Monday, 25 February 2013

No.10705, Monday 25 Feb 13, Arden


Arden, as usual, is entertaining. 24d is my CoD, what with the Finance Minister getting scary growth figures just before the budget
ACROSS

1 Abandon and the grand entertainer will die (4-2,3,5) GIVE UP THE GHOST (GIVE UP THE G HOST)
10 Helps the criminal as one gambles (5) ABETS (A BETS)
11 Cricket side is extremely special, anything at all for an attack (9) ONSLAUGHT (ON SpeciaL AUGHT)
12 Mum’s the word because every other clue is included (7) SILENCE (SI(cLuE)NCE)
13 Sleep by the hour when most of that is volatile (7) NAPHTHA (NAP H THAt)
14 Cubism represented without black rock, for example (5) MUSIC (CUbISM)*
16 & 19ac. They make a musket //completely (4,5,3,6) LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL (CD,DD &LIT)
19see 16 ac.

20 A bag of artist’s bones (5) SACRA (SAC RA)
22 Universe without beginning is a chemical phenomenon (7) OSMOSIS (cOSMOS IS)
25 Learned to have posted about a relationship (7) SAPIENT (S(A PI)ENT)
27 In a musical instrument a note is safe (9) INVIOLATE (IN (VIOLA) TE)
28 Failing health without hospital machinery (5) LATHE (hEALTH)*
29 Is precariously poised // at the end of a line (5,2,1,6) HANGS BY A THREAD CD,DD


DOWN

2 Sailed out going after fish which is very highly regarded (9) IDEALISED  (IDE, a fish+ SAILED*)
3 German city’s soul sans the church (5) ESSEN (ESSENce)
4 Support for Catch-22 author from a Cockney will provide thrust (9) PROPELLER (PROP hELLER)
5 The nosy housekeeper brought up some green tea (5) HYSON (T<=)
6 They are upright with ambitions to get a job (9) GOALPOSTS (GOAL(POST)S)
7 Should an idea lose half of that? (5) OUGHT (thOUGHT)
8 Two-in-one bird (7) TITLARK (TIT+LARK CD) I am sure there could be other two-in-one birds like Merlinhawk, Cranehawk, Hawkowl etc., but this is the one that fits crossings

9 The price one has to pay for freedom (6) RANSOM CD
15 Second question posed during the talks broadcast (4,5) CHAT SHOWS (S HOW inside CHATS)
17 Perhaps acted slow, showing fear (4,5) COLD SWEAT (ACTED+SLOW)*
18 For this group gold is safe with god (9) ORCHESTRA (OR CHEST RA)
19 Do not allow tar and oil mixture on the quiet (7) ABOLISH (AB OIL* SH)
21 Rental accommodation for some hard growth (6) ANTLER (RENTAL*)
23 The expert is in form, avenging defeat (5) MAVEN (T)
24 Finally gets economic data for February which is alarming (5) SCARY (Acrostic of last letters)
26 Cut up with a republican totally opposite in character (5) POLAR (LOP<=  A R)

LINK TO SOLUTION GRID


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24 comments:

  1. Deepak Gopinath25 February 2013 at 08:32

    Thanks to Kishore. He will be handling Mondays henceforth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bhavan25 February 2013 at 08:34

    Excellent crossword like you said, with several clues to like. Especially the long ones.

    4d, you need to correct the spelling of PROPELLER. The wordplay is indicated correctly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chaturvasi25 February 2013 at 08:55

    Kishore

    Welcome to the THCC as a contributor of the main post.

    I find that you have brought a hint of your wide knowledge in the postscript to the answer at 8d. Would like to know if you consider, say, "Vijayalakshmi" as a two-in-one bird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore25 February 2013 at 09:07

      Thanks, CV. India is full of two-in-one birds...including the ardhanari variety

      Delete
    2. Kishore25 February 2013 at 09:10

      BTW, Ornithology was a hobby in the past, especially during college days. Even now, sighting some rare birds is tit-illating.

      Delete
    3. Bhalchandra Pasupathy25 February 2013 at 11:37

      A punster par excellence as I have found on many occasion in the past!

      Delete
    4. Richard25 February 2013 at 13:34

      Vijayalakshmi has an equal in Kanyakumari!

      Delete
  4. Chaturvasi25 February 2013 at 08:58

    When Kishore handles Mondays, would our mandais be in for some heavy scratching?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore25 February 2013 at 09:08

      That reminds me of a Kannada joke about a local politician being compared to Nelson Mandela with the annotation Nela-son Mande-illa (son of the soil, no brains)

      Delete
  5. Padmanabhan25 February 2013 at 09:43

    22A- A little bit of nitpicking- Is osmosis a chemical process? There is no chemical change involved and it is basically movement of particles across a membrane.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore25 February 2013 at 09:46

      I thought so too, but not being a scientist I thought scientists and engineers would look at it in more detail.

      Delete
  6. Padmanabhan25 February 2013 at 09:48

    CV,
    You mean we have 2 sets of clues to be solved on Mondays?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bhalchandra Pasupathy25 February 2013 at 11:43

    Much to like and enjoyed some of the oblique references such as 'relationship', 'upright' etc.

    For 18D, I feel 'gold's' would have worked a whole lot better than 'gold is'. Maybe I'm saying this because I got stuck for a while here trying to fit in an 'is'!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Padmanabhan25 February 2013 at 12:49

    I might have tried to fit in 's' if it had been "gold's" :-) Win some lose some.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhalchandra Pasupathy25 February 2013 at 23:05

      Sorry Paddy for late rejoinder. Have to however say 'Not quite'. We normally don't try to fit in link words into the solution. Is can't function as a link word, so either it should find a place in the solution or it is verbiage. 's on the other hand can indicate 'has' and will function perfectly as a link word, surface will be OK and cryptic reading will work.

      Delete
  9. VP25 February 2013 at 13:47

    Lovely opener from Arden.

    Thanks for the entertaining post Kishore. With Col, Bhavan & yourself, we are guaranteed to have entertaining mornings (or afternoons as in my case).


    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous25 February 2013 at 19:44

    Thanks, everyone

    ReplyDelete
  11. Raghunath25 February 2013 at 20:03

    Good debut Kishore!

    ReplyDelete

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