Friday 6 December 2013

No 10949, Friday 06 Dec 2013, Mover

Mover this time has thrown in at least half-a-dozen unusual words: see when you can use them but don't ever accuse any woman of being a 28a or 19d.

Across

1 Location for obtaining secret information about an enemy somehow spoils netting (9,5) – LISTENING POSTS – anag. of  ‘spoilsnetting’ – def too elaborate
10 Ski run detective encounters Southern element (5) – PISTE – cha. of PI (short for Private Investigator) S Te (tellurium) - This is a French term which pretentious English people use to show off their knowledge. Ski run is a single downhill run), ski slopes refer to the whole hillside with perhaps several runs. A ski trail, I learn, is used for cross-country skiing rather than downhill. Ski tracks are the marks made by skis on fresh snow.

11 Close? Not at all! (3,4,2) – FAR FROM IT – DD – The second def is clear but the first one seems to be iffy, the question mark notwithstanding
12 Unfinished tune we hear from a pirate (7) – CORSAIR – hom. Of ‘coarse (unfinished) air (tune)’
13 Mixed high class salsa acceptable for children is nothing out of the ordinary (2,5) AS USUAL – anag. Of U (high class), salsa, U (acceptable)
14 Copper keys for pepper variety (5) – CUBEB - cha. of CU (copper) B E B (musical keys)

16 Lived one for all; restrained (9) – INHIBITED – sub. I (one) for A (all) in inhabited (lived)    
19 Dictatorship when theological rationalism covers blemish (9) – DESPOTISM - spot inserted in Deism
20 Gave party in front (5) – DOLED – cha. of Do (party) led (in front) – Actually only ‘was in front’ can give us ‘led’                           
22 Damage the object, Mr. Gore, having to do with marriage (7) – MARITAL – cha. of  mar it Al

Cartoon by Rishi
25 The French short hood on figure (7) – DECAGON – cha. of de (the French)  cag on – Actually ‘de’ is of, I think. So one would expect ‘of the French’ for de – no idea how ‘cag’ is derived from short hood


27 Rude noise from a fruit? (9) – RASPBERRY – DD – DD but the surface reading  doesn’t mean much
28 Affirmative response includes books for loud vulgar woman (5) – YENTA – NT (New Testament, books) in YEA (affirmation)
29 Very happy like the puppet-show figure (7,2,5) – PLEASED AS PUNCH – ref. to puppet show character in Judy and Punch

Down

2 Scores with fashionable journalists (9) – INSCRIBES – cha. of in(fashionable) scribes (journalists)
3 The California case! (5) – THECA – cha. of the CA - this is a zoological term or botanical term referring to a sheath or a spore case. If the punctuation mark is to alert you to leave the courtroom to find a synonym for 'case', I am not sure if it fulfils the purpose, unless I am missing something. 
4 Iron in crude nitrite for an Egyptian queen (9) – NEFERTITI – Fe (iron) in anag. of nitrite – No idea what the queen would do with the result

5 No rising tune for a Persian wheel (5) – NORIA – cha of no ria (rev. of air (‘tune’)

6 Barking pure-bred terrier initially upset (9) – PERTURBED – anag. of ‘purebred t’, ‘barking’ being the anag. signal, ‘though’ barking doesn’t quite suggest movement. If we take ‘upset’ as anag. signal, ‘barking’would be the def – what one might do when ‘perturbed’, perhaps  
7 Chinese casual dress US uncle kept for us initially (5) – SAMFU – cha. Of Sam f u - this is an outfit worn by Chinese women and it consists of a jacket and trousers.

 8 It means you can put paid to being footloose and fancy free (7) – SETTLED – when a bill is ‘settled’ it is paid. When a man or woman is ‘settled’, he or she can no longer be footloose and fancyfree – at least in popular perception, for we know what married men are up to from some recent episodes of adventurists
9 Broken ice-cap may cause an upheaval (6) – IPECAC – anag. of ‘icecap’ – this is a short form of ipecacuanha, which is a medicine that as acts as an expectorant – hence ‘may cause an upheaval’ – it is also a purgative so wonder how the clue writer would have indicated that – ‘may cause a downfall’?

15 Birds lose independence but ate up television sets (4,5) – BOOB TUBES – Sub. 'tub' (rev. of 'but') for i (independence) in boobies (birds).

17 Amateur radioenthusiast meets a dry as dust, tailless baboon (9) – HAMADRYAS – cha. of ham (amateur radio enthusiast) a dry as (given gratis) – what is the role of ‘dust’?

18 Disturbed gentle ice is appealing on television (9) – TELEGENIC – anag of ‘gentleice’
19 Woman of ill repute was half Republican (7) – DEMIREP – cha of demi (half) Rep.
21 Opposition to allegation and lie about it (6) – DENIAL – anag of  'and lie'
23 Tropical cyclone bent osier out of shape (5) ROSIE – anag of ‘osier’ - good surface reading
24 Ghastly when clear Charlie changed places with Rex (5) – LURID – sub of R for C in lucid (clear)
26 A large rodent, being bashful, rolled up (5) – COYPU – cha. of coy pu (I take it as  anag. of up rather than rev. ind.)


32 comments:

  1. 25A CAG[-e]
    CAGE is the wire mask of baseball catcher.

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  2. One S short in anag fodder of 1A

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  3. Replies
    1. Rosie was a small cyclone that developed rapidly overnight from 21 to 22 April 2008 quickly reaching category 2 intensity before weakening as it passed near Christmas Island.
      Is Mover going the NJ way?

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  4. To be honest, I enjoyed CV's notes more than the puzzle.

    9D - A purgative causing a 'downfall' - LOL!
    15D - graphic is quite 'suggestive' ! ;-)

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    Replies
    1. The wife has been missing a week now. Police said to prepare for the worst. So I have been to the charity shop to get all her clothes back.

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  5. Piste, Cubeb, Yenta, Theca, Noria, Samfu, Hamadryas, Demirep, Coypu were all new words for me. Wordplay and a large dose of luck helped me get across to the finish line today

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  6. 4D "No idea what the queen would do with the result" - LOL

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  7. With ref to cartoon for 22A:

    Is there any difference between 'We are still married' and 'We are still, married' ?

    That reminds of an autobiographical anecdote I used to narrate:

    Many years ago I met a young woman. We fell in love and we were in courtship for some time. A year later, we stopped courting. The reason? We got married.

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    Replies
    1. Right Richard. My father used to say " no man is a hero of his wife". Any men disagree?

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    2. My father used to say " Son, you have two choices in life : You can stay single and be miserable, or get married and wish you were dead !"

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  8. Bharat Ratna Madiba passes away at 19.00 hrs GMT on 5.12.13

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  9. RIP. Mandela died an icon but he had undergone great hardships in earlier life.

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  10. Good crossword for IXL finale :)

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  11. I would have flunked

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  12. Richard
    In fact, I had "married, still" in my mind.
    The cartoon was done in the last five minutes before the blog was due, and I could insert it only after a few minutes by 'editing' and 'uploading'.
    I didn't have enough time to concentrate on the caption and, besides, at 10 a.m. I had to go out to attend a lecture.
    In this hurriedly done cartoon, you will notice, I have zipped the mouths of man and woman - with 'married, still' (as yet/quiet) in my thought process.

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    Replies
    1. So it was a still-life picture...:-)

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    2. CV 3:03 Just imagine what would have happened if you had forgotten to insert the quote marks in this sentence: In fact, I had "married, still" in my mind ?

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  13. Richard@11.06-
    "...married,still" may make a difference.
    Leave it to CV to liven things up out of anything (any thing?) Agree with Richard on this.
    Could 17D be an anagram of a dry as ham with DUST as Anind?

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  14. Suresh@2.14-
    So you are sure no woman would disagree?

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  15. Finally, I feel like 29A. A month after starting to do crosswords and many days of not doing it at all thanks to my sleepless baby, I finally got to spend some time on this one today. I got 18 of them right and about 5 more halfway done and stuck. Should I be happy? Was this a easy crossword or I just have understood it better?
    Could somebody explain how CAG came about in 25A and what is the reference to DO in Doled? Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. Party = DO ;
      CAG - see the first comment by venkatesh

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  16. I would feel it is an excellent score after just a month- I am no better today after a few years. As you can see from CV's caption on top, there are quite a few new words.
    See Venkatesh's opening remark about (CAG)E.
    DO is an abbreviation for a party. I do not know its origin, but it is what I have learnt here. I leave it to the experts to fill it up.

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  17. Sorry. Did not see LV's comment.

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  18. Do
    2. Informal chiefly Brit and NZ a formal or festive gathering; party

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  19. 29a - pleasing punch 15d - I wrote as blow tubes

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  20. 1A - Apart from the missing S, definition should lead to an answer in the singular

    6D - Barking probably refers to the Brit slang which means crazy (barking mad).

    15D - Tense taking a hit here. (And I would love to see birds eating up TV sets.)

    23D - Seriously?!

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