Friday 27 September 2013

No 10889, Friday 27 Sep 2013, Incognito

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's Superman aka Clark Kent flying around today.

ACROSS
8   Kelly’s heredity unit (4) GENE [DD]
9   Play cute around American tree (10) EUCALYPTUS {PLAY+CUTE}*{US}
10, 26 Superman’s charts once used by mathematics and science students (6,6) CLARKS TABLES {CLARKS} {TABLES}
11 Sounds like nether region is dark. Capital! (8) HELSINKI (~hells inky)
12 Hesperus, say, was earlier round the church (8) SCHOONER {S{CH}OONER}
14 Reserves blood for the poet (6) TAGORE {TA}{GORE}
16 Stable concern (4) FIRM [DD]
17 Brings up red ears (5) REARS {R}{EARS}
18 Surprise order for paratroopers (4) JUMP [DD]
19 Resident of a web after alien went away (6) INTERN INTERNet
21 Exaggerated maleness displayed when endless pain is borne by male medical officer (8) MACHISMO {M}{ACHe}{IS}{MO}
23 Old coin obtained from remote object (8) FARTHING {FAR}{THING}
26 See 10 ac.
27 Superman’s change room where you can give a ring (10) PHONEBOOTH [GK]
28 7, perhaps, went back for grass (4) REED <=

DOWN
1   Thinking what Dracula does not have is … (10) REFLECTION [DD]
2   … an inheritance that sounds like a hair weaver (8) HEIRLOOM (~ hair){HEIR}{LOOM}
3   Admiral found hiding in tunnels once (6) NELSON [T]
4   He goes back after air-conditioning an Indonesian province (4) ACEH {AC}{EH<=}
5   Cries, “Let usual cook” (8) ULULATES*
6   Yang’s counterpart in Special Protection Group is engaged in espionage (6) SPYING {SP{YIN}G}
7   Author’s money (4) BUCK [DD]
13 True minister of the kingdom (5) REALM {REAL}{M}
15 Did not forget to put eastern constituent in colour (10) REMEMBERED {R{E}{MEMBER}ED}
17 Chinese currency got by miner running around broken nib (8) RENMINBI {RENM{INB*}I*}
18 Imprison avian who has been inside earlier (8) JAILBIRD {JAIL}{BIRD}
20 Coverage of old accommodation (6) EXTENT {EX}{TENT}
22 Tricky but easily 15 (6) CATCHY [CD] [DD] - See comments
24 Pain felt when 4 trembled (4) ACHE*
25 Blyton’s policeman is a thug (4) GOON [GK/DD] - See comments

39 comments:

  1. 2 … an inheritance that sounds like a hair weaver (8) HEIRLOOM (~ hair){HEIR}{LOOM}

    Hair and Heir are not homonyms.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. May not be 100% but definitely 99%

      Delete
    2. Don't think so. As a cockney would pronounce Hair: 'air

      Delete
    3. For a long time I too used to think 'homonym' for ~ clue, and even now the word comes immediately to mind (for Homophone).

      Delete
    4. Won't do! Even long lists don't put them together.

      Hair and hare are homonyms.

      Besides, is the word (hair) for which you're looking for a homonym (heir) given so openly and freely as here?

      Delete
    5. Hair and heir are certainly not homophones.

      Was reminded of a conundrum.

      What is the difference between a volleyball and a prince?

      One is thrown to air and the other heir to throne.

      Delete
    6. How do you and Kishore manage to pluck these out of thin 'air'? I can'teven remember what I read yesterday?

      Delete
    7. Certainly not homophones. But what is an aich between friends

      Delete
    8. Haggling over it is an 24D, which again is not homophonic with 'aitch'. ;-)

      Delete
    9. Raghu's query @ 9:22

      IMO they are the Master Tricksters with words and must be having an Elephant's Memory(Bank) ! :)

      Delete
  2. 22 Tricky but easily 15 (6) CATCHY [CD]
    25 Blyton’s policeman is a thug (4) GOON [GK]

    I took both to be DDs.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I took 27A also to be a DD.

      Rather easy one, but very entertaining

      Delete
  3. Nice puzzle from Incognito. There should be no gripes about the difficulty level and unfairness here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree. Yesterday my rant against scintillator produced some angry outburst. I would like to submit that in addition to making clever puzzles the setter could be sensitive to the subjective opinion of the solver. May be sometimes, I am the only solver finding the going tough. Yet, I think I have a right to express my view.

      Delete
    2. Sundaram,

      You have every right to express your views but your views should be substantiated by hard facts..

      Delete
    3. Maradnusro aka Sundaram @ 8:53 "I am the only sover finding the going tough"

      Perhaps you missed my name ! I too, from time to time, express my views about difficulty level of a puzzle, but in a lighter vein !

      Delete
  4. Col's bugbear returns in 10 & 11 AC?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good one from Incognito. 10, &26 Across and 12 across are the clues of my flavour. I smack my lips .

    When are the phonebooths ( not even hyphenated? shouldn't be 5,5 ?) taking the route of telegrams?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Off topic

    I found this intriguing

    'Scientist photographs the soul leaving the body' - See it at the link given below

    http://www.adguk-blog.com/2013/09/scientist-photographs-soul-leaving-body.html#comment-form

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What's really intriguing is a so-called scientist believing there's such thing as a "soul."

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the link Col.
      Never knew that even souls feel shy to leave the body unclad!

      Delete
  7. He goes back after air-conditioning an Indonesian province (4) ACEH {AC}{EH<=}

    Wordplay OK (though 'he' is given gratis) but my question is:

    Is the surface reading plausible? I mean, can a whole province be air-conditioned and, if so, can we imagine how it could be done and with what results?

    Or is this kind of analysis/thinking need not be done as long as wordplay leads correctly to the solution?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too did think of the plausibility factor here, as it's the first thing I look for in a clue.

      Delete
    2. It could be way-out, bizarre, funny, laughable, capable of arriving at a plausible sense only after some thought but it must be there, I think.

      Sorry if this sounds discouraging but this forum is one where we just don't put in answers but bestow some consideration on clues in order to enhance our appreciation of the art of the crossword.

      Delete
    3. 'in' in place of 'an' would have been better.

      Delete
  8. Very smooth puzzle from Incognito. Had an easy sailing after the day before bouncer attack :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you for your observations. I concede heir is not a homophone of hair. That is why I did not use the radio, auditor and similar constructs, but preferred to use 'sounds like' which I thought would give me the leeway for the variation.

    Suppose I had got been given the job of auditing 3 units of a company in Tamil Nadu. On completing the same, I may tell my head office that I have completed TN or I have audited TN. When communicating between two persons on a common wavelength, some things might be tacit. Thin ice, maybe, but I feel not entirely implausible. Our boys used to go all over south India for audit of the Family Planning Association of India. When asked what they were upto, the answer invariably was "Family Planning" or "he has gone for family planning".

    ReplyDelete
  10. Talking of Homophone and Homonym, this is what Chambers has to say

    hom•o•phone
    n.
    A character representing the same sound as another; a word that is pronounced the same as another but is different in spelling and meaning.

    hom•o•nym
    n.
    a word having the same sound and perhaps the same spelling as another, but a different meaning and origin, sometimes extended to words having a different sound and the same spelling

    So why are we splitting hairs? What's the difference ?

    ReplyDelete
  11. The Sunday specials are becoming monotonous with only Shrikanth and Self contributing. More contributions are invited from others.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A nice puzzle. No uprooting my hair ! Thanks, Incognito. Missed out 12A and 1D

    ReplyDelete
  13. 1D : Learnt today that Dracula has no "Reflection" !

    ReplyDelete
  14. Homophones are words that sound alike but have different meanings. They have different spellings too.

    pray, prey; to, too, two

    Homonyms are words that sound alike and have the same spellings but different meanings.

    I bought rice at the fair price shop; I went to the fair with my grandchild.

    Words that have same spelling, different pronunciation and different meanings? Theya re homographs.

    I wore a bow when I went to the evening party. I won't bow even when the principal passes by.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's not what Chambers says as shown in my 10:39 above

      Delete
    2. Explaining yr 10.39:

      hom•o•phone n.a word that is pronounced the same as another but is different in spelling and meaning:

      e.g. Heir - air, Ware -Wear, Read- Red, Read - Reed

      hom•o•nym n.a word having the same sound and perhaps the same spelling as another, but a different meaning and origin:

      Bear (animal) - Bear (Carry). Kind (helpful) - kind (sort), habit (dress)- habit (custom)

      Delete
    3. Homonym can have different spelling as well as the dict says 'perhaps the same spelling'

      Delete
    4. Homonym from: http://www.chambersharrap.co.uk/ : the same sound and spelling. The way yr 10.39 post says from Chambers it can also homophone it ambiguously states 'perhaps the same spelling'

      Delete
  15. Today's cartoon was actually drawn for Neyartha's puzzle. Then I realised the gridfill was Re-election and reflection was part of wordplay and returned it to store, re-issueing it today.

    ReplyDelete

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