Wednesday 11 March 2015

No 11339, Wednesday 11 Mar 2015, Mac


Mac in my opinion is the true inheritor of Sankalak's title.

ACROSS
6   Study for engineering degree (5) PROBE {PRO}{BE}
7   He supplies missing lines for report generated about minister (8) PROMPTER {PRO{MP}TER*}
10 Backtrack and nearly recreate setting (7) RETRACE RECREATe*
11 Compelling description of what an a cappella quartet do in audition? (7) FORCING (~four sing)
12 As a result of corrupt letters, he finds a new place to live in (7) SETTLER*
13 Shrink’s somewhat rash or tense (7) SHORTEN [T]
14 Complex and/or simple character arrays exhibiting directional symmetry (11) PALINDROMES*
19 Judge starts to ultimately grant emigration entitlement for asylum seeker (7) REFUGEE {REF}{U}{G}{E}{E}
21 One besieged by bizarre mental affliction (7) AILMENT {A{1}LMENT*}
23 Flexible clue I’d fashioned over time (7) DUCTILE {DUC{T}ILE*}
25 Trelliswork of ancient Athens described in French article (7) LATTICE {L{ATTICa}E} (Addendum - {L{ATTIC}E} - See comments)
26 Union had assembled and made noise (8) ADHESION {HAD*}{NOISE*}
27 Competition held by seven-thirty (5) EVENT [T]

DOWN
1   Impression you leave behind as you march ahead? (8) FOOTSTEP [CD]
2   Trailer, not starting, repaired and put back on track (6) RERAIL tRAILER*
3   Pear canap? prepared for 20 (10) APPEARANCE*
4   Owl is shaken by loud, ferocious animal (4) WOLF {OWL*}{F}
5   Segregationist’s starting to be discriminatory towards a gender (6) SEXIST {Se...t}{EXIST}
6   Decay as a result of unusual rise in pH (6) PERISH {P{RISE*}H}
8   Operate in proper formation (7) PERFORM [T]
9   A male representative (5) AGENT {A}{GENT}
13 River Nile moving about path free from turbulence (10) STREAMLINE {STREAM}{NILE*}
15 Coal lump beginning to burn (7) LIGNITE {Lump}{IGNITE}
16 Test sample of rodents raised in small enclosure (8) SPECIMEN {S}{P{ECIM<=}EN}
17 Score a ‘D’ in competitive exam (5) GRADE {GR{A}{D}E}
18 Cryptic setter’s way (6) STREET*
20 Appearance masking a disguise, primarily (6) FACADE {FAC{A}{Di...e}E}
22 Hide and start to look at her (6) LATHER {Look}{AT}{HER}
24 Team, in extra time, to bow out (4) EXIT {E{XI}T}

GRID

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34 comments:

  1. Mukundala Balasubramanyam11 March 2015 at 08:30

    A pleasant early morning walk in the park! Simple and elegant clueing. Particularly liked PROBE, SETTLER(My COD), REFUGEE, AILMENT,SEXIST, STREET etc. Thanks, Mac, for making it my day! :-)))

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mukundala Balasubramanyam11 March 2015 at 08:33

    + 1 for preamble.

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  3. Aakash Sridhar11 March 2015 at 08:35

    Brilliant one ... 21 A my CoD

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  4. VMA Nair11 March 2015 at 08:37

    Beautiful

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  5. Rengaswamy11 March 2015 at 08:39

    A plate full of samosas and hot at that! Enjoyed solving the crossword and loved the wordplay very much.

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  6. Deepak Gopinath11 March 2015 at 08:42

    New article at Crossword Unclued about Afterdark's quadruple pangram

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    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan11 March 2015 at 09:13

      Nice article bringing out the difficulties in achieving the stupendous task. One of his specials was left out- all Ac. clues starting with a & Dn. clues starting with D (which is also difficult in my opinion)

      Delete
  7. SandhyaP11 March 2015 at 08:51

    Neat clues. I just wish there weren't so many anagrams.

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    Replies
    1. Ramani11 March 2015 at 12:14

      Then how can we (the beginners, rather learners) get the samosas once in a while?

      Delete
    2. Ramani11 March 2015 at 12:16

      Then how can we (the beginners, rather learners) get the samosas once in a while?

      Delete
    3. Unknown11 March 2015 at 12:26

      I admit I seem to have a particular affinity for anagrams. Will try to tone it down:)

      Delete
  8. Raghunath11 March 2015 at 09:02

    Wonder about this abbreviation used: ET Extra time or E for extra and it's source?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown11 March 2015 at 12:27

      ET for Extra Time. Pretty common in sports (esp. football) circles.

      Delete
    2. Raghunath11 March 2015 at 12:46

      I'm not a fan of football like you are.

      Delete
  9. Padmanabhan11 March 2015 at 09:09

    Samosa before 8.30 and most delicious at that! Thank you Mac.Keep serving them.
    A doubt about 22D- 'Lather' & 'Hide'. I could not connect and the link did not help. Am I missing something?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath11 March 2015 at 09:29

      Lather: 2. Informal To give a beating to; whip = To beat severely; flog. = Hide

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan11 March 2015 at 09:42

      Thank you Raghu.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath11 March 2015 at 09:58

      It's there in the link

      Delete
  10. maradnusro11 March 2015 at 09:13

    I agree. Mac sets sensible clues and is pleasing use sank a lamp holes.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Raghunath11 March 2015 at 09:32

    25 Trelliswork of ancient Athens described in French article (7) LATTICE {L{ATTICa}E}

    Think this is: L(ATTIC)E . ATTIC = Of, relating to, or characteristic of ancient Attica, Athens, or the Athenians.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath11 March 2015 at 10:01

      Thanks Raghu, I was not happy with the annotation given by me

      Delete
  12. Arvind Ramaswamy11 March 2015 at 10:24

    Wow.. yet another wonderful puzzle from Mac... Thoroughly enjoyable!! Thank you Mac :-) Lots of awesome clues...PALINDROMES is my CoD.. wow... Other favourites being PROMPTER, GRADE, SPECIMEN, STREAMLINE...

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  13. Kishore11 March 2015 at 10:31

    Wholly agree with Deepak's comment at othe top. Truly wonderful! Keep it up, Mac!

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  14. Unknown11 March 2015 at 11:50

    Well done Mac! Very enjoyable CW today. Wholeheartedly agree with DG - Mac is true inheritor of Sankalak. Hope to see a lot more of him.
    Happy samosa day!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ramki Krishnan11 March 2015 at 13:46

    Superb set of clues. Specially liked PROBE, SPECIMEN, ADHESION, PALINDROMES... what the heck, loved all of them :) Thanks Mac!

    ReplyDelete
  16. PKPSwami11 March 2015 at 18:33

    Very nice. Quite enjoyable.22d- straight clue & easy to find.But hide(leather)=latheris news.13d - wonderful presentation. 14a - Just reminded of "able was I ere I saw Elba'. All said a good entertainer.Thank you Mac.

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  17. VMA Nair11 March 2015 at 21:24

    I love clues which are solver friendly, with super surface , no cryptic ambiguity etc . This CW covers everything . Thanks Mac.

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  18. raju umamaheswar11 March 2015 at 21:24

    Alas !! deprived of the full pleasure doing this online as the grid is more blacks than blanks
    Unfulfilled desires ? Here, it cannot be that a half empty glass is a half full glass !

    On AFTERDARK's pangram Holy Rangoli special, Shichi has done him an honour by featuring an article in her blog. Compiling is indeed a difficult creative effort and hence conjuring up an imaginative themed or pangram cryptic grid is the ultimate !! How much time did AD take to create this? A collector's piece indeed !

    ReplyDelete
  19. raju umamaheswar11 March 2015 at 21:27

    Sh !! spelt Shuchi as Shichi !! shorry !!

    ReplyDelete

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