Sunday 17 February 2013

No 2726, Sunday 17 Feb 13


ACROSS
1   This will explain how to cook prime piece of rump, juicy piece (6) RECIPE {R}{PIECE*}
4   I appear in these French skating exhibitions (3,5) ICE SHOWS {I}{CE {SHOW}S}
9   Scholar holding old scarf (3) BOA {B{O}A}
10 With fervour, oppose religious drama (7,4) PASSION PLAY {PASSION} {PLAY}
12 Assess and buy shares (4,5) TAKE STOCK {TAKE} {STOCK}
13 Another military commander elected (5) AGAIN {AGA}{IN}
14 Noel has to fight for a bonus (9,3) CHRISTMAS BOX {CHRISTMAS} {BOX}
19 Head lad gets a part in panto (9,3) PRINCIPAL BOY {PRINCIPAL} {BOY}
22 Call round for drummer (5) RINGO {RING}{O}
23 Semi to let out - it may get you a few smackers (9) MISTLETOE*
25 I am a creep in comic film (8,3) AMERICAN PIE*
26 Some Jamaica rum in vehicle (3) CAR [T]
27 Skipper perished at sea (8) HESPERID*
28 Tranquil piece of music a daughter brought out (6) SERENE SERENadE

DOWN
1   Form of street dance associated with jerks? (8)  ROBOTICS [CD]
2   Bananas and nuts, they may be on the table at Christmas (8) CRACKERS [DD]
3   Extremely perceptive foreign spy becomes a diarist (5) PEPYS {PerceptivE}{SPY*}
5   Caught with joint in prison (5) CLINK {C}{LINK}
6   Father Christmas, very large, captured by artist in a California city (5,4) SANTA ROSA {SANTA} {R{OS}A}
7   Broken coal in a fuel container (6) OILCAN*
8   Hanging on's no time for talking! (6) SAYING StAYING
11 English artist's wintry figure? (7) SNOWMAN {SNOW}{MAN}
15 One miser's uncertain what vicars do? (9) SERMONISE*
16 Makes a mistake and falls over (5,2) SLIPS UP [DD]
17 Old boy's story about cold bar (8) OBSTACLE {OB'S}{TA{C}LE}
18 Exclamation from pop star dropping ring (2,6) BY GEORGE {BoY GEORGE}
20 Christmas decoration causing violent anger around Egypt's capital (6) WREATH {WR{E}ATH}
21 Article takes shape identifying spirits (6) ANGELS {AN}{GELS}
23 I am to be found in Michigan tourist centre (5) MIAMI {M{I}{AM}I}
24 Subject, for example, in fiction (5) LIEGE {LI{EG}E}


15 comments:

  1. Hope you'll have brushed up your skills on how to form a grid for todays 'Skeleton Crossword' special at 10:30

    ReplyDelete
  2. GM

    My COD.

    2D Bananas and nuts, they may be on the table at Christmas (8) CRACKERS [DD]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With a number of Christmas-related clues, I am sure, this was created around that time and provided by syndication only now.

      Delete
  3. I have never been under a mistletoe, not even singly, leave alone with a woman. Tell me, why do people kiss under the mistletoe?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Copy pasted from Wikipedia

      In cultures across pre-Christian Europe, mistletoe was seen as a representation of divine male essence (and thus romance, fertility and vitality).

      According to Pliny the Elder, the Celts considered it a remedy for barrenness in animals and an antidote to poison.

      When Christianity became widespread in Europe after the 3rd century AD, the religious or mystical respect for the mistletoe plant was integrated to an extent into the new religion. In some way that is not presently understood, this may have led to the widespread custom of kissing under the mistletoe plant during the Christmas season. The earliest documented case of kissing under the mistletoe dates from 16th century England, a custom that was apparently very popular at that time.

      Delete
    2. CV 9:01 maybe to keep the Miss on her toes...

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    3. Remembered the times when 'stand upon the bench' was used as a punishment in school!

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    4. 'Short of length' as cricket commentators keep saying...

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    5. CV 920: That does not matter at-all

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  4. 1A- I foud 'Juicy' as Anind interesting-juicy?

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  5. I would like to elaborate with ref to CV's mention of cross-tally yesterday.

    When you have a table of figures and one or more columns/rows are totals/differences of some other columns/rows (for eg. a monthly payroll where total earnings/deductions of each employee is a total of other components and net earnings is a difference between gross earnings and deductions) and the total at the bottom is also added subtracted in a similar way to cross check the overall integrity of the table, it is called cross tallying.

    To put it in math terms,

    if a+b-c=d, then checking whether sigma a+ sigma b - sigma c = sigma d

    It used to be important in noticing errors in tables, especially when made manually / with calculators. Nowadays, to check formula integrity it is simpler to have a 'check cell' in a spreadsheet which should show zero if all is well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To continue a zero would not necessarily mean all is well, but any other figure would mean something is definitely wrong somewhere.

      Delete
    2. Great proof of Account-ability!

      Delete

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