KKK's as devious as ever. No clue on 11A.
ACROSS
1 Language of the man and his beer (6) HEBREW {HE}{BREW}
4 Few caught in panic (6) SCARCE {SCAR{C}E}
9 Give away on stage, for the most part (4) STAG STAGe
10 Copy, say, of Chennai locality with tea for bridge players
(10) TRIPLICATE {TRIPLICA(-n+t)TE}
11 Well beloved herder? (6) OILMAN ? (Addendum PIGMAN [GK] - See comments)
12 Images of mostly epic books (8) EPITOMES {EPIc}{TOMES}
13 Galore of gallant takeovers (9) BEAUCOUPS {BEAU}{COUPS}
15 Mistress of the French valet? (5) LEMAN {LE}{MAN}
16 Period of retrospective hope overwhelms hundred (5) EPOCH {EPO{C}H<=}
18 Watch wager for Batman, say (9) VIGILANTE {VIGIL}{ANTE}
22 Looking forward to defend worker (8) GUARDANT {GUARD}{ANT}
23 Say no to garbage! (6) REFUSE [DD]
25 Flexibility about one in silence (10) RESILIENCE {RE}{SIL{1}ENCE}
26 King’s mate in castle? (4) ROOK [GK]
27 Beheaded cat-like confusing movie (6) TALKIE {cAT+LIKE}*
28 Limited sex appeal in hunky-dory surroundings (6) FINITE {FIN{IT}E}
DOWN
1 Direct connection confused the lion? (7) HOTLINE*
2 Lady from Belgium missing long intricate initials (5) BEGUM BElGiUM
3 Fret about antidote missing one vitamin (3,4) EAT INTO {ANTIdOTE}*
7 Hold them in additional peaks (7) EXTREMA {EXTR{EM}A} No such word in Chambers
8 Very funny parting around day in March, say (13) SIDESPLITTING {S{IDES}PLITTING}
14 Unfriendly stormy rain cloud (9) UNCORDIAL*
17 Be careful of puritan’s book (7) PRUDENT {PRUDE}{NT}
19 Decapitated British PM becomes an Asian (7) ISRAELI dISRAELI
24 At a distance, note language (5) FARSI {FAR}{SI}
Would Gladstone have been glad to see Disraeli decapitated? KKK continues to behead. Had a little doubt about use of plural for bridge partners in 10a, as only one N goes out of Triplicane.
ReplyDelete11 Well beloved herder? (6) OILMAN ?
ReplyDeleteTook it as PIGMAN. Wellbeloved being Lord Elmsworth's pigman or herder. The herd of course contains only one pig, to wit, the Empress of Blandings.
Above is mere justification of what I penned in. KKK might not have intended this answer. My Plum-p friends will recall George Cyril Wellbeloved and his eminent colleagu Pirbright and the piggy wiggy Monica Simmons.
DeleteWellbeloved, being one of those British names like Younghusband, Sidebottom and Carstairs.
And Sir Gregory Parsloe's pig man in half the stories ( Parsloe having lured him away with his filthy gold )
Delete21 Cocktail disheartened Italian poet (6) MARINI MARtINI Should have been MARINO
ReplyDeleteFreedictionary shows both spellings.
26 King’s mate in castle? (4) ROOK [GK]
ReplyDeleteCastle playing double role:
Castle as in the chess move, in which the King's mate (partner) is the ROOK
Castle by itself being the def for ROOK
7 Hold them in additional peaks (7) EXTREMA {EXTR{EM}A} No such word in Chambers
ReplyDeleteI took it in line with Maxima and Minima from Maths
Maybe, but the word does not appear in any dictionary whereas Maxima and Minima does
DeleteExtrema is in the OED
DeleteI meant ODE
DeleteI too am unable to find any ref. for EXTREMA.
DeleteIf we enter 'extrema' on the Internet search engine, we are led to 'extremum'. Fine, but thee is no entry for 'extrema'.
Can we take 'extrema' as an inflection of 'extremum'. If so, is it a plural or what?
I don't get any return for 'extrema' in word pattern search software, either.
Only the setter can explain.
2 or 3 puzzles is probably not enough to assess a setter, but I thought this puzzle was a complete departure from KKK's last two offerings - too many gimmes in the non-anagram, non-hidden clues and a few surfaces that don't make much sense (to me).
Deletehttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/extrema
DeleteIf 'extrema' is the plural form of 'extremum',
ReplyDeletehere are some suggestions:
begum - bega
mum - ma
bum - ba
. . .
. . .
And a series of hesitations, going " ...um..um...um.." , could be simplified as 'a'
DeleteHow would a decapitated British PM become an Asian? Seriously, how does it work.
ReplyDeleteOn the cryptic side, Disraeli loses his head and becomes an Israeli, but on the surface, well ... its over my head, guillotined or otherwise...
DeleteYea I got the cryptic part. What I was wondering was how it could possibly happen in a real world scenario.
ReplyDeleteSee
Deletehttp://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1359264
Hello!
ReplyDeleteFirst, apologies for the typo. The intended clue was indeed 'Wellbeloved' and not 'well beloved'. I had submitted it in the former state but I guess there has been some goof up. I apologize for that.
Extrema is the plural of extremum, or so I think, anyway. Did confirm it with a couple of dictionaries but perhaps it is not in wide usage in non math/engg contexts. Once again, sorry about that.
Bhavan sir, re the nature of this puzzle, well, after the feedback from the last puzzle which a lot of people said was too difficult (on some levels) and did not really have a foothold for a solver to latch on to (something I got as a comment from a solver I respect greatly), I thought I'd make it slightly more straightforward.
Perhaps it has become too simple. Also, re the surface reading, yes, sir. When I do look at it now, I feel that I could well have made it better.
Thank you for the most valuable feedback. Will try and incorporate it into the next offering. Any other feedback (both positive and more importantly negative) I would gladly welcome for it can only help me make better puzzles.
Cheers!
I find EXTREMA in my OED as a plural of Extremum. Wonder why others could not locate it.
ReplyDeleteLike I mentioned earlier, it's not in Chambers
DeleteVery enjoyable puzzle. Only gap I had was the anno for Pigman, which has been amply addressed in this blog.
ReplyDeleteBeaucoups was a 'bit too much' for me.
ReplyDelete15A- "mistress OF the French valet"
ReplyDeleteWhat part does 'OF' play? It led me to DE. Could it be "or"? Or just a comma after mistress?
Of plays no part, it's just there for the surface reading
Deletein which case wouldn't 'The French valet's mistress' have been a better way of wording it ?
DeleteFelt today's puzzle was pretty interesting except for the clues where part of the answer was given away in the clues (e.g. 9A, 12A, 16A, 25A and 2D)
ReplyDeleteABCDE:
ReplyDeleteSolitaire is Job's claim to fame ? (8)
To carry over a discussion from yesterday's crossie
ReplyDeleteVP: Thanks for the explanation. Yes, I have heard "cutting" used here in India the way you describe it. Even more so in the TASMAC context (where I guess cutting is used as a slang for a quarter ?). To clarify, I have no problems with the surface as such. It makes complete sense to me. It is perhaps just one of the things which is stuck in my head - that an adjective definition should be defined by an adjective to be absolutely fair.
I'd have to disagree on that. It is the setter's job to trick. One of the tools in his arsenal is the employment of some parts of speech in ways that suggest they are other parts of speech.
This is one of my preferred means of misdirection .I have employed it as in yesterdays 14d :18-year-old chap takes ringroad leading to entrance of TASMAC for cutting and also in previous crosswords. For instance in Skullduggery #1 I had: Entrance for Wayne Manor demolished! New way out.(6). The clue when parsed offers entrance as noun, but the answer is arrived by employing the verb definition of entrance. ( The answer to this was enamor,btw).
I think this sort of thing is fair. What's the general consensus on this?
I had the exact question & had mailed a seasoned setter regarding this a few days back. His response seems to indicate that this misdirection is fair.
DeleteI do not see any problem with relation to this.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSkuldugger, Thanks for carrying this point over for discussion.
DeleteMy view on this topic has been set (perhaps incorrectly ?) from Manley's Crossword Manual where there is a discussion on what is fair and what is not. From my understanding, its perfectly ok using misdirections with verb vs noun forms in the general word play, whereas when it comes to the definition, the part of speech must be maintained (barring some exceptions of verb and noun definitions as illustrated there).
Maybe my own understanding is not accurate, would be great to hear more thoughts on this.
patience?
ReplyDeleteHow does it work?
DeleteSolitaire is Job's claim to fame ? (8)
DeleteSolitaire=def, a card game, also called Patience
Job , of Biblical fame, renowned for his patience
like patience on a monument
Happy thanks giving holidays :-)
DeleteThanksgiving is a time when major national calamities can occur: The fall of Turkey, break up of China and spilling of Greece.
DeleteThanks Kishore... Not so familiar with scriptures.
DeleteYes,how? I also dont get it.
ReplyDeleteguess worked.was thinking of Steve Jobs
Deleteby ignoring '
DeleteThank you Kishore. we have been missing you all these days!
ReplyDeleteYes, in a clue, the def for the word reqd can be in one part of speech while in the surface reading it is used in a different part of speech.
ReplyDeleteTake
18-year-old chap takes ringroad leading to entrance of TASMAC for cutting (7)
A charade with a c/c. Good wordplay.
Here 'cutting' is a word ending in -ing (what do they call this part of speech? Gerund?) I am woefully inadequae when it comes to grammatical terms.
However, as the def for word reqd, it is adj.
Though the trick works, I feel this clue is not a very good example of a clue where this sort of switcheroo occurs. I am unable to explain why. It is only a feeling.
Take this published UK crossword clue:
Remains precisely how he is (5)
The ans for this charade is ASHES - AS HE'S.
Now, 'remains' is verb in ? present continuous tense? in the surface reading; but as def for word reqd it is noun.
I have some other observations to make:
We don't start a sentence with a figure/numeral.. It should have been "Eighteen-year-old ..."
And one goes to a TASMAC shop/outlet/bar/booth - not the corporation - for drinking.
Thanks for the detailed explanation on the "switcheroo". Pretty clear now. Time for "cutting" perhaps :)
DeleteAdd:
ReplyDeleteI too have not heard the use of 'cutting' to mean 'drinking'.
Must be college lingo.
I do not object to the use of the word in that little-known sense not supported even by the freedictionary or urban dictionary (or os it?) - we have learnt something today.
Cutting I did mildly some days ago with friends but not knowing that I was cutting.
cutting is a familiar word in Chennai bars/Tasmacs for a quarter.
DeleteWhat do you say?
ReplyDelete(To the shopkeeper) Enakku oru 'cutting' kudu?
(To a friend) Vaada, naanga rendu paerum oru 'cutting' kudikkalaam.
I thought 'cutting' meant 'drinking'. Does it mean only a quarter?
oru cutting pottu thoongalam
DeleteEnnappaa... oru cutting pottaalae thookam vandhudumaa?
Deleteusually it is the final session.
Deleteoru cutting koode pottu :-P
Adhae... Anganae parayu...
DeleteWe are familiar with cutting classes, but cutting glasses?!
ReplyDeleteSorry if I am boring...
ReplyDeleteIf 'cutting' does not mean 'drinking' but only 'a quarter' the clue should have read
18-year-old chap takes ringroad leading to entrance of TASMAC for a cutting (7) {when the switcheroo cannot happen]
Also, shouldn't ring road be two words?
I guess 'cutting' means different things to different people. While I am familiar with 'cutting quarter' or 'cutting' to indicate just the quarter itself,it has evolved in my circle to mean just the act of drinking itself.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that 18 should be written as eighteen I will never reconcile with. I can't think of one reason for it. It seems to me akin in tone to those inane injunctions against beginning a sentence with a preposition. This is just the kind of thing up with which I will not put.
And nobody goes to a TASMAC shop/outlet to cut. One goes to a TASMAC.Take it from somebody who goes to one. Just as nobody goes to a KFC franchise for lunch or a McDonalds outlet for dinner.One eats at KFC or McDonalds. The name of the brand has become interchangeable with the name of the outlet in the demotic.
I guess the clue rankles slightly when it comes to the switcheroo because the more common formulation in this case would be "going to cut" rather than " going for cutting". Ah well, one lives and learns. In any case, one lives.
Oops. That should have read : injunctions against ENDING a sentence with a preposition.
Delete"This is just the kind of thing up with which I will not put."
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about grammar, but " This is just the kind of thing which I will not put up with." sounds easy on the ears and to understand too.
Well, opinion differs. One thing we have to agree. One lives & learns.
This is just the kind of thing which I will not put up with." sounds easy on the ears and to understand too.
DeletePrecisely. So it is indeed okay to end a sentence with a preposition.And I hope we can also deep-six the idea that one can't begin a sentence with a conjunction.
SKULLDUGGER" "This is just the kind of thing up with which I will not put."
ReplyDeleteThis appears to be a quote of Winston Churchill?A sentence that ends with a preposition.
This is not Queen's English and Churchill was the Prime Minister of Britain.
I'd like to know the context in which he must have replied so, as he was known to be a man with a ready cutting sarcastic wit. Who told him what for him to retort so?