Sunday 8 August 2010

No 2597, Sunday 08 Aug 10

Posting from Chennai

ACROSS
1 - Noteworthy gesture (6) – SIGNAL[DD] 
4 - They may provide openings for a rock band (3,5) – THE DOORS [DD]
9 - Greek leisure film (6) – {GR}{EASE}
10 - Samaritan surprisingly run off island (8) – TASMANIAr*
12 - Novel writer - Wheatley, say (9) – {PEN}{DENNIS}
13 - Well-known college rejected daughter (5) – {NOTE<-}{D}
14 - Perry's accent confused actor (7,5) – SPENCER TRACY* Remember him as Capt Culpepper in 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World' great movie, remade in Hindi a few years ago.
18 - Jet he'd taken round area in spring (12) – {FOUNTAIN}{HE{A}D}
21 - Female victim in Eliot's river (5) – {F}{LOSS}
22 - Unlucky, a guy unable to relax (3,2,4) – {ILL} {A}{T EASE}
24 - Quick joke about English ship (3-5) – {ON}{E} {LINER}
25 - I name patient as a precaution (2,4) – {I}{N}{CASE}
26 - Attempt to fix a match, all but a farce (8) – {TR{A}{VEST}Y}
27 - Go away, exhausted, with Italian (4,2) – {BEAT} {IT}
DOWN
1 - One may help you along the way (8) – SIGNPOST [CD]
2 - Drink teenager brewed (5,3) – GREEN TEA*
3 - A passage from Australia is lengthy (5) – AISLE [T]
5 - Choice phrase? (5,2,5) – HEADS OR TAILS [CD]


6 - See sister in party dress about noon (9) – {DO}{MINI}{C}{AN}
7 - Decorated knight brought in to give a speech (6) – {OR{N}ATE}
8 - Drink readily available after opening of saloon (6) – {S}{HANDY}
11 - Uncompromising in nets training bats (12) – INTRANSIGENT*
15 - Not quite covered, rounding tree, bullets coming from all sides (9) – {CROSS{FIR}Ed}
16 - Greek character, in ancient Greek city, almost singled out (3,5) – {S{ET A}PARTa}
17 - A depression engulfing that female supporter (8) – {A}{D{HER}ENT}
19 - A launch at sea (6) – {A}{FLOAT}
20 - Fellow, say, visiting a wine shop (6) – {BOD}{EG}{A}
23 - Under emotional strain in past, perhaps (5) – TENSE [DD]

31 comments:

  1. Good morning

    About to say 'sigh!' in place of 'Hi'. Quite a tough one today. Frame of mind or weekend syndrome? Not sure.

    Missed a very few. 4A ?H? DOORS, 12A P?N?E?N?S, 25A, 27A and 20D. But enjoyed the challenge, all the same. SIGNAL, GREASE, TASMANIA, NOTED, SPENCER TRACY, FOUNTAINHEAD, FLOSS, ILL AT EASE, ONE-LINER, TRAVESTY, SIGNPOST, GREEN TEA, AISLE, HEADS OR TAILS, DOMINICAN, ORNATE, SHANDY, INTRANSIGENT, CROSSFIRE, LET ALONE (?), ADHERENT, AFLOAT, TENSE (liked this) - phew!

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  2. While we're imbibing Napa Valley's Mondavi Zin & Merlot & Chennai Rasam's Rasam, and CA See's Candy & Adyar Ananda Bhavan Kathlis, we'll miss the rest of you ;-)

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  3. 27A - BEAT IT was easy. But had goofed up at 16D. Came to know PENDENNIS and BODEGA today.

    Once again wishing the Sloggers and Bloggers all the very best. Repeating my 'Wish I were there.'

    That reminds me of an anecdote: A young, leading businessman goes to a famous hill station for a seminar. Those were the pre-Internet, pre-cellphone days. He wires his wife saying: 'Great ambience. Wonderful company. Wish you were here.'

    When he returns home, all hell breaks loose. All because the last letter of the last word - 'here' - in the telegram had been omitted.

    Got it? Enjoy!

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  4. Gita, I am squirming in my seat with envy.

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  5. How come there's no murukku for the meet?

    Hope you guys have fun and I am sure Col will post pictures.

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  6. Lots of proper nouns today. Remembered D Wheatley's 'They used dark forces' set in WW2 Germany. One phrase I remember from one of his book's chapter heading? (not sure which one) is 'the armpit of the tortoise' referring to a safe place; reportedly a tortoise cannot get to it.

    On the lines of an old song 'Oh, to be in London':

    Oh, to be in Chennai!
    with Sloggers & Bloggers,
    with Masters Shifu & Oogway*,
    with exotic wine & candy,
    with local soup & sweet,
    Oh, to be in Chennai!

    * with apologies to Col and CV

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  7. 26A Any ideas how match becomes vest

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  8. WE know shandy is village market that comes once in a week; Never knew it represents 'drink' also

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  9. Shandy is beer with lime. I used to drink it at one time.

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  10. VESTA is an old form of matchbox. Many brands now use the word 'vestas' instead of matches. The anno perhaps is TR{AVEST*}Y.

    Subramaniam, quite commonly, the combination for 'shandy' is beer and ginger ale or any tangy beverage like 7up or Sprite. It is popular among some ladies at parties, as I have observed.

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  11. The procedure for making Shandy is provided with the link in the main post above

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  12. Richard
    You beat me to it by a few secs.
    Yes, we had vestas in India some years ago. Not wooden stick but some fibrous material.
    The exact anno is:
    Attempt TRY
    to fix - connector
    a - A
    match, all but a - VEST[a]
    farce -def

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  13. Yes, now I remember Vestas. We used to have Wax vestas

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  14. Best wishes to the Sloggers & Bloggers for an enjoyable 'feasty' get-together.

    The appetisers that Gita has enumerated, including Kaju Kathlis, not to mention the Special Filter Coffee from Mrs CV, will certainly start it off on the right note. (In Kumbakonam, we still call it as Degree Coffee - made with the first decoction.)

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  15. Hi
    27a BEAT IT reminded of MJ’s song BEAT IT beautifully parodied by Weird Al Yankovic as EAT IT. See and listen to both songs and compare and contrast (reminded you of schooldays, huh ? )

    BEAT IT

    EAT IT

    Eat it is dedicated to the S&B candy and kathli consumers.

    Al’s lyrics can be found at:
    http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/eat-it-lyrics-weird-al-yankovic/8ab76738f32ab4504825690e0014be09

    He has done a lot of beautiful parodies which you can look up on You Tube.

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  16. Venkatesh: Thanks for posting my post yesterday.

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  17. @Kishore
    Glad to be of help anytime.

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  18. Hi all,
    On my way back to Bangalore after the S&B meet at Chennai. Posting from onboard the Lalbagh express. Thought I would upload the pictures during the 5 hrs train trip, unfortunately cannot do so as I forgot the card adapter so you'll will have to wait till tomorrow.
    The meet was great starting with the wine and chocolates, courtesy Gita, at Chaturvasi's place followed by the sumptuous lunch at Rasam restaurant. The following attended

    Gita Iyer
    Chaturvasi
    Dr Srinivasan with his nephew
    Muthaiah
    Bhargav
    VJ
    Vijay accompanied by his wife
    Dr Pankajam
    Dr Sumitra
    Ms Divya Kumar from the HINDU along with her husband Shyam
    and yours truly

    I would like to express my gratitude to Gita and Chaturvasi for having organised the get together and am looking forward to many more such meets

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  19. Thanks to Chaturvasi and Gita we had a whale of a time at Chaturvasi's house and at Rasam Restaurent. Colonel has graced this B&S meet with his presence on the way to Kerala VJ, Dr Srinivasan who is on the way to Denmark after postponing it by a week for this meet and others. I was the cat among the piegeons, i.e., a rationalist - why do they call a non- believer a rationalist? Does that mean a believer is irrational?

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  20. Colonel has beaten me by more than 30 minutes. Missed Richards, Kishore et al very much.

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  21. Hey, thanks for organizing this meet. It was fun meeting you all. Nice chocolates BTW.

    Muthiah, in our culture, atheists/ non-believers are like outcasts. This is something odd you know. If I say to somebody that I'm an atheist, they'd freak out as if such a thing is not possible. The fact is, atheists/ non-believers simply don't believe in god.

    According to rationalists, knowledge comes from reason. In this sense, I don't think non-believers could really be equated to "rationalists." The way I see it, knowledge and belief are independent. Well Rene Descartes, a rationalist philosopher, happened to believe in God.

    I wouldn't say believers are "irrational." I don't think it'd be a nice thing to say. I'd just call them "people of faith." They choose to believe though there's no evidence of God's existence. A close look at our history and evolution would clearly suggest that God is a concept created by humans. I don't see how this has any bearing on reality.

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  22. AWESOME meeting! Very happy to meet Mrs & Mr Rishikesh (aka Chaturvasi), teh Colonel, Chandroo's bro Dr. Srinivasan, and his nephew, Muthiah, Vijay (V J), Vijay (the Orkit puzzle finisher) & his wife, Divya Kumar and her husband, Bhargav, Drs Pankajam and Sumitra.

    I appreciate the trouble all the people went to, to make this happen.
    - Overnight trip from Bangalore for the Colonel.
    - V J had to take time away from a Ramayana reading at home
    - Dr. Srinivasan postponed his trip to Denmark so he could be with us
    - Vijay had to trouble his wife for help
    - Drs Pankajam & Sumitra took time away from a medical conference
    - Bharagav put up with his brother
    - Chaturvasi & his wife hosted us for the 1st hour
    - Muthiah came from Tambaram
    - Divya came with the intent to gather information for a follow-up on MetroPlus!

    Love you all! Hope the next meeting is in CA.

    PS - VJ, Muthiah, try being a 'skeptical vedantist'

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  23. What's skeptical vedantist?

    I'm sorry that I couldn't join y'all for lunch. Being a satsangh day, my mom wouldn't let me eat anyplace else lol. And my contribution toward this Ramayana thing ends just there :)

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  24. Congrats to you all on this great event.

    VJ, isn't mom reading this?

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  25. @GITA,@COL, Both of u forgot Dr.Madhavan who accompanied us.May be bcos he does not blog.

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  26. Richard, nah!!! Even if she did, she wouldn't be surprised..

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  27. The reference to Ananda Bhawan kathli's disturbed by concentration. I couldn't carry on with lawnmowing today as planned :)

    Anyway, have fun, guys!

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  28. I meant 'my concentration', of course

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  29. FLOSS: Tho' I got this as an answer, can someone annotate for me-- in terms of F-Female;ok .victim in Eliot's river? Beats me. How does Loss work out? I'm lost.!!

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