Satyen Nabar's Sun Spl analysed

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Monday, 29 April 2019

No 12612, Monday 29 Apr 2019, Lightning


ACROSS
1   Stamp perhaps left inside by perfectionist (8) STICKLER {STICK{L}ER}
5   Warning at den close to forest surrounding Austria (6) CAVEAT {CAVE}{A}{f...sT}
9   Conclude one electronic gate is substandard (8) INFERIOR {INFER}{1}{OR}
10 Independent parliamentarian with manner to damage (6) IMPAIR {I}{MP}{AIR}
12 Dutch cheese used delightfully for starters in tourist city (5) GOUDA {GO{Used}{De...y}OA} State or City?
13 Among other things, missing new private island area (5,4) INTER ALIA {INTERnAL}{I}{A}
14 Fun is ongoing, holding together (6) UNISON [T]
16 Wise bet cast in online portal (7) WEBSITE*
19 Rob the wasted European with furtiveness (7) STEALTH {STEAL}{THe}
21 Small walls at first really beautiful (6) PRETTY {P{Re...y}ETTY}
23 I’m entering a country with liveliness (9) ANIMATION {A}{N{I'M}ATION}
25 Buzzer’s call right (5) PAGER {PAGE}{R}
26 Was sailor concealing violent attack? (6) ASSAIL [T]
27 Nearly get correctional facilities to drop international vegetables (8) BRINJALS {BRINg}{JAiLS}
28 Former lover inclined to prolong (6) EXTEND {EX}{TEND}
29 Approaching heartless man in time for a change (8) IMMINENT {MaN+IN+TIME}*

DOWN
1   Unwilling to spend final money after robbery (6) STINGY {STING}{m..eY}
2   Control of well-organised, fine uncle (9) INFLUENCE*
3   Destiny of king trapped by god of love (5) KARMA {KA{R}MA}
4   Sentiment of limitlessly isolated leader upon returning (7) EMOTION {rEMOTe}{NO1<=}
6   Fine naval officer caught/bowled by English (9) ADMIRABLE {ADMIRA{B}L}{E}
7   Hema illuminated partly by message (5) EMAIL [T]
8   Deviously rent the area to intimidate (8) THREATEN {RENT+THE+A}*
11 Last of potatoes not dry? Turn around and cook slowly (4) STEW {p...eS}{WET<=}
15 Doctor so valiant in rescue (9) SALVATION*
17 At home, the empty fireplace is put together (9) INTEGRATE {IN}{ThE}{GRATE}
18 Increase intensity sorting case behind on time (8) ESCALATE {CASE*}{LATE}
20 Salute leaders of Haryana assembly imposing levy (4) HAIL Acrostic
21 Criticize (not mar) syntax in this crossword, perhaps (7) PANGRAM {PAN}{GRAMmar}Not really. Where's the Q? See comments
22 Configure in advance, with power to be readjusted (6) PRESET {P}{RESET}
24 Small addition fixed at home upfront (5) INSET {SET}<=>{IN}
25 Scheme from post office at New Zealand isle (5) PONZI {PO}{NZ}{I}

Reference List
Electronic gate = OR, Parliamentarian = MP, Private = INTERNAL, Call = PAGE, Former lover = EX, Robbery = STING, God of love = KAMA, Isolated = REMOTE, At home = IN, Criticize = PAN

GRID

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28 comments:

  1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao29 April 2019 at 08:36

    21DN I like your observation, Col!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chaturvasi29 April 2019 at 09:07

    Re the absence of Q. I think the setter is not to blame. At the last minute a light (answer word) had to be changed and clue for it written as a serious discrepancy was detected. Maybe in that edit, the Q was lost.
    I am not sure if even in the UK a crossword editor solves a puzzle before approving it.
    Journals publishing theses from Ph D scholars or book publishers may send edited copy to writers prior to publication. In the newspaper environment that is not possible.
    I think setters need to include an alert in the copy when there is any Nina or special cross-reference which needs to be preserved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP29 April 2019 at 09:33

      The crossword was intended to be a pangram. Clue 7D was
      Engineer to flinch missing institution peer (5)

      Also, the very first line of my submission stated this was a pangram.

      I have no idea why despite all this, TH changed the word and the clue without even reaching out to me. This is after I had submitted the revised version correcting all typos last week.

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan29 April 2019 at 09:39

      How can TH change a clue without reference to setter? Even if there is not enough time to get a reply, they can run other CW's and delay publication of this. I feel that should be the proper approach.

      Delete
    3. Kolluru Koteswara Rao29 April 2019 at 09:40

      There is something amiss then
      If your intention is EQUAL for 7DN, then 10AC suffers!

      Delete
    4. VP29 April 2019 at 09:46

      I understand that the discrepancy was from my side. My only point was that I had mentioned this crossword was a pangram. It would have been good if the mistake had been pointed out to me and I had a chance to correct it, especially given that I checked in with TH last week about this.

      Delete
    5. Padmanabhan29 April 2019 at 09:48

      Yes, just checked the crossing. Has that also been changed?

      Delete
    6. VP29 April 2019 at 09:52

      Crossing was the error from my side in the grid fill.

      Delete
    7. Sowmya29 April 2019 at 10:03

      Since "perhaps" only indicates that there is a possibility of something being there, we can take it to mean that this was a "near" pangram (since only one letter is short:)).
      It appears from the comments above that there was some error in grid and hence a last minute change had to be made to make the grid work. It may have been a tough call by the crossword department about whether to scrap the crossword, go back to the setter or go ahead and run it with minimum change and in this process, the pangram might have escaped attention.

      Delete
    8. Chaturvasi29 April 2019 at 10:20

      Newspaper production involves work in different sections finally merging into making plates for rolling off the press.
      At the last minute it may not be possible to get input from another section.
      So it's a question of what best can be done under given circumstances.
      In this case, if we retain EQUAL, we had to change the across IMPAIR but with the needed crossings no other word was possible.
      Of course, setters including myself, would say cannot things be done ahead but that is in a far more ideal world.

      Delete
    9. Amita Baviskar29 April 2019 at 12:02

      (En)light(e)ning glimpse into the backstage world of puzzle-setting. Thank you.

      Delete
    10. VP29 April 2019 at 19:57

      Thanks for the explanation CV Sir. Will definitely recheck the grid in future to avoid these kind of errors from my side.

      Delete
  3. Vasant29 April 2019 at 09:11

    I rechecked the Q twice. Perhaps as CV Sir said got lost in last minute edit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan29 April 2019 at 09:35

      I checked and rechecked. Still had a doubt if I had missed something- until I saw the blog.

      Delete
  4. Chaturvasi29 April 2019 at 09:18

    Is 'syntax' grammar? It is only part of grammar, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Padmanabhan29 April 2019 at 09:43

    This is what Free dic. says-
    grammar - the branch of linguistics that deals with syntax and morphology (and sometimes also deals with semantics)
    I have not yet checked Chambers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao29 April 2019 at 09:45

      Chambers Thesaurus has this:
      grammar
      noun
      grammatical rules, linguistic rules, correct English, good English, style, usage
      technical syntax, syntactic structure

      Delete
    2. sree_sree29 April 2019 at 10:25

      Grammar tends to Syntax when morphology tends to zero. Its all in dimensions like sphere and circle

      Delete
  6. raju umamaheswar29 April 2019 at 10:03

    Levy a SIN TAX on the one who fails to observe syntax while editing THC crosswords !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sowmya29 April 2019 at 10:04

      Why so harsh on the setters and the editors who are giving you so much entertainment:)

      Delete
  7. raju umamaheswar29 April 2019 at 10:22

    Sowmyaji, My comments are never taken seriously here, as I like to play with words ! No offense meant . I will perish without my favourite cryptic crosses !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao29 April 2019 at 10:27

      You are the best PUNdit here. And this is in all seriousness!

      Delete
    2. Sowmya29 April 2019 at 11:25

      I was only joking Raju sir:). Those who know me, know that I can never resist a pun either:)

      Delete
  8. D N M Rao29 April 2019 at 10:28

    Light'e'ning cwd but for 21d

    ReplyDelete
  9. Vasant29 April 2019 at 10:38

    Despite the Q error, this was a very good puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sree_sree29 April 2019 at 11:04

      +1. Less mortal, me, is happy at the joy of lightning solve (under 20min!). But that's because of guardians of THC galaxy.

      Delete
    2. maradnusro29 April 2019 at 17:15

      +1

      Delete

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