Friday, 30 January 2015

No.11305, Friday 30 Jan 2015, Aspartame


Aspartame is cho chweet, just like 20

Across
9 5001001000? (11,4) COMBINATION LOCK (CD,Combination of L=50,O=0,C=100,K=1000)
10 Ancient emperor captured Ohio, New Zealand. It has some value! (3-4) NON ZERO (O NZ in NERO)
12 Divine being to leave daughter with chairman (7) GODHEAD (GO D HEAD)
13 When corrected, fetid clue is false (9) DECEITFUL (FETID CLUE)*
14 Furnish broken down dun within borders of an empire (5) ENDUE (DUN* in EmpirE)
15 Brew flowerless plant employing setter to taste a little (7) FERMENT (ME in FERN, Taste)
18 Again, media to squash … (7) REPRESS (RE PRESS)
21 … articles in New Statesman about 17 dishes (5) NAANS (A AN in New Statesman)
23 Field of medicine from a corner of another medicinal field (9) NEUROLOGY (NE UROLOGY)
25 Mart decorations showcased design style (3, 4) ART DECO (T)
26 Bond charmed, seduced 3 leaders of Portugal (7) RAPPORT (RAPT holding PORtugal)
29 Elected group about to strike with new toxic spray (6,9) INSECT REPELLENT (IN SECT RE PELLET with N)

Down
1 “What a scammer would never admit, honourable one” (4) ICON (I CON)
2 Truly mean criminal (4) AMEN (MEAN*)
3 Demon destroys vile telegram (4,4) LIVE WIRE (VILE* WIRE)
4 Bribe and benefit (3,3) PAY OFF (2)
5 Exceptional vice of chairman of grazing range (8) SINGULAR (SIN Anno not clear) (SIN Grazing URAL*, with grazing on double duty) See comments
6 Tense in a corner (2,4) ON EDGE (2)
7 Lie on bed rolling when jobless (4-4) BONE IDLE (LIE ON BED)*
8 Southern assassins killed liberals for a couple of dollars and vehicles (8) SKIDDERS (S KILLERS-LL+DD)
11 It’s bone he chews — not thin, but fat (5) OBESE (IT'S BONE HE-THIN)*
15 ‘Stir up army’ is a crazy movie (8) FANTASIA (FAN TA (IS A)*)
16 Chopped, roasted little turkey for exam (4,4) ROAD TEST (ROASTED T)* If T is to be derived from Turkey, it has to be the country and not the bird, I think. Is it kosher to put it in lower case, though Turkey would spoil the surface?
17 Cuisine of roti and curry with aloo base (8) TANDOORI (ROTI AND aloO)* semi&lit
19 Teenage party properly starts off on time (8) PROMPTLY (PROM aPTLY)
20 Babassu & garlic contains carbohydrate (5) SUGAR (T) Is it ok to have the intrusive &?
22 Talk about small fruit on the radio (6) SPEECH (S ~PEACH)
24 Green prune I cultivate (6) UNRIPE (PRUNE I)*
27 The French wearing spectacles get migraine (4) OLEO (LE in OO) Looks like a typo for margarine, which is oleo ..., though spectacles and migraine seem to gel well
28 Many thanks to business leader (4) TATA (TA TA)

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46 comments:

  1. Chaturvasi30 January 2015 at 06:58

    To answer the question at 20 dn: No.
    Also, shouldn't it be 'contain'?

    ReplyDelete
  2. SandhyaP30 January 2015 at 07:03

    5A Exceptional vice of chairman of grazing range (8) SINGULAR

    {SIN}{G}{ULAR}*

    G seems to be on double duty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore30 January 2015 at 07:21

      Sandy, could you please elaborate? I still don't get it. ULAR* from?

      Delete
    2. SandhyaP30 January 2015 at 07:25

      URAL - though it should be URALS

      Delete
    3. Kishore30 January 2015 at 07:26

      Plus, wouldn't it be an indirect anagram?

      Delete
    4. SandhyaP30 January 2015 at 07:28

      WordWeb: URAL - adjective
      Pertaining to, or designating, the Urals, a mountain range between Europe and Asia

      Delete
    5. SandhyaP30 January 2015 at 07:30

      Yes, it is an indirect anagram, which is a no-no, I guess.

      Delete
    6. Bhavan30 January 2015 at 08:14

      wow Sandhya, this clue had me scratching my head. Is there a solution you cannot annotate :-)

      Delete
    7. Kishore30 January 2015 at 08:23

      +1 Bhavan. I would never have got it

      Delete
    8. Shrikanth30 January 2015 at 09:08

      Annotating comes next. How can Sandhya solve every single clue on earth :)

      Delete
    9. SandhyaP30 January 2015 at 10:12

      You guys do all the hard work, I just chip in with the annos! :)

      Delete
    10. Kishore30 January 2015 at 10:19

      We are just small fries, ... but you know chips are more popular ...

      Delete
    11. SandhyaP30 January 2015 at 10:40

      :P

      Delete
  3. Chaturvasi30 January 2015 at 07:05

    Is the phrase 'fetid clue' acceptable?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Chaturvasi30 January 2015 at 07:12

    16d: A word that requires initial capital letter must have it in the clue. In this instance we can say that the setter is not thinking of the place but just expects us to take letter t from the word.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kishore30 January 2015 at 07:18

    Oops, prematurely released at 6:47 instead of 8:30 and two early birds dropped in ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath30 January 2015 at 08:13

      Proves that 'The early bird gets the worm'

      Delete
    2. Raghunath30 January 2015 at 08:19

      +1. Just logged in out of curiosity to find nothing wriggling, but nits to pick.

      Delete
    3. Kishore30 January 2015 at 08:26

      Raghu, nits too are edible, just like worms. Ask any monkey. On a lighter note, I hear that an American newspaper published a headline, after watching an Indian TV news channel, that said, "Obama participated Modi's monkey bath"

      Delete
    4. Raghunath30 January 2015 at 08:57

      You're right. Seen plenty of nitpicking in Ranthambore, Kanhan etc.

      What time do you get your paper that you blogged today at 6.47? The guy here delivers not before 7.20 -7.25. I thought the clock at home had slowed when I dropped in here at 8.19

      Delete
    5. Kishore30 January 2015 at 09:04

      Usually 615 to 645

      Delete
    6. Shrikanth30 January 2015 at 09:12

      And if that means that you solved today's puzzle in a maximum of 30 min, hats off. At 8.30 I was still breaking my head. For me Aspartame gets into the league of Neyartha and Skulldugger.

      Delete
    7. Raghunath30 January 2015 at 09:45

      I felt today's was much better that the earlier ones. 9A is the best and probably up Kishore's street being based on numbers.

      Delete
    8. Aakash Sridhar30 January 2015 at 09:48

      I too thought the puzzle was good ..

      Delete
    9. Kishore30 January 2015 at 10:00

      Raghu, the numbers in my street are two and three digit ones ...

      Delete
    10. Raghunath30 January 2015 at 10:18

      Even adding those will not be near enough 9a, I suppose.

      Delete
  6. Ramani30 January 2015 at 09:20

    Scored 60% only. I second you Sri

    ReplyDelete
  7. Raghunath30 January 2015 at 09:48

    24 Green prune I cultivate (6) UNRIPE (PRUNE I)*

    Have a doubt about the placement of anagrind and have seen it being used in that fashion. Should it not precede the fodder. It would have been correct if it was cultivated

    ReplyDelete
  8. Padmanabhan30 January 2015 at 09:56

    Since I could not think of samosa, I had tandoori naan for breakfast!
    Shuchi had a take on false capitalisation some time back. It is probably time now for non capitalisation!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Padmanabhan30 January 2015 at 09:59

    I am joining the 'hats off to...' list for Kishore for doing it in double quick time & PS for cracking the hardest of nuts!

    ReplyDelete
  10. RameshJ30 January 2015 at 10:18

    Possibly the easiest one so far from Aspartame.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Aakash Sridhar30 January 2015 at 10:22

    Don't have a problem with 20d ..since it's contains it's fine .. If it were 'contain' then it would suggest that 'and' must be taken ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi30 January 2015 at 10:43

      I don't agree. Any clue must follow grammatical rules. That is, It must be grammatically correct.
      WP cannot dictate the wording of the clue.

      Delete
    2. Aakash Sridhar30 January 2015 at 10:59

      I agree .. But I feel that when the grammar is faulty , only surface is ruined ., when WP is faulty the clue itself is ruined ..

      Delete
    3. Chaturvasi30 January 2015 at 11:14

      Sorry... This argument is specious.

      Delete
    4. Bhavan30 January 2015 at 13:28

      I'm with CV on this. There is no exception to using proper grammar whether it is for surface or cryptic reading.

      Delete
  12. Padmanabhan30 January 2015 at 12:08

    MB,
    The ball is turning the wrong way in Australia. No samosa there also!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mukundala Balasubramanyam30 January 2015 at 13:54

      You are right. In fact, I'm not watching the match now, the result is well known! Not our day!!

      Delete
  13. PKPSwami30 January 2015 at 13:04

    Nice puzzle. To be honest I never thought I could make it today but thanks to well laid -out clues it was feasible.14a- I savoured the trickiness in the clue (whether endue or endow). In essence a natural sweetener. Thanks Asp.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Vasant30 January 2015 at 13:22

    Challenging but xtremely enjoyable.

    ReplyDelete

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