Monday, 14 February 2022

No 13479, Monday 14 Feb 2022, Vulcan

Artwork for Valentine's Day by Prasanna

Rangoli by Gowri

Solution to 9A 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   Mark runs into difficulty (6) STRAIN {ST{R}AIN}
4   City life basically is good in France (6) LISBON {Life}{IS}{BON}
8   Too much inside enclosure in small building (7) COTTAGE {C{OTT}AGE}
9   Compensate soldiers fairly (7) ?E?U?T? (Addendum - REQUITE {RE}{QUITE} - See comments)
11 At home, Elma and I cooked Punjabi lunch! (6,4) INDIAN MEAL {IN}{ELMA+AND+I}*
12 Essence extracted from basic oregano (4) CORE [T]
13 Bum is riled up (5) IDLER*
14 It’s baked with pasta — mostly stuffed with nothing (8) MACAROON {MACAR{O}ONi}
16 Band couple hired (8) BRACELET {BRACE}{LET}
18 Approaches listeners after the end of session (5) NEARS {EARS}<=>{s...oN}
20 Standard name for grassy area (4) LAWN {LAW}{N}
21 Just walk with one friend (10) LEGITIMATE {LEG IT}{I}{MATE}
23 Dish made from rice for starters — its too liquid (7) RISOTTO {Rice}{ITS+TOO}* 
24 A new shirt got dirty (7) TARNISH {A+N+SHIRT}* 
25 No dyer works over there (6) YONDER*
26 Essentially fund an event that’s discriminatory (6) UNFAIR {fUNd}{FAIR}

DOWN
1   Displayed and flashed, say (5) SHOWN (~shone)
2   About time liar gets exposed in new hearing (7) RETRIAL {RE}{T}{LIAR*}
3   E-learning — difficult for the most part (2,7) IN GENERAL*
5   Theoretical standard (5) IDEAL [DD]
6   Delivery person employed by a bar (7) BOUNCER [CD] (Correction [C&DD] - See comments)
7   Infamous tour opposition leader is on after uprising (9) NOTORIOUS {TOUR+Op...n+IS+ON}*
10 Tradition to include the head of monks in a retreat (9) HERMITAGE {HER{Mo..s}ITAGE} Semi&lit
13 Actually it’s a kind of linearity (2,7) IN REALITY*
15 Limit jailbirds’ workout (9) CONSTRAIN {CONS}{TRAIN}
17 Unite with clubs operating in/around Jordan (7) CONJOIN {C}{ON}{JO}{IN}
19 Country song about people (7) ARMENIA {AR{MEN}IA}
21 Large article securing a machine (5) LATHE {L}{A}{THE}
22 It’s a problem without the second weapon (5) TASER TeASER 

Refrence List
Runs = R, Good in French = BON, Too much = OTT(Over the top), Soldeirs = RE(Royal Engineers), Name = N, New = N, About = RE, Time = T, Clubs = C, Large = L 

51 comments:

  1. 9a. soldier=re. fairly=quite componsate = re+quite

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  2. Col - kindly add my rangoli mailed to u.

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  3. Why is it mostly Runs for R (1A) and Clubs for C (17D)- and no in singular?

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    Replies
    1. Runs = R (cricket). See entries under British English
      https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/r

      Clubs = C (Playing cards)
      https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/C

      Run and Club variants also work apparently

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  4. IDLER Vladimir was in STRAIN
    His feelings he had to CONSTRAIN
    IN GENERAL
    It's his funeral
    IDEAL situation is to avoid pain.

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  5. A pleasant start to the week! Thank you Vulcan. 🙂

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  6. Dear all
    Out of context - i want to share something.

    " *Can A Word Be Its Own Opposite?* "

    Yes! They are called *Contronyms* —words that are their own antonyms, depending on usage.
    Here are a few examples

    "Dust" :
    can mean ‘to add fine particles’ or ‘to remove fine particles’.

    "Left" :
    can mean both
    ‘remaining’ and ‘departed’.

    "Off" :
    can mean both ‘activated’ and ‘deactivated’.
    Eg:- “Set off” - Activated
    “ Switch off - Deactivated

    "Oversight" :
    means both ‘watchful care’ and ‘an inadvertent error’.

    "Screen" :
    can mean both ‘to show’ and ‘to hide’.

    "Sanction"
    can mean both ‘a penalty for disobeying a law’ and ‘official permission or approval for an action.

    That's Amazing English!
    (To all English- Lovers)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Contranyms work beautifully in cryptic crosswords as given in this blog article:
      https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2015/04/contronyms.html

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    2. Thank you Mme. Gowri for sharing this 'Wordsplay'....

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    3. Nice to know about contronyms. In fact SHUCHI mentioned, it reflects in Hindi also. Good Example(KAL). Thanks Vasant.

      @ Gowri +1 for Beautiful Rangoli

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    4. Gowrie, Cleave can be added to the list. It my mean both splitting & joining. Gridman mentioned this once and I was amazed then.

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  7. In 8A how is TOO equal to OTT?

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    Replies
    1. OTT is too much/excessive/exaggerated.

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    2. Sir see the explanation in the Reference List at the bottom of the post

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    3. Is it an abbreviation of 'Over the top'?

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    4. Sorry Col. That is also there in the original post.

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  8. Great start by Vulcan. yet to solve few. TARNISH, UNFAIR & ARMENIA are my CoD. 23A-Itallian rice (RISOTTO) picture was too good. Thanks to col.sir for the perfect picture.

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  9. Lovely crossie. Legitimate and bouncer my favourites. Good one Vulcan.

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  10. Excellent art work and rangoli.

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    Replies
    1. Ramesh - i wrote a poem for u yday. Did u read it? 😊

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    2. Yes of course. And I acknowledged the limerick therein. Thanks

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  11. Excellant examples from this master Anagramist!

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  12. I had BARN for 20A (Standard = Bar) and kept wondering why the definition wasn't ideal. Had to press 'Reveal' online since I completely blanked out on LAW. Nice and fun crossword overall - good start to the week :)

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  13. Beautiful Rangoli. Colorful and imaginative.Done with real flowers and petals?

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    Replies
    1. No Paddy. Only powder. Made to look like flowers.

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    2. To be honest- we lost a lot of flowering plants including pavazhamalli in the december floods. Have to start the garden again.

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    3. So did we. Lot of water logging soaking all the plants.

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    4. Why not try vertical gardens/hydroponics

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    5. Those r separate. These r plants/ trees in the patch in front of the house. Where due to lack of municipal drainage - water logging was there in most parts of chennai. This with clayey soil kills the plants - rotting them.

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  14. Hello Dear All,
    A Bright Good Morning to each one of you on the occasion of Valentine’s Day and let us pledge to reiterate for eradication of social, religious and geo-political animosity & hatred with a commitment to redefine the most beautiful word ‘LOVE’ as
    Life
    Of
    Virtuous
    Emotions

    Have a nice fruitful day... Cheers!!!
    Suresh Panje

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  15. Replies
    1. Indeed, it is and perhaps in the present day world of so-called digital communication, Rangoli has been the sole survivor to counter all those modes of expression, be they in words or through art and creative concepts...

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  16. Thanx to all of you.
    Nice grid. Finished in 30 mins.

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