Satyen Nabar's Sun Spl analysed

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Saturday, 17 June 2017

No 12036, Saturday 17 Jun 2017, Spinner

SPINNER

ACROSS
1 Rafael Nadal is one presently in form, overcoming athletes at the top (6,6) TENNIS PLAYER {PRESENTLY+IN}* around {Atheletes}
10 First digit hidden by mammoth umbrella (5) THUMB (T)
11 Rating given to person who receives protection against damage (9) GUARANTEE {G{UA}RANTEE}
12 Yet, all went wrong in the last few days! (6) LATELY {YET+ALL}*
13 Overwhelmed by uncontrolled desire, a lady's conceived! (8) REALISED {DESIRE}* around {A}{L}
15 Too many cryptic clues not wise when there's no time (9) COUNTLESS {CLUES+NOT}*{Sage}
16 One playing to win Paris' top tournament (4) OPEN {ONE}* around {Paris}
20 Very good man gets a broad (4) VAST {V}{A}{ST}
21 Cut westwards next to first concrete junction to escape law enforcers (9) POLICEMEN {LOP<=}{I}{CEMENt}
24 Went through bad experience and took to court, with proposal failing to take off (8) SUFFERED {SU{oFFER}ED}
26 If time runs out, act's bust! (6) STATUE {STATUtE}
28 Painted vehicle's roof that's rusted, with top peeling off (9) VARNISHED {Vehicle}{tARNISHED}
29 Sacking leader - Legally correct, aesthetically disagreeable! (5) AWFUL {lAWFUL}
30 Pressure increasing in hostile environment in an unforeseen way (12) SURPRISINGLY {SUR{P}{RISING}LY}

DOWN
2 With heart essentially broken, one quits relationships (9) EQUATIONS {heArt+ONE+QUITS}*
3 Writer's tip on expensive eating (8) NIBBLING {NIB}{BLING}
4 Gasp as Indian man drops point (4) SIGH {SInGH}
5 Top-brass has replied in bizarre fashion (10) LEADERSHIP {HAS+REPLIED}*
6 Annual play's climax ahead of its time (6) YEARLY {plaY}{EARLY}
7 Judges call up celebrity about case finally (5) RATES {STAR<=} around {casE}
8 Robbed section of Bristol emporium (5) STOLE (T)
9 Whistle on receiving final posting (7) SENDING {S{END}ING}
14 Completely remove money from everything to win that woman! (10) ALTOGETHER {ALl}{TO}{GET}{HER}
17 Fine pull played with toe-end of bat is productive (9) PLENTIFUL {FINE+PULL} around {baT}
18 First lady's visa rejected - It's hard to obtain! (7) EVASIVE {EV{VISA<=}E}
19 Arrestin' - In other words, to keep under check (8) RESTRAIN {ARRESTIN*}
22 Respected man's Spinner's superior (6) SENIOR {SEN{I}OR}
23 Distributes lemonade also, bottled (5) DEALS (T)
25 Designed rifles without large triggers (5) FIRES {RIFlES}*
27 What an aggregator does to draw in commercials (4) ADDS {AD{D}S}

Reference list

Rating=UA, Lady=L, Time=T, Very=V, Good man=St, First=I, Junction=T, Pressure=P
Point=N, Money=L(Pound), First lady=Eve, Large=L, Draw=D 

Color/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution, Indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous
GRID
at

41 comments:

  1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao17 June 2017 at 08:34

    Easy spin!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deepak Gopinath17 June 2017 at 08:35

    Some great clues today, liked 1A

    ReplyDelete
  3. Deepak Gopinath17 June 2017 at 08:36

    The special tomorrow will be an Alphabet Jigsaw by Fraz and there will be no Across Lite version

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi17 June 2017 at 09:13

      Nice to see we are now moving on to special puzzles in the Sun Spl slot.
      As far as I know, in a typical Alphabet Jigsaw we have to cold-solve the clues and when once we have got a sizeable number we begin placing them in the grid in a sort of jigsaw puzzle operation and go on to finish the puzzle.
      I have seen some by different setters including Araucaria, Don Putnam and David Stickley.
      So this puzzle's clues may fit in with the practice here of our merely posting answers. Do any one of us solve a Sun Spl independently by placing all or most of the answers in the grid?
      So here's a suggestion.
      Deepak, this time consider asking readers/solvers to try and finish the puzzle by completing the jigsaw.
      You may ask the solvers to send the finished puzzles to me
      chaturvasi yahoo com
      by next Saturday June 24
      and I will take on the task of checking them to produce a list of successful solvers.
      This means that no answers will be posted tomorrow under the puzzle on the blog.
      I will be going out of town only in the week after that.
      This is only a suggestion and you may take it or leave it.

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan17 June 2017 at 09:38

      Nice of you to take the added responsibility. Makes it interesting. I am sure Col. would jump at the offer.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath17 June 2017 at 09:45

      CV,
      You are right about what an Alphabetic Jigsaw is. People may not want to wait till next Saturday. So what I have decided is to block comments till 4 PM. Anyone can solve and send me a screenshot or image of the completed grid and I will publish the names of those who have correctly submitted the grid with their time of submission.
      After 4 PM I will open the blog for comments and permit three answers with annotations per commenter as usual.

      Delete
    4. Deepak Gopinath17 June 2017 at 09:47

      I think we did have an Alphabet Jigsaw by Buzzer sometime ago

      Delete
    5. Deepak Gopinath17 June 2017 at 09:49

      Just checked we did have one from Buzzer on 07 Oct 12

      Delete
    6. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 June 2017 at 13:11

      Last time that Alphabet jigsaw puzzle had no grid. Hope tomorrow's puzzle will have one, Sir.

      Delete
    7. Col_Gopinath17 June 2017 at 17:46

      This time you will have a grid but no enumerations 😎

      Delete
    8. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 June 2017 at 17:53

      😢. :(

      Delete
  4. Vasant17 June 2017 at 08:36

    Nice puzzle and blog!
    Thought it was a theme on La Decima as the first clue was on Rafa with open also there
    Thanks Spinner & Ramesh

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous17 June 2017 at 11:45

      Definitely had La Decima on mind! I was a bit too confident, because these clues were framed sometime during the second round.

      Delete
    2. Vasant17 June 2017 at 14:26

      Your confidence, as also of numerous fans around the world, was justified. He was the winner all the way. Quite awesome.

      Delete
  5. Col_Gopinath17 June 2017 at 09:07

    Off topic interesting article

    *Why `tock-tick' does not sound right to your ears*
    
    
    Ever wondered why we say tick-tock, not tock-tick, or ding-dong, not dong ding; King Kong, not Kong King? Turns out it is one of the unwritten rules of English that native speakers know without knowing.
    The rule, explains a BBC article, is: “If there are three words then the order has to go I, A, O. If there are two words then the first is I and the second is either A or O. Mish-mash, chit-chat, dilly-dally, shilly-shally , tip-top, hip-hop, flip-flop, tic-tac, sing-song, ding-dong, King Kong, ping-pong.“

    There's another unwritten rule at work in the name Little Red Riding Hood, says the article.

    “Adjectives in English absolutely have to be in this order: opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose- noun. So you can have a lovely little old rectangular green French silver whittling knife. But if you mess with that word order in the slightest you'll sound like a maniac.“

    That explains why we say “little green men“ not “green little men,“ but “Big Bad Wolf “ sounds like a gross violation of the “opinion (bad)-size (big) noun (wolf)“ order. It won't, though, if you recall the first rule about the I-A-O order.

    That rule seems inviolable: “All four of a horse's feet make exactly the same sound. But we always, always say clip-clop, never clop-clip.“

    This rule even has a technical name, if you care to know it--the rule of "ablaut reduplication" --but then life is simpler knowing that we know the rule without knowing it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. vdsprasad49@gmail.com17 June 2017 at 09:18

    1A, 21A and 19D - clues looked too straightforward, yielded answers at just a cursory glance.
    But scratched my head to get the 'q' in equations (2D)! Found 14D very interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chaturvasi17 June 2017 at 09:20

    Yes, very interesting. I had read this somewhere quite recently. Thanks for placing it here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chaturvasi17 June 2017 at 09:32

    But scratched my head to get the 'q' in equations (2D)

    Re 2 With heart essentially broken, one quits relationships (9)

    As a follow-up, is the operation W plus anag. of ONEQUITS indicated logically? I don't think so. The anag ind, broken, is placed between A and the second fodder. The clue, as written, instructs solver to take A and add an anag of onequits - which doesn't lead to the answer.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan17 June 2017 at 09:36

      I took it as add A to anagram of (one quits)- the solver has to decide where to add it. We had one like that yesterday or day before.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi17 June 2017 at 09:44

      I am aware of adding a letter to an anagram fodder and jumbling the result to get an anagram for the answer but that operation isn't indicated logically here. That's my contention.
      A letter - anagram fodder - anagram signal to get answer - ok
      anagram fodder - anagram signal - a letter added to get answer - ok
      Instruction to take a letter - anagram fodder, anagram signal to get answer - ok
      Does the clue's instruction come under any of these?

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan17 June 2017 at 10:21

      "Instruction to take a letter-anagram fodder,anagram signal to get answer"-
      Does 'With' at the beginning serve the pupose of 'instruction'? I mean,
      With A (one quits)* gives equations.
      Does it sound right? I did not have any doubts while solving this clue and I am just trying to find out why and how.

      Delete
    4. Srivathsan17 June 2017 at 11:30

      It doesn't fall under any of the three scenarios mentioned, but these are only valid if the intention is to assemble the fodder before anagramming. But that's not the intended parsing here. Have explained my thoughts below.

      Delete
  9. Padmanabhan17 June 2017 at 09:33

    Col.
    Thank you. Very interesting. It is like solving some clues without knowing the annos. Now that the annos are in place we can understand the logic.
    For example, I did 1A without anno on seeing Rafa and with crossings.
    Interesting and enjoyable variations by Spinner. Thank you Spinner and Ramesh.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 June 2017 at 09:55

    Nice one, Spinner. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chaturvasi17 June 2017 at 10:39

    Many of the clues in many of the puzzles are very good. I admire them.
    However, some clues, while yielding answers, may not strictly follow rules.
    I believe the SI in 2d is not quite correct.
    I have explained as best as I could.
    The addition/inclusion of a letter in anagram fodder is not indicated properly in the clue.
    It is for A + anag of onequits - which doesn't lead to the answer.
    My conetention is the anag signal is misplaced.
    If you think it's OK, it's your call.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant17 June 2017 at 11:22

      Is this what is called "Cryptic Grammar"?

      Delete
    2. Srivathsan17 June 2017 at 11:25

      'With' here is to be taken in the containment context and not the 'add to fodder' context.


      Switching the parts of the clue before and after the comma,

      Broken (onequits) with A

      With A ,broken (onequits)


      I feel both read the same. If it is interpreted as 'just add a to the anagram fodder before anagramming', it probably doesn't work.

      But that's not how I framed the clue. Would love opinions on this.

      Delete
    3. Raghunath17 June 2017 at 11:50

      2 One quits, heart essentially broken in relationships (9) EQUATIONS {ONE+QUITS+ heArt}*.

      It's a diferent matter that ones's involved in more than one relationship.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous17 June 2017 at 11:56

      That's a nice alternative to the clue. But the context with which the original is to be read, is also to be considered.

      Delete
    5. Chaturvasi17 June 2017 at 12:27

      Thanks for bearing with me. I did not suggest any edit because the revised version cannot preserve the excellent surface meaning of the clue as published. Yet, in my opinion, its SI is not without flaw.

      Delete
  12. Padmanabhan17 June 2017 at 11:23

    Will this be alright?
    "With heart essentially, one quits mixed relationships."
    Surface reading is not good, but I am just checking about the placement of anind.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous17 June 2017 at 11:44

    Absolutely loved the blog today - The indicators with the colour-coding make it so lucid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan17 June 2017 at 12:10

      Yes, Ramesh goes the extra mile o make it clear and appealing.

      Delete
    2. raju umamaheswar17 June 2017 at 13:17

      Extra mile? leagues ahead in his patience and perfection with the colours. Truly, Ramesh, how do you pull this kind of stuff off?Any special software? A veritable Alpha to Omega guide for any newcomer to cryptic crosswords. Looks like a well-baked cake decked up with colours.

      Spinner's web has the intricacy of a spider's nest each weave and weft so delicately wound ! Thanks to both the artists. A good song compose by Spinner and set to music by Ramesh.

      Delete
  14. Suresh17 June 2017 at 12:18

    Always enjoyed Alphabet crosswords. There is one in the Guardian today

    ReplyDelete
  15. VMA Nair17 June 2017 at 16:35

    Great clues. Thanks Spinner

    ReplyDelete

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