ACROSS
1 - Court officials? (8) - LINESMEN [E]
5 - Vehicle takes roundabout route to railhead (6) - {TOURE*}{R} TOURER
9 - With short instrument, short girl produces musical (8) - {HARp}{MONICa} HARMONIC
10 - Light from Amazon e-book (6) - KINDLE [DD] The second definition is a Brand name
12 - Cut down by about a pint (4) - {RE}{A}{P} REAP
13 - Mangled line about good little book on church in inattentiveness (10) - {NE{G}LI*}{GENesis}{CE} NEGLIGENCE
15 - Turn to unsweetened wine for fish (6) - TURBOT Anno pending (Addendum - {TURB}{OT}<- See comments)
17 - A small group's wealth (5) - {A}{S}{SET} ASSET
20 - Get to the bottom of Horner's find, boy (5) - {PLUM}{B} PLUMB
21 - Second look for agent and amateur (6) - {REP}{LAY} REPLAY
24 - Rook means to bake cake for street urchin (10) - {RAG}{A}{MUFFIN} RAGAMUFFIN
27 - Teacher in unnamed gun run (4) - {GUn}{RUn} GURU
29 - Carry too far on the same (6) - {OVER}{DO} OVERDO
31 - Eastern tyrant relaxed, sliding back standard (6) - {SAT}{RAP<-} SATRAP
DOWN
1 - The French task to release cabal's head in Pakistan (6) - {LA}{cHORE} LAHORE
2 - Ordinary rule by a radical at last (6) - {NORM}{A}{L} NORMAL
3 - Keep small skier's aid (4) - {S}{TOW} STOW
4 - Speak skippingly? (5) - ELIDE [CD]
6 - Behind old section (5) - {O}{WING} OWING
7 - Boor's trait end users displayed (8) - RUDENESS*
8 - Picks again film parts featuring funny tec (2-6) - {RE-EL{ECT*}S} RE-ELECTS
11 - Insect's advice to dump waste illegally (3-3) - {FLY}-{TIP} FLY-TIP
14 - Animated film not completed? That's stupid! (4) - DUMBo DUMB
17 - Part of the fanatical association, unfortunately (4) - ALAS [T]
18 - Prompt debt notices are forged (8) - {SPUR}{IOUS} SPURIOUS
19 - Verdict is half-just to FBI employees in district (8) - {JUst}{D{GMEN}T} JUDGMENT
22 - Lying down, drink and drink without a bit of worry (6) - {SUP}{wINE} SUPINE
23 - Union Territory involved in sort-out of teachers (6) - {T{UT}ORS*} TUTORS
25 - Middle East help brought back to news services (5) - {ME}{DIA<-} MEDIA
26 - Surgeon declaring his qualification finds feet (5) - {I}{AM}{BS} IAMBS
28 - Buzz about a line going out of AP town (4) - TELL ? Anno pending (Addendum - BELLa ry - See comments)
Photographs of Chaturvasis's grandchildren are at the THCC families blog.
Photographs of Chaturvasis's grandchildren are at the THCC families blog.
28D - BELL(-a ry) ?
ReplyDelete15 - Turn to unsweetened wine for fish (6) - TURBOT Anno pending
ReplyDeleteTO + BRUT <-
Brut = very dry, not sure how that is linked to unsweetened wine
Brut relates to the sweetnes level of wine see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brut_%28wine%29#Sweetness
ReplyDeleteIt cannot lead to 'unsweetened'
28 - Buzz about a line going out of AP town (4) - TELL ? Anno pending
ReplyDeleteI also put it down as BELL (-a)(-ry)
See Chambers
ReplyDelete'Brut' is actually an adj, meaning (of wines) unsweetened, dry (emphasis mine).
It is a wine quality. So the setter is less than careful in using 'unsweetened wine' which would suggest that 'brut' is a noun.
Yeah that's why I was stumped. How can an adjective like brut mean a noun like wine
ReplyDeleteWrt the Col's comment against 10a that the setter uses a brand name, there is another brand name as well in the crossword though he does not specify it as such.
ReplyDeleteGuess!
Is it the just discussed Brut - cologne brand?
ReplyDeleteOther than 1A, which I do not like smooth crossword.
ReplyDeleteI do not like 1A because the answer cannot be got without reference to the crossings. I could be referees, bailiffs and maybe several more.
Bhavan 08:52
ReplyDeleteThat's it!
Suresh
ReplyDeleteIt's a crossword!
So what's unusual in your having to wait for a couple of crossings before you are able to put down an answer?
The anno at 24a needs amendment.
ReplyDeleteR+AGA+MUFFIN
ReplyDeleteAga = [Brit] (trademark) a heavy metal stove used for heating and cooking
which makes it a third trademark today?
Isn't Bellary in Karnataka? Where Congress top leaders like Indira and Sonia have competed and won in the past?
ReplyDeleteA small grouse for me is the high use of 'about' in today's puzzle. 5 abouts, though only 3 of them for containment.
ReplyDeleteCV LOL. I personally do not like E type clues in a cryptic crossword
ReplyDeleteIs the dislike for E meaning direct dictionary definitions and/or CD meaning a lateral/punny definitions also?
ReplyDeleteI think 1A should be classified as a CD type clue. I instantly recognised the play on 'court', but couldn't figure out the exact word.
ReplyDeleteBhavan I mean Direct dictionary defs. I like CDs. I think they are the substance of good crosswords.
ReplyDeleteSudalmani. Maybe it is CD, but it is weak. A good CD is one which leads to a specific answer almost unmistakeably
ReplyDeleteAnd Bellary is in Karnataka
ReplyDeleteSuresh, if I'm reading right what you said implies you like the CD only if it is one definition of a DD type clue.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly. Bhavan Let me find one for you.
ReplyDelete11 Individual of some pride (4) LION (CD)
ReplyDeleteFrom today's ET. Pure CD not DD not &lit.
Yeah I get it now. Thanks
ReplyDeleteWhat is the rule on use of Trademark Brand names in Crosswords?
ReplyDeleteAga is a trademark name and (but for reverse engineering after getting the answer 'Ragamuffin') I'm sure very few would have got the answer based on the wordplay only.
I found aga meaning oven in my OED. So it must be okay. It was given with a capital A as a noun with a core sense as a British trademark
ReplyDeleteI guess trademarks which become household names so as to figure in a Dictionary wd be acceptable
ReplyDeleteIt is bad to have located Bellary in wrong State. Very bad. Apologies from Gridman.
ReplyDeleteLots of people can make that mistake.It is a border district, I think
ReplyDeleteA crossword after it is set needs to be checked from different angles - clue no., def, wordplay (charade components, anag. letters, etc), enu. wrt words and phrases, hyphenated or unhyphenated, facts and so on.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Gridman is concerned, checking, rechecking and a last-minute check on the day prior to the publication is done.
The mistake has escaped in spite of all this.
This is not to explain it away it but to say how the onus rests on the compiler who can now only cringe and grovel.
Is "in Pakistan" a proper way to define Lahore?
ReplyDeleteAga was too obscure. I wonder if any one here was familiar with this term.
In 28D, what's the role of the word about? I thought it was a misleading link-word.
Sumit
ReplyDeleteI think "in Pakistan" is OK. There is something called 'adjectival definition' in Crossword parlance. Just as you equate A is B in other clues, here also you get to interpret Lahore is in Pakistan.
I also felt about was misleading in 28D.
I did not get misled by about in 28D. Maybe because I read quickly and miss a few words unless the clue is sticky.
ReplyDeleteAbout has many forms - anagram ind, container ind, reversal ind, C, CA, RE.
ReplyDeleteBut as a juxtaposition indicator or link word I'm not sure what does it convey. Near ? A near B = AB ...
and I spoke too soon.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crosswordunclued.com/2009/03/in-cryptic-clues.html
Nothing At All: …and sometimes, ABOUT is just a filler to make sense of the clue's surface.
I remembered that piece and I was going to refer to that when something intervened and I couldn't do so.
ReplyDeleteI thought 'about' in the clue is to be treated as a connector to make the surface reading plausible.
It doesn't hang in there as some words do in some clues of some setters.
It was a good connector. I did not even notice it.
ReplyDeleteThough Shuchi says so, the examples cited are not from UK puzzles, which maintain a good standard. (Or is ET also a syndicated puzzle?) The problem with about as a filler is that it is already pretty overloaded with multiple duties in a cryptic puzzle.
ReplyDeleteET is a syndicated puzzle.
ReplyDeleteET's is originally published in The Daily Mail of the UK.
ReplyDeleteThe prob with ET puz is they have some thousand(s) puzzles by some prev. arrangement and they keep on publishing them repeatedly. A puzzle today is most likely to have been published three years ago. I and others have quoted chapter and worse.
I agree with Sudalamani.
ReplyDeleteThe word about has many cryptic functions that are in line with the word's many definitions, but there's very little to suggest that the word could be used for just linking definition and wordplay.
Only just got to today's crossword, as I had to spend the morning wrestling bureaucracy! It was a welcome relief after a fraught morning. Couple of notes - in the uk, the word aga has come to mean any large cooking range (just as Hoover is any vacuum cleaner). I didn't have a problem with brut for unsweetened. And on a final note, I have just bought a kindle - I love it, but my wife isn't best pleased and swears I am contributing to the death of books!
ReplyDeleteLooking again at 15A. It could have been "turn to dry wine for fish"
ReplyDeleteThink about the chickens to be counted (5) BROOD
ReplyDeleteThe above is a clue by a well-known UK composer for a UK syndicate.
What role does 'about' play in it?
Think = brood = the chickens to be counted
Without the connector 'about' the clue sentence will be nonsensical. I believe 'about' in that last clue above has a similar role.
CV Sir
ReplyDeleteIn this example, I'll include about in the definition. Brood='think about' looks much better than 'brood=think'.
While I agree that some extra padding will make clues read better, from a solver's perspective an ideal clue is one that has every word contributing to both the surface and wordplay. One can always opt for a different clue that is perfect in both the aspects.
In this example, I'll include about in the definition. Brood='think about' looks much better than 'brood=think'.
ReplyDeleteAh, not that I did not consider that!
Anyway, we will leave it at that!
Sudalamani@18:38
ReplyDelete[F]rom a solver's perspective an ideal clue is one that has every word contributing to both the surface and wordplay.
[Emphasis mine]
That's a tough ask for the setter to come up with a whole list of &lits. ;-)
Please disregard my earlier post. In my half-asleep state, I misread it as "definition and wordplay". Sorry.
ReplyDeleteAfter the last two posts, I am afraid if my tone was a bit discourteous in my posts today :( My unconditional apologies to CV sir or anyone in case I hurt someone.
ReplyDeleteNavneeth, ha... you've caught me napping there even as you yourself were half-asleep... ;)
Sudalamani
ReplyDeleteNo, your tone was not at all discourteous.
I grant that you may have a point.
I only said that I considered the very question you raised before I wrote my post. But I concluded that the clue could still be using 'about' as a connector.
However, others are quite entitled to hold their views.
In any case the clue has a glaring error and as stated above Gridman owes solvers an apology - and he has tendered it.
Sunday puzzle -- I'm revisiting.I find it absolutely unpardonable when a truncated grid is published. Not in this age of cut and paste and DTP. I had to create the extension and fill in the block to complete the puzzle. So irksome. This is because crossword section does not have an editor. Hindu alos happens to be the costliest among the newspapers in the South. Where is the value for our money?
ReplyDeleteDeepak- Chambertin- a variety of burgundy ? Any comment?
Again- TWEENIE is a new word not found in the OED?
Raju Umamaheswar
How does HARMONIC become musical? A bit far-fetched? I agree, it may mean tuneful and then harmonic. I was looking for a Musical in the form of an Opera name!!
ReplyDeleteRaju Umamaheswar
o
Hi,
ReplyDeleteYou have not mentioned how you arrived at 6D
Behind old section (5) - {O}{WING} OWING
Can you please clarify?
Regards,
Rajeev ( a beginner)
Rajeev
ReplyDeleteBehind - def - When one's BEHIND in payment one's not settled the dues and so is OWING
old - O
section - WING ( as in a wing of an office
building)
Raju: You may consider this too as far-fetched, but fetched it is, though it may not be fetching
Raju
ReplyDeleteYou're right, COD does not record 'tweenie'. But it has 'tweeny', though the archaic meaning given is quite different!
Goodman-Gridman. It was a breeze today-- nay, what a fresh breath of air from the noodled brain that we end up with NJ's. I multi-tasked solving this , watching the 9 pm Times Now and could finish within 12n minutes flat. I fully agree with David that Gridman took us into another Galaxy. 15 Across apart.
ReplyDeleteSudalamani is perhaps right; it is a 'not done' thing , repeating a word and that too, in the same zone. Anyway.
Raju Umamaheswar