Monday 9 July 2012

No 10510, Monday 09 Jul 12, Scintillator

Scintillator always has me stumped for some annotations.
ACROSS
1   - A case of projectile changing directions (6) - LOCKET (-r+l)LOCKET
4   - A cutting translating “C'est qui Kelvin?” (8) - QUICKSET*
9   - Good, Regina’s keen to get pregnant (6) - GRAVID {G}{R}{AVID}
10 - Say, “Down a rum at this juncture” (8) - NOWADAYS {SAY+DOWN+A}*
12 - During escape on a plane (2,6) - IN FLIGHT [DD]
13 - A fine piece of holy writing about a landmass (6) - AFRICA {A}{F}RIC{A} Anno pending (addendum - {A}{F}{RI}{CA} - See comments}
15 - Sheep’s utility, reportedly (4) - EWES (~use)
16 - Not quite on top? Bowl slow (3,3,4) - OFF THE PACE [CD]
19 - Physicist to link resistances with currents around a battery (10) - TORRICELLI {TO}{RR}{I{CELL}I}
20 - Gold and aluminium plating of an aperture (4) - ORAL {OR}{AL}
23 - Build up a team of auditors (6) - ACCRUE (~a crew)
25 - Abandoned man gets married after escape (8) - ESCHEWED {ESC}{HE}{WED}
27 - Fractured mandate after second set of results emerged out (8) - EMANATED {sEt}{MANDATE*}
28 - Fruit essence (6) - EFFECT [DD]
29 - Watch: perfect pace-setter with no show of uncertainty (8) - SPECTATE {PACE+SETTer}*
30 - Master of a new wife, so to say (6) - BRIDLE (~bridal)
DOWN
1   - Apprentice set fire to fuel (7) - LIGNITE {L}{IGNITE}
2   - Driver’s said to exhibit a coat (9) - CHAUFFEUR (~show fur)
3   - Lie about a side, taking right medicine (6) - ELIXIR {LIE*}{XI}{R}
5   - What upcoming Rahman opus brings over (4) - UPON <-
6   - Hot furnace releasing nitrogen following explosion in a stove (8) - CHAUFFER Anno pending (Addendum - {H+FURnACE+F}* - See comments)
7   - For example, Vivekananda propelled past ego (5) - SWAMI {SWAM}{I}
8   - One with a will is worried by examination (7) - TESTATE {TEST}{ATE}
11 - Rubbish the Queen’s bargain (7) - CHAFFER {CHAFF}{ER}
14 - Puzzled when there is no profit (2,1,4) - AT A LOSS [DD]
17 - First pointer? (9) - ARROWHEAD [CD]
18 - Unfit rag tailored for a ballet dancer (8) - FIGURANT*
19 - Merchants reflect on skill found over the German society (7) - TRADERS {TRA<-}{DER}{S}
21 - Woman’s regular with loan, deed and title (7) - LADETTE {LoAn DeEd TiTlE}
22 - Clutch a ferocious burying beetle (6) - CHAFER [T]
24 - Tea placed on iron grate (5) - CHAFE {CHA}{FE}
26 - Crack-Jack set to be crunched (4) - JEST {J}{SET*}




36 comments:

  1. Word ladder:
    24d+r=22d
    22d+f=11d
    11d+u=6d
    6d+u=2d

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    Replies
    1. Scintillator is on his way up!!

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    2. Yup, but ladders always hide adders...

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    3. Appappappa... vida maatinga... chance kidaichcha podhum avuththu vittuduveenga... sadhaa sarva kaalamum unga moolai vela senchundae irukkum pola irukku... vaarththai mattum illa... numbers kooda... inglipeeshu, kanakku ellam ungalukku aththuppadi... bale...

      My... you won't let anything go by... if you get a chance, you will show it off... your brain is always ticking, it seems... not only words... numbers too... You're well-versed in English, maths everything... Kudos.

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    4. Adukka daan yenukku KaNukku-pillai koopuDvango

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    5. yes you are right Kishore ji,, only thing scintillator could have added cha = tea , and char = four somewhere in the clues to make it a ladder , for fun.,, ok ,, its bring to my memory a word play using the Bible,,( King James version),,
      Here, for example, is a six-step sequence that we might call Jacob’s Ladder,
      because ‘James’ is a form of ‘Jacob’:
      . . . seen of JAMES; then of all . . . ( 1 Corinthians 15 : 7 )
      . . . because your NAMES are written . . . ( Luke 10 : 20 )
      . . . and their NAVES, and their . . . ( 1 Kings 7 : 33 )
      . . . When the WAVES of death . . . ( 2 Samuel 22 : 5 )
      . . . had many WIVES. And his . . . ( Judges 8 : 30 )
      . . . made their LIVES bitter with . . . ( Exodus 1 : 14 )
      . . . And Jacob LIVED in the land . . . ( Genesis 47 : 28 )

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    6. And LIVED is nothing but the DEVIL in retrospect.

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    7. Thanks for writing out the ladders, Kishore and mani :)

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  2. 6 - Hot furnace releasing nitrogen following explosion in a stove (8) - CHAUFFER Anno pending

    Hot=h
    furnace releasing nitrogen= furnace-n=furace
    following=f
    explosion=anagram indicator
    stove=def

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  3. 13 - A fine piece of holy writing about a landmass (6) - AFRICA {A}{F}RIC{A} Anno pending

    My reading, though wide open to dispute:

    a=a
    fine=f
    piece of holy wRIting=ri
    about=c
    a=d
    landmass=def

    for a moment, though, I had wondered if RIC had anything to do with holy writing

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    Replies
    1. Consider

      piece of holy writing (religious instruction) - RI

      about (circa) - CA

      idhu eppadi irukku?

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    2. Unga peyarti solrudu madri: SUPER.

      I think our hardened criminals get RI ;-)

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    3. That's a good one! You're famous for RI - retort/reply immediate/instant!

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    4. Also for the other RI, risque innuendoes. No hard feelings, Kishore.

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    5. There you go again, RIchard, with another innuendo...

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  4. 6D anagram of H + FUR(-n)ACE + F

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  5. 13 - A fine piece of holy writing about a landmass (6) - AFRICA {A}{F}RIC{A} Anno pending

    A
    fine - F
    piece of holy writing - RI
    about - CA
    Defn: a landmass (A)(F)(RI)(CA)

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  6. Cha special today. 5 clues beginning with cha and 4 of them with chaf.

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  7. 25 - Abandoned man gets married after escape (8) - ESCHEWED {ESC}{HE}{WED}
    I would have prefered the clue to be "Äbandoned man to marry after escape" as gets married leads to WEDS and not WED

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    Replies
    1. 'Man' gets 'wed=married' after 'Esc'.

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    2. Recalling Johnson's reported quote about remarriage being the triumph of hope over experience.

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    3. Moral of the story: No 'Esc' after getting wed?

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    4. Real life is not as easy as the click of a computer button!

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    5. @Rengaswamy: Good point, but I had intended 'gets' as a charade indicator/connector, married=WED. Both 'wed' and 'wedded' could be past tenses of 'wed' (obs. usage), or I could show the equivalence as an adjective.

      > We are lawfully (wed/married) now. (From Wordweb)

      'To marry' also works well, but the surface marginally suffers because of the infinitive, IMO.

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    6. Thanks Mr Padmanabhan and Scintillator for the explanation. I missed the charade part which was well concealed and I missed it completely. Good one.

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  8. But none of them 'chaff' as in 11D !

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  9. Scintillator is on his way up!!

    Actually Scintillator started up and has managed to stay there

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  10. SUNDAY PUZZLE:

    Just finished.

    6down : PENSACOLA- a place in the US where the competitors PEPSI AND COCA COLA are manufactured as a joint venture? A heady cocktail that would be !!

    Col: SOURDOUGH is a version of Idli Maavu?

    RAGLAN sounds very rag tag ( I was almost filling it up as RAGTAG) but the picture clarified graphically. Thanks

    GIRTON to doctor to- rig- very cleverly doctored clue.

    Got the whole grid IN NO TIME AT ALL

    Suresh: I don't believe that brevity is the soul of wit. hahaha

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  11. Oh my God! The setter has sent grey cells churning!!!

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  12. Frankly, this puzzle was too much for me. Give me any day, sankalak, Gridman and Arden in that order. I do not want to scintillate.

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  13. Nice crossword with some un-rememberable words like GRAVID and LADETTE.

    Anyone SPECTATEd the tennis match yesterday? As for me I only saw it

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    Replies
    1. 'Gravid', as Jaggu might tell us, is a medical term.

      It is not a rare word. Any gynaecolgist who examines a woman gone to her after missing her periods and, after tests, finds that the patient is expectant will write 'gravid' in her report. I came across this word and this meaning for the first time in 1972 when my wife and I had our first baby. I think it means 'heavy'. When someone talks of an important issue, we may say it is a grave issue. Both 'gravid' and 'grave' come from the same root, L. gravis.

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    2. Suresh

      You may not like to spectate, but you might have been and might well be a spectator. You may not want to call yourself a 'seer'.

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    3. Re. gravid, there are other interesting words like primigravida - a woman who gets pregnant for the first time, multigravida, etc. After a successful delivery, a primigravida becomes a primipara :)

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    4. CV and Scintillator are ensuring that I do not forget the word. And by the way, which is the other word? Ah! Ladette. It sounds like some sort of an implement or something to do with music. Must check the meaning and usage again.

      And who is a primipara? Wow!

      Re Seer, i would love to be one, even though I am not.

      Like I said in my 10:56, I have always enjoyed Scintillator's crosswords and am not complaining. Idle thoughts...... (Jerome K Jerome)

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  14. Suresh, I was absorbed in the tennis match for the whole of 4 hours plus. I regretted I was not able to spectate in person to enjoy the game as much as the closing of the roof!

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