Thursday, 28 February 2013

No 10708, Thursday 28 Feb 13, Arden

Another good round from Arden ends today.

ACROSS
1   An ideal landlord, exactly (6-7) LETTER-PERFECT {LETTER}-{PERFECT}
10 See the fury of the river (5) LOIRE {LO}{IRE}
11 Reportedly damages farm implement as it brings a vehicle to stop (5,4) BRAKE SHOE (~break){BRAKE S}{HOE}
12 Do some acrobatics to carry whiskey to the cad (9) CARTWHEEL {CART}{W}{HEEL}
13 Pictures of a large posterior (5) ALBUM {A}{L}{BUM}
14 Love is a regular racket outside a country (7) ROMANCE {R{OMAN}aCkEt}
16 Artist becomes new operatic hero (7) TRISTAN {ARTIST*}{N}
18 Openness in discussing traffic and our roads (7) CANDOUR [T]
20 Points on tin are made to catch (7) ENSNARE {E}{N}{SN}{ARE}
22 With us in India I would say it is sticky (5) HUMID {HUM}{I'D}
24 Please cut off when one misappropriates (9) PECULATES*
26 Home study on true version of the contract (9) INDENTURE {IN}{DEN}{TRUE*}
27 Follow two points before you go for litigation (5) ENSUE {E}{N}{SUE}
28 Book mark to allow correspondence (7,6) SCARLET LETTER {SCAR}{LET} {LETTER}

DOWN
2   A witty line about English farm animals (7) EPIGRAM {E}{PIG}{RAM}
3   Oriental art suits Ken Atwood (3,4,2) TAE KWON DO*
4   A law covering black money (5) RUBLE {RU{B}LE}
5   Direction a girl follows signifies rank (9) EPAULETTE {E}{PAULETTE}
6   Following year perhaps, for the Norse goddess (5) FREYA {F}{YEAR*}
7   Live with the business outfit (7) COHABIT {CO}{HABIT}
8   One could sit here before departure (8,5) ELECTRIC CHAIR [CD]
9   An European gets the same, probably the French disease (6,7) GERMAN MEASLES {GERMAN} {SAME*}{LES}
15 Dubious nature of ERP solution to transport (9) ENRAPTURE*
17 Scoffing about the very word ‘Bankrupt’ (9) INSOLVENT {INSOL{V}ENT}
19 For a detective a day’s over when on the move (7) NOMADIC {NOM<=}{A}{DIC}
21 A performer in part is tested beforehand (7) ARTISTE [T]
23 He gives something new during opening (5) DONOR {DO{N}OR}
25 Crown fish holder (5) CREEL {CR}{EEL}

LINK TO SOLUTION

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53 comments:

  1. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 08:31

    Today’s crossword (like every crossword I have seen up to now) seems to have letters (both scarlet and perfect ones) ;-)

    Responding to Rengaswamy’s 542 and 547 yesterday: I hope it was not the same man. He stopped drinking brake fluid and ended being dropped by a tennis ball. Reminds me of a PGW gag: Buffy Struggles, who stopped drinking alcohol and moved on to tea, and within a year was dead. Run over by a hansom cab in Picadilly.

    And the railway budget brought great news: We can use wi-fi while seated on the railway potty to read up on what infections we might pick up from filthy toilets.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rengaswamy28 February 2013 at 08:32

    8 One could sit here before departure (8,5) ELECTRIC CHAIR (CD)
    What a shocking Sentence!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath28 February 2013 at 08:36

      It's a wonder if it can shock you with the 14 to 16 hour power cuts in TN!!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 08:50

      TN executioners will have to ask for generators otherwise their customers might end up half baked instead of being fully done.

      Delete
    3. Rengaswamy28 February 2013 at 08:54

      It really shocks me to think, when in the middle of the sentence, the power goes off. What a slow and painful death!!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 11:10

      I am insulated from this debate ;-)

      Delete
  3. Deepak Gopinath28 February 2013 at 08:33

    Todays print edition looks like it is missing a last page!! I went through all the pages two times to check if a page was missing.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rengaswamy28 February 2013 at 08:48

      Last page Lost! It is similar to you running last in a race and someone suddenly overtaking you!

      Delete
  4. Rengaswamy28 February 2013 at 08:42

    9 An European gets the same, probably the French disease (6,7) GERMAN MEASLES {GERMAN} {SAME*}{LES}

    Is LES is also used to denote the French? I know only LA and LE. This is new which is Greek and Latin to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Rengaswamy28 February 2013 at 08:43

      Read the above quote as:

      Is LES also used to denote the French? I know only LA and LE. This is new, which is Greek and Latin to me.

      Delete
  5. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 08:49

    Le, la are singular.

    Les is plural.

    While le is masculine, la is feminine.

    Les is used with both masc and fem.

    You would know of Les Misérables.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 09:30

    Let me start a debate:

    A European or an European?

    Don't scurry for a grammar book. Don't google and blame me if you tie yourself up in knots. Just say how you have been writing or saying.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh28 February 2013 at 09:45

      A Europeon it is. I was about to comment on this otherwise perfect crossword.

      Perfect because I started when I started and finished when I finished

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan28 February 2013 at 10:00

      Which means 'European' is pronounced with neither 'e' sound nor 'u'. How is it pronounced then? I remember raising the same issue a few days back.

      Delete
    3. Raghunath28 February 2013 at 10:13

      Why not AN?

      When AN precedes Australian, American, Armenian, Asian, Englishman, Irishman, Italian, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Icelander, Uzbek, Ukranian, Ugandan.

      Delete
    4. Col_Gopinath28 February 2013 at 10:18

      Raghunath 'An Ukranian' will not be right for the same reason as 'An European' being incorrect

      Delete
    5. Raghunath28 February 2013 at 10:20

      Was wondering about An Ugandan after having posted. But the question is why?

      Delete
    6. Col_Gopinath28 February 2013 at 10:23

      The difference is between the sounds of 'U' and 'Y'

      Delete
    7. Suresh28 February 2013 at 10:33

      As mentioned by Deepak, Europeon starts with a 'Y' sound, hence it is preceded by 'a' and not'an'.

      Delete
    8. Raghunath28 February 2013 at 10:34

      I think it is like this:

      U (OO)(OOGANDAN, OOZBEK) and You (YOUROPEAN, YUKRANIAN)

      Delete
  7. Padmanabhan28 February 2013 at 09:57

    letter perfect?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Padmanabhan28 February 2013 at 10:01

    In TN we have mainly total main failures. If there is no power and no generator at the time fixed for it, does he get away?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 10:09

    Whoever says that in TN, if executions take place, the convicts are made to sit in an electric chair? We still believe in the Great Indian rope trick.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath28 February 2013 at 10:14

      The unreliable power situation in our country must be the reason for not having the 8D

      Delete
    2. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 11:07

      In the Great Indian rope trick, as CV puts it, the body travels down and the soul, if any, travels up or down. In the 'real' rope trick the 'jamoora' clambers up the rope, disappears and sometimes gets disembodied and the poor onlooking souls go ooh-aah.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 11:08

      Col., politicians might pass an enactment that 8d will be used only for them and it will be based in TN and switched on only during a power cut.

      Delete
  10. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 11:16

    I have known crossword manuals say that typically a crossword must not have more than five anagrams. No differentiation was made between whole anagrams and partial anagrams.

    The other day in answer to a query Anax mentioned the Times spec:

    A full anagram counts as 1, a partial as 1/2. You just count up to a maximum of 5. So you could have 5 full anagram clues or 10 partials, and of course anything in between.

    ( http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2013/02/interview-sarah-hayes.html#comments )

    As there are so many setters around here I am citing the above, though most of you may have already seen the Comment.

    I am not saying that I will necessarily follow this stip or that any setter should follow this but we can keep that in our mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP28 February 2013 at 12:31

      Thanks for the pointer.
      One more question along these lines. How much is "partial" ? Out of 7 letters, if the setter clues one 1 letter as a charade and provides anagram for 6 letters, is it still considered partial ? Or is it fair to say any clue which has more than half the letters clued as anagram could be treated as a full anagram ?

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 12:45

      A whole anagram is a word from which another word is formed. ORCHESTRA/CARTHORSE Each is a whole anagram of the other.

      A partial anag would be a component in a clue which may be charade or c/c (what else, can't think of any) but in which one component (whatever be the number of letters in it, whether three or more) is derived by anagraming given letters.

      Delete
  11. Bhalchandra Pasupathy28 February 2013 at 11:20

    Another entertaining one (bit easier today I felt). Slight niggle was the mutilation of the book's title in 28A

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 11:21

    How do you enumerate CD-ROM?

    (CD are pronounced as two distinct letters and ROM as an acronym, i.e., as a single word. Should it be 1,1-3?)

    A colleague raised this question. I learn from Anax that the general rule is that where letters are NOT divided by punctuation they are enumerated whole, thus CD-ROM would be shown as (2-3).

    This should clear the air!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhalchandra Pasupathy28 February 2013 at 11:31

      It's an interesting debate. Recently we came across E-MAIL enumerated as (5). And I recall Col's question about USA. Should we assume full stops between the letters (1,1,1) or will (3) work?

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath28 February 2013 at 11:36

      That means USA will be enumerated as 3 and so on for UK, SA etc etc

      Delete
    3. Col_Gopinath28 February 2013 at 11:38

      The above discussion should give fodder for Shuchis next post ;-)

      Delete
  13. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 11:41

    Chambers has e-mail as well as email. So it is a question of your preference, 1-4 or 5.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 12:05

    Re book titles.

    If the book's title is THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, and the def in a clue for the phrase is Book, then I believe that the grid entry must be THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, without omitting THE.

    Suppose a US synonymic puzzle has only SCARLET PIMPERNEL in the grid, the clue will be something like Baroness Orczy's opus, with "The"

    That device is useless for us.

    FROZEN ASSETS doesn't have 'the' in the title and so 'book' for that was OK.

    Headline writers are notorious for omitting the definite articles but crossword setters would seem to be circumscribed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 12:23

      Sorry, I misread the last word of your post.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 12:30

      I can't be held responsible for your misreadings and miss-interpretations.

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan28 February 2013 at 13:02

      Kishore,
      Did you notice the spelling miss-take?!

      Delete
    4. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 13:45

      Musst be intentional

      Delete
  15. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 12:27

    I am told:

    The only fence against the world is a thorough knowledge of it. -John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)

    Now, how would you interpret "it" ?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 12:36

    There's the Tamil saying "Kalavum katru mara".

    For meaning and interpretation see

    http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/general-discussions/3018-old-tamil-saying-tamil-proverb-5.html

    (In fact, there I learnt an interpretation that I didn't know. Wonder if Padmanabhan knew it.)

    As for the word 'kalavu' I am about to look it up in Tamil dictionaries to find out if that has the extra sense that I have in mind.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Chaturvasi28 February 2013 at 12:40

    Got it!

    As I suspected 'kalavu' is not just 'stealing' or 'theft'.

    It also means: uravinarum ooraarum ariyadha, kaadhalargalin maraivana uravu (in classical literature) a secret love affair.

    Now 'kalavum katru mara'!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Padmanabhan28 February 2013 at 13:00

    If I remember right, Thirukkural has a chapter on this. Yet to verify. Any experienced persons (CV seems to depend only on theoretical knowledge) can add their bit!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath28 February 2013 at 13:04

      PP should be able to amplify on that

      Delete
    2. Anonymous28 February 2013 at 13:45

      PP, don't fall into the trap of amplifying, especially after what P has put in parenthesis. Issue a disclaimer before you explain ;-)

      Delete
  19. PKPSwami28 February 2013 at 13:50

    Today Im very happy was able to finish 100%Thanks Adden.Allcryptjc cluez bear proper leads.wonderful blocks&fitmentz have made the task easy for us.Even a.avrams thoughtprovoking.Nice puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  20. pavalamani pragasam28 February 2013 at 14:04

    lol! CV's jolly interpretation seems to have credence too! But many proverbs have undergone such alterations in course of time. A good example is 'kazuthaikku theriyumaa karpoora vaasanai'. Originally it was 'kalasathukku theriyumaa karpoora vaasanai' meaning it was the deity in the sanctum santorum which received the honour of karpoora 'aarathi' and not the kalasam on the gopuram. Similarly 'kalavum katru mara' was 'kalavum katrum mara' as I clearly remember my father explaining to me when I was a little girl. He said 'kalavu' is theft and 'katru' means murder; the saying advised us to refrain from the crimes of theft and murder. We have lost 'm' used as conjunction in course of time giving a completely different meaning unsurprisingly.

    ReplyDelete
  21. pavalamani pragasam28 February 2013 at 14:05

    correction:sanctorum

    ReplyDelete
  22. Navneeth28 February 2013 at 15:40

    Are the two Wagnerian references, 6D and 16A, entirely co-incidental?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Padmanabhan28 February 2013 at 20:34

    Kishore@12.27-
    I saw the quote late, but was glad you read "it" and also using "it":-)

    ReplyDelete

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