Monday 31 December 2012

No 10658, Monday 31 Dec 12, Vulcan

.... and so the year ends with an excellent CW, in my opinion, with some good anagrams.

ACROSS
1   Standard names used for cheese (8) PARMESAN {PAR}{NAMES*}
5   Live in a state of unconsciousness with not a bit of cognisance. Looking back, it’s a bug’s life (6) AMOEBA {AMOc}{EB}{A}<=
9   Reason City’s (odd) steeped in holiness (8) SANCTITY {SAN{CiTy}ITY}
10 It is found scattered around the banks of Ghaggar river (6) TIGRIS {TI{GhaggaR}IS*}
12 Essential to one even in India, a great developing country (9) ARGENTINA {oNe+iNdIa+A+GREAT}*
13 Live happily (2,3) ON AIR [DD]
14 Cross emu with large bats! (4) MULE {EMU+L}*
16 Kudos! You finally cracked the puzzle (6) SUDOKU {KUDOS+yoU}*
18 Nickel available in large quantity in Germany (6) MUNICH {MU{NI}CH}
20 Short European female servant (4) SERF {SERb}{F}
23 Chief eastern state (5) MAINE {MAIN}{E}
24 A cyclist’s starting off with a crazy acceleration (9) CATALYSIS {A+cYCLISTS+A}*
27 Desire a new t-shirt (6) THIRST*
28 Fresh Lay’s chip? For real? (8) PHYSICAL*
29 Farm animals let out after onset of anthrax (in Connecticut) (6) CATTLE {C{A}T}{LET*}
30 Sad and idle for a long time (4,4) BLUE MOON {BLUE} {MOON}

DOWN
1   Ingredient of a soupa staple dish (5) PASTA [T]
2   Welsh green energy perhaps (6) RENEGE {GREEN+E}*
3   Boy left to stay in a boarding school (5) ELTON {E{L}TON}
4   How to sit on a horse in one step? (7) ASTRIDE {A}{STRIDE}
6   It arrives through post from Lima? Strange system (4,5) MAIL ORDER {LIMA*} {ORDER}
7   Flags are flying — standards followed (8) EARMARKS {ARE*}{MARKS}
8   Maintain a raised hairstyle (6) ASSERT {A}{SSERT<=}
11 Missus gobbling a candy bar (4) MARS {M{A}RS}
15 Widespread in Terrible Ivan’s rule (9) UNIVERSAL*
17 Dog I categorise as a fighter (8) PUGILIST {PUG}{I}{LIST}
19 Poor writer (4) HACK [DD]
20 Case of Ron’s disappearance in Charleston — intriguing (7) SATCHEL CHArLESTon*
21 In the middle of indigestion? Stomach upset? Call for this medicine (6) EMETIC {E}{M}{ETIC<=}
22 Maniac chops yank’s head off (6) PSYCHO {CHOPS+Y}*
25 Fabric from wool is legendary (5) LISLE [T]
26 Girl comes up short running a boutique (5) SALON {sSAL<=}{ON}


14 comments:

  1. Hi everyone. Liked many clues. PARMESAN, SANCTITY, MUNICH, MAINE, SUDOKU, PHYSICAL, CATTLE, RENEGE (never knew welsh as a verb!), ELTON, ASTRIDE, MAIL ORDER, PUGILIST, LISLE, PSYCHO, UNIVERSAL and a few others, in particular.

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  2. 1 Standard names used for cheese (8) PARMESAN {PAR}{NAMES*}

    Today's New Indian express carries the same as

    8 Standard means for churning cheese (8)

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  3. Excellent way to finish a good CW year.
    Missed out on Amoeba and took a long time to cipher 'developing' as Anind, since I kept thinking about a developing country and finding India there did not help either. Nice deception.

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  4. Excellent crossword. Looking forward to many more from Vulcan this upcoming year.

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  5. Very smooth one today. Only Lay's chip did not sound very real, though one can figure out the association.

    A happy New Year to all. Safe celebrations!

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  6. Wish all THCC family a very very happy and prosperous new year 2013

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  7. Many thanks to Vulcan for an enjoyable CW! Great way to end the year.
    To all fellow bloggers - wishing you a happy, healthy and safe 2013. See you in the New Year!
    Cheers .....

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  8. Fabulous clueing and the best for me over the last few days. Minor glitches are the unusually long clue for AMOEBA and the brackets in 9A and 29A which mar the surface. I count 15 anagrams in total, quite high but they are rather well-concealed, I think.

    Happy New Year to All!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Shyam,

      Thanks for your feedback.

      I agree with your comments. In fact, I had a lot of trouble with those clues - and AMBOEBA in particular. Somehow it seemed like a difficult word to clue. In the end, just wanted to get it done with after a lot of brain racking.

      9A could have been better and I think 29A would've worked without the brackets.

      Thanks again for sharing your comments and everybody else for your kind words.

      Happy New Year you all!!!

      Delete
  9. Happy New Year to the Man Who Scored a Million in 2012, the excellent setters and fellow bloggers

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  10. Happy New Year to Vulcan for his nice closing comments.

    Happy New Year to all S & all B.

    Spl. wishes to Col. for a Million & 60 or should we call it 3 score million in CW style?

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