Thursday, 5 December 2013

No 10948, Thursday 05 Dec 2013, Scintillator

An elephantine CW today from Scintillator, who has me stumped as usual.

ACROSS
1   European social worker gathers help to heal animal (8) ELEPHANT {E}{HELP*}{ANT}
5   Write off Mandela’s men being in prison without a term (6) CANCEL {C{ANC}ELl}
9   Coup threatening delayed mate (8) COPULATE {COUP*}{LATE}
10 Charm of poking at a stubborn person (6) AMULET {AT+MULE}*
12 Ugly bro’s pic features big nose (9) PROBOSCIS {PROB{OS}CIS*}
13 Frenzy should extinguish eventually (5) MUSTH {MUST}{H}
14 Critical of regressive characters in Vedic Age (4) ACID [T<=]
16 Get down from French coach (7) DETRAIN {DE}{TRAIN}
19 Honest politician jailed on riot ending with blast (7) TRUMPET {TRU{MP}E}{T}
21 A posh country (4) PERU Anno not clear (Addendum - {PER}{U} - See comments)
24 Block in vacuum flask after replacing central part (5) DEBAR DE(-w+b)BAR Just 'DEWAR' cannot mean vacuum flask.
25 Brilliant star unreasonably ravenous to gain popularity initially (9) SUPERNOVA {SU{P}ERNOVA*}
27 World organisation’s quite unfair (6) UNJUST {UN}{JUST}
28 Constant good to be changed with a variable (8) AVOGADRO  Anno pending (Addendum - {GOOD+A+VAR}* - See comments}
29 Police officer can second dharnas (3-3) SIT-INS {SI}{T-IN}{S}
30 "Here’s to following fantastic shot in match” (4-4) TRUE-THAT ? [CD] (Addendum - FREE-SHOT {F}{REE-SHOT*} - See comments)

DOWN
1   Key to take to your heels (6) ESCAPE [DD]
2   Use a recipe not seen in Mylapore cooking (6) EMPLOY MYLaPOrE*
3   What a tragedy to get rid of books! (5) HELLO  otHELLO
4   Saw fit to be subdued by no education (7) NOTICED {NO}{TIC}{ED}
6   Teacher has a following outside school (4,5) ALMA MATER {A}{L{MAM}ATER}
7   Food firm and liquid as well (8) COLESLAW {CO}{AS+WELL*}
8   Making secure marriage differing at the start (8) LATCHING (-m+l)LATCHING
11 Worn out, very drunk (4) USED [DD] (Addendum - overUSED - See comments) (Addendum1 -  soUSED - See comments)
15 Gaudy dress has trousers covering a leg (9) CAPARISON Anno pending {CAP{A}RIS}{ON} ON for LEG, a cricket term, but a bit far fetched to imagine here.
17 Crook admits us in sporting arenas (8) STADIUMS*
18 Big airliner, though not big enough for 1 ac. (5,3) JUMBO JET [CD]
20 Sound of disapproval on biting bend in tooth (4) TUSK {T{U}SK}
21 Work’s done with topping of soft cake (7) POPOVER {P}{OP}{OVER}
22 Who had adjusted this seat? (6) HOWDAH*
23 A giant rider, say (6) MAHOUT [CD]
26 One of urchins involved in bloody gore? (5) ROGUE {ROG{U}E*} Semi&lit

44 comments:

  1. 28A Constant good to be changed with a variable (8) AVOGADRO Anno pending

    GOOD A VAR* (VAR short for variable) - Is this OK?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good morning Colonel.

    Constant good to be changed with a variable (8) AVOGADRO
    (GOOD + A + VAR)*

    Gaudy dress has trousers covering a leg (9) CAPARISON
    CAPRIS (trousers) around A, ON (leg - from cricket)
    Capris = trousers is doubtful though. Capris are mid-calf pants, trousers are ankle-length pants.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 18A - Now three of us, Col...

      Delete
    2. Thanks Shuchi,
      I stumbled onto CAPARISON just before your comment came in

      Delete
    3. 15D - Good cracking, Shuchi!

      Delete
    4. I suppose it should be ok as both lead to some kind of pants, length not-withstanding

      Delete
    5. Not convinced. Would you agree with shorts = trousers?

      Delete
    6. Bhavan's 9:59 below clarifies

      Delete
    7. OK, Chambers wins over popular lingo :-) This, incidentally, is its take on tracksuit.

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. I took it as free shot (Here's to f)*

      Delete
    2. What's the definition? 'Shot in match'?

      Delete
    3. Yes. But shot appearing in the defn makes it less likely to be right

      Delete
  4. 'What' is the connection with 'hello'?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Had to be that. Not fully convinced. IMO,Hello is more of a greeting than exclamation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 30A I also had FREE SHOT an anagram of Heres to f(for following). Not happy because shot as a word is present in the clue

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh, just noticed that your profile now carries the NO ENTRY sign...

      Delete
  7. 21 A posh country (4) PERU Anno not clear

    A = per (for each)
    posh = u (upper-class)
    ___________________________________________

    11 Worn out, very drunk (4) USED [DD]

    I haven't come across 'used' meaning drunk, but the wordplay suggests:

    Worn = overused
    very = over
    drunk = (over-) used
    ______________________________________________

    15 Gaudy dress has trousers covering a leg (9) CAPARISON

    Chambers:

    Capri pants (also Capris) plural noun : women's tapering trousers ending above the ankle, with a short slit on the outside leg.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Bhavan. I put in DD without checking

      Delete
    2. I think 'user' & 'used' are generally used with drugs & not drinks.

      Delete
  8. 10 Charm of poking at a stubborn person (6) AMULET {AT+MULE}*

    I don't think it's an (indirect) anagram. He probably means Stubborn person (Mule) poking AT, but the word play seems faulty.

    6 Teacher has a following outside school (4,5) ALMA MATER {A}{L{MAM}ATER}

    Is MAM: Teacher? Isn't it MAAM or MARM

    15 Gaudy dress has trousers covering a leg (9) CAPARISON Anno pending {CAP{A}RIS}{ON} ON for LEG, a cricket term, but a bit far fetched to imagine here.

    +1.

    18 Big airliner, though not big enough for 1 ac. (5,3) JUMBO JET [CD]

    Don't get what the clue means.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I suppose he means the Jumbo Jet is not big enough for a Jumbo(Elephant)

      Delete
    2. I thought so too, but it's been done earlier i.e they have been transported in planes.

      Delete
  9. Hi all,

    Apologies for a few bad/uncooked clues here; I ran into some serious time constraints. 30A is a particularly poor goof-up: I had actually intended 'stroke' instead of 'shot'. 28A veers towards an indirect anagram, and does not have a def-by-example indicator either. Note to self: never underestimate the importance of double-checking clues!

    11D: I meant drunk=SOUSED, very=SO. Guess the comma makes it unximenean.
    15D: ON=leg was very common, I thought. Maybe that's not the case in THC..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had no problem with on = leg. It is acceptable.

      Delete
  10. I feel it is a little difficult to connect on & leg without a hint of cricket or at least 'side'.It has been used that way before in TH. Thank you,anyway,for the clarifications.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Something different for a change form Scintillator. Expected some convoluted cluing and was proved right. NOT the clue of my day : SURE SHOT. Flagrant violation of MY cluing rules: to repeat the word in the clue as well as the answer. Even PERU. Musth is an English word?

    ReplyDelete
  12. SPAM above my head!

    Padmanabhan,
    Watch this hilarious discussion on the use of 'Hello/Hullo' as an exclamation of surprise.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xXSw07zrio


    Leg = On: I don't think it's unfair, although I never quite got the anno even after I filled in the boxes with a lucky geuss.

    Aren't words from naval parlance (without any explicit reference to the navy) used to indicate location/letters (e.g. port = L)?

    ReplyDelete
  13. 11 Worn out, very drunk (4) USED [DD]

    Drunk = SOUSED
    out very = - SO
    Defn: worn [-so]USED

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This has already been indicated by Scintillator @ 2:12 above

      Delete
  14. 17D-
    Is'n't plural of Stadium Stadia.instead of Stadiums.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both 'stadia' and 'stadiums' are plural form of 'stadium'.

      Delete
  15. I find many words related to an elephant have been highlighted in green letters like : ELEPHANT, MUSTH, TRUMPET, JUMBO, TUSK and CAPARISON. I am not getting how the last word is related to an elephant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To the list mentioned above MAHOUT and ROGUE too could be added.

      Delete
  16. Elephant gone wild is a ROGUE elaphant.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's correct, Raghu ji. My doubt is how the word 'caparison' is related to an elephant ?

      Delete
    2. Caparison is a saddle/ decorative covering (generally on a horse).

      Delete
    3. Thanks, Raghu ji. I believe, elephants too have such decorative coverings during festivals etc. Am satisfied now :)

      Delete
  17. A couple of other elephant-related terms: PROBOSCIS and HOWDAH.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, it seems, in all we had ten such terms related to an elephant. Really a Jumbo list !!

      Delete
  18. Oh, and re:my 04:56, lest someone thinks that I'm calling Raju Umamaheshwar a spammer, there was spam before my comment, but it has now been removed.

    ReplyDelete

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