Saturday, 14 December 2013

No 10956, Saturday 14 Dec 2013, xChequer

I'm all thumbs as usual with Exchequer.

ACROSS
1   Imitation ring, extremely phoney, detected in carbon scan? (7) COPYCAT {C}{O}{PhonY}{CAT}
5   Long live rent setback in city (3,4) TEL AVIV {TEL} {AVIV}<=
9   Bird hopping over new motor car’s dicky (9) (Addendum - CORMORANT {CORMORA{N}T*} - See comments)
10 One in five good men zip in America (5) VIGOR {V}{1}{G}{OR}
11 Cause an initial change in its outcome (6) EFFECT (-a+e)EFFECT
12 Perhaps one in five running across is a priest (Rabbi included) (7) (Addendum - ISRAELI {IS}{R}{A}{ELI} - See comments)
14 Spindle seen in large tool boxes (4) AXLE {AX{L}E}
15 Belly dancing in guided tours is a device to take people for a ride (10) TROLLEYBUS*
19 Recoils in wild anger during periods of depression? The opposite! (10) BOOMERANGS {BOOM{ANGER*}S}
20 Very excited to find gas in western state (4) AGOG {A{G}OG<=}
22 What’s produced is not in shape (7) OUTTURN {OUT}{TURN}
25 Cardinal having half-normal vision? (6) TWENTY TWENTY-twenty
27 Adventures with birds (5) LARKS [DD]
28 Focus in awfully boring web meeting without taking sides (9) NEUTRALLY {NE{awfUlly}T}{RALLY}
29 Seeped out at a place far offshore and far below (4,3) DEEP SEA {DEEP SE*}{A}
30 What comes after a rest? Hassles! (7) BOTHERS [CD] (Addendum - {B}{OTHERS} - See comments)

DOWN
1   Empty boast from dawn, sheer nonsense (4) COCK COCKcrow ?
2   Left clumsy fool holding independent charge (9) PORTFOLIO {PORT}{FOL{I}O*}
3   Key piece missing in chain or necklace (6) CHOKER Anno pending (Addendum - {CH}{O{KEy}R} - See comments)
4   Shot traitor hiding at restaurant (9) TRATTORIA {TR{AT}TORIA*}
5   All together express disapproval over rejected appeal (5) TUTTI {TUT}{TI<=}
6   Be free around base wearing a uniform (8) LIVERIED
7   Very fit general (5) VAGUE {V}{AGUE}
8   Private art exhibition is never organised around fall (10) VERNISSAGE {VERNIS{SAG}E*} Thanks to Sandhya from Orkut
13 Starting to binge in the morning and drunk around beginning of lunch made a fool of one (10) BAMBOOZLED {B}{AM}{BOOZ{L}ED}
16 Source of illumination in new big hut? Two pounds should cover it (5-4) LIGHT-BULB {L}{IGHT-BU*}{LB}
17 Opening in dance with oriental piece of music (9) BAGATELLE {BA{GATE}LL}{E}
18 Legacies live on, mission ending in success (8) BEQUESTS {BE}{QUEST}{S}
21 Lament from royal bird (6) REGRET {R}{EGRET}
23 Short after several folds (5) TERSE [T]
24 Erstwhile professional assassin essentially seen in Japan (5) NINJA [T]
26 Spot gold primarily moving up, so get ‘goldbricks’? (4) GYPS Anno pending (Addendum - {SPY}{G}<= - See comments)

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45 comments:

  1. SandhyaP14 December 2013 at 08:39

    12 Perhaps one in five running across is a priest (Rabbi included) (7) {IS}{R}{A}{ELI}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath14 December 2013 at 09:13

      R for RUN is okay but can it be extended to RUNNING?

      Delete
    2. Bhalchandra Pasupathy14 December 2013 at 15:29

      Running across used (apart from surface) to distinguish 5ac from 5d. Not part of the wordplay

      Delete
  2. SandhyaP14 December 2013 at 08:40

    9 Bird hopping over new motor car’s dicky (9) CORMORA{N}T*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 08:53

      Good surface reading - good anag signal (dicky) - good inserticator (hopping over).
      Yet the clue as a whole falls.

      Qn: is the order of operations indicated clearly?

      We can interpret like this:

      Bird - def
      hopping over new - going over N
      [is] motor car’s dicky - motorcar anagramed

      The problem is the missing 'is' and the intrusive 's
      which doesn't make cryptic reading coherent.
      Trust I have made myself clear and pointed out where the problem lies.

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath14 December 2013 at 08:59

      I see it like this

      Bird = Definition
      hopping over new = going over N
      motor car = MOTOR CAR
      's dicky = is dicky = Anind

      Delete
    3. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 09:08

      The question is whether these operations are indicated properly - whether the cryptic grammar is right.

      Delete
    4. VJ14 December 2013 at 09:16

      Does this work?

      Flier in new motorcar's dicky (9)

      Flier as in pamphlet/ bird.

      Surface isn't great, but I though I'll use the same fodder

      Delete
    5. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 09:17

      On second thoughts it seems to be OK.

      Delete
    6. Raghunath14 December 2013 at 11:27

      9 Bird in new motor car’s dicky (9) CORMORA{N}T*

      Why does the clue need "hopping over"? When the fodder is N+MOTOR+CAR?

      Delete
    7. VJ14 December 2013 at 12:33

      I think it's prolly for the surface. A bird inside a dicky would suffocate and die - not a pleasant image that.

      Delete
  3. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 08:42

    Spot - SPY
    gold primarily - G
    moving up, so get - rev ind, so GYPS '
    'goldbricks’? (4) GYPS - cheats. I uunderstand 'goldbricks' means cheats - avoids work while performing duty

    ReplyDelete
  4. SandhyaP14 December 2013 at 08:46

    3 Key piece missing in chain or necklace (6) CHOKER (Can't figure out the anno)

    ReplyDelete
  5. SandhyaP14 December 2013 at 08:49

    1 Empty boast from dawn, sheer nonsense (4) CACK (anno pending)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 09:04

      The intended ans might be COCK.

      Cock is a bird that heralds the dawn and 'cock' also means 'nonsense' as in cock and bull story.

      A strutting person is known as 'cock' but I am not sure if it also means 'empty boast'.

      Delete
    2. Suresh14 December 2013 at 10:07

      COCK means utter nonsense. So Empty boast

      Delete
    3. Bhalchandra Pasupathy14 December 2013 at 15:31

      Intended wordplay was Cockcrow minus crow, ie remove boast from dawn. Deepak's original anno too

      Delete
  6. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 08:55

    Deepak
    The anno must be shown as

    {SPY}{G} <=

    following the solution GYPS

    ReplyDelete
  7. SandhyaP14 December 2013 at 09:02

    Got the anno:
    3 Key piece missing in chain or necklace (6) {CH}{O{KE(-y)}R }

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suresh14 December 2013 at 10:08

    I got ISRAELI, but do not get how it is one of five.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Col_Gopinath14 December 2013 at 10:25

    'Perhaps one in five' and as Five is TEL AVIV 'Perhaps one in Tel Aviv' is an Israeli

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh14 December 2013 at 10:28

      That is right. Actually I had got it after entering it but forgot that I had got it. Does that make sense?

      Delete
    2. Raghunath14 December 2013 at 11:14

      One in 'five'.Is this fair? Aren't clue numbers referred to in clues, to be numerals, as convention?

      Delete
    3. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 12:01

      You're right.

      In a clue if a number refers to an answer from another clue, it must be in the form of 5, 3, 8, etc, not five, three, eight.

      OTOH, 'five' in words will be a component yielding V, etc.

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 12:02

      That must be the reason why I did not comprehend the anno given here but I didn't ask. However, I got the answer from postings of others.

      Delete
    5. Suresh14 December 2013 at 13:37

      It may be a break from convention. But not unfair in my opinion. In fact, it is variety like this that makes solving enjoyable.

      Delete
  10. RameshJ14 December 2013 at 12:24

    Good that Exchequer's one was slotted for a Saturday. Just about managed to clear the finish line. Needed the dictionary for vernissage & this blog for annos of Israeli & choker.

    ReplyDelete
  11. RameshJ14 December 2013 at 12:30

    Another pangram from Exchequer.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unknown14 December 2013 at 12:54

    Today also Crossword is on the last page. May be it is on trial!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath14 December 2013 at 13:36

      Had to use the search feature to locate it in the online edition. Couldn't find it directly.

      Delete
    2. Suresh14 December 2013 at 13:36

      I would be happy if this was to continue

      Delete
    3. Suresh14 December 2013 at 13:39

      My response of 1:36 is to Vijay's comment, not Deepak's. Watching Deepak struggle would not give me any peassure.

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi14 December 2013 at 13:51

      The most ideal position for the crossword is bottom left or top left of the last page.
      We can rule out bottom left because if there are many ads they will take away that space.
      Top left should be available - unless the whole of the back page is an ad.
      But I don't see that happening because the left-to-right order now is religion-archive-CWD.
      I would think that it's the page level of the day's edition that is pushing the Variety segment to the last page.
      The back page is very important for a paper and its economy and it just cannot continue to have the Variety section.
      Of course, the back-page position makes it very easy for us to reduce the paper to a quarter-size (without any opening and refolding pages) and fill in comfortably.
      Many UK papers too shifting the crossword and there are complaints from readers.

      Delete
  13. Sridhar14 December 2013 at 14:56

    Regarding 30 A : What comes after a rest? Hassles (7) BOTHERS (CD)

    I had this anno as a charade as follows:

    What comes after "a" -- "B"
    rest -- others
    Hassles -- Keyword -- Bothers


    ReplyDelete
  14. Raghunath14 December 2013 at 15:24

    Excellent!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Raghunath14 December 2013 at 15:26

    That's why I couldn't figure out the CD part. Nice clue BTW.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Mukundala Balasubramanyam14 December 2013 at 17:14

    It's all 'thumbs down' for me ! Found it (CW) a hard nut to crack ! Hope xChequer would make it a bit easier in the next round. Thanking in advance :)

    ReplyDelete

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