Friday, 15 May 2015

No 11395, Friday 15 May 2015, Exa


ACROSS
1   Part of composer's act (4) POSE [T]
3   They're employed by a prince in places needing renovation (10) APPLIANCES {A}{P}{IN+PLACES}*
10 I will return after beer, dancing and running, to show resistance (9) REBELLION {BEER}*{LLI<=}{ON}
11 Easily tempted by French beer I’m told (5) FRAIL {FR}{AIL}(~ale)
12 Love writer's content in verse for the first few lines (7) OPENERS {O}{PEN}{vERSe}
13 Wet site gets cleaned up during day (7) MOISTEN {MO{SITE}*N}
14 Has difficulty in breathing in vapour that’s extremely poisonous (5) GASPS {GAS}{Po...uS}
15 Illegitimate one acts up really frequently (7) NATURAL {oNe}{AcTs}{uP}{ReAlLy} Illegitimate or Legitimate? See comments
18 Cocktail (a cider) ordered after a bit of schmooze (7) SIDECAR {Sc...e}{A+CIDER}*
21 Poorly portrayed act — it can be refined (5) ANTIC* (Addendum - ATTIC* - See comments)
24 Birds found in huge quarries (7) OSPREYS {OS}{PREYS}
26 Stupid man barges in and makes a loud noise (7) CRASHES {CRAS{HE}S}
27 Sniffed bone belonging to Eddard Stark (5) NOSED NOS{Ed..rD} Anno pending (Addendum {N{OS}ED} - See comments)
28 Be rude and vulgar in speech/conversation (9) DISCOURSE {DIS}{COURSE}(~coarse)
29 A spare shed built for the leaders (10) SPEARHEADS*
30 Top shape (4) BEST ? (Addendum - BEAT [DD] - See comments)

DOWN
1   Drop an itinerant for free (6) PARDON*
2   Dipped in blue (9) SUBMERGED [CD]
4   Those displaying powers to hold rites legitimately (7) PRIESTS P{RITES}*S} &lit P'S for Powers?
5   American football player gets large home and title on retiring (7) LINEMAN {L}{IN}{EMAN<=}
6   A couple of fellows drunk caught in distress greatly (7) AFFLICT {A}{FF}{LI{C}T}
7   John will have hot water in between to sing a song (5) CHANT {C{H}AN}{waTer}
8   Listen properly to lady's tips without making any noise (8) SILENTLY {LISTEN}*{LadY}
9   Takes a nap in small, enjoyable places on vacation (6) SLEEPS  {SmalL}En...lE}{Pl...eS}
16 Chose rare variety animal for a contest (9) RACEHORSE*
17 Dazzles a model engaged in music (8) ASTOUNDS {A}{S{T}OUNDS}
19 Cold, unopened bar drinks he would down with cheese (7) CHEDDAR {C}{HE'D}{D}{bAR}
20 Rest like to live outside university (7) RESIDUE {RESID{U}E} Why LIKE ?
21 One taken to court after committing crime starts to get sued badly (7) ACCUSED {Af..r}{Co...g}{Cr..e}
22 Small duck wiping its bottom and top about in a vessel meant for brewing (6) TEAPOT {TEAl}{POT<=}
23 Insist upon a lock up (6) ASSERT {A}{SSERT<=}
25 Tapes wound with glue (5) PASTE*

GRID

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32 comments:

  1. Unknown15 May 2015 at 08:34

    Can 30Ac be beat?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 08:35

    27 Sniffed bone belonging to Eddard Stark (5) NOSED NOS{Ed..rD} Anno pending

    N(OS)ED.
    from Wikipedia:
    Eddard "Ned" Stark is a fictional character in the first book of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels and the first season of its television adaptation

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath15 May 2015 at 08:38

      Thanks Raghu. I was wondering about that as Edward would have done equally well if just E...D was to be taken. I should have realised something was afoot with that unusual spelling

      Delete
    2. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 08:40

      I just put in eddard stark and googled.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath15 May 2015 at 08:41

      I don't think anyone would get this anno without the help of Google unless they had read the book.

      Delete
    4. mohsin15 May 2015 at 12:59

      The TV adaption (Game of Thrones) is possibly the hottest show on the planet, right now.
      I managed to get the reference without having read the books or seen the show

      Delete
    5. Deepak Gopinath15 May 2015 at 14:07

      Mohsin you are an exception to the rules :-)

      Delete
  3. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 08:36

    I too filled in BEAT. Which is both Top & Shape( Beat into shape)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath15 May 2015 at 08:37

      How is BEAT a SHAPE?

      Delete
    2. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 08:39

      From Chambers:

      7 (also beat something out) a to make or shape it by repeatedly striking the raw material

      Delete
    3. Shrikanth15 May 2015 at 08:39

      Beat into shape ?

      Delete
    4. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 08:41

      Chambers Thesaurus for BEAT: 7 beat metal hammer, forge, knock, fashion, form, shape, stamp formal malleate

      Delete
    5. Deepak Gopinath15 May 2015 at 08:42

      Not convinced

      Delete
    6. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 08:48

      But Chambers gives BEAT = SHAPE both in meanings and synonyms. I've heard that word being used in metal forming.

      Delete
  4. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 08:43

    Nicely constructed clues. Some are a bit tricky.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Padmanabhan15 May 2015 at 09:34

    Quite a few are tricky and I got caught, especially in the NW corner.
    I had the same doubt as Col. for 15A. Any clarification?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VMA Nair15 May 2015 at 09:49

      http://www.thefreedictionary.com/illegitimate

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan15 May 2015 at 09:57

      Thank you Ajeesh,but really surprising.

      Delete
    3. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 10:13

      http://www.thefreedictionary.com/natural:

      1. logical, normal, reasonable, valid, legitimate ?

      Delete
    4. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 May 2015 at 11:02

      If you scroll further down under the 2nd head of Natural (adj.) Item number 9 says : Born to parents who are not married to each other:
      baseborn, bastard, illegitimate, misbegotten, spurious, unlawful.

      Delete
  6. VMA Nair15 May 2015 at 09:48

    Beautiful puzzle. Thanks Exa

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bhalchandra Pasupathy15 May 2015 at 11:11

    Had put 21A as 'ATTIC' as in Attic Greek. But ANTIC also fits well

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath15 May 2015 at 11:46

      Exa says he intended ATTIC. Shall amend the main post after I get back home.

      Delete
    2. Ramani15 May 2015 at 13:03

      I also put attic.

      Delete
  8. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 May 2015 at 11:18

    Nice puzzle. Found it tough in NW corner. My COD is 23Dn ASSERT. Thanks Exa.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ramani15 May 2015 at 13:03

    First time samosas from EXA! Thank you Exa.

    ReplyDelete
  10. mohsin15 May 2015 at 13:09

    Lovely surfaces and very well handled wordplay. GASPS, ACCUSED and SLEEPS were my favourites.

    Re 4D: I believe the intended anno was PS = "those displaying powers", i.e. the (outside) letters which display the word. Not entirely convinced, though.

    In 5D, "gets" doesn't quite seem to work as a connector. Also, in = "at home"?
    And in 20D, the "like" seems intrusive, as already pointed out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath15 May 2015 at 14:56

      Originally it is "In" = at home and then down to just 'home' these days.'at home' in fact is more correct.
      Chambers "in": 2 at home or work

      "gets" as a conn is more appropriate when wordplay 'gets' answer.

      Delete
    2. mohsin15 May 2015 at 17:32

      Exactly. In the current form, it should have been 'gotten from'.

      Delete
  11. PKPSwami15 May 2015 at 17:44

    Nice puzzle.Clues with easy leads walked us along the garden path.18a sidecar-cocktail,15a - natural- illegit.22d- teal- a duck -exa(mine)'s wordpower. 23d- really locked me up.Kudos to x-ha. Thank you,sir.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Aakash Sridhar15 May 2015 at 22:41

    Thanks for the comprehensive comments everyone (all are valued) and to Col. for his inputs (and putting up an awesome picture of a sidecar for my clue!),
    Posting this whaile in Boston with my family and I'm just here to pitch my thoughts on all the doubts since there were quite a few today, I may b be wrong/I may not...

    15A Illegitimate son of 'xyz' is the bastard/natural son of 'xyz' as MB and Ajeesh pointed out..does that make 'natural' a contranym?

    21A the ambiguity in the answer is an inadvertent error... while writing the clue I didn't realize that the answer
    could just as well be 'ANTIC', so I basically fell i into an unlucky ttrap that could have been avoided with a 'could be' instead of 'can be'..-> in my defense,'X be refined' as an instruction to anagram 'X' hurts the cryptic grammar and doesn't seem to work too well, and the definition 'poorly portrayed act' for 'antic' is a a stretch too as it's 'antics' according to all dictionaries, leaving 'attic' as the right answer..

    27A As Mohsin has pointed out, I was a bit surprised that many didn't get this reference straight away..
    and it's easily verifiable as it's the first result that pops up on a google search..

    30A Raghunath uncle has echoed my thoughts in the context where 'beat' and 'shape' are synonymous..perhaps the crossings weren't
    generous

    4D Mohsin has correctly mentioned my intention, I too was in doubt about 'PS' but thought I'd give it a try and
    see what the majority think..

    20D "like" was intended as a connector between definition and wordplay, I am still in doubt if this is to be considered "intrusive"
    in this context, though it works theoretically? ..

    5D I agree that def 'gets' wordplay doesn't work outright... my take on 'in' is that both 'home' and 'at home' are equally fine,
    I'm 'at home' = I'm 'in'
    I'm 'home' = I'm 'in'
    This is probably my longest post here, excuse any typos and take care all!

    ReplyDelete

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