Tuesday, 7 May 2013

No.10766, Tuesday 7 May 13, Mover

Nice one from Mover. A couple of answers are outside the usual dictionaries - XIMENES, NOSFERATU, but gettable from the wordplay and crossings.

ACROSS
1 Victorian quotation regarding lack of entertainment (2,3,3,6) WE, ARE, NOT, AMUSED (CD)
10 Misplaced hat in Long Island club (5) LATHI (HAT* inside L I)
11 He explores caves while punk reels drunkenly (9) SPELUNKER (PUNK REELS)*
12 One embraced by merciful Christian (7) GENTILE (I inside GENTLE)
13 Guided a spirited horse without hesitation (7) STEERED (STEED outside ER)
14 Either Thomas or George could be the Leslie Charteris character (5) SAINT (DD)
16 Routed partisans anxious to advance their position (9) ASPIRANTS (PARTISANS)*
19 Sweet bunch of flowers (9) CANDYTUFT (CANDY + TUFT)
20 Starling sitting in tree gives song (5) PSALM (S inside PALM)
22 Curiously examines a missing grand inquisitor (7) XIMENES (EXaMINES)*
25 Fish for disgusting insects exchanging right for left (7) LOACHES (ROACHES with L for R)
27 Zero distribution for chemical treatment of water (9) OZONATION (O + ZONATION)
28 Habituate one northern river (5) INURE (I + N + URE)
29 Is Rupert Murdoch // old-fashioned? (6,3,5) BEHIND, THE, TIMES (DD)

DOWN
2 Past strain could be a stretch (9) EXTENSION (EX + TENSION)
3 Hundred leave ickier alternative healing technique (5) REIKI (IcKIER)*
4 Futons are in disarray in this Dracula adaptation (9) NOSFERATU (FUTONS ARE)*
5 Stories heard about measures (5) TAELS (~TALES)
6 Poor cheese put as more improved! (9) MOUSETRAP (PUT AS MORE)*
7 Small cannon gets the bird (5) SAKER (DD)
8 Desired rotten insults (7) DERIDES (DESIRED)*
9 Justifies busy signal (6) ALIGNS (SIGNAL)*
15 Make an unsuccessful attempt to convict (3,2,4) TRY, IN, VAIN Not sure what convict's role is. See comments below
17 Preferred union weapon is insolence (9) PETULANCE (PET + U + LANCE) My CoD
18 Shed for tidy bovines (9) NEATHOUSE (CD)
19 Conceited dandy; leader of eight attains crest (7) COXCOMB (COX + COMB)
21 One who makes amorous advances with a kitchen utensil? (6) MASHER (DD)
23 Cadge enthusiastic but pointless kiss (5) MOOCH (sMOOCH)
24 Change // dress (5) SHIFT (DD)
26 Bengali bigamist partly claimed he was elsewhere at the time (5) ALIBI (T) Mismatch between the definition and the answer


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21 comments:

  1. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 08:35

    When you TRY IN VAIN, you "make an unsuccessful attempt to convict".

    So the whole clue needs to be in bold for the def. part!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan7 May 2013 at 08:38

      Of course, now that you spell it out, seems evident. Another good clue to Mover then.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 08:42

      When I wrote my initial Comment I had not realised that today's blogger was Bhavan.

      Anyway, I don't agree that it is a good clue. There is nothing cryptic about it.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath7 May 2013 at 08:59

      CV, Why do you say

      'When I wrote my initial Comment I had not realised that today's blogger was Bhavan.'

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 09:10

      Actually there is no relationship between the first sentence and the next.

      Previously we had only you as the blogger so every day we knew who the blogger was.

      Now with you there are others. Unless we scroll down and see the poster's name we would not know who the blogger is. Of course, the day of the week is associated with a certain blogger but at this age I don't recall all that in a jiffy. I have to apply my mind to it.

      So when I wrote the first comment I never had any blogger's name in mind.

      When Bhavan came with his Comment - then and then only I realised that today it wasn't the owner-blogger and I mentioned the fact.

      Delete
  2. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 08:36

    I totally agree with you comment against 26d.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deepak Gopinath7 May 2013 at 08:56

    Will this work for 26D

    Bengali bigamist maintained he was elsewhere at the time

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 09:12

      Not quite, in my opinion.

      Let me see what view others have.

      Let me see if I can come up with a revision.

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath7 May 2013 at 09:18

      I intended 'maintained' to be on Double duty

      Delete
    3. ranger7 May 2013 at 09:18

      Bengali bigamist had an excuse

      Delete
  4. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 09:22

    Am going out. Will be back later.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 11:16

    Bengali bigamist maintained he was elsewhere at the time

    'Maintained' is a good T ind.

    'Bengali bigamist' is a good phrase 'hiding' the string.

    I don't mind 'maintained' doing double duty as hid ind and part of the def.

    ALIBI is a noun. I doubt if the def "maintained he was elsewhere at the time" can lead to the noun form.

    Hence my reservation about the clue.



    ReplyDelete
  6. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 11:28

    Bengali bigamist maintains cover of a kind (5)

    Bengali bigamist - fodder
    maintains - hidden ind
    cover of a kind - def leading to the noun form of the word reqd


    ReplyDelete
  7. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 11:39

    Question

    Since the hidden fodder ("Bengali bigamist" here) always has the letter string, should the hidden ind be in the present tense? Should it necessarily be "maintains"? Is it OK if it is in the past tense ("maintained")?

    What does the gang think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhalchandra Pasupathy7 May 2013 at 18:46

      I feel 'maintained' = 'held' will also work quite fine

      Delete
  8. Shrikanth7 May 2013 at 11:48

    Bengali bigamist furnishes an excuse

    Bengali bigamist withholds explanation

    Bengali bigamist hiding the story

    Will these pass muster?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shrikanth7 May 2013 at 12:08

      Going by CV's comment above, the last one shd read as 'hides'

      Delete
  9. raju umamaheswar7 May 2013 at 12:58

    Bengali bigamist claims being elsewhere (5) can be another way. However, given the trend of the HCC compilers, I'd have found the answer as it is given by the compiler instantly ! Why this hair-splitting today? We have seen worse cluing here ! I haven't seen the whole crossword but just thought of commenting after a run through of the bloggers' comments.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bhalchandra Pasupathy7 May 2013 at 17:53

    Phew so much about the Bengali whatever. But if it is part of speech we are disputing, then I have a similar issue with 16A.

    Overall liked today's puzzle

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi7 May 2013 at 18:21

      I had heaped much praise on a recent crossword by the same setter.

      We comment on individual clues if they have some problems even though overall the CWD may be good.

      This afternoon I was reading Comments by a famous UK setter (in a book) on a puzzle set by an equally famous UK setter. While giving credit to the puz as a whole (it was a selection), he had picked holes in some individual clues.

      All in the appreciation of the art of the CWD, Saridhaanae?

      Delete
  11. raju umamaheswar7 May 2013 at 18:43

    Vokey sir !!

    ReplyDelete

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