ACROSS
1 - Newspaper backs nearly despicable neck piece (8) - GARROTTE {GAR<-}{ROTTEn}
5 - Said to be big, right kitchen device (6) - GRATER (~great){GRATE}{R}
9 - Thrust back with a short, slender tongue (7) - MARATHI {MAR<-}{A}{THIn}
10 - Frank takes drug — it's sweet-flavoured (7) - CANDIED {CANDI{E}D}
11 - Try limpin' around a fairy (9) - HOBGOBLIN {HOB{GO}BLIN'}
12 - Corn — it might be seen in wood (5) - GRAIN [DD]
13 - See, now ten combined after ignoring final directions (4) - NOTE {NOw}{TEn}
14 - NYC idlers moving on rollers (9) - CYLINDERS*
17 - Sheer trouble around listeners in trains(9) - REHEARSES {REH{EARS}ES*}
19 - The main point of listening is taking in (4) - GIST [T]
23 - Damages hothead's limbs (5) - HARMS {H}{ARMS}
24 - To destroy takes time, team leader having abandoned injunction (9) - ERADICATE {ERA}{DICtATE}
25 - Like morning dawning in Malta (7) - MATINAL* New word for me
26 - Sick situation — to saint it brings speechlessness (7) - ILLNESS stILLNESS
27 - Top meeting (6) - SUMMIT [DD]
28 - Being steady, way is negotiated through treacherous dunes (8) - UNSWAYED {UNS{WAY}ED*}
DOWN
1 - Grandmaster taking ultimately tasty food in Delhi horse-riding event (8) - GYMKHANA {G{Y}M}{KHANA}
2 - Moved rear item — cheesy fare (7) - RAREBIT {RARE*}{BIT}
4 - Lady liberator escapes from primitive method of determining one's guilt (5,2,6) - TRIAL BY ORDEAL*
6 - Frenchman, aged to a fault, is mutinous (8) - RENEGADE {RENE}{GADE*}
7 - Where things may disappear — on top of Mt. Everest? (4,3) - THIN AIR [CD]
8 - Squirrel, for one, has alternative retreat to hole (6) - RODENT {RO<-}{DENT}
10 - Review payment (13) - CONSIDERATION [DD]
15 - All but fiery place to wrong near-relative in city (8) - HELSINKI {HELl}{SIN}{KIn}
16 - Spoke with an accent? (8) - STRESSED [CD]
18 - A couple of hesitant words about backward sailor making a mistake (7) - ERRATUM {ER}{RAT<-}{UM}
20 - One sorcerer's line presents a literary device (7) - IMAGERY {I}{MAGE}{RY}
21 - Gland of your old Greek character's small (6) - THYMUS {THY}{MU}{S}
22 - Woodmen's leader has the Italian base in tree (6) - WILLOW {W}{IL}{LOW}
Was a nice one, sampling 7d at the 27a.
ReplyDeleteBut...
No Butts!
Kishore always talks in riddles.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I could make neither head nor tail (and any in-between part) of the late-evening exchanges here between him and Suresh.
And today Kishore butts into unknown and unspecified regions.
I thought hard and came to the conclusion that Kishore seems to say that Gridman has avoided the wordplay REHE(ARSE)S* at 17a.
Kishore, clean up your mind, man!
@Kishore & Suresh: Congrats for solving last month's Puzzle Wizard :)
ReplyDeleteCV @ 8:47,
ReplyDeleteNor did I. But I presume they were exchanging notes about the monthly 'ahapuzzle'
CV Sir: How is dawning in 25A an anagram indicator?
ReplyDeleteHi all
ReplyDeleteJust came across this quote and liked it. Thought of sharing it with you all.
English usage is sometimes more than mere taste, judgement, and education - sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across the street. - E B White, writer (1899-1985)
With apologies to other bloggers. Kishore and I were discussing this month's aha puzzle challenge.
ReplyDeleteRAREBIT or commonly known in India as Cheese toast, reminds me of my father who went to the Leela Palace in Bangalore and asked the stupefied waiter for a Welsh Rarebit. I don't know what the waiter got him.
@kishore
ReplyDeleteThink I may have got to the bottom of your question!
Very nice and smooth crossword.
Liked 7A 12A 25A
Col - your pic of cheese on toast made me homesick. The one thing I really miss in Kerala is good cheese, especially grilled on bread. Am now pining mature cheddar!
Dawning - coming to light, becoming apparent
ReplyDeleteI join Suresh in the apology.
ReplyDeleteDD & CV ;-)
Richard: Wah, kya share hai!
Sandhya: Thanks, done this month too.
And talking of riddles, I still don't know why or how no idols were broken.
ReplyDeleteCV you are probably the only one in this blog and probably elsewhere too who is able to comprehend Kishore's riddles more than 75%
ReplyDeleteSuresh:
ReplyDelete1. Time will tell.
2. And that is a kind of record.
Thanks Sandhya. I am also done for this month too.
ReplyDeleteSuresh@09.30-
ReplyDeleteI probably belong to the other half or I should say quarter.
I think I get the b,c,d, f -tc. of it now, Kishore
ReplyDeleteDavid @ 9:20,
ReplyDeleteCome to Bangalore, all varieties of Cheese available here.
19 - The main point of listening is taking in (4)
ReplyDeleteThis is probably the best surface today, but how does the telescopic indicator work?
The 'in' at the end of the sentence, I understand is the cue to look within for the answer, but in cryptic reading, how does it work as an instruction?
Bhavan
ReplyDeleteThe answer is simple. "of" is the telescopic ind. (though some may say it is weak).
The final word 'in' hangs there, playing no part in the tel. fodder.
But the smooth surface reading perhaps renders all this infructuous.
On second thoughts, after all, 'in' is not redundant. "taking in" is the phrase that means 'absorbing, imbibing".
Thanks CV, a quick look at Chambers suggested that "of" can mean "from, among", so that sounds fine.
ReplyDeleteBravo, Suresh.
ReplyDeleteActually Kishore it was a problem with my vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI did not know what exactly those dozen letters meant.
Would 16D be a CD or an E type clue? Is there anything cryptic about it?
ReplyDeleteWelcome,CV.
ReplyDeleteSuresh/Kishore
ReplyDeleteI managed to solve all except one in the latest AHA! in less than a minute (no, it won't happen like this all the time).
I will email my answers and if either of you confirms I will send the solutions to see if MY name comes out of the hat for the prize.
Kishore's 10:38 is in reply to my 10:39.
ReplyDeleteSure, CV.
ReplyDeleteDavid@921: Thanks David. A very ingenious anagram indicator that!
ReplyDeleteDG:
ReplyDeleteWhat's the visit rate on blogs entered late- say by the next day? I'm a loser in participation when all is said on the day's affair and no one reads your comments!! I'm a late to bed and late to rise idle bone and I wonder how to actively participate. I read all the comments without looking at the answers and decide to respond.
However, I find that everyone is into annotations, whilst I'm into intonations in the mornings.
Kishore: Keep up your wordplays. They make good reading when all else are playing with the words.
SUNDAY CROSSWORD
I was the VANQUISHED on 8 across.I was in absolute DOLDRUMS figuring it out. What do you expect at45 minutes past midnight when you are DOLOROUS and when the Goddess Lethe is embracing you?
05 September, 2011 13:07
Raju, it could have panned out differently if Dolores had been embracing you! Embarrassing, that is.
ReplyDeleteRaju,
ReplyDeleteI don't think very many visit the blog late at night.
I would like to remove a false impression that is created by a post of mine above.
ReplyDeleteIn the month's AHA puzzle involving lateral thinking I have got all except one - but not in secs as I stated but in bouts from then till this very moment - but without any clue from my good friend Kishore.
Not sure if I would ever get that remaining one.
Suresh
ReplyDelete(AHA)Now I have got the final one too but it appears that my answer to the 'jumble' is not correct. SO one is still remaining! Where do you stand?
The Penitent's progress? CV, your 1039 had just two extra words ;-) 5 and 6 in second sentence at that point of time. I purposely refrained form providing you any clues, as you have mentioned, because it would take away your joy of an Aha! Some others, not from this forum, have approached me in the past, asking for answers, which in the spirit of the contest, had to be respectfully declined.
ReplyDeleteCV 1829: When is the last bogie not the last bogie? When it is put in the middle!
ReplyDeleteAfter noting that in train accidents, it is usually the first and last bogies which get damaged, a wit is supposed to have come up with the idea, that these vulnerable bogies should be put in the middle of the train, so as to avoid damage to them.
@ Kishore 19 03 Like Indians playing second innings first
ReplyDeleteCV
ReplyDeleteI finished it yesterday itself. First before the clue was altered to give a choice of alphabets. This as an alternate answer was accepted and apparently Kishore followed with the same alternate answer. Then after a bit of trial and error got the amended answer as well.
Suresh, your alternate answer was different from mine ! Seeing too many (two) anagrams coming in (what else do you expect from CW fans?), Lloyd narrowed down the choice.
ReplyDeleteWith more solvers of AHA from this forum, I will have to refrain from dropping hints like I did yesterday and today.
ReplyDeleteKishore @ 21:34. And with you and me here even that took two attempts I think
ReplyDeleteWhat is this AHA puzzle that you speak of?
ReplyDelete6:42 AM and online paper is yet to appear. Have not received the print copy also as of now :-(
ReplyDeleteOk, just posted the clues on Orkut..
ReplyDeleteThanks Veer
ReplyDeletenavneethc
ReplyDelete(AHA) Please see Comments under Tue puz.