Tuesday 31 July 2018

No 12383, Tuesday 31 Jul 2018, xChequer


ACROSS
7   Not taking sides, not having the heart — it's affecting the nerves (6) NEURAL NEUtRAL
8   Inherently careless, honks endlessly blowing loud horn (6) KLAXON {LAX} in {hONKs}*
10 Praise horse, extremely frisky in canter (8) PHARISEE {PRAISE+HorsE}* Canter/Pharisee? See comments
11 Simply not showing resistance, essentially looking subdued like a lamb (6) MEEKLY {MErE{looKing}LY}
12 Back to back housing rows, originally more uncommon (5) RARER {R} in {REAR<=}
14 Bagging fish and chips (7) LANDING {L{AND}ING}
15 Fancy El Dorado, an area said to be quite out of this world? (4,2,1,8) DEAD AS A DOORNAIL {EL+DORADO+AN+A+SAID}*
18 For X to embody a variable … (7) PROTEAN {PRO}{TE{A}N}
19 … domain provided must reflect baseline and delta (5) FIELD {IF<=}{E}{L}{D}
20 Warning in church primarily at prayer breaks (6) CAVEAT {Ch...h}{AVE}{AT}
21 Soft touch with keys, arm advanced freely (4-4) EASY-MARK {KEYS+ARM+A}*
23 Insignificant silver lining is inadequate (6) MEAGRE {ME{AG}RE}
24 Daring, hot, raunchy, stripped nude, etc (6) HEROIC {H}{EROtIC}

DOWN
1   Run in stockings appearing below sole seems inconsequential (3-5) ONE-HORSE {HO{R}SE} below {ONE}
2   Reading for one to polish up Scottish accent (4) BURR {R}{RUB}<=
3   Noted lady as per Spooner's cable (6) HAWSER {(-s+h)HAW}{(-h+s)SER)
4   Main motive in playing golf — to get a birdie? (8) FLAMINGO {FL{MAIN*}GO*}
5   Professional time spent, one therefore heading off personal involvement (10) EXPERIENCE {EXPERt}{1}{hENCE}
6   Entertainment starting late, commercial creating clear obstruction (6) UNPLUG {fUN}{PLUG}
9   Recall bendy gyrating performer? (5,6) BELLY DANCER*
13 Charitable occasion for Comic Relief, needy sad or screaming? (3,4,3) RED NOSE DAY*
16 Covers case in brief, brief brief? (8) SHELTERS {SHELl}{TERSe}
17 Devious in command (8) INDIRECT {IN}{DIRECT}
18 State of matter for instance, occupying place, having Mass? (6) PLASMA {PL}{MASS*} (Addendum - {PL}{AS}{MA} - See comments)
19 Briefest erotic takes continue to irritate (6) FESTER [T]
22 Siemens conserving energy in modern homes (4) MHOS HOMeS*

GRID

26 comments:

  1. 10a canter:one who Cant's.hypocrite
    18d mass/Maas?

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    Replies
    1. 18d for instance:(such) as occupying place (place?) Having m.

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    2. Correcting the anno to {PL} and {M} in {AS}{A}

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    3. Not sure that the above works, anyway wasn't my intention, and generally prefer not to use 'have' as a containment indicator, feel it's a bit weak. Intended parsing was AS(for instance) inside PL+MA. Mass.=Massachussets=MA

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    4. I searched for MA and found massachussets but mass->massachussets->ma!

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    5. Try searching for Mass. If you don't find, I'll give a link

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    6. It was all over. I typed mass ma in the search box and the city splashed all over. Just couldn't connect in the time frame.

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    7. Even with the ? Shouting its def not regular mass m.

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    8. Chambers gives MASS. = massachussets

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    9. Both MA and Mass are abbreviations for Massachusettes. So is it fair to expect a solver to get MA from Mass?

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    10. @Deepak 18:08: Yes, I believe so, since they both refer to the same thing. In simplest form you could say they are both synonyms. You could have a clue that has Massachusetts in it, and the grid entry could be either MA or MASS. I have for example seen OR being used for AU, both meaning gold, this is a bit more direct in fact. Am sure there are other examples. What wouldn't be fair would be to use 'graduate' in the clue and expect the solver to get Mass.

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    11. Agreed, however the problem that arose for me here is because of the misdirect due to Mass which is a word in itself. However I should have realised that with the M being capitalised something else was at work.
      Anyway I'm at sixes and sevens when it comes to xChequer's CWs :-(

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  2. In yesterday's blog, the setter mentioned that he had used 'self-defense' the Am sp intentionally. The paper uses Br sp and thankfully the sp was not altered at the desk.
    I think it might be useful to add an alert and a note in the submission to forestall any such disastrous edit change.

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    1. omg. Thanks Rishi, for that alert, and glad they did not make any change. Shall remember for future, but I also do hope they will contact the setter before making any change unilaterally

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  3. 18D) IMHO
    Defn: state of matter; anno: {{PL}{AS+{M}A}}; PL from place; for example = AS A; containment indicator = occupying; M from mass;

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  4. Far easier outing today.Loved it!

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    Replies
    1. Raju might say brief brief brief and more briefs

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    2. Probably Xchequer must have foreseen this
      https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/monday-july-30th-nytimes-crossword-enemy

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  5. 19a: where does the 'e' in 'field' come from?

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