Phew!! Skuldugger is as devious as ever. Not been able to decipher 17D.
ACROSS
5 O the stuff of life! (6) OXYGEN [CD]
6 Booze ooze causes disturbance (6) RUMPUS {RUM}{PUS}
9 Steadily improves attitude endlessly to get proficient (6) ADROIT Anno pending (Addendum - {AD}{RO}{IT} - See comments for explanation of annotation)
10 Perverse pair seen getting laid on the table? (8) NAPERIES*
12 Tardy janitor’s trait criminals’ desire? (5,5) CLEAN SLATE [DD]
13 Stunning looker might be infectious (3-8) EYE-CATCHING {EYE}-{CATCHING}
18 Cut corners can be sharp (5-5) KNIFE-EDGES {KNIFE}-{EDGES}
21 Cocky if smart (4) ABLE ? [DD] (Addendum - ALEC [CD] - See comments}
22 Saw tree (8) CHESTNUT [DD]
23 Unusually large rear-end cushioning for every rear-ending?
(6) BUMPER [DD]
24 Tires fall in empty ditches (6) DRAINS {Ditc{RAIN}heS}
25 Dethrones and banishes African premier. Second moving up heralds
a dark time (6) SUNSET (+s)SUNSEaT(-s)
DOWN
1 Junction behind setter’s institute reportedly a shrooms-dealing
area (8) MYCOLOGY {MY}{COLOG(~college)}{Y}
2 Rationalist downing cocktail discovered to be pussy (6) SEPTIC ScEPTIC How is 'C' cocktail? (Addendum - SkEPTIC - See comments)
3 Potation peculiar pugilist packs? (3,5) RUM PUNCH {RUM} {PUNCH}
4 Tear around the tree. Around and a round (6) SPIRAL {S{PIR<=}AL}
5 Animal food’s fate? (6) ORDURE [CD]
7 To get in shape, loveliest exercise, eschewing oil (6) SVELTE LoVilEST*
8 Victor, beginning to eat, breaks egg on grill (11) INVESTIGATE {IN{V}{E}STIGATE}
14 Breaking obstacle —an ingested purgative (8) CLEANING [T]
15 It can be almost fatal to get close to a woman (4,4) NEAR MISS {NEAR} {MISS}
16 Wild hounds like wild horses? (6) UNSHOD*
17 Banning banned ban craze (6) ?L?E?T (Addendum - DEMENT - DEbarMENT}
19 Pecuniarily pertinent public prosecutor (6) FISCAL [DD]
20 To overpower, undercharge (6) SUBDUE {SUB}{DUE}
21 Cocky if smart (4) ABLE ? [DD]
ReplyDeleteALEC (Smart Alec)
9 Steadily improves attitude endlessly to get proficient (6) ADROIT Anno pending
ReplyDeleteI'd say the indicator "endlessly" is wrong. It should be something like "heartily" steADily impROves attITude
2 Rationalist downing cocktail discovered to be pussy (6) SEPTIC ScEPTIC How is 'C' cocktail?
ReplyDeleteIf you look at rationalist as skeptic (US spelling), then cocktail = k and the rest follows
Thanks Sandhya & Bhavan
ReplyDeleteThere is much to like in terms of wordplay and camouflaging of definitions etc, but I do have a few questions:
ReplyDelete9A as noted, endlessly might point to ignoring a letter at one end or either end, but not as it is intended here.
21A Cocky is an adjective and Smart-Alec is a noun. as framed here, the clue leads to Alecky rather than Alec
7D To get in shape suggests a verb, but svelte is an adjective. If I were to consider "in shape" as the definition, the cryptic reading doesn't sound like an instruction to need "To get" at the beginning.
+1 for the above. The noun-adjective conflict is also seen in 10A and 18A - the definition doesn't seem to be for a noun. Also in 3D, how do we infer PUNCH from "pugilist packs"? The part of speech errors are glaring in this puzzle.
Delete6A: I do not find OOZE as a noun defined as PUS anywhere.
22A: Why is chestnut a saw?
1D: When considered separately, is COLOG pronounced as COLLEGE? Or is MYCOLOGY pronounced as MY-COLLEGE-Y? How is this supposed to work?
14D: How is BREAKING a valid telescopic indicator? "Obstacle —an ingested "breaks" purgative" is grammatical though the surface loses meaning. Not that the original surface meant much though.
The alliterative clues had little surface meaning (eg:17D) and were indicative of the setter trying too much. The two-sentence clues were also largely unwieldy and unnecessarily complex. Abysmal cluing, I'd say.
CHESTNUT is an old saying/ story/ song = SAW
DeleteTo Bhavan's comment on 7D: Agree, and I think simply making it 'exercised' would have solved the problem
DeleteI have no hesitation in endorsing Shyam's description of today's CW as an instance of "ABYSMAL CLUING" Either Skulldugger should feel remorseful and make amends or we would like to see less of puzzles set by him/her.
DeleteOOPS! Sorry. A correction please.
DeletePlease insert for "spoiling my morning" between the words 'remorseful' and 'and' in the second line of my 11.42 AM
@maradnusro
DeleteReally?
That is a completely over the top reaction.
By all means criticize the clues with valid arguments. But statements about remorse and amends is going too far. We can disagree with the setter while still being civil.
I don't know who you are referring to by "we" but I for one am definitely looking forward to more puzzles from Skulldugger.
god.i should pursue a degree in lit with cryptic words as main subject.
ReplyDeleteAfter an overdose of Samosa yesterday, it is time to fast today!
Deletehahaha. absolutely
Delete23 Unusually large/ rear-end cushioning/for every rear-ending? (6) BUMPER [DD]
ReplyDeleteCould you possibly parse this as:
Unusually large: BUMPER. Def.
rear end cushion :) : BUM.
Every: PER.
Rear ending:PER bringing up the rear after BUM.
+1. Actually the DD doesn't seem to work, because a bumper wouldn't be just a rear-end cushioning (ie front end also), and the rest of the clue would not have a role
DeleteBumper does mean unusually large also see the link in the main post
DeleteCol: agree that is the definition, but can't find a wholly composite second definition
DeleteCrafty wordplay notwithstanding the 'glitches' pointed out by the cognoscenti. I would be OK with 'saw' and 'ooze' (something that oozes). Pussy as an adjectival form of pus is a first for me (and I'm not trying to be cute here).
ReplyDeleteLots to like, but Shyam: 'abysmal clueing' is being a bit hard on the setter?
+1 Bhala. I rather liked the cluing.
Delete+2, liked a lot of clues, though I could not finish the NW portion of the grid
DeleteNorth east corner got me. Kicking myself for not getting Oxygen.Quite straight forward that.
ReplyDeleteAnd while I had Adroit did not figure out the anno. I have the same reservations as expressed by Bhavan on that.
Re OOZE as a noun, it is there in freedictionaryonline as anything that oozes.
Smart Alec can also be an adjective. Like Smart Alec Suresh
Thanks Suresh (not for being a sample Smart-Alec :) but for the clarification. I stand corrected.
DeleteI have no problem with ooze = pus either.
Also re 3D. PUNCH is what a pugilist packs. So I do not see a problem. In fact this was one of the first answers I got.
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteThink BRIO is an &lit clue.
Could 18A be a DD?
ReplyDeleteCut corners & "can be sharp" could both mean knife edges.
Setter seems to have tied us as well as himself in knots- probably needlessly.Though there were quite a few good clues, the overall impression is otherwise.
KNIFE = Cut
DeleteEDGES = Corners
I read it as 'cut corners'= 'knife edges' and it came out as knife edges can be sharp.
DeleteOoze as a noun.
ReplyDeleteI remember the following from my college days:
"...as rich ...
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
With sunken wreck and sunless treasuries."
Before quoting the above I checked it with the original.
I had it almost correct. Except that I had 'sumless' instead of 'sunless'. Perfectly understandable - and certainly not meaningless - but with 'sunless' our Bard goes one step above - a step that we ordinary mortals cannot take.
Did not enjoy Skulldugger's skulduggery. Had quite a few unsolved ones. Sad. Hope it is someone else tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteYou will have the Klu Klux Klan getting at you. Beware
DeleteOuch!! Hoping to conquer KKK !
Delete11A BRIO -> &lit
ReplyDelete12A anno is {CLEANS}{LATE} (tardy Janitor's trait)
23A i assume was intended as {BUM}{PER}
In 4D (SPIRAL), if 'around' is a reversal indicator, shouldn't there be a 'within' indicator?
ReplyDeleteOops!
Delete4 Tear around the tree. Around and a round (6) SPIRAL {S{PIR<=}AL}
When you remove the full stop before Around:
Read 'the tree around' = SAL is around (PIR<-)
Skuldugger has a lot of answering to do
ReplyDeleteI think almost all answers are in
DeleteHiya,
ReplyDeleteI'm going to try and provide/confirm annos for the tricky clues and address the cribs.
6 a - ooze as noun is fine.
9 a - endlessly might not be the best indicator. heartily would have worked better.
10 a - naperies is an example of a thing that gets laid on a table. So its not so much a definition of naperies as a characteristic. The agreement between parts of speech (noun definition must lead to noun answer) is necessary in clues that provide definitions, but as in ones that provide characteristics like this clue, I think they're not needed. Whether providing a characteristic instead of a definition is fair or not is a whole nother debate, but I believe it is.
11 a - Brio is an &lit as Raghunath has pointed out.
12 a - cleans late = clean slate (Mohsin has it right)
18 a - cut corners = knife edges. 'can be sharp' is a characteristic of knife edges.
21 a - Cocky again is characteristic here, an alec, if smart, is cocky. so the question of 'part of speech' disagreement does not arise.
23 a - Unusually large rear-end cushioning for every rear-ending
unusually large = bumper ( as in bumper crop)
rear-end cushioning for every = bum per ( bum resting on or being supported by per[for every])
cushioning for every rear-ending = bumper. car-bumpers cushion rear-endings ( collisions)
So the clue is doubly defined and can also be arrived at using the charade.'cushioning' plays a double role.
1d - mycolog is pronounced my college. Y is added after and is not part of the homophonic part of the clue
3d - Suresh gets it. if a pugilist packs a punch, might a peculiar pugilist not pack a rum punch?
4 d - Raghunath gets it. the first 'around' is used to indicate reversal, the second to indicate the tree being around.
7 d - the meaning is 'in shape' which is adjective. read the clue like a recipe : to get 'desired answer', loveliest* -oil
14 d - I think 'breaking' is a perfectly legit content indicator. 'cleaning' pierces or interrupts or breaks the words it is contained in.
Except for 9a where I believe 'endlessly' might not be the best word choice, I stick by the clues and have yet to discover compelling arguments why they should be changed. I apologize for the length of this post, but I've had to sacrifice brevity for comprehensiveness. Cheers
Thanks for the write-up. Shuchi has an article here talking about mixing up parts of speech. It is certainly not Ximenean, even when allowed it is only the exception and is not acceptable in every other clue as in this puzzle. For example, if the definition is KILLS and if the answer could be any word from the synonym set of SLAYS or WHALE or SHARK or TIGER or SPEEDING etc, then it is near impossible to gauge the answer from the definition. It is as good as having no definition at all. Having noun definitions for PUNCH or KNIFE EDGES is not that difficult anyway and could be achieved with a slight alteration of the clue wording.
DeleteOOZE as "anything that oozes" is thankfully not part of standard dictionaries like the Chambers. If that's true, even RIVER could be ooze because OOZE=flowing gently.
CHESTNUT is defined as "a stale joke" or "cliche" and equating it with SAW which is a "saying" is also a big stretch. I do not mind difficult puzzles but the fairness was totally lost in many clues.
I didn't get a whole bunch of them, but still loved today's crossword. The brain truly had to work overtime to break down some clues.
ReplyDeleteI missed out Oxygen because O was printed as 0 in the print edition and I kept looking for a cipher.
ReplyDeleteI did not notice the subtle difference between '0' & 'O' and I got i8t as O in my first reading and surprisingly that was the first answer I filled in without any doubt! Goes to show that sometimes being not too careful also pays.
ReplyDelete