Satyen Nabar's Sun Spl analysed

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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

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26 comments:

  1. sree_sree31 July 2018 at 08:39

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

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sree_sree31 July 2018 at 08:50

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

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath31 July 2018 at 09:09

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

      Delete
    3. Bhalchandra Pasupathy31 July 2018 at 11:44

      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

      Delete
    4. Deepak Gopinath31 July 2018 at 11:52

      Thanks Bhala

      Delete
    5. sree_sree31 July 2018 at 16:08

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

      Delete
    6. Bhalchandra Pasupathy31 July 2018 at 16:40

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

      Delete
    7. sree_sree31 July 2018 at 16:59

      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.

      Delete
    8. sree_sree31 July 2018 at 17:01

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

      Delete
    9. Kolluru Koteswara Rao31 July 2018 at 17:34

      Chambers gives MASS. = massachussets

      Delete
    10. Deepak Gopinath31 July 2018 at 18:08

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

      Delete
    11. KARTHIK31 July 2018 at 18:11

      +1 @18:08

      Delete
    12. Bhalchandra Pasupathy31 July 2018 at 19:29

      @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.

      Delete
    13. Deepak Gopinath31 July 2018 at 19:53

      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 :-(

      Delete
  2. Chaturvasi31 July 2018 at 08:44

    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.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhalchandra Pasupathy31 July 2018 at 11:46

      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

      Delete
  3. KARTHIK31 July 2018 at 09:04

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

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vasant31 July 2018 at 09:05

    Far easier outing today.Loved it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. KARTHIK31 July 2018 at 09:06

      +1

      Delete
    2. sree_sree31 July 2018 at 09:23

      Raju might say brief brief brief and more briefs

      Delete
    3. sree_sree31 July 2018 at 09:34

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

      Delete
    4. Kolluru Koteswara Rao31 July 2018 at 10:23

      Yes Vasant.

      Delete
  5. P. Venkatesan31 July 2018 at 09:15

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

    ReplyDelete

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