1 - But this swimmer is not a member of the fencing school (9) - SWORDFISH [CD]
9 - Loamy deposit confused Leo on a steamer (5) - {LOE*}{SS}
10 - Taste before accepting favoured fruit (9) - {TANG}{ER{IN}E}
12 - Levantine and South American table land (4) - {ME}{SA}
15 - A medical specialist can put drive into a boy (7) - {S{URGE}ON}
17 - Being ever youthful, get a leg up in choppy seas (7) - {A{GEL<-}ESS*}
19 - Fired for dieting incorrectly (7) - IGNITED*
20 - Some write on it, some provide sketches (4) - DESK [T]
22 - Pretty poor linesmen? (10) - POETASTERS [CD] Another reason for hating CD's. New word for me had to cheat on this.
25 - Hound a member of a socialist clique (3,6) - {RED} {SETTER}
27 - Footsie generally included investment (5) - SIEGE [T]
28 - Let enamel designs be basic (9) - ELEMENTAL*
DOWN
1 - Failing orals, being affected by sun (5) - SOLAR*
2 - Worker having force (9) - OPERATIVE [DD]
3 - Worried after a visit to the hairdresser? (10) - DISTRESSED [CD]
4 - No intern used to modulate voice (7) - {INT{O}NER}*
5 - Wall hooks used to suspend short swords (7) - HANGERS [DD]
7 - Finding limes provided, look pleased (5) - SMILE*
8 - Operated on by head surgeon? (9) - TREPANNED [CD]
13 - Stringendo variation provides a sharper edge (10) - GRINDSTONE*
14 - Definite levels of excellence aim to be achieved in school classes (9) - STANDARDS [DD]
16 - Not a middleman! (9) - EXTREMIST [CD]
18 - A small person could be so called (7) - SHORTIE [CD]
19 - Confine terrorist to prescribed area (7) - INTERNE ?
21 - Plant on the south border (5) - {S}{EDGE}
24 - Just a lake (4) - MERE [DD]
It was unfair to expect us to arrive at a not so common word like POETASTER without even a wordplay.
ReplyDeleteInterne (v) : To confine, especially in wartime. is probably another bad CD.
During wartime enemies are interned and not terrorists, I wonder if Manna knows that!!
ReplyDeleteThe CW has more than one SWORDS in 1a and 5d. The grindstone for sharpening reminded me of the old song:
ReplyDeleteThere's a Hole in My Bucket
Kishore,
ReplyDeleteYou forgot the Scissor from 14A which can be used to cut the straw to mend the hole in your bucket!
The hole in the bucket reminded me of the Old lady who swallowed a fly. Watch it AT THIS LINK
ReplyDeleteDeepak. Wonder how you cheated to get POETASTERS. Cheating also did not work for me. Again it is not a CD but a terrible E
ReplyDeleteTrepanned also got me
While we are talking about a hole in a bucket,Manna is writing about a hole in the head?(8d)!
ReplyDeleteSuresh @ 9:22
ReplyDeleteBy cheating I meant using a word pattern search
Any literature student would not have problem with the word 'poetaster'. I know this word from my college days.
ReplyDeleteAs for cheating, the dB of word pattern search software may not have plurals in it. So, where a required word is in plural form, omitting the last -s and trying for the word pattern may fetch a result.
Have you read James Hadley Chases's A Hole in the Head?
ReplyDeleteI think POETASTER is an really good clue. Surely not an E type, there is a pun on "linesmen".
ReplyDelete...but I might not have said so if I didn't know the word.
In crosswords 'lines' can mean 'poetry' or what we in India call 'imposition' that is suffered by schoolchildren.
ReplyDeleteDeepak @ 9:42 I meant the same and I did it in singular as well. Maybe I use a different site
ReplyDeleteCV @ 9:44
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately CW's are not restricted to literature students.
Shuchi, You are right on POETASTER being a CD. But then English Literature was never my strong subject
ReplyDeleteDeepak 905: I was pondering on scissors, but finally did not put it in as I was not sure what was up. I, not being a literature student, missed out on POETASTER too. Sounds like somebody who sampled Edgan Allen.
ReplyDeleteCV: I think you have an extra s in the Chase name :-) He was a very popular author in the seventies, but today hardly any of the younger crowd read him, I think, though Christie, Gardner, Doyle seem to have endured.
Sorry, Kishore.
ReplyDeleteHad I noticed it I would have amended it (in the event giving some work to Deepak in eliminating the detritus) but I am writing these Comments in the midst of a lot of work, what with visitors at home and an upcoming event.
In the past decades I have read more than 50 Chase novels: used to read one as soon as it hit the stands, with a pinoeering book-lending business very near my home.
Is there any market for books printed in the 1930s?
ReplyDeleteI have some four or five.
hi
ReplyDeletea good one. can someone tell me annos of 10a and 12 a. i am not too sure. Trepanned, poetaster,interne all new words for me.
as colonel said i am a commerce graduate and learning new words in this forum day in and day out.
Thanks to CV sir, Bhavan, Sandhya p, Kishore, and Suresh and all...whats Hari doing now a days no peeping in..
happy week ahead
mathu
Mathu @ 10:29
ReplyDelete10A
Taste = TANG
before = ERE
accepting = encircling indicator
favoured = IN
fruit = Definition = {TANG}{ER{IN}E}
12A
Levantine = Middle East = ME
and
South American = SA
table land = Definition = {ME}{SA}
Sounds like emergency law on table land (4)
ReplyDeleteGood morning, 14A any annos for it ?
ReplyDeleteCouldn't solve today's puzzle. However really curious to know what the anno for 14A is.
ReplyDeleteAnyone's seen Johnny Gaddaar? A nice thriller. The film-maker dedicates it to James Hadley Chase in the opening credits. The film also has a telling shot of the hero reading a Chase novel.
ReplyDeleteYes,i also enjoyed the movie Johnny Gaddar, slickly made, after seeing it was wondering if it was a copy of an English movie.
ReplyDeleteContinuing our date with dates, today is 22112010.
ReplyDelete2211-2010=201 which is 10% (of 2010) which is the last two digits of 2010 ie 2211/2010 = 1.1 which is the same as 22/20 the first two digits of the numerator/denominator or 11/10 the last two digits numerator/denominator
I refer to the INEDIBLE dates ...
ReplyDelete@Shuchi
ReplyDeleteI have indeed read the Chase thriller that the hero in the Hindi film is holding. But the copy from a previous print run had a simpler cover.
14 - Make a path using shear, to cut across quarter building (7) - SCISSOR Anno pending
ReplyDelete{S}{C{I}SSOR} ?
S: Shear
CSSOR: (-a)CROSS* [cut across]
I: 1/one-fourth/a quarter
(building - anagram indicator)
Sujatha, the famed Tamil writer whose oeuvre covered so many genres (historical novel, social novel, column, sci-fi,detective novel, poetry, etc) has also written some thriller a la Chase. One title I remember is 'Megaththai thuraththinavan'
ReplyDelete(read my review
http://www.hindu.com/br/2007/04/17/stories/2007041700111500.htm )
but there is also another that I enjoyed better than this but I can't immediately recall its title.
What does CD and DD mean? I am new to crosswords.
ReplyDelete@Benkiman:
ReplyDeleteCD - cryptic definition
DD - double definition
Didn't fare well today.
ReplyDeleteWhere did the extra N go in 4D?
SandhyaP@16:14, I don't get the "I - one-fourth" connection. Would you care to elaborate? (If anything, assuming yours as the correct anno, one-third would have been better since 'I' is the third letter of the final word. :-) )
Benkiman, there is a legend available on the left-hand side of the page, in case you're wondering about other symbols as well.
@Navneeth: I was just giving it a go - despite knowing 1 is not = one quarter :((
ReplyDeleteI wish, like some of the other setters, Manna would appear on the blog to explain such tricky annos.
@ Navneeth 22:27 - I believe NO => zero as in the letter 'O' + 'INTERN' giving INTONER.
ReplyDelete@ Mathu 10:29 - Not having as much time at my disposal. So I peep in late in the evening, when others have usually finished looking into the day's blog. :(
Thanks, Hari.
ReplyDelete