Monday, 3 August 2015

No 11463, Monday 03 Aug 2015, Buzzer


15A isn't making Buzzer laugh as he too is stumped!!

ACROSS
6   Happen to set right a bug (5-3) PHONE-TAP*
9   Dock has aluminium gate (6) PORTAL {PORT}{AL}
10 Man is one, I'll say (4) ISLE (~I'll)
11 Aware of old recording that is Cher's — oddly undamaged (2,3,5) IN ONE PIECE {IN ON}{E P}{IE}{ChEr}
12 Shabby batter (4-2) BEAT-UP [DD]
14 Lock up one male on strike (7) IMPOUND {1}{M}{POUND}
15 Fake model meant to be different? You must be joking! (4,4,2,5) DONT MAKE ME LAUGH ? Anno pending See comments
18 Saltwater lake is approximately 5 times less devastated (4,3) DEAD SEA DEvAStAtED*
20 Acts of taking the lifts (6) THEFTS {THE}FTS Anno not clear (Addendum - {T}{HEFTS} - See comments)
22 Doubtful editor going back through cutting (10) INDECISIVE {IN{DE<=}CISIVE}
23 Tail of a deer (4) HIND [DD]
24 Fine wind beginning to flag and stop (6) FREEZE {F}{bREEZE}
25 'N Sync ringtone? (8) NITROGEN*

DOWN
1   Joint where Ken Kesey appeared frequently (4) KNEE KeN kEsEy
2   African nation gets this hope, aid may be given heartily (8) ETHIOPIA {gETs}{tHIs}{hOPe}{aId}{mAy}
3   Running costs at university look to be on the rise (6) UPKEEP {UP}{KEEP<=}
4   Skill hospital unit has behind is clear (10) ARTICULATE {ART}{ICU}{LATE}
5   Monitor had two green colours initially mixed up (8) WATCHDOG {HAD+TWO+G+Co...s}*
7   Drinks most of cha in hurry (5) HASTE {HAS}{TEa}
8   In favour of being part of growth (13) PROLIFERATION {PRO}{LIFE}{RATION}
13 Tree matter composed in a verse (10) TETRAMETER*
16 Built-in road over railway is common (8) ORDINARY {IN+ROAD}*{RY}
17 Request feed stored in a record (8) ENTREATY {ENTR{EAT}Y}
19 Fit in a formal dress (6) SUITED [CD]
21 Hint can backfire for example (5) TINGE {TIN}{GE<=}
23 Upset bear in a ring (4) HOOP <=

GRID

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33 comments:

  1. Rengaswamy3 August 2015 at 08:38

    20 Acts of taking the lifts (6) THEFTS {THE}FTS Anno not clear

    I took FT as Forklift Truck

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abhay3 August 2015 at 08:56

      For that to work, it will need to be "forklift trucks = FTS", which seems to me like quite a stretch.

      The clue just about works as a double definition.

      I tried to see if "lifts" was meant to give us HEFTS and tried to find a source for the first T, but unless I can abbreviate "the" to T I can't make it fit. :(

      Delete
    2. Raghunath3 August 2015 at 09:07

      The (-li)fts? Is an indicator to remove Li missing?

      Delete
    3. Abhay3 August 2015 at 09:12

      I think Renga intended it as lift = Forklift Truck = FT.

      Delete
    4. Raghunath3 August 2015 at 09:38

      What I meant was, was it:

      20 Acts of taking Lithium/ 51 away from the lifts (6) THE+ (li)FTS

      Delete
  2. Vasant3 August 2015 at 08:41

    15A: something amiss with the fodder.
    20A: DD?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vasant3 August 2015 at 08:47

    Why the apostrophe before N in 25A?
    The clue works well without it or am I missing something?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath3 August 2015 at 08:56

      'N Sync to be read as In Sync

      Delete
    2. Raghunath3 August 2015 at 08:57

      Also why capital S?

      Delete
    3. Abhay3 August 2015 at 09:08

      This is Buzzer's genius at work - 'N Sync (spelt just like that) *is* a ringtone! Check here for an example.

      Delete
    4. Abhay3 August 2015 at 09:13

      Sorry - that "Check here" was meant to be followed by this link.

      http://ringtones.mob.org/artist=n_sync/

      Delete
    5. Deepak Gopinath3 August 2015 at 09:15

      That N Sync is the name of a group

      Delete
    6. Abhay3 August 2015 at 09:22

      My point is that the ringtone is called 'N Sync too.

      Delete
  4. Vasant3 August 2015 at 09:08

    Got it!otherwise N Sync is meaningless..Thanks Col

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abhay3 August 2015 at 09:14

      It isn't meaningless - see my explanation above.

      Delete
    2. Vasant3 August 2015 at 09:42

      Now I am confused...
      But it makes a great clue..

      Delete
    3. Vasant3 August 2015 at 09:44

      I should have written ..But it makes a great clue either way

      Delete
    4. Vasant3 August 2015 at 09:47

      Thanks Abhay...it needs brilliance to parse this..as it needs brilliance to create it

      Delete
  5. Abhay3 August 2015 at 09:21

    Thanks for a great ride, Buzzer! Despite (what appears to be) an anagrammatical mishap at 15a, the puzzle is a gorgeous one.

    My COD (indeed, my COM!) is easily 25 - the brevity, the elegance, the simplicity, the use of an actual instance of a ringtone to provide the definition *and* the anind - simply brilliant!

    Thanks to DG for the blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath3 August 2015 at 09:32

      Here the def is 'N and not plain N (if I were to nitpick).

      Delete
  6. Padmanabhan3 August 2015 at 09:34

    Def. has to be just N if the solution is nitrogen. (') has to be part of wordplay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abhay3 August 2015 at 11:44

      Not part of the wordplay (as I see it) - just added to smoothen the surface.

      Delete
  7. Bhavan3 August 2015 at 09:59

    Hi everyone, just thought I'll weigh in with my views on a few things.

    15A I have no idea why is it what it is and how it slipped out even after proofreading. Sorry if you wasted your time trying to parse the wordplay.

    20A what I had in mind was T (the - as in the game of charades) + HEFTS (lifts). Unfortunate coincidence and another oversight that the first 3 letters of the answer match THE.

    25A 'N Sync is the band name which is why it was written that way for the surface to make sense. The definition is N only, not 'N since punctuation can be safely ignored in most cases in a clue.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh3 August 2015 at 10:42

      Thanks Bhavan. I spent a long time figuring out the gh including Bernard Shaws 'ghoti' (Wiki says it could be William Ollier). Then realised there was a 'u' as well and some letter extra too. So! I gave up.

      Delete
    2. Abhay3 August 2015 at 11:41

      Thanks for weighing in, Bhavan. As I said above, I did try to parse THEFTS the way you have explained it, but I could see how "the" equalled T. Your explanation makes sense - and makes me feel delighted that my reading of lifts=HEFTS was right!

      Delete
  8. Padmanabhan3 August 2015 at 10:12

    Thank you Bhavan for the clarifications. Enjoyed both yesterday & today, minor hiccups notwithstanding.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chaturvasi3 August 2015 at 11:46

    Re SUB for 'advance' in an Everyman crossword the other day, the following was the response I got from JollySwagman who lives in Australia:

    Quote

    It's pretty commonplace in English English - not so much here in Australia.

    It simply means an advance against wages - eg for a new hire who can't see their way through to payday.

    It's just one of those problems inherent in UK crosswords' being solved by a wider audience.

    If I do Irish Times crosswords I am not surprised to find Irishisms which are unfamiliar to me as a Brit.

    Of course now that the Guardian claims to be targetting an international audience via their website (ie with specifically UK, US and Australian editions) maybe they should give it a bit more thought if they use the same puzzles for all versions.

    OTOH setters of the past would have been a bit compromised if they hadn't been able to fill out their last few empty spaces in the grid with obscure Cambridgeshire villages. You do eventually run out of antelopes.

    Unquote

    ReplyDelete
  10. Unknown3 August 2015 at 14:51

    I am completely new to this and trying to catch up. I tried to go through some online tut's but no help. Can anyone please help me out to understand few answers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh3 August 2015 at 14:56

      Tell us which

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi3 August 2015 at 15:36

      In my honest opinion if a person is not able to make much of the clue, answer, annotation that are provided here, I am not sure if that person can make much headway in crossword solving.
      It is like my trying to play bridge and understand what those Bridge columns say and mean. I just cannot!

      Delete
    3. Srivathsan3 August 2015 at 23:24

      Jagadeesh, I suggest you go through this and understand the basic concepts and clue types so that you might be able to make better sense of the discussions here.

      http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2008/08/tackling-cryptic-crosswords-7-step_11.html

      All the articles on the blog are worth a read if you're interested in tackling cryptic crosswords.

      Delete
  11. D.Srinivasan3 August 2015 at 18:10

    For all SAMOSA lovers here, a variety of Indian samosas can be found at:
    http://m.food.ndtv.com/food-drinks/the-samosa-trail-across-india-from-kolkatas-singara-to-gujarats-patti-samosa-1203179?pfrom=home-food

    From NDTV website

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com

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