Thursday 28 January 2010

No 9751, Thursday 28 Jan 10, Gridman

What a relief after NJ
ACROSS
1 - Head of clan too old for insurance (8) - {C}{OVERAGE}
5 - Sufficient for one to turn. “Disgusting!” (6) - {ENO<-}{UGH}
9 - They may be gathered in one’s mind (8) - THOUGHTS [CD]
10 - Say no to litter! (6) - REFUSE [DD] Nice one
12 - U.S. magazine’s back issue (4) - EMIT <- )
13 - Has on hand the cash-box without moving (5-5) - {STOCK S}{TILL}
15 - Cold, did you say? It’s hot on the tongue! (6) - CHILLI(~chilly)

17 - Spells out in balance sheet (5) - B{OUT}S
20 - Photo developer’s solution (5) - FIXER [E]
21 - Pages, not masters, in season to have late meal (6) - SU(-mm+pp)PPER
24 - Higher insurance for a cricket fielder (5,5) - {EXTRA} {COVER}
27 - Retrieved a Roman robe (4) - TOG<-{A} How does GOT get reversed ? (Addendum - See Sandhya's comments below for the answer to my query)

29 - Adult lays out krona for a cold-weather jacket (6) - {A}NORAK*

30 - Not surprising, a number is heard and noticed (8) - (~four){FORE}{SEEN}
31 - Acted like a couch potato (6) - LOLLED [E]
32 - An unhappy person may let it fall (4,4) - TEAR DROP [CD]
DOWN
1 - Tailor a ship (6) - CUTTER [DD]

2 - Fiddle in an orchestra (6) - VIOLIN [CD]
3 - Partial irrigation for city on the Baltic Sea (4) - RIGA [T]
4 - Bird is beyond the empty grange. Understand? (3,2) - {G}{E}T IT
6 - Works said to have necessaries (5) - NEEDS(~kneads)
7 - Demanding exceptional interest? (8) - USURIOUS [CD]
8 - Kind of shoes Hess and Elle wear out (8) - HEELLESS*
11 - Be frugal with curls, end coming up first (6) - (+s)SCRIMP(-s)
14 - Blender noise — no end to spin (4) - WHIR(-l)
16 - One letting out property carelessly loses the first of receipts (6) - LESSO*{R}
17 - Sounded pronouncedly sad (4) - BLEW(~blue)
18 - Finally falter badly in a line (5,3) - AFTER {A}{L}L*
19 - Expo: it’ll set out a psephologist’s exercise (4,4) - EXIT POLL*
22 - Pure representation covers large attitudinizer (6) - P{OS}EUR*
23 - Patna’s perturbed at leader of clans having forty winks (6) - {C}ATNAP*
25 - Mindful of fighting within the limits of Alipore (5) - A{WAR}E
26 - Tamil Nadu town’s about-turn on poem (5) - {ER<-}{ODE}
28 - Listen, doubly it’s a sign of approval (4) - HEAR [CD]

24 comments:

  1. Good morning, Colonel and THC Solvers' Regiment:

    Enjoyed solving the c/w today. And pretty fast, to boot.

    What a break from the past, 'tense' stretch !

    The ones I liked: 5A, 15A, 26D and a few others.

    Keep going, Gridman !



    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  2. A mild grouse:

    Surprised to see insurance cover used twice (1A and 24A).

    Not so major an offence for the setter to duck and take cover.


    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  3. 27 across: RETRIEVED meaning = GOT back(hence reverse of GOT)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Richard

    Loved the appellation 'THC Solvers' Regiment'!

    A valid point regarding the duplication of insurance/cover. But compilers who are too careful and constantly revising their clues may sometimes be rather lazy to do one more extra bit.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Missed mentioning 10A and 28D as cute clues.


    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  6. After NJ, Gridman is truly a relief. Many nice clues in here, especially REFUSE and EMIT.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The city of RIGA brought to mind a limerick I had read long long ago. Thought of sharing it with you all:

    There was a young lady of Riga
    Who smiled as she rode on a tiger
    They returned from the ride
    With the lady inside
    And the smile on the face of the tiger.

    Not sure if the author is Edward Lear or someone else.


    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  8. As there is not much left for discussion, I take the liberty of taking a diversion.

    @ Chaturvasi

    I faintly remember having seen a cartoon, perhaps by Abu Abraham in the undivided Indian Express, carrying these lines and with the late Indira Gandhi as the Lady of Riga, during my student days.

    If I am not mistaken, and if my memory serves me right, it was a reference to the 'conscience vote' campaign propounded by her during a Presidential election in the late 1960s, with the official Congress candidate Neelam Sanjeva Reddy pitted against the 'rebel' candidate, Varahagiri Venkata Giri (both deceased now).

    In the cartoon, I think, the conscience vote theory was represented by the tiger. The cartoon suggested that her move might boomerang on her on some future day.

    She went against the party line and supported Giri. She was expelled for indiscipline by the hardliners, thus paving way for her own Indian National Congress (Indira), or Cong (I) for short.

    With your long career in journalism, perhaps you can put the loose ends together, and correct the factual inaccuracies, if any.



    Richard

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  9. Please read 'Sanjeva Reddy' as 'Sanjeeva Reddy' in the above post.

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  10. I remember the cartoon.

    In fact, at the time Abu joined IE office in New Delhi and was working with it on his return to India from the UK, I was on the staff of the paper in Madras.

    Richard, BTW, see 'time out' in col. 1 of the op-ed page of the New Indian Express for today:

    http://epaper.newindpress.com/NE/NE/2010/01/28/index.shtml

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Chaturvasi,
    Read your article in the IE. Was just imagining as to what would happen if the 'Toga', worn by the lady shown above, malfunctioned!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice one, Chaturvasi. Detailed comments in your personal mail later.

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  13. Right, Col. By the way the expression 'Wardrobe Malfunction' is as disastrous as the embarrassing moment itself and on that score I fully agree with CV.

    Could be an euphemism coined by a smart aleck.


    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  14. Correction to the last line: Could be a euphemism...

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  15. @Chaturvasi: Interesting article. I wonder if many a time, wardrobe malfunctions are nothing but publicity gimmicks.

    @Richard: Very curious to know about your "detailed comments in (Chaturvasi's) personal mail." ;)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Interesting article, CVasi Sir.

    Publicity gimmick or not, the yellow press certainly uses the term 'wardrobe malfunction' for that purpose. In fashion mags, I have come across headlines that scream wardrobe malfunction, when the news is just that a filmstar was not wearing a beautiful enough dress.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Hi Sandhya

    Nice to read your comment. Nothing tantalizing there please.

    That subject was not relevant to this blog. Besides, it would have eaten up a lot of space here, much to the chagrin of other readers. So I told Chaturvasi that I would reply to his personal mailbox. I haven't yet got my act together to implement that threat though. Until this minute, that is.


    Thanks

    Richard

    ReplyDelete
  18. Just noticed that 5A is a lift from the globe and mail crossword on Dec 28th (17 D)

    www.theglobeandmail.com/crosswords

    ReplyDelete
  19. @Sriram: ENOUGH naturally suggests the breakup of ONE<- UGH, and it's easily possible for two setters to independently come up with the same idea/wording.

    ReplyDelete
  20. The clue in The Globe and Mail reads: "It's sufficient to upset one with an expression of disgust".
    While I do agree that the wordplay is the same (which two setters, why the same setter on different occasions can come up with), I wonder how the clue in this puzzle can be called a "lift".
    For this the wording must be exact.
    If one says that both clues employ the same word breakup, that will be nearer the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  21. I agree with Chaturvasi, for something to be classified a 'lift' it has to be the exact wording, just by having the word 'sufficient' in both clues by no means classifies it as a lift, in my opinion I don't see any similarities in the clues.

    ReplyDelete
  22. On reading the clues again, I do agree that two independent crossword setters could have come up with the same idea.

    As resonated by many many people, Gridman's crossword today was a welcome relief from an extended NJ-set crosswords !

    ReplyDelete

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