Smooth and easier one from Buzzer, didn't find it difficult to make both ends meet today.
ACROSS
9 Sale ran out of stock (7) ARSENAL*
10 Gurukul elected to host a musical piece (7) UKULELE [T]
12 Present for Trojans given with cunning foresight (4,5) GIFT HORSE* &lit
13 Paid attention to that man on boat with paddling need (9) HEARKENED {HE}{ARK}{NEED*}
14 Youngster showing enthusiasm entered university for English (5) PUPPY P(-e+u)UPPY
15 Reportedly parse period book's extract (7) PASSAGE (~parse}{PASS}{AGE} Not convinced by the homophone
17 Hit the jackpot prize taking in tip (5,2) CLEAN UP {C{LEAN} UP}
19 Gather courage (5) PLUCK [DD]
20 Pub next to blue ocean around large Spanish city (9) BARCELONA {BAR}{CE{L}ONA*}
22 Dealing in a retail among other things (5,4) INTER ALIA*
24 Sample from novel, a terrific delight (5) ELATE [T]
25 Catholic clergyman, cool chap (7) CREVICE {C}{REV}{ICE}
26 Stop backing company director held in suspicion (7) OCCLUDE {CO<=}{CLU{D}E}
DOWN
1 Let off steam and all the rage to show camaraderie (8) MATESHIP {STEAM*}{HIP}
2 Disorder in ATM has gotten out of control (6) ASTHMA*
3 Novelty of knights guarding prison can upset king (5-5) KNICK-KNACK
4 Beauty of leg breaks — each gets nicked regularly (8) ELEGANCE {E{LEG}A}{N
5 Polished fan met editor (6) BUFFED {BUFF}{ED}
6 Expressing pain in a sense after losing leader (4) OUCH
7 Turtle's wrongly labelled a sprinter (8) TERRAPIN* There seems to be an extra S in the fodder
8 Present hollow study in unorthodox belief (6) HERESY {HERE}{S
14 Liking positive testimonial (10) PREFERENCE {P}{REFERENCE}
16 Using net, must need primarily for daredevils (8) STUNTMEN {NET+MUST+N
18 Shattered pallette showing a trace of blood (8) PLATELET*
19 Worth having name, Harry for example (6) PRINCE {PRI{N}CE}
20 Sirens say decorative partners of whistles? (6) BELLES (~bells)
21 Thick round tablet left discarded (6) OPAQUE {O}{P
GRID
Refer the cartoon at 16D, I wonder what he tried at home?
ReplyDeleteWell, his wife or children probably challenged him that he might do all sorts of tricks in the film set and may have even won awards but could he do one at home to their amusement? Foolishly he tried to oblige and came to harm because the usual precautions and support devices were absent.
DeleteSorry, I just now realise you asked 'what' he did, not 'why'.
DeleteThe answer is: "Don't know"!
:-)
DeleteHe had stored his wife's two mobile numbers under the names wife1 and wife2
DeleteOr was he using the net to browse XXX stuff?
Delete'net' could not support him and he fell down?
DeleteGive me Buzzer any day. Such a delight. Many gems today also.
ReplyDeletePars~ pass almost in Brit Eng but not so in Am Eng. Brit Eng has pars with two dots above 'a' whereas pass is pas with a hyphen above 'a'. Not able to copy paste these symbols via my phone from the free dictionary.com
ReplyDeleteEasier puz than y/day. I think we can let pass the A on B as AB for an across clue in 13a, a very nice clue otherwise. This to some extent is acceptable as Shuchi had covered in crossword included.
ReplyDeleteComment should have ended with crosswordunclued.
Delete7D- Does "Wrongly labeled" indicate deletion of S?
ReplyDeleteFairly smooth, but I could not get the anno for a few. Doubts cleared thanks to the blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat's significance of the message in the puz?
ReplyDeleteI dont know either. The first and the last row?
DeleteCould be. The message appears in the preamble too!
DeleteIt is the preamble since the Col. noticed it
DeleteI could not quite connect suspicion with clue, though I found later suspicion given as one of the meanings of clue.
ReplyDelete20ac do not understand the need for blue? Shouldnt it rither be anagram fodder or including letter b ...
ReplyDeleteBlue is the Anagram indicator for 'ocean'
DeleteYes, easier one today. Thanks, Buzzer, for making it my day. Thoroughly enjoyed it. :-))))
ReplyDeleteBlue is the anind for the word 'blue'.Anagram fodder is 'ocean'.
ReplyDeleteSorry Col. I did not see your entry earlier.
ReplyDelete7 Turtle's wrongly labelled a sprinter (8) TERRAPIN* There seems to be an extra S in the fodder
ReplyDeleteWhat about
('s+terrapin)* = a sprinter* -- A composite anagram
That should be it, as otherwise Buzzer would have used 'is' for 's. He does like to use composite anagrams.
DeleteBy logic & science Col. is a convex lens!
ReplyDeleteOr should it be Me!
ReplyDeleteA minor adjustment needed in 16Dn Anno pl.
ReplyDeleteThanks adjusted
DeleteOne more correction pl. CAN in 3Dn Anno needs reversal ind.
ReplyDeleteThanks corrected
DeleteVery nice time today - thank you, Buzzer! And thanks to DG and the cartoonists, too.
ReplyDeleteI parsed 7d a little differently: "a sprinter" is a wrong anagram of TERRAPIN, and it is also a wrong "label" literally, since a terrapin is a turtle and is certainly no sprinter! I thought the clue was quite clever.
I guess what helped in seeing the answer right away was the coincidence of a similar device being used by Dac in the Independent just yesterday (17 Sep): in his case, the answer was SPRINTER and the clue read "Exotic terrapin’s not a fast mover" [{TERRaPIN'S-a}*=SPRINTER=fast mover]. IMO, the terrapin's speed is a part of the clue in each case.
I find it interesting how often unrelated puzzles coming up around the same time throw up similar words and devices. In 14d, Buzzer has used "testimonial" to give us "reference" as part of the answer; in the Independent on the 16th, Phi has REFERENCE as an entry and had "testimonial" as a definition in the clue!
18d IMO, it can be pallet or palette, not pallette. Pl correct me, if am wrong
ReplyDeleteI thought so too, but Merriam-Webster says pallette is a bona fide word meaning one of the plates at the armpits in a suit of armour.
Deletehttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pallette
The BRB does not have 'pallette'
DeleteSince my spell check was drawing squiggles, I looked in the BRB. I did not look online. Thanks, Abhay
DeleteO/t
ReplyDeleteTime to go Scott-free?
Is there a word such as "heark" = pay attention to? Is it an archaic word?
ReplyDeleteThe word is "hearken", with "harken" as a variant.
DeleteYes, we also have the variant 'hark'.
DeleteIn a Shakespeare play, there is the song that begins with the line
Hark! hark! the lark at heaven's gate sings
Musicians sing this at the behest of a man to awaken a young lady.
Before I studied Eng lit in college, I gad this poem in my SSLC Eng textbook.
Yes, hearken slipped out of my mind. Apologies to Buzzer.
DeleteThere's a new post on CU
ReplyDeleteDidn't it appear one or two days ago?
DeleteYes, on Tuesday
Delete10A- Ukulele version ot " The Good The Bad the Ugly" theme
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLgJ7pk0X-s
It was great pleasure watching the video. Ukelele version of this Western instrumental is simply superb. Thanks, Dr.Jaggu, for sharing the link with us. :)
ReplyDeleteAbhay,
ReplyDeleteI actually harbour a conspiracy theory about the THC -- the setters decide on a word that will apepar at least twice during a cycle. I've noticed this happen all too often for it to be merely coincidental. :D
I was talking about coincidences in the context of similar words and/or definitions occurring within a day or two of each other in completely different publications (specifically, The Hindu, the Guardian, and The Independent, which are the three that I do quite regularly). If it happens within a cycle with the same setter, then I would agree that something more than coincidence is at work!
DeleteNo, not with the same setter, just within the same cycle.
DeleteI quite see what Abhay says.
DeleteAs for what Navneeth says, at first I thought he was joking. Now that he says he is speaking of repetitions in the same cycle (by which I think he means a month's cycle starting from a particular setter through all other setters) he is serious perhaps.
Any repetitions of lights/solutions can only be by co-incidence.
Setters don't know each other and they don't work in concert. Of course, Navneeth knows this and that's why I guessed he was joking.
Such repetitions can be avoided only if the publisher maintains a list of solutions of published crosswords and compares words in the latest CWD with it to track down repetitions. Even if any found, the CWD can only be postponed - no crossword editor is there to alter gridfills which involves further work of rewriting clues..
A particular setter may maintain a list of words in his CWDs to avoid repetitions in his puzzles too soon. In any case he will avoid repetitions in his month's quota (which is now 4 at max).
Quite enjoyable. Today's buzz(er) word is knickknack. A thorough entertainer.
ReplyDeleteOne is indeed struck by the coincidence of finding the same word in different crossies, sometimes on the same day. Many a time one finds the same word popping up on the same day in some English dailies and THC. A mathematician will tell you the chances increase exponentially depending on the number of letters in that particular word. One particular instance comes to my mind when I had put up a Jumbo puzzle on the 20th of September 2012. The same day Sankalak's puzzle also featured in the THC. By some strange coincidence both of us had used a 21 letter word 'Decompression Sickness' . I had used it in the wordfill and he in a clue definition... Now I keep wondering about the odds of two different setters using a 21 letter word on the same day!
ReplyDeleteGood fun! Struggled with HEARKENEND, PASSAGE, OPAQUE and MATESHIP. Slowly getting the hang of things!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Chaturvasi for chiming in on the topic. Indeed, I was only half-joking and hence labelled it a conspiracy theory. Although the fact remains that there have been many instances where a word would repeat during the the month-long (or thereabouts) cycle. [If one has the time, perhaps a 48-hour day, one could trawl through the comments section of the various posts in the THCC to find some member bringing this to the others' notice whenever it happened.] However, I don't necessarily see this as a negative aspect. Your post has given me an idea: how about if a word were to be designated as 'The Word of the Cycle' and each setter could opt in to use it once during the cycle. It would be interesting to see how each setter handles the word and how often similar constructs are used. I'm simply thinking out loud. I realise that not all may be interested in participating, and even if they do, it sometimes may not fit in with, say, a themed grid. And of course, there's the matter of someone at The Hindu who is ready to go along with it.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, ranger, for sharing that anecdote. That's quite an amazing co-incidence!
Did both puzzles from Buzzer back-back and enjoyed the run immensely. Every time I solve Buzzer's puzzle, I learn a cpl of novel anagrinds. Thanks B.
ReplyDelete