Monday, 4 September 2023

No 13961, Monday 04 Sep 2023, Arden

Off on an early morning drive to Trivandrum as such leaving it to all of you to complete the Crossword today.

Each commenter is requested to post only 5 answers thereby giving others also a chance to participate. Please provide all your answers in one comment.

Thanks for the response, here's the regular blog.

ACROSS
9   Firm as a coastal city in India is tense (7) ADAMANT {A}{DAMAN}{T}
10 Cancer may develop around a dark spot that's come up (7) MYELOMA {MAY}* over {MOLE<=}
11 Harry Fordone is ruined (4,3) DONE FOR*
12 Can cast ballot by an unknown entity? (7) TALLBOY {BALLOT*}{Y}
13 Benevolent customer with unmarried girl in Irish county (9) TIPPERARY {TIPPER}{mARY}
15 Increased generally - being in a kind of rush (5) SEDGE [T]
16 Friend accepts Rosa's fancy sunshade (7) PARASOL {PA{ROSA*}L}
19 Best tiger, head and tail like another cat (7) TROUNCE {TigeR}{OUNCE}
20 Second choice is hogwash (5) SWILL {S}{WILL}
21 Girl had a name, returned to the game (9) BAGATELLE {B{A}{TAG<=}ELLE}
25 Paper work for an ex-president, one will catch up (7) IKEBANA  {IKE} and {A}{NAB}<= Paper work?
26 Craving for booze after half a decade (7) LUSTRUM {LUST}{RUM}
28 Foreign corporations leaving parts of river (7) ORINOCO CORpOratIONs*
29 Rising a point? Rise (7) NASCENT {N}{ASCENT}

DOWN
1   ...also, to enter, a little tough (6) BANDIT {B{AND}IT}
2   Tom cut the top off the plant (6) CATNIP {CAT}{sNIP}
3   Starts coming aleft foot is a little lower (4) CALF Acrostic
4   Like soaring to pick bird bones (6) STERNA {AS<=} over {TERN}
5   Stone mats they spread (8) AMETHYST*
6   Terrible place, no pets to play with in Dardanelles strait (10) HELLESPONT {HELL}{NO+PETS}*
7   I need to swap job with him in the White House (3,5) JOE BIDEN {I+NEED+JOB}*
8   Jagged edge bordering perhaps many a moon (8) GANYMEDE {EDGE}* over {MANY}*
14 Rolled over Dallas country (2,8) EL SALVADOR*
16 Sit before I dress for God (8) POSEIDON {POSE}{I}{DON}
17 Stopped one in Germany entering fancy diner (6,2) REINED IN {R{EIN}EDIN*}
18 No pets allowed in plasterboard - change that to pet (8) LABRADOR pLAsteRBOARD*
22 Strong wind, one blowing from south gives you lead (6) GALENA {GALE}{AN<=}
23 Part of cellarde rigueur in the kitchen (6) LARDER [T]
24 Conflict as men become sex crazy finally (6) ENMITY {MEN*}{IT}{c..zY}
27 Old Bob Wood's band (4) SASH {S}{ASH}

Reference List
Tense = T, Unknown entity = Y, Married = M, Second = S, Point = N, One in German = EIN, Sex = IT, Old Bob = SHILLING = S



59 comments:

  1. 3d.CALF..ACROSTIC
    14d. EL SALVADOR..(OVER DALLAS)*
    16ac.PARASOL..Friend..PA(ROSA)*L
    18ac. LABRADOR..Plasterboard*
    without Pets
    23d. LARDER ..telescopic

    ReplyDelete
  2. 10A- Myeloma- cancer
    My(elom=<)a
    Dark spot that has come up= Mole=<
    May develop= Mya
    13A- Tipperary- Irish county
    Benevolent customer= Tipper
    Unmarried girl=Mary- M
    15A- Sedge- kind of rush- T
    increaSED GEnerally

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 13A- I would have preferred an indication that the girl is a proper name. Otherwise we tend to look for synonyms of girl.

      Delete
    2. Virgin mary as "unmarried girl", unique to crosswords.

      Delete
  3. 16a - {PA(RASO*)L}
    Friend - PAL
    anag. of Rosa

    29A - (N)(ASCENT)
    Point-N
    Rise - ASCENT

    23D - LARDER [T]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 12a - (TALLBO)*Y)
      unknown - Y over Ballot*
      11a - DONE FOR* - anag, of FORD ONE

      Delete
  4. 16A- Parasol- Sunshade
    Pa(raso)l
    friend= Pal, (Risa)*
    21A- Bagatelle- Game
    B(A Tag)Elle
    A name= A tag

    ReplyDelete
  5. 3d. Calf (starts coming -cab, af )

    ReplyDelete
  6. 16d۔ Poseidon [ sit - pose; I don]
    6d. Hellespont ( terrible place - hell, no pets anagram)
    7d. Joe Biden ( I need job anagram).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please mention definitions also along with wordplay.

      Delete
  7. 1d (B(AND)IT) = tough; a little => bit; also = and

    2d CATNIP = a plant; Tom => cat; cut the top off => nip

    4d STERNA = bones;

    ReplyDelete
  8. 4d (S(TERN)A)= bones; Like = As, soaring => reversal; Tern = bird.

    17d (R(EIN)ED IN) = stopped; Ein = one in German; inside jumbled 'diner'

    ReplyDelete
  9. 28 ac orinoco- corporations-parts*
    26 ac lustrum-half decade.
    lust+rum.
    25 ac ikebana.ex president -ike ban< a
    20 ac swill s +will-choice
    9 ac adamant-firm. a+daman+t.
    daman-coastal city

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 25A- Solution is right,but clue is not. Ikebana is flower arrangement and not paperwork as mentioned in the clue. Confusion with origami (paperwork)

      Delete
  10. 8d (G(ANYM)EDE) = moon; jumbled 'edge' around jumbled 'many'

    ReplyDelete
  11. Replies
    1. tallboy is a piece of furniture- nothing to do with can ( supposedly the def.)

      Delete
    2. tallboy is also a can of large capacity to hold beer drink etc.

      Delete
    3. https://dictionary.englishtest.info/browse/tallboy

      Delete
    4. Quite common to find tallboy cans of beer in US liquor stores.

      Delete
  12. 22D GALENA; gives you lead; GALE AN<=

    ReplyDelete
  13. 24a ENMITY: conflict
    Enm:Men* (it: sex) (y: crazy finally)

    ReplyDelete
  14. 27d SASH (S)(ASH)
    S = Shilling (Abbreviation S for old bob)
    Wood = Ash
    Definition: Band

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correction : Abbreviation S for Shilling also known as old bob

      Delete
  15. Col., keep travelling!! We also get our Fridays 😊

    ReplyDelete
  16. It happens. Obviously not able to log in and post comments.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Only 7D left.
    I need to swap job
    with him in the White House - JOE BIDEN
    (I need*)(job*)
    to swap... with - anagrind

    ReplyDelete
  18. But why, why?
    make a small cut (one cell) and the grid roles into 4 linear wee-grids.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I personally solved the grid as 4 quarters! Such poorly connected grids can probably be used as practice for any would-be IXL finalists to solve clue-by-clue rather than gridwise.

      Delete
  19. It was an easier puzzle than usual from Arden. There were some smoothly constructed clues, for example "can cast ballot" as [definition][anagrind][anagram fodder] in 12A. Similarly, 28A was nicely done with "foreign corporations" as [anagrind][anagram fodder]. Unmarried girl for (-m)ARY in 13A was brilliant. 4D and 1D were tightly-clued charades. There were even some easy-to-spot anagrams like 5D. 24A had an unusually tongue-in-cheek surface for Arden.

    SEDGE in 15A required some googling for verification as I am comparatively illiterate in botanical matters. OUNCE as a feline in 19A was a new usage for me. Re: 20A I have seen "hogwash" used to imply nonsense, but apparently SWILL means literally "kitchen refuse and scraps of waste food mixed with water for feeding to pigs."

    BAGATELLE in 21A was also new to me. Having googled it, it looks like a sort of older version of pinball. IKE (Dwight Eisenhower) as "old president" in 25A was interesting, although the definition "paper work" for IKEBANA was incorrect. LUSTRUM was an unusual latin word in 26A with a superb wordplay of "craving for booze". However the word "after" as the link between wordplay and definition felt out of place. Other unusual words encountered were HELLESPONT and GANYMEDE.

    The clue for 2D would have worked even after deleting "the top off". 3D CALF as an acrostic seemed to have "foot" doing double duty as provider of F for the solution and also being part of the cryptic definition "foot is a little lower". 7D was unusual, with an arrangement of [anagram fodder 1][anagrind][anagram fodder 2] ("I need to change job"). 23D had the "[wordplay] in [definition]" format which I personally like to avoid.

    Some interesting names in the puzzle (not mentioned above) were CATNIP, STERNA, AMETHYST, JOE BIDEN, TIPPERARY, ORINOCO, LABRADOR and GALENA.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wishing Col. a safe journey to Trivandrum and back.

      Delete
    2. 23D- 'in the kitchen' is the def.

      Delete
    3. Re: 23D you are correct Paddy. Thanks. "in" is part of the definition and not a link word.

      Re: 2D. Tom cut the top off the plant (6)
      Tom = CAT
      Cut = NIP
      Plant (Def) = CATNIP
      "the top of the" feels extraneous.

      Delete
    4. Paddy @ 2d 14:07
      Cut = SNIP (the top off Nip)

      Delete
    5. MB, I was just replying to Economizer who said 'top off' was not needed.

      Delete
    6. @MB makes sense when you put it that way.

      Delete
    7. Econ look closer at 3d! No double duty.

      Delete
    8. Nice spot. Low is a synonym of moo. So little lower(cow) is calf. 👍

      Delete
    9. Incredible! My doubts have been cowed.

      Delete
    10. Expected Econ to put it up. Anyays....
      11d ford one /for d one/done for. Not much of a cryptic. Is it?

      Delete
    11. Technically cryptic though not very difficult to solve.

      Delete
  20. Arden's puzzles have excellent surfaces. I liked 19A: TROUNCE in particular. 25A was an uncharacteristic error.

    ReplyDelete

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