Tuesday 12 February 2013

No.10694, Tuesday 12 Feb 13, Gridman

Gridman doesn't disappoint. Several excellent clues, too many to mention here but the puns in FORBIDDING, DINNER were nice. Sankalak on a mini run?

ACROSS
1 Inclination to write song (8) PENCHANT (PEN + CHANT)
5 It’s hard to contact America (6) CALLUS (CALL + US)
9 It rarely turns out to be scholarly (8) LITERARY (IT RARELY)*
10 Rex leaves more distant dad (6) FATHER (FArTHER)
12 Tip-top? (4) APEX (DD)
13 Ominous why auction-participants bring money, apparently (10) FORBIDDING (FOR BIDDING)
15 They are neat (6) CATTLE (CD)
17 Dramatist begins liking garment presented in honour (5) SHAWL (SHAW + L)
20 Suppress Roman judge switching daughter and learner (5) ELIDE (EDILE with D & L switched)
21 Friend’s cap is colourless (6) PALLID (PAL + LID)
24 Happening for all to see and join later (10) EVENTUALLY (EVENT + U + ALLY)
27 Pester a tribal (4) NAGA (NAG + A)
29 You may take a lace through it on your shoe (6) EYELET (E)
30 Single-track transportation (8) MONORAIL (E)
31 Meal for one who makes a noise for it? (6) DINNER (DIN-NER)
32 Balloonist rotates wildly at end of arena (8) AEROSTAT (A + ROTATES*)

DOWN
1 Supporting structure pair recreated around learners (6) PILLAR (PAIR* outside LL)
2 Biscuit with cashew and almond for the British eccentric (6) NUTTER (DD)
3 Stock collection from that woman declared initially (4) HERD (HER + D)
4 The sort of agent who is not user-friendly? (5) NARCO (CD)
6 Honour a tie-up (5) AWARD (A + DRAW<=)
7 Dahl hid a make that is affectedly superior (3-2-3) LAH-DI-DAH (DAHL HID A)*
8 Hoaxed no new leg-up in fight (8) STRUGGLE (STRUnG + LEG<=) (Correction - (STRUnG+LEG*) - See comments)
11 Is able somehow to lower oneself from the mountainside (6) ABSEIL (IS ABLE)*
14 Leading female artists keenly endeavouring to simulate (4) FAKE (Acrostic)
16 Work in that high-class feature (3,3) TOP, HAT (OP inside THAT)
17 Dig recalls useful suggestions (4) SPIT (TIPS<=)
18 Churchman always in divide (8) REVEREND (EVER inside REND)
19 One more is needed to make this a score (8) NINETEEN (CD)
22 One container in another ready to be filled up? (6) VACANT (CAN inside VAT)
23 Everything is in moist purse (6) WALLET (ALL inside WET)
25 Woman loses sex appeal in that place (5) THERE (THEREsa)
26 General // at large (5) LOOSE (DD)
28 Not me to clip duplicate toy (2-2) YO-YO (YOu YOu)

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33 comments:

  1. Venkatesh12 February 2013 at 08:41

    8 Hoaxed no new / leg-up // in fight (8) STRUGGLE (STRUnG + LEG<=)
    leg up will give GEL and not GLE.
    Gridman slipping?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi12 February 2013 at 08:43

      Not exactly! "[U]p" is a legitimate anagram indicator.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi12 February 2013 at 08:44

      "Up" means "in rebellion, in revolution"
      When a word is "up", it's in revolution.

      Delete
    3. Venkatesh12 February 2013 at 08:45

      Then, it should be LEG* and not LEG<=

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi12 February 2013 at 08:49

      Now, this one is for the blogger to answer! But has the setter has been absolved?

      Incidentally members may make comment in the light of their personal experience and not on the basis of what is written by someone else.

      Delete
    5. Bhavan12 February 2013 at 09:06

      My mistake, should have paid more attention to the wordplay.

      Delete
    6. Venkatesh12 February 2013 at 12:54

      The use of 'up' in a down clue has conventionally been as a reversal indicator http://bestforpuzzles.com/cryptic-crossword-dictionary/u.html#up
      While 'Upset' and 'Upheaval' are used as an AnagrInds, 'Up' has not been listed as one.
      http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2008/09/anagram-indicators.html
      This prima facie seems to be a case of trying to come up with an explanation post the event!

      Delete
    7. Bhavan12 February 2013 at 14:05

      @Venkatesh, nice try at trolling.

      Among other things, Chambers lists these two as synonyms:

      Up
      -in an excited state
      -in revolt

      either one of which is sufficient for the purpose intended by the setter.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous12 February 2013 at 08:42

    Many good ones, but FORBIDDING is my CoD

    ReplyDelete
  3. Padmanabhan12 February 2013 at 08:55

    I was far from 'superior'! A new word for me. Otherwise most enjoyable CW with quite a few making one look at things from a different angle. Not at all 13D.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Deepak Gopinath12 February 2013 at 09:22

    Who said that English is easy.

    I was in a quandry when asked to fill in the blanks with either a "YES" or a "NO" in the following

    1. _____ I don't have a brain.
    2. _____ I don't have sense.
    3. _____ I am stupid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12 February 2013 at 09:34

      This is the same as asking someone to answer the following with a Yes or No:

      Have you stopped beating your wife ?

      The part presumed by the question (that you are presently beating your wife) is similar to the parts in the above 3 fibs, i.e. presumptions/statements are already made about a certain state of affairs and yes or no does not change those presumptions

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12 February 2013 at 09:36

      Hence, taking advantage of the fact that Yes or No does not always sufficiently address a question, cross examiners use this to brow beat witnesses, especially in Hindi films

      Delete
  5. Suresh12 February 2013 at 10:10

    Would an Aerostat be a balloon or balloonist?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sebu12 February 2013 at 20:24

      Aerostat technically refers to a balloon. We do operate these systems in IAF.

      Delete
  6. veer12 February 2013 at 10:54

    Both as well as a zoological term for air-sac according to my trusty Chambers dictionary app.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Unknown12 February 2013 at 11:05

    Good morning all,and special salaams to Gridman for an enjoyable CW! Aerostat made me hesitate a bit, thanks for clarification.
    Gayathri - sorry to hear about your surgery. Hope it went smoothly, and you are doing well, now. Best wishes for a quick recovery. You were missed - enjoy Gridman!

    ReplyDelete
  8. kats12 February 2013 at 11:11

    extremely enjoyable indeed , am honoured to be a part of this lot .....keep setting !

    ReplyDelete
  9. maradnusro12 February 2013 at 11:39

    Loved it Gridman. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  10. Padmanabhan12 February 2013 at 12:39

    Col.@9.22-

    This reminds of the famous quip by Winston Churchil.When asked to withdraw the remark "Half the members of Parliament are fools", he is reported to have said,"Half the members of Parliament are not fools." :-) What a way to repeat what he said and get away with it!

    ReplyDelete
  11. VP12 February 2013 at 12:50

    Nice, enjoyable one from Gridman.
    Hopefully Sankalak is back again at 6 in the next cycle.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ramani12 February 2013 at 14:04

    3d 'that woman' leads to she -imho- how it is her? I am missing some thing. can any one explain?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous12 February 2013 at 15:32

    Give it to that woman=give it to her

    ReplyDelete
  14. raju umamaheswar12 February 2013 at 16:35

    YES & NO !! Kishore:

    This reminds me of my office days in Nairobi . I'd ring for a messenger and ask him' go look for Mr. Njoroge and ask him to see me' . he'd disappear on the pretext of 'looking for Njoroge' and when he does show up and when I ask him' have you found Mr. Njoroge?' His answer would be"NO' -- In exasperation, I'd ask him 'why didn't you come and tell me?' His answer would be"I didn't find him sir". A typical Kenyan office scenario one learns to understand. Two negatives make a positive? a merry mix-up of yes and no. So one learns to split each into a specific question and wait for the answer to go on to the next, seriatim !!

    ReplyDelete
  15. raju umamaheswar12 February 2013 at 16:59

    I don't know how many of you read the New Indian Express. I do, only for its crosswords and the 'middles' . Read and enjoy the two articles by George N Netto. They are titled The Lines that Liven up our lives and A deadly way to maul the Queen's English.

    Not to forget to mention that the first one is on the 'lines' of what CV had expatiated yesterday on lines, bylines and not bye-lines !! and the second is a hilarious one on various dialectical pronunciation of the English words on sign boards.

    I have copies if any one is interested in their scanned avatar.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath12 February 2013 at 18:04

      Raju,

      These are the days of the internet, you don't need to scan articles from the paper, you can get them online. Here is the link to the second article A deadly way to maul the Queen's English By the way is the apostrophe in Queen's appropriate?

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi12 February 2013 at 18:25

      I think so. (I don't know if I am missing anything in your query.)

      Anyway, see

      http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/297350.html

      Delete
    3. Col_Gopinath12 February 2013 at 18:54

      But going by yesterdays discussion on it's, King's would mean 'King is' or 'King has'!!

      Delete
  16. Padmanabhan12 February 2013 at 19:07

    If we have to treat all apostrophe as a short form of 'is', then what happens to the regular meaning- say for example, teacher's/ father's etc.?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Padmanabhan12 February 2013 at 21:58

    Thank you Raju & Col. for the hilarious article of IE. Enjoyed reading it and also posted 'snakes' for snacks and 'puncher shop'!

    ReplyDelete
  18. raju umamaheswar12 February 2013 at 22:21

    As far as Queen's is concerned it would mean something belonging to the Queen or relating to the Queen and hence Queen's English is perfectly right way of expressing. It's clear?

    ReplyDelete

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