Sunday 22 July 2012

No 2696, Sunday 22 Jul 12

ACROSS
1   - What a judge should be, as a precaution (4,2,4)  - JUST IN CASE [DD]
6   - Helpful hint about run, journey (4)  - TRIP {T{R}IP}
10 - Returning once more, artist falls (7)  - NIAGARA {NIAGA<-}{RA}
11 - Stock farmer galloped and caught her (7)  - RANCHER {RAN}{C}{HER}
12 - Athletic contest in Irish town curtailed after 6, unfinished (9)  - TRIATHLON {TRIp}{ATHLONe}
13 - Gather donkey seen on a motorway (5)  - AMASS {A}{M}{ASS}
14 - Hymn blessed defeated Isles (6,7)  - ADESTE FIDELES*

18 - Student holds her Oscar nervously (6,7)  - RHODES SCHOLAR*
20 - Article about one female burglar (5)  - THIEF {TH{I}E}{F}
21 - Golfing term for a handicap (9)  - ALBATROSS [E]
24 - Search for a recreational activity (7)  - PURSUIT [CD]
25 - Put down roots outside a major US port (7)  - SEATTLE {SE{A}TTLE}
26 - Phone engineer around noon (4)  - RING {RI{N}G}
27 - A place where people meet in Paris? (10)  - RENDEZVOUS [CD]
DOWN
1   - David's close friend, judge, old biblical character (8)  - JONATHAN {J}{O}{NATHAN}
2   - Religious teacher bathed one (5)  - SWAMI {SWAM}{I}
3   - Taunt Alexis for popping off inside and continually changing? (2,1,5,2,4)  - IN A STATE OF FLUX {IN A STATE {OF F}LUX}
4   - Unusually slow rate of movement in cold, bitterly cold, lake (5)  - CRAWL {C}{RAW}{L}
5   - Pieces of music composed about a daughter and son (9)  - SERENADES {SEREN{A}{D}E}{S}
7   - Learns during proper dry run (9)  - REHEARSAL [CD]
8   - Study training scheme (6)  - PERUSE {PE}{RUSE}
9   - With everything recorded by Satchmo, et cetera? (3,3,4,4)  - AND ALL THAT JAZZ {AND ALL THAT} {JAZZ}
15 - Previously bottled near Loire (7,2)  - EARLIER ON*
16 - Worry about fellow, the Parisian in a port down under (9)  - FREMANTLE {FRE{MAN}T}{LE}
17 - Sideboards, ones employed backstage (8)  - DRESSERS [DD]
19 - Proust's strange torpor (6)  - STUPOR*
22 - Stationed in vile digs, initially (5)  - BASED {BASE}{D}
23 - In the open, perform better (5) - OUTDO {OUT}{DO}

18 comments:

  1. 'Blessed' (14ac) and 'bottled' (15dn) as anagram indicators?

    Should an AI indicate some movement?

    Do these two indicators suggest any agitation?

    Are THC week-day setters strict in their use of AIs or do they also use AIs that do not have any stirring in them?

    Would you expect the AI to suggest some repositioning or would you accept an anagram fodder, a definition and some other connecting word all good enough for an anagram clue?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'Blessed' as anagrind? Holy cow!

      Delete
    2. Blessed can also be a euphemism for damned. The AI is probably used in the context of this meaning.

      Bottled = Restrained = strained again. Could this be the logic?

      Delete
  2. Good one, not so difficult for a Sunday puzzle.

    Apropos CV remarks above:
    1) Blessed also means 'confounded' or similar, as in, say, 'hang that blessed man'. So I think OK as an anagram indicator
    2) Bottled could be more tricky. Could have shades of meanings, for example, drunk, which can certainly be used as an AI. Could also mean sort of poured in and held together in a container (ie a stricter meaning) but still serves the purpose.

    Feel they are fine, it is the subtle wordplay that makes the CW interesting

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bhala

    Thanks for your response! Absolutely convincing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is a mystery to me how someone decides if a crossword puz is difficult or easy.

    This morning as I read the clues in this puzzle some 15 of them I solved readily without putting pen to paper and thought this was 'easy'.

    But ADESTE FIDELES, even though it is an anagram, requires some GK. Some other clues too might require some thinking, even though they may not be insurmountable.

    Now my question is does the presence of a couple of clues like this make a puz 'hard'?

    Will classifying a puz as 'hard' or 'easy' depend on one's own knowledge and experience? Will someone's 'meat' be another's 'poison'?

    I am prompted to write all this because someone said elsewhere that they found this 'hard'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. From my point of view, if someone has figured out that it is an anagram, and that the defintion is a hymn, then they have solved the puzzle. It is OK then that in that situation you either take an educated guess with the crossings, or just look it up!

      Delete
    2. Besides 'Silent Night' hymn, 'Adeste Fideles' used to be the main hymn in churches during Christmas season until about mid-1960s when Indian vernacular hymns came into vogue in India. Its place has been taken by its English version 'O Come All Ye Faithful', sung to the same tune. Many Indian language versions also have been set to the same tune.

      Delete
    3. And though I know both the ones you refer to above, always thought they were carols. Isn't there some difference between a carol and a hymn?

      Delete
    4. Please see my response further down.

      Delete
    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  5. The hymn I had not heard.
    Typed fideles from the crossings in the search box and voila!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the Suchana, Kishore = I stand corrected on Shuchi's name. You see, I see a C in Shuchi's name that you didn't want to see. So , You'll not see a C in Shuchi from now on-henceforth, as the Kenyans say !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, you'll not see a C in Shuchi ....
      Pls don't miss out the second 'C' there...

      Delete
    2. For 'carol' Chambers has the def (among others): "a Christmas song or hymn;"

      Delete
  7. As a comparative beginner, I find this not easy but not hard either. Of course, for people like me there will always be a few new words or at least a new way of putting old words. As long as the clues are understandable ( if I may say so) I am fine with it. I certainly will not be in a position to do 15 clues without picking up a pen (which with your experience of both solving & writing makes it possible)but I am able to comprehend the def. of most clues. There, I agree with Bala about understanding rather than finding the exact word/ words. Then, as Kishore puts it, Google uncle is always there !

    ReplyDelete
  8. About 'bottled' being AI, the fizz provides more than enough agitation!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Triatholon logo is very nice and catchy

    ReplyDelete

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