Saturday 21 December 2013

No 10962, Saturday 21 Dec 2013, Gridman


 CENTENARY SPECIAL from Gridman.


ACROSS
1 Naga play has artist initially making literal mixup (7) ANAGRAM {NAGA*}{RA}{M}
6 Item in ashtray? Objections rebuffed (4) STUB <=
9 Near no new stud's place, say (3) EAR nEAR
11 Eighth of patriarchs takes ancient seer in boat (7) CORACLE {.......C..}{ORACLE}
12 The Aerocar in Ahmedabad has hidden instrument (7) OCARINA [T]
13 Every clue in this set is like this (6) ACROSS [CD]
14 E-cash I'm disbursing to admit one having a blood-related disease (8) ISCHEMIA {ISCHEM{1}A*}
15 No adherence to rules in this composition 'Island 200X' (9) CAPRICCIO {CAPRI}{CC10}
17 Type of tape: see, there's nothing (5) VIDEO {VIDE}{O}
18 Hanker after chief's accolade (5) CRAVE {C}{RAVE}
20 In among well-known, Laud squirms, revealing lumps (9) NODULATED {NO{LAUD*}TED}
23 Resign hastily following a second  prescriber (8) ASSIGNER {A}{S}{RESIGN*}
25 The last letter and the first beg pitifully  to include Russian leader's capital (6) ZAGREB {Z}{A}{G{R}EB*}
27 Era iMac was launched in country (7) AMERICA*
28 Enter into a combination with O -- Dixie so adaptable! (7) OXIDISE*
29 Noisy squabble among borrowers (3) ROW [T]
30 What does it? Not difficult! (4) EASY [DD]
31 How Dean may propagate date to celebrate (4,3) NAME DAY*

DOWN
1 Extremely old and clever account about one (7) ARCHAIC {ARCH}{A{1}C}
2 Nair doesn't start dear work on parachute delivery (3-4) AIR-DROP {nAIR}-{DR}{OP}


3 Type of gene - saints to get around (9) RECESSIVE {RECE{SS}IVE}
4 Hardly demanding maiden to eke out (4) MEEK {M}{EEK*}
5 Explosive remark you're engaged with (9) CROSSWORD {CROSS}{WORD}
7 Get beard this to look tidy (7) TRIMMED [CD]
8 Abroad, Victor displayed swaggering behaviour (7) BRAVADO {ABROAD+V}*
10 Measure of the Jews for spa in England (4) BATH [MD]
16 Event for celebration: State despatched  Indian girl by train (9) CENTENARY (~sent}{CENT}{ENA}{RY}

17 Suggestiveness or being showy as rivals mug wildly (9) VULGARISM*
18 Travesty from daily publicity -- extremely crude (7) CHARADE {CHAR}{AD}{E}
19 A surgeon's duty in the face of an  inflamed swelling (7) ABSCESS {A}{BS}{CESS}
21 Remained behind, having been drawn to a bishop within (7) TARRIED {T{A}{RR}IED}
22 The sense of uncertainty of the French having exotic bite, extremely tasty (7) DUBIETY {DU}{BITE*}{tastY}
24 Electrical power network -- good and free! (4) GRID {G}{RID}
26 Duck feathers not up (4) DOWN [DD]

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57 comments:

  1. SandhyaP21 December 2013 at 08:39

    All the best for the IXL 2013 finals to Col, Kishore, Shuchi, SR, Padmanabhan & Vinod Raman!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Col_Gopinath21 December 2013 at 08:42

    Thanks Sandhya

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard21 December 2013 at 09:03

      Wishing 'I-excel'ers all the best. All those from our blog cannot be the winners. But if any of them wins, he/she will have made us proud.

      16D - Could not understand why the girl has 'Indian' tag. Ena is a western name as well.

      On the occasion of the centenary, let's raise a toast to the entire crossword-crazy crowd around the globe, including the setters and publishers.

      Delete
  3. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 08:46

    C V Sir, Hyderabad edition of Hindu has "Spanish queen" instead of "Indian girl" in 16 Down clue !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 08:54

    Wish one of those mentioned by Sandhya Ma'am will corner the glory ! Wishing all of you best of luck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Vasant21 December 2013 at 08:56

    Online edition also has "Spanish Queen"

    ReplyDelete
  6. Rengaswamy21 December 2013 at 09:14

    Best of Luck to Venkatesh, Kishore, Vinod Raman, Deepak Gopinath, Shuchismita Upadhyay, Moshin Ahmed and the rest of 10 finalists in IXL 2013 finals.

    May the Sakalakalavallavan conquer the title!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Raghunath21 December 2013 at 09:17

    Good luck to all bloggers on THCC who've entered in the IXL final!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suresh21 December 2013 at 09:21

    All the best to IXL finalists from this blog.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Raghunath21 December 2013 at 09:29

    I had a question on this clue on the THCC when Vulcan's puzzle appeared;

    7 Sleuth and press following girl on the run (8) SHERLOCK

    Is R = on the Run or just 'run' (without 'the') acceptable (as 'on the run' is a phrase)? Curious to know, for future use. A couple of other setters do use 'the' liberally, so can we ignore 'the'?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lakshmi Vaidyanathan21 December 2013 at 09:34

    Good luck COl Sir, Kishore,Shuchi,Vinod & all the finalists !

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 11:10

    For the benefit of fellow bloggers of THC :

    One of the features of IXL 2013, as quoted by PTI is "At the grand finale, all participants will compete afresh and will not only have to solve cryptic crosswords, but also make crossword clues and crack puzzles and mind games, the statement added."

    ReplyDelete
  12. Padmanabhan21 December 2013 at 11:31

    Chennai edition too carries the 'Spanish queen'. I think CV might have made the change and all editions carry it. Did Col. get it from Bangalore edition or the earlier version from Gridman?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Padmanabhan21 December 2013 at 11:33

    Best of Luck to all our blog participants in IXL 2013 finals. May the best man win!
    Having said that I do wish one of our bloggers win this maiden event and let us have a celebratory get together later!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Padmanabhan21 December 2013 at 11:36

    Disappointed!

    I joined in late and expected a century of comments on the Centernary special but we have hardly a dozen! Saturday accounts for it?
    Of all the words today, I missed the 5D- crossword! Got misled by 'explosive'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 12:07

      Without Kishore aka FFF's participation, a century of comments ? No way !

      Delete
    2. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 12:24

      As for 5D, I was caught in a CROSSFIRE and missed that explosive CROSSWORD !

      Delete
  15. VMA Nair21 December 2013 at 11:50

    Me here

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 11:57

      Thought you were at Teri Auditorium in Bangalore witnessing IXL 2013 Finals !?

      Delete
  16. Col_Gopinath21 December 2013 at 11:53

    Reporting from the IXL Grand Finale site. Waiting for the announcement of the top six

    ReplyDelete
  17. Padmanabhan21 December 2013 at 12:36

    Best of Luck & eagerly awaiting the winner!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Navneeth21 December 2013 at 12:36

    Hm... surprised to see that no-one has mentioned the acrostic in the clues.

    As soon as I saw the by-line I realised that something was afoot. Dec 21 didn't quite ring a bell, and it was a tad early for Christmas, so without any answers to go with, I checked the clues and there it was! A bit disappointed that it revealed itself so early, but Gridman had some other hidden words to make me happy again. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Col_Gopinath21 December 2013 at 13:19

    Shameless plug. I won the IXL final

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lakshmi Vaidyanathan21 December 2013 at 13:22

      Wow Congrats Sir !

      Delete
    2. Richard21 December 2013 at 13:40

      Congrats, Deepak!

      For all the trouble you take, the time and energy you spend on a blog of this kind to the delight of thousands of us, It was apt and appropriate that you won an event in the city which you have chosen to reside permanently.

      To all the rest: most of you would be no less happier about the Col's win, I am sure. As Paddy suggested, we should celebrate it very soon.

      Delete
    3. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 13:48

      Richard, I'm grinning like a Cheshire Cat with happiness on the success of Col Sir :-)))))

      Delete
    4. Richard21 December 2013 at 14:05

      No purr...oblem!

      Delete
    5. Suresh21 December 2013 at 14:22

      Lovely. Deepak.

      Delete
  20. Padmanabhan21 December 2013 at 13:28

    OOH!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Great news!

    Why to call it shameless? Say it with pride! If it needs one, this is a shot in the arm for our Blog.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 13:31

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 13:42

    Hearty Congrats Col Sir ! You made us all feel so proud of you !! Hats off to you !!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Richard21 December 2013 at 13:44

    Really sad that most of us missed to read the acrostic pattern. Great creation, Gridman!

    Good job in spotting it, Navneet.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Shrikanth21 December 2013 at 13:53

    Congrats Colonel. :)

    ReplyDelete
  25. SandhyaP21 December 2013 at 14:45

    Wow Colonel, great news! Hats off to you! :)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Padmanabhan21 December 2013 at 14:46

    Great Acrostic from Gridman- missed it though an out of turn Gridman is meant to have something special. Good job Navneeth.

    ReplyDelete
  27. VMA Nair21 December 2013 at 15:18

    Nice to meet everyone. Especially Kishore. Watto Mon won sir? Forgot:-D

    ReplyDelete
  28. Col_Gopinath21 December 2013 at 15:53

    Thanks everyone. It was a nice feeling to win a prize at something that I have been passionate about since my college days and more since Feb 08 after starting this blog.

    Just to keep you'll updated. The events at the Finale were as under

    First was a clue writing event where we had to write 5 clues withing 10 minutes for INDIAN, CROSSWORD, LEAGUE, I forgot the other two words maybe Kishore will remember,

    Second a logic round of 5 questions (things like A is son of B, C is father of D and so on), What number comes after a random series etc again in 10 minutes

    Third a Quiz round of 10 GK questions like 'Who won the Nobel peace prize in 2013' again to be answered in 10 minutes

    These three counted towards the 'Mentathelete of the year competition', luckily for me this didnt count towards the finals for the CW competition as I would have flunked in them. Vinod Raman won the 'Mentathele Award'

    Fourthly was a 15x15 grid which we had to solve in 30 mins (This will appear in the special tomorrow). It was reasonably tough and the six who were selected from this for the final round were Mohsin, Venkatesh, Kishore, Vinod, Self and Shuchi in that order. By the way none of the 10 finalists could complete the CW in the allotted 30 mins. I think Mohsin who came first had 5 left, I had about 15 left!!!

    For the finals we had a 13x13 grid which was conducted in the pattern suggested by Ramesh a couple of days ago. I got a few lucky breaks here and managed to pip Mohsin at the post with 50 points to his 45. The prize 'A silver trophy (phot tomorrow) and a RADO Centrix watch.

    Shall post some snaps in the THCC Families blog after Shuchi and Kishore send them to me.

    Congratulations to the organisers of IXL (Mr Vivek Singh and Mr Kushagra Singh and the rest of their team)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21 December 2013 at 16:03

      Hearty Congratulations to Deepak on his stellar performance.

      The other 2 words in Round 1 were Extra and See

      Delete
    2. Anonymous21 December 2013 at 16:05

      It was nice to meet and interact with all our other friends.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21 December 2013 at 16:07

      Please read Vinod's award as Mentathlete in Deepak's above post.

      Delete
    4. Richard21 December 2013 at 16:08

      Thanks for the graphic details of the contest. Congrats once again.

      Excelsior, signor!

      Delete
    5. raju umamaheswar21 December 2013 at 16:34

      Greta win, Col !! Congrats !! You have done your passion proud along with your blog. May many more accolades and kudos come your way. You can now twirl your Col's moustache razor sharp upwards ! Bang Bang- galore for the other fellow-bloggers too ! A valiant lot, I should say. Lions captured in their own den ?

      Waiting to see the pics in the THCC Family album. Hope there are quite a few and varied? Col: Don't shy away from the pics, proudly showing off the Silver trophy and the RADO watch !

      I'm sure those others in the bloggers gang do take pride, even though they were also rans !

      Col: When you come to CBE next, what shall be thy tipple? Antiquary? Famous Grouse? J W Blue label? Bring the bloggang along !!

      Delete
  29. Mukundala Balasubramanyam21 December 2013 at 16:26

    Well played Kishore and Co ! Better luck next time !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous21 December 2013 at 20:01

      No regrets losing to worthy people !

      Delete
  30. raju umamaheswar21 December 2013 at 16:39

    Today's Gridman is vintage Gridman ! Everyone in a celebratory mood?

    As PGW would have said: God is there in his heaven and everything is alright with the world ! Every day in every which way we are getting better and better !

    First time I'm hearing a NAME DAY ! and DUBIETY.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Rengaswamy21 December 2013 at 17:20

    Our Hearty Congratulations to you Deepak on winning IXL finals and making all of us proud. It is all the more heartening to see that all our bloggers were in the final six also. We need to celebrate the occasion through a form of get-together and you footing the bill!!!!!!!!! Of course we all will be present and collectively present you.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Padmanabhan21 December 2013 at 19:30

    Congrtas to Col. & well done to all others. From the description of its toughness, no mean performance by anybody.

    +1 for get together & celebration.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous21 December 2013 at 21:43

    Detailed coverage from Shuchi available at

    http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2013/12/indian-crossword-league-2013-finals.html

    ReplyDelete
  34. Unknown21 December 2013 at 21:54

    Sorry to get here so late!
    Hearty congratulations, Colonel. Wish I had come in earlier - hope you see this.
    Vintage Gridman, today, as has been said earlier. Really enjoyed solving it.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Bhalchandra Pasupathy21 December 2013 at 22:27

    Congrats all you winners and participants too. Good show

    ReplyDelete
  36. Deepak Gopinath21 December 2013 at 22:38

    Thanks to everyone for the congratulaions

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com

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