Tuesday 2 September 2014

No 11179, Tuesday 02 Sep 2014, Afterdark


At Afterdark's awesome chemistry class today, though it was never my favourite subject. Trouble in the NE.

ACROSS
1   Group of organic compounds I took out from Chari's body Ron cremated (11) HYDROCARBON {CHARi+BODY+RON}*
9   After cutting a bit of avocado, apple, raspberry, strawberry, sprinkle garam masala to the mixture (7) AMALGAM {GaraM+MAsALA}*
10 Immobile old man sent out, guards take his place (7) S?S?I?? (Addendum - SESSILE SE(-n+ss)SSILE - See comments)
11 Test century outside, extremely risky (3,2) TRY ON {T{RiskY} ON}
12 Strengthened the mangled iron you fixed inside the barn (9) NOURISHED {NO{U}RI*}{SHED}
13 Gather the animal around mother (5) AMASS {A{MA}SS}
15 Perplexing why we hear Honduras has no water (9) ANHYDROUS {ANH{Y(~why)}DROUS*}
18 Rendezvous saint had with American president made an impression (4,5) DATE STAMP {DATE} {ST}{AM}{P}
21 Idly visualise Isis flying to where Iris is (5) UVEAL VisUALisE*
22 Action initiated by agent with Tom's ally to lose weight and attract girl (9) CATALYSIS {CAT}{ALlY}{SIS}
24 Eat, maybe an young butterfly from the east after a sip of lemonade (3,2) LAP UP {Lemonade}{AP UP<=}
26 Liking pineapples is inherent in an important person (7) KINGPIN [T]
27 Charge model caught in violent unrest (7) ENTRUST {EN{T}RUST*}
28 Rigid medico loses love in a rage (11) DOCTRINAIRE {DOCToR}{IN}{A}{IRE} New word for me

DOWN
1   Scorched earth, lynched leader and had central region (9) HEARTLAND {EARTH*}{Lynched}{AND}
2   Journal has boring wrapper, one article inside (5) DIARY {D{1}{A}RY}
3   Orange juice is consumed by leading Sheriff and Marshals (9) ORGANISES {ORGAN{IS}E*}{Sheriff}
4   Frenzied mania around doctor's compound (7) AMMONIA {AM{MO}NIA*}
5   Bi? Bizarre. Bust him (7) BISMUTH*
6   Japanese ABCD? (5) NISEI [CD] Definition not clear See comments
7   Memory in a corner on the alloy... (8) NICHROME {NICH{ROM}E}
8   ...the first on the element (4) ???D (Addendum - LEAD [DD] - See comments)
14 At sea, Titanic crashed — 99 perished (8) ASTATINE {SEA+TITANic}*
16 Chief has awful trouble, losing king and a pair (9) DOUBLETON {D{TrOUBLE*}ON}
17 Sailor with bad temper shells out money to get gunpowder (9) SALTPETRE {SALT}{TEmPER*}
19 As canister broke, tea spilled out (7) ARSENIC CANIStER*
20 Regret coming back behind ancient chemist (7) PASTEUR {PAST}{EUR<=}
22 Drug, strangle, and take time out (4) COKE ChOKE Time=Hour=H?
23 Wrongly implied, me not fat (5) LIPID ImPLIeD*
25 Physicist's note to be extracted from boiling peanut oil (5) PAULI {PeAnUt+oIL}*

 Cartoon by Rishi

GRID

41 comments:

  1. 6 Japanese ABCD? (5) NISEI [CD] Definition not clear
    ABCD: American Born Confused Desi

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  2. 10 Across sessile? 8 Down Lead

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the Lead Ajay. I too thought of Sessile but could not annotate it

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    2. Also 'Senile' for 'Old Man' is not fair in my opinion

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    3. Ok it's Senile = Old. N = Man is available in Chambers CWD dict

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  3. N = knight in chess notation = piece in chess = MAN

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  4. Too many eliminations- favourite of Afterdark?
    AD has gone to Japan with our PM!
    In addition to NE, I had problems in SW too.

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  5. Senile for old man? Not fair.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thank you very much Arden Sir :)

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    2. Chambers XWD dictionary gives IC Mohsin

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    3. Mohsin had earlier pointed out a similar error on my part using 49 as IL. I am afraid that he is correct, though many setters have fallen for this usage.

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    4. There is a similar issue in the Guardian cryptic today: check the clue for 14D. I think it's fine as long as the variation is in the wordplay and not the definition.

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    5. Again Chambers XWD dictionary gives IL for 49 ... So, I assume it is an accepted practice

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    6. The last line in
      http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2010/06/roman-numerals.html
      Reads
      Given that we see so much of IC and IL even in the careful setters' clues, that is perhaps the sensible-liberal way to look at it - but to me it still seems wrong!

      I tend to agree with this line, though I have fallen to this error and might do it again inadvertently ...

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    7. This is where I get confused. All of us agree Chambers as the last word in these subjects. Colonel told me that the dictionary didn't have N for man, where as the Chambers XWD dictionary has it. Both IC and IL are there too. So, why should it be deemed as unacceptable ?

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    8. As CV explained in his 9:15 N=Knight(chess notation) = man (for chess piece). So it has nothing to do with Chambers or otherwise.

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  7. Tough to write clues for chemicals and AD has done very well.

    In 1a is 's intrusive in the anagram fodder.

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    Replies
    1. Re 1a, I don't think the 's is a problem: "Chari's body" ="body of Chari" which is exactly what we need for the clue to work.

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    2. Nice and interesting puzzle. I thought the greater problem with the clue was the usage of "I took out from.... " for removal of "I." It doesn't seem right IMO. Something more on the lines of "I taken out from..." would've been better cryptic-reading-wise.

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    3. I too thought on the same lines as VJ did but did not elaborate. We had a similar issue in one of the THC a few days back in Incognito's No 11170

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  8. Thank you for a breathtaking ride, Afterdark! I found that really tough in many parts (Chemistry was never my strong point!), although it all fell into place eventually. Some very good clues in there - 5D, 14D, 15A, 28A...

    I learnt two new words: SESSILE and NISEI. I share the general reservations expressed by others for using "old" to give "senile" - maybe it's just that I am fast becoming the former and hoping not to become the latter! :)

    One small niggle: as far as I know, UVEAL is the adjective for the noun 'uvea', but the definition in the clue ("where Iris is") suggests a noun. Am I missing something here?

    Thanks to DG and Rishi for blog and cartoon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uveal is the middle layer of the eye, which is where Iris is .. That's how I got it clued.

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    2. Collins, Merriam Webster, and the OED all define the "uvea" as the middle layer, and "uveal" as the adjective form of that noun. Hence my question.

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    3. OK .. Wikipedia says Uvea , also called as Uveal. But then Wiki is not a trustworthy source at all.

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    4. The following extract from Wiki
      "
      The uvea (Lat. uva, grape), also called the uveal layer, uveal coat, uveal tract, or vascular tunic, is the pigmented middle of the three concentric layers that make up an eye.
      "

      Wiki does not call it "uveal", it calls it "uveal layer", where it is used as an adj. imo, Abhay is correct

      Delete
  9. .19 - D - I solved it, as ARSENIC. But where is definition?

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    Replies
    1. The "As". At the beginning is the symbol for Arsenic

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  10. Challenging and enjoyable puzzle. In 25d excluded instead of extracted would have been more enjoyable.

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  11. Afterdark lights up lots of deletions in his cluing.. Conjures up a good chemistry with the slovers. SESSILE is too convoluted to be derived. Albeit, cleverly contrived. AMALGAM was a confusing pot of jam of various fruits.A good raspberry indeed !

    Keep 'em coming AD !

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  12. Super set Shrikant T. Thoroughly enjoyed it. The chemistry clues were great (and easy for me). Some new words learnt SESSILE, DOCTRINAIRE, etc. clues like 23, 25, 5d were great! Managed most except 1-2 in NE corner...

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