Wednesday, 18 December 2013

No 10959, Wednesday 18 Dec 2013, Aspartame

Some awesome anagram constructions today. Looks like Aspartame has taken some abvns from the famous loooong list.

ACROSS
1,21 He devastates saloons using a book (4,6,3,6) EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES*
8   Ought to have little space for one who is late (4) OBIT {O}{BIT} O for Ought? See comments
9   Symbolic tree has half of your vitae engraved (10) FIGURATIVE {FIG}{yoUR}{VITAE*}
10 Request for sprinklers and cut the ends off (6) PRAYER sPRAYERs
11 Divorce (3-5) NON-UNION ? Anno not clear if the answer is correct. [CD] - See comments
12 Employment agency that yields nothing? (3,6) JOB CENTRE Anno for second half not clear See comments
14 Ignore unmarried woman (4) MISS [DD]
15 Plan to travel with top official (4) PLOY {PL{O}Y}
16 Dying in it can cause embarrassment (9) INDIGNITY*
20 Proverbial body measure of problems (4,4) KNEE DEEP [CD]
23 Comical son describing cultural destruction (10) ICONOCLASM*
24,25 Type of weapon amateur sitcoms aim to broadcast (4-9,4) SEMI-AUTOMATIC ARMS* Should have been weapons

DOWN
1   Go, go kill the king. That’s an order! (7) EMBARGO {EMBARk}{GO}
2   Stylish top exchanged for a bit of nylon that’s worn out (5) TATTY (-n+t)TATTY T for top?
3   Colour that adds flavour (7) SAFFRON [C&DD]
4   Argon based medical procedure? (5,10) ORGAN TRANSPLANT {ARGON}*
5   Some satyr antagonises a slave-driver (6) TYRANT [T]
6   Observation position taken by a soldier (9) ATTENTION [DD]
7   Cunning daughter got jealous when Newton was dumped (7) DEVIOUS {D}{EnVIOUS}
13 Often, cult of sheik insists on being bound tightly (5-4) CLOSE-KNIT {CuLt Of ShEiK iNsIsTs} Awesome construction
15 Medicine from Japan ace approves (7) PANACEA [T]
17 Religious mails sorted by in-charge (7) ISLAMIC {MAILS*}{IC}
18 Can there be no end to time, son? (7) THERMOS {THERe}{MO}{S}
19 Spider surveillance tool (6) WEBCAM [CD]
22 Villain from Delhi leaves a society located in an ancient Iraqi settlement (5) ASSUR {AS{S}URa}

39 comments:

  1. Awesome anagrams! Wonder what our friends having anagrams as their bete noire have to say today.

    Missed just a few like 20A. Not sure of annos for 1D and 18D.

    Still thankful to CV and Shuchi for recommending the book, Eats Shoots and Leaves, which is among my treasured collections.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 11A - I took it as non-union, but still unsure of anno.

      Delete
    2. I'm one of those who don't like too many anagrams in a crossword, but today's anagrams were very well constructed.

      Delete
  2. 11 Divorce (3-5) NON-UNION CD
    12 Employment agency that yields nothing? (3,6) JOB CENTRE I took it as:The centre of JOB = 0

    ReplyDelete
  3. 8 Ought to have little space for one who is late (4) OBIT {O}{BIT} O for Ought?

    According to the Freedictionary - Ought: a less common word for nought (zero)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sandhya/Raghu:

    WP not working, went back there after a break and answered some old stuff ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought everyone was busy, that is why no new crosswords were being posted.

      Delete
  5. 11 If marriage is union, divorce is non-union ...
    or should it be dis-union or un-union ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On a lighter note, as in the casesof 'install-uninstall', 'wrap-unwrap' and the like, being 'unmarried' can also mean being divested of the marital status... ;-)

      Delete
    2. How do you interpret: Unremarried

      Delete
    3. Richard (this time Burton, MB) should be able to answer that one, or else Ms Taylor

      Delete
    4. That query leads to a perfect union of confusion and confoundment...

      Delete
    5. Kishore @ 9:13

      Their present status please ? :)

      Delete
  6. 6D should have a question mark at the end. Maybe the setter has not read Richard's favourite book at 1a 21a

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wrt to a news story that is current but rather shrouded in mystery, here is a story in TH by its foreign correspondent. It is given in a matter-of-fact manner, allowing you to draw your own conclusions. Still we wouldn't know what happened, but we know what can happen.

    http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/detention-procedures-applicable-to-khobragade-us-clarifies/article5473109.ece?homepage=true

    In the story there is is word that was new to me. It may be new to most others except perhaps doctors - buccal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As compared to what could have happened, our retaliatory measures seem very minor and superficial and seem to indicate a minor protest and no more.

      Delete
    2. On the subject..... I thought Yeshwant Sinha's suggestion was completely hilarious.

      Delete
    3. Yep, I'd have to agree

      Delete
  8. If I'm not wrong, I think we can expect SPINNER tomorrow with his googlies,top-spinners etc.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MB,
      You are right- if the same sequence is followed.Tough/ medium/ easy? Add Chinaman,yorker and a few straight ones too!

      Delete
    2. He has many of those in his armoury. Toughness wise I find his CWs are of "Medium' type.

      Delete
  9. The most satisfying CW I can remember doing in the past few months. Superb anagrams with perfect surfaces, of course, but the other clues are also groovy, particularly 4D. And one can do this one almost without references to conventions from a CW dictionary! Even ought = 0 is not a CW convention as such but a definition.

    In sum, great stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  10. 4 Argon based medical procedure? (5,10) ORGAN TRANSPLANT {ARGON}*

    I took it the other way:
    Defn: medical procedure = ORGAN TRANSPLANT
    ORGAN TRANSPLANT = {ORGAN}* transplant is AnagrInd = ARGON

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think that is what Col. has indicated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely. I don't know where the doubt lies!

      Delete
    2. I think Rajan's query is because anagrams & reverse anagrams are indicated the same way.

      Delete
    3. May be {ORGAN}<=* or some such thing to indicate a reverse anagaram

      Delete
  12. Good one, Aspartame! No artificial sweetness here - great anagrams.
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  13. MB 10:11 and 10:42:

    This report on Burton and Taylor might be of interest to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quote from above "Richard is the only one I truly loved and still care about. "

      Delete
    2. The wise man leaves things unsaid ....

      Delete
    3. Thanks, Richard. Quite an interesting reading ! Her quote, as quoted by Kishore @ 5:30 still rings in my mind !!

      Delete

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