Tuesday 22 September 2015

No 11506, Tuesday 22 Sep 2015, xChequer


Phew!!! Struggled for almost 3 hours on this one, mostly in the NW corner and 14A.

ACROSS
7   Spit out a normal drink like barley water (6) PTISAN {SPIT*}{A}{N}
8   Favourite in shows up in contests with others (8) COMPETES {COM{PET}ES}
9   Unpretentious places where people live, a joke (8) HOMESPUN {HOMES}{PUN}
10 Rowing over daughter lacking in guts (6) OARING {O}{dARING}
11 Fashion model has exercise (5) SHAPE {HAS*}{PE}
12 Exhausted nurse is overcome (6) BEATEN {BEAT}{EN}
14 Come back to plague his rule, a tragedy in the making (4,3,4,4) REAR ITS UGLY HEAD*
17 Observing zero hour is irrelevant (6) NOTING NOThING
18 Does this to stop littering? Society benefits (5) SPAYS {S}{PAYS}
22 Particular assignment (6) DETAIL [DD]
23 Institution turned sick, pounds not easily cashed (8) ILLIQUID {I}{LLI<=}{QUID}
24 One accustomed to crow before being introduced to cuckoo clock (8) COCKEREL {ERE} in {CLOCK}*
25 Beer we drunk came from here (6) BREWER* &lit (There is an error in the Anagram fodder - See comments)

DOWN
1   Degenerates are attached to souvenirs (9) ATROPHIES {A}{TROPHIES}
2   A notice describing essence of healthy power napping (6) ASLEEP {A}{S{heaLthy}EE}{P}
3   Bird in ecstasy, legs flipped (5) SNIPE {SPIN}{E}<=
4   Abiding extremes of idealism before killing (8) IMMORTAL {Id...sM}{MORTAL}
5   Cut back on chain stores, rent in different places (8) RETRENCH {RE}{TREN*}{CH} Anno not clear. What's the role of 'places'? See comments
6   Could be 1d (5) WEANS ? [CD]
8   Question clean baffled attendant (13) CONSEQUENTIAL*
13 Dismayed with nuclear bombs becoming versatile (4-5) MANY-SIDED {DISMAYED+N}*
15 Controlled fire with small rifles (8) RANSACKS {RAN}{SACK}{S}
16 Utterly spoilt without a guardian (8) TUTELARY {UTTERLY}* around {A}
19 Reportedly pale and irritated (6) PIQUED  (~ picket ? ) (Addendum - (~ peaked) - See comments)
20 Trade corporate shares, furnishing scheme (5) DECOR [T]
21 World should be left in good order (5) GLOBE {G}{L}{OBE}

GRID

20 comments:

  1. 19 Reportedly pale and irritated (6) PIQUED (~ peaked)

    ReplyDelete
  2. 5 Cut back on chain stores, rent in different places (8) RETRENCH {RE}{TREN*}{CH} Anno not clear. What's the role of 'places'?

    I suppose "different places" is an anagrind. Stores in the container ind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As in 'spread out': (diff places)

      Delete
    2. 'In different places' is the Anagrind. Treat it as R,e,n,t in different places.

      Delete
    3. Hi... pls why is chain stores ch?

      Delete
    4. Chain: CH. Stores means that TREN* is stored in RE and CH.

      Delete
  3. 6 Could be 1d (5) WEANS ? [CD]

    MEANS: DD? Could be: MEANS and degenerate: MEAN. But is plural OK for an adj?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too thought of MEANS, but had the same doubt as you - plural usage. Secondly, IMO, 1D should be taken as ATROPHIES and not DEGENERATES - in which case MEANS does not fit.

      Delete
    2. Exactly. That's why I put the Q mark.

      Delete
  4. I think the surface reading of 25a needed improvement, unless there is a misprint.
    We drink, We drank, We had drunk...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Also, as the def is 'from here' we might expect the ans to be BREWERY or BREWER'S. For BREWER, 'this man' or 'this producer' may be OK.

      Delete
    2. 25 Beer we drunk came from here (6) BREWER* &lit

      BREWER is not an anagram of BEER + WE

      Delete
  5. Beaten by ptisan & snipe...lovely ..instructive..puzzle...had to battle hard to get even the simpler onea like shape & asleep..the longer ones though fell in easily..put in weans for 6D

    ReplyDelete
  6. REAR ITS UGLY HEAD is not an amenable phrase to clue. The setter is brave.
    However, the phrase is used even when an unpleasant situation appears once, never to return. I grant def part for this phrase is hard to write, especially with 'its'.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 12Ac : Definition : 'is overcome' or simply "overcome" pl?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Overcome' is the def. It is in a tense that matches the word reqd BEATEN.
      He overcame his opponent - He beat his opponent.
      He has overcome his opponent - He has beaten his opponent.
      The weak player is overcome - The weak player is beaten.
      All this typing because I don't know the grammatcal terms.

      Delete
  8. Does 'Atrophy' & 'wean' have a common synonym in 'Deprive'?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Phew yes is an amazing word to describe my struggle with this xword... almost gave up sev times in frustration but managed to complete tho ages ... google thesaurusi and all forms of tech came to my aid generously ...xchequer this was great.. thanks

    ReplyDelete

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