Thursday 12 September 2013

No 10876, Thursday 12 Sep 2013, Gridman

Stumped by 21D and some annos.

ACROSS
1   Driving in bouncing sunlight (8) HUSTLING*
5   Rolls from West Indian sides aboard (6) SWIRLS {S{WI}{R}{L}S}
9   One is double when treacherous (7) CROSSER [CD]
10 Hundi, yet it could contain notes (4,3) COIN BOX [CD]
Courtesy Kishore
 11 Hindu Goddess of the Earth has buzz within her (5,4) BHUMI DEVI {B{HUM}I DEVI} Anno not clear [CD] (See comments)

12 Decreases discomfort by making sea-change to quarters (5) EASES {SEA*}{E}{S}
13 What a discount hunter wants to pay (4) LESS [CD]
14 The sort of union an eloper wants to form (9) BREAKAWAY [CD]
17 Sharp trickster that he is, robber overwhelms Bill’s companion (9) BANDICOOT {BANDI{COO}T} Anno for COO not clear (See comments)
19 All but discharge Pole (4) SPUR SPURn (Addendum - SPAR SPARe - See comments)
23 Heartless officer cut in deck (5) ORLOP {OfficeR}{LOP}
24 Adoring one baby’s toy endlessly, I join the chorus (9) IDOLISING {1}{DOLl}{I}{SING}
25 Scholar’s object is purification (7) BATHING {BA}{THING}
26 Takes over in cultural gatherings (7) INFESTS {IN}{FESTS}
27 Chitty put in by extremely perverse leader of Tamils (6) TICKET {TICK}{E}{T} (Addendum - DOCKET {DOCK}{E}{T} - See comments)

28 One who puts things to good use – customer taking it back for one pound (8) UTILISER {U{T{1}{L}I<=}SER}

DOWN
1   Bird makes cabby move fast (8) HACKBOLT {HACK}{BOLT}
2   Almost reveal strong arms to former Japanese military leaders (7) SHOGUNS {SHOw}{GUNS}
3   Young woman’s untruth about fool (6) LASSIE {L{ASS}IE}
4   Irritating; with wisehead in, still irritating! (5-8) NERVE-WRACKING {NERVE-{W}RACKING}
6   Wave – what a Congressman may sport on his head (5,3) WHITE CAP [DD]
7   Strong, with primarily Arabica coffee (7) ROBUSTA {ROBUST}{A}
8   Gender discrimination in terrible mess around the team (6) SEXISM {SE{XI}SM*}
10 Tom, logistical system is for one who studies weather conditions (13) CLIMATOLOGIST *
15 Supporting kind of parent (8) ADOPTIVE [CD]
16 One who is taking a trip (4,4) DRUG USER [CD]
18 A university allowed one introductory course relating to a piper (7) AULETIC {A}{U}{LET}{I}{C}
20 Temple officials’ postscript about botched rites (7) PRIESTS {P{RITES*}S}
21 Ban bird of different order (6) ?O?B?T FORBID* - See comments
22 Obstinate enough to have some fun in document that’s left (6) WILFUL {WIL{FUn}L}

55 comments:

  1. 17 Sharp trickster that he is, robber overwhelms Bill’s companion (9) BANDICOOT {BANDI{COO}T} Anno for COO not clear

    Remember the phrase: Bill and coo !

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  2. 21 Ban bird of different order (6) ?O?B?T

    FORBID, (BIRD OF)*

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  3. 27 Chitty put in by extremely perverse leader of Tamils (6) TICKET {TICK}{E}{T}

    DOCK E T

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  4. 11 Hindu Goddess of the Earth has buzz within her (5,4) BHUMI DEVI {B{HUM}I DEVI} Anno not clear

    I took this as a CD, She has 'hum' within her.

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  5. Replies
    1. Dankeschön, mein Oberst !

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    2. You will have to imagine the smart clicking of the heels.

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  6. 17 Sharp trickster that he is, robber overwhelms Bill’s companion (9) BANDICOOT {BANDI{COO}T} Anno for COO not clear

    Bill and coo is an idiom (meaning:To kiss or caress and murmur endearments... Freedict)

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    Replies
    1. Didn't see Kishore's comment.

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    2. Kishore needs to take part in KBC. He is an expert at 'Fastest finger first'

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    3. Nary a chance of that. I am more of a BQC fan from the times of Ameen Sayani. "There goes the bell".

      Anyone here remember 'Take it from me' by AFS 'Bobby' Talyarkhan?

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    4. Wiki tells me that he had:

      a voice that was 'beer-soaked, cigarette-stained'

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    5. Talking of Talyarkhan reminded me of one of his classic statements on radio

      Pataudi is 99 runs short of his expected century.

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  7. The Bandicoot today reminded me of a Tamil comic drama I had seen on TV over 2 1/2 decades back, in which the word PerichaaDi kept on popping up. A chap who was not supposed to be there was covered up with a bedsheet. And when the moving bedsheet caught the eye of a suspicious person, it was explained away as PerichaaDi.

    Anyone here knows which comedy that was?

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    Replies
    1. I think that should have been perichaani

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    2. No. It is 'peruchchaLi' - பெருச்சாளி

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    3. I am not responsible for multiposting.

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    4. bandicoot is from Telugu Pandikokku which means Pig-rat.

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    5. Marchipoyindi ;-)

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  8. @Col (8:43): Absolutely right!

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  9. Real-life incidents can be more humorous than what you get to read in books.

    7D reminded me of one I had experienced as a bank employee many years ago.

    A senior man, a petty coffee grower, had delivered his produce at the local collection centre of a well-known coffee procurement firs and had got a cheque as settlement.

    He arrived at the bank and approached me for encashment. Those days, if a signature was affixed on the cheque in any language other than English, we had to write a note that it was the signature of so-and-so in certain language. (Not sure if the practice is still being followed.

    I got him to sign on the back. Since I had to mention the script of the signature, and being unable to make it out, I asked him in my broken Malayalam, 'Idu Arabica?' (Is it in Arabic?)

    Very faithfully he shot back to indicate what produce he had sold, 'Alla, Robusta?' (No,, it was Robusta!)

    Gridman has cleverly played with Arabica and Robusta.

    Raising a cup that cheers in his honour!

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  10. Good morning all!
    18D was a new word for me - and my OED did not have it either!

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  11. 19A : All but discharge Pole (4) SPUR {SPURa)

    Though am not clear about Anno, I went for SPAR taking "Pole" as the definition. Could someone clear my doubt please ?

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  12. You're right.

    The intended answer is SPAR. All but discharge - SPAR[e], from spare, free,discharge and deleting e. Spar is another word for pole. There is false capitalisation in the clue,

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  13. Ameen Sayani had taken over as Quizmaster on the BQC after his elder brother Hamid Sayani who was the QM for the first 4 years of the show passed away.

    Reference to Ameen Sayani (his unique style of saying 'Behno aur Bhaiyo') brought to mind another popular radio programme on Radio Ceylon - the mother of all count-downs BGM which later became CSM/CBM (Binaca Geet Mala and then when the name changed from Binacca to Cibaca as Cibaca Sangeetmala, Cibaca Geetmala, and Colgate Cibaca Sangeetmala). It shifted to Vividh Bharati in 1989 where it ran for another 5 years. In 1993, 'Choli Ke Peechhe' from Khalnayak was the top song of the year. In 1983, the top song was 'Shayad Meri Shaadi' from Souten. In 1973, it was 'Yaari hai imaan mera yaar meri zindagi' from Zanjeer; and, in 1953, 'Ye Zindagi Usi ki Hai' from Anarkali.

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  14. I had omitted 1963. The top song that year was 'Jo Wada Kiya Woh Nibhana' from the Pradeep Kumar, Bina Rai starrer Taj Mahal.

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  15. I was a big fan of Talyarkan, particularly the 'Take it from me' series. This came much later than his active commentary days.

    So was I of Ameen Sayani of BGM & Mayilvahanan of 'Neengal Kettavai', a Tamil film songs presentation. Those were friendly Sri Lanka (nee,Ceylon) days.

    Thank you all for remembering good old times.

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    Replies
    1. Those were the days, while buying a transistor set, the first question put to the shopkeeper was, "Does it receive Radio Ceylon?"

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    2. Other fav.s were Forces' Request (in English and Hindi), Hawa Mahal, Inspector Eagle (with Havaldar Nayak), ...

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    3. BGM used a 'sartaaj' concept where a continuous topper was shunted out of the reckoning when it had got into the top 10 (or the top spot, I don't recollect cleary) for ten? (consecutive?)weeks.

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    4. And the most regular request sender was from Jhumri Telaiya

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    5. Here's an extract from Wiki

      Originally a little-known town, Jhumri Telaiya became famous in India in 1957 owing to its connection with Vividh Bharati, a nationally broadcast radio service of the All India Radio. At a time when numerous television channels and FM radio stations were yet to come to India, the Vividh Bharati radio shows were a national phenomenon. The largest number of requests for film songs addressed to the channel came from Jhumri Telaiya. Young listeners from the town would compete among themselves to send out the most song requests in a day or month. Vividh Bharati Radio listeners thus became familiar with the town of Jhumri Telaiya. Many listeners of Vividh Bharti used to doubt the existence of such a village, and thus the "Jhumri Talaiya" came to be associated with any less-known or insignificant place. This reference is found in several Hindi movies and songs. For example, the movie Mounto (1975) features a song titled Mein Toh Jhumri Taliyah Seh Aeyehi Hun ("I've come from Jhumri Talaiya").

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    6. Requests used to come from 'Banke Bihari' and a large number of riflemen, NCOs and JCOs. But I dont seem to recollect any from Commissioned Officers or Navy or Airforce personnel.

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    7. My Director General was Dr Narendra Behari. Once the Secretary asked him whether he was from Bihar. Pat came his response: "Sir, I am as much from Bihar as Banke Behari (Lord Krishna)!".
      On the other hand, I have worked with people who think in Hindi and speak in English. I have come across quaint expressions from colleagues like 'there is only a nineteen-twenty difference' (unnees bees ka farakh), and 'either of you three' can do this work.

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    8. Many consider Jhumri Talaiya to be the Indian equivalent of Timbuktoo. The place actually exists.
      Jhumri Tilaiya is situated in Jharkand - about 6 kms from Koderma and close to Bodhgaya. The word "talaiya" comes from Hindi word "tal" which means pond. Once a major mica mining centre, the entire town is divided by the grand cord line which passes through the mid of the town.

      While laying this railroad through Koderma in 1890s, the British first discovered vast mica deposits in this region. Mining activities started soon after
      and many mining houses had set up business in this region in the early decades of the 20th Century.

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  16. Yesterday, Gridman had clued in OMEN as 'Not a good sign!' (ref. ABDOMEN).
    An omen (augury/portent/presage) is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. An omen could be good or bad.
    Interestingly, the adjective 'ominous', which derives from this word, uses it in a foreboding sense - that of giving the impression that something bad or unpleasant is going to happen.

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  17. Those days programmes that were popular, apart from BGM, were the Radio Ceylon Tamil programme in the evenings and Mrs Sankalak's Tamil news (for listeners from SEA) in the early mornings.

    To answer Kishore's query:
    "Sartaaj Song" - In this feature introduced in 1966, if a song was played in at least 18 episodes, it was declared 'Sartaaj Geet' and retired from the countdown.
    The first "Sartaaj Geet" was "chhoo lene do naazuk hoton ko" from Kajal (1966).

    The first broadcast of BGM was on Dec 3, 1952 from Radio Ceylon, and the first song played - "tu ganga ki mauj" from Baiju Bawra. There were 2,081 episodes between 1952 and 1994, making it one of the longest running radio programmes. The initial signature tune of BGM was taken from the OP Nayyar composition in Aasman (1952) "po po po baaja bole" (changed in 1970).

    Ameen Sayani's voice was missing in around 30 episodes in these 41 years, when other popular announcers of Radio Ceylon like Manohar Mahajan, Shiv Kumar Saroj, Vijay Kishore Dubey and Brij Bhushan presented the programme in their own style.

    The first non-film song to be included in the countdown was "disco deewane" by Nazia Hassan (1981).

    On Feb 18, 2001, Geetmala was again started from Vividh Bharati as Colgate Cibaca Geetmala. But it had to be called off within 2 years due to a Service Tax issue.

    [Source: Anil Bhargav, Listeners' Bulletin]



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  18. Assumed that 1D was a CD and entered HORNBILL. :(

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  19. Another typical Gridman which was less than 4 down-- Isn't Irritating a lesser affliction than NERVE_WRACKING? AULETIC and HACKBOLT were known or heard words.! What is beautiful is that one fills in the adjoining letters and the unknown coin falls into the HUNDI !! and lo! we have come to get a new word or expression.

    Didn't like DOUBLE_ CROSSER as the enunciation of the clue will leave one with a doubt as to whether it should end in a D or R !! So was HACKBOLT -- which can confuse with a HACKBILL. Preferably to be avoided by making sure that the decider pieces of letters are not left blank for ambiguity ( a la-RMDC ?)

    As for those ubiquitous listeners of Binaca Geetamala, I can also recall their names as belonging to the places-- Like Rajnandgaon -se Thakur Singh and Jumritalaiya -se Rameshwar Varnwal, Chaibhasa-se---- Asansol-se etc--- like Papiya and TukTuk Ghose of the JS Magazine-- One used to wonder in those days whether these were all invented names to rivet into the readers or listeners' minds !! Some ploys employed by the editors of those mags or programs !! One has come a long way from there to these days of blogging where names and faces are easily recalled and identifiable !! We have indeed leap-frogged into the 21st century of infoxplsions !!

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  20. Another sn-info-ppet: I'm sure, most of you who were used to the Hindi program from Radio Ceylon of those days, do know that the famous film actor, late Mr. Sunil Dutt was an announcer and compered the programs in the name of Balraj. Radio-jockey is a latter day inno-vention !! My wife was also one in the Voice of Kenya (KBC) and then East FM in Nairobi, playing old hindi songs.

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    Replies
    1. Balraj was his real name and that's what he used in those days.

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