Wednesday, 17 October 2012

No 10596, Wednesday 17 Oct 12, Klue Klux Klan

Sorry for an incomplete CW, woke up late and I've been floored today. (See the comments for all the annos added as addendum).

ACROSS
1   - Fire up, hustle, and then droop pace (11) - (Addendum - CONFLAGRATE - {CON}{FLAG}{RATE})
9   - Goddess at artist’s heart (3,2,2) - (Addendum - EYE OF RA {EYE OF} {RA})
10 - Tool one fires audibly (3,3) - (Addendum - ICE AXE {I}{~sacks})
11 - A month of expedition? Not for yours truly! (5) - SAFAR SAFARi
12 - Fish wrongly diagnosed without initial neck examination (7) - GADOIDS  DIAGnOSeD*
15 - Commission left stumped? Precisely so! (4) - VERY Anno pending (Addendum - VEstRY)
16 - Restrain fish by trapping in close confines (10) - (Addendum - INTIMIDATE {INTIM{ID}ATE})
18 - Mutinies irritate, rile nobles (10) - REBELLIONS*
20 - Position line-up with no problem initially (4) - LIEU LInE-Up
23 - Rum — a rarity for you and I (7) - CURIOUS {CURIO}{US}
24 - Bar headless spectre from rally (5) - (Addendum - TAUNT {T}{hAUNT})
26 - Not right to throw tantrum in sport (6) - MUTANT TANTrUM*
27 - Reminder of the culture one is not into (7) - MEMOIRE ? Anno pending (Addendum - MEMENTO  {MEME}{iNTO})
28 - Turnouts at PM’s address for ballets, say (11) - ATTENDANCES {AT}{TEN}{DANCES}

DOWN
2   - Yak, say, crossing U.K. town (6) - OXFORD {OX}{FORD}
3   - Ease up, woman! The girl’s back (4) - WANE {W}{ANE<=} (Addendum FLAG {F}{LAG<=})
4   - Vitalities of adult boasting in state’s housing (10) - (Addendum - ANIMATIONS {A}{N{I'M}ATION'S})
5   - Ornateness of mercurial chorister short of Bach’s works (8) - (Addendum - RHETORIC CHORIsTER*)
6   - Badger and assess thought (7) - (Addendum - TAXIDEA {TAX}{IDEA})
7   - Hold on to agent hauled up from the grave (9) - PERSEVERE {PER<=}{SEVERE}
8   - Cigarette advert overwhelms Elizabeth (6) - REEFER {RE{E}FER}
13 - Intimated in hell, you fed daughter (10) - INSINUATED {IN}{SIN}{U}{ATE}{D}
14 - Conquest of the French trapped in department (9) - (Addendum - SEDUCTION {SE{DU}CTION})
17 - Supreme, directionless, last-minute mayhem (8) - ULTIMATE {LAsT MInUTE}* 'E' is also a direction
19 - Smell of boutiques is not dreadful (7) - BOUQUET BOUTiQUEs*
21 - Old fiddle’s tales of the lizard (6) - (Addendum IGUANA IGU{ANA})
22 - Block withholds feisty mierkat (6) - STYMIE [T]
25 - A sign of love for valets (4) - OMEN {O}{MEN}

LINK TO GRID



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95 comments:

  1. Richard17 October 2012 at 08:30


    Good morning

    Missed a few in the upper half of the grid.

    Of those I could solve, my COD - 28A - AT+TEN+DANCES. (I seem to have company in Rengaswamy.)

    Got a few like REBELLIONS, CURIOUS, MUTANT, OMEN, BOUQUET, STYMIE (clever one!), ULTIMATE, MEMENTO (nice one!) at first look.

    Discomfort zone: 13D - hell=sin? 14D - conquest=selection?


    ReplyDelete
  2. Richard17 October 2012 at 08:32

    27A {MEME}{NTO}
    MEME = culture
    INTO-I = NTO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard17 October 2012 at 08:34

      21D - Old fiddle’s tales of the lizard (6) -

      With the crossings, I put it in as IGUANA. Anno uparwala jaane.

      Delete
    2. Richard17 October 2012 at 08:38

      14D - Conquest of the French trapped in department (9) -

      My take:{SE (LE) CTION}- I have registered my crib over this in post 8:30

      Delete
    3. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:21

      Ana means a collection of literary anecdotes, but stumped by the IGU part.

      Delete
  3. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 08:37

    9 - Goddess at artist’s heart (3,2,2) - {EYE OF }{RA}
    10 - Tool one fires audibly (3,3) - ICE AXE (~ I Sacks)
    16 - Restrain fish by trapping in close confines (10) INTIM{ID}ATE

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dr.gayathri Sreekanth17 October 2012 at 08:38

    no wonder the americans were scared of cluclux clan. but at least this one is better than yesterday's; got few answers correct. tool one fires audibly is gun -something?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dr.gayathri Sreekanth17 October 2012 at 08:40

    audibly is ear.is there something called ear gun?

    ReplyDelete
  6. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 08:41

    6 - Badger and assess thought (7) - {TAX}{IDEA}

    ReplyDelete
  7. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 08:42

    1 - Fire up, hustle, and then droop pace (11) - {CON}{FLAG}{RATE}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard17 October 2012 at 08:45

      Sandhya, in spite of all these, you try to run away from THE LEAGUE?

      Delete
    2. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:16

      @Richard +1

      @Sandhya you have defeated your own cause :)

      Delete
    3. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 09:34

      @Bhavan: I think you came in late to give us a chance to participate :P

      Delete
  8. VJ17 October 2012 at 08:44

    Sandhya, you're awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  9. VJ17 October 2012 at 08:45

    Never seen so many unsolved clues - at least not in the post-NJ era

    ReplyDelete
  10. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 08:46

    4 - Vitalities of adult boasting in state’s housing (10) - {A}{N{I'M}ATION'S}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard17 October 2012 at 08:48

      I had ANIMATIONS in mind. Gave up for want of anno. Now it is clear. Thanks, Sandhya.

      Delete
  11. Unknown17 October 2012 at 08:56

    5D RHETORIC * CHORISTER - S
    DEF ORNATENESS

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unknown17 October 2012 at 09:00

    14D SEDUCTION. SE(DU)CTION

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard17 October 2012 at 09:05

      14D - I stand corrected on SEDUCTION. This sounds plausible.

      5D - How is 'S' arrive at from "Bach’s works"? Can you please clarify?

      Delete
    2. Richard17 October 2012 at 09:12

      Correction: How is 'S' arrived at...

      Delete
    3. Unknown17 October 2012 at 09:16

      Honestly, my answer was based on the crossings available. However I think S for Sonata?

      Delete
    4. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:20

      I think S stands for Schmieder numbers, but not sure.
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Schmieder

      Delete
  13. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:01

    24 - Bar headless spectre from rally (5) - TAUNT T(bar) + (h-)AUNT

    Enjoyable but tough going today. Never had to refer to the dictionaries so much.

    ReplyDelete
  14. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 09:03

    14 - Conquest of the French trapped in department (9) - SE{DU}CTION

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:04

    15 - Commission left stumped? Precisely so! (4) - VERY Anno pending

    Commission = Vestry
    left stumped = (-st)
    Precisely so = very

    ReplyDelete
  16. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:04

    3 - Ease up, woman! The girl’s back (4) - WANE {W}{ANE<=}

    Ease up = Flag
    Woman = F
    Girl's back = LAG <=

    ReplyDelete
  17. VJ17 October 2012 at 09:11

    Had to give up after some time. Cryptic reading suffers in many places - too many fors and froms thrown around inside wordplay. And in 23A, not sure if the usage of "and I" is grammatical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:15

      I had a few similar quibbles too but thought the surfaces weren't a problem.

      Delete
    2. VJ17 October 2012 at 09:27

      Yea, surface seems okay, but can't say the same about the cryptic part - like "one is not into" for -I, "is not dreadful" for -IS* etc. didn't seem okay to me.

      Delete
    3. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:41

      I didn't have a problem with either because they helped the surface and are unambiguous in the cryptic reading. In fact I felt all the surfaces were well thought out and there were several clues that I liked except these few:

      20A - Missing deletion indicator for N & P unless "no" is doing double duty
      24A - from
      24A - unless I got the answer wrong, spectre as a noun cannot give the verb haunt and haunt as a noun does not mean spectre.
      4D - don't see what "housing" is doing
      7D - again an intrusive "from". Also "the grave" is a noun whereas we need it as an adjective to mean severe
      17D - directionless in the singular doesn't indicate we have to delete two S & N

      Delete
    4. VJ17 October 2012 at 10:35

      Intrusive nature of "from" in 24A and 7D cannot be ignored.

      I think 4D is fine. Inclusion of the word housing helps the surface and it fortifies containment. So no issues there. Even 24A is fine 'cause haunt as a noun also means "ghost" according to one the dictionaries I referred. It's probably a dialectic thing (Southern American).

      17D, usage of "directionless" to mean removal of both the directions (directions in general) is fine, IMO.

      I'm not quite happy with "one is not into" meaning -I from INTO. Technically speaking "one is not in into" and "one is not into" don't mean the same. Likewise, "is not" isn't the same "not is"

      Delete
    5. Col_Gopinath17 October 2012 at 10:51

      In 17D, E is also a direction, how do we decide how many and which directions are to be deleted?

      Delete
    6. VJ17 October 2012 at 10:56

      Oh yea, didn't notice that E is also a direction.

      Delete
    7. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 10:57

      @Colonel, valid point but I'm happy to reverse engineer a clue to figure which direction needs to be deleted. My question was if "directionless" was sufficient or should it have been something like "without directions"

      Delete
    8. Col_Gopinath17 October 2012 at 11:25

      Clues should be aids to help a solver get the answer rather than something for them to justify with reverse engineering.

      Delete
  18. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 09:12

    @Dr Gayatri: When pronounced, ICE AXE sounds like I SACKS.

    @Rengarajan: Sorry, didn't see your post for SEDUCTION.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Venkatesh17 October 2012 at 09:29

    Sandhya, Bhavan & RR,
    Well solved. Now, if we have the anno for 21D, this Cryptic would be complete.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan17 October 2012 at 09:43

      I might have half of it in "ana" which means a collection of anecdotes or tales. Don't know how IGU maps to Old fiddle

      Delete
    2. Richard17 October 2012 at 10:11

      Bhavan, in Internet Slang , IGU stands for 'I give up'. ;)

      Delete
  20. Unknown17 October 2012 at 10:11

    I bow to you Sandhya, you are the Supreme Wizard!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard17 October 2012 at 10:16

      Agree with you Senorita. No shying away for Sandhya from the title.

      Delete
    2. SandhyaP17 October 2012 at 15:15

      @Rita: Oh please! I just get lucky with a few annos, most often after the answers have been posted by the veterans.

      Delete
  21. Suresh17 October 2012 at 10:20

    Just finished. Any unanswered queries?

    ReplyDelete
  22. VMA Nair17 October 2012 at 10:35

    20A What is the deletion indicator?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Unknown17 October 2012 at 10:52

    Thank you, Col. I went back and saw the correction.
    In the attempt at solving this very difficult one from Klue Klux Klan, I forgot to wish a very good morning to all!
    I do so now!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Bhalchandra Pasupathy17 October 2012 at 10:58

    Coming in too late so all the interesting discussions are already over!

    Was wondering about the last post in yesterday's puzzle - no howls of protest as Bhavan predicted? I saw it first in my mailbox: had to quickly shut my eyes and press delete!

    ReplyDelete
  25. RameshJ17 October 2012 at 11:02

    Old fiddle is Gu.

    ReplyDelete
  26. RameshJ17 October 2012 at 11:10

    From http://mythic-beasts.com/~mark/random/indicators/

    Possibly comes from Gu-Achi

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VMA Nair17 October 2012 at 11:11

      Anything to do with guarneri ?

      Delete
    2. RameshJ17 October 2012 at 11:11

      I also see gue as old Scottish musical instrument

      Delete
    3. RameshJ17 October 2012 at 11:15

      Looks gue/gu are alternate spellings for the old Scottish musical instrument

      Delete
    4. Suresh17 October 2012 at 11:29

      I thought we had forgotten the looong list

      Delete
    5. Col_Gopinath17 October 2012 at 11:32

      Don't tell me that KKK refers to the infamous long list!!!

      Delete
    6. RameshJ17 October 2012 at 12:03

      Col & Other old timers
      Why is this an infamous list? It certainly appears long & almost impossible to remember.

      Delete
    7. Deepak Gopinath17 October 2012 at 12:11

      It's infamous as it has a number of abbreviations whose origins are suspect and it was used by a setter whose CW's were not well received by most of us here.

      Delete
    8. VMA Nair17 October 2012 at 12:14

      It is an old story :-P

      Delete
    9. VJ17 October 2012 at 12:30

      Most of us or all of us?

      Delete
    10. Deepak Gopinath17 October 2012 at 12:42

      Now that would be telling, wouldn't it VJ?

      Delete
    11. RameshJ17 October 2012 at 17:49

      Thanks for the explanation

      Delete
  27. Raghunath17 October 2012 at 11:20

    IGU: I GIVE UP in internet slang.

    ReplyDelete
  28. RameshJ17 October 2012 at 11:26

    For 21D is I think 'I' is missing. Gu=Old Fiddle Tales=Ana.

    An or One is missing from the start of the clue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh17 October 2012 at 11:32

      Bringing back memories we would all rather forget. To be fair, though the crossword was enjoyable. If the Klan takes up the doubts expressed by Bhavan earlier, we can see some more top class crosswords.

      Delete
  29. Klue Klux Klan17 October 2012 at 11:42

    Hello folks!

    Thanks for all the feedback and comments thus far.

    A few clarifications:
    There are a few typos in the clues, actually.
    I had sent in a newer version with corrections but I guess there has been some confusion.

    21a: The 'one' at the beginning of the clue is missing. Guess that clears it up. I hope.
    20a: Yes. 'No' does perform a double duty but I see that it does not really seem to work. Apologies for that.
    17d: Again, I apologize for the oversight. There should've been some indicator as to how many directions were to be deleted.
    24a: I think that 'haunt' is used for 'ghost' in certain dialects. Perhaps it is not that universal. I will indeed try and avoid that sort of ambiguity in the future.
    27a: Again, I had reworded the clue but the change has not quite been reflected. I thought 'cultural unit' was more appropriate than 'culture.' Perhaps that ought to make it better.
    23a: The corrected version had 'you and me.'

    Pl. do give me more feedback so that I can try and do better from next time in.


    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  30. Suresh17 October 2012 at 12:58

    There was a discussion earlier on the use of 'you and I'. In the context of the clue the usage is per se not incorrect, even grammatically. I do not think even Fowler would object to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan17 October 2012 at 15:07

      I also feel, 'you' and I may not be grammatically incorrect- though you & me is more popular in use and becomes readily acceptable.

      Delete
    2. Suresh17 October 2012 at 17:06

      Maybe I am old fashioned. But I personally use You and I quite often. Like saying "Let us meet somewhere. Just you and I"

      Unless I am calling for tombola in which case it is 'you and me - 23'

      Delete
    3. Richard17 October 2012 at 18:22

      While on I and me, I was reminded of an old joke. A guy dies and knocks at the gates of heaven. He hears a stern voice, which asks, "Who is it?"

      "It is I," he says.

      "Go to hell. We have enough of English professors here," says the voice.

      Delete
  31. VP17 October 2012 at 13:20

    Had to scramble real hard with the help of online dictionary and google to complete this puzzle. Even after filling the words based on the crossings had to come look here for the annos in quite a few cases.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Padmanabhan17 October 2012 at 14:06

    Could not complete the CW, in spite of doing all that you have done !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D.Srinivasan17 October 2012 at 14:30

      Complete? I Gave Up after the only word I got.... rebellions*

      Delete
  33. Padmanabhan17 October 2012 at 14:43

    Do you want to start one? You have a supporter in me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D.Srinivasan17 October 2012 at 15:54

      No, not at all. All said and done, we all enjoy the THC and support the THCC

      Delete
  34. Shyam17 October 2012 at 14:45

    A few more comments from my side:

    28A: This definitely needs a "British" before PM.
    8D: Why is Elizabeth 'E'?
    22D: Does "Block" withhold "feisty mierkat" or does "feisty mierkat" withhold "block"?
    19D: On the surface, what is "smell of boutiques"? I found this implausible. The removal operation is hardly clear as some other comments have indicated.
    18A: Why is there a comma between "irritate" and "rile"?

    Agree with VJ about the free-floating "for"s and "from"s. Barring a few clues, the surfaces are not that superb to justify the wordplay excesses, I thought. Hoping for a neat one next time!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shyam17 October 2012 at 14:51

      Have to add about the extra "the"s in 27A, 3D, 7D and 21D - much lesser than Neyartha, but still could be avoided for perfection.

      Delete
  35. Anonymous17 October 2012 at 16:32

    Not having the done the crossies for a few days now and eminently disqualified from commenting on the same, I share some of my experiences with you folks:

    Continuing punning across the US, us guys started off wearing our new jerseys and I rode shotgun into Rhode Island. Walked on the Cliff walk near the Breakers, that Vanderbilt built. Was away for some time dozing off in the Catskill Mountains before stowing in at Stowe in the Green Mountains. Then cannoned down Cannon mountains in the White Mountains before going to Maine on the main. Following the freedom trail from Philly, where Benjamin Franklin is reported to have graced the solemn signing of the Declaration of Independence with a pun: Either all of us hang together, or we'll hang separately, and moving on to DC realised why the Americans like their Kaapi tall. Had whale of a time watching those mammals in the ocean.

    ReplyDelete
  36. D.Srinivasan17 October 2012 at 16:50

    For Plum's fans, (esp. Kishore, whom we dearly miss these days) in this forum,

    sharing:

    http://sports.ndtv.com/cricket/blogs/saurabh-somani/item/197933-the-wodehousian-touch-in-cricket

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. D.Srinivasan17 October 2012 at 16:54

      What a coincidence Kishore, think of the angel and there he is!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous17 October 2012 at 17:17

      Angel, huh! DS, you got only the last of the 5 letters right, though if you had put it in a crossie, it would have messed up your other words.

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan17 October 2012 at 22:56

      Thank you DS. Nice piece and I enjoyed reading it. 15th Oct was his Birthday.

      Delete
  37. Richard17 October 2012 at 17:41

    Lo and behold, yet another riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma... only from Kishore.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous17 October 2012 at 18:11

    A study on names of towns in New England:

    A yearning for Ole England is clear in the names that look you in the eye in these parts. Classifying them:

    1. Burys: Waterbury, Sudbury, Cadbury, (wonder who's buried where?)
    2. Tons of Tons: Washington, Boston, Taunton, I even found an Easton, worse, West Easton.
    3. Fords: Milford, Oxford, Chelmsford,Gerald Ford (even he seems to have a flower with him)
    4. Ports: Newport, Portland, you know its a port when the sea is near...
    5. Fields: Springfield, Enfield, Wakefield, Sleepfield (no, I am kidding)
    6. Chesters: Manchester, Rochester, Winchester
    7. Hams: Ingham, Cunningham, Westham, hamlets all?
    8. Wichs; Greenwich, Sandwich, Ipswich, I dont know witch.

    not counting the innumerable burgs, villes, and lands.

    But the best of all for a Plum fan was seeing a place called Dunstable !

    ReplyDelete
  39. Padmanabhan17 October 2012 at 22:44

    If you say NJ, Kishore will read it ( now) as New Jersey ! ( He has forgotten the other NJ long ago)
    Glad you are having a nice time and going places :-)

    ReplyDelete
  40. raju umamaheswar17 October 2012 at 23:40

    93 comments ? Vow !! Is this an all time record? Let me add my 94th.

    Yesterday's Skuldu(i)gger:
    Very refreshingly unusual clues. Just completed all of them without looking at the answers. Took a bit of time getting a few.
    Must confess that this was one offbeat compier who got my cranium cracked. Never ever before such a crossie as this. I expose my Sahara without the sahara of my usual cap.
    Will now gpo to the Land of Nod a very satisfied man. Will those Gurus accept me in their League?

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous18 October 2012 at 03:47

    Just got back from visiting USS Constitution. Ironically, right in front of the ship the Union Jack was a flutter on the stern of HMS Dauntless (D33) moored perchance right in front of it...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18 October 2012 at 04:37

      For sake of accuracy, I need to clarify that the UJ was a part of the British naval ensign.

      Delete

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