Monday 4 February 2013

No 10687, Monday 04 Feb 13, Vulcan

Today is the 4th B'day of my blog. Thanks are due to all of you who comment here as well as to all the silent visitors, for helping to make the blog an interesting meeting place.

Vulcan's familiarizing us with some rock guys today. Liked 14A.
ACROSS
1   Residing dangerously close to fighting area (8) RINGSIDE*
5   Notice something wrong? Help! (6) ADVICE {AD}{VICE}
9   Smartest kind of spring bed (8) MATTRESS*
10 One following God’s way to benefit (6) ASSIST {ASS}{1}{ST} Anno not clear (See comments)
12 It’s not for birds though (2-3,4) NO-FLY ZONE [CD]
13 I had to stay back in the island — missed the boat! (5) IDIOM {I{D'I<=}OM}
14 Sex & the City (4) MALE [DD]
16 The odour said to be awful (6) DISMAL (~the smell}
18 Trip and stumble afterwards (6) ERRAND {ERR}{AND}
20 Lone individual, we hear (4) SOLE(~soul)
24 Theatrical production/work on stage (5) OPERA [E]
25 Bat always for a criminal (9) RACKETEER {RACKET}{'EER}
27 Write and edit in turns (6) INDITE*
28 Man’s eating veal at first followed by similar chopped meat (8) SOUVLAKI {SOU{V}L}{AKI} Similar & 'aki'? (Addendum - {SOU{V}L}{AKIn} - See comments)
29 Tile worker’s fillers (6) LAYERS [DD]
30 Venture into cooking best cuts of meat (8) BRISKETS {B{RISK}ETS*}

DOWN
1   Band’s hit singles (7) RAMONES {RAM}{ONES} I've never heard of them.
2   Zero gains in Nifty, sorry to tell (6) NOTIFY {N{O}TIFY*}
3   Perverse and definitely not English (5) SURLY SUReLY
4   Marshal’s influence (7) DISPOSE [DD]
6   Lad is upset about girl’s rejection (9) DISMISSAL {DIS{MISS}AL*}
7   Current iMac’s ground breaking — nothing unfriendly (8) INIMICAL {I}{NI{IMAC*}L}
8   Butcher both men without a bid of heart and bury (6) ENTOMB {BOTh+MEN}*
11 Present tennis player? Not quite (4) LEND LENDl
15 Stone made from mostly real basalt (9) ALABASTER {REAl+BASALT}*
17 Group’s genre evolving with time (5,3) GREEN DAY {GENRE*}{DAY} Nor them!
19, 21 Musicians in serious trouble (4,7) DIRE STRAITS [DD] One of my favourites.
20 Befriend a nerd, say (7) SUCCOUR(~sucker)
22 Country backing and supporting one upcoming conservative party (6) SOCIAL {SO{C}{1}AL<=}
23 Old star wearing silver coat (6) PELAGE {PEL{AG}E}
26 The King lives in danger (5) ELVIS*

LINK TO SOLUTION

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40 comments:

  1. Bhavan4 February 2013 at 08:32

    Very nicely done by Vulcan.

    28 Man’s eating veal at first followed by similar chopped meat (8) SOUVLAKI {SOU{V}L}{AKI} Similar & 'aki'?

    I took meat as the definition with
    similar chopped = aki(-n)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deepak Gopinath4 February 2013 at 08:33

    There will be a special today at 10:30

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chaturvasi4 February 2013 at 08:35

    akin - similar
    similar chopped - aki[n]

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bhavan4 February 2013 at 08:35

    Congratulations Colonel on the 4th anniversary of the blog. Here is wishing for many more.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Bhavan4 February 2013 at 08:37

    10 One following God’s way to benefit (6) ASSIST {ASS}{1}{ST} Anno not clear

    I think ASS comes from the Biblical story of Balaam and the Donkey.

    ReplyDelete
  6. SandhyaP4 February 2013 at 08:37

    @Colonel: Congrats for completing four successful years of blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  7. pavalamani pragasam4 February 2013 at 08:40

    Many happy returns of the day!

    ReplyDelete
  8. SandhyaP4 February 2013 at 08:46

    10 One following God’s way to benefit (6) ASSIST {ASS}{1}{ST} Anno not clear

    Could be this:
    http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/%C3%81ss

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous4 February 2013 at 09:08

    @ Deepak: Congratulations on your 4th anniversary and looking forward to many more

    ReplyDelete
  10. Raghunath4 February 2013 at 09:19

    Congratulations Col, for this wonderful blog, which I'm sure has gone a long way in educating potential setters and lay solvers! Keep it up.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Raghunath4 February 2013 at 09:26

    Some clever anagrams. Someone not familiar with meat and music might find it a bit difficult to decipher the related clues.

    The smell ~ Dismal?
    Or is it the new SMS languuage in vogue like THEM ~ DEM?

    ReplyDelete
  12. C.G. BHARGAV4 February 2013 at 09:39

    4 years. Great going. Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nadathur Rajan4 February 2013 at 09:42

    Felicitations to Col on the fourth anniversary of THCC. May it remain as active and vibrant in the years to come!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Padmanabhan4 February 2013 at 09:45

    Congratulations, Col. It looks longer than just 4 years. One more Birthday for all of us here to celebrate. Looking forward to enjoying many happy returns.

    Ragunath@9.26-
    You hit the nail on the head! I was found wanting on both counts. Lucky I was not inside but only on the 1A.

    ReplyDelete
  15. veer4 February 2013 at 09:45

    Congrats on the 4 th anniv. of the blog. Some of the intellectual discussions here are awesome in terms of the knowledge that has been shared. Thanks to all on this forum - I do think it has had a degree of influence on the improving quality of the setters in the THC itself.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous4 February 2013 at 09:55

    Just like you are 4 on the 4th, my son will be 21 on the 21st !

    ReplyDelete
  17. Shuchi4 February 2013 at 10:13

    Congrats on completing four years of blogging. Wish you many more! I love the friendliness of this space and enjoy THCC's off-crossword discussions as much as the crossword-related ones.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Suresh4 February 2013 at 10:18

    Great, Deepak. In 4 years this blog has become a sort of addiction for many of us. And brought together so many friends.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Suresh4 February 2013 at 10:21

    Richard's being the first comment on 7th Feb 2009.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath4 February 2013 at 11:10

      I don't think that comment was actually made on 07 Feb as Richard was not a visitor to my blog then. The first actual comment is by Bhargav on 08 Feb 09

      Delete
    2. Anonymous4 February 2013 at 14:23

      Had a look at that comment. He has addressed it to Deepak and me. He did not know me then. Hene must be a later remark.

      Delete
  20. Krishnan4 February 2013 at 10:25

    Congratulations Colonel. Hooked on to your blog for the past 3 years and enjoying it every bit.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Raghunath4 February 2013 at 10:29

    16 The odour said to be awful (6) DISMAL (~the smell}, In SMSese The is 'D'

    Stretching it a bit? Think there should there have been a pointer to that usage, like say:

    16 The odour's awful - said in message (6)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Suresh4 February 2013 at 10:35

    On dismal a joke on an Afro-American who had been hauled to court for assaulting a man. When the judge asked him if he had hit the man in defence he retorted. " No sah. I hit im on de nose and knocked im o'er de fence"

    ReplyDelete
  23. Lakshmi Vaidyanathan4 February 2013 at 10:49

    Congratulations Colonel!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Bhalchandra Pasupathy4 February 2013 at 10:59

    Phew, tough going today. Well engineered clues, but having never come across Souvlaki and Ramones, lot of googling required.

    Heartiest felicitations Col on the milestone, headed over there next

    ReplyDelete
  25. Col_Gopinath4 February 2013 at 11:06

    Thanks everyone

    ReplyDelete
  26. D.Srinivasan4 February 2013 at 12:38

    As an ardent fan of your blog for the last 3 years, I learn a lot of new information everyday.Congratulations and Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  27. VP4 February 2013 at 12:51

    Congrats Colonel on the milestone. Best wishes for many more.
    Had a tough time with some of the meat-terms today. Was stumped by the anno for Dismal. Just did not think of the SMS connection.
    Nevertheless a puzzle of excellent standard befitting the milestone :)


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath4 February 2013 at 14:00

      Thanks Dr DS and VP. Didn't see you'll at the Special?

      Delete
    2. D.Srinivasan4 February 2013 at 14:41

      Was late today to log in because of a hill-temple 'walk along the steps' yesterday.Saw the spl.Xword and the postings.enjoyed

      Delete
    3. VP4 February 2013 at 15:52

      A bit tied up with work today, so did not check the blog till well past noon. Still not attempted the special, reserved it for later in the evening.

      Delete
  28. Vulcan4 February 2013 at 14:53

    Congratulations Colonel for creating this awesome blog. This place really rekindled my interest in crosswords.

    This puzzle of mine has been published on the same day as the blog's birthday, well, it's a nice feeling.

    A couple of clarifications..

    24A was meant to be a charade - OP (work) + ERA (stage)

    10A ASS was in reference to Norse Mythology

    16A DISMAL - hmmmm... I'd have tried listening to the sound of DISMAL at least a hundred times on one of the online dictionaries. I was quite convinced that it sounded like "The smell". Don't know I probably might have gotten it all wrong.

    Sorry if you guys found any of the entries in the grid obscure. As for the meats, I thought they were pretty common. And as for Ramones, if you're not a fan of rock music, I must admit it's a difficult one to get.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath4 February 2013 at 16:15

      And we were all going round in circles about SMSese reg Dismal.

      Delete
  29. Raghunath4 February 2013 at 16:17

    Can you pl annotate ERRAND?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh4 February 2013 at 17:54

      18 Trip and stumble afterwards (6) ERRAND {ERR}{AND}

      Err for Stumble and AND for afterwards.

      Delete
    2. Jayaraman4 February 2013 at 18:05

      Congrats, Colonel on this landmark occasion. And thanks for adding to the enjoyment of crossword fans day after day.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath4 February 2013 at 19:35

      Thank you Sir

      Delete

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