Monday, 1 September 2014

No.11178, Monday 01 Sep 2014, The Phantom

The Ghost who sets has handled the long ones nicely, but I find that 'ship' for SS and 'a new' for AN being used more than once

Across
1 Unfortunate one’s first target for pervert (6) SADIST (SAD 1'S T)
4 Achilles’ heel perhaps is not about sore foot trouble (4,4) SOFT SPOT (SORE-RE FT SPOT)
10 Back expert’s experience to manage hospital and a new children’s home (9) ORPHANAGE (PRO< AGE to manage H A N )
11 Plot left empty primarily for a deciduous tree (5) MAPLE (MAP L E)
12 A ship’s crossing near the depths of the ocean (5) ABYSS (A SS crossing BY)
13 Dismiss and banish knight, say in anger for blasphemy (9) SACRILEGE (SACK-K, EG in RILE)
14 Antelope inhabits pasturelands (5) ELAND (T)
16 English aristocrat provides support (8) BACKBONE (CD) (E NOB<) Rev. reversal
19 Intoxicated, drunk with power for thrilling moment (4,4) HIGH SPOT (HIGH SOT with P)
20 For starters, speed’s not apparent in lumbering slow mover (5) SNAIL (acrostic)
23 Most Irish are organised or haphazard? (3-2-4) HIT OR MISS (MOST IRISH)*
24 Greeting uttered by overexcited individual (5) HYPER (~HI PER)  imo, hyper is an adjective, short for hyperactive, and not a noun, whereas the defn. here is anoun
26 Doctor nursing strange ill-tempered person (5) GRUMP (GP nursing RUM)
27 I and anti-beer? Wrong, I’m a drunk (9) INEBRIATE (I ANTI-BEER)*
28 Drug, medicine in short applied around head for relief (8) EMBOSSED (E MED around BOSS) imo, embossed would be moulded or carved in relief, not just relief itself, which would usually be used in this sense as 'in relief'
29 Many outsiders cross Indian city (6) MYSORE (ManY SORE)

Down
1 Work hard on a new jingle (6) SLOGAN (SLOG A N)
2 Inactive? Perform exercises essentially in gym (5) DOPEY (DO PE Y)
3 Flag ship carrying sailors accompanied by band (5,3,7) STARS AND STRIPES (SS carrying TARS AND STRIPE)
5 Wear a cover to keep warm with this? (8) OVERCOAT (A COVER TO)*
6 Anyone tardy? Drink mocha for a change (3,4,3,5) TOM DICK AND HARRY (TARDY DRINK MOCHA)*
7 Fellow’s consumed very quietly, half chopped onions and sausage (9) PEPPERONI (PEER consumed PP ONIons)
8 Duke after having rum unhesitatingly in peg after peg, staggered (8) TEETERED (RUM-UM  in TEE TEE D)
9 Lift’s saving power? Congratulations! (5) RAISE (PRAISE-P)
15 Icon for an idea brilliantly provided by Edison (9) LIGHTBULB (CD,DD) should the enu have
been 5 4 or 5-4)? Chambers lists it with a space in between but Merriam-Webster treats it as a single word.

By Rishi
17 Mark often used to escort governor’s husband to Dutch parliament (3,5) THE HAGUE (TAG UsEd to escort HE H)
18 Chief Inspector and plainclothesmen probe domestic’s murder (8) HOMICIDE (I and CID in HOMIE)
21 Son's in Assam raising capital (5) ASSET (S'S in TEA<)
22 Bees’ sound carried across river by wind (6) BREEZE (BEEZE~bees across R)
25 One in sleep roused by ring of musical instrument (5) PIANO (1 in NAP< O)

GRID:

24 comments:

  1. Is Assam for Tea OK? In that case we could also have Sri Lanka and China for Tea

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From an accountant's angle the treating capital as asset can lead to unbalanced Balance Sheets!

      Delete
  2. I drew a sketch for the lightbulb joke today but l was not able to upload the husband-and-wife drawing for me to include it here. Some days ago I did upload one from the same app but today I have forgotten the steps involved. Will grope around and try to figure it out - or, on future occasions, use the older app where the steps are well-known to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a variant form here.

      The reply: 'I saved my energy by deciding not to change the bulb'...

      Delete
  3. HYPER: You are correct the def does mean a noun. That's a slip.

    28 Drug, medicine in short applied around head for relief (8) EMBOSSED (E MED around BOSS) imo, embossed would be moulded or carved in relief, not just relief itself, which would usually be used in this sense as 'in relief'.

    Chambers: "Relief " 8 art a method of sculpture in which figures project from a flat surface

    15 Icon for an idea brilliantly provided by Edison (9) LIGHTBULB (CD,DD) should the enu have
    been 5 4 or 5-4)? Chambers lists it with a space in between but Merriam-Webster treats it as a single word.

    Thefreedic has lightbulb as one word. I assumed Chambers also would have it like that. and didn't refer to it.

    21 Son's in Assam raising capital (5) ASSET (S'S in TEA<)
    Chambers: "Assam" noun a type of Indian tea

    The 'backbone' of 16A needs investigation.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Darjeeling, Sri Lanka or China don't figure in Chambers as 'tea'

      Delete
    2. 28 Is 'embossed' a method of sculpture? Or is it embossing?

      21 Chambers does mention on p392 (12th ed) Darjeeling n. a high-quality variety of tea produced around Darjeeling (now Darjiling) in NE India

      16a E NOB< = BACKBONE

      Delete
    3. Embossed would be v.past tense or an adj. not a noun like relief in that sense of the word

      Delete
    4. You have a point there. It's normally 'in' 'relief' but 'in' did not fit in the sentence and 'for in' did not make sense.

      Chambers online dic does not have Darjeeling listed as tea.

      Delete
    5. Assam seen, Darjeeling is also there in Chambers as Tea

      Delete
    6. Noted, for use in future puzzles.

      Delete
    7. Is the Dutch parliament called The Hague? It is located in the city called by that name.
      The Dutch Parliament is called Het Parlement and also known as Staten-Generaal.

      Delete
  4. Thanks to The Phantom for a good time. Had some mild starting trouble but, once the SW corner provided an entry point, it went quite smoothly. Couldn't parse BACKBONE, although the word was clear from the crosses and the definition.

    Given that the ELAND is "a savannah and plains antelope" (Wiki entry), and that the plains could be pasturelands too, would the clue count as &lit?

    Thanks to the blogger and the cartoonists for adding to the enjoyment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A semi &lit [whole clue = definition. But wordplay = "inhabits pasturelands", not the whole clue ]

      Delete
  5. A niggle about 17D- The Hague. It is a city in Netherlands and the seat of Dutch Govt. and International court of Justice. I do not think it is the Dutch Parliament.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. 'The seat of' earlier included in the clue was inadvertently left out.

      Delete
  6. Shrikant had commented on MOusetrap having run for 24 years, in hi yesterday's post in the Sunday usual. I had commented the following:
    There was similarly an Urdu one-man play that was continuously staged in Bombay : Adrak-ke -Panje , directed by Babban Khan, I think . I don't know whether it still is !
    Published on 15 Jul 2013
    Adrak Ke Panje is an Indian satirical play written by Babban Khan. The play ran from 1965 to 2001. Guinness Book of World Records in 1984 has mentioned it as the world's longest-running one man show. It is written in a mix of Urdu and Dakhni.(Hyderabadi)

    Is it still running in Bombay? I'd like to know, iof any one knows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please ref to clue 35a in
      http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2013/10/hindi-cryptic-crossword.html

      Delete
    2. I have seen this play in Hyd in '76

      Delete
  7. but I find that 'ship' for SS and 'a new' for AN being used more than once

    Can't we use the same abbreviation more than once if surface needs ?

    ReplyDelete
  8. enjoyed this crossword by phantom
    few things apart from what's been discussed..

    13A felt the 'and' between dismiss and banish to be intrusive for deletion to work
    23A one would want 'is organised' for the anagram to work

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In 23A, I think 'Most Irish' can be taken as two words, with their meaning hollowed out. Can the cryptic reading not be "the two words (Most Irish) are organised..."?

      Delete
    2. It means 'most Irish' characters 'are' organized.
      Wonder why the deletion doesn't work with 'and' in 23a. See no problem.

      Delete

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