Tuesday, 9 July 2013

No.10820, Tuesday 9 Jul 13, Arden

This is the usual Arden entertainer we have come to expect. Barring the homophone issue (we setters seem to be walking straight into these traps) at 28 Across, this is another good puzzle.

ACROSS
1 Disperse before being hit on the head by dippy (14) SCATTERBRAINED SCATTER + BRAINED
10 Give everything to review (5) ALLOT ALL + TO<=
11 Big business at Petersham, perhaps (9) GREATCOAT GREAT + CO + AT
12 Arbitrary about value (7) CAPRICE CA + PRICE
13 Think of a German flower (7) MULLEIN MULL + EIN

14 Two highways around a city (5) MIAMI M1 & M1 outside A
16 Mild emulsion is extremely troublesome (9) TEMPERATE TEMPERA + TE
19 Oddly Tories have a more confident money manager (9) TREASURER ToRiEs + A SURER
20 Urge setter to stay in the country (5) YEMEN ME inside YEN
22 Finally Frank Milner made it to the seat of Russian power…. (7) KREMLIN K + MILNER*
25 ….. as he has no faith in Castro, say (7) INFIDEL IN + FIDEL
27 Wandering stream finds a barrier in port (9) AMSTERDAM STREAM* + DAM
28 Told to flog old instrument (5) CELLO ~SELL + O The pronunciation for the instrument is CHE-LOW, not SELL-O See comments
29 Air limitations make for force mobilisation (14) MILITARISATION (AIR LIMITATIONS)*

DOWN
2 Capital he set out for a religious domain (9) CALIPHATE (CAPITAL HE)*
3 Direction for all to perform together (5) TUTTI (E)
4 An helicopter, say to spur a winner (9) EGGBEATER EGG + BEATER
5 Ray’s caught river fish (5) BREAM BEAM outside R
6 Duct protects bad battery (9) ARTILLERY ARTERY outside ILL
7 He soon pulled up the internal trap (5) NOOSE (T<=)
8 Some relaxation for the French when it’s pitched in a river (7) DÉTENTE TENT inside DEE
9 Malt brewed with copper powder (6) TALCUM (MALT CU)*
15 Destitute wild lions escape (9) INSOLVENT LIONS* + VENT
17 Imams rant anyway on the 11th of November (9) MARTINMAS (IMAMS RANT)*
18 Another drama over sick old animal (9) ARMADILLO DRAMA* + ILL + O
19 Make it a design and keep it in the crosshairs (4,3) TAKE AIM (MAKE IT A)*
21 Hold lighting, say around fifty seconds (6) NELSON NEON outside (L + S)
23 Stand to relieve the trainee (5) EASEL EASE + L
24 Free article jacked up from the bottom (5) NADIR (RID + AN) <=
26 A newspaper has one particular aspect (5) FACET FT outside ACE


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27 comments:

  1. Richard9 July 2013 at 08:39

    I had the same issue with CELLO as Bhavan had.

    TUTTI reminded me of childhood days when we enjoyed Tutti Frutti. We also used to tease a girl called Shruti, calling her Tutti Frutti. She took it as a compliment!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Venkatesh9 July 2013 at 08:39

    17d MARTINMAS (IMAMAS RANT)*

    Correction: (IMAMS RANT)*

    ReplyDelete
  3. Suresh9 July 2013 at 09:40

    On 28A it is not such an issue IMO. If you read cell for sell (which is what 'told to flog' leads to) it is fine. The O comes from old and is not part of the homophone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan9 July 2013 at 09:51

      Thanks Suresh, you are right and I have unnecessarily cast a doubt on Arden's clue :)

      From yesterday's experience, I might be once bitten, twice shy.

      Delete
  4. RameshJ9 July 2013 at 09:56

    Nice one from Arden. Liked 11A the best.
    Two "nits" ( today they are nits )
    1) Arbitrary = Caprice ? Adj = Noun ?
    2) An helicopter ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan9 July 2013 at 10:22

      Definitely both are problems. Not just nits.

      1.Capricious would be the matching form for Arbitrary or it should have been Arbitrariness to match Caprice.

      2. The h in helicopter is vocalized unlike some of the other h words, so it should have been "A helicopter"

      Delete
    2. Suresh9 July 2013 at 10:30

      Agree. I spent a long time looking for a word beginning with 'an', thinking that the slip was deliberate.

      Delete
  5. Suresh9 July 2013 at 09:59

    We have 'Free an upturned bottom (5)' in "The Guardian" cryptic today.

    Co-incidence again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RameshJ9 July 2013 at 10:06

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. RameshJ9 July 2013 at 10:07

      Armadillo appeared in the ET , Hyderabad edition today. :)
      It is all a setters' conspiracy. They all get together, forecast ( at least in the THC case) when their Cws will be published and make sure that they have at least one word that is repeated. Huge sums of money are won or lost in the satta market based on which word is repeated :)

      Delete
    3. Raghunath9 July 2013 at 10:08

      So, how much did you make, with insider trading?

      Delete
    4. RameshJ9 July 2013 at 10:12

      I haven't counted it yet. Mountains of notes as far as I (eye ) could see.

      Delete
    5. Richard9 July 2013 at 10:27

      :-)

      Delete
    6. Raghunath9 July 2013 at 10:32

      Hope you don't have short sight.

      Delete
    7. Raghunath9 July 2013 at 10:33

      Mountains these days seem to be very unstable?

      Delete
    8. RameshJ9 July 2013 at 10:48

      Just manage to beat the bat in "I" test.

      Delete
  6. Mukundala Balasubramanyam9 July 2013 at 14:10

    I am yet to get the connection btn Greatcoat-Petersham and Eggbeater-Helicopter ! These are the two unsolved ones for me today and also had some problem with Cello. Hoping somebody would clear my doubt. On the whole a nice puzzle !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous9 July 2013 at 15:25

      Eggbeater is just another nickname for a heli- just like whirlybird or chopper.

      Petersham is a type of greatcoat, just like Cardigan is a type of sweater.

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath9 July 2013 at 16:14

      MB,

      Words that are underlined in the main post provide links to unusual words. Follow the link over the word Petersham and you will get more details.

      Delete
    3. Mukundala Balasubramanyam9 July 2013 at 16:32

      Thanks, Col.Saheb and Kishore. I Googled for Petersham and got something to do with Nursery and Hotel business. I did'nt try
      Wikipedia !

      Delete
  7. Krishnan9 July 2013 at 15:23

    Mukundala Balasubramanyam: Eggbeater is informal name for helicopter. As for Greatcoat, one type of greatcoat is the Petersham (named after Viscount Petersham).

    ReplyDelete
  8. Raghunath9 July 2013 at 16:30

    4 D. Usually 'spur' is to 'egg on', so did the setter miss out here?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh9 July 2013 at 19:03

      EGG by itself means urge even without the 'on'. Trusty OED.

      Delete
    2. raju umamaheswar10 July 2013 at 00:36

      CELLO cannot be strictly a homophone with Sell-o as it is pronounced as CH-ello !

      Chalo, koi baat nahi !

      Delete
  9. raju umamaheswar10 July 2013 at 00:41

    CELLO is pronounced as CH-ello ! Not a homophone with SELL-O

    Sab Kuch Chaltha hai in Indian eshtyle crosswords. We are like that only !

    ReplyDelete
  10. Deepak Gopinath10 July 2013 at 08:27

    Raju,

    You have not read Suresh's comment at 9:40. It's not a homophone clue.

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com

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