Wednesday 18 April 2012

No 10440, Wednesday 18 Apr 12, Sankalak

ACROSS
1   - Thrilled to find clue in the document (9) - DELIGHTED {DE{LIGHT}ED}
5   - One aspect with which to confront troop leader (5) - FACET {FACE}{T}
8   - Goodbye till we meet again in Paris (2,6) - AU REVOIR [GK]
9   - Mix of metals getting the third prize (6) - BRONZE [DD]
11 - Very big motor, much coveted in Hollywood (5) - OSCAR {OS}{CAR}
12 - The most promising? Correct, among the toppers (9) - BRIGHTEST {B{RIGHT}EST}
13 - Shapeless mass of a party faces election reverse (6) - DOLLOP {DO}{LLOP<-}
14 - Prisoner punished and locked up (8) - CONFINED {CON}{FINED}
16 - Feline, oriental, unpleasant sort (8) - CATEGORY {CAT}{E}{GORY}
18 - Healthy things to eat from golf links? (6) - GREENS [DD]
22 - The instrument to make her plan on playing (9) - ALPENHORN*
23 - Beat that is both right and wrong (5) - THROB {BOTH+R}*
24 - Fighter is in before an expatriate (6) - EMIGRE {E{MIG}RE}
25 - A certain small design for a container (8) - CANISTER {CERTAIN+S}*
26 - Prominent person ending studies in good health (5) - SWELL {S}{WELL}
27 - Ram with a prize — a flower (9) - BUTTERCUP {BUTTER}{CUP}
DOWN
1   - The pitch of a baseball player (7) - DIAMOND [CD]
2   - A cry ill-interpreted as poetic (7) - LYRICAL*
3   - Warren Hastings was one, so was Rajaji (8-7) - GOVERNOR-GENERAL [GK]
4   - Ovid's star-crossed lover in this myth is believable (6) - THISBE [T]
5   - Without precedent, silly tiff tires mother (3,3,5,4) - FOR THE FIRST TIME*
6   - Interest in business (7) - CONCERN [DD]
7   - Taken care of in health centre at editor's bidding (7) - TREATED [T]
10 - Oral instruction to boy to acquire a wild ox (5) - BISON (~buy){BI}{SON}
15 - It could sweep a black bit of space (5) - BROOM {B}{ROOM}
16 - Reminders of aerial bombing (7) - CRATERS [CD]
17 - Some beef that a desi pot cooked (7) - TOPSIDE*
19 - Mistake a spasm as being irregular (7) - ERRATIC {ERR}{A}{TIC}
20 - Probe US design and get more serious (5,2) - SOBER UP*
21 - Not damaged by modern diplomacy (6) - INTACT {IN}{TACT}




9 comments:

  1. 9 - Mix of metals getting the third prize (6) - BRONZE

    Also appears in Guardian Quick today as:

    3 Alloy of copper and tin (6)

    ReplyDelete
  2. An interesting poser, posed to me by my friend.

    Why is 'hiccup', spelt as 'hiccough' also when the pronunciation is as per the first spelling?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The original, correct spelling is 'hiccup' and so the pronunciation is hikup. The spelling 'hiccough' arose due to confusion of the word/condition with 'cough'. So while the spelling is due to the confusion, the pronunciation sticks to the real word. This is what I gather from a perusal of my BRB. But there might be some other explanation.

      Delete
    2. That is the explanation in my OED too

      Delete
    3. Colonel,
      Here's what the owner of the one of the most interesting websites on the English language has to say about this topic:

      [H]iccough was standard in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and is still frequently found in some regional varieties of English. J K Rowling spells it like that, for example in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: “At this, Professor Trelawney gave a wild little laugh in which a hiccough was barely hidden.” The word has been spelled down the centuries in many ways: hick-hop, hicket, hickock, and hickup. The hiccough spelling, which assumed the word was based on cough, is well-meaning but wrong. It’s actually from the sound of the thing it described.

      Source

      Delete
  3. 10D-
    oral instruction for 'buy'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'buy' for acquire. The oral instruction is 'Buy, son'

      Delete

deepakgita@gmail.com