Thursday, 31 August 2023

No 13958, Thursday 31 Aug 2023, WrdPlougher

Solution to 4A 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.

Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.

Too may meaningless ellipses!!

ACROSS
1   Gives an address to top Nazi bodyguards going around (6) SPEAKS {S{PEAK}S}
4   Winner conceding point, essentially to get energy for powerful aim? (6) ?E?T?R (Addendum - VECTOR V(-i+e)ECTOR - See comments)
 The article originally stirring enmity (4) HATE {THE+Ar...e}*
10 Occasion basically honouring friend someday (10) EVENTUALLY {EVENT}{h..oUr..g}{ALLY} Basically for middle letter? See comments
11 Couch empty threat in speech (without a hint of politeness, compassion, humility), starting to electioneer (6) SETTEE {SpE{Th..aT}Ech}{El...r}
12 Drew, Nancy's exposés — "Den's leaders following criminal lout at home" (8) OUTLINED {Ex...s}{Den}<=>{LOUT*}{IN} What's the role of Nancy's?
13 Amy musing about space, where mass is created (9) GYMNASIUM*
15 Constant need to be cut in half like a tree (4) PINE {PI}{NEed}
16 Beat knight, winning fight in the end (4) STIR {S{f..hT}IR}
17 Saint within right to regularly bear some sort of audience (9) LISTENERS {LI{ST}EN}{bEaR}{Sort}
21 Bond explosive ion later... (8) RELATION*
22 ... if not, alternatively, burn blue-ish sulphur (6) UNLESS {bUrN+bLuE+iSh}}{S}
24 Saw nightclub, swerved recklessly, losing direction (10) DISCOVERED {DISCO}{swERVED*}
25 Starting to fall sick, stuff... (4) FILL {Fall}{ILL}
26 ... left nose, out of oxygen finally with empty remedies, flops (6) LOSERS {L}nOSE}{Re...eS}
27 Rubs out errors in speech, insubstantial errors (6) ERASES {(~errors)ERAS}{Er..rS}

DOWN
1   People's ownership claim in secret... (7) SLAVERY {SL{AVER}Y}
2   ... electronic portal, part of programming... (5) EVENT {E}{VENT}
3   ... those who find, perhaps, Dhoni awesome in the middle? (7) KEEPERS {KEEPER}{aweSome}
5   Teesta reforming land area (6) ESTATE*
6   Common practice, transferring to another country, forgetting former spouse (9) TRADITION exTRADITION
7   Dancing free, topless, live free (7) RELIEVE {fREE+LIVE}*
8   Circling radical (13) REVOLUTIONARY [DD]
14 Bores gits regularly, going into little details? (9) NUISANCES {NU{gItS}ANCES}
16 Important detail briefly disclosed, mainly about rise of AI (7) SPECIAL {SPECs}{discLosed} over {AI<=}
18 German guy's article buried by our newspaper, global agency making noise (7) THUNDER {DER}<=>{TH}{UN} What's the role of 'guy's' ?
19 Sleeps around, regularly mulls success (7) RESULTS {RES{mUlL}TS}
20 Second, place cutlery... (6) SILVER [DD]
23 ... plates, occasionally eating Indian food, primarily for feelings of happiness (5) LIFTS {pLaTeS} over {In...n}{Food}

Reference List
Nazi bodyguards = SS, Energy = E, Saint = ST, Sulphur  S, Direction = SW(South West), Left = L, Electronic = E, Former spouse = EX, German guy's article = DER, Our newspaper = TH

49 comments:

  1. How is gymnasium a space where mass is created

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mass as in muscle mass. Slightly convoluted.

      Delete
    2. That is the only explanation I had. Wasn't too happy with it. So just checking if I missed something

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    3. People use a GYMNASIUM for both building mass and for losing mass. The definition of 13A is imprecise. At best, it could be salvaged by adding a question mark at the end of the clue.

      13A Amy musing about space, where mass is created? (9)

      Delete
  2. 10a i think we had this discussion before.
    Basically: at heart.

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  3. 18d i took it as just a figure of speech for indication. German/german guy's/in germany.

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    Replies
    1. I took Der as masculine article before German 'guy'(Mann or mensch)

      Delete
    2. To my knowledge, there is no feminine or masculine articles like in French.

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    3. I stand corrected- poor memory to blame.

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    4. +1 Sree Sree. The clue would work without the word "guy's". It is superfluous and redundant.

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    5. Its Not necessary that everything not needed for solving is redundant.
      German article?
      What does that even mean?
      German guy's article makes sense in surface and also correct cryptically. Misdirection is not a crime per se.

      Delete
    6. And as DNM says, it could also be being specific gender indication.
      Why should article has to mean only der? When there are alternatives.

      Delete
    7. I suppose one could give the clue a pass, considering German has gendered articles as has been pointed out above.

      Delete
  4. 3d is perhaps on double duty.

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    Replies
    1. ?? What is on double duty

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    2. Perhaps. Has to be part of def and also apply to Dhoni.

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    3. Keepers like in finders keepers. No double duty here

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    4. Its an idiom, not synonym. So the def should be " finders (those who may find), perhaps."
      And "Dhoni, perhaps" for Keeper.

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    5. Two indicators needed, only one "perhaps" is found. One indicator is needed for idiomatic definition; another one is needed for Dhoni as proper noun. As only 1 "perhaps" is to be found, it must take on double-duty.

      Delete
  5. 6d extradition and tradition def root problem.

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    Replies
    1. 6 Common practice, transferring to another country, forgetting former spouse (9)

      Common practice = TRADITION
      Transferring to another country = EXTRADITION
      Forgetting = deletion indicator
      former spouse = EX

      Apart from the garden-path surface reading, where is the problem?

      Delete
    2. Econ checkout root problem at crossword unclued.

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    3. @Sree Sree I have searched the site but I was unable to find the article you have indicated. Can you share a link for our benefit?

      Delete
    4. Here is the extract for you
      "The essence of a cryptic clue lies in creative play on words, and in misleading/surprising the solver.

      None of these hold true when the subsidiary indication and the definition share the same root word.

      The word BENGALI is derived from BENGAL; there's nothing very creative or exciting about splitting it into BENGAL + I.

      Therefore, a weak clue. Etymologically-related constructs like (BAT + S = BATS) or (ADMIRE– E + ABLE = ADMIRABLE), when used to clue charades, are flaws in my book."

      Tradition/ex-tradition have the same route meaning handing over.

      Delete
    5. That's a little harsh. Really difficult puzzles get away easily. 🤔

      Delete
  6. 22d alternately or alternatively?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. +1 it should be "alternately" as an indicator for skipping every other letter. "Alternatively" indicates mutually exclusive options or alternatives.

      Delete
  7. In 16D solution, detail briefly should be SPEC(icification). SPECS is already short for specifications.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. setter given as detail. hence, specification / spec. if mentioned as 'details' then we can annotate as specs . This is what my point.

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    2. Detail = Spec. Details = Specs. Spectacles = Specs. Perhaps the setter could use a new pair.

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    3. Thank you Economizer. 16D clue is quite tough.

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    4. Tend to agree with Pilla. Detail:specification, briefly spec.

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  8. 12A- role of Nancy? I can't see anything except to misdirect to Nancy Drew ( including false capitals)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Neither part of definition nor the wordplay, the word "Nancy's" is only there for surface reading and misdirection.

      Delete
    2. Azed, paraphrasing Ximines:
      A good cryptic clue contains three elements:
      1. a precise definition
      2. a fair subsidiary indication
      3. nothing else

      One can conclude that 12A is not a good cryptic clue.

      Delete
  9. 4AC VECTOR – {V(- i + E)CTOR} (powerful??) AIM – Definition
    Winner=Victor concedes point essentially to get E(nergy), i.e replace I with E thus Victor
    becomes VECTOR (Aim)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In this clue middle letter is referred to as "essentially". Is there any rule to this or basically and essentially are interchangeable

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    2. There is a list of standard indicators for such an operation (middle-letter selection) which can be found at http://www.clueclinic.com/index.php/letter-selection-indicators/

      Thanks to Dr. X for sharing this wonderful resource on the blog some days ago.

      Delete
    3. Long story short, if I were to set a grid, i would not use basically as used here.
      Ambivalence should be left for competitions.

      Delete
    4. Thanks! When it happens in the same grid it looks odd

      Delete
  10. Today's crossword was a frustrating exercise, not because of its difficulty but rather because the setter and the publisher had left avoidable extra work on the part of the solvers to infer the setter's intended meanings.

    I counted one fine clue: 14D NUISANCES ("Bores gits regularly going into little details?"), although the question-mark at the end was not needed.

    Apart from those redundant words discussed above by Col. and other commenters, I spotted "to" in 1A as an avoidable link word. The clue could have been rephrased to "Addresses top Nazi bodyguards going around". Similarly, "like" in 15A was neither part of definition nor wordplay. It seems it was just a link word.

    Many of the clues had garden-path surface readings (ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence). A good cryptic clue will have a definition, fair wordplay and nothing else. Having good surface readings for the clues makes solving an enjoyable experience, as solvers will be reading the clues and thinking about them multiple times to parse the cryptic reading. Having word-salad surface-readings for clues that are ungrammatical, using unnatural English and chock-full of modifiers makes solving the crossword an annoying experience. The majority of the clues from today's grid fell into this category.

    The setter had tried to salvage many surface readings by linking them with elipses. These created even more convoluted run-on clauses all looking for a full-stop like a traffic-jam on Mount Road inching towards the signal light! After completing the grid, I had the sense that I must cleanse my mind lest I forget how to produce thoughts in proper English.

    Words ought to be "ploughed" as much as healthy plants in a garden ought to be ploughed - that is to say never! The word "wordplay" implies something done for enjoyment. "WrdPlougher" has set another grid with the effect of making puzzle-solving an exercise in trudging through the incoherent detritus of a place that has been uprooted by the storm of his pen.

    ReplyDelete
  11. 'Nancy' was a "bad misdirection" for a "useless" 'guy' in a gymnasium.
    'Alternatively' negligible 'errors' , 'perhaps', can do "double duty".
    😁

    ReplyDelete

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