Was expecting KKK. Solved at lightning speed and wondered whether KKK had become a little easier to solve ? Then the paper came and I saw it was indeed a Lightning puzzle.
This nice puzzle has a mathematician, a psychologist, a General, some lawyers, men of religion (bishop, priest, theologian), an editor (in the singular and the plural) and newsmen,a saint, a politician and party spokesperson, a criminal and a couple of engineers
Across
1 Twisted laps, one racer initially negotiated (6) SPIRAL (LAPS I R)*
4 Old letter, lacking in detail (8) OMISSIVE (O MISSIVE)
10 Rebel to damage a road (9) BREAKAWAY (BREAK A WAY)
11 Mathematician to exchange diamonds with rookie psychologist (5) ADLER (AD(-d + L)ER) had to Google to confirm.
Psychologists are funny people: They think they think about things other people think, at least that's what I think
12 Absolute sum (5) TOTAL (2)
13 Engineer certain to take a northern state to reach a high standard (7,2) MEASURE UP (ME (A) SURE UP)
Just realised that ME stands for Military Engineer. In other words, our own "Me !"
14 Old lady gives up knight for a royal storehouse (7) GRANARY (GRAN(-n + A R)Y )
16 Penned without memorisation (4) ROTE (WROTE - W) nice use of with-out
21 General drawback in the direction of the wind (7) LEEWARD (LEE DRAW<)
24 Misses tip about cynic (9) PESSIMIST (MISSES TIP)*
25 Stroll to bet, lose a grand (5) AMBLE (GAMBLE - G)
26 Lawyers sent back bishop with one priest (5) RABBI (BAR< B 1)
Reminded me of the Sikh Rabbi who sings Bulleh Shah's compositions
27 Free at last, editor becomes unrestricted (4-5) OPEN ENDED (OPEN END ED)
28 One serene saint plagued by a disturbing feeling (8) EERINESS (1 SERENE S)*
29 Smart, distinguished engineer leaves carriage (6) HANSOM (HANDSOME - D - E) Is an initial indicator required for d and e. Are these standard abbreviations?
Down
1 A software program employed by learned man to cause destruction (8) SABOTAGE (A BOT in SAGE)
2 Nitrogen, perhaps damaged granites (5,3) INERT GAS (GRANITES)*
3 Everything about key electron missing in alkane without a hydrogen atom (5) ALKYL (ALL around KeY)
5 Summer month carnival in a part of London (7) MAYFAIR (MAY FAIR)
6 Regulation about alien figurine (9) STATUETTE (STATUTE about ET)
7 University to follow current fabrication instead (2,4) IN LIEU (IN LIE U)
8 Regret going back to work at Eastern continent (6) EUROPE (RUE< OP E)
9 Muddy politician in control (6) SWAMPY (MP in SWAY)
Believe it or not, I typed SWAMY by mistake!
15 Wearing down a primarily tough criminal lacking remorse (9) ATTRITION (A T CONTRITION - CON)
17 Cutting remark made by party spokesperson at first in a Caribbean state (8) BARBADOS (BARD A DO S)
18 Post-script, a theologian mostly completes with hesitation (8) ADDENDUM (A DD ENDs UM)
20 Newsmen represent Dorset institution (7) EDITORS (DORSET I)*
21 Dump a bunch of kittens (6) LITTER (2)
22 Scattered reserve housing society (6) SPARSE (S in SPARE)
23 Alviso barometer revealing line with uniform pressure (6) ISOBAR (T)
25 Near a demolished stadium (5) ARENA (NEAR A)*
GRID
9 Muddy politician in control (6) SWAMPY (MP in SWAY)
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, I typed SWAMY by mistake!
:P
K,
DeleteHow can you miss out Parliament? Of course some swami's may be muddy!
Not in session...
DeleteDoes it make a difference?
DeleteAnd boy! was he in control this time!
DeleteReference the opening remarks only an Auditor is missing!!
ReplyDeleteHe is away fitting in the last few words in Chalicea's Military Clobber. Delightful embeddings there.
ReplyDelete13A- ME is also Masters in Engineering.
ReplyDeleteMechanical Engineer
DeleteA doubt about 2D- Can Nitrogen be classified as an 'inert gas'? Inert by defn. means it does not easily combine with other elements. Nitrogen is abundant in air, but it took a while to separate it as pure Nitrogen.
ReplyDeleteMeans it does not react with the food in the pack. For learning proper meaning of inert one needs to go to
Delete"Yes Minister: The Greasy Pole (#2.4)" (1981)
Joan Littler: What does "inert" mean?
Sir Humphrey Appleby: Eh, it means it's not... ert.
Bernard Woolley: Wouldn't 'urt a fly.
In a chemical plant there are pipe lines which carry N and the nomenclature used is inert gas.
DeleteCol. said auditor is missing, but probably that is why he blogged today!
ReplyDeleteI didn't blog, the auditor did
DeleteThat's what Padmanabhan meant.
DeleteA racer, rebel, lady, cynic and a sage also participated in this smooth and easy puzzle.
ReplyDeleteThere are even timid persons - kittens.
DeleteYes though in an oblique manner.
DeleteIs it unusual to find so many characters in a puz not related to any theme as it seems? Usual suspects like king and queen have kept away.
If it were not unusual, our blogger would not have put it down in his preamble.
DeleteDid the setter decide in the first place to bring in these people or did it just happen as he went along.
I think the latter is the case as the surface reading of these clues is not contrived.
This crossword has many excellent clues.
ReplyDeleteSuccinct, neat with smooth surface reading.
Many of the present crop of clue-writers are quite skilled unlike some in the early years of THC. These are people with a strong command over the language and I am sure they must have been interested in crosswords and must have been solving puzzles for quite sometime before deciding they could try their hand at setting. And most of them came here to this blog as solvers in their continued interest in the pastime and surveying the scene.
I believe that in the past decades some setters were there only because they happen to be there. A skilled setter, when unable to continue supplies, asking a friend to step in. But then in those days communication facilities were not so advanced as they are now and the circle from which talent could be tapped must have been very limited. Today the scene is different. Blogs and message boards such as these are a happy hunting ground for talent-scouters as well as aspirants.
I believe 1ac could do without the comma. Anyone agree?
ReplyDeleteRe D= Distinguished could not find any reference. E = Engineer and Engineering in Chambers.
ReplyDeleteShould have checked the dict. before using DE for Distinguished Engineer. Its non-standard and hence incorrect. Let me blame the many years at Cisco (and perhaps other IT companies) where this term is commonplace :)
DeleteCWE
ReplyDeleteWrite a clue for any word of your choice with 'solver' as part of the clue.
Mariner, solver and Padre (8)
DeleteSolver, puzzled finding Romeo and Juliet, for example (6)
DeleteExceptional solver garnering admirers (6)
DeleteVictory eluded this solver, sadly (5)
Solver with a bit of enthusiasm has a purpose,though mixed up (7)
DeleteKishore,
DeleteIs it absolver?
Yes
DeleteVJ,
DeleteNice &lit in the second clue!
1A- The absence of a comma is not going to alter the meaning of the sentence in any way nor its presence make it easier to understand the meaning. So why have it- to confuse issues?
ReplyDeleteHappy to score the first centum in a Lightning crossie. Thanks Lightning!
ReplyDeleteLikewise!
DeleteVery happy.Today I could make it w/o reference thanks to lightning clues.Of course I had to bring out the ans. for 29 a from passivity.11a- should it not be'mathematician to exchange diamond(instead of diamonds as given)with rookie?Any way we thoroughly enjoyed the xie.
ReplyDeleteIn cards, the suit is called diamonds. We may say "four diamond" but as the suit itself is diamonds, diamonds = D is ok.
DeleteFirm determination turned English solver (7)
ReplyDeleteMany good attempts in the CWE. I like VJ's for LOSER.
ReplyDeleteFor the CWE:
ReplyDeleteSome lovers exchange a piece of poetry (5)
Welcome Ramki, verse
ReplyDelete