Friday, 25 January 2013

No 10679, Friday 25 Jan 13, Arden

 On the tougher side from Arden today. Learnt some new words and meanings in 12A and 15A. Stumped in the NE again today.

ACROSS
1   Grab some chicken…. (6) CLUTCH [DD]
4   …and put a bird on eggplant (8) LARKSPUR Anno pending (Addendum - {LARK}{SPUR} - See comments}
9   Iron maiden caught playing at short distance (6) MICRON {IRON+M+C}*
10 Arrived with joey at north country (8) CAMEROON {CAME}{ROO}{N}
12 A guide to take one forcibly over a country (8) DRAGOMAN {DRAG}{OMAN}
13 Extra police to guide the members in an organisation (6) BYELAW ? (Addendum - {BYE}{LAW} - See comments)
15 Characters love state with too many abbreviations (8,4) ALPHABET SOUP {ALPHABET S}{O}{UP}
18 Count bars — it would make you conform to norms (4,8) PEER PRESSURE {PEER} {PRESSURE}
21 Package on vehicle not coming back (6) CARTON {CAR}{TON<=}
22 Old trader put maid in an accommodation (8) INDIAMAN*
24 Put down in the book (8) REGISTER [DD]
25 Look…without victory you will have nothing to eat (6) STARVE {STAR{V}E}
26 Dumdum in the news (8) BULLETIN {BULLET}{IN}
27 Please finish and give attention (6) ENDEAR {END}{EAR}

DOWN
1   Invitation as back up help for new actor (8) COMEDIAN {COME}{DIA<=}{N}
2   As he is related mostly to snakes, one lets go (8) UNCLASPS {UNCLe}{ASPS}
3   Dessert is cold — some use hot cola as substitute (9,6) CHOCOLATE MOUSSE {C}{SOME+USE+HOT+COLA}*
5   Open just a tad for an ex-minister to be elevated (4) AJAR {A}{JAR <=} Raj and ex-minister?
6   Yorkshire put one off…. calm down (4,4,5,2) KEEP YOUR SHIRT ON*
7   The dog died in the channel port (6) POODLE {POO{D}LE}
8   Bird said to have fame (6) RENOWN (~wren}{REN}{OWN}
11 Wine produced by outfit (7) MADEIRA {MADE}{IRA}
14 As an aristocrat she had reserves holding chemical weapon (7) TSARINA {T{SARIN}A}
16 Oddly bomber came in a wave for dive (8) SUBMERGE {SU{BoMbEr}RGE}
17 Rudolph perhaps will keep control over growing grass (8) REINDEER {REIN}{DEER<=}
19 Second vehicle, a black beetle (6) SCARAB {S}{CAR}{A}{B}
20 Frequently it is acceptable for a girl to be spartan (6) FRUGAL {FR}{U}{GAL}
23 Part of a religious school (4)(Addendum - LEVI [GK] - See comments)

LINK TO SOLUTION

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42 comments:

  1. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 08:33

    4 …and put a bird on eggplant (8) LARKSPUR Anno pending

    bird=lark
    egg=spur
    plant larkspur

    like yesterday, word splitting

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard25 January 2013 at 08:34

      Liked this one. To egg = spur.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 08:39

      This is crosswordese, I think.

      To urge someone, we would rather egg him on rather than just 'egg' him.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath25 January 2013 at 08:44

      Word splitting is fine. But having the definition as part pf a word which is to be split?

      Delete
  2. Bhavan25 January 2013 at 08:33

    23d I had it as LEVI

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 08:38

      23 Part of a religious school (4)

      I took it as SEMInary

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 08:54

      You can bet a math expert to take care of parts of a whole and the whole of parts.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 09:10

      In your opinion, is it LEVI or SEMI, or something else?

      Of course, unless Arden logs in, we will know tomorrow only

      Delete
    4. Richard25 January 2013 at 10:32

      Until then, total or SEMI LEVItation for us...

      Delete
    5. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 10:48

      You have 'floated' a new idea.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 08:35

    13 Extra police to guide the members in an organisation (6) BYELAW ?

    Extra= bye
    police=law
    bal part of clue is the def

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard25 January 2013 at 09:39

      Is BYLAW not a more commonly used and a more appropriate word. 'By' could be a prefix like in bylane.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 09:49

      English is peculiar.

      Bylaw or bye-law (the former w/o the hyphen, the latter with it) is OK.

      But bylane is only bylane, never bye-lane.

      It will be interesting to delve into these two words.

      Delete
  4. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 08:40

    5 Open just a tad for an ex-minister to be elevated (4) AJAR {A}{JAR <=} Raj and ex-minister?

    Could Raj be a ref to the giant killer of '77, Raj Narain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SandhyaP25 January 2013 at 08:45

      AJAR<- (Former telecom minister Raja)

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 08:52

      Importation of the Indian element is interesting.

      While a simple soul like me can think only of the immediately past Minister, our resident encyclopaedist can go to that dark and backward abysm of time and fetch Narain.

      But it works!

      Reversal of
      an - A
      Minister - RAJ

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath25 January 2013 at 09:08

      Our ex-ministers do not need anything to be opened just 'a tad' to be elevated, they are capable of being elevated through closed doors as well!!!

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 09:15

      There will be umpteen followers to hoist the man on their shoulders!

      Delete
  5. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 08:56

    SOS

    OT

    I have painted myself into a corner.

    Is ARMADILLA a valid word?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 09:02

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onchidella_armadilla

      It is, if we reckon taxonomic names, though I personally don't like them. Though Tigris as a river is fine, I would probably not like it much if a tiger was referred as panthera TIGRIS in a crossie.

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath25 January 2013 at 09:03

      Not there in the BRB

      Delete
  6. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 08:59

    Sandy is probably right ! As Thomas Hood, in I remember, I remember said , "...is living yet". And hence, I discounted the telecom minister.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath25 January 2013 at 09:04

      Whats with the key in your new profile icon? You becoming Asst CCE?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 09:07

      Bus again !

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath25 January 2013 at 09:09

      Please decipher that...

      Delete
    4. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 09:10

      Re-bus

      Delete
    5. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 09:18

      Nope, I am quite far from being ACCE. I just throw a few random pebbles

      Delete
    6. Richard25 January 2013 at 09:42

      The second graphic looks like a chunk of stone. Does it stand for KEYSTONE, the name of a firm?

      Delete
    7. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 09:50

      Excellent guess, Richard!

      Delete
    8. Padmanabhan25 January 2013 at 10:31

      Let me make a guess-

      Key- Ki
      support as in 'shore up' (as in the picture)- shore

      Delete
    9. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 10:52

      Paddy's got it (and you know how crossword enthusiasts interpret 'it'), tho' its just shore and not shore up.

      Delete
    10. Deepak Gopinath25 January 2013 at 10:52

      Excellent Padmanabhan

      Delete
    11. Padmanabhan25 January 2013 at 14:49

      Thank you Col. & Kishore.It is always tricky deciphering Kishore.
      Kishore,
      You mean it is shore (coast)? (as indicated by the blue colour?)

      Delete
    12. Anonymous25 January 2013 at 15:26

      Yes, Sir.

      Delete
    13. Richard25 January 2013 at 15:38

      So that's chaabi kinara.

      Delete
  7. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 09:13

    Can I go into the commercial world for defining armadilla?

    See

    http://www.armadilla.co.uk/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath25 January 2013 at 09:16

      I don't think that would be right

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi25 January 2013 at 09:37

      Thanks, Deepak.

      ARMADILLO,it will be.

      I have made resultant changes in other crossings; just need to chuck out a clue and rewrite. Luckily clues for other original entries were not written.

      Delete
  8. VP25 January 2013 at 12:16

    Found it tough as well today and ended up with a few blanks. Was trying (futilely) for a long while to think of a word for eggplant to the fit the crossings for 2A.
    Nice run from Arden.

    ReplyDelete
  9. raju umamaheswar25 January 2013 at 13:06

    Byelaw & bye-law: Nice to get into familiar territory for me.

    I had once pointed out to the Nairobi Club Chairman, a British' native' in Kenya, on the use of the word under way-- in the minutes where some projects of the Club were under way. However it was spelt as underway as one word and after my challenge, the OED confirmed that under way is the right spelling whereas, an underway could be deemed to be an underpass in a road ( Now, Don't drag me into: whether it should be underpass or under-pass or simply an Underpass !). Thereby correcting the minutes with a mutter that we natives are to' teach a thing or two ' on English usage.

    It is another matter later on for me to be told that the hyphen is passe' in English usage as the Americans always do the exact opposite of what the British does !

    So in the usage of English, there is no hard and fast rule to say' It will be my way or take the highway' !

    ReplyDelete
  10. Richard25 January 2013 at 14:28

    Hope every one has under stood this...:-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. raju umamaheswar26 January 2013 at 13:02

    Richard:??????????

    ReplyDelete

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