Tuesday 2 April 2013

No.10736, Tuesday 2 Apr 13, Arden

Arden continues to dish out puzzles that are easy on the eye but challenging enough for the brain. That apart there seem to be a few problems with clues - incorrect enumeration in 1 across, the & in 29 across makes sense if it was an 's' added to 'politician'

ACROSS
1 Being polite Elsie regularly gets, say, Wooster’s rights (6,9) CIVIL, LIBERTIES (CIVIL + eLsIe + BERTIE'S)
10 One time going over the colosseum (5) ARENA (AN + ERA)<=
11 In the middle of lunch, retain order if doubtful (9) UNCERTAIN (lUNCh + RETAIN*)
12 Volcanic feature won’t start to burn for some time (7) CALDERA (sCALD + ERA)
13 Perch comfortably with an English poet (7) SITWELL (SIT + WELL)
14 Free to imprison soldier who is unyielding (5) RIGID (RID outside GI)
16 Goal front could be a part of a church (5,4) ORGAN, LOFT (GOAL FRONT)*
19 A sporting event on release mode (9) FREESTYLE (FREE + STYLE)
20 Caution with a left hand (5) ALARM (A  + L + ARM)
22 Go back to the hideaway (7) RETREAT (DD)
25 It is often pulled by the oil worker after some time (7) TRIGGER (RIGGER after T)
27 Fight with the lot and refuse to end up here (9) SCRAPHEAP (SCRAP + HEAP)
28 Stretched account of a doctor’s tool (5) DRAWL (DR + AWL)
29 Old politician & say small people should be under a tree (5,9) ELDER, STATESMEN (STATE + S + MEN after ELDER)

DOWN
2 Theorist places his thought on record, it is said (9) IDEALOGUE (IDEA + ~LOG)
3 Crazy, directionless and dumb (5) INANE (INsANE)
4 Politician backs once F1 champion, full of praise (9) LAUDATORY (TORY after LAUDA)
5 Supports // some players (5) BACKS (DD)
6 A fictitious place? Arranged Iranian tour is a no-no (9) RURITANIA (IRANIAn ToUR)*
7 Angry brigand is beheaded (5) IRATE (pIRATE)
8 Carol allowed a vest (7) SINGLET (SING + LET)
9 American city left an impression with the old sailor (6) LASCAR (LA + SCAR)
15 Girl’s composure causing problems to dogs (9) DISTEMPER (DI'S + TEMPER)
17 Is ruined as Nazi police get nothing on time (4,2,3) GOES, TO, POT (GESTAPO outside O + T) How does the A in Gestapo become O?
18 Drink with colour produced minutes away (9) ORANGEADE (ORANGE + mADE)
19 Predict a warning to the church (7) FORESEE (FORE + SEE)
21 As a plaything he has a rook and bishop (6) MARBLE (MALE outside R, B)
23 Placed one above the other and said to be weary (5) TIRED (~TIERED) I thought the homophone word sounds more like TEARED?
24 Not just the birds who do this nowadays (5) TWEET (CD)
26 Works without effort on a river (5) INDUS (INDUStry)


31 comments:

  1. While travelling on a train when I refer to a three--tier berth as a "three tear berth", people generally repeat it as "three-tire berth" as if to correct me. I just let it pass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. May be, the recent increases will bring some tears in the eyes of passengers? Helps travel-phobics like me to stay put ? In any case, train ravels do bring several tears ?

      Delete
  2. Agree with Bhavan. Seemingly simple but challenging when you start doing it. Took more time to do 1A thanks to the wrong enumeration than the rest of the puzzle.
    I have a problem with 29A- as per def. it should be statesman & not statesmen.
    Problem with gestapo as well.

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  3. Tier- tire-tear. I leave it to the experts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought the experts had expressed their view.

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    2. Some of the dictionaries like 'www.thefreedictionary.com' have a speaker icon showing both US and UK way of pronouncing a certain. As we follow the Brit way, it's best to double check, by listening to the accent.

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    3. Having may wheels is said to be weary

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  4. Where there is Bertie there should be Kishore!

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    Replies
    1. But, of course, one has to be preux chevalier!

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  5. I think "Old politician &" is a misprint for "Old politicians".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back someday, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing 'Bertie, why do you bound?' as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quiet evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that window -"
      - Saki in "The Open Window"

      Don't know whether Kishore walked in with Bertie.

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    2. Romance at short notice was her speciality.

      The story when it appeared on Doordarshan had Pallavi Joshi acting the little girl's role and she did it beautifully doing full justice to the story.

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    3. The above quoted last line of the story is one of the few that remain embedded in memory. Another similar one is the last line of Roald Dahl's 'Lamb to the slaughter'.

      http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lamb.html

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    4. Don't know whether Kishore walked in with Bertie.

      When I was Biggles, I flew with Bertie Lissie ...

      Delete
  6. Nice set of clues except for the glitches listed before. A small point in this clue:

    6 A fictitious place? Arranged Iranian tour is a no-no (9) RURITANIA (IRANIAn ToUR)*

    'a no-no'. Read as: a no to 'no'?

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  7. 17 Is ruined as Nazi police get nothing on time (4,2,3) GOES, TO, POT (GESTAPO outside O + T) How does the A in Gestapo become O?

    Omi Poschim Bongo thaken Bongla bolchi...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With opologies to my Bengali friends...

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  8. For them the alphabet starts with 'O' and not 'A'!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But apology would be pronounced as 'a' by Bengalis too. Aparna would be pronounced Oporna, because the a here is the first letter of the Bengali alphabet, unlike in the case of apology, where it would be the 7th.

      Delete
  9. Strange that the A/c clues started and ended ( 1& 29) with typos!

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  10. An eminently enjoyable puzzle

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  11. Kishore: How does a Bengali spell OPPROBRIUM ? APPROBRIUM?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kya farak padta hai. They are both pronounced the same nyway.

      Delete
  12. Late again today - but did have 2 birthdays to celebrate
    (So have done the crossword and baked a cake in a strange oven!). Nice crossword - my only problems already covered by others. Anyway - must dash - cakes to ice!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I understand you have been making lots of dough and bread!

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    2. ... in brass tin and rolling in it!

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  13. The linguistic flavour today reminded of this
    Malayalee joke from Gulf

    ReplyDelete

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