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| 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.
Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.
ACROSS
1 Movie direction — teams are conservative... (4,4,5) WEST SIDE STORY {WEST}{SIDES}{TORY}
10 ...plus protecting top secret code (5) MORSE {MOR{Se...t}E}
11 Pancake reduces figure (4,5) DROP SCONE {DROPS}{CONE}
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13 Leaders asking votes — again in limited use (5) AVAIL Acrostic
14 Crazy having to criticize — they aren't hiding anything (7) NUDISTS {NU{DIS}TS}
16 Perhaps I must involve private banks to get momentum (7) IMPETUS {I+MUST}* over {Pr...tE}
18 Bank is back in terminal (7) DEPOSIT {DEPO{IS<=}T}
20 Shape tetragonal, not missing? Yes, missing (2,5) AT LARGE TEtRAGonAL*
22 Feeling, hearing animal noises made (5) MOOED (~mood)
24 Soldiers try and try again (9) REATTEMPT {RE}{ATTEMPT}
26 Indian role in China providing knowledge (9) IMPARTING {I}{M{PART}ING}
27 Ex-PM heard the blast (5) BLARE (~blair)
DOWN
2 Cross? See red finally (7) E?R?G?D (Addendum - ENRAGED {EN{RAGE}D} - See comments))
3 See artist working on monographs (9) TREATISES*
4 After one, another one becomes part of a political group in the country (5) INDIA {1}{ND{1}A}
6 Inventor least bothered (5) TESLA*
7 Warning about winding tract around the moon (4,3) RIOT ACT {TRACT}* over {IO}
8 Grand party by the sea — the government has the power to expropriate private property for public use (7,6) EMINENT DOMAIN {EMINENT}{DO}{MAIN}
9 Let best seller become beautiful literary work (6,7) BELLES LETTRES*
19 Is it correct to circle the pole to succeed? (7) PROSPER {PRO{S}PER}
21 Bit of butter on top for security (7) RAMPART {PART}<=>{RAM}
23 Scientist's vehicle papers held up (5) DIRAC {CAR}{ID}<=
25 Fish comes between tangled lines (5) ANGLE [T]
Reference List
Criticize = DIS, Soldiers = RE(Royal Engineers), Party = DO, Papers = ID
Thank you. Arden Enjoyed doing the puzzle
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteAnother Arden special with his own pet Latin phrases!! His eminent domain?
ReplyDelete.....given Pro bono to us.
ReplyDeleteCross ? Indicating anger anagram (enrag) with see red finally (ed) meaning cross ?
ReplyDeleteThat's indirect anagram. No no.
DeleteRelook
I was grasping at straws here:-(
DeleteLook at Ardenisms employed before.
DeleteFinally.....in the ***
DeleteEN(RAGE)D?
DeleteIn 7D, how come IO = Moon? Maybe O can be considered symbolic of a full moon. What about I?
ReplyDeleteGK. Look at Moons of astral bodies.
DeleteIo - Jupiter's satellite or moon
DeleteThank you DNM Rao.
Delete17D China to PAL ?
ReplyDeletePal = Mate, which in Cockney rhyming slang is "china plate", which gets shortened to China.
DeleteFor more such slang, you can enjoy the following scene from an Austin Powers film, in which the father and son speak "English English" so that Americans around them will not understand: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIaiW1XrzxA
China= Pal? Oft repeated question! See Col.'s link.
ReplyDeleteLink leads us to mate (=Pal)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteAnno?
DeleteNice artwork Prasanna.
ReplyDelete+3
DeleteWell done, Prasanna.
Delete+1
ReplyDelete+2
ReplyDelete+4
ReplyDelete+5
Delete+6
Delete2Dn ENRAGED - {EN{RAGE}D}
ReplyDeleteSee red - Rage, Finally in the end. Enraged - Cross
DeleteIf so, what is the containment indicator?
DeleteFinally = In the end.
DeleteDo you get it now?
I get it, but it is too indirect to be a fair clue. Both the containment indicator and the container fodder are packed into a charade.
Deletein the end- is what Prasad referred to as Ardenism!
DeleteDoesn't the "root word" problem apply to this clue - in which the setter uses a charade to denote a solution with the same word root (in this case RAGE -> ENRAGED), making it a weak cryptic clue? Ref: https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2009/10/why-bengal-i-doesn-fly.html
DeleteSimilarly, the root word problem applies to 24A REATTEMPT = RE + ATTEMPT. Quite like the "BENGALI = BENGAL + I" example given in Shuchi's blog.
Delete+1 for both. But reattempt, for an Arden clue, is actually not on imho.
DeleteWhile it was overall a satisfying crossword, it cannot be counted among Arden's best. Some interesting words were ESOTERICA (of Greek origin) BELLES LETTRES (of French origin), while TESLA, DIRAC, MORSE and TRACE ELEMENTS were some scientific terms that were included.
ReplyDelete1A {WEST}{SIDE S}{TORY} and 11A {DROPS}{CONE} were rather good charades, breaking across the word boundaries. 14A {NU{DIS}TS}, 18A {DEPO{SI<=}T} and 19D {SA{TURN IN}{E} were entertaining. 28A TRACE ELEMENTS was a very tough anagram, for which the number of possibilities was very large even with a few crossings. To make the clue even harder, the definition was also very cryptic.
26A {I}{M{PART}ING} was a tough charade, though one wonders whether "China" is precise enough a definition for MING, and even whether "what can be eaten" is a suitable definition for PALATABLE (which means "pleasant to taste"). On the other hand, China = PAL in 17D {PAL}{A}{TABLE} was a superbly executed charade. A better solution for "what can be eaten" would be EDIBLE, which is not the same as PALATABLE.
In 15A, "leaders" are seen "asking votes", which is grammatically incorrect (a grammatically correct usage would be either "asking for votes" or "asking votes [as object] to...[verb]"). In 15A, while the surface is grammatically correct, in the cryptic sense the anagram (I must)* is "involving" PE (private banks) - a case in which the surface grammar is correct but the cryptic grammar is not.
Similarly, in 22A, the cryptic reading should be asking the solver to be "hearing feeling" as opposed to the other way around - I don't think inserting a HP indicator willy-nilly without considering grammar makes a good clue. At the very least, the clue could have been phrased "Feeling heard; animal noises made" which would have been a grammatically correct, if fragmented sentence in both the surface and cryptic readings.
9D BELLES LETTRES is defined in NAOED as a plural noun. However, the definition provided in the clue ("beautiful literary work") is in the singular.
In 25D ANGLE, the word "lines" seemed redundant. Similarly, "is it" seemed to be purely superficial in 19D PROSPER.
25D- ....between tangled what? What will the surface convey? Your point is always to drop a word or two (redundancy/ economising) to compress the clue to just cryptically correct reading. That does not read like a complete clue. Agreed clue should not be long, but not at the cost of surface reading. I don't agree with you there. All of us like Dr.X clues, which stand out with excellent (and mostly humorous) surfaces. It's enjoyable when the cryptic part is nicely embedded/ concealed in an interesting surface.
DeleteLetters may be plural, but 'Belle's letters' is a category/ type of writing. Col.'s link says it is , of French origin, meaning 'beautiful or fine writing'. How can it be called plural?
DeleteWhen I suggest dropping a word, as with 25D above, it is usually with the implicit recommendation to rewrite the clue itself. For instance, "Fish in pan gleams" or something else altogether.
DeleteIt's never my intent to suggest that a clue be published without a good surface reading. I'd rather have a polished surface (in addition to a cryptically correct reading) than a nice surface with some loose ends hanging around.
Re: Belle's Lettres, the NAOED defines it as a plural noun.
DeleteRelook. Hint:bisleri!!!!
Delete@paddy. I recall this hidden clue discussion and bhavans razor sharp comments (will dig up from past if time permits).
DeleteIt's definetly not kosher to use between and then keep it all in one word.
@Prasad, I see now. I take it back. It is also defined as a singular noun.
Deletebelles-lettres | ĖbelĖletrÉ |
plural noun [also treated as singular]
Have to be mindful of uncountable nouns which also can be countable.
DeleteBelles letters themselves can be individually many, but as a class of literary world:singular.
Same with work. Literary work could be singular or plural depending on what you are counting.
"In 25D ANGLE, the word "lines" seemed redundant. " is what you had said.
DeleteIt implies that, "Fish comes between tangled" is alright.
It never meant that the clue as a whole must be rewritten.
I shall be clearer in my comments.
DeleteHats off to you dear esteemed Economizer for your interesting observations & also for not being 'economical' in your candid comments.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I did relish this morning attempting today's grid. Cheers!!!
Thank you. My pseudonym is meant to be partially ironic. I do economise on some counts. When making an argument, I prefer to be thorough.
DeleteWell said!!!
Delete@ Prasad- I get your point. It must be hidden between AT LEAST 2 words, not within a single word. I remember Bhavan's comments now.
ReplyDeleteHow about this clue, from IXL 2023 Round 1:
DeleteThe United States typically gets cranky (5) TESTY [Hidden/Telescopic]
The setter seems to rely on the technicality that "The United States" as a whole is a single entity, rather than 3 words with only the last one counting for the annotation.
You can actually read the United to mean (states-typically)!!!
DeleteI see your point and agree. How about "gets" - is that a good telescopic indicator?
Delete