Monday 20 April 2009

No 9511, Monday, 20 Apr 09, M. Manna

What a terrible way to kick off a Monday morning, I don't feel like commenting about the clues of today's crossword, so I am leaving it at that.
ACROSS
1 - In support of motorised farming apparently, albeit muscular too (10) - {PRO}{TRACTOR}
6 - Boy goes out for a contest (4) - {B}{OUT}
9 - Craftsman who developed a strain (7) - ARTISAN*
10 - Daughter is still to arrange the flow gently, in drops (7) - {D}I{STILL} I am not convinced about this clue
12 - Splendour of ancient city (8) - GRANDEUR [CD] Again not convinced by the clue
13 - British den made out for former PM (5) - {B}{LAIR}
15 - Many hope about time fixed is for a great event (5) - EPO{C}H*
17 - Blast! Mother has people coming (9) - {DAM}{NATION}
19 - Rulers needing a spell of bowling at a famous cricket ground (9) - {OVER}{LORDS} Rulers or rules?
21 - They make up a large base of alcohol (5) - {ETHY*}{L}
23 - Draw about a hundred in cash (5) - LU{C}RE
24 - In surroundings of stress I had a crash (8) - ACC{ID}ENT
27 - Profile of Conservative leader visiting constituencies? (7) - C?U?T?R ? The only thing I could fit in here was COUNTOR this appears to be a mistake by the setter I think he intended {C}{ON}{TOUR} which is a profile or else my answers at 16D and 20D are wrong which is unlikely
28 - Stalemate produced by admission of obsolescence (7) - {IM}{PASSE}
29 - Separate structure for storing (4) - SHED [CD]
30 - Repeatedly went over a tree — tries to shape it (10) - REITERATED* Where did the D come from and where did the S go?
DOWN
1 - Scheme to accomplish a purpose (4) - PLAN [DD]
2 - Lake province (7) - ONTARIO [DD]
3 - Pine extract engineer found over the wilderness (5) - {RE}SIN Sin - wilderness ?
4 - Study an offer made by a competitor (9) - {CON}{TENDER}
5 - Make regular request (5)- ORDER [DD]
7 - Folding sheets, Japanese fashion (7) - ORIGAMI [CD]
8 - Patiently allot entry form (10) - TOLERANTLY*
11 - Deny a new table for us (7) - SUBLATE*
14 - Calls to mind soldiers’ prayers (10)- RECOLLECTS Why soldier's prayer?
16 - Most perfect in a moral sense (7) - HOLIEST [CD]
18 - Willing sufferer the scholar — to his cost maybe (9)- {MA}{SOCHIST*}
20 - Shut out crazy old English duel (7) - {EX}C{LUDE*}
22 - Mobile device not attached to fixed holder (7) - HANDSET [CD]
24 - Eager to get on together (5) - AGREE*
25 - Disguised as quite pure — to trick others (5) - {D}{UPER}
26 - The French nowadays show the way by going first (4) - {LE}{AD}

3 comments:

  1. Hello Col,

    I think some of it can be explained.

    19A: Overlords can be both a verb and a noun. e.g. Bill Gates and Larry Ellison are the overlords of the IT industry.

    3D: There is a geographical area called Wilderness of Sin. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilderness_of_Sin

    14D: soldier = RE (royal engineer), and "collect" is also a kind of prayer.

    For 9A, I entered SINATRA on first pass taking it to be an &lit.

    Many other complaints, like 6A has a misleading 'goes' and 25D does not agree in part of speech...then again, 24A is pretty nice. I sometimes conjecture that *dons Sherlock Holmes hat* M.Manna is actually two compilers - one of whom is not as good as the other :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Shuchi,
    Regarding Mr Manna I liked Chaturvasi's quote on Anokha's blog which was
    Quoute "To be more generous, perhaps the clues are written by a novice,a relative or friend of the composer who is very busy with multifarious tasks.
    The composer then looks at it and revises some clues here and there which turn out to be brilliant but where the master's touch was not bestowed, the clues remain on shaky legs." Unquote
    I think that says it all

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the quote Colonel. Glad to know that Chaturvasi holds a similar opinion.

    ReplyDelete

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