Tuesday, 7 January 2014

No 10976, Tuesday 07 Jan 2014, Arden

I personally found Arden tough going today. The bar is really going up. I had to peep in to Orkut to get some answers.

ACROSS
1   Salt remains under grass (6) POTASH {POT}{ASH}
4   Soldier under fire for a dance (8) FLAMENCO {FLAME}{NCO}
9   Visa arranged — includes doctor and writer (6) ASIMOV {ASI{MO}V*}
10 Can let some grass bales chopped up (8) LEASABLE {LEA}{BALES*}
12 Complaints from women who follow the learned one (8) MALADIES {MA}{LADIES}
13 Leaves left inside keep us warm (6) QUILTS {QUI{L}TS}
15 Pompous fellow ate like a pig right in this building (7,5) STUFFED SHIRT {STUFFED} {{SHI{R}T*}
18 Even depart before time — it is good for health (8,4) BALANCED DIET {BALANCED} {DIE}{T}
21 Prayer in transit? No Sir, only when west bound (6) ORISON [T<=]
22 Lead or representation? It is beside the point (8) GRAPHITE {GRAPH}{IT}{E}
24 Record initially, leave an instant message to deny (8) DISCLAIM {DISC}{L}{A}{I}{M}
25 A king crazy to lead a fleet (6) ARMADA {A}{R}{MAD}{A}
26 Under river current you see fish bodies, it’s said (8) CAMISOLE {CAM}{I}{SOLE} (~bodice)
27 It’s evergreen and will melt away round the year (6) MYRTLE {M{YR}TLE*}

DOWN
1   Diviner takes a second to become a composer (8) PSALMIST {P{S}ALMIST}
2   Adversity before a single road test (5,3) TRIAL RUN {TRIAL} {RUN}
3   Code from sod’s law could be an ever present danger (5,2,8) SWORD OF DAMOCLES*
5   The boy’s up, right? (4) LIEN <=
6   Do pretend…. it may be SAD (10,5) MASQUERADE PARTY {MASQUERADE} {PARTY}
7   Unable to form a cloud (6) NEBULA*
8   Does a small turn around port (6) ODESSA {DOES+A+S}*
11 Can’t make out anything from expired card, perhaps (7) DEADPAN {DEAD}{PAN}
14 Choice between fashion and ponytail — it often goes with coffee (7) CHICORY {CHIC}{OR}{Y}
16 Fellow protecting one who is drunk, cross and belligerent (8) MILITANT {M{1}{LIT}AN}{T}
17 Cattle class pertains to cattle, period (8) STEERAGE {STEER}{AGE}
19 Scandinavian way to toss coin all around (6) NORDIC {NO{RD}IC*}
20 Stupid problem with some oriental fare (3,3) DIM SUM {DIM} {SUM}
23 Place to keep money up to a period of time (4) TILL [DD]

34 comments:

  1. Fully agree with the Col's opening comment.

    Curiously, 1A {POT}{ASH} is the example given for charades in the annotations list on the left side of the blog. It came so handy! ;-)

    Normally, when it is Arden, I manage to get a few at first look. But today, I could get only 7D -- NEBULA. Not a Cloud Nine day. :-(

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    Replies
    1. Further to my 8:52. Yet, today the word-play and clue formations take the cake.

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    2. Could you finally eat the cake though?

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    3. Lunch-time is inching in. Didn't want to ruin the appetite... ;-)

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  2. 17D - Remembered Shashi Tharoor's comment on the economy class in air travel...

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    Replies
    1. It got the poor guy busted for mouthing the truth

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  3. I had to peep into Orkut to get some answers.

    Deepak, you had the gumption to TOMtom it with honesty....;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Woke up late and was running out of time so I had to do that :-)

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    2. Richard, that is not gumptio. It's savoir faire

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    3. Merci beaucoup, monsieur...

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    4. Don't want to Harry you guys after Dick mentioned Tom in his 922, but looks like he was referring to DG's peep with his Tom reference

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  4. With weed becoming legal in some US states, DEA will not burn them in future. So no pot-ash will be available.

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  5. (from the last Sun puz)
    Was the word 'extracting' in an ac. clue doing double duty?
    Read the Comments under the blog here:
    http://www.fifteensquared.net/2014/01/05/everyman-no-3508-29th-december/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CV Sir, I've gone through that blog reg 'extracting' on double duty.

      My doubt : Pound = Lb (as given in Dic) In that clue it's shown as Pounds = L. Is it correct please ?

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    2. Unlike the weight 'pound' inciated by 'lb', the currency pound's symbol is £. So, pound is used to clue in 'L'. Normally, pounds would be LL. But, here it has been taken as L.

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  6. Delightful stuff from Arden, very clever

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  7. 26A Under river current you see fish bodies, it’s said (8) CAMISOLE {CAM}{I}{SOLE} (~bodice)
    What is teh purpose of 'UNDER' and "YOU SEE' in this clue?

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    Replies
    1. Under is to indicate that you see fish (SOLE) below river (CAM) current (I)

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    2. 'Below' would have fitted in a 'down' clue. This is an 'across' clue. So, 'after' would have suited better.

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  8. Arden was too tough for me - just got a few. Certainly not a cloud nine day!
    Always enjoy the banter on this blog - thank you all!

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  9. Very tough CW, but clever and satisfying, though didn't get too many. 23d is brilliant.

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  10. Difficult one today, maybe so due to the wordplay. Arden does not usually distinguish reversals for A & D clues.

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    Replies
    1. Today reversal clues for down clues:
      4 & 26

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. 11 Can’t make out anything from expired card, perhaps (7) DEADPAN {DEAD}{PAN}

    What is the link btn CARD and PAN please ? I am a DEADPAN !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Look at your PAN Card!

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    2. MB, there are worse things that one can be other than Deadpan, like bedpan!

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    3. Thanks, Kishore. So one can choose anyone of these cards, like Credit card, Debit card, Pan card etc, depending on the clue ! No bedpan for the present :)

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    4. Arden has used 'perhaps' to indicate that we need to think a bit out of the ordinary. A bedpan may be a good present ...

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    5. If it can help to get rid of the past

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  13. I was getting around 50-80% the last couple of weeks but not today. Really tough one from Arden!

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  14. Happy that I am not the only one who found this one unusually hard: Ard(en)uous.

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