Thursday 28 May 2009

No 9544, Thursday, 28 May 09, M Manna

I think Mr Manna has totally lost it today, there is no point in making any comments as I am totally clueless on some of the answers that I have got and 18A seems an impossible answer to me.
ACROSS
1 - Survive in first? (7) - OUTLAST [CD] ?
5 - A little manual work (7) - BOOKLET [CD] ?
9 - Opinion of English into Spanish wine (5) - TEN{E}T
10 - Fighting with energy, but having difficulty (2,1,6) - IN A SCRAPE ?
11 - Riddle solved in game (6) - ENIGMA*
12 - Sent off with rage having alienated friendship (8) - ESTRANGE*
14 - They ate, say, usually at a prescribed time (5) - EIGHT (~ate)
15 - Wandered, preferring the Middle East to the West (9) - (-w+me)MEANDERED
18 - Ticket collectors’ nemesis (5,4) - (Addendum - METER MAID [CD] see comments below)
20 - Flying at speed of sound (5) - SONIC [CD] ?
22 - For female deer in greatest number, take farthest back (8) - {HIND}{MOST}
24 - Met with acceptance (6) - PASSED [DD] ?
26 - Agreement on tailless aircraft at last (9) - CONCORD(-e)AT
27 - You may find him on the lane leading to lake (5) - AL{L}EN* ?
28 - Appear more impertinent for dope to rise stupidly (7) - S{ASS}IER*
29 - Leader takes time off to pedal (7) - {T}READLE*
DOWN
1 - Getting warm place for gymnastic exercises (2,3,4) ON THE BEAM
2 - Two quintets praise his conquest of Everest (7) - {TEN}{SING} ? Should have been TENZING
3 - It provides in-flight reading matter (9) - ALTIMETER [CD] Manna has totally lost it here!!
4 - Make an accuracy slip (4) - TRIP [CD] ?
5 - Money belts for musicians (5,5) - BRASS BANDS [CD]
6 - Happen to fall on the same day (5) - OCCUR ?
7 - Right to be around the French as a beginner, to gain skill (7) - {L{EARN}E}{R} ?
8 - Egotists’ subject (5) - {THE}{ME} The only good clue in today's CW
13 - As a diplomat he appears in capital form (10) - AMBASSADOR ?
16 - Quite dissimilar pairs getting involved in rendezvous (9) - D{ISPAR*}ATE
17 - The decline of exotic rhythm (9) - DECADENCE [CD]
19 - Numbered insects hold possession (7) - {TEN}{ANTS}
21 - Settled comfortably (7) - NESTLED [CD]
22 - Gains unauthorised access to other computers (5) - HACKS [CD]
23 - I roam to return as member of New Zealand’s aboriginal people (5) - MAORI
25 - Restore after making for deletion (4) - STET [CD] That should have been marking and not making seems to be a typo

5 comments:

  1. 18 - Ticket collectors’ nemesis (5,4) - METER MAID

    3dn has all the hallmarks of becoming a "classic" example of 'how to lose it in clue construction!'

    Thankfully I've been spared the torture as I'm deluged with work before leaving on a long work trip starting Friday ......

    ReplyDelete
  2. 6 - Happen to fall on the same day (5) - OCCUR ?

    A festival FALLS on a particular day, it also OCCURS on that day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry. I missed adding. Festival also happens on that day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. happen = fall = OCCUR, when read with "on the same day" - so far so good.

    But how does the clue work? Is it a DD or a CD? Doesn't seem OK however we parse it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 6ac is a poorly written clue over which we must not sweat at all.
    I am writing a comment on this xwd in my blog
    http://dailydozen.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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