Thursday 23 August 2018

No 12403, Thursday 23 Aug 2018, Neyartha


ACROSS
1   Put a circle around the date to get a promising container for a meat dish (5,7) BLOOD PUDDING {LOO{D}P} in {BUDDING}
8   Check serving as a painful reminder? (7) REALITY [CD]
9   Speaker's rising to provide permission (6) ASSENT (~ascent)
11 Dog breed from a Mexican state (9) CHIHUAHUA [DD]
12 Cover with liquid in a search for underground water (5) DOWSE [DD]
14 Buoyed up with strange delight after ingesting an inert gas (9) LIGHTENED {LIGHTE{NE}D*}
16 Gave one's word after commencement and became frayed (4) WORE sWORE
18 Money offered as a bribe for a cleansing agent (4) SOAP [DD]
19 Green site newly formed in an African national park (9) SERENGETI*
21 Reliable alloy with aluminium in the wrong place (5) LOYAL (-al)LOY(+al)AL
22 Great sage sends back an unskilled actor with a revolutionary male aristocrat to Hawaii (9) MAHARISHI  {HAM<=}{A}{SIR<=}{HI}
23 Humorous programme featuring some transit companies (6) SITCOM [T]
25 Neglected son sent out by the king in the evening time (3-4) RUN-DOWN (-s+r)RUNDOWN
26 Gaining height after a blow from the right in a sport involving a glider (12) PARASCENDING {RAP<=}{ASCENDING}

DOWN
2   Dad genially made up with the heroine (7,4) LEADING LADY*
3   Pointless videos cut after morphing parts of a reproductive system (8) OVIDUCTS {VIDeO+CUTS}*
4   One's happy tearing down some coin-operated communication devices (3-6) PAY-PHONES*
5   Queen prone to emotional displays? (5) DRAMA [CD]
6   Finish off the business executive with privileged information behind bars (6) INSIDE INSIDEr
7   Arabian spirit with supernatural powers caught with a strong alcoholic drink (3) GIN [DD] (Addendum - (~jinn) - See comments)
8   Sly clerks at sea trap Edward in a foolhardy manner (10) RECKLESSLY {SLY+CLERKS}* over {E}
10 One counters brief disturbance after a pet doctor goes up to collect the Spanish box with moving pictures (10) TELEVISION {1}{NOISe}<= after {T{EL}EV<=}
13 Obtained an envelope for the op-ed (soon to be rewritten) on a prize for being the last in a race (6,5) WOODEN SPOON {OP-ED+SOON}* in {WON}
15 Sad and barely able to speak without a candidate who might turn out to be a surprise winner (4,5) DARK HORSE {DARK} {HOaRSE}
17 Wrinkled Greek character turns up to press a journalist (8) UNIRONED {NU<=}{IRON}{ED}
20 Cheap lace rolled up to conceal a mineral deposit (6) PLACER [T]
22 Frenchman replacing the soft slip-on shoes gets a viral disease (5) MUMPS (-p+m)MUMPS
24 Mischievous fairy revealed in multiple endings of the Bengali film clip (3) IMP Tail Acrostic

GRID

43 comments:

  1. Liked this one with looong definitions!

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  2. 12a cover:do(does)+w)* liquid anag indicator, IMU.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "cover with water" is also one definition
      cover with water = soak = DOWSE

      Delete
  3. 20d: It is not reversal. 'Up' is misleading.

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    Replies
    1. Rolled-up is a phrase, to conceal is T indicator, any reversal would come after that.

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    2. Yes. I meant that reversal indicator is not required in the anno.

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    3. Oh. Sorry. Its the typo in anno.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. thought as much; but cannot relate how we got EE and also cannot locate the anagram indicator;
      It looks like JINN got from the definition "arabian spirit with supernatural powers"
      and is a homophone of "GIN"; caught is the homophone indicator;
      however it should have been arabian spirits (in plural) in the clue
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn

      Delete
    2. Power(s) EE. Super natural anagram indicator.

      Delete
  5. Hi 7D is GIN ~Jinn/Djinn. Homophone ind= caught.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. +2; however JINN/DJINN is the plural form of Jinni/Djinni and the clue should have been Arabian spirits

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    2. Oh wasn't aware of that! Yes, you are correct Karthikeyan thanks.

      Delete
  6. I do not agree,
    There is enough dictionary support for jinn or any other sp var of it to be singular and jinns to be plural.
    Yes, jinn may be a class of spirits and you might consider it as a plural. That is a different matter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Gridman for clarifying my doubt; wasn't aware of this

      Delete
    2. Chambers differs. https://chambers.co.uk/search/?query=Jinn&title=21st

      Delete
  7. Incidentally, some decades ago there used to be a regular letter-writer in Madras papers, esp. The Mail bt also others, who went by the name Jinni Chari.
    Don't know if Jinni was a diminutive of a word.

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  8. 3D:Coincidence that in the Guardian Cryptic today we have the same word albeit in singular clued as
    Old half of Victoria line starts to delay users getting Tube (7)

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  9. Purely for sake of discussion, wanted an opinion from solvers here about the use of articles(a, an, the) that play no role in the parsing. Consider this clue for example.

    1A Put a circle around the date to get a promising container for a meat dish (5,7)

    What do you solvers think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "PUT A" may be extraneous in this clue

      Delete
    2. Another variation of the clue could be:
      Circle around the date in promising a meat dish

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    3. "the" also to be removed

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    4. a cryptic cant be too straight too. starting "Circle around" is too direct give away. the second a is (required)part of def because blood pudding isn't the only meat dish. however the before date doesn't synch. any date/day is D. there is no definite/single date as D. i would like "circles date to get promising box for a meat dish"

      Delete
    5. Brilliant. First circle implies "loop" and second circle implies it goes around "D";
      May be a small modification "circles date to get promising box of meat dish"

      Delete
  10. Happy birthday to Bhala (XChequer) today!

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  11. Many Happy Returns Of The Day, Bhala

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  12. Many more happy returns Bhala

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  13. Many more happy returns of the day Bhala!

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  14. Happy Birthday & Many Happy returns of the day,Bhala.

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  15. Thanks everybody. I wish we could have a separate page for these wishes and messages that doesn’t crowd out the puzzle and setter

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  16. Many happy snruter of the dat , Bhala. May God bless you with good health and peace of mind in the coming years.

    Why not send these good wishes on happy events to the THCC family bloc? make a mention though to inform others to visit that bloc.

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  17. I am with you all the way, Raju.

    ReplyDelete

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