Thursday 17 January 2013

No.10672, Thursday 17 Jan 13, Scintillator

ACROSS
1 Grand walk in lungi, for sure (6) SASHAY (SASH + AY)
4 Rotten roses given to actor-politician and electors (8) CHOOSERS (CHO + ROSES*)
9 Initiate a virtue only (6) NOVICE (NO VICE)
10 Disorder returning after a blind one’s butchery (8) ABBATOIR ABATTOIR (RIOT<= after A BAT)
12 Motorless, for example? (8) UNNERVED (CD)
13 A country reporters find slippery? (6) GREECE (~GREASE)
15 Numbered plate rewound and put down (4) LAID (DIAL <=)
16 I design these to meet promises (10) CROSSWORDS (CROSS + WORDS)
19 Spanish MIG is crashing and deforming (10) MISSHAPING (SPANISH MIG)*
20 Scrap letter (4) SPAM (CD)
23 Endearing one opens lid of liquor bottle (6) DARING (DARlING)
25 Variable tetrode with carbon-filled smoke alarm (8) DETECTOR (TETRODE* outside C)
27 Extravagant lover eats bananas after gulping the last drop of coffee (8) AESTHETE (EATS* outside THE + E)
28 No wobbly // group of horses (6) STABLE (DD)
29 To train in IT, one’s worried (8) INITIATE (IN + IT + I + ATE)
30 Y-fronts — short and sexy in front (6) BRIEFS (BRIEF + S)

DOWN
1 Medical officer leaves debauched laundress horny (7) SENSUAL (LAUNdrESS)*
2 An endless restiveness characterised the period of Emergency (9) SEVENTIES (rESTIVENESs)*
3 No refusal to give current cable (6) ACCORD (AC + CORD)
5 Yawing bus near top of hill stops hearts (4) HUBS (BUS* after H) Not sure what is the role of "stops"
6 Has become too big? Wrong! (8) OUTGROWN (WRONG*)
7 A place in TN // to eat at (5) ERODE (DD)
8 Probes into // polls (7) SURVEYS (DD)
11 Point to criticise before crack (7) DECRYPT (PT after DECRY)
14 You should, in part, tear supports and underwear into pieces (7) ASUNDER Anno pending
17 Reliable salesman meets you with a piece of furniture (9) REPUTABLE (REP + U + TABLE)
18 Entice into taking drug // from China? (8) SHANGHAI (DD)
19 This could be any South Indian! (7) MADRASI (CD)
21 Ultimately, steam boat set out for trade (7) MARKETS (M + ARK + SET*)
22 Regret test turning up to constrain me (6) SETTER (T<=)
24 Noble sage’s silent when locked up in R2 (5) RISHI (SH inside R II) Is silent =sh? I thought silence(v) = sh
26 Smartest ethnic groups let them stand (4) STET (T)


45 comments:

  1. There will be a special at 10:30 today in honour of CV's 70th B'day

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  2. 13A being a nice clue apart, can Greece and Grease be homophonic?

    24D - tribute to the birthday boy.

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    Replies
    1. Re the homophones, see

      http://www.homophone.com/results.php?how=include&searchfor=greece

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    2. They are Richard in the dictionary sense even if they don't sound like that to Indian tongues/ears

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    3. They would definitely be homophones in Kerala.

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    4. Er... I am missing something here. How do Indians/Keralites pronounce them? Is it because one of them is "gr-eez" and the other "gr-ees"? The surface alludes to the slippery economy, btw.

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  3. Many more happy returns of the day, CV. On to a century and beyond!

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  4. Thank you, Richard, and everyone else who are making the day special to me.

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  5. 10A - ABATTOIR is the most common spelling. Could ABBATOIR be a misspelling? Correct me if I am wrong. I have not referred to other dictionaries.

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    Replies
    1. My mistake. I had the wordplay written out the way it was intended, but goofed up in putting down the answer.

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  6. Abattoir is indeed the correct spelling. When I read this, initially I wondered whether the grid had it differently and how could I or the desk have missed it.

    Why on earth did you have to think of the misspelt 'abbatoir'?

    The music group probably had/have it that way. I was never aware of the group, anyway.

    As you know, many brand names, trade signages deliberately misspell well-known words so that it gets stuck in your mind. The music group probably wanted 'Abba' as part of their name.

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    Replies
    1. To illustrate FCUK, a brandname...

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    2. .... Of a Fasion Company from the UK

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    3. Fasion, Mr Kisore? (Guju style!)

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  7. Scintillator?? Is there a change in order or what?

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  8. Many happy returns CV and all the very best of health and cheer for the future.

    Scintiillator seems to have woven a message for Gridman in the form of an acrostic in the firt letters of clues. Well done.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Kishore for pointing it out. I'd missed it.

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    2. Scintillating setting of acronym. Perhaps not many would have noticed it, had Kishore not pointed it out.

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  9. Further of course Madras, Erode, Rishi etc

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    Replies
    1. Not to forget ref to Cho, lungi and inner vestments!

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  10. CV,Many many happy returns of the day!

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  11. My net is malfuntioning, hence net silence from me. So long...

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  12. Many happy returns of the day, CVji. I wish I could have wished you in person yesterday itself when I was lucky to bump across you at T.Nagar, Burkit Road, near my home.

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  13. Just as I missed the message in a famous puzzle by Cryptonyte, I did not see the message in today's crossword either until it was pointed out here.

    Congratulations to Scintillator for working on the special effect.

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  14. 5 DN: "stops" added to aid in sentence formation?

    Couple of questions:
    6 DN: OUTGROWN (WRONG*) Is this an acceptable anagram, with 'out' preceding and not following like say TURN OUT, BLOW OUT (assuming turn and blow could be anagrams)? Or say OFF...., OFF... etc?
    24DN: What is R II?

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  15. Scintillator is scintillating as usual.

    Great Gridman special to boot.

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  16. 24DN: What is R II?

    Rather, what is R2 (which becomes R II in wordplay).

    R2 maybe an indicator to a police station. In Chennai police stations are identified as D2, etc.

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  17. 24D-
    You have yourself given the answer by giving 2 as II. It is 2 I's & R and 'Sh'

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  18. Great puzzle, and Nina in the clues. Well spotted Kishore. Would have probably missed it, but had an indirect alert from CV when talking with him to wish him (he warned me not to look at the blog in a hurry). So looked a bit closer!

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  19. CV Sir, Happy Birthday Sir. May Lord bless you with best of health and spirits. Like we say in SriVaishnavite prayers, இன்னுà®®ொà®°ு நூà®±்à®±ாண்டு இருà®®்!!!

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  20. Been breaking my head for 14D anno, but can't get it. There must be a logic I am sure

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  21. Re

    4 You should, in part, tear supports and underwear into pieces (7)

    I didn't see the anno immedaitely nor even after reading the wonderment expressed above.

    Bhala's Comment made me revisit it and I now see light, hazy though it might be.

    It is anag from partials.

    Take AR from 'tear' S from 'supports' and UNDE from 'under'.

    If you 'tear', anagram, these partials, you get ASUNDER, 'into pieces' being the def.

    Idhu eppadi irukku?

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    Replies
    1. Cricket ball bouncer madhiri irukku!!!

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    2. You should, in part, tear supports and underwear into pieces (7)

      It can't be a Gridman-special without "support", can it? The anno I had intended was {-BR}+AS+UNDER-{WEAR} - you should tear away the BR and WEAR parts.

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  22. Dear Rishiji,

    Tried calling you on the mobile. Seems to have forgotten at some place? Or is it deliberate?

    Here's wishing you a very stepping into the septuagenarian era and may the good Lord keep you in good health and cheer.I join other bloggers here in wishing you many more happy years of compiling for all of us . ENJOY THE BLOGGERS' PARTY ORGANIZED AND i SHALL BE HAPPY TO SEE THE PICS WHEN POSTED.
    GOD BLESS YOU

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  23. A VERY LIVELY STEPPING INTO THE SEPTUAGENARIAN ERA

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    Replies
    1. Thank-you Raju and everyone else.

      I am sorry I didn't pick up the mobile (with which I am rather remote).

      Since morning I have been receiving calls constantly from relatives and friends on the two landlines.

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  24. 5D: 'Stops' could mean 'holds' in the sense of the wordplay holding the answer. Not standard, but helps the surface, I think.

    6D: 'Out' can be placed before or after the fodder, but the bigger problem with this clue is that the part of speech of the definition looks awry.

    24D: Yeah, I have goofed this by mixing up 'Silent' with 'Mum'!

    This was my first attempt to write clues by constraining their first letters and I can certainly vouch that this was quite difficult, especially when you need clues starting in Y as in 5D and 14D. I concede some of the clues were less than perfect and I am sorry for that.

    Many happy returns to GM once again and wish him all happiness for many more years to come!

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  25. Wishing Gridman a very happy birthday. And kudos to Scintillator for an excellent puzzle with the message.

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  26. Congratulating Gridman and seeking blessings from RISHI.

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  27. Joining in very late... CVji Many happy returns of the day. Going across now to see what the special has in store

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