Wednesday 21 March 2018

No 12270, Wednesday 21 Mar 2018, Vulcan


Answer and annotation for 3D left for a first-time commenter till 10 AM.

ACROSS
1   Actor he paints badly (8) THESPIAN*
5   Method is said to be crude (6) COARSE (~ course) or is it the other way around?
10 Song in basic Italian tune (9) BARCAROLE {BAR{CAROL}E}
11 Everybody's time to play! (5) TUTTI [CD]
12 Before a meal? Grace! (6) ?H?L?A {?H?L?}{A} (Addendum - THALIA - {THALI}{A} - See comments)
13 Odd code, odd protocol (7) DECORUM {CODE*}{RUM}
14 Later settled in court, crushing defeat (8) WATERLOO {W{LATER*}OO}
15 Seal top of the cabinet (6) CLOSET {CLOSE}{The}
18 Intense fire raging outside, 5 dead (6) FERVID {FER{V}I*}{D}
20 Right, insincere heroic talk, basically it's hyperbole (8) RHETORIC {R}{HEROIC+Talk}*
22 Ballet position one's in with ease (7) RELIEVE {REL{1}EVE}
25 Old students from university in Milan maybe (6) ALUMNI {AL{U}MNI*}
27 He's a bibilical character, a slave (5) HELOT {HE}{LOT}
28 Anyhow, meant to keep correct change (9) AMENDMENT {A{MEND}MENT*}
29 Best place in France, small town basically (6) NICEST {NICE}{S}{Town}
30 Repeated it time after time to the editor (8) ITERATED {IT}{ERA}{T}{ED}

DOWN
1   Take up just one instrument (4) TUBA {A}{BUT}<=
Yamaha Bass tuba YFB-822.tif
By Yamaha Corporation - Yamaha Music Europe, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
2   Fungus that's rare perhaps (9) EARTHSTAR*
3   Nobleman in a boat (7) P?A?L?R (Addendum - PEARLER {P{EARL}ER} - See comments)
4   A very old drink from the South containing primarily citrus fruits (8) AVOCADOS {A}{V}{O}{Ci...s}{SODA<=}
Visual movement in gemstone (7) OPTICAL {OP{TIC}AL}
 Run a machine without starting the spinning device (5) ROTOR {R}{mOTOR}
8   I'm acting strange, in the end turning out to be mysterious (9) ENIGMATIC {IM+ACTING+s...gE}*
9   Main element (4) LEAD [DD]
14 Very small shift — infer what? (5-4) WAFER THIN*
16 Strict line taken by hospital department (9) STRINGENT {STRING}{ENT}
17 The space is shabby and most shoddy (8) CHEAPEST*
19 Setter, seated bemusedly, thinks (7) IDEATES {I}{SEATED*}
21 Loud noise coming from below after the cut (7) THUNDER {THe}{UNDER}
23 Flower, one in demand, it's going up (5) LILAC {CAL{1}L}<=
24 Style adopted by some landowners (4) ELAN [T]
26 Detailed analysis for a poker game (4) STUD STUDy

GRID

40 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thali by itself is not a meal. Even so, some indicator should have been given, maybe 'Indian dish'

      Delete
    2. Oxford Dictionary lists thali as Indian meal.

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    3. Even Chambers gives thali as:
      in Indian cookery) a set meal of a variety of curry dishes with rice or chapatis
      A metal plate for serving Indian food

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    4. We do come across these terms on restaurants:Gujrati Thali, Special Thali, etc. But agree with Col that an Indian indicator would have been fair.

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    5. I never knew it's in Chambers. Didn't think of looking also

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    6. It always happens. Once we find it in Chambers, we tend to ignore the origins of words.
      As an example, when the clue is on ET AL, no setter gives Latin anywhere. Am I right?

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    7. Forget dictionaries. Go to any restaurant and order a thali and you will certainly get more than an empty plate.

      Indian indicator in the clue is certainly NOT required particularly for a crossword in an Indian paper. The British hangover seems to persist.

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    8. The question mark at the end- does it mean that it is not exactly a meal or an Indian meal?

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  2. 26D) Which one is the 'y' deletion indicator

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  3. 3D- PEARLER= Boat used while searching for pearls. EARL= nobleman(inside)

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  4. Beautiful puzzle!Loved the crisp clues. Loved Decorum, Waterloo,Rhetoric, Nicest among other clues.
    This Vulcan is far superior to Guardian's Vulcan.

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  5. 5A in a competition would have been problematic

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  6. So do I. But on line version gives it as coarse.'Said to be' caught up in the middle. We take it to refer to what follows.

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  7. Very crisp clues, indeed. Most enjoyable.

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  8. There is no ambiguity. Method is said - you have pronounced it. What you have said is to be XXX. XXX is crude - coarse.

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    Replies
    1. 5 Method is said to be crude (6) COARSE (~ course) or is it the other way around?

      How about Method (=) is said to be crude COARSE ~ COURSE. I think it can be both ways.

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    2. As per CV above the solution is Coarse, but TH(on line) solution is Course. So, the debate continues.
      Method/ said to be/ crude. 'Said to be' goes which way?
      According to setter, it looks to be Course (method) is said to be crude.

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    3. answer in Online version is COARSE.

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    4. Sorry I got confused. On line version is Coarse only.

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  9. Loved the soda in 4D.
    Along with soda, the old 'goli' sealed flavoured drink used to be called 'colour'!

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  10. A Thali- a meal. Thali also mean a mangalsutra. Does the OED also feature this meaning ?

    In the restaurants here, they serve a mini-meal and a full meal. while the former os for those who want to eat half a stomach, with limited dishes ( to satisfy their neeyat?) the latter is for those who want to eat ad- abdomeneum - ad -nauseum, monds of rice, sabzi kkootu rasam, aplams and sweets ! A western luncheon rounds off with port and coffee and cheeseboards-- a gourmet's delight- like the recent sloggers meet in Bangalore- Eaters' agony and dieters' envy !

    Vulcan - Indian excels Guardian Vulcan ? He has catered to an Indian palate !

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    Replies
    1. Raju goes for a multi lingual pun.

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Nowadays, some ladies [probably working women] prefer, for fear of motorcycle-borne chain snatchers, mini-thalis!!!

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    4. While on the topic of thali and chain snatching, my wife had her thali snatched while she was riding in a two wheeler by a biker way back in 2007 in Rudrapur, Uttarakhand. Luckily the thali was recovered and the chain snatcher was caught. The case ended 10 years later in Dec 2017 woth my wife having to go to court to testify against the snatcher

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    5. Since then my wife wears only a yellow string in lieu of the golden one which is kept in a bank's locker

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    6. AW !! That's a feisty wife you have !

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    7. Take care. These guys come out very soon. Anyway, all is well that ends well.
      My pocket was picked a few years back and I made a complaint. They asked me to come to the court- no snatcher- but in stead of cash they gave me a small gold ring! But it was over in less than a year.

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    8. Ah, that was cashless settlement. Modi would also be happy.

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    9. Was the cost of the ring equal to the cash value? Cashless settlement indeed😀😀

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  11. More or less. Their intent was to close one file successfully.
    Cashless so many years before Modi.

    ReplyDelete

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