Wednesday 27 January 2010

N 9750, Wednesday 27 Jan 10, Nita Jaggi

Bye-bye NJ
ACROSS
1 - Attack when as old king is a bit terrified (7) - {AS}{SAUL}{T}
5 - Shocked leader on the street (6) - {AGHA}{ST}
10 - Faith in a syndicate is when engineers take the place of Alan (8) - (-al+re){RELIANCE}
11 - Access a website (6) - PORTAL [DD]
13 - Particle is mostly hidden in the potato (4) - {I(-s)}{OTA}
14 - Realtors go to the wrong figure-caster (10) - ASTROLOGER*
16 - First to monitor now, the bovine kind of disease (3,3) - {M}{AD} {COW}
18 - Yen is acceptable, oh! for the regular oatmeal in the city (8) - {Y}{OK}{OH}{A}{M}{A}
21 - Have a value placed on the tip off a container by an expert (8) - {RATE(-d)}{ABLE} Anno doubtful
22 - Angry athlete will not note the effect of the plant (6) - ALTHEA(-e)* (Correction ALTHEA(-te+a) Don't know how A and EFFECT are related)

25 - More colourful vessel then transported in Uttar Pradesh (8,2) - {BRIG}{HTEN*} {UP}
27 - Barbie may be an example of this! (4) - DOLL [CD]

30 - Handles the party celebrations (6) - TREATS [DD]
31 - Earmark everything around for the bird lover in the East (8) - {ALL}{O}{CAT}{E}
32 - Accept the TV with the regular style of an Asian (6) - {SET}{T}{L}{E}
33 - Take-over in their position (7) - INHERIT*
DOWN
2 - Decisions that may be made with the blink of an eye (5) - SPLIT [CD]
3 - Boy is accepted by the French name (4) - {A}{LA}{N} NJ's french is improving
4 - See the cuts formed in the wood (6) - {LO}{CUST*}

6 - Animal sound at midnight is maybe lower lacking energy (5) - {G}{ROWL(-e)*}
7 - One may run around a star for this! (9) - AUTOGRAPH [CD]
8 - Unfinished story has a song about the winged sandals (7) - {TAL(-e)}{ARIA} Had to google search this
9 - Heartlessly set out to resubmit another element (6) - ERBIUM(-st)*
12 - Fix the marriage partner (5) - GROOM [DD]
15 - Artist is ready in the borders of erstwhile Yugoslavia (4) - {GO}{Y}{A}
17 - Somehow terminated out a harmful thing (9) - DETRIMENT(-a)*
19 - Look at the beast when left in the right place (4) - OG(-r+l)LE
20 - Light-footed task force (5) - FLEET [DD]
21 - Allowances for an engineer and a graduate is put up (7) - {RE}{BA}{TES<-} )
23 - Combined everything with one editor (6) - {ALL}{I}{ED}
24 - Completely involved in the foul play covering the line in Norway (4,2) - {FU{L}L O*}{N}
26 - Guesthouse is up-to-date by the sound of the French girl (5) - {HOT}{EL}(~elle)
28 - A large mammal of the giraffe family (5) - OKAPI [E]

29 - Roof is the same on both sides of the mosque (4) - {DO}{M}{E}


15 comments:

  1. Have a value placed on the tip off a container by an expert (8)

    You have indicated "Have" as the def.

    RATEABLE is that which can be rated or assessed, I think. So I am not sure if even "Have a value" is OK as def for word reqd.

    In a clue where the surface reading is poor, what is "placed" on what?

    "the tip off a container" suggests (c)RATE

    "expert" can give ABLE but not "an expert" for in that case 'expert' is clearly a noun. 'Expert' alone maybe a noun in surface reading but also an adjective giving 'able' in wordplay.

    Cluewriting - I mean 'cryptic cluewriting' - is an art and does not come without a sure grip on grammar and idiom of the language.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I did have 'Have a value' as the definition initially, but did not think of (-c)RATE, so I changed it to have.
    so (-c){RATE}{ABLE} it is

    ReplyDelete
  3. 25A - More colourful vessel then transported in Uttar Pradesh (8,2) - BRIGHTEN,UP

    Once again the compiler shows a poor grip on grammar. More is a comparative degree so one would expect the answer to have an "ER" somewhere.

    At least the clue should read "Make more colourful ..."

    ReplyDelete
  4. 22 - Angry athlete will not note the effect of the plant (6) - ALTHEA(-e)*

    How does ATHLETE lose TE and gain an A ?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Bhavan. NJ is making me careless.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Colonel If you were careful with NJ you would not be able to post by 8.30

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  7. Voila Eureka and all that. 'a' in the long list stands for effect. So that completes 22A

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  8. How to write a clue
    Break up a word into two or more components.
    Look up each component in the long list for an equivalent.
    Put a definition without much care about part of speech and add the equivalents.
    Let solvers like Suresh in possession of the long list cry 'Eureka' and 'Voila'.

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Suresh : How does one get hold of such a list ? Search in google for "NJ's imbecile table of absurd equivalents" ?

    ReplyDelete
  10. As a continuation to Chaturvasi's comment 'while other solvers not in possession of the long list, tear out their hair and cry boo-hoo and sob-sob'

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  11. Thanks for the 'compliment'
    Actually I got the list from a link posted on this blog.
    This is available free for research purposes from me. Email me at Dorbala@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Here is a totally different perspective.
    A comment by a solver elsewhere: "I tend not to notice the little points you’ve picked up on. As long as I know what the setter is getting at and he/she knows that I know, that’s all that counts for me!"

    ReplyDelete
  13. That is a neat one Chaturvasi

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  14. On that cheerful note we conclude our debate, With no malice aforethought, everything was in the interests of the wordgame and the language.

    ReplyDelete

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