Sunday 31 December 2017

Special, Sunday 31 Dec 2017, IXL-2017 Prelim


Three answers per commenter (Annotations compulsory) till 6 PM.
Please provide all your answers in one comment.


ACROSS
1   Raced over account and divided up (6)
5   Debacle of French derring-do (6)
10 Without doubt caught all centrally and before time (7)
11 Expert, slender runner full after a fashion (7)
12 Dr Darius Latin, spoke of a chariot wheel (6)
15 Establishing the age by going out with a girl (6)
16 Really hungry after a swell operation (7)
17 Champion audibly took a long deep breath (4)
18 Express denial with poles in it (3'1)
19 Sets off suddenly and shoots without reason finally (7)
20 Quilt made with polyurethane fluff at the ends (4)
22 Landmass edges across India (4)
25 Interrupting opera singer and destroying all traces (7)
27 The rat posed a menace (6)
28 Total university peak (6)
31 Visitor to ancient city is finally down-and-out (7)
32 Parcels and excitedly blends over something for all to see (7)
33 Advocate odd ways in genuine returns (6)
34 Tolerate nurse with a rude manner (6)

DOWN
2   With an irregular pulse, not exactly dead, made an earnest prayer (7)
3   Heard Knight spew an oath at a scene of noisy confusion (6)
4   Dozens form 2 of them in hours (4)
5   Vessel is held in Daman harbour initially (4)
6   I would get into a scrap when this child was loving and giving (6)
7    A very loud song sung at first to indicate matters of importance (7)
8   Grievances centre protected by an elite paramilitary unit (6)
9   Series of steps taken by female who's well regarded in her field (6)
13 Dine with wine to advocate something (7)
14 Litterbug lies to hide most offensive (7)
15 Non-English gardens in a bad way held old domineering women (7)
20 Murphy repealed 2002 Act to ... (6)
21 ... mar foul sort of mixture (7)
23 Small impeller without its core is less complicated (7)
24 At heart stalwart is technically a creative person (6)
25 Each is returned by lady without a bill in all likelihood (6)
26 Accelarated and shot down (6)
29 It's confusing and dirty at heart to agitate (4)
30 Competent without a cap is still clever (4)

Across Lite version can be accessed at IXL-2017 PRELIM.

Enjoy

104 comments:

  1. 30d Competent without a cap is still clever (4)(-CAP)ABLE
    29D It's confusing and dirty at heart to agitate (4)STI*(-DI)R(-TY)

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  2. 21D ... mar foul sort of mixture (7)FORMULA*

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  3. 32a: (blends+u)" = bundles = parcels

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  4. 26a gunned DD
    25a erasing T
    23d S imp(-el)let

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    Replies
    1. Typos its 26d gunned and 23d Simpler not simpler. Sorry

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  5. 1 Raced over account and divided up (6) SP(AC)ED
    5 Debacle of French derring-do (6) DE + FEAT
    10 Without doubt caught all centrally and before time (7) C + (a)L(l) + EARLY

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  6. The above one is in lieu of 21d already published by Ramachandran.

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  7. Please read Ramachandran as Ram. Typo.

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  8. 20 A PUFF ( polyurethane- PU, FLUFF ends - FF , def : QUILT)
    14 D UGLIEST (T)
    24 D ARTIST (T)

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  9. 31A Visitor to ancient city is finally down-and-out (7) TOURIST TO+UR+IS+[-ouT]
    34A Tolerate nurse with a rude manner (6) ENDURE [EN = Nurse][DURE*]
    23D Small impeller without its core is less complicated (7) SIMPLER S+IMP[-el]LER

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  10. 16A SURGERY SURGE + R...Y

    33A LAWYER W(-a)Y(-s) in REAL<--

    24D ARTIST (T)

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  11. Compensating for 24D

    29D STIR (ITS)* + (-di)R(-ty)

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  12. In place of 23D

    22A Landmass edges across India (4) ASIA [A-crosS+I-ndiA]

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  13. 12 across RADIUS* with Dr. As anagrind

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    Replies
    1. I think Latin is the anagrind, as there is/was one named Dr.Darius!

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    2. Radius is a Latin word and it also means spoke of a wheel....

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    3. I think it's a bad clue. Dr is not an anagrind. Only doctor is

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    4. Why isn't it a anagrind? Please substantiate with reasons.

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    5. Any word/phrase that suggests reordering of its adjacent letters can work as an anagrind.(crossword unclued). Doctor as a verb (means falsify/change) works in that sense not the abbreviation Dr.

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    6. That is what I am asking as to why the abbreviation will not work?

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    7. Because abbreviation doesn't suggest reordering

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    8. Doctor = change /alter.. Dr # change/alter

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    9. Your reasoning is not understood, what else can Dr suggest other than Doctor?

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    10. Moreover when you read out Dr you read it as Doctor and not DR

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    11. Agree, Doctor = Dr= medical officer but doctor is anagrind only as verb. Dr suggests only the medical officer definition. Anyway we are going nowhere here :( I hope others also pitch in :)

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    12. I see Ajeesh's point.
      A shortened anagram indicator (though we read it in its full form) should not be construed as a proper anind.
      This is my view too.

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    13. i agree, though i understood the meaning. dr is a title and noun in that sense.

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    14. We can assume and do it. But anind itself being an abbreviation does not seem correct. Also, as Ajeesh says Dr. is an abbreviation for doctor as a noun, but it is not an abbreviation for the verb.

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    15. Agree with Ajeesh. Doctor as anagrind is in the sense of "manipulate" and not doctor as medical person, which can be abbreviated to Dr.

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  14. 28A..Total university peak..Amount..

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    Replies
    1. Peak is summit
      Total= SUM
      University=MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

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  15. I find problem in def of 6d. Is it OK?

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    Replies
    1. It is a reference to a nursery rhyme.

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    2. Yes doc. But its not the child per se.

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    4. Tuesday's child is full of grace. Wednesday's child is full of woe. Thursday's child has far to go. Friday's child is loving and giving.

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  16. 15AC DATING DD
    19AC SPRI[N]GS
    9D F LIGHT

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  17. I don't know how much time was given for solving this. It took me 67 minutes to solve.
    Of course, I failed as I am yet to complete 3DN!!!

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    Replies
    1. Time given was 1 hour. First all correct solution came in at 16 minutes

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    2. Yes. 4 Dozens = 48, and 48 in hours is 2 DAYS

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    3. Paddy and I did together and we could not get 3,i think :( These finalists are very very fast!!

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    4. Ajeesh,
      I have the paper with me. We die not get 3D & 16A- surgery.
      Though Doc. did the surgery, it is still not clear to me.
      Swell for surge is clear. But how do we get RY from really hungry?

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    5. I got it. Extremes of 'really' (hungry being the indicator for deletion of intervening letters)
      Yes, the finalists were very fast, esp. Ramki who was the first to finish in 15 mins. flat (of course a spelling mistake was unfortunate)

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    6. 20D was an Aha moment for me at the venue after Ramki told me the solution.

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    7. He seems to to be well versed in GK too!

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    8. As Paddy said, Ramki finished in 15 minutes(!!).Jose( the cumulative leaderboard leader) finished with all correct solution at 16 minutes.
      I took 40 minutes and had two wrong , 20A & 20D.

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    9. Paddy at 4:06 pm

      One of the meanings found in Frederic..

      Hungry = Empty

      So emptying 'really' we get 'ry'

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    10. Paddy:hungry=empty stomach!!

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    11. Thank you MB & Vasant.
      I got it between my 4.03 & 4.06.

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    12. 'hungry' to denote removal of middle letters is indiret, i think. "Empty" works, but hungry as synonym of empty does not, imo.

      Delete
  18. To be solved
    Across - 11, 17
    Down - 3, 5, 7,15, 20, 25

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  19. Just got 3D- Circus- Scene of noisy confusion
    Heard knight- Cir
    Heard spew an oath- cus

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  20. Yes, I checked up and cuss means curse. I have heard the usage as a cuss word. It is a homophone of cus.
    I wanted to say 'Cir' is heard as 'Sir'.

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  21. 5d: is<- in di = dish
    17a: side (~sighed)
    15d: (gard(-e)(+o)ns)* = dragons
    25d: ea (is <-) ly = easily
    11a: ski+(full)* = skilful

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  22. Correction to 5d:
    d(is)h= dish = vessel

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  23. Venkatesan,
    The rule for Sunday specials is 3 solutions per person. It becomes open to all only at 6 pm.This is clearly mentioned by Col. on the top of the clues. Any way, this is for your future ref. This gives everyone (in different time zones) to put in their solutions.
    Pl. check your answer for 25D.

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    Replies
    1. Sorry. I just wanted to keep it ready for publishing after 6, but wrongly pressed 'publish' instead of 'preview'

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  24. Venkatesan:Till 6.0 PM only 3 answers to be given.

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  25. 6 d I guess this is from the nursery rhyme - Monday's child is fair of face..... Here is the link

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monday%27s_Child

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  26. A/very loud/ song/ sung at first

    A FF AIR S
    F is loud and FF is very loud

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  27. Excellent anno by CGB Sir. I am clueless about annotations. This is my first try in this area. Hope to do better in future.

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    Replies
    1. You will surely pick up going forward and remembering the conventions.

      Delete
  28. I think only 20D is left and since it is past 6 pm let me break the 'potato'!
    2002 act- POTA and TO.
    One of the meanings of Murphy is Potato which I remembered after Ramki told me.Aha!

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  29. It didn't prevent but terrorised many.
    Ha ha.

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    Replies
    1. As long as people did not say 'Poda', it might have served the purpose.

      Delete
  30. P. Venkatesan @ 5:15 pm

    25A Anno reg.

    Could be shown as (EA)(SI<=)(L[-ad]Y)

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  31. So many heads put together and we completed the grid in 8 hours! To think that all of the top 20 completed it less than 30 minutes- well, that is why they are top 20. Hats off!

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  32. That settles it. Thank you everyone

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  33. Looks like nobody did 20 down from amongst the above ? Murphy= an Irish Potato- POTA-TO -POTA= Act of 2002 =Prevention Of Terrorism Act.

    I returned from Aanakatti Resort and did this fairly OK crossie in the midst of cacophony of three wailing and bawling kids -in about less than 45 minutes before 6pm the dead line - as I had to rush to do aa errand and I saw that all except 20 down was done.

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    Replies
    1. Raju: obviously you are having a "grand" time with your clan.You didn't read Paddy's answer of 20 D.

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    2. Not quite ! His comments were not seen here when I saw in my smart phone ! It would have helped better if he had parsed further what POTA meant- Prevention of Terrorism Act. The reference to the much abused Act of 2002, especially the newbies,the allusion in the clue being so elusive !

      Happy New Year to you and all others in this blog. May God bless ye-all !

      Delete
  34. ​​Drinking From The Saucer​​
    - John Paul Moore_

    I've never made a fortune,
    And I'll never make one now
    But it really doesn't matter
    'Cause I'm happy anyhow.

    As I go along my journey
    I'm reaping better than I've sowed
    I'm drinking from the saucer
    'Cause my cup has overflowed.

    I don't have a lot of riches,
    And the going's sometimes tough
    But with kin and friends to love me
    I think I'm rich enough.

    I thank God for the blessings
    That His mercy has bestowed
    I'm drinking from the saucer
    'Cause my cup has overflowed.

    He gives me strength and courage
    When the way grows steep and rough
    I'll not ask for other blessings
    For I'm already blessed enough.

    May we never be too busy
    To help bear another's load
    Then we'll all be drinking from the saucer
    When our cups have overflowed.

    _*May your cup always overflow in 2018

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  35. Hope you all had a grand time!

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