Tuesday 21 March 2017

No 11960, Tuesday 21 Mar 2017, Gridman


ACROSS
1   Directionless, Raja's walking leisurely (8) RAMBLING {R}{AMBLING}
6   Albert leaves excuses for bird (4) IBIS alIBIS
9   Cares about royal directions (6) TRENDS {T{R}ENDS}
10 Gridman's confession that he's out-of-date. That's dead end (7) IMPASSE {I'M}{PASSE}
13 Lass relaxing in excellent grazing area (9) GRASSLAND {GRA{LASS*}ND}
14 Good man to broadcast: It will take you to a higher level (5) STAIR {ST}{AIR}
15 Aide's strange thought (4) IDEA*
16 Estate's scheme dismissing head of depot (10) PLANTATION {PLAN}{sTATION}
19 First of ranges in petticoat is developed insufficiently (10) UNDERGROWN {UNDERG{Ra...s}OWN}
21 Go fast, girl, it helps you reach a level up (4) RUNG {RUN}{G}
24 Retrieve a fragment I put in part of leg (5) TIBIA {A}{I}{BIT}<=
25 Playing around grandee at open-air restaurant (3,6) TEA-GARDEN*
26 Assert again: US city is involved in organised crime (7) RECLAIM {REC{LA}IM*}
27 With Tamil leader, these mistakes would be nightmares (6) ERRORS tERRORS
28 Stagger back from evil look (4) LEER <=
29 Taking turns or going back to depot without initial supply (8) ROTATION {OR<=}{sTATION}

DOWN
2   Land needing care redeveloped over time (7) ACREAGE {CARE}*{AGE}
3   New one in party cast out (6) BANISH {BA{N}{1}SH}
4   Set-up aide in shop has beer regularly (9) INSTALLER {IN}{STALL}{bEeR}
5   Crush good part of some fruits (5) GRIND {G}{RIND}
7   Learned men accept short tip about primarily samba rice (7) BASMATI {BA}{Sa..a}{MA}{TIp}
8   Son's trial joke about new wool-gathering workers (8,4) SHEARING GANG {S}{HEARING} {GA{N}G}
11 AP lost out — it's mail-related (6) POSTAL*
12 Rag I represented gets refined with regard to farming (12) AGRICULTURAL {RAG+I}*{CULTURAL}
17 Fresh appeal to man — one selling papers (4,5) NEWS AGENT {NEW}{S A}{GENT}
18 Deep mysteries embedded in Bihar canal (6) ARCANA [T]
20 Society girl's lace tears off in disaster (7) DEBACLE {DEB}{LACE}*
22 Suffer, having energy that isn't high enough? (7) UNDERGO {UNDER}{GO}
23 Gold standard, say, of vegetable (6) CARROT (~carat)
25 Sailor hugged most excellent circus employee (5) TAMER {TA{Most}{Ex...t}R} Is an indicator to take first letters of Most & Excellent missing?

GRID

24 comments:

  1. Nice start to this run by Gridman. Missed the trend of 9A and put in shearing hand in staed of gang - missed the plural. Otherwise a smooth run.

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  2. 25d Could "most excellent" be a honorary reference to setter. (ref: the most excellent/his excellency)

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  3. HE,the Gridman? Nice sounding. But my take is sacrificed in favour of most excellent surface.

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    Replies
    1. ... but why should a sailor hug a circus employee??

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    2. Sailors are notorious for hugging anyone while on shore!

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    3. Hugging is not uncommon when sailing in the same boat!

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  4. 7D:wondering if Samba refers to the J& K town; if so would it require S to be in capital?

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    Replies
    1. Google tells me that samba rice is a variety of rice & s is not in capital

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    2. Vasant,
      This is pronounced as 'samba' as against 'Saamba'- arey Oh! Saamba!!
      In fact there is even a variety of wheat known as 'samba godumai'/ Very common in the south.

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    3. Thanks Paddy..got the nuance

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    4. Paddy explaining about Rice. It was meant to be.

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  5. Thanks Gridman for the smooth-sailing clues. Completed it in a jiffy.

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  6. Thanks Gridman.Always look forward to to the cycle when your puzzles appear

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  7. 12A live, back of evil.
    This solution would have been apt.
    Could not understand 'leer'.

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    Replies
    1. leer reversed is reel/ staggering.
      Leer is evil look.

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  8. Nice grid and a satisfactory solve! Thanks, Gridman. :)

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  9. There are honours such as MEOBE where ME stands for Most Excellent.
    Me - most excellent
    The above is entered in Chambers CWD - A dictionary of crossword abbreviations.

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  10. Is R for Raja also in that dictionary? Yesterday Ramki Krishnan mentioned OB for obstetrician and GYN for gynaecologist as "common abbreviations", but they are not present under OB or GYN in both Chambers and ODE (the clue had OB for doctor). Is there a comprehensive list of abbreviations that all setters conform to and solvers can refer to?

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    Replies
    1. A big question,Esha. Many such lists have been prepared & you can have them at wiki too..i for one dont consult any either during solving or setting..but follow my intuition & what i have learnt during solving..OB yesterday was easy to deduce as was R= Raja=King

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    2. You can have all about abbreviations at this link
      http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2008/10/cryptic-abbreviations.html?m=1

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    3. Typo..you can have all info

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