Friday, 1 February 2013

No.10685, Friday 1 Feb 13, Klue Klux Klan

Good one. Liked PREPOSITION, CONSULTANT and GASBAG

 ACROSS
1 Could be after or before office (11) PREPOSITION (PRE + POSITION)
9 Withdraw from transaction in counter (7) RETRACT (CD?) (TR inside REACT) See comments below
10 Two hands in a bush? (6) PAWPAW (2 x PAW)
11 Unlimited impious disastrous drug (5) OPIUM (iMPIOUs)
12 Primitive impish one in charge (7) ARCHAIC (ARCH + A + IC)
15 Newspaper page opened heartlessly (2-2) OP-ED (OPenED)
16 Advisor who partly controls, protects ruler (10) CONSULTANT (CONTrols outside SULTAN)
18 Something new at the lodge was met with applause (10) INNOVATION (INN + OVATION)
20 Fruit for New Zealander (4) KIWI (DD)
23 Emanating the fragrance of sodium (7) NASCENT (Na + SCENT)
24 Delight when returning from the bar (5) REVEL (LEVER<=)
26 A bore to capture petrol first (6) GASBAG (GAS + BAG)
27 Headgear is a brown wrench? (7) CAPSTAN (CAP + S + TAN)
28 Hatred of man forces one out of brutality (11) MALEVOLENCE (MALE + ViOLENCE)

DOWN
2 Kingdoms with genuine heartless mayors (6) REALMS (REAL + MayorS)
3 Endless indifference on the course (4) PATH (aPATHy)
4 The U.S. prospers despite one who arrests (10) SUPPRESSOR (US PROSPERS)*
5 Hallow gutted nudist who ruined the Government building (4,4) TOWN, HALL (HALLOW NudisT)*
6 Needing no introduction, Marconi played the instrument (7) OCARINA (mARCONI)* Fodder missing A
7 So, no microphone is designed for comfort? (9) ERGONOMIC (ERGO + NO + MIC)
8 In discord, good man left rifle out (6) STRIFE (ST + RIFlE)
13 Card game of dark African country? (10) MONTENEGRO (MONTE + NEGRO) (Correction - African removed from definition - See comments)
14 Adolescent on a journey in a catapult? (9) STRIPLING (TRIP inside SLING)
17 Buzzing, vocal bee capable of being summoned (8) EVOCABLE (VOCAL BEE)*
19 At waterfall, puzzled grammarian loses right mental makeup initially (7) NIAGARA (GrAmmARIAN)*
21 Call for sprocket-less cognitive rearrangement (6) INVITE (cogNITIVE)*
22 A theme embracing king of Cancer, for one (6) TROPIC (TOPIC outside R)
25 Pain inherent in maniac helper (4) ACHE (T)


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34 comments:

  1. Suresh1 February 2013 at 08:42

    KKK has decided to go it easy today. Good crossword as usual

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan1 February 2013 at 09:21

      Setters are free to choose how challenging/easy they want to make their clues, but personally I preferred KKK in his debut puzzle.

      Delete
    2. Klue Klux Klan1 February 2013 at 11:05

      Sir,

      When I first got the chance to set for the Hindu, I wanted to create challenging but fair puzzles. I guess the first one was alright but subsequent ones got some poor reviews. People felt that the clues were too obtuse.

      I am totally of the view that each setter's style is what he decides for himself/herself but somehow I also think that I had to rethink the clueing because, at the end of the day, it is all about the people who actually solve. They should find the solving process fun and enjoyable. My personal favourite is Sankalak for solving his puzzles are extremely enjoyable. This is why perhaps this (and perhaps the previous one) is simpler.

      The other explanation, and one that might be closer to the truth, is that I am not that good a cruciverbalist as yet and can only hope to get better. Perhaps one day, I will make puzzles that will be both tough and enjoyable.


      Cheers!

      Delete
    3. Suresh1 February 2013 at 14:41

      Just putting in one more vote in favour of Bhavan's point of view. I enjoy tougher puzzles although I certainly enjoyed today's offering. But it was over almost before it started

      Delete
  2. SandhyaP1 February 2013 at 08:44

    9 Withdraw from transaction in counter (7) RETRACT (CD?)

    I took it to be a DD

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh1 February 2013 at 08:51

      Maybe. Does Retract mean counter? I do not know.

      Delete
    2. Bhavan1 February 2013 at 09:22

      Wasn't sure what was going on after "withdraw", hence the ?

      Delete
    3. Nadathur Rajan1 February 2013 at 10:47

      9 Withdraw from transaction in counter (7) RETRACT (CD?)

      I annotated it as RE(TR)ACT
      transaction TR in counter REACT
      Defn: Withdraw RETRACT

      Delete
  3. Deepak Gopinath1 February 2013 at 08:52

    Skulduggers been skipped?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhavan1 February 2013 at 09:23

      Surprised too. Was mentally preparing to spend an hour on the puzzle.

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath1 February 2013 at 09:28

      .... and I was happy that it was your turn to blog :-)

      Delete
    3. VP1 February 2013 at 12:29

      Mover's turn also skipped this cycle - right ?

      Delete
    4. Deepak Gopinath1 February 2013 at 14:17

      Right

      Delete
  4. Richard1 February 2013 at 09:13

    6A OCARINA

    Fans calling out Mrs Saif Ali Khan, biwi no. 2, nee Kapoor, aka Bebo? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Padmanabhan1 February 2013 at 09:40

    So, I was not the only one expecting a toughie from KKK. Easy & enjoyable. The missing A in Ocrina created doubts in me. But crossings confirmed it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Padmanabhan1 February 2013 at 09:45

    Col. & Bhala appeared life size yesterday in their photos, but Col. is back to normal today. Blog playing tricks?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh1 February 2013 at 09:56

      Colonel too? For me it is only Bhala occasionally

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan1 February 2013 at 10:01

      YES, I saw it yesterday and made a comment about the new grandpa!

      Delete
    3. Col_Gopinath1 February 2013 at 10:25

      New grandpa? She will be 2 in July this year.

      Delete
    4. Padmanabhan1 February 2013 at 12:20

      Really! Anyway the photo was new to me ( at least the blown up version!)

      Delete
  7. VJ1 February 2013 at 10:26

    I thought it was Skulldugger's turn today.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suresh1 February 2013 at 10:41

    Sherlock Holmes' fans will enjoy today's Guardian cryptic

    ReplyDelete
  9. Klue Klux Klan1 February 2013 at 10:48

    What ho!


    You must pardon the what ho-ing for I just completed reading a PGW - eggs, beans and crumpets - and am still in the hangover, not unlike a member of the Drones.

    First off, it is great to know that the puzzle was enjoyable. I seem to have finally gotten one right after a few trues. I can only strive to make the future offerings enjoyable as well.

    Re ocarina, I am sorry about the missing 'a'. In the initial draft of the clue, it had a 'one' in place of 'the'. I'm still not sure if the clue would be right but I guess it would've been better. Apologies for that!

    Re retract, the anno that I had in mind when framing the clue was 'tr' in 'react'.

    Thanks again for the feedback.

    Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous1 February 2013 at 12:20

    KKK, I strongly recommend a pick-me-up. egg white and tomato juice and some ingredient X. You will have to ask your gentleman's gentleman to pick up the full recipe from Reginald at the Junior Ganymede. but take care to behave, or else your escapdes will end up in the book

    ReplyDelete
  11. Padmanabhan1 February 2013 at 12:23

    The dreaded book containing all the escapades of gentlemen?! Glad to have so much today from the inimitable PGW!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Jeevan1 February 2013 at 12:57

    13 Card game of dark African country? (10) MONTENEGRO

    I think the clue is just 'Country', coz Montenegro is not an African country.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath1 February 2013 at 13:15

      Right-o Jeevan

      Delete
    2. Krishnan1 February 2013 at 13:27

      Monte is name of a card game, dark African refers to Negro, definition is country.

      Delete
    3. Col_Gopinath1 February 2013 at 13:57

      Krishnan that is exactly what Jeevan meant. He has made that comment as Bhavan has included African in the definition

      Delete
    4. VJ1 February 2013 at 15:52

      Is Negro a politically correct term?

      Delete
  13. Bhalchandra Pasupathy1 February 2013 at 14:40

    Bit late coming in but just wanted to say that this was an enjoyable one. Not too straightforward by any means. Yes, Marconi gave some problems but all taken care of in the end! Wondering about the surfaces of 2D and 5D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP1 February 2013 at 15:56

      +1. Liked it and did not think it was too straightforward like yesterday.

      I had a question on 23A as well: What is the indicator to say SCENT goes after NA ? "The fragrance of sodium" can be extrapolated to say "Na's scent", but that would leave an extra "s". Not sure if I am missing something.

      Delete
  14. Suresh1 February 2013 at 16:18

    I had no problem with OCARINA because on the cycle I did not notice anything missing until the blog spoilt the happiness.:)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Padmanabhan1 February 2013 at 18:26

    Moral of the story is that one should do the CW only while cycling!

    ReplyDelete

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