Friday 15 February 2013

No.10697, Friday 15 Feb 13, Gridman

Once again many good clues in EMBARGO, TOPSPIN, ODDS, AD-LIBBER, SMOKELESS ZONE, SECOND but the best for me is MORTAL

ACROSS
1 Hoping for the best, work! Tim is motivated at first (8) OPTIMISM (OP + TIM + IS + M)
5 50-50 chance to secret service in revolt (4-2) TOSS-UP (TO + SS + UP)
9 Mob rage over trade stoppage (7) EMBARGO (MOB RAGE)*
10 Ball bearing? (7) TOPSPIN (CD)
11 Get hotReagan too may possibly do so! (2,2,1,4) GO,ON,A,TEAR (REAGAN TOO)*
12 Dazzle with a way-out puzzle (5) AMAZE (A + MAZE)
13 They could be even // scraps (4) ODDS (DD)
14 When you __ __ __ something, you see it for the first time (3,4,2) SET, EYES, ON (E)
17 Makes uneven container in difficult situation (5,4) ROUGH, SPOT (ROUGHS + POT)
19 Restrain no keen beginner in hill-slope (4) BRAE (BRAkE)
23 Balances // alternative to 13 (5) EVENS (DD)
24 If you __ __ __, you must live in it to make it a home (3,1,5) OWN, A, HOUSE (E)
25 Naughty old boy noticed reportedly (7) OBSCENE (OB + ~SEEN)
26 Note Long Island worker showing confidence (7) RELIANT (RE + LI + ANT)
27 Work diligently on the river. Very much! (6) DEEPLY (DEE + PLY)
28 Be ribald, going round as a make-up artist? (2-6) AD-LIBBER (BE RIBALD)*


DOWN
1 Rise above a level beyond destroyed grove (8) OVERGROW (GROVE* + ROW)
2 Label transformation of idol in sensational newspaper (7) TABLOID (TAB + IDOL*)


3 Male tense in exam — like all of us (6) MORTAL (M + T inside ORAL)
4 Where you can’t fume… (9,4) SMOKELESS, ZONE (CD)
6 In a rush, Peron had left alone (8) ORPHANED (PERON HAD)*
7 Singer, therefore, belted out no rap (7) SOPRANO (SO + NO RAP*)
8 Boatman — // one in the betting shop (6) PUNTER (DD)
10 A hat could be — or an electoral contest — without a fourth angle (5-8) THREE-CORNERED (DD)
15 Urges the man and learners to get thin porcelain (8) EGGSHELL (EGGS + HE + LL)
16 Device that will find lie, motion or metal (8) DETECTOR (CD)
18 Steer across the diocese (7) OVERSEE (OVER + SEE)
20 Fruit of background conversation on the stage (7) RHUBARB (DD)
21 Inferior // support? (6) SECOND (DD)
22 Pepper country, we hear (6) CHILLI (~CHILE)


29 comments:

  1. 28 Be ribald, going round as a make-up artist? (2-6) AD-LIBBER (BE RIBALD)*

    Liked this definition immensely. Was unable to post in Orkut: Reply too large

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I posted in Orkut with no problem!

      Delete
    2. Yup, saw that and then Orkut was not accessible for quite some time and finally when I could log in, it came out with that response, even when I restricted myself to just 3 lines.

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    3. +1 for the innovative definition

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  2. Bhavan's illustration for Manufacturing News reminded me of the book THE ALMIGHTY by Irving Wallace. Read it to see the path manufacturing news can take

    ReplyDelete
  3. 7 Singer, therefore, belted out no rap (7) SOPRANO (SO + NO RAP*)

    When solving this, I thought with a little bit of rearranging this could have been:

    7 Singer, therefore, belted out rap number (7)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since a comment has been made on the clue -

      Actually the original clue was

      7 Son of old Hindi actor gets ring for singer (7)

      The above uses a component that was only in yesterday's crossword. I noticed it but thought if we use AB for 'sailor' (and similar devices) in successive crosswords, why can't we use another, however recent it might be. But yesterday afternoon I got a call from the TH desk asking if that was all right. Initially I said 'yes' but minutes later I revised the clue to the printed form.

      Delete
    2. use ... .in successive crosswords
      Like Iberia was clued in on Wed and Thurs!

      Delete
    3. That means someone at the TH desk is looking into these things unlike what we had thought of ealier.

      Delete
  4. Once again a nice enjoyable CW. I got tripped on the 'rough' (filling in tight,though I could not find the anno)leading to difficulties in SW corner. Still on the learning curve.

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  5. 19 Restrain no keen beginner in hill-slope (4) BRAE (BRAkE)
    In yesterday's HT, it was clued in as:
    25 One holding up / English // bank on Clydeside (4) (BRA)(E)
    Now, that would have been a clue that CV would have enjoyed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ... and some others would have said tut-tut!!

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    2. And the rest would have a nice laugh!

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    3. We have to uphold time tested traditions

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  6. Today I read about this new figure of speech-"PARAPROSDOKIAN". Anyone heard of it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes , i searched google, and got it, but am aware of the quotes without knowing that it was a paraprosdokian (viz) wars do not determine what is right, but what is left, temper is a funny thing , you cant get rid of it by losing it and so on,,thanks for opening my eyes

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    2. Same here. All the quotes were known without the name!

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  7. I was trying the BS crossword from my past clippings and I came across a few of clues that confounded me.I'd like to share these with my fellow bloggers.

    Strength showing parts of farms containing metal (8)

    and a very unusual one:

    Pasta leads to eccentric crime boss losing head (9)

    What old lags have for sack-sewing(4, 2, 4)

    I have the answers and a vague parsing for the first two, (while the third is very clean) which I'd like to confirm with ye -all.

    Come, wrack your grey cells with me and post your answers with the parsing here.

    and I loved this:AUTOMATON-- machine made from gold , vegetable and nickel.

    I may, with the permission of the boss here post such unusual clues here for others to share my joy of learning offbeat ones.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 1. F(ore)arms, ore for metal.
    Strength showing- Def.
    But my doubt is why PART farms? Is it because it is split into parts?

    ReplyDelete
  9. yes CV : Business Standard. I hsve a lot of clippings, though very unweildy and odd shaped for ease of handling !!

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  10. Paddy : Correct. That's why I don't dig the part Farm part ! Forearms- strength== isn't a bit far fetched ?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Flex one's forearms? I too had my doubt.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Only two comments for my post yesterday? Is it because the day was over?

    Any way, Venkatesh: SPAGHETTI & TIME ON HAND are both wrong !! Sorry, please do try again.

    Paddy: You're right ! What about the other one oin an Italian dish ?

    ReplyDelete

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