Satyen Nabar's Sun Spl analysed

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Monday, 24 June 2019

No 12660, Monday 24 Jun 2019, Hypatia


ACROSS
8   Woods, a good man, placing warning about golf ball upfront (6) FOREST {ST}<=>{FORE}
9   Harry Potter initially cast "Hocus Pocus", conjuring food (8) COUSCOUS {hOCUS+pOCUS}*
10 She gets high, breaks down near auto? (8) AERONAUT*
11 Team probing bug held back solution (6) ELIXIR {RI{XI}LE<=}
12 The French sailor recalled legend about bear (8) TOLERATE {TO{LE}{TAR<=}E}
13 Sick inside, got almost thirsty when it was very cold (3,3) ICE AGE {sICk}{EAGEr}
14 Spooner heard author, curse to intimidate husband (3-4) HEN-PECK {(-p+h)HEN}{(-h+p)PECK}
17 Dry, boring exercise is hard, gets irritable (7) PETTISH {PE}{TT}{IS}{H}
20 Business graduate in leadership role dispatched husband to store (6) EMBALM {hE{MBA}LM}
22 Poor Desi guy loses article (8) INDIGENT {INDIan}{GENT}
25 Resume to retweet, constantly drunk (6) REVERT {EVER} in {RT}
26 Is this why some people don't dream? (8) INSOMNIA [CD]
27 Small key with engineer entering the evacuated plant (4,4) SALT TREE {S}{ALT}{T{RE}hE}
28 Reserve an outstanding piece (6) RELIEF [DD]

DOWN
1   Rejected auditor's advance amount (8) LONESOME (~ loan sum)
2   It may be near couch potatoes or far? (6) REMOTE [DD]
3   Off-beat art school, from the South, providing classes (6) STRATA [T<=]
4   Wreck had cash spread around? (7) SCATTER [DD] (Addendum - S(-h+c)CATTER - See comments)
5   You love vacation joined with, say the festive season (8) YULETIDE {YoU}{LovE}{TIDE}(~tied)
6   Stress to carry perhaps, passport in emergency (8) ACCIDENT {ACC{ID}ENT}
7   Throughout the day, a cow produces this, eating grain, regularly (6) DURING {DU{gRaIn}NG}
15 Locate book with a link to feed a child (8) PLACENTA {PLACE}{NT}{A}
16 Grave consequence of arriving late? (8) CEMETERY [CD]
18 Watchman absent in electronics store (8) SENTINEL [T]
19 Subject starts from chapter in textbook on Indian philosophy (7) CITIZEN {Ch..r}{In}{Te...k}{I}{ZEN}
21 Frenzied woman lost it when unusually animated (6) MAENAD ANiMAtED*
23 Want to reside abroad (6) DESIRE*
24 Bet girl leading hike runs outside (6) GAMBLE {G}{rAMBLE}

Reference List
Good Man = ST, Exercise = PE, Dry = TT, Hard = H, Husband = H, Article = AN, Retweet = RT, Small = S, Key = ALT, Engineer = RE(Royal Engineer), Book = NT(New Testament), Indian = I, Girl = G, Runs = R

GRID

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36 comments:

  1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao24 June 2019 at 09:06

    It's moderately tough. I liked it.
    Liked specially, 9A food.
    I had a taste of it for the first time in Marrakesh, Morocco. That was the only vegetarian dish served then [although meaty combination is available]. I heard it as kuskus.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sowmya24 June 2019 at 12:19

      Thanks KKR garu. Glad you liked it. You are right - the Arabs pronounce it KusKus and it’s a type of wheat from which the dish is made.

      Delete
  2. Vasant24 June 2019 at 09:47

    A bit tougher but equally enjoyable.
    Loved Insomnia, Yuletide and Cemetery among other clues.
    Thank you Hypatia.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sowmya24 June 2019 at 12:20

      Thanks Vasantji. Glad you liked those. I had fun while setting the grid:)

      Delete
  3. Sowmya24 June 2019 at 12:22

    Thanks Colonel for the prompt blogging even from Texas. Incidentally, 4D is not a DD. The solvers may have noticed that it has a “question mark” at the end.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mona Sogal24 June 2019 at 12:38

    4D. Scatter
    Wreck is Shatter
    Cash c as h gives scatter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sowmya24 June 2019 at 12:40

      Thanks Mona. That was perfect 👏👏👌

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi24 June 2019 at 13:08

      Sowmya - Was it you who had'wish' for using H instead of W in a word in a lift and separate clue?

      Delete
    3. Sowmya24 June 2019 at 13:23

      CV sir, in my second grid in May, I had Prevalent fast in Puja, for instance (4), - The answer was RI(f as T)E, i.e. RITE

      In the same grid I also had Saw what happens when husband, in hurry, loses to wife? (5,5,5j which is a sub.of H with W

      Delete
  5. raju umamaheswar24 June 2019 at 13:01

    Very Khush with cous cous ! Very mad with Maenad. Tamil Nadu is in this condition for water. Henpeck is the curse of many pen hacks doing this crossword. The beauty of Hepatia’s creation is that she is hep at it with word play . Thanks, Sowmyaji.��

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sowmya24 June 2019 at 13:23

    Thanks Rajuji. Glad to know you enjoyed it. That’s the most important thing for us setters:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sowmya24 June 2019 at 13:27

    Incidentally my alternate interpretation / reason for the pseudonym Hypatia is Hyp (-hip as in “happening”) @(at) 1A (for 1ACross)

    ReplyDelete
  8. raju umamaheswar24 June 2019 at 13:36

    Very cryptic and imaginative pseudonym I should say !

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amita Baviskar24 June 2019 at 14:09

    Enjoyed this! Thank you, Hypatia.

    ReplyDelete
  10. R Nagendra Prasad24 June 2019 at 15:48

    Enjoyed solving. My COD is 11A.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lakshmi Vaidyanathan24 June 2019 at 16:44

    Loved the CDs. 7D is Lol clue :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. Padmanabhan24 June 2019 at 17:55

    It was a little difficult in the sense that though I could solve some of the clues with the def. and crossings, I could not parse them. Enjoyable though and blog is there to clarify on parsing.
    Thank you Sowmya- def. looking forward to your CW's.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Satyen Nabar24 June 2019 at 19:40

    Hi Hypatia nice crossword...several lovely clues...but I feel compelled to raise a few points about the device used in 4D clue.. to wit CASH to be interpreted as C AS H indicating substitution. Or as was pointed out in an earlier xword, WISH to be interpreted as W IS H indicating substitution.

    Kindly view what I have to say objectively. Leaving aside the question of fairness to solver, my more pertinent concern is that this type of device is merely the thin end of the wedge!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Satyen Nabar24 June 2019 at 19:40

    There are several words that contain IS or AS. Is the solver now expected to keep in mind that any of them could be Substitutions as above?

    Unfortunately, this does not stop here...

    What about words containing FOR? Does ENFORCE break up as EN FOR CE to indicate substitution?

    What about words ending in OUT.. So now does BOUT GOUT ROUT TOUT CLOUT FLOUT...break up as B OUT etc...to possibly indicate deletion of B, G, R, T, CL, FL... and there are over 200 words that end in out...

    ReplyDelete
  15. Satyen Nabar24 June 2019 at 19:41

    Does the word SOUTH mean S out + H...

    Does NOT break up as NO T to indicate deletion of T. Does NORTH mean delete RTH... and there are over 5000 words starting with NO...

    Does NOTE now possibly mean NOT E to delete E... and there are over 300 words starting with NOT...

    Does CLEFT break up as C LEFT to mean delete C...

    There are over 200 words which end with Shed... say DASHED... will it break up as DA SHED to indicate deletion of DA...should the solver now consider that any of these might be valid deletions for the preceding letters...

    ReplyDelete
  16. Satyen Nabar24 June 2019 at 19:42

    I can go on...

    Where exactly will you draw the line...and say this is certainly NOT acceptable?

    Either all of the above is kosher or none is... And I don't quite agree that this device may be used once in a while/sparingly. Either the device is kosher and can be used all the time or it's not and can never be used.

    Of course, I am sure there will be people who might find these devices innovative and interesting. For the reasons mentioned above, I frankly don't find them to be either. Of course, this is only my opinion but something which I do feel strongly about. Think about it and please to repeat, do see it objectively.


    ReplyDelete
  17. Ramki Krishnan24 June 2019 at 20:48

    My 2p: As a solver, I am okay with seeing such clues if used sparingly. As a setter, I'd probably avoid it in a published grid, though we've seen plenty of such clues in the FB groups!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Ramki Krishnan24 June 2019 at 20:52

    I was going through the elision examples in the Crossword Unclued blog. One difference I see in the elision examples there is: if you apply the elision and break up the word in the clue, you still get words and not letters. e.g. Streamline = stream + line => Brook + L. Indeed => In deed
    Whereas in the example like FAST, CASH etc we get F as T (letters and not words), after we apply the elision.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ramki Krishnan24 June 2019 at 20:52

    BTW looked like no one spotted the nina in the grid - I saw only after Hypatia told me that there is one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant24 June 2019 at 21:25

      What is the Nina?
      I will have to fill the grid again to spot it.

      Delete
    2. Kolluru Koteswara Rao24 June 2019 at 21:37

      Oh, thanks Ramki.
      Wonderful Hypatia. I will say it is double NINA

      Delete
    3. Col_Gopinath24 June 2019 at 22:56

      Fathers day twice over

      Delete
  20. Crimsonking25 June 2019 at 06:53

    Many enjoyable clues, some really tough ones. 16D: might have sounded better as "Grave consequence of being late?" Still unclear on parsing of 8A (warning about golf ball = fore?) and 12A (legend = toe?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao25 June 2019 at 08:40

      FORE = Golf a warning to a person in the path of a ball.
      LEGEND = LEG'S END = TOE

      Delete
    2. Crimsonking25 June 2019 at 09:59

      Thanks! My knowledge or lack thereof regarding golf was seriously exposed.
      Legend = toe, another discovery for me!

      Delete
  21. sree_sree25 June 2019 at 17:10

    "in" has been used in the fashion doc argued about out. SignificAnt times. If I recall correctly, without to mean w out has been used.
    Archaic, out dated, localised meanings/synonyms have been used.

    I can't see diff between w-out and r-out.
    As a solver, I am open to this. Otherwise, THC has become just synonym finder and less cryptic.

    But the paper would have its own rules.


    To hypatia,
    This is what I meant by "normalisation" yesterday when I didn't find any such clue. I thght the ed-board has already enlightened you.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Avtaar26 June 2019 at 05:16

    The issue or elision is often discussed in forums. An excellent discussion with seasoned setters like Gridman, Buzzer and Anax is in this blog. https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2011/11/elision.html

    Elision can be in a) definition b) wordplay or c) indicators.

    b) is the most common and the one discussed in the crossword unclued forum.

    “Jezebel shorn (8)” in the Guardian 26028 for STRUMPET by Philistine is one that comes to mind.

    a)is clearly not kosher since definitions cannot be split - would be too unfair to the solver in my opinion

    I would think, this clue is fine if

    a) there is some indication (? or perhaps) to make the solver think differently . Preferable to have the indicator contiguous with the fodder
    b) The definition is clear and not vague or indirect . Luke should be solvable from the definition and crossing letters
    c) The cryptic grammar is correct and
    d) It is maybe one in a grid once in a while

    After all, almost all reverse clues can be questioned on grounds of fairness

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Avtaar26 June 2019 at 11:48

      The clue for SCATTER is fine. I see the definition and with crossings, it is gettable.

      Delete

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