Saturday, 21 September 2013

No 10884, Saturday 21 Sep 2013, Arden


ACROSS
1   American pal fits into a short dress in the Middle East (3,5) ABU DHABI {A}{BU D}{HABIt}
5   Being sour will help Charlie inside, I see (6) ACIDIC {A{C}ID}{I}{C}
10 State reason for placing a country above one (7) SOMALIA {SO}{MALI}{A}
11 Utopian characters find prickly pear (7) OPUNTIA*
12 See fool caught in a loop (5) LASSO {L{ASS}O}
13 Thief made away with new articles (9) LARCENIST*
14 Control habit so as to put in money again (12) REINVESTMENT {REIN}{VESTMENT}
18 Attach part of London to my operation (12) APPENDECTOMY {APPEND}{EC}{TO}{MY}
21 The contestant will study the bid (9) CONTENDER {CON}{TENDER}
23 Type name inside to show derision (5) SNORT {S{N}ORT}
24 U.S. media giant puts god of love in a mist (7) AEROSOL {A{EROS}OL}
25 Nocturnal creature after work, thus retiring with some money (7) OPOSSUM {OP}{OS<=}{SUM}
26 One is prone, weighed down by many flowers (6) LILIES {L}{1}{LIES}
27 I return to eat before nine — note it as an obsession (4,4) IDLE TIME ? {I}DLE TI{ME}Anno pending (Addendum - IDEE FIXE {I}{DEE F<=}{IX}{E} - See comments)

DOWN
1   A saint has many names, anyway (6) ANSELM {L+NAMES}*
2   Reveal what one Frenchman will demand (6) UNMASK {UN}{M}{ASK}
3   October 31stHow everyone got in, even ignoring Victor? (9) HALLOWEEN {H{ALL}OW}{EvEN}
4   The essential factor enabled all land conversion (2-3,3,3-3) BE-ALL AND END-ALL*

       If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
       It were done quickly. If th' assassination
       Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
       With his surcease, success: that but this blow
       Might be the be-all and the end-all

6   Passage to a hotel in pretty surroundings (5) CHUTE {C{H}UTE}
7   Tie and untie with ease, as he is held (8) DETAINEE {TIE AND}*{E}{E}
8   Has model come in to town showing virtue? (8) CHASTITY {C{HAS}{T}ITY}
9   This could be offensive (4-6,4) FOUR-LETTER WORD [CD]
15 To doctor, and to doctor notes, could be a grave sign (9) TOMBSTONE {TO}{MB}{NOTES*}
16 Voiced disapproval about hard receptacle (8) CATCHALL {CATC{H}ALL}
17 Communists plan to reproduce an architectural feature (8) SPANDREL {REDS+PLAN}*
19 Some atmospheric carbon said to be the reason for stunted growth (6) BONSAI [T]
20 Thwart my site representation (6) STYMIE*
22 Follow Keynes rule regularly (5) ENSUE kEyNeS rUlE

39 comments:

  1. 27 I return to eat before nine — note it as an obsession (4,4) IDLE TIME ? {I}DLE TI{ME}

    {I}{DEE F<-}{IX}{E}

    ReplyDelete
  2. 17D an indirect anagram. No specific rule against this, but generally used rather sparingly if no other device is available

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a rule indirect anagrams ought to be avoided.

      Delete
  3. Sorry Sandhya, your nimble fingers got there first as usual!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just after 1st of April yesterday, we have 31st of October today. Time flies ...

    like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deepak

    Thanks for having given the correct link to a story I wanted to bring to the attention of readers here.

    Generally I check the links but yesterday it was late in the evening and I was negligent.

    It's all in the game and you played your part with me!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was trawling the blog for my previous limericks and could get some of them using the searchword 'limerick'. For locating others, I may have to go day by day. Any other tech solutions possible?

    Here's a three limerick poem I had written long back keeping in mind our resident sapper (who incidentally does not have a daughter, and belongs to Madras Sappers, not Bombay):


    A Sapper’s daughter

    I found a dropped hankie,
    It was cute, odd and funky,
    Dreaming I went around,
    And to my chagrin found,
    It belonged a laDki from KhaDki.

    This was no ordinary coup,
    For her pop was in a troop.
    He was quite dapper,
    By profession a sapper,
    Of the Bombay Engineer Group.

    When he was on his Tatra,
    I gave my name as Batra,
    When we tried to elope,
    Riding a fast antelope,
    We found he was Sarvatra.

    (Sarvatra, meaning everywhere, is the slogan of the BSs)

    ReplyDelete
  7. 'the be-all and the end-all' is a phrase that I use sometimes.

    But, Kishore, what does it mean in the quote that you have given (from where it must have passed into the language) and as a phrase that we might use now?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That quote is from Shakespeare. I have copy pasted below what I found in Phrase finder, the link to which is in the main post

      Origin

      'The be all and end all' was coined by William Shakespeare in Macbeth, 1605. The bard gives these lines to Macbeth, when he is contemplating assassinating King Duncan of Scotland and taking the throne for himself.:

      If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well
      It were done quickly. If th' assassination
      Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
      With his surcease, success: that but this blow
      Might be the be-all and the end-all

      As anyone who knows the play's plot will be aware, things don't turn out quite so simply for Macbeth and the murder is far from being the 'end all'.

      In everyday speech we now use the expression 'be all and end all' less so than in the past, but it hasn't become archaic quite yet.

      Delete
    2. Main nahi maakhan khaayo !

      Delete
    3. He didn't bank on Banquo's ghost

      Delete
    4. Surprising that today's cw made the Col. Think of Macbeth, while I drew a witch ...

      Delete
  8. Nice puzzle, with good surface reading except in this.

    7 Tie and untie with ease, as he is held (8) DETAINEE {TIE AND}*{E}{E}

    Source of E & E? If E: Ease, the second E?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ease= Es or many Es or EE

      Delete
    2. I had thought of that but does it not require ~ ind?

      Delete
    3. Initially, I thought maybe 'as' comes out of EasE, as 'as' is following 'ease', but found no ind for 'as' to 'ease out' of 'ease'?

      Delete
    4. Ease of r ees = EE has been used before

      Delete
  9. 14A : Am not getting how 'EC' is linked to 'part of London' in the Anno. Has European Commission anything to do with London ?

    ReplyDelete
  10. The EC (Eastern Central) postcode area, also known as the London EC postcode area,[2] is a group of postcode districts in central London,

    ReplyDelete
  11. 9D : This could be offensive (4-6,4) FOUR-LETTER WORD

    Yes, this THIS is also a "Four-letter Word" as has duly been highlighted by Col.Sir in red letters ! Nice clue !!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Popping in late. Hit upon ACIDIC, LASSO, CONTENDER, BE-ALL AND END-ALL, TOMBSTONE, STYMIE and some others at mere first glance. Enjoyed solving the crossie.

    10A - Many may have noticed that the flag of Morocco is identical with the election symbol and flag of the erstwhile Swatantra party founded by the late
    Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, also known as CR or Rajaji, who has always remained my idol.

    I remember having mentioned CR in this forum twice in the past. Here is one instance (Post @ 08:39am, Nov 2, 2010).

    ReplyDelete
  13. Col. Sir,

    I hope, as usual, there will be a Sunday Special tomorrow. I've a small request to make based on my experience on Ganesh Chaturti (Spl) day.
    As there was no cut-off time, the three unsolved clues were filled in by Sandhya Ma'am @ 9:33 P.M. after noticing your Green Signal @ 9:26 P.M.
    She stated she was about to close the page but luckily happened to see your clearance. Thus the unanswered clues remained unanswered all the way from 5:10 P.M. to 9:33 P.M ! Almost 2 hrs and 23 mts !! In the mean-while, I must have peeped into the blog at least 20 times to find out who could be the smart solver !!! So why not have a suitable cut-off time, Sir ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...oops ! TYPO please read 4hrs and 23mts for 2hrs and 23mts.

      Delete
    2. Okay I shall introduce a cut off time of 6 PM. I had not done so earlier thinking that it would help visitors from other time zones. However I have not found anyone from the other time zones commenting.

      Delete
    3. COL: I had expressed my views earlier on the Sunday specials Vis-a-vis the regular. The Sunday special, though interesting, always diverts, deflects and divides the bloggers.

      Raghunath, CV and Kishore: On the DETAINEE clue , I got so confused with the ees and is etc that I thought: Es & Os E permitted in crossieeeees? A poetic LIICEENSEEs lot--theeeese compilers?

      Delete
    4. Raju what is the divisiveness you are referring to? I don't see any such thing!

      Delete
  14. 9D : This could be offensive (4-6,4) FOUR-LETTER WORD

    The two four-letter words that men don't like are DON'T and STOP unless they are used together.

    ReplyDelete
  15. welldone--- emden ( a Tamil word?) Arden !! Enjoyed . Got me stymied with DETAINEES ( after having thought of DETENUES-- under POTA and FERA etc ?) ANSELM, CATCHALL ( so simple, yet complicated ?) and OPUNTIA. took quite a while, to figure them out. Probably, got really and sadly carried away by the mindless Al Shabab attack on innocents at a Mall in nAIROBI, which we used to frequent. . Trailing the news still, as the attackers are holding many persons inside a supermarket as hostages. A few known persons amongst those killed and injured. Feeling very low and blue but very lividly red against the stupid terrorists and---- other gunmen who have been on the loose here in the US.

    When will all this atrocity against humanity end ?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Emden is a German ship that threatened to bomb Chennai - erstwhile Madras during world war. The word became part of Tamil lingo to denote an audacious person.

    ReplyDelete

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