Sunday 1 October 2017

The Sunday Crossword No 2963, Sunday 01 Oct 2017


ACROSS
1   Be quiet in particular after defeat by editor (4,4) PIPE DOWN {PIP}{E D}{OWN}
5   Lawyer not lasting long (5) BRIEF [DD]
9   Popular face, not having left country (5) INDIA {IN}{DIAl}
10 Variety of smart neon decorations (9) ORNAMENTS*
11 Bend back with bundle containing very soft fruit (4,5) CRAB APPLE {ARC<=}{B A{PP}LE}
12 Furious buccaneer deprived of power (5) IRATE pIRATE
13 Large shock received by spy ring, our team being superior (4-9) SELF-RIGHTEOUS {SE{L}{FRIGHT}E}{O}{US}
16 Breaking old rule, bashed bone (8,5) SHOULDER BLADE*
20 Distinctive character in sweet hospitality (5) ETHOS [T]
21 Idea getting support with weight in one section of church (9) BRAINWAVE {BRA}{1}{N{W}AVE}
23 Caught spirit with percussion instrument (5,4) SNARE DRUM {SNARE D}{RUM}
24 Reported discovery, penalised (5) FINED (~find)
25 Aquatic plant from America added to collection (5) LOTUS {LOT}{US}
26 Talkative type, upset, disrupting public relations (8) PRATTLER {P{RATTLE}R}

DOWN
1   Royal measure endlessly covered by journalists (8) PRINCESS {PR{INCh}ESS}
2   Lengthen article about university city (5) PADUA {PAD}{U}{A}
3   Silence in broadcast that's costly, holding start of important commercial up (4,3) DEAD AIR {Im...t}{AD}<= in {DEAR}
4   Film star's joyful shout over one element with appeal about right (6,8) WHOOPI GOLDBERG {WHOOP}{1} {GOLD}{BE{R}G}
5   Child at home among tall grass, mostly (7) BAMBINO {BAMB{IN}Oo}
6   Part of Mediterranean island? One's in a developed area (6,3) IONIAN SEA {I}{ONES+IN+A}*{A}
7   Lot keeping south and north secure (6) FASTEN {FA{S}TE}{N}
8   Being sold rum, three men had made merry (5,3,6) UNDER THE HAMMER*
14 Gather in secret without initial despair (4,5) LOSE HEART {cLOSE {HEAR}T}
15 Guardian's purpose restricted by delay (8) DEFENDER {DEF{END}ER}
17 Shellfish? Yes, sort at sea (7) OYSTERS*
18 Good name retained by worker, for instance, qualified (7) BENEFIT {BE{N}E}{FIT}
19 Not so much raised to support very English craft (6) VESSEL {V}{E}{LESS<=}
22 Pawn in duel regularly set aside (5) ANNUL {pAwN}{iN}{dUeL}

42 comments:

  1. No paper, nothing online, no exercise. What a restful Sunday morning!

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  2. Leaderboard is yet to be updated in IXL?

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  3. Yes, Ram. Only my mistakes are showing.
    BTW- what is 'Doklam'? Can't find it in dictionary.

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  4. Doklam is a place, which has been much in the news recently as the cause of the India China stand-off.

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  5. Confrontation zone! Should have done it.
    Never thought of a proper name. Thank you Suresh.

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    Replies
    1. Doklam, whisky and brewing ate up a good 20 minutes of time๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐Ÿ˜ˆ๐Ÿ˜ˆ

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    2. These two made me to fall from 26th place to 83rd:(

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  6. I have doubts about the following clues of Round 2:
    13AC: Famous film producer leads Yankee follower to dance (5)WALT Z
    The so-called famous producer is known as Disney, not as Walt.
    Anyone with me?

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    Replies
    1. Walt (Disney) and Yankee (for Y)'s follower is Z

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    2. Maybe the setter was on first-name terms with the film producer.

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    3. CryPoetic licence?

      In my case, I made a mistake of putting in RambOtan instead of Rambutan ! Damn! One feels like a poop with such silly mistakes !

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    4. Take heart. I put A, knowing well it is U. Just a silly typo and in a hurry to catch did not revise my entries (like you do in exam paper- if one has the time)

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  7. Congrats Suresh!5th position is great!Keep going!

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  8. Congrats,Suresh! Keep it up. Best wishes o everyone.

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  9. Every one waiting with bated breath for the floodgate to be opened at noon when there would be an Elphinstone Road like scamper & stampede !!

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  10. Vasant,
    You are also close. You should put extra efforts to reach top 10!

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    Replies
    1. Speed is not my forte but neverthless shall give it my best shot. Thanks Sir

      Delete
  11. This was the easiest of the three. So there would be a huge scramble for the leadership board

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  12. MBgaru,
    You have occupied my position in Round 2. I was in 64 in Round 1.
    Keep climbing!

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  13. What happened in the 2nd round KKR Sir? Why you are in the unexpected position?

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  14. Thanks Ram for your enquiry.
    As I said earlier, I closed it with an error [WaltZ] mentioned above. I sent with wrong answer knowing it to be incorrect.
    Only now, I realized that there were TWO more errors, WEEDY (my take was Reedy) and DOKLAM [my take was diktat]
    I could have spent some more time.

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    Replies
    1. How can it be?
      I also filled in 'reedy' & Diktat!
      So I get a double pinch- one from Ram and the next from KKR.

      Delete
  15. Vasant: Yeah, this was the easiest of the series so far ¬ yet, afew clues are sneaked in that can try one's patience. If only one participates to complete and not compete, on can get on ahead in the leaderboard. In No 2: Many flipped flat on Reedy ! No need to rush as satisfaction is complete when we don't compete !

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  16. Another Faux pas can be due the keying in problem; one is so used to contnuous keying in of the words at oen go, here one has to gp stgep nby step and inthe process, one keys in a lettermeant for the earlier or the next, leaving behind an obvious and silly wrong word. In the rush to press :submit: one fails to relook before doing so and then bites one fingers and look silly. may be a trick or a ploy deliberatly adoply=ted by the organizers to use this software to disqualify many ? Or is it only my persecution complex?

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  17. No, Raju. This is not your complex.
    This complex problem really irritates and in fact it takes your valuable time in competitions like this.
    I think the best acrosslite version is coming from our own blog. It jumps automatically to the unfilled grid intelligently. This saves lot of time.

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    Replies
    1. But then this is applicable to all competitors so you cannot say you lost time for this

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    2. Deepak: What I meant was in terms of quickness and ease of use of the Acrosslite as opposed to the ICL software and not meant for competitors. Have you got any say in the ICL admn ? If so, can yoou help here at least for the nxt season?

      Delete
  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

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