Thursday 2 July 2020

No 12977, Thursday 02 Jul 2020, Dr. X

Solution to 15D has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular/novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS
1   Unchangeable like an epitaph might be? (6,2,5) CARVED IN STONE Defintion by example
8   Characters in pretty rollicking Austrian province (5) TYROL [T]
9   Roared with lewdness, enthralled by bit of draught beer perhaps (9) BLUSTERED {LUST} in {Dr...t+BEER}*
11 Crazy man’s concept — destroying nature primarily for progress (10) LOCOMOTION {LOCO}{M}{nOTION}
12 Recurrent insect bite (4) TANG<=
14 Recited by popular model in front of ace director (7) INTONED {IN}{T}{ONE}{D}
16 Introspective protรฉgรฉ reflecting in bar (7)  INDRAWN {IN{WARD<=}N}
17 Team finds new use for valueless rocks in an ore (7) GANGUES {GANG}{USE*}
19 Rise animatedly to welcome veteran fighter (7) SOLDIER {S{OLD}IER*}
21 Drag and batter husband for a little misadventure (4) HAUL (-m+h)HAUL
22 Sterner time perhaps, needing pension essentially? (10) RETIREMENT {sTERNER+TIME}* &lit
25 Coerce journalists to prevent from speaking about nationalist (5-4) PRESS-GANG {PRESS}{GA{N}G}
26 People from Basra perhaps? (5) ARABS* (Correction Semi&lit also)
27 Punish scoundrel about including article spreading panic (3,3,7) TAR AND FEATHER {RAT<=}{AND}{FEATHER} Had to google this one. Feather for spreading panic is a little difficult to get. (Correction - {RAT<=}{AND}{FEA{THE}R} - Thanks to Dr. X)

DOWN
2   A bowl filled with most delicious fruit (7) APRICOT {A}{P{RICh}OT}
3   Very old, bright and spacious (10) VOLUMINOUS {V}{O}{LUMINOUS}
4   United, bound by commitment for first time (5) DEBUT {DEB{U}T}
5   Overanxious people in new union, overwhelmed by carnal desires finally (9) NEUROTICS {N}{E{U}ROTIC}{d...eS}
6   Revolting drunkard consuming first of tequila shots (4) TOTS {S{Te...a}OT<=}
7   Vain narc erroneously lets slip cocaine and ecstasy (7) NIRVANA {VAIN+NARc}*
8   Tolerating many inside society shindig discussing business matters (7, 4) TALKING SHOP {TA{L}KING}{S}{HOP}
10 Declines to break one’s word on reflection in meetings (11) DEGENERATES {D{RENEGE<=}ATES}
13 One contaminating drug in hard-core rave (10) ADULTERANT {ADULT}{E}{RANT}
15 Insult son wearing appalling women’s clothes! Revolting (9) D?S?E?A?D (Addendum - {DI{S}RE}{DRAG<=} - See comments))
18 Confused man, one tackling universal entities in Kantian philosophy (7) NOUMENA {MAN+ONE}* over {U}
20 Repeat point briefly to judge (7) ITERATE {ITEm}{RATE}
23 Fire associate wasting money (5) INGLE mINGLE
24 Afghanistan, Singapore, India are primarily part of this? (4) ASIA Acrostic&lit

Reference List
Man = M, Model = T, Director = D, Husband = H, Nationalist = N, Very = V, Old = O, United = U, New = N, Union = U, Cocaine = C, Many = L, Society = S, Drug = E, Son = S, Universal = U, Money = M


Dr RKE's TalePiece

There is a statue of Michel Paccard, CARVED IN STONE at Chamonix, a popular skiing resort in the Northern Alps. He was an 18th century physician from Sardinia.  His claim to a place in history was the conquest of Mont Blanc in 1786. He had the experience of climbing the smaller peaks in TYROL, but Mont Blanc, that enticing white beauty proved too much of a challenge on his DEBUT attempt in 1783. His attempt to SOLDIER on in DISREGARD of personal safety was foiled by the icy winds that BLUSTERED across the steep slope.  A lesser man would have gone into RETIREMENT after such a setback but not this doctor. He teamed with Jacques Balmat, who had the experience of hunting for precious crystals in the mountains (but often found only GANGUES). They would sit by the INGLE in an inn in Chamonix, TALKING SHOP while planning their route for each of the ITERATions of their ascents. They PRESS GANGed some ARABS, to HAUL up the VOLUMINOUS scientific equipment for part of the way, but they had to make the final ascent of about 8000 feet on their own.

Their LOCOMOTION was hampered by the lack of ropes and ice axes that have made it simple for modern climbers. Fuelled solely by enthusiasm and by the TANG of the APRICOTs from Central ASIA, they slogged on. Reaching the top on 8th August was like attaining the NIRVANA for the doctor. He INTONED a short prayer atop the peak, carried out his barometric experiments and made it back safely.

The postscript to this magnificent feat is a reflection on the DEGENERATE character of human nature. Paccard married Balmat’s sister and became part of the family. Nevertheless, Balmat collected the reward for the first to climb Mont Blanc all by himself. Balmat also wrote an autobiography, cornering all the glory to himself and downplayed the pivotal role of Paccard. A lesser man than Paccard would have become NEUROTIC or INDRAWN on facing such a blatant travesty of truth, but the quiet man of science chose not to react to his brother-in-law’s boastful claims. He only said “Man is small, Mountains are big. Mont Blanc knows the truth”.

27 comments:

  1. 1A- took it as 'Etched in stone' and started off on the wrong foot. Could not make much progress. Tough one to close the round- total contrast to yesterday.

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  2. 12A- recurrent is reversal indicator?

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    Replies
    1. From Free Dictionary
      Recurrent - "Anatomy Turning in a reverse direction. Used of blood vessels and nerves."

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    2. Thank you Col. So it is Re- current. New.

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    3. ""recurrent" from Latin: re- (back) and currere (to run)"

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  3. 15 D

    Disregard.

    S(on) Dire, drag?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Plese indicate anno correcly in futurem It is {DI(S}RE}{DRAG<=}

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  4. Women's clothes drag revolting gard
    Appalling dire?

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  5. Thank you Dr.RKE for a piece of "High" history.

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  6. Beautiful tale scripted from facts. Wonder where you pick up these little anecdotes to entertain us with Dr. RKE

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  7. ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™๐Ÿ™

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  8. Doctor, you made it tough today with not-so familiar phrases/words like gangues, noumena.
    The parting for the month is with heavy heart!

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    Replies
    1. Why heavy heart KKR!If you did not know them, then you learnt two new terms, did you not? :)

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    2. Heavy because he could not parse and get them. all of us are always happy to learn new words,happier if you can get them from wp and crossings,right KKR?

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  9. The name NIRVANA Island was found CARVED IN STONE at the grand entrance.

    Major Shepherd the SOLDIER in RETIREMENT went about his job with elan. Anyone who DISREGARDED him was HAULED without mercy.

    A small crowd BLUSTERED to get tickets to get into the auditorium to watch the DEBUT dance of one Ms. Ranee, the pride of ASIA. The TANG of wine and whisky was hanging heavily in the air.

    What happened next?

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  10. As far as Doc is concerned, nothing is CARVED IN STONE when it comes to cryptic clues. GANGUES a d NAUMENA would be new to many who are only familiar with GANGES and YAMUNA.Good work, Doc. We are TAlking SHOP here , eh ? Good to learn of new words and phrases.Tar tins and FEATHER quavers are to be put away !

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  11. Here I go again, Doc: 15D DISREGARD as a synonym of "insult" is a bit far-fetched. I got the word from the clue and the crossings, but it didn't feel satisfying.
    2 new words for me at 17A and 18D, for which thanks. The rest was straightforward.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Amita, you are disregarding the other meaning of 'disregard'
      One is to 'pay no attention to' in the sense of ignore, overlook etc.

      The other is 'to treat without due regard, respect or attentiveness' in the sense of slight, snub, insult.

      Copy-pasting the two meanings from Chambers online below.

      disregard v, n

      v
      1 ignore, overlook, discount, neglect, take no notice of, pass over, gloss over, disobey, flout, make light of, set aside, brush aside colloq. turn a blind eye to, laugh off
      2 slight, snub, shun, insult, despise, disdain formal disparage, denigrate colloq. cold shoulder
      ANTONYM 1 heed, pay attention to, listen to 2 respect


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  12. Your comments are published alright.

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  13. nice grid doctor.....today i started with easy puzzle 24d....esp.22 and 18 were too interesting.

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  14. Same here. Then revisited & closed 2hrs later only now.

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  15. Started with etched in stone. Could not proceed. Then revisited.

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