Wednesday 19 November 2014

No 11244, Wednesday 19 Nov 2014, Aspartame


Sorry folks I've been disturbed by the news of a death in my wife's family. Leaving some  blanks due to that. Some iffy definitions.

ACROSS
1   Colour of mythical creature’s skin fades at last (6) ORCHID {ROC+HIDe}* Where's the Anind? (Addendum - {ORC}{HIDe} - See comments)
4   Drunk mob finally to divide into groups inside (6) BLOTTO {moB}{LOT}{TO}
9   Team breaks up, dies (4) SIDE*
10 Leader among leaders (10) HEADMASTER ? [CD]
11 The French sat back with support (6) TASSEL {TAS}{SEL}<=  Support? See comments
12 Interpretation of six geese flying? (8) EXEGESIS*
13 Grading Industrial Engineers as described by HR are key to the auditor (9) HIERARCHY {H{IE}R}{ARCHY}(~are key)
15 Dry water body reportedly has little rubbish (4) SERE R from rubbish in ~sea?
16 Ready pope regarding containment (4) PREP {P{RE}P} ?? - See comments
17 Influenced fake media nearly using newspapers (9) IMPRESSED {IM{PRESS}EDa*}
21 How is wine made from walnuts? It’s not easy (8) ACROSTIC Supposedly a definition by example??
22 Hostile African country beside borders of Gabon (6) MALIGN {MALI}{GaboN}
24 Characters ‘CDEFGHIJKLJack erased for Tesla on a runway (6,4) FLIGHT DECK CDEFGHI(-j+t)TKL*
25 Standard label (4) FLAG [DD]
26 Insecurity in Jordan, Germany (6) DANGER [T]
27 Lively oriental ghost killed Indian leader (6) ESPRIT {E}{SPiRIT}

DOWN
1   Craft finally leaving during dawn without a Frenchman (7) ORIGAMI {ORIG{A}{M}In}
2   Are the cells used in this game grey? (5) CHESS [CD]
3   Without ecstasy, doctor House rose to get healing tool (7) INHALER ? (Addendum - {IN}{HeALER} - See comments)
5   Awkward bits and pieces (6) L?M?E? LUMBER [DD] - See comments
6   Boring set 11 played (9) TASTELESS {TASSEL+SET}*
7   Then, at 12:00 AM maybe… (3,4) ONE TIME ?
8   … tease and pull a little trick on male cartoon character (4,3,6) TAKE THE MICKEY {TAKE} {T}{HE}{MICKEY}
14 American president left America and travelled back inside with instrument (4,5) REED ORGAN {REa{ED OR}GAN}
16 Crisis daughter contained (7) PICKLED {PICKLE}{D}
18 Pictures that were flops on the first attempt? (7) REMAKES [CD] Not necessarily
19 Shoot broken fragments missing some now and then (7) ENGRAFT {FRAGMENTS - SoMe}*
20 It can cause instant freezing among kids (6) STATUE [GK]
23 Flier displaying criminal (5) LIFER*

GRID

87 comments:

  1. 1 Colour of mythical creature’s skin fades at last (6) ORCHID {ROC+HIDe}* Where's the Anind?

    Probably: ORC: 1 any of various whales or ferocious sea creatures, eg the killer whale. 2 an ogre.

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    Replies
    1. Ok I was thinking of ROC which on hindsight is not a mythical creature

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    2. Roc is a mythical creature ...

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    3. I too had ROC in mind and struggled for a long time.

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    4. I always thought that Roc is an extinct bird however on checking I now see that the extinct bird is the 'elephant bird' from which the Legend of the Roc could have originated as per wiki

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    5. Orc is also a mythical creature. So this clue is fine

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  2. 10 Leader among leaders (10) HEADMASTER ?
    Probably HEAD & MASTER as two leaders

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    Replies
    1. I think he probably means Masters are the leaders and Head master is their leader

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  3. 3 Without ecstasy, doctor House rose to get healing tool (7) INHALER ?

    {IN}{H(-e)ALER}

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    1. Making it more explicit. H(-e)ALER + IN. House rose meaning IN goes above HALER.

      In is actually 'at home' and not 'house'. Why H in capitals?

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    2. Yeah. But how is In equal to house. In means 'at home' and not house.

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    3. H probably capitalised to give surface ref. to character played by Hugh Laurie in eponymous medical serial

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    4. @Raghunath: House is capitalised because it is a surname.

      I'm not sure why the setter used IN for House.

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    5. In that case the D in doctor should also have been capitalised

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  4. 5 Awkward bits and pieces (6) LUMPED

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    Replies
    1. I wonder if this is a DD clue with the answer being LUMBER?

      But 'awkward' is an adjective whereas LUMBER is a noun/verb

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    2. Lumber is right I think. He was referring move in an awkward way with just awkward and other definition is bits and pieces

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    4. I had it as Lumber and had the same Q as Bhavan

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  5. 11 The French sat back with support (6) TASSEL {TAS}{SEL}<= Support?

    TASSEL: A small piece of stone or wood supporting the end of a beam or joist. (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/tassel)

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    Replies
    1. Aha, one could therefore give a small piece of wood or stone to a girl asking for a tassel for her plait

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  6. 7 Then, at 12:00 AM maybe… (3,4) ONE TIME ?

    Wild guess: 12 AM = 1 + 2 AM = One + 2 AM where 2 AM is TIME, and ONE TIME = Then?

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    Replies
    1. I think that bit of the clue is like an old joke:

      Q: What is the speciality of the number 2345572957596?
      A: There is no other number like it.

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    2. I thought it was '12am maybe' being a definition by example of 'one time' and 'then' being the def...

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    3. I took it as two definitions and a word play
      Def 1) 12am maybe
      Def 2) Then
      WP) A= one T = time . ;-) eppadi

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  7. 16a : PP is a standard abbreviation for Parish priest. If that means Pope or not I'm not sure.

    ReplyDelete
  8. PP is abbreviation for pope or "papa".
    The best-known title, that of "Pope", does not appear in the official list, but is commonly used in the titles of documents, and appears, in abbreviated form, in their signatures. Thus Pope Paul VI signed as "Paulus PP. VI", the "PP." standing for "Papa" ("Pope").
    Courtesy Wiki

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  9. I read 21 A as WINE - Walnuts , It's Not Easy

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    Replies
    1. Does that mean it's easy to make Wine from anything else? even then what connection does that have to ACROSTIC?

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    2. First letters of walnuts? it's not easy makes wine. Definition by example, I presume.

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    3. Acrostic has Asti though ;-)

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    4. Until it's accepted, it's still an presumption, even for me ;)

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    5. After you get rid of that CROC

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    6. Crocodile muthalai. .The above is the way sheela address Madhu in chemmeen

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    7. I meant ACROSTIC- CROC = ASTI

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    8. Me too.. Croc short for crocodile so kochu muthalai ;-)

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  10. Totally swimming in unknown territory- in keeping with the CW!

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  11. Too many technical inconsistencies in today's CW to mention in my opinion. I hope feedback is taken sportively :)

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  12. Very tough crossword for me! Could someone please explain 15A, 21A and 6D? I guessed 6D but couldn't figure out where tassel comes from. Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. 15A - Water Body = Sea . reportedly indicates homophone hence See - a bit of rubbish = R .. hence SERE
      21A - The debate is still on, yet ... its a definition by example .. the first letters of walnuts, its, not, easy- makes mine , hence answer is Acrostic
      6D - Tassel comes from 11 . Answer for 11 is Tassel

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    2. Sorry read as 'Makes Wine' -- Anyway I feel like I have had enough wine

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  13. Orchid is a colour? I thought it was a flower, and could be different colours.

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    Replies
    1. Orchid = A pale to light purple, from grayish to purplish pink to strong reddish purple.
      Courtesy : Free Dic.

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  14. A toughie . Could get only 9A, 11A, 12 A, 15 A, 22A, 26 A & 23 D. So what should it be called as opposed to samosa? Jalebi?(tedha hain phir bhi mera hain!)

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  15. So Aspartame has put most of us on a zero cal diet today. No samosa day for me :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe a Zero Cal diet, but an unsatifactory one

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  16. Hope not to face many googlies and doosras tomorrow.

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    Replies
    1. Are we padding up for Spinner tomorrow ?

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    2. Yes, all set for an intriguing match tomorrow! Hoping not to be caught on a wet wicket!!

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    3. Don't mind these deliveries as long they are not chucked.

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    4. As long as he bowls with half sleeves :)

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    5. You mean not hiding the more than 15 deg bend?

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  17. 1 Craft finally leaving during dawn without a Frenchman (7) ORIGAMI {ORIG{A}{M}In} \
    I had trouble getting the anno for this clue. What is during doing in the middle?
    Here is what I had
    Craft = defn, finally leaving = removing the last character, during = ?, dawn = Origin without = C/c indicator, A Frenchman = a M

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Craft = defn, finally leaving = removing the last character, during = ?, dawn = Origin without = C/c indicator, A Frenchman = a M

      During in the sense 'in'.
      finally leaving = removing the last character, during (in) dawn = Origi(n)

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    2. Thanks. But not very convinced. 'During' is 'in' the temporal sense. So works only if you subsititute during with in & reinterpret it to mean in the the physical sense.

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    3. Agreed. But I think that's the only anno that fits

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  18. What happened to Incognito's turn?

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  19. Thank you Col. & K. That somehow slipped my mind. We had a Chennai spl. too.

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  20. I used to attempt THC only spasmodically earlier but am trying my hand at it rather regularly these days but have to say that today's setter may scare me away.I could solve only 4 clues even after breaking my head for a couple of hours. I was vainly thinking that my vocabulary is not bad but am learning new meanings of words. For instance, I thought ' orchid' was a flower but now I know it is also a colour.
    I always thought ' sere' ( sear) means to burn with sudden heat but in this as well as earlier occasions, I see it being used in the sense of ' dry'.
    Doctor= healer, without ecstasy, i.e without the first letter e ( no indication for the first letter of the word to be removed) and in= house and rose to mean the ' in' goes before 'haler'. All this, at least to my untrained mind,seems unsatisfactory.

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    1. Crossword Abbreviations : Wiki List shows -
      Ecstasy - e or x (slang names for the drug)

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    2. E is a recognised abbreviation for the drug Ecstasy

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    3. I think SS needs to visit Shuchi's site for a better understanding of cws

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    4. Yes. I need to know a lot more about CWs. My approach has been just rule of thumb so far.

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  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. Had to delete my comment due to a nasty autocorrect. What I intended to type:
      Looking at all the comments here today, I didn't do too badly after all...

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    2. Col., my condolences to you and your wife.
      _______________________________________________________________

      I was about to post the same thing as Prabhanjan.

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