope I got it right this time :)
DeleteFriendly request passed onto an incomplete sleigh rider perhaps.
plea sant(-a)
DeleteImpeccable cheerer oddly laid back in bed. (7)
Deleteco(rrec«)t
DeleteNaughty one, wed eleven, for appreciation. (4,4)
Deletewell done*
DeleteBarbadkatte@10.40
DeleteWrote on surface reading. Probably not correct, I admit
D.Srinivasan@6:47 PM
DeleteNp. Was worried that my cluing was off by a mile.
Isobar was not new to me, but sorghum was. For 16 D, I put unseated (which I thought could not be faulted) and got stuck in the corner. Yes, I also feel that this time around Arden seems to have raised the bar. I am not complaining and I agree with CV that we should welcome new words and the learning curve keeps going up. Yes, I could not get a few known words too- barbell,suede to name a few.
ReplyDelete7 - Weakest charge, before the cream had left (8) - FEEBLEST {FEE}{B{L}EST}
ReplyDeleteI loved the word play, especially the 'cream had left'. Arden clues are a real joy to decipher.
We don't seem to get weekly runs from Buzzer, Arden ... more's the pity
ReplyDeletePlus one !!
ReplyDeleteTo me 15A seems less convincing. Why do we have to take only E from sweet.
ReplyDeletesweetheart = heart of sweet = e
Deleteheart of sweet
Delete
ReplyDeleteKishore:
I yam im pressed. Charm restrainer ees vary vary im peck able !!
Wednesday's crossword by Buzzer:
Kept our brains abuzz. Thanks, Buzzer.
Just finished yesterday's Buzzword. NIAGARA and WODEHOUSE were absolute 1 down.!!Buzzer indeed is a 17 down.
Every clue was 8 down !
Buzzer, Buzz on, Buzz on!!
CV sir and others :
Any stories on that ubiquitous Belan (rolling pin)- a woman's weapon -- or that other weapon of mass deception her tears-- for emotional athyaachhar ? When the former fails with the sarti tucked up and arms akinmbo, the second is brought in to play !!
Reply
Raju, as for the second, I was reminded of the definition:
DeleteThe hydraulic force by which masculine will-power is defeated by feminine water-power.
Sweetheart, heart of sweet is E.
ReplyDeleteDon't take Iiterally though!!
On a different track -
ReplyDeleteCan anyone unscramble these?
Arab shoulders.
Grey-haired thank stars.
Aha! War jar museum
Hello! Pointed on package.
German yawns.
Diagram means unusual.
Bond via odds.
Clue: The sets of words so derived are familiar.
Hint: They have been culled from this blog.
DeleteFolks, I was apparently unfair not only in providing insufficient hints but also making a mincemeat of the names of some bloggers here. My apologies. No offence intended.
DeleteI cannot really carry a billion
DeleteGot 1-5 still puzzling about 6&7
Deleteam peace loving. idont hold pickles.may be i'm a curator's delight..
ReplyDelete:)
DeleteRichard: Anagrams make a noodle of my brains. Yet, I unfailingly attempt and succeed in the Indian Express Theme Anagram puzzle of each Monday in their Educational pullout. I wonder , why I'm so mulish in cracking them, like a dog with a bone, but then it beckons and beckons !! My wife makes always noodle soup on Mondays of me ! I feel like an ass, when she calls me a loser !!
ReplyDeleteI too solve Edex Casual Manger (with the latest theme on characters of Harry Potter novels). While I have been solving and sending the answer regularly I have got my name only once in the winner. While I have won many times on maths quiz, some time i was surprised to see no correct answer for the quiz. When i wrote to them indicating that I have sent the correct solution, I got the reply stating that they would not give to the same winner again for a few months in order to encourage participation from others!
DeleteRaju, I can understand. If any given anagram unravels into some normal words, it tends to be easy to solve them. But all the above are names of our own bloggers here, two with titles - one abbreviated and another in full - and others with proper names. It is a bit tough. Honestly, if offered to take up the challenge, I would have been a loser myself. So take heart. :)
ReplyDeleteoh no sweat. i got em all
ReplyDeleteIn response to an email request from a fellow-blogger -
ReplyDeleteArab shoulders (Two words - he has acknowledged it above)
Grey-haired thank stars (Abbreviated title, a new entrant who has an 'eye' for crosswords)
Aha! War jar museum (Two words - he has acknowledged above)
Hello! Pointed on package (A title in full and two names )
German yawns (an initial and a name)
Diagram means unusual (Two names, a blogger not seen here lately)
Bond via odds (Two words - he was away on holidays for some time)
got all .. Can now sleep in peace.
ReplyDelete8-19 BAD TAB-TAKER - somehow I seem to have missed your name.
ReplyDeleteI never observed my name appears in your list. "saw my anger" "My range was" are some of the anagrams I use to describe me.
DeleteI included your initial in the name. Maybe because of that you missed it. in fact anagrams without your initial are more interesting.
ReplyDeleteArden is hardly in his best !!
ReplyDeleteA few gripes :
10 Across: Reversion to the state -evenly Jessica gets warm-==ESCHEAT- where does evenly JEssica come here?
we cannot annotate the clue and then rationalize the answer to fit it !!
15 Across: why plural for Diamond(s)? SUE-D-E- Sue -girl D from diamond and E from SweEt heart
Similarly-22 Across : Why plural for Club(s)permit- C-allow CALLOW
again: 19 Across- Shifting target before a race- target, anagram regatt and race should be double TT whereas we need only a single Tto complete REGATTA !
Except for 15A which with Diamond would have been better, the rest of the clues are fine and I do not find a problem.
ReplyDelete10 Across: Reversion to the state -evenly Jessica gets warm-==ESCHEAT- where does evenly JEssica come here?
we cannot annotate the clue and then rationalize the answer to fit it !!
Evenly Jessica gives you the letters E S C and with Heat for warm straight away leads to the answer. A simple one. No problem at all.
22 Across : Why plural for Club(s)permit- C-allow CALLOW
If we there is no plural for clubs then the answer will be CALLOWS (which is not the requirement) as the clue will have to be rewritten as Club permits. The clue is fine.
19 Across- Shifting target before a race- target, anagram regatt and race should be double TT whereas we need only a single to complete REGATTA !
Target before 'a' and not before race (TT) and it should lead to race which is REGATT A - Nice clue. Absolutely no problem with that.
Renga: Tho' I accept your annotation, I retain my right to say that too much of a convoluted cluing defeats the purpose of solving and one can laways rationalize ANY cluing NJ-esque style.
ReplyDeleteI rest my case.