ACROSS
1 - An inducement – to reduce bitterness ? (9) - SWEETENER [DD]
5 - Covered with water, was put in a hospital (5) - {A}{WAS}{H}
8 - Empty space for copper held by old actor Turner (6) - {LA{CU}NA}
9 - Desiring a quick launch, capturing the first person (8) - {A}{SP{I}RING}
11 - Name primate's body part (4) - {N}{APE}
12 - A scale to measure a hot feather in disrepair (10) - FA(H)RENHEIT*
14 - Giant ray, new, caught by mother in India (5) - {MA{N}TA}
16 - Lean back, get recreation on track (7) - {REC}{LINE}
17 - Machine part in a car with top changed (5) - (-m+r)ROTOR
19 - Incorrigible rascal may flee without energy initially but with decency (10) - {
20 - An honour, unknown but painful (4) - {A}{CH}{Y}
22 - With guile, Poe changed the closing part of the programme (8) - EPILOGUE*
23 - Become pale like a white French confronting start of harangue (6) - {BLANC}{H}
24 - Scholarly books that appear to the setter small (5) - {TO}{ME}{S}
25 - Athletic competition that the old can manage (9) - DECATHLON*
DOWN
1 - Divided, containing a bit of nutrient, it supports a broken bone (6) - {SPLI{N}T}
2 - Can emcee's mishap spell out a means of evading unpleasant facts ? (6,9) - ESCAPE MECHANISM*
3 - The sharp taste of some Spartan, gooey food (4) - TANG [T]
4 - You cannot get it cheaper than this at Sotheby's (7,5) - RESERVE PRICE [CD]
5 - Adjustments resorted to by politicians seeking power (10) - ALIGNMENTS [DD]
6 - The way food travels! (10,5) - ALIMENTARY CANAL [CD]
7 - Afternoon meal not really meant to make one euphoric (4,3) - HIGH TEA &lit
10 - Danger! Road up for repair where soldiers assemble for practice (6,6) - PARADE GROUND*
13 - For an Indian it is Indian (10) - INDIGENOUS [CD]
16 - Admiration for detail (7) - RESPECT [DD]
18 - It makes a mark in self-esteem, for instance (6) - HYPHEN [T]
21 - In good health? Around 50? Move quickly! (4) - {F{L}IT}
Hi
ReplyDeleteAfter yesterday’s use of BONHOMOUS in the CW, today’s Front Page Headline uses BONHOMIE ! Liked self reference in TO-ME-S and HYPHEN. Headless automobile, right in the beginning, R(-m)OTOR was nice. MA(N)TA ray almost gelled with the ELECT-R(A)ic ray. Companions of Honour was a revelation, I only knew of Companions of the (Order of) the Bath. DECATHLON was humorous, while SCAPEGRACE was unknown to me.
While Deepak is an INDI-GENIOUS, he is encouraged to have a literally HIGH TEA with SWEETENER while RECLIN(E)ing after his nap on the flight.
ReplyDelete(From yesterday)
ReplyDeleteDo you know when I got to know what 'gluteal' means?
Way back in 1996 when I was examining a medical report in Kingston, Canada.
CV:When I went through Gray's aptly illustrated by Carter.
ReplyDeleteNice one today.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why HIGH TEA is an &Lit. I thought it was just a CD.
I always get stuck 'cause of my bad spellings. Today it happened with INDIGINOUS and FARENHEIT (was wondering why the anagram didn't fit).
Sankalak for me used to quietly slip under the radar during his quota with what I described yesterday as a steady puzzle, but today was quite enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteIs it the newfound competition that has put a second wind in his sail or was it always like this and I'm waking up to it only now...
Come rain or shine, the Colonel manages to post the solutions :)
ReplyDeleteOr air or flight !
ReplyDeleteNo ESCAPE MECHANISM required :-)
ReplyDeleteNor a high(!)tea!!
ReplyDeleteColonel posts on all sundays, wednesdays, thursdays and fridays. The other days he posts are all mondays, tuesdays and saturdays.
ReplyDeleteAgree with VJ.Though I was lucky with 'indigenous',I got stuck with 'Fa(H)renheit for a long time.
ReplyDeleteBhavan@08:48 Agree with you on sankalak
ReplyDeleteI would think that old-time setters have not in any way modified themselves in the wake of new setters.
ReplyDeleteThey are far advanced in age and far more experienced than the youngsters.
If a set of clues for a crossword is better than another, attribute it to the gridfills.
Excellent puzzle today!
ReplyDeleteTOMES, SCAPE GRACE evaded me...
Stuck with LACUNA (was trying to fit in VACANT instead) for ages!!
@Kishore 830 - Noted bonhomie in the head line. May be Sandeep (the reporter) solved yesterdays crossie ;-)
@Bhargav (09:52) :D
ReplyDeleteI thought I heard somewhere (maybe from CVasi sir) that it takes about 6 months after the setter sends in a puzzle for it to appear in the newspaper. Would that be right CVasi sir?
ReplyDeleteAssuming that to be true, I remember that about that many months ago one of us (ain't gonna mention no names here, sorry) called Sankalak's puzzles "boring". I have a feeling that that remark, in particular, and others, in general, must have irked Mr. Sankalak just a tad bit. And the vastly experienced setter that he is, he must have decided to raise the bar a bit.
I have always felt that Sankalak was a highly talented setter. When and if pushed, I knew he could respond like this. Sankalak sir, please accept my congratulations.
This reminds me of one of my grad classes. One day, I got done with a test and turned it in. My professor asked as to how the test was and I shrugged my shoulders and said, "Pretty easy." The next time, he gave a killer test.
@CVasi my galvanisation comment was in jest.
ReplyDelete@Satya, I like this round of Sankalak's output too.
Puzzles that Gridman sets come to be published only some six or seven months later.
ReplyDeleteHe can't speak for others.
The exceptions were the recent specials that were set on some intimations and promptings on this forum.
Thank you CVasi sir.
ReplyDeleteI got a small chuckle as I read your statement,
"... that were set on some intimations and promptings on this forum." I replaced intimations with intimidations, hence the smile. :-)
another nice one from Sankalak today.
ReplyDeleteSome clever, misleading ones that threw people off.
Like David John, I had penned VACANT for the longest time, until I finally got SPLINT, and then that quadrant fell into place.
Another tricky one was 5D. I put it down as AMENDMENTS... and I still think it fits better than ALIGNMENTS, but hey.. I ain't the setter! :)
Missed SPACE GRACE, FAHRENHEIT, HYPHEN (clever!). Guessed ASPIRING correctly, but didn't pen it in, thanks to my confidence in AMENDMENTS! :)
DECATHLON, INDIGENOUS BLANCH were all really enjoyable! :)
If you're going to guess it wrongly, at least make sure it has some connection to the given clue, like I did with 8A: as soon as I saw empty space and copper, I put down VACUUM (and later told myself there was this actor called Vaum Turner who was known only to people of a certain age). :D
ReplyDeleteAs for 19D, I though it was an anagram of RASCAL and FLED (-e +d), and the crossings didn't do a thing to indicate to me that I was wrong.
A nice offering. Sankalak is easily my favorite setter for the simple reason that I am able to crack majority of his grids.
ReplyDeleteNavneeth: I too came up with vacuum thinking there was an actor named Vaum Turner. Bit later, I recalled the name of Lana Turner featured in an article on Hollywood murder cases by Randor Guy.
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteBack in Bangalore and I am going to hit the sack.
Thanks for all the encouragement. I too liked Bhargav's '9:52 Weekly Express'
Lucky for me today was Sankalak, his offerings have always been entertaining and free flowing, as I like to call it, or else I would never have been able to solve and publish the same in the 2 short hours I had between the wedding and my flight, not forgetting that I had to pack as well.
It seems to be a set practice for the 'Baraats' in North Indian weddings to arrive late, last night the Baraat came in at 10:30 instead of the scheduled 8, as a result of which, the entire proceedings got over only at 4 AM. How I love our Kerala Hindu weddings which takes just 5 to 10 mins!!
@Colonel,
ReplyDeleteYour commitment is admirable, thank you!
Deepak, excellent commitment!!! Awesome!!
ReplyDelete4 AM is just crazy!!! And I thought even ".......takes just 5 to 10 mins!!" was a bit too much.
hi
ReplyDeletenormally hari echo my thoughts and vice versa., today navneet helped on those lines..i can just copy paste the thoughts written. Indigenous took me a long..next is reserve though the price fell just immediately.
Nice offering. Looks a bit tedious in the beginning once the grids fill words started flowing.
Colonels commitment is truly laudable. by the way where is opulent asst regional director of this forum??
Mathu.
The creamy girl seems to be AWOL as noted by Mathu.
ReplyDeleteHi guys, as I had mentioned at the S&B meet, a new assignment keeps me busy in the early morning hours. By the time I get free time, all the action in the blog cools down.
ReplyDeleteKishore, in the evenings I am busy with the coverage of the on-going 25-day World Konkani Convention. But I do pop in here late in the night and browse through the comments.
Here's another crossword enthusiast - fastest?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/07/science/07profile.html?pagewanted=1&src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB
(May require registration)
20 A. What is the expansion of CH ( for honour )?
ReplyDeleteAjeesh,
ReplyDeleteSee Order of the Companions of Honour
Mathu@15:38
ReplyDeletehi
normally hari echo my thoughts
He does that so often in my case, too, that I mentally consider him as my unofficial spokesman. ;-)
Richard, How many banks are they starting this time ?
ReplyDeleteThere are two major rivers here - Netravati and Phalguni. That makes four banks. :)
ReplyDeleteSatya,
ReplyDeleteI liked your addition of your "ID" to intimation and making it "intimidation"! Looked like deciphering a crossword clue.Blog gets more interseting every day.
Thanks Col
ReplyDeleteDeepak @14 25: We South Indians also do not differ. Mappillai Azaippu scheduled for 6 or 7 pm will be generally about 8 pm. Still later, in deep South Villages and Rural centres.
ReplyDelete