Thursday, 19 February 2015

No 11322, Thursday 19 Feb 2015, Arden


... and so we come to an end of another stimulating round from Arden.

ACROSS
1   Hopper's confused about copper (6) LOCUST {LO{CU}ST}
4   Agonised over how to find fault (8) DIAGNOSE*
9   Religious text restricts speech on earth (6) TALMUD {TALk}{MUD}
10 Able to grab one small pot (8) CANNABIS {CAN}{NAB}{IS}
12 Stay with others above water (8) RESTRAIN {REST}{RAIN}
13 Show pain when held initially in pen (6) WRITHE {WRIT{Held}E}
15 Blast the city - arrange a guard of honour (8,4) CHASTITY BELT*
18 It comes to nothing without a pusher - he played his part (5,7) PETER SELLERS {PETER {SELLER}S}
21 Stay on the sea (6) REMAIN {RE}{MAIN}
22 Defend a headless chicken instead, perhaps (8) STOCKADE {ST{cOCK}ADE*}
24 Exclamation as car's damaged inside - may be the fault lies here (4,4) GEAR CASE {GE{AR CAS*}E}
25 He was philosophical over lost rice crop, oddly (6) CICERO {Cr{RICE*}Op}
26 Article blocking supply tube (8) CATHETER {CA{THE}TER}
27 Aim to look after, nothing extraordinary (6) INTEND {IN}{TEND} (Addendum - superINTEND - See comments)

DOWN
1   Switched electrically, isolated cell shows a measure of human development (8) LITERACY ELecTRICAllY*
2   Salad we locals make (8) COLESLAW*
3   Old-fashioned article to do the rounds - a tall order indeed (6,3,6) SQUARE THE CIRCLE {SQUARE} {THE} {CIRCLE}
5   State of Indian woman's upliftment (4) IRAN <=
6   Occasion to opt for 'Officer's choice' (7,8) GENERAL ELECTION {GENERAL} {ELECTION}
7   Gold coins circulating in them (6) ORBITS {OR}{BITS}
8   Oriental flower festival (6) EASTER {E}{ASTER}
11 Eager at heart and reading by day - they are good qualities (7) VIRTUES {aVId}{R}{TUES}
14 Being overweight follow instructions - sit inside (7) OBESITY {OBE{SIT}Y}
16 People living at higher altitudes see plane circling (8) NEPALESE*
17 It's going around, like tired old drunk (8) ASTEROID {AS}{TIRED+O}*
19 Endless redacting - sad and unfortunate (6) TRAGIC RedACTInG*
20 Admitting a section to teach (6) IMPART {I'M}{PART}
23 Perhaps Man will partly mislead (4) ISLE [T]

GRID

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29 comments:

  1. Anonymous19 February 2015 at 08:32

    Very engaging and smooth. Many good clues, particularly a different take on words like Obesity, Catheter etc. Not too convinced on the definition of 7D, unless I have missed something

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Arvind Ramaswamy19 February 2015 at 08:47

      Yes Bits for Coins is not too convincing...

      Delete
    2. ranger19 February 2015 at 10:02

      Coins are called bits. Pls. check chambers dict.

      Delete
    3. Arvind Ramaswamy19 February 2015 at 10:08

      Thanks

      Delete
    4. Shrikanth19 February 2015 at 12:35

      I was stating about the definition. Felt that 'circulating in them' alone was meaning orbits. Had no issues with bits/coins

      Delete
    5. Shrikanth19 February 2015 at 12:36

      I was stating about the definition. Felt that 'circulating in them' alone was meaning orbits. Had no issues with bits/coins

      Delete
  2. Arvind Ramaswamy19 February 2015 at 08:43

    Found it easy today. 27A not clear about the anno though i solved it... Tend is from "look after" but how does IN relate to "nothing extraordinary"?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ranger19 February 2015 at 09:49

      Aim- def. To look after- Superintend minus Super( nothing extraordinary)

      Delete
    2. Raghunath19 February 2015 at 09:54

      But 'Superintend' is from 'intend'?

      Delete
  3. Chaturvasi19 February 2015 at 09:19

    I liked the clue for ISLE. Very refreshing.

    Re 15 Blast the city - arrange a guard of honour (8,4) CHASTITY BELT*

    I think this clue has a problem that Ajeesh pointed out wrt another clue yesterday.

    Is the cryptic grammar right and logical?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ranger19 February 2015 at 09:59

      CV I couldn't understand your query.

      Here you have the Anag. fodder- Anagrind and the def. in that order. The dash is used 'to indicate an abrupt stop or a change of thought'. Going by the definition 'a guard of honour' I do not see a verb/noun mix up either. Could you clarify please. I am always willing to learn.

      Delete
    2. Raghunath19 February 2015 at 10:00

      If you mean the 'anagrind' it seems as if it is meant for "a guard of honour". Maybe 'arrangement' for a guard of honour'?

      2 Salad we locals make (8) COLESLAW*. IMO similar usage here. 'made' possibly?

      Delete
    3. Raghunath19 February 2015 at 10:02

      reply to CV's post

      Delete
    4. ranger19 February 2015 at 10:10

      Both 'arrange' and 'make' are valid anagrinds. But whether to use a verbal anagrind before or after the fodder has been debated endlessly.

      Delete
    5. VMA Nair19 February 2015 at 10:19

      http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2009/11/verbal-anagrammar.html?m=1

      Delete
  4. Chaturvasi19 February 2015 at 10:32

    I don't know the grammatical terms. I know only usage. I will try to explain what I mean.

    Mate changed side (4)

    This is OK. "Mate" (is/has) changed - TEAM (side) "Mate changed" is grammatical.

    Desi changes team (4)

    This is OK. "Desi" changes - SIDE (team) "Desi changes" is grammatical.

    Change desi's team (4)

    This is OK. "Change desi" is grammatical.

    Suppose we write

    Desi change side

    This is not correct. Anag fodder is there, anag signal is there, def is there. But the sentence is not grammatical or logical.

    Blast the city - arrange a guard of honour

    Here, going by grammar, we are told to arrange "a guard of honour". OTOH, we need to anagram BLASTTHECITY.

    Arrange the city blast
    The city blast's arranged
    The city blast goes phut

    All of the above is an instruction to anagram THECITYBLAST.

    This is my understanding. If I have made any mistake, please excuse me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chaturvasi19 February 2015 at 10:34

    Blast the city arrangement for a guard of honour

    The above may be an acceptable revision.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath19 February 2015 at 10:43

      IMO that's right and as concurred in my 10 am post

      Delete
    2. Raghunath19 February 2015 at 10:52

      Work offer engineer got, didn’t involve travel (6) EFFORT (OFFER* + T - GO) was a clue by me in THC.

      Surface was acceptable. But the anagrind didn't give the instruction to jumble the fodder that's OFFER. It seemed the fodder was what followed engineer.

      Delete
  6. Chaturvasi19 February 2015 at 10:37

    Arrangement of the city blast in a guard of honour

    Would the above be a revision?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chaturvasi19 February 2015 at 10:39

    A guard of honour the city blast experienced

    Would this be a revision? (blast - grand party)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suresh19 February 2015 at 14:44

    I do not see the point here. The hyphen between city and arrange seemed to have solved the grammar problem. Maybe an exclamation mark after city may have been better.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Rengaswamy19 February 2015 at 15:42

    15 Blast the city - arrange a guard of honour (8,4) CHASTITY BELT*

    I did not see any problem with the clue. I noticed 'arrange' as anagrind and looked for the 12 letters and found it to be coming from Blast the City. With some of the cutting letters already in place, Bingo, I could easily put CHASTITY BELT. The answer brought smile on my face and appreciated the setter for the lovely clue. In fact, it is my COD.

    ReplyDelete
  10. PKPSwami19 February 2015 at 17:11

    Another enjoyable puzzle from Arden.12a- good clue but very difficult to crystallise.3d- cracking this is really a tall order. 11d- vi to be traced from avid , r from reading &tues from day. Virtually we were made to sweat to find the gud qualities. 18a- I put it as never sellers & failed to catch peter. Really a gud teaser. At the same time we were exposed to new avenues. Thank yoy Arden.

    ReplyDelete
  11. raju umamaheswar19 February 2015 at 20:21

    CV: Chaste- sthithti - state of being chaste?CHASTITY BELTS-- Are these still in use these days? can contraceptive prophylactics be termed their modern versions?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chaturvasi19 February 2015 at 22:20

    It appears that the majority opinion is that Clue 15a is OK as it is.

    I bow to it.

    My criticism was made in good faith.

    Sorry for inconvenience caused to anyone by my remarks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Aakash Sridhar19 February 2015 at 23:08

    Good one from Arden.. liked 26A and 17D..
    I'm with CV Sir regarding 15A, though I've gotten used to seeing this happen almost daily..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VMA Nair19 February 2015 at 23:24

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete

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