Friday 29 November 2019

No 12793, Friday 29 Nov 2019, Arden


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ACROSS
1   Father’s office group, extremely classy (6) ABBACY {ABBA}{Cl..sY}
4   Told to jazz up a seaside resort (8) BRIGHTON (~brighten)
9   Construct, those people have a choice (6) THEORY {THE{OR}Y}
10 Everyone’s back inside, stand will give way (8) COLLAPSE {CO{ALL<=}PSE} Copse/Stand?
12 Russian gets amorous, said to be crackers (8) REDNECKS {RED}{NECKS}
13 Cancel private equity, stop money (6) REPEAL {RE{PE}AL}
15 Missing line, it’s child’s play (8,4) SKIPPING ROPE {SKIPPING}{ROPE}
18 Second Airport announcement, going down a slippery slope (12)  SNOWBOARDING {S}{NOW BOARDING}
21 Camaraderie of an elfin from bottom to top (6) ESPRIT (+e)ESPRIT(-e)
22 One’s on hand, two on lease (8) BRACELET {BRACE}{LET}
24 Kind of triangle which is organic (8) INTEGRAL*
25 Goldget an arm over first (6) NUGGET {GET}<=>{GUN<=}
26 Rating a small saw (8) ASSAYING {A}{S}{SAYING}
27 Fixed war casualties reported (6) MENDED (~men dead)

DOWN
1   Mark checks in fasteris keen to take part (8) ASTERISK [T]
2   Container to keep your money perhaps (5,3) BREAD BIN [CD]
3   Cornering old spy, dealt with appropriately (15)  CORRESPONDINGLY*
5   Unrest, port city’s tense (4) RIOT {RIO}{T}
6   Fire protection? (6,9) GOLDEN PARACHUTE [CD]
7   A very soft instep, used to dump (6) TIPPER {TI{PP}ER}
Provoke girl about ledger line (6) NEEDLE {LEDgEr+liNE}* [CA]
11 Island accepted in a state down under (7) OKINAWA {OK}{IN}{A}{WA}
14 Forces grab our weapons (7) ARMOURY {ARM{OUR}Y}
16 Medicine meant for the elderly looted (8) PILLAGED {PILL}{AGED}
17 Cross — it cuts stone with diamonds (8) AGITATED {AG{IT}ATE}{D}
19 Uproar in Foreign Ministry about holy city (6) MEDINA {ME{DIN}A}
20 CIA takes time — it hurts (6) SPITES {SPI{T}ES}
23 Regularly play, win a piece (4) PAWN {PlAy+WiN}

Reference List
Second = S, Small = S, Tense = T, Soft = P, Diamond = D, Time = T


69 comments:

  1. 1 a Abbacy.group-Abba +cy.C lass Y.
    3 d Correspondingly-Anag of cornering old appropriately.
    19 d Medina- MEA -ministry of External Affairs.Din-Uproar.ME(din)A.Holy city
    21 a Esprit-Camaraderie.Sprite-esprit.
    23d Pawn-PlAy WiN.piece.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 24 a. Integral. Anagram of triangle

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  3. 1d. In faster is keen gives you asterisk which is a mark

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  4. 9a. Those people = they. Choice is or. Hence theory is the solution.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 20D CIA takes time — it hurts (6)
    CIA = spies + T(ime)
    Sol spites

    ReplyDelete
  6. Came across this post in my Whatsapp group. Thought some of you might find it amusing:

    From the Department of Allegory:

    Latin, America: From Quid Pro Quo to In Flagrante Delicto to Non Compos Mentis

    All Latin expressions gathered at the Taverna to discuss Quid Pro Quo’s phenomenal rise in popularity thanks to impeachment hearings in the United States. A wave of resentment ran through Ad Hoc, Pro Bono, Vice Versa, Et Cetera etc., who considered themselves frontrunners in Latinism sweepstakes before Quid Pro Quo had sprinted ahead in recent weeks.

    “Well, let’s get real,” said Bona Fide, who was always truthful. “Quid Pro Quo is being promoted by no less a person than the U.S President, even though Pro Bono is available for free.” Hearing this, Pro Bono, who was selfless and always unquestioningly volunteering herself, asked Prime Facie if this was indeed the case.

    “On the face of it, yes,” confirmed Prima Facie. “Although the President likes Ad Hoc, Quid Pro Quo is his current favorite.”

    “What about me? I am always bringing up the rear… though I am used so often,” complained Et Cetera.

    “At least you and your comrades Nota Bena and Post Script are made of two words, unlike that useless Addendum,” consoled Alter Ego, looking over his shoulder at his shadow.

    “Quid Pro Quo is made of three words!” pointed out Carpe Diem, groaning, “I should have seized the moment when the poet Horace wrote me into his Odes!”

    “Actually, we should have all gone to war!” yelled Casus Belli, who was always in a confrontational mood.

    “We would have backed you!” shouted twins De Facto and De Jure.

    “Hear! Hear!” roared Vox Populi.

    Et Cetera was comforted, but he knew he could never become the favorite; he’d always be an afterthought.

    “Well, fair is foul and foul is fair,” explained Vice Versa, an opportunist who flip-flopped often.

    “Indeed, I am sorry about our fate. If y’all want I am happy to take the blame,” offered the always-apologetic Mea Culpa.

    “Let’s just stay rooted to the ground. Our day will come!” advised Terra Firma.

    “No, let’s keep on rolling and rolling and …” pressed Ad Infinitum.

    “The bird walked to the toy store,” said Non Sequitur.

    Alma Mater, who was nourishing her children Alumnus and Alumna, watched the agitated Latinisms with Sotto Voce, who was usually quiet and spoke only occasionally in a low voice.

    “Too bad everyone thinks the President has flipped for Quid Pro Quo,” she whispered. “No one believes me but I’ve seen him canoodling with that sexy wench In Flagrante Delicto.”

    Suddenly they heard someone chuckling in the shadows. It was Non Compos Mentis, giggling with the knowledge that she, not In Flagrante Delicto, was the President’s first love.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No one can say 'Ecce signum' of your love for foreign phrases. Hoc iam ostendit.

      Delete
    2. Drwned in Latinesque!
      Thank you Arden, both for the CW and the forward.

      Delete
    3. Most of it was Greek and Latin to me!!!

      Delete
    4. I as a boy was encouraged by my father to see and learn from foreign words and phrases in the back of the BRB and also in a section in Wren and Martin.

      Delete
  7. 26 A ASSAYING = rating ( A +Small + Saying=saw)
    15 A SKIPPING ROPE = game ( missing = skipping line = rope)
    10 A COLLAPSE = give way (all< in copse)
    22A BRACELET = arm band ( brace = pair + Let)
    5D RIOT = unrest (RIO + T )

    ReplyDelete
  8. 26A Rating a small saw (8
    Saw = saying + a + s(mall)
    Sol. Assaying

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  9. 14d armoury forces=army +our anagram

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  10. 15A Missing SKIPPING line ROPE Child's play SKIPPING ROPE

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  11. 18A Second S aiport announcement NOW BOARDING going down a slippery slope SNOWBOARDING

    ReplyDelete
  12. 11d accepted OK IN A (WA) Western Australia state down under OKINAWA Island

    ReplyDelete
  13. 16d. Medicine=pill +elderly=aged. Hence the clue is pillaged (looted)

    ReplyDelete
  14. My last clue. 27a. Fixed=mended. Casualties reported dead.(ded).

    ReplyDelete
  15. 17d IT in Stone AGATE Diamond D AGITATED cross

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  16. 2 d bread bin money - bread container- Bin

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  17. 6D Fire protection? (6,9)
    Golden Parachute (CD)

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  18. 25A Gold, get an arm over first (6)
    Arm = gum + get gunget*
    Nugget

    ReplyDelete
  19. 28/11/19 My addenda:
    The emergency meeting in the department of foreign phrases then was postponed indefinitely by
    Sine die.
    De novo got to start it all over afresh along with Ab initio in the chair, but de riguer wanted it to be
    strictly by protocol. Ad libidum née In extenso got up to speak spontaneously without any prompting
    from her friend aide-memoire. Her Alter ego was even better as she could speak the current lingo
    just like her guru, a la mode.
    She said “this is an annus mirabilis, not just for my bon ami, Monsieur Bourgeois, but even for the
    lowly Proletariat and the hoi polloi. This time belongs to Égalité and I speak for Fraternité with the
    freedom ensured by our ancestor Liberté. We have to unite en masse; it is our noblesse oblige. We
    no longer rue about our dead cousins O tempora! (and) O mores! Let us fight the tyrrany of Status
    quo. We may have come from various backgrounds but today we are e pluribus unum. Let us be
    proud of our esprit de corps.
    We need to urgently sign the entente cordiale with that enfant terrible, Mr.Trump, well known for
    many a faux pas. Let him get out of his idee fixe that it sounds intelligent to bandy us (foreign
    phrases) about. Let him confine his howlers in camera and not bring them to the agora. Let him
    learn that it is ultra vires for him to even attempt the double entendre. He must confine himself to
    the modus operandi of the literati among past presidents, who used only the lingua franca. This is
    our bona fide locus standi.”
    So saying, Ms. Alter Ego sat down exhausted, having completed her tour de force.
    Mr.Trump, who only had degrees in honoris causa, considered foreign phrases his bête noire. He
    was advised by Melania, thanks to her Slovenian origin, to sign the contract but he insisted on a
    force majeure clause. The clause was discussed in extenso by the assembly. They appointed Amicus
    curiae as an impartial adviser, who overwhelmed by the complexities, was rendered hors de combat,
    soon collapsing and becoming in extremis. The assemblage collectively gasped “mon dieu, who
    delivered the coup de grâce?”. But they had to reconcile themselves to the fait accompli, after all
    che sara sara.
    Voilà tout, that brings us to the finis of this magnum opus told without any mala fide intent.
    Au revoir, auf wiedersehen, adios amigos!

    ReplyDelete
  20. My last one
    13A Cancel private equity, stop money (6)
    Real = money p(rivate) +E(quitu)
    (Realpe)* = repeal

    ReplyDelete
  21. 4A- Brighton— Jazz up Brighten... seaside resort

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  22. 3dn correspondingly (concerning old spy )
    19dn holy city is Medina (din for uproar,in mea
    )

    ReplyDelete
  23. 23dn regularly (play win) pawn for piece

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  24. Some fifty years ago, thanks to education system prevailing in previous decades, people used these expressions very commonly. I had an elderly relation whose favourite phrase was 'modus operandi', pronounced correctly. Now these foreign phrases are only in legal documents. But how many lawyers know that it is not suo moto?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some lawyers live on copy/pasting legal texts for documentation. But when they speak, even English is not proper. How may one expect Latin phrases from them?

      Delete
    2. Absolutely true. I have seen horrible mistakes in legal notices in papers - if I ever managed to read the text in tiny font in the shrunken text box to save money. It is just a statutory requirement fulfilled mechanically.

      Delete
  25. 12A Russian RED gets amourous NECKS crackers? REDNECKS

    ReplyDelete
  26. In the last 15 days have read at least 4 Peter James novels and all of them are based at Brighton but that was the last to fall today :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good comment. Moral of the story is - books don't brighten up our wisdom, do they?

      Delete
    2. Blame our memory rather than the book!
      I don't remember the same clue which I solved a week before, leave alone remember part of a book.

      Delete
  27. 6d is more like fire insurance or fire escape! protection!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. +1 Prasad.
      To me, it is a recompense for loss on "fire". So, insurance seems appropriate.
      But on the lighter side, fire escape is also possible when it is considered best to fire top-heavy deadwood so that the company can escape further loss.

      Delete
  28. 8D- Needle- provoke
    Is it called a compound anagram-> Needle+ girl giving 'Ledger line'?

    ReplyDelete
  29. 1a —-group — abba
    ClassY—- abbacy

    ReplyDelete
  30. Replies
    1. "They have an alternate view of things", as per New Indian Express today!

      Delete
    2. Simple but good clue such as only Rufus can write.

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    3. Its theory, paddy. View of things is def.

      Delete
    4. Thank you Prasad. I did not get the point about same word being clued there.

      Delete
  31. 21A:Isn't the letter shifting(bottom to top) for an Across clue not correct? Shouldn't it be back to front or right to left or east to west?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. +1 but it appears its slowly being accepted!

      Delete
    2. Arden uses this and I unhesitatingly put it in since it is Arden!

      Delete
  32. In a recent castigation by the judiciary, the lawyers ( liars in Punjabi !) were accused of 'copy - paste '

    from another case on to the now vexatious ex- finance minister's case . In my language, makki - ka - makki !

    Thoroughly enjoyable grid and very much off the beaten track. 'Skipping rope' & 'golden parachute'were indeed brilliant.

    More enjoyable are the Latin a la bhargava anecdotes !

    ReplyDelete
  33. 10a stand (n) is " a group of growing plants of a specified kind, especially trees.
    "a stand of poplars"" : copse

    ReplyDelete

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