From Russia With Love with some awesome anagrams today. I still have some queries though.
ACROSS
6 Man died during a marathon going at full speed (8) HEADLONG {HE}{A}{D}{LONG}
9 Advertising a volume by agreement in Russian newspaper (6) PRAVDA {PR}{A}{V}{DA}
10 Be full of lip (4) BRIM [DD]
11 Models of excellence in personal training (3-7) NON-PAREILS*
12 Lad expelled from final in pain (6) STITCH STITCHed In my opinion stitch by itself is not synonymous with final. Stitch up, yes. (Addendum - laST dITCH - See comments)
14 Given a try, lie becomes truth (7) REALITY*
15 Tremendous pressure batting for a place (5,10) SAINT PETERSBURG*
18 It offers notional relief from rank bad smell (7) PLACEBO {PLACE}{BO}
20 On radio joke will get a loud laugh (6) GIGGLE GAGGLE Anno pending (Addendum - {~GAG'LL} - See comments)
22 Losing its head, hen plucks eggs (10) ENCOURAGES {hEN}{COURAGES} Pluck/courage is ok, but courages?
23 Respect customs work (4) DUTY [DD] (Addendum - [TD} - See comments)
24 One engaged in rebellion saw two leaders fall (6) FIANCE deFIANCE
25 Obsession shown by artist in playing piano (8) PARANOIA {P{A}{RA}NOIA*} Origin of an 'A' not clear (Addendum - {P{ARA}NOIA*} - See comments)
DOWN
1 Probably artificial cheese (4) EDAM MADE* (Addendum - MADE <=(UP) - See comments)
2 Municipality has hospital in the furthest part (8) TOWNSHIP {T{OWNS}{H}IP}
3 Perhaps a rare bottled-up spirit (6) APSARA [T]
4 Terrible mistake on a grand scale becomes well-known (5,2,3) MAKES IT BIG {MAKES IT*} {BIG}
5 Electronic device with keys having soft cover (2,6) CD PLAYER {C}{D} {P}{LAYER} Shouldn't the ennumeration be (1,1,6) - (Addendum - See comments)
8 A parenting ego fails to get this? (10,3) GENERATION GAP*
13 The same armies on either side of knight on steed (10) TANTAMOUNT {TA}{N}{TA}{MOUNT}
16 Supplement answer pages with cross-index (8) APPENDIX {A}{PP}{INDEX*}
17 Written record about soldiers’ attempt (8) REGISTRY {RE}{GIS}{TRY}
19 Made regular repairs no end (6) EARNED {rE}{pA}{iRs} {No} {En}{D}
21 I halt rioting? (5) LATHI* &lit
23 Study leading to end of Great Depression (4) DENT {DEN}{T}
12 Lad expelled from final in pain (6) STITCH = (LAST DITCH - LA D)
ReplyDeleteThanks
Delete20 On radio joke will get a loud laugh (6) GIGGLE
ReplyDeleteI think it is: GIG'ILL Assuming GIG = Joke.
Is 1D not an indirect anagram which Buzzer himself is against?
ReplyDeleteExactly.
DeleteOr was the intent MADE UP which leads to EDAM
DeleteThat sounds better considering Buzzers aversion to the reverse anagram
DeleteProbably, probably was misleading?
DeleteI would think that Buzzer intended for the Probably to help clue the solver to a likely tricky nature of the clue. Wonder if the same effect could be obtained by a QM after cheese instead of probably? Clues like these always make the penny drop for me - thank you
Delete8d takes the cake
ReplyDeleteIndirect or direct, anagrams are so well camouflaged. I never missed so many anagrams- point is I did not even notice the anagram!
ReplyDeleteCol.11A- include 'in' in the anagram fodder.
Thanks Padmanabhan, I have amended the main post
DeleteAgree with Kishore on 8D and I am proud to have bridged it (in CW)
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean you did not bridge it elswhere :-)
DeleteI may be able to bridge the generation gap between me and my grandson but not the one between me and a relative - a gentleman who is 100 and lives in the same apartment building as I do. He has seen better days!
DeleteYes,one can never be sure. That is what I meant. Let us face it- it IS difficult in the fast changing scenario.
Delete15A- again well done. What with India-Australia series taking off today my thoughts were misled to cricket and I got nowhere.
ReplyDeleteBoth the &-lits were very nice. But I thought in comparison to yesterday, today's was slightly uneven (maybe because I had more difficulty solving).
ReplyDeleteI failed to see "GIGGLE" as a loud laugh.
Chambers says (online dictionary): giggle verb (giggled, giggling) intrans to laugh quietly in short bursts or in a nervous or silly way;
Oxford online also gives: giggle
verb
[no object]
laugh lightly and repeatedly in a silly way.
Collins also similary defines it. I would have thought a loud laugh would be more appropriately called a "GUFFAW"..
Interestingly some of the dictionaries do provide "Giggle" as a colloquial synonym for joke, thus not requiring a homophone..
The "A" in 25A's Paranoia, probably comes from the singular "artist" -A RA; I recall a discussion on whether it is required to explicitly give the "A" or not in other forums (I think Peter Biddlecombe also came down on this) - the general agreement seems to be that not everytime does the "A" need to be spelled out. Makes it a bit unfair in my opinion, but the setter has the call on this it seems like.
I am sure Buzzer has his reasons - he is top of the line, so will be very interesting to hear from him as well.
Don't know if Buzzer will come up today as he is shifting homes.
DeleteBoth the veedu and the 'chinna veedu'?
Delete5D- why soft cover? Is there something more to it? I dont expect Bhavan to add 1+1 to 2!
ReplyDeletesoft cover would be {P}{LAYER} - the Col. probably intended this but the 8.30AM deadline intervened.
DeleteRight you are, have corrected it now
DeleteThank you Veer. I also filled in 'guffaw' and got lost.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pleasure to see different types of clues handled cleverly, meaningfully and offering great satisfaction to the solver.
ReplyDeleteTo cite just a few:
I halt rioting? - A succinct "read the clue again for def" clue.
Perhaps a rare bottled-up spirit (6) - A neat 'hidden' with a good hid ind
Feels sorry for wingless bird (5) - Not a novel word breakup, but it is cleverly handled with the del ind 'wingless' for dropping either tip of 'regrets'
Given a try, lie becomes truth (7) - Forget the ans and wordplay, this is such a true and sensible statement
Best wishes to the setter.
+1
DeleteI just noticed that 23Ac was annotated as a DD instead of the rarer TD. A nice one as well.
Cheers veer, I'm glad you spotted that it was a triple.
DeleteWhen keen solvers notice such small things, it takes away all the pain a setter goes through while conceiving clues.
Great to see the lively discussions going on in the blog.
ReplyDelete@Colonel we are in the packing phase today. The actual moving will happen tomorrow morning.
Let me see if I can address some of the questions:
20 On radio joke will get a loud laugh (6)
This is GAGGLE (~ gag'll ) joke = gag. A gaggle or cackle is a loud laugh.
22 Losing its head, hen plucks eggs (10) ENCOURAGES {hEN}{COURAGES} Pluck/courage is ok, but courages?
That is the exact dilemma I agonised over for a long time, but decided to (ab)use my cryptic license.
25 Obsession shown by artist in playing piano (8) PARANOIA
ARA inside PIANO*
ARA = Associate of the Royal Academy
1 Probably artificial cheese (4) EDAM
Dr.Pankajam thought she can bash me for my double standards regarding indirect anagrams :) but luckily I managed to escape. Veer had this clue parsed the way I had it in mind.
5 Electronic device with keys having soft cover (2,6) CD PLAYER {C}{D} {P}{LAYER} Shouldn't the ennumeration be (1,1,6)
These abbreviations are always tricky to enumerate. CD appears as one 'word' and not as C.D. in the dictionary. Plus Chambers lists other words like "CD Burner", so I thought the 2,6 enumeration should be fine.
I trust that covers the bones of contention? Will be happy to answer any other questions/comments.
Thanks Bhavan.
DeleteRegarding CD it is acrostic and not a two letter word by itself. For that matter even USA is listed in dictionaries, so I don't think we could consider them as words in their own right
@Colonel you are right of course. I'll bear this in mind.
DeleteUSA is some times pronounced as one single word - like ~yousaw. It sounds nice.
DeleteNever heard ~yousaw. Have heard of ~you-ess-of-a
DeleteIf Bhavan's comment was for Ramanujam and not Dr. Pankajam -> I am a plain rookie to bash up such an intelligent setter. :)
Delete@Rangarajan, my mistake. Case of the thinking mind and typing hand being out of sync. Apologies.
DeleteARA stands for Associate of the Royal Academy. Hence Artist is fine.
ReplyDeleteOh! Bhavan came in before me.
ReplyDeleteWould have preferred a ? after cheese in 1D, instead of probably as the sentence as it is seems incomplete.
ReplyDeleteIt was not Dr Pankajam but Ramanujam.
None of the Dics give GAGGLE as loud laughter, but we reach it indirectly like: GAGGLE: CACKLE and CACKLE : Raucous Laughter and so mathematically Bhavan's contention is right.
Anagrams from Buzzer are always well concealed. Except for the glitch in 22 AC another excellent puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThat is the only type of anagram I do not complain about and actually enjoy.
DeleteThinking way outside the box is always required with Buzzer and that adds to the zing. 8D was a lovely one. A pleasure doing these puzzles.
ReplyDeleteA minor point: What is the role of 'given' in 14A? For surface I understand, but in the cryptic reading?
'Tremendous' as an anagrind is not something that springs to mind immediately, but I can see it is quite valid
I ain't solved this puzzle, but I think 14A could be interpreted like this...
Delete"Given FODDER when solved, leads to (i.e. "becomes" DEFINITION."
Agree with your point about Bhavan making us think "way outside the box"!
DeleteGot boxed by some awesome clues.
DeleteToo good, once again. IMO, the bar for setting, has been set really high by Buzzer.
ReplyDelete@ CV Sir,
ReplyDeleteGridman has had the following clue:
21 Father allies himself with a goon in India (4)
It uses a suggestion of yours, but not in the sense of a family member.
Ans: (DAD+A) DADA
VJ
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time that I come across "ain't" for 'have not'. I am quite familiar with its use for 'are not'. I just checked the dict and find that it can be used also for 'have not' and 'has not'.
So I have learnt something from you.
I thought "ain't" for "have not," "has not" etc. were pretty common.
DeleteWell in the famous words of Reagen "...America's best days lie ahead, and you ain't seen nothin' yet." And the memorable line from the movie The Jazz Singer, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet."
Ain't maybe equivalent to have not but 'I ain't solved this puzzle' doesn't sound correct whereas 'Ain't seen nothing' and 'Ain't heard nothing' sounds ok.
DeleteWell I don't think it'd be fair to go just by the sound of it. It could be a bit misleading depending on what the individual is generally used to hearing. We all seem to agree that "Ain't seen nothing" = "Haven't seen nothing" = the more standard "Haven't seen anything." This is pretty much the same in the case of "I ain't solved....," which means, "I haven't solved....."
DeleteSo it's basically replacing "haven't" with "ain't," which is pretty common - like "I ain't seen this movie" or the more standard "I haven't seen this movie."
Here is an extract from Collins
---
ain't [eɪnt] Not standard
contraction of
am not, is not, are not, have not, or has not I ain't seen it
---
Some of the clues are in the format WORDPLAY in DEFINITION. Is it all right?
ReplyDeleteHi VJ good question.
Delete"In" I believe is a bi-directional link word. Unlike "for" or "from"
Similarly, I think "from" can be at either end of def. A clue can be:
Deletewordplay - from - def
or
def - from - wordplay
Other solvers/setters, please confirm.
According to the Times House rules, for and from are one way link words - Wordplay for def and def from wordplay (this is from the times for the times blog)
Delete