Sunday, 24 August 2014

Special, Sunday 24 Aug 2014, Gigabyte


Three answers per commenter (with annotations) as usual till 6 PM.


ACROSS
1   Plant me to leave comedy act (5)
4   Mantra shoots him for being a referee (9)
8   President celebrates festival with Iowa Minister (3,4)
9   Square article in dish (6)
10 Crystal Meth? No other option?  (4)
11 Brand a lifeless life made of reduce reuse and recycle (7)
12 Raised money, you say? (4)
13 Heard loud architect (5)
15  Almost authorize commend in short (5)
16 Tempered shadow dance (5)
17 Organize without direction disturbing a gypsy (7)
19 Cross self-estimate (5)
21 A needle points here to a prickly thorn  (5)
23 Drink returned with newspaper for a time (5)
25 Fruit salad harvest (4)
26 Wrap again to mend (7)
28 Game Laundromat oddly played (4)
29 Meeting Point with gangster ends in arrangement being called off (2,4)
30 Quiet – See Colin agonised without love (7)
31 Lead twice for an advantage (4,5)
32 Unknown direction for a catalyst (5)

DOWN
1   Halogens at a rocky height (5)
2   Tweet vital energy returning a cat call (7)
3   A demonized crazy is easy to find (4-1-5)
4   This endotoxin has nothing against general (1-7)
5   Due peacekeepers approaching Maori village with credentials (6)
6   Helpless grand old lady passed away through Miami in endless state  (7)
7   A life-changing experience to end a heart wrongly (4,5)
14 Club I call unknown mockingly (10)
15 First book notice I give him first  (3,6)
18 A dependent space traveller rested being deficient in Sodium and under trauma to start with (8)
20 Heartless within she picked a card I anguished for (7)
22 God! Setter moved out of one capital to another ancient one (7)
24 Dark and against the law when Indian Currency’s lead is eclipsed by a pound  (3-3)
27 A famous butler (5)

Across Lite version can be accessed at GIGABYTE 3

Enjoy.

86 comments:

  1. 30A : Quiet – See Colin agonised without love (7) SILENCE (SEE COLIN - O)*

    ReplyDelete
  2. 7D : A life-changing experience to end a heart wrongly (4,5) NEAR DEATH (END A HEART)* Def : A life changing experience

    ReplyDelete
  3. 12 bred ~bread
    30 Silence*-o
    32 y east

    ReplyDelete
  4. 4A Mantra shoots him for being a referee (9) OMBUDSMAN

    Mantra-- OM

    Shoots--BUDS

    him-- MAN

    def : Referee

    ReplyDelete
  5. 28A L U D O alternate from LaUnDrOmat

    ReplyDelete
  6. 17A - ZINGARO - (ORGANISE)*-E

    ReplyDelete
  7. 21A - NORTH*
    23A - {NIG<=}{HT}
    27D - RHETT (From 'Gone with the wind')

    ReplyDelete
  8. 14 Club I call unknown mockingly (10) IRON I CALL Y

    ReplyDelete
  9. 29 Meeting Point with gangster ends in arrangement being called off (2,4) No Deal
    Node = meeting point + al =gangster

    ReplyDelete
  10. Replies
    1. Not 6 it's (3-3) I had corrected it, looks like I didn't save after correction. Have done it now

      Delete
  11. 4 This endotoxin has nothing against general (1-7) O Antigen
    othing = O
    against =Anti
    general =gen

    ReplyDelete
  12. Replacing for 28A

    20D Heartless within she picked a card I anguished for (7) A CARD IA = Absence of heart

    ReplyDelete
  13. 13 Heard loud architect (5) GAUDI (~GAUDY = LOUD)

    ReplyDelete
  14. 16 Tempered shadow dance (5) RUMBA, dance (UMBRA* = SHADOW)

    ReplyDelete
  15. 28 Game Laundromat oddly played (4)
    This has been solved as LUDO.
    In a clue of this kind, every alternate letter in the following fodder word must be taken into account. Here after the answer is derived, a letter (that is, 'a') is left hanging.
    That is a 'no-no'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thought it was not done too Could have easily corrected and should have

      Delete
  16. 16 Tempered shadow dance (5)

    Indirect anagram. Why shy away from using an unconcealed fodder such as Burma? Because it is a cliche? Or because 'Burma' is no longer used? Then another clue-type could be attempted.

    ReplyDelete
  17. 22D: RAVENNA ; {RA}{V(-i)ENNA}

    ReplyDelete
  18. 15D: ADI GRANTH ; {AD}{I} {GRANT}{H}, Defn : First Book

    ReplyDelete
  19. 31A : Lead twice for an advantage (4,5) HEAD START ( Lead = Head = Start ) Def : Advantage

    ReplyDelete
  20. 19A IRATE (I-RATE)
    24D ILL-LIT {ILL -(ic) (L) IT}

    ReplyDelete
  21. 25A : Fruit salad harvest (4) : A confusion arises here.

    Which one should be taken as definition pl? Fruit or Harvest?

    Pear for fruit is given as answer by CGB @ 10:50. But with 15Dn answer ADI GRANTH the correct answer seems to be Reap for Harvest.

    ReplyDelete
  22. LEFTOVERS :

    Across : 1, 10, 11, 15

    Down : 1, 2, 6, 18

    ReplyDelete
  23. 15 A Almost authorize commend in short (5) APPRO(-ve)

    1D Halogens at a rocky height (5) {CL}{I}{F}{F}
    Halogens -
    CL: Chlorine
    I: Iodine
    F: Flourine

    6D Helpless grand old lady passed away through Miami in endless state (7) MI{ZOR(-a)}AM(-i)

    ZORA/ZOHRA SEHGAL

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 6Dn : Great solving Ma'am! I could guess MIZORAM but was unable to parse it :(

      Delete
  24. 1A CYCAD (Anag of comedy act minus me& to)
    15A APPRO (APPRO-ve)
    2D CHU RRUP<

    ReplyDelete
  25. 25A- Reap -(Pear)*. Only this fits the crossing. Sald (Anind) of Pear.
    Def.- Harvest

    ReplyDelete
  26. 11A- Ferrari- Brand
    Lifeless life- (IFE)*
    Reduce Reuse And Reycle (First letters)- RRAR
    (Made of) seems to be the indication to choose first letters. I have not come across such usage earlier.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or maybe the A comes from the second word of the clue. But I do not know if R is a valid abbreviation for the other 3 words..

      Delete
    2. I found R for Reuse and Recycle in abbreviations.com. R as reduce may be as in DRI for Directly reduced iron

      Delete
    3. You mean 'made of' is an indication for abbreviation?

      Delete
    4. I agree A may come from the second word in the clue. I overlooked that.

      Delete
    5. Reduce Reuse Recycle are the 3 Rs of the environment. Is it wrong to use that? There was no first letter indicator hence.

      Delete
    6. Yes, 3 Rs are the Mantra of eco-friendly processing of textiles and therefore I was looking for the Retail Brand as Adidas, Nike, M&S etc who advocate 3 Rs in all seriousness these days

      Delete
  27. Leftovers at 2:18 PM after 3 Large Vodkas!

    Across - 10
    Down - 18

    For one last solver

    ReplyDelete
  28. 18D- Astrosat
    Space traveller- Astronaut- NA UT, giving ASTRO
    Na- Sodium
    UT- Ultimate Trauma to start with (First leters)
    Astrosat is an Indian satellite.
    But I am not able to fit in dependent and how it can lead to SAT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well solved. rested - SAT
      ASTROSAT is India's first dedicated astronomy satellite scheduled to be launched on board the PSLV in 2015.
      Definition appears incomplete.
      May be it was intended as 'a dependent space traveller'!

      Delete
    2. Space traveller only leads to Astro ( after taking off Na & Ut) Is it doing double duty? Or is the def. just dependent? As you say, something seems to be missing.

      Delete
    3. Entire sentence seems to be the def. in which case it is a CD.

      Delete
    4. Collins dictionary has dependent listed as a synonym for satellite

      Delete
    5. But dependent is an altogether different definition of satellite. Astrosat =/= dependent

      Delete
    6. That is why the use of A dependent space traveller.

      Delete
    7. But that's like defining 'CAT' as 'a base' , because cat = animal, and animal = base

      Delete
    8. :) A dependent space traveller could signify a satellite right? I had assumed that space traveller would be on double duty. Obviously it has not worked.

      Delete
    9. Certain wealthy people may have some satellites around them. The latter are satellites - hangers-on or dependents..

      Delete
    10. 'space traveller' for satellite is fine (though it does double duty), but I don't see the need for 'dependent'. (continuing my previous analogy, it would still be like cluing CAT as 'a base creature' )

      Delete
  29. 10 Crystal Meth? No other option? (4) TINA [2]

    crystal methamphetamine -> crystal meth -> Christina -> Tina
    There Is No Alternative

    ReplyDelete
  30. In 27d, is it ok to have b in butler in lower case, when ref is to name Butler?

    ReplyDelete
  31. Setter's prerogative?!
    Anyway, I did not expect butler with a small case b to lead to the answer. Would a ? at the end have helped solve the problem?
    Agree with 10A & 18D as above?

    ReplyDelete
  32. My considered opinion is that the 'b' in the clue need not have to be in caps to suggest that the required answer is the name of a real or fictional character that is a proper noun.
    I am surprised by Kishore's query and by Paddy's approval.
    Will someone else pitch in please?
    We will settle this matter once and for all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now that nobody is pitching in I will put in my two-bit. I never notice capitals and punctuation when solving crosswords. Expect perhaps the question marks at the end, which are required in some clues.

      But that is not an expert opinion.

      Delete
    2. I too feel that the 'b' should've been capitalised.

      Delete
  33. Is the use of the 3Rs the way I have used it in 11 A acceptable?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a principle, yes, Gita. Surface reading could be better, though. How about "Brand a lifeless life with reading writing and arithmetic"

      Delete
    2. Ok - thanks for that tip

      Delete
  34. Before I comment on the 11 FERRARI clue (and saying there is no problem about using those words for RRR), please, will someone give me the complete anno for it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brand a lifeless life made of reduce reuse and recycle

      Definition = Brand

      A lifeless LIFE = A LIFE - L = A IFE (not sure whether 'L' for life is a standard abbreviation)

      wordplay = anagram of (A IFE RRR)

      Delete
    2. Exactly! That is what I expected someone to remark.

      Delete
    3. That was a mistake - should not have overlooked that

      Delete
    4. Saying there is no problem about using those words for RRR Why is there no problem?

      The anagrind is in between the fodder?

      Delete
    5. I was not commenting on the clue as a whole (as evidenced from further messages following mine). I was simply saying there is no prob in getting RRR from those words.

      Delete
    6. Yes - I have figured that the clue should have been framed differently too. Thank You all for the tips and for bearing with me when I caused so much agony :)

      Delete
  35. A famous Butler
    Assuming the enu is 6, what would be the answer?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Would be good if someone from the forum would act as a mentor for new setters the first few times so that such errors are avoided.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Not as a mentor, but to check for any obvious errors in framing of clues. missing indicators etc. I could check if you mail me at: prnath_hyd@dataone.in your puzzle in M S Word.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Thanks - will take you up on that next time

    ReplyDelete
  39. Exactly what CV has been suggesting for a while - a test solver to spot overlooked points.

    ReplyDelete

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