Thursday 13 July 2017

No 12058, Thursday 13 Jul 2017, Skulldugger


ACROSS
9   Cunning hens catching busis this even possible? (3,4,6,2) CAN SUCH THINGS BE*
10 Musical instrument master left in that place (7) THEREIN THEREmIN
12 Activity favoured by posses and cougars! (7) MANHUNT [CD]
13 She might save our sphere, amazingly (9) SUPERHERO* &lit
14 Point westwards to Michigan city (5) MIAMI {AIM<=}{MI}
15 American funk caused when not-all-there chap (Republican) trafficked in voodoo regularly (7) MALODOR {MALe}{vOoDoO}{R}
18 Doubt she could have done the crime (7) SUSPECT [CD] [DD] See comments
21 Spirit modern, say folks (5) NUMEN (~new){NU}{MEN}
23 Furbelow in the Antipodes! (4,5) DOWN UNDER {DOWN} {UNDER}
25 One particular interesting stimulation out of lots (7) MINUTIA stIMUlATIoN*
26 Sanction for animals initially lacking (7) INDORSE {hIND}{hORSE}
29 Wormhole defined whimsically as "back of beyond" (6,2,7) MIDDLE OF NOWHERE* [C&DD] See comments

DOWN
1   Animal appendage that's small and oddly crusty (4) SCUT {S}{CrUsTy}
2   Operating these days... and formerly (4) ONCE {ON}{CE}
3   Perturbed but not tense, recombined but not mixed (8) PUREBRED PERtURBED*
4   Buchanan centre and courthouse gutted by accident (6) CHANCE {buCHANan}{Co...sE}
5   They are used to clean locks! (8) SHAMPOOS [CD]
6   My heartless Italian grandmother's radical alias (6) ANONYM {MY}{NOnNA}<=
7   Bluecoats beginning to go off for a kiss (8) OSCULATE bLUECOATS*
8   Moderate central European nation's leaders have secret meeting, reportedly (8) CENTRIST {Ce...l}{Eu...n}{Na...n}{TRIST}(~tryst)
11 African's exclamation of surprise on encountering North American country (5) HAUSA {HA}{USA}
15 Little women, they can't get any littler! (8) MINIMUMS {MINI}{MUMS}
16 Alderwomen losing heart and turning to drink (8) LEMONADE ALDErwOMEN*
17 Cool mountain lodges brought up first class heater (8) RADIATOR {RAD}{AI<=}{TOR}
19 Turn off to open up? On the contrary (8) SHUTDOWN {SHUT}{DOWN}
20 Mate ends it when he's overwhelmed by extremely cheerless feelings (5) CHESS {Ch...s}{HE'S}{f...gS}
22 Felt tense, but came back content as bug (6) NETTLE [T<=]
24 Colt's sound when partially discharged by tavern yard (6) WHINNY {WH}{INN}{Y}
27 Animal raised in grass (4) REED <=
28 Turned over threepenny bit for fencing material (4) EPEE [T<=]

GRID

24 comments:

  1. 29 Wormhole defined whimsically as "back of beyond" (6,2,7) MIDDLE OF NOWHERE [C&DD]

    Anagram of Wormhole defined

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  2. 29 DD even if it's anagram. I am still learning the terms of clueing. Pls explain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Whimsically' is used as anagram indicator of (Wormhole defined) to give the def.

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    2. Thats how I understood. My doubt is on classification terminology which I learn from this blog.

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    3. Thanks Raghu. I was careless there.

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  3. Had to google to confirm that super heroine is also called super hero.
    Did not know 'indorse' as a variant- of course with clue and crossings it fell easily, but for confirmation.
    Antipodes was done nicely.
    Off track-
    Col.,
    There is an article in the Chennai edition of Jawa club meeting in Hotel Ashoka. I believe they keep meeting every month.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Replies
    1. Yes it is. I had a doubt and I didn't enter it as a DD, now that you mention it I have corrected it

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  5. Skulldugger at his best again. It took me longer time in solving four clues.
    20DN: Filled in CHECK in hurry and without fully reading the clue.

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  6. 18A 'Do a crime' is a novel use
    Conventionally, we say 'Commit a crime' or 'Do something illegal'.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Do people who osculate indulge in lip-locking in a more elaborate, studied, time-consuming, artful manner than when they simply kiss?

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    Replies
    1. Depends upon the dental hygiene of the other party!!!

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    2. Do they have the time and mood to check on hygiene?!

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    3. Doing a tangent without oscillating has to be time consuming. On the other hand much easier when one has dental specialist(MDS) at home.

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    4. CV Sir's question: when you osculate or kiss, other sensations take over..whether it is elaborate or not would depend upon the response one gets😀😀

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  8. What a lot of adjectives- skillfully done.

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  9. Loved this one from Skull Dugger..the other day I was reading the old blogs from 2012..SD's debut puzzle was a lot tougher..this was a pleasant solve with some delightful cluing..liked the long ones and the & Lit and rest of the clues. Thanks SD & Col for an instructive blog

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  10. cv: YUM, YUM, OSCULUM. kiss can be peremptory like mwaa , as socialites do, whereas, osculate would require time, study and motion of the oscillations of a pendulum --- I mean, premeditated preparations and stimulation of the senses.

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  11. SUPERHERO: not gender specific? Why is it that one sees even actresses being termed as actors? Why not a common denomination for both male and female as MR only?

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  12. Yes, I had the same doubt aw well and on checking I found that Superheros include heroines as well.

    ReplyDelete

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