Monday 11 October 2021

No 13374, Monday 11 Oct 2021, Vidwan

Artwork by Prasanna

Solution to 2D 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   Complete jerk in love with heartless gal (8) LIVELONG {IN+LOVE+GaL}*
6   Relative value of speaking without extremes (5) RATIO oRATIOn
10 Director seen in Tarantino landmarks (5) NOLAN [T]
11 A film many adapted for a hit web series (6,3) FAMILY MAN*
12 Restrain China anyhow (5) CHAIN*
13 Willing help said to be available immediately (9) READYMADE (~ready maid) (Correction - {READY}{MADE(~maid)} - See comments)
14 Port does trading with South Africa (6) ODESSA {DOES*}{SA}
15 Meditating macho-man and feminine energy merging ultimately (8) STUDYING {STUD}{YIN}{m...nG}
17 Proof that devil essentially is thick, as many say (8) EVIDENCE {dEVIl}{DENCE(~dense)}
21 Candy’s doubly good in Paris (6) BONBON {BON}{BON}
25 New hot poets composing extempore (2,3,4) ON THE SPOT {N+HOT+POETS}*
26 Gates kind of reasoning (5) LOGIC [DD]
27 Settler, one who pretends to guard our borders (9) FOREIGNER {F{OuR}EIGNER}
28 Work naked perhaps (5) KNEAD*
29 Instructions to turn the clock back (5) REMIT<=
30 Farewell, for example on a road, seen occassionally (8) SAYONARA {SAY}{ON}{A}{RoAd}

DOWN
2   Disrepute of the Italian family partly protected by the French (3,4) I?L ?A?E (Addendum - ILL FAME {IL}{L{FAMily}E} - See comments) 
3   On-line models on small weather patterns (7) EL NINOS {ON+LINE}*{S} Enu should have been (2,4)
4   University shoes (6) OXFORD [DD]
5   GST has confused many one has to twist, turn and somersault to get through (7) GYMNAST {GST+MANY}* (Correction - {G{MANY*}ST} - See comments)
6   Communicated about abnormal delay (7) RELAYED {RE}{DELAY*}
7   Victim panics a little, gets beaten by sticks, makes rolling sound (7) TIMPANI [T]
8   Grains for cat (5) OUNCE [DD]
9   Passionately enacted love story (8) ANECDOTE {ENACTED+O}*
16 Leaders of German establishment coined new term for ethnic cleansing (8) GENOCIDE {Ge...n}{Es...t}{COINED*}
18 Im following the Milan club for the time being (7)  INTERIM {I'M}<=>{INTER}
19 Sadly, its glee for a poet (7) ELEGIST*
20 Top layers of company messages (7) COPINGS {CO}{PINGS}
22 Something waterproof that spoils kingfisher nests (7) OILSKIN [T]
23 Phone tap on Yogi, for instance would create a long-term problem (7) BUGBEAR {BUG}{BEAR}
24 Rust formed on dry edges is very hard (6) STURDY {RUST*}{DrY}
25 Unacceptable royal proposal (5) OFFER {OFF}{ER}

Reference List
Good in French = BON, New = N, The in Italian = IL, The in French = LE, Small = S, About = RE, Company = CO, Royal = ER

43 comments:

  1. Vidwan gets more and more interesting...and fast as well. I had plenty of time on hand after finishing the CW.
    I was expecting El Ninos to be selected today- narrow miss. BTW it should be (2,5) Print edition also says 7

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    Replies
    1. +1 Vidwan gets more and more interesting!

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    2. He had explained some points,particularly about Spoonerism in Saturday's blog.

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    3. And I appreciate his active participation and promptly clearing doubts raised by the commenters!

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  2. 13a hp to maid only!
    5d many* in GST.

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  3. As always a nice start with art by Prasanna.

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  4. 2d ILL FATE
    the in Italian - il
    the in French - le
    Family - f
    family - f
    by - at

    {il} {l(f)(at)e}

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  5. 2D ILL FAME = disrepute
    italian = IL
    family partly = FAM
    french = LE protected by to indicate the letters are added to fodder.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In some sites Italy is abbreviated as IT

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    2. You are right. IT and ITA are ISO country codes of Italy and IL is the country code of Isreal. IL also stands for Illinois state as abbreviation among others.
      That being said, "the Italian" may imply "the in italian language" which happens to be IL.
      The compiler could clarify as to what he had in mind.

      Delete
  6. 6a speaking=oration.
    Can someone pls explain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why? Maybe,you would have preferred speech making. But I feel it is acceptable.

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  7. Yes, this is more like it. IL L(FAM)E

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  8. Anno for 5D - I read it as MANY* in GST (with "has" as the containment indicator)

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  9. A viewpoint

    The issue of etymology was discussed in some earlier threads in this blog. Typically, in cryptic crosswords , when a word is broken up into components and clued in the wordplay as in a charade , the component words should be used in a different sense. In 13A, for example, READY in the wordplay and READYMADE (readymade is an extension of Ready) are used in the same sense . One could see root issues more commonly in double definitions - where using synonyms of the same word would normally be not considered kosher. Occasionally one sees this in published grids in charades - usually partially (one part may have a root issue with the other being done well) but Ximenean setters would most likely avoid this. I am told, in US style cryptics, such usage is a strict no-no. In THC
    , I have seen use of root sharing words is more common.

    Thus, 4D Oxford would also have this issue as Oxford shoes get their name from the University and the two are not different words. If the words used have different roots or are listed as separate words (not different parts of speech of the same word) in a standard dictionary, that would be fine. Clueing EYESIGHT as EYE+SIGHT would not be good cryptic style while clueing it as YES in EIGHT will bring out the essence of cryptic crosswords very well. It is generally a matter of style and a lack of Aha! factor when one solves

    ReplyDelete
  10. The view point has merit.

    Just 3 submissions.


    1. Ready = Willing in word play and Ready = available for use in the clued word. That is my understanding.

    2. It is about overall impact of the clue. Breaking a compound word into constitutent words and going for charade is one approach and going for word in word containment is another.

    I feel we need not compare merit of each approach. It cannot be also assumed that charade approach gives easier to solve clue. Infact it is more difficult to clue EYE + SIGHT than YES into EIGHT.

    It all depends upon the word clued and surface created by each clue.

    3. ROOT ISSUE is often confusing. As far as I understand it goes as follows

    A. FORM ROOT WORD: Root word in Latin or Greek or even some other old languages e.g. podos, ambul etc

    B. ENGLISH ROOT WORD: Basic English word as we know e.g. form, do etc

    C. DERIVED WORDS which are created by use of prefix or suffix on a basic english root word. e.g. inform, deform, forming, formation etc

    D. COMPOUND WORDS: These are formed by joining two regular english root words e.g. EYESIGHT OUTCLASS


    My understanding is that.

    1. One cannot break DERIVED WORD into ENGLISH ROOT WORD and PREFIX/SUFFIX and make clue by clueing these.

    GOING cannot be clued as GO + ING

    2. COMPOUND WORDS can be split and both parts clued separately. OUT+ CLASS as charade or as any other clue type as per choice of the setter.

    Regards



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I said, it is sometimes seen but is not seen as the best style. The way the word is broken ideally should not be the natural break. However, sometimes people do use partly a natural break and partly another wordplay like in the READYMADE clue. Even here the READY in the READYMADE is the same word. Anyway, just pointed out my view. In OUTCLASS , I have seen OUT clued as “not in” and CLASS (means rank in OUTCLASS) in the sense of students or form. As I said, it is a question of style.

      Others can join in with their views

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    2. I wouldn’t consider FOOTBALL or EYESIGHT being clued as FOOT+BALL or EYE+SIGHT as kosher

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    3. Another example
      Shoes with clothes

      Doesn't have the same objections.

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    4. No Prasad . Root issues still exist as the origin is same

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    5. This is a question of elegance and style, rather than kosher or not. Personally, I try not to create a charade with words that share a common root with the full word. So, clueing EYESIGHT as EYE+SIGHT would be inelegant in my world. But as a setter, I have done it sometimes... Overall, takes very little away from the quality of the smooth grid.

      Delete
  11. Here are two links that help explain the issue better

    https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/double-talk/

    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2019/nov/25/crossword-blog-does-it-matter-when-words-share-roots

    ReplyDelete
  12. Interesting discussion. Thank you for the elaboration. Enables us to learn more about CW formation.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 2D - (IL)(L(FAM)E)
    Italian - IL ; FAMily - as partly ; The in french - LE.
    Had a good start 80% done. Thanks to Vidwan for the interesting puzzles.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Enjoyable puzzle today with good surfaces. Thank you, Vidwan. Just one cavil: In 4D, the shoes are called Oxfords, not Oxford.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Amita. As a pair these would indeed be called oxfords. The clue ought to have avoided the plural. However one may read the the surface cryptically and maybe then clue in its current form may just about scrape through.

      Thanks for the wonderful feedback.

      Delete
  15. On searching the dictionary one of meanings of Oxford is given as a type of shoe. I thought,while speaking we may say oxfords in stead of Oxford shoes.

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    Replies
    1. Yes paddy sir. It’s mentioned as low shoe which covers instep. Good to know the updates

      Delete
  16. Looks as though both are correct.

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  17. Vidwan thanks for a nice grid. Was easy to start and got a bit tougher to complete. My favorite 23D 26A...

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  18. Very smooth grid today. One small quibble. I thought el nino was 2 words, not one as the online version shows. That was the last to go in for me... Thank you Vidwan! Balaji (Bruno)

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