Friday, 14 February 2014

No.11008, Friday 14 Feb 2014, Arden


I am not sure if Arden was on a church theme with certain words (Urban, Sacristan, Bless,Laity,...) but one thing is sure: You can take a sailor out from the sea but not the sea out from a sailor ...(harbour, pilot, Control, boat, Propel)

ACROSS
1 Treat Iron applying force evenly inside (7) PROCESS (fOrCe in PRESS)
5& 2 dn. Mercenary betrayed by one with a dubious offer, or…. for a song, perhaps (7,2,7) SOLDIER OF FORTUNE (SOLD I (OFFER*) OR TUNE)
        Reminded me of those classic lines: "Cry 'Havoc', and let slip The Dogs of War" from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar 
9 Yield to the animal force within (5) DEFER (F in DEER)
10 It’s pink vehicle leading the race…. (9) CARNATION (CAR NATION)
11 ….in scarlet convertible the cops are after him (9) LARCENIST (IN SCARLET)*
12 Be safe at the border (5) HEDGE (2)
13 Shattered sculpture (4) BUST (2)
          The exercise set by CV a few days back
15 Superb if a spinner can score (8) TOP NOTCH
18 Lot can be made up from the voice (3,5) BEL CANTO (LOT CAN BE)*
19 Melanie’s got style (4) ELAN (T)
22 City for a pope (5) URBAN (2)
          The person working directly under him can be called Sub-Urban
24 He may not be allowed to enter in future (9) LATE COMER (COME in LATER)
          Such a person may not be accused of premature detonation!  If a suicide bomber, one can be 'late' at one's own funeral
26 Shhsh… it is said to be foul to harbour pique anyway (4,5) KEEP QUIET (PIQUE* in KEET=a type of fowl= ~foul)
27 Very little money announced for writers (5) PENCE (~PENS)
28 Secret? yes, try sorting out after a month (7) MYSTERY (M YESTRY*)
          Isn't it a mystery that Children's Day is 9 months after St. Valentine's?

29 Pilot study on fish mostly (7) CONTROL (CON TROLL)

DOWN
1 Power will increase by fifty — key to propel the boat (6) PADDLE (P ADD L E)
2 See 5 ac.
3 See semi-circle in the nest (5) EYRIE (RIng in EYE)
4 Church worker cries, possessed by devil, not with ecstasy (9) SACRISTAN (CRIeS in SATAN)
          New word for me. Thought it sounded like a central Asian country
5 Walk confidently with support (5) STRUT (2)
6 See one so involved with them….awful and abhorrent (9) LOATHSOME (LO A SOTHEM*)
7 Second time a parliament rises to a song (5) ILIAD (I DAIL<)
          Sometimes the parliament rises to a song and a sprayer
8 Writing with emotion he works in the jungle (6) RANGER (R ANGER)
14 Chit circulated about Queen’s art (9) TECHNIQUE (CHIT QUEEN)*
16 He gets paid a charge for dealing with a gland (9) PROSTATIC (PRO STATIC)
17 Business dealt with mineral as he got down to work (4,5) COAL MINER (CO MINERAL*)
20 Nonsense to say X, not presently named, is in the rear (6) BUNKUM (UNKnow n in BUM)
          One needs to get to the bottom of this clue
21 Trial or trade in? (6) ORDEAL (OR DEAL)
23 Sanctify Bishop? Not so much (5) BLESS (B LESS)
24 Churchgoers in American city — not many in the city (5) LAITY (LA cITY)
25 Bird with headgear (5) CAPON (CAP ON)
         Their loss leads to weight gain?

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44 comments:

  1. Richard14 February 2014 at 08:33


    Well-formed ones like LARCENIST, TOPNOTCH, URBAN, LATECOMER, KEEP QUIET, PENCE, MYSTERY, CONTROL, SACRISTAN, LOATHSOME, TECHNIQUE, PROSTATIC, COAL MINER, BUNKUM (anno not very clear, blog yet to be checked), BLESS, LAITY, CAPON, ORDEAL. Could not get a few in the top left corner.

    Many words connected with religion today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Richard14 February 2014 at 08:36

    4D - Surprised that SACRISTAN made an entry into Kishopedia only today.

    ReplyDelete
  3. SandhyaP14 February 2014 at 08:37

    20 Nonsense to say X, not presently named, is in the rear (6) B{UNK}UM

    UNK(-now)(-n)
    (n: named)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard14 February 2014 at 08:41

      You prove the point made by many of us here yet again!

      Delete
    2. Kishore14 February 2014 at 08:47

      That is what I have indicated, Sandy. But was unsure whether to leave a space between now and n or not and let it be.

      Delete
    3. SandhyaP14 February 2014 at 09:02

      OK, now I realise why you wrote - 'One needs to get to the bottom of this clue' :)

      Delete
    4. Kishore14 February 2014 at 09:07

      !

      Delete
  4. Richard14 February 2014 at 08:40

    Within a day of reference here to the well of the august house (LS/RS), there was the let's spray ceremony...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kishore14 February 2014 at 08:50

    A tiny mystery in the toon connecting it to today. Only the faithful may be able to see it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard14 February 2014 at 08:57

      'Well in time' toon...

      The text reminded me of two Thackerays. One was Makepeace. Another was 'Breakpeace'.

      Delete
    2. Kishore14 February 2014 at 09:18

      If a coal scandal is coalgate, will a tollgate scandal be tollgategate?

      Delete
    3. Richard14 February 2014 at 09:33

      Crashgate...

      Delete
  6. Kishore14 February 2014 at 08:50

    Capon reminded me of the caporegime in The Godfather.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chaturvasi14 February 2014 at 08:56

    I am back home now and can look at the entries for our CWE for BUST.

    1. Break up sculpture (4)

    A DD, much like Arden's today but will we say 'break up sculpture' or 'break sculpture up'?

    2. America in bio-technology's chest (4)

    Wordplay is OK but surface reading is not up to the mark.

    ? Damaged counterfoil?

    Don't now if this is an entry. But as the enu is missing, I am not considering it.

    3. Break a lady's chest (4)

    Wordplay OK; surface reading plausible. I, for one, would never say 'Oh god! Look at that woman's chest!' unless it's a big box that she has brought with her. Don't ask me what word I would use in the contest.

    4. Public transport gets model damage (4)

    Wordplay OK but surface reading is not up to scratch. What is 'model damage'?

    4. Shirt on underwater vessel reversed damage (4)

    Again. the surface reading is poor.

    General remarks: Even if clues are written in a hurry, attention must be paid to the overall meaning conveyed by the clue. It can be bizarre but it must be plausible. What is this shirt on underground vessel reversing damage?

    Arden's 'Shattered sculpture' is pithy, impeccable in wordplay and cryptic grammar. Surface reading is great, reminding us of Ozymandias.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard14 February 2014 at 09:02

      Thanks CV. Points noted. I had already expressed an apprehension that memories of a one-time setter would be brought back.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi14 February 2014 at 09:06

      I wrote: Don't ask me what word I would use in the contest.

      The contest was between two women with different sizes.

      This is what we call 'samaalification' in Tinglish.

      Delete
    3. Kishore14 February 2014 at 09:09

      It is as simple as A,B, C ....

      Delete
  8. Kishore14 February 2014 at 09:20

    Drawing trotters today reminded me of the Barry Trotter series ...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Richard14 February 2014 at 09:28

    Not a bit of a nit, just making a point.

    20D - 'presently' to mean 'at present' is avoided by many present-day writers. Because 'presently' can also mean 'soon'. 'At present' or 'currently' is preferred.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh14 February 2014 at 10:31

      I too, am a bit nitty about the incorrect use of presently.

      Delete
  10. Richard14 February 2014 at 10:41

    Nobody remembers Valentine...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard14 February 2014 at 10:42

      Many of the blog regulars busy celebrating, possibly? :-)

      Delete
    2. VMA Nair14 February 2014 at 10:55

      I have only one date for Valentine's
      February 14th :-(

      Delete
    3. Richard14 February 2014 at 10:57

      Enjoy it to the brim, Ajeesh!

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi14 February 2014 at 11:24

      I interpret Ajeesh's statement thus: he has only the date Feb. 14, 2014, and that he does not have someone with whom he has arranged to meet for a romantic relationship.

      Delete
    5. Chaturvasi14 February 2014 at 11:25

      Or he wishes that he had many dates to go out with but alas he has only one.

      Delete
  11. Unknown14 February 2014 at 12:30

    'Dogs of war' is it by Shakespeare or Fredrick Forsyth?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi14 February 2014 at 13:06

      It is a 1974 novel by FF (I read it in those times when I used to read fiction) but the title is from a passage in a Shakespeare's play alluded to by the blogger..

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14 February 2014 at 13:57

      As usual, CV is perfectly correct. That is why though I have quoted Wm Shakespeare, I have linked only a part of the quote - the part that forms the title of FF's book - to the Wiki entry for the book. In fact, the quote appears at the begiining of the book. Btw, havoc is a medieval war instruction ordering pillage.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous14 February 2014 at 14:00

    Every Valentine's Day, I tend to remember one of my favourite authors, who passed away on this day. The cartoon documents one of his creations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nadathur Rajan14 February 2014 at 14:27

      I could immediately make out that the allusion was to the Empress of Blandings, whose creator PG Wodehouse passed away this day in 1975.

      Delete
    2. Nadathur Rajan14 February 2014 at 14:55

      I know of one eminent statesman - Dr BC Roy - whose birth and death anniversaries fall on the same day - July 1.

      Delete
  13. Anonymous14 February 2014 at 14:35

    Pl elaborate how you could say this was the E of B and not any other pig, say The Pride of Matchingham ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nadathur Rajan14 February 2014 at 14:57

      Isn't that a crown that you have penned in?

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14 February 2014 at 15:35

      Yes, of course!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous14 February 2014 at 15:39

      NR, your swathe of ken somehow reminds me of Dr Venkatesh from Delhi, who has a similar expanse. I have had a chance to meet him in person at the IXL finals. Have you perchance come across him?

      Delete
  14. raju umamaheswar14 February 2014 at 16:00

    ARDEN's is one of those creations that keep getting filled in so smoothly-- like a knife through butter, and takes one to that Aha moment unimpeded ! I strongly recommend that he changes his name to EMDEN --His crossies always let you say I"M DONE!! and get one's hands to one's nape !

    ReplyDelete
  15. Padmanabhan14 February 2014 at 19:05

    CV,
    "Don't now if this is an entry. But as the enu is missing, I am not considering it."

    I meant it as an entry. I am not able to get the 'enu' part. I meant it as 'stub' being damaged to 'bust'. Probably I did not make it clear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath14 February 2014 at 19:23

      That would be an indirect anagram Counterfoil (STUB) to BUST

      Delete
    2. Anonymous14 February 2014 at 20:55

      What CV meant was you had not given the enumeration i.e. (4) at the end of the text, and hence he was not certain if it was a clue.

      Delete
  16. Padmanabhan14 February 2014 at 19:59

    Yes, It is . Thank you. I missed seding a mail to CV on this- just mentioned it in the blog. That is my mistake.

    ReplyDelete

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