Long-winded clues from Incognito, enjoyable all the same.
ACROSS
1, 19 Book first transmission from a satellite about grounding of a bird (3,5,3,6) THE EAGLE HAS LANDED [DD]
5 Billy Bunter’s a creature of the night (3,3) THE OWL [DD]
10 Foreigner with a right (5) ALIEN {A}{LIEN}
11 Weaponry found when Royal Military Academy replaced part in
apartments (9) ARMAMENTS A(-part+rma)RMAMENTS
12 Egotist loses heart but remains self-centred (6) EGOIST EGOtIST
15 Back in Bruxelles, this place is a commuter town (5) EXURB [T<=]
17 A month earlier, National Aerospace Laboratories made an
eight-sided figure (9) OCTAGONAL {OCT}{AGO}{NAL}
19 See 1 across
20 A type of union seen in drug by-products (5) RUGBY [T]
21 Cloth portrait made by eccentric novice artists (8) VERONICA {NOVICE+RA}*
23 USAF flies this parrot around (6) RAPTOR*
27 They cool cars and heat rooms (9) RADIATORS [E]
28 A girl was out of place (5) AMISS {A}{MISS}
29 Camouflaged by mafioso, other hoodlums placate (6) SOOTHE [T]
30 Another name for 22 dn: communications sans cables (8) WIRELESS {WIRE}{LESS}
DOWN
2 Seeing one record after another, basically guess, the concluding
words found in some books (9) EPILOGUE {EP}{1}{LOG}{gUESs}
3 Female relatives mince small tuna (5) AUNTS {S+AUNT}*
4 Metal that is in the forefront (4) LEAD [DD]
6 Gardener’s lawman who, in short, sounded like a denizen of a
German city (9) HAMBURGER {HAMilton BURGER}
7 Bounce, when opening bowler went out, a small quantity (5) OUNCE bOUNCE
8 Sally sets out food for a person with high BP (4,5) LESS SALTY*
9 Distance travelled by Bob when cooking a plum diet (9) AMPLITUDE*
15 Repeat: “Malicious stuff is found in the gut” (9) ECHOVIRUS {ECHO}{VIRUS}
16 Modify thought by an organ rinse (9) BRAINWASH {BRAIN}{WASH}
18 Spooner treated light knife for evening entertainment (9) NIGHTLIFE {(-l+n)NIGHT(kn+l)LIFE}
22 Method of communication where a small advertisement is placed in
Portuguese river (5) RADIO {R{AD}IO}
24 Not asleep after a death ceremony (5) AWAKE {A}{WAKE}
25 Ornamental ceiling fittings look like flowers (5) ROSES [DD]
Samosa day for all!
ReplyDeleteYes. Thank you IncognitoStill quite a few enjoyable ones.
ReplyDeleteBrought back memories of moon landing.
Is the term 'ceiling rose' still in use?
Glad to see Perry Mason's bete noire!
Celing rose is very much in use. You get those small round plastic made ones where you can unscrew the top to access the connectors inside.
DeleteThank you Col. I know what it is. But I have not heard it being spoken about nowadays, so thought probably the term has become outdated.
ReplyDeleteLooks like, with samosas and packed lunch regular bloggers are off to Test match!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an enjoyable one with some good references like 1A.
ReplyDeleteThe one thing which I feel could be done to make it more challenging is to avoid giving away words for free like the ones in 11 & 12.
I was wondering whether the deletion fodder in 7d should have been given so blatantly. But,perhaps, without the very word the cricketing surface reading might have suffered.
DeleteAgree about 11 and 12! 16D - Brainwash was a fun answer!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Incognito, for an enjoyable CW.
Should 21A be '..... novice artist' instead of '..... novice artists'?
Yhanks Incognito for an enjoyable xword.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed that in each Incog puz there is some also-name? Here I think it is THE OWL. Will anyone clarify and perhaps expand upon this observation?
ReplyDeleteIncognito did mention that he would be doing this in his puzzles
DeleteHere's the list
Delete10436 13 Apr 12 Caped crusader - Batman
10463 15 May (Nothing found)
10480 04 Jun Anakin Skywalker - Darth Vader
10505 03 Jul Bond - A licence to kill
10562 07 Sep Rommel - desert Fox
10592 - 12 Oct Simon Templar - The Saint
10621 17 Nov Lord Greystoke - Tarzan
10651 22 Dec Mr Walker - Phantom
10682 29 Jan Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain (Don't know if can have this in the list)
10710 02 Mar Billy Bunter - The Owl
Thanks for appreciating today’s puzzle.
ReplyDeleteA few things:
1, 19 Book first transmission from a satellite about grounding of a bird (3,5,3,6) THE EAGLE HAS LANDED [DD]
This was initially meant to be a 3D and not 2D as follows
1.Book
2. first transmission from a satellite
3. grounding of a bird
May be the wording did not come off that well
CV Sir, as usual, is absolutely right about the cricket clue. I wanted it to ring clear, though it led to a give-away.
Rita-mam, RA (or Royal Academy) is usually a compendious term for artists (and vice versa it stands for the Royal Academy), whereas singularly artist would stand for Royal Academician.
Thanks to the Colonel for making the list of alternative names (pseudonym, nickname, etc). Here are few corrections/updates:
10463 15 May 12 K'ung-fu-tze: Confucious
10505 03 Jul ’12 Masked Hero: Zorro (and not James Bond, which is not a pseudonym and Licence to Kill is only a reference)
10682 29 Jan ‘13 Tom Sawyer creator- Mark Twain (Col.:Don't know if can have this in the list)
The idea was to include at least one alternative name, though not necessarily using the person, place, or thing’s real name anywhere in the clue or in the answer or in a part thereof. For eg: In the Mark Twain one, using his real name would be a dead give-away and hence the circuitous route was employed. Similarly, Zorro or Batman’s real name was not used, though they may be used in future usages.
This device of using a pseudonym is a commitment made right in the beginning (I think CV Sir called it a Mission statement). It is intended to be used till stocks last. As of today, I have a stock of about a hundred such names for cluing in and I can assure you that the first 40 of Incognito puzzles prepared till date all have at least one such clue. Also, one special puzzle has two such instances.
Also, I think it is relevant to mention that as some of the persons are alive at this moment; my list has them marked in yellow so that living persons rule is not violated. Morbid though it is, death is the only way they can come alive in my list.
Have fun keeping track of this feature in my crosswords.
Excellent note. Enjoyed going through it. It is QUITE a mission statement and an enjoyable one at that. Surely, will keep looking for it in future puzzles. Thank you.
DeletePower cuts seem to play a major role in deciding when one can put in an appearance.
ReplyDeleteSome witty surfaces, but a lot of easy ones too! And I daresay as regards 6D, ESG might be turning in his grave, being disturbed by a 'gardener', though I attribute this to a typo. For 17A, I thought the clue should lead to 'Octagon' the definition being (ultimately) 'figure'.
Liked the reference to the Owl of the Remove, I'm an avid reader right from schooldays and have assiduously collected over a 100 titles including some limited editions. If anyone would like to either dispose of their unwanted titles, or just 'shoot the breeze' to compare notes, would be delighted to hear
Thanks, BP, for your observations.
DeleteYes, I dare say, Gardner must be turning in his grave when pushing up the daisies. He also appears in future puzzles and I dare say, I checked just now and the spelling there was fine.
17 A month earlier, National Aerospace Laboratories made a figure that was eight-sided(9) would have worked better.
I too have been a fan of the Magnet magazine and did have scans of all those on a CD, but I am afraid a borrower decided to retain custody. As one of Chunter's bums would say: The dastardfulness of that chap was wonderful.
Very few would notice the additional 'e' in Gardner!
ReplyDeleteReg.17A- If the def. is only 'eight sided', would it be alright as an adj.?
True, but that would not be a valid reason. I'm a bit touchy about spellings since people generally tend to get my name wrong (in a variety of ways, and mainly in India!). But like I said, it might just be a typo, I think Incognito would have known the right spelling
DeleteRe 17A, definitely some tweaking is required. If the 'substitution' rule is used to validate, the clue unfortunately does not work. If you leave it as just 'eight sided', the surface would not read too good
I did not mean it that way. Figure would still be there in the clue. 'eight sided' would be replaced by 'octagonal'.
ReplyDeleteYou must see my name being spelt or misspelt! The worst was BADmanabhan!
Thanks for the clarification, Incognito!
ReplyDeleteMuch appreciated.