Thursday 27 September 2012

No 10579, Thursday 27 Sep 12, Gridman

Hats off to GM for putting in the suggested words.

ACROSS
1   - Taking away a bishop’s religious pamphlet, leader withdraws (11) - ABSTRACTION {A}{B'S}{TRACT}{1ON<- br="br">
9   - Operating system or add-in reconfigured (7) - ANDROID*
10 - Create a stir with it in a portal (7) - AGITATE {A}{G{IT}ATE}
11 - Night locale: land __ __ (2,3) - OF NOD [CD]
12 - Copy: “Don’t begin an act of restricting” (9) - IMITATION lIMITATION
13 - Fired up to vent rage after advent of enemy (5) - EAGER {E}{RAGE*}
15 - Imitations of two notes and shouts (9) - MIMICRIES {MI}{MI}{CRIES}
18 - A transmission technique that woman blacklisted, we hear (9) - BROADBAND {BROAD}{BAND}(~banned)
21 - He admits that he does not have to pay rent (5) - OWNER [DD]
22 - Gloomy warning beginning to harm radio technology (9) - BLUETOOTH {BLUE}{TOOT}{H}
24 - Rogue at first is in dirty film: “State of Confusion” (5) - SCRUM {SC{R}UM}
26 - Composers break off team, Sir (7) - MAESTRI*
27 - See old Indian coin following bits of special archaeology in tract (7) - SAVANNA {S}{A}{V}{ANNA}
28 - I freelanced excitedly in a region of Hollande’s nation (3,2,6) - ILE DE FRANCE*

DOWN
1   - Towel baba suffering in a weak state (2,1,3,3) - AT A LOW EBB*
2   - Litter French town (5) - SEDAN [DD]
3   - Got more from the manufacturer as doer erred badly (9) - REORDERED*
4   - Bad guy quiet about one element (7) - CADMIUM {CAD}{M{I}UM}
5   - One magazine is beginning moderation of a school of poetry (7) - IMAGISM {I}{MAG}{IS}{M}
6   - Foreign currency confused Raina (5) - NAIRA*
7   - Where a batsman is when he is not “in” (8) - PAVILION [CD]
8   - College administrator in Erode annoyed (4) - DEAN [T]
14 - See ugly bulges around little balls (8) - GLOBULES {G{LO}BULES*}
16 - Pass through X with six deliveries (5,4) - CROSS OVER {CROSS} {OVER}
17 - Dust-up in practice game (9) - SCRIMMAGE [DD]
19 - A boy is finally beginning exercise to spray finely (7) - ATOMISE {A}{TOM}{IS}{E}
20 - Shied away; church is to open (7) - DEHISCE {SHIED*}{CE}
22 - Blow to faculty? (4) - BUMP [DD]
23 - A word of contempt is thrown back by tribal (5) - TUTSI {TUT}{SI<->
25 - Arrest places national in wrecked condition (3,2) - RUN IN {RU{N} IN}




48 comments:

  1. Hi

    While the Tour de France continues here today with SEDAN, ILE DE FRANCE, and description of a French girl crying in 15a, what surprised me was The Guardian Quick Crossword 10917 today, which had some more French words and phrases: ADIEU, LAISSEZ FAIRE, JE NE SAIS QUOI...

    Vive le France and their phrases, words and letters...I don’t know what...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Last part pregnant with meaning...

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    2. Pun-cture ho gaya kya?

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    3. good evening all. a very challenging CW today. while some clues were easy,, many weren't. Gridman is addicting. sankalak and Gridman have become my fav setters.

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  2. Hi all

    Some clues are related to performing arts and multimedia.

    A little tougher than yesterday. Was AT A LOW EBB for some time at the southeast corner. Then picked up.

    Remembered NAIRA as the Nigerian currency after a long time. GM often traps solvers with irregular plural forms like MAESTRI.

    Liked BROADBAND, CADMIUM, REORDERED, IMAGISM, GLOBULES, ATOMISE and many others.

    PAVILION reminded me of an old joke on cricket. Someone who was just learning the nitty-gritty of the game could not really dig this - when the batsman goes in to bat, he is out (of the pavilion) and when he is 'out', he is back in.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Special mention:

    26 - Composers break off team, Sir (7) - MAESTRI*

    When we built our house, the guy who composed our walls was called maestri...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In northern parts of India, there is a profession called 'mistry', some kind of a troubleshooter or supervisor... no mystery!

      Delete
    2. In line with:

      Great Scott, who wrote Ivanhoe?
      Who the Dickens wrote The Great Expectations?
      What a mystery: who is the CMD of Tata Sons?

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    3. Are the 2 maestri connecred in any way?

      Delete
    4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistry_(surname)

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  4. Punning all the way?

    Filled in 'broadcast' for 22A and got stuck for 20D.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same here. I did not like the answer as I could not explain cast . After some thought got broadband which made sense and saved the south west grid from a collapse.

      Delete
  5. A tougher crossword today ( or was my brain AWOL today ?). Struggled a lot even to get words like Blue tooth. Needed the net for Dehicse.
    Finally ended up looking here for answers to Sedan & Land of Nod. One of my suggested words made it to the grid today. Thanks Gridman.

    Possibly how I feel today :

    Waters's creation perhaps is pleasantly senseless (11,4)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. All my three suggestions in today's offering, and thank you for Pink Floyd number :-)

      Delete
    2. Ramesh, Interesting coincidence, not sure why, but I struggled with the exact same words you mention here. I thought the crossword was not tough, just that I could not think clearly today for whatever reason. Enjoyed the crossword nonetheless and all of them in this run have been real fun to solve.

      Delete
  6. What's towel Baba? Not sure if there's one such thing or person or whatever, but it kinda sounds funny nonetheless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We did have a Pilot Baba, so why not a Towel Baba? I smiled when I read this clue. At least the fig leaf of towel was there...

      Delete
  7. Bon voyage Kishore and have a good trip.

    Don't know if you will have the time to drop by tomorrow or the day after.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Suresh. Tomorrow morn may be my last for the nonce. After that, time and connectivity permitting...

      Delete
    2. Bon voyage from me too, Kishore. English language may have a break from your hands for a couple of days...

      Delete
    3. Nice new logo Richard. With lots of 'rupees' safely locked in.

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    4. Thanks Suresh. It was designed by me about 15 years ago for my personal use, much before the rupee emblem came. I had displayed it only in my personal visiting cards and on my home door.

      It represents many ideas. Can you make a guess?

      Hint: Your Telugu proficiency could help.

      Delete
    5. Why only Telugu? Works in Kannada and Hindi too...

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    6. You are right, Kishore. It represents Roman, Devanagari and Kannada scripts. I gave a hint to Suresh since the character is almost the same in Kannada and Telugu.

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    7. Kannada and Telugu people have similar characters...

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    8. I don't know why but the logo reminds me of Richie Rich.

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    9. Because of the rupee symbol almost and the lock?

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    10. Just to put the speculation spree to rest and to stop imagination from running riot -

      The logo design incorporates the first character or syllable of my name 'Ri' in Devanagari and Kannada scripts and the letter R in Roman script.

      Rupee and lock? No way! The rupees are all stashed under other people's locks...

      Delete
  8. Kudos for the excellent design, Richard. And thanks for your wishes. American English now awaits me, cringing in fear at the onslaught and p j humor I may inflict on it...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Suresh's mention of a 'good trip' reminds me not to have a trip at the Grand Canyon or the Niagara Falls... That would be end of me...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. shubh shubh bola karo, bhaiyya

      Delete
    2. You must have heard of the chestnut about a 'gorgeous' pun about the Grand Canyon. I thought: why not pun about 'trip' and 'falls'...

      Delete
  10. Towel baba suffering in a weak state (2,1,3,3)

    'Towel' here is not an adj but a verb. If you like, supply [who is] between 'baba' and 'suffering'. Now reread the clue and see if it makes some sense.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somehow this also works for pilot baba, as pilot too can be a verb ;-)

      Delete
  11. Clarification - Does SCRUMMAGE can be used for 17D. I solved it as THAT.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I also wrote scrummage, but was not happy with the answer, since the word does not mean practice game

      Delete
  12. Kishore wrote: The Guardian Quick Crossword 10917 today, which had some more French words and phrases: ADIEU, LAISSEZ FAIRE, JE NE SAIS QUOI...

    I knew a limerick that ended with the phrase 'je ne se quoi' from my boyhood days which was not what I quote below but some other that I am not able to recall now. The following one however suits the tone that our posts take sometime. (The French phrase literally means: I know not what.)

    A student from dear old Bryn Mawr
    Committed a dreadful faux pas:
    She loosened a stay
    In her new décolleté
    Exposing her je ne sais quoi.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Belated Bon Voyage and a pleasant stay. How long are you going to be away? Of course, I am sure you will log in from wherever you are but for the journey part. We don't want to miss you for more than a couple of days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. I'll be away for 6 weeks. Will try to log in and keep my fingers crossed for the Orkut app to load properly as that will be my only way to get the blank grid.

      Delete
    2. Have a good trip Kishore.

      I too hope the travel plans don't affect your participation here.

      Delete

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