Great clueing today by xChequer, he has me stumped for a few annos. At the moment he is winging his way back to India and is right now somewhere over the Atlantic ocean. We may not get any responses from him till late evening.
ACROSS
4 Alien surrounding, hence boiled rice is not easy to get (8) ESOTERIC {E{SO}T}{RICE*}
10 Wheels balanced before mounting at another location (9) ELSEWHERE {WHEELS*}{ERE} (Addendum - {E{WHEELS*}RE} - See comments}
11 Note collected by a good old friend (5) AMIGO {A}{MI}{G}{O}
12 First person perhaps to enter date, sign logs (7) DIARIES {D}{I}{ARIES}
13 A function: hint, X is variable (7) TANGENT Anno pending (Addendum - {TANG}{TEN*} - See comments)
14 Guy’s daughter naked? Topless! (4) DUDE {D}{nUDE}
15 Organic fertilizers, half leaves, that can be used in cultivation may be just as good (10) COMPARABLE {COMPosts}{ARABLE}
19 Move sideways avoiding poles placed crosswise (10) TRANSVERSE {TRA{NS}VERSE}
20 Small yet notable concession tips accord (4) SYNC {S}{Y}{N}{C}
23 Wiping cloth ultimately replaced his tattered flag (7) DISHRAG {D}{HIS*}{RAG}
27 Broke, suffering regular losses, invested in very large instruments (5) OBOES {O{BrOkE}S}
29 Helps utter fools (8) SUCCOURS (~suckers)
30 Thong causing many to leave in outrage (6) SANDAL ScANDAL
DOWN
1 Corrected a medical case for National Education (7) AMENDED {A}{ME{N}D}{ED}
2 Prophet of disaster almost found courage, by God! (9) CASSANDRA CASSAND{RA}Anno pending (Addendum - {CASt}{SAND}{RA}- See comments)
3 Woodworking depression observed on stone (3,3) SAW PIT {SAW} {PIT}
5 Competitive exam held, people in general worry (5) SWEAT {S{WE}AT}
6 Coaches to change, rest and grab a shower (8) TRAINERS {T{RAIN}ERS*}
7 Rear elevation (5) RAISE [DD]
8 Pervert or letch getting a laugh (7) CHORTLE*
9 Perhaps a diamond’s missing, checked by setter looking up weight (8) GEMSTONE {G{EM<=}{ST}ONE} ST for Stone?
16 Maybe seal garden maintained most shabbily (8) POSTMARK {P{MOST*}ARK}
17 Partner in physique hugging fancy finery (9) BOYFRIEND {BO{FINERY*}D}
18 Coffee extract found in drug to such an extent (8) ESPRESSO {E}{S{PRESS}O}
19 Boring fluid diet, soup mostly (7) TEDIOUS {DIET+SOUp}*
21 Personal possession permitted to be returned after informal talk (7) CHATTEL {CHAT}{TEL<=}
24 Stone Cold vaulted ring, I resigned (5) STOIC {ST}{O}{I}{C}
25 Page, say, with potentially feasible idea describing formula (5) GOFER {GO{F}ER}
13 A function: hint, X is variable (7) TANGENT Anno pending
ReplyDeletehint = tang
X = ten
X is variable = ent*
______________________________
2 Prophet of disaster almost found courage, by God! (9) CASSANDRA Anno pending
almost found = cas(-t) ?
courage = sand
god = ra
10 Wheels balanced before mounting at another location (9) ELSEWHERE {WHEELS*}{ERE}
ReplyDeleteAlthough your annotation leads to the correct answer, the intended wordplay might be E(WHEELS*)RE with 'mounting' as the containment indicator.
That's right
Delete+1
Delete2 Prophet of disaster almost found courage, by God! (9) CASSANDRA CASSAND{RA}Anno pending
ReplyDeleteAlmost found: CASt, (As in foundry) Courage:( http://www.thefreedictionary.com/sand): SAND
Thanks Raghu
DeleteGreat clueing today by xChequer
ReplyDelete+1. Devious yet fair.
My gripes:
1a Unless CU is a known police rank like IG or SI, policeman does not yield CU. That is like saying Guide = PB because one meaning of Guide = Lead.
9a Avoiding = 'getting around' as containment indicator might warrant a '?' or '!' or 'perhaps'
28a Firmament = vault of heaven, so is vault sufficient as def?
Copper is slang for Policeman, so that should be okay.
DeleteI get the reference between policeman and copper, but a transitive substitution like:
Deletepoliceman = copper
copper = cu
therefore policeman = cu doesn't work
I feel this is acceptable, because of 'say' preceding policeman. However, it's debatable and Bhavan has a point.
DeletePoliceman = Cu is not fair IMO
DeleteIt it's considered fair then "say resort" = NICE = GOOD becomes all right, which I think is helluva stretch
1a: I commented elsewhere
Delete9a: I did not have any specific consideration for this while clueing, but re-reading it now I don't find it misleading or ambiguous. If we consider avoid = sidestep for example, should be OK?
28a: 'Vault' = the sky or heaven (poetic) as per Chambers. Likewise for 'Firmament'
Excellent one by Exchequer. Just a quibble about 13 A TANG(ENT*) involving indirect anagram of X: TEN*
ReplyDeleteRaghu: you might say I even anticipated this comment! I did not consider it an indirect anagram, but just a different way of expressing the same thing.
DeleteRe st for stone.
ReplyDeleteWhen we weigh ourselves oncertain weighing machines, they will show our weight as so man st - where st is stone.
Is this alright? Stone is an abbrv for an indirect meaning for weight. Had it been STONE in the answer, it would have been OK. Similar to the CU for policeman in 1A.
DeleteYou have a point there.
DeleteIBut -
f you accept policeman = copper = CU, why this hesitation in accepting weight = stone = ST?
Having said that,each of these may be considered a stretch.
I am not sure whether I as a setter allow myself this once-removed abbr.
Beacause of 'say' preceding policeman. I'm not sure whether this too is OK.
Delete1) ST (stone for weight) -- quite similar to many a clue which has say 'large number' for C,D,M and the like. Or 'small quantity' might refer to 'cl', 'dl', 'cc'... Agree it is not uniquely specific, but I didn't feel there is such a requirement, considering the above examples, and also to make it just a little more interesting. If some not happy, my apologies
Delete2)Policeman = Copper = CU: a derivation is required here yes, but to make it fair I did mention 'say' in the clue, a general indication that it won't be straightforward
@Bhala,
DeleteWill you accept this clue for CAMPBED?
Arrived carrying say guide dead in cot (7) CAM(PB)E + D
Arrived = came
say guide = lead = pb
cot = campbed
copper has two meanings:
1. element Cu
2. policeman
How does sticking 'say' in front of policeman make it equivalent to Cu?
Bhavan, just got back, sorry couldn't chip in earlier. Yes, your example would not quite make the cut.
DeleteLet me say that my intention was more like 'precious metal' = 'gold' = 'OR'.
Anyway will steer clear of this controversy for the future
Let me say that my intention was more like 'precious metal' = 'gold' = 'OR'.
DeleteUnfortunately that doesn't work either.
Why is precious metal not silver = Ag? Why only gold = OR?
Because it is unfair on the solver to expect to jump from arbitrary precious metal to OR or AG. If want them to get OR, say gold. If you mean AG, say silver.
That is my take.
ReplyDelete18D is the E from drug or extract?
E from drug. PRESS from extract
Delete30 Thong causing many to leave in outrage (6)
ReplyDeleteI wish to inform my friends here that I was not among those many leaving in outrage. I was lingering on the lingerie. I liked its brevity, I liked its colour, I liked its pattern, I liked its cut.
I too liked everything and didn't leave, but couldn't see any colour!!
DeleteGoodness gracious What's happening?
DeleteIf any one is interested in tackling and posting answers to the Hindustan Times crossword (basically UK's The Times crossword), let me know.
ReplyDeleteI run a daily blog at http://xwordsolutions.wordpress.com/. It works much the same way as THC orkut group.
My e-mail details are in my blogger profile.
Great clueing today by xChequer
ReplyDelete+1. Devious yet fair.
Agreed. 100%
Folks, on my way back to Chennai after 6 wks in the US, lucky to get a Wi-Fi connection at Frankfurt airport. Thanks Col for alerting that response could be delayed.
ReplyDeleteWill attempt to address some of the points against the specific comments above.
Looking forward to joining in the blog activity from tomorrow, have been starved of this for a while due to the travel and didn't have much time
25d: The anno should be GO(F)ER, but I can see that the link has the said intention
ReplyDeleteHave to log off soon, so may not be able to address any follow-up comments, reaching Chennai only around midnight
Deepak: I must say, you must be having a mountain's patience !! I like this format, as it will be a boon to newcomers and learners how a setter's mind works out the clues. Where do you get the time and patience to make it on time to be posted? and that too without even an E &OE post script ? By what time do you start and pip at the post , to wit ? Amazing Bloggerman , that you are indeed !
ReplyDeleteToday's puzzle took me bacl to NJ's days as quite a few of the annotations are offbeat and out of this cross-world. However, I'm not griping as it takes all kinds to keep our sanity in tact. !!
Keep up the good work and God bless .
Bhavan: Any addition to my collection is grit to me mental mill. So, count me in !
ReplyDeleteHave you already got it going? From when? Have been dying to do the Times of London for so long. They form a major part of my Nairobi collections.