Tuesday 2 July 2019

No 12667, Tuesday 02 Jul 2019, Arden


ACROSS
1    Regular chit chat, deal with the insect (6) CICADA {ChIt+ChAt+DeAl}



4    Extremely courageous — visitor takes its place (8) GUTSIEST {GU{ITS*}EST} Place as Anind?
9    Gets scared to criticize old bureaucracy (6) PANICS {PAN}{ICS}
10 Climber working in Oracle (8) LONICERA*
12 What Sam perhaps stole before comes to boil (8) FURUNCLE {UNCLE}<=>{FUR}
13 Some of the foreign items will catch fire (6) IGNITE [T]
15 Alienation of aliens in a movie (12) ESTRANGEMENT {STRANGE MEN} in {ET}
18 To avoid issues at the beginning, chill out in nature regularly (5,7) BIRTH CONTROL  {BIRTH}{CO{NaTuRe}OL}
21 Starts with annual vacation and the aftermath — recent movie (6) AVATAR Acrostic
22 Business contract about casual labour evokes scorn (8) CONTEMPT {CO}{N{TEMP}T}
24 Train in fact is sabotaged (8) DERAILED {DE{RAIL}ED}
25 Extremely formal examination of flowers (6) FLORAL {Fo..aL}{ORAL}
26 Free to pick a bone, perhaps overconfident (8) DEBONAIR {A+BONE}* in {RID}<= Something's not right here
27 Hire land for electronic bulletin board (6) USENET {USE}{NET}

DOWN
1    Face up to bully, pick-me-up (3,2,3) CUP OF TEA*
2    Figure assumed correct, not even something real (8) CONCRETE {CON{CoRrEcT}E}
3    Medication, not an alternative for a clean up (15) DECONTAMINATION*
5    Supported by not company voucher (4) UPON coUPON
6    Glistening tents set up with plants (8,7) STINGING NETTLES*
7    It makes you throw up — throw up the thing in church (6) EMETIC {EM}{C{IT}E<=} (Addendum - {C{ITEM}E}<= - See comments)
8    Herb's tense, standby (6) TEASEL {T}{EASEL}
11 Clue, goes in through Great Britain (7) BLIGHTY {B{LIGHT}Y}
14 Foreign character will ignore China in short (7) OMICRON Anno pending (Addendum - {OMIt}{CRONy} - See comments)
16 Boat's tidy, guaranty from the centre (8) TRIMARAN {TRIM}{guARANty}
17 Left in the head, block this coagulant (8) PLATELET {P{L}ATE}{LET}
19 Open and stop the investigators (6) CANDID {C{AND}ID}
20 In December, Gazprom raised some capital... (6) ZAGREB [T<=]
23 ...still one keeps a look out for this (4) YETI {YET}{1} Semi&lit

Reference List
Contract = NT(No trumps), Company = CO, - = EM, Tense = T, Left = L

GRID

35 comments:

  1. 4AC since place=set, it is ok, I feel

    ReplyDelete
  2. 26AC +1 Col
    Probably the presence of OVER here is intended for reversal of RID?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The wp looks RI(abone*)D<=
      With ref to discussion on cash/wish, is wp on def OK? We have to break overconfident to get def!

      Delete
  3. 14D: Please explain, sir, why China in short is CRONy. Why is China=Crony?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Informal British both China and crony mean friend.

      Delete
    2. From cockney rhyming slang China plate=mate. China plate is written shortly as China

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    3. Thanks, didn't have a clue China can stand for crony!!

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. It is a crossword term and is by convention. This appeared in both Afrit's and Ximene's Seminal works.

      Delete
    2. A clue and light (as in signal light) mean indicator/pointer

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    3. The article in Crossword Unclued is quiet en"light"ening. Here is the link:
      https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2016/06/lights-white-squares-in-crossword-grid.html?m=1

      Delete
  5. 22a NT is known for Book(s); how it represent CONTRACT?

    ReplyDelete
  6. 7d. Can it be parsed as <item in CE? Item = the thing

    ReplyDelete
  7. 18a ...chill out IN....
    Is "in" OK here?

    ReplyDelete
  8. D St P Barnard has an interesting para on 'light'in his out-of-print 1963 book, An Anatomy of the Crossword.
    He writes, "'Light' is an old English word which means a clue or suggestion."
    To obtain a solution and then to call it by a word which means clue may seem odd, he adds..
    He goes on to add that each ac/dn slot shares 'crossers' with dn/ac slot.
    Thus each word is an answer to ac/dn clue, but, with crossers, is also a 'clue' (light) to another dn/ac slot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sir for sharing this.
      The CU article mentions this in the opening itself-the quote by St Bernard.

      Delete
    2. So clear, once you explain it, but it looked baffling while solving.

      Delete
  9. Amita
    I hope you return to see my input on 'light'.
    Will appreciate if you let me know your email id by writing to me chaturvasi AT yahoo DOT com so I can let you know when a significant subsequent Comment here needs to be brought to your attention.
    Sometime ago I wrote after you but I was not sure if you came back to see it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. On a lighter vein, Lead Kindly Light ! leads one to see the light of the clue ! Cryptese language. Another such interesting word is CHARADE , on which CV can expound ?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sree-sree . You are too cryptic for me. Please parse your comment!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He was cluing charade!

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    2. Yes.. But he was cluing for the word suggested by Raju.. And in a comment it's OK. Commenter's license:-)

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    3. ha ha, Prasad can start setting puzzles for our entertainment. The earlier the better

      Delete
  12. Just saw and heard the Cicada audio. Thanks Col. (1st time we have an audio ?)

    ReplyDelete

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