Monday 3 February 2014

No.10998, Monday 03 February 2014, Gridman



ACROSS
1 Speed on way is within reason (8) MODERATE (MODE RATE)
6 For starters, stringent work organised to study hard (4) SWOT (S W O T)
          Remember mugging those multiplication tables. Actually, at that time I think I did not really understand what it was all about.  In fact, I remember wondering what 'zar' was! As in 2 5 zar 10. Only much later I cottoned on to the fact that it is 2 5s are 10
9 CIA far out in a continent (6) AFRICA (CIA FAR)*
10 Topper in Kashmir’s primary skating venue (3,4) ICE RINK (ICER IN K)
13 Knocked into this, bird meets with cruel death (6,3) COCKED HAT (COCK DEATH*)
           Bicorne or tricorn? Regarding the phrase read more HERE
14 Plagiarism in article by a foreign paper (5) THEFT (THE FT)
15 Oh God! Run! Emerging at first is monster! (4) OGRE (O G R E)
16 Statistical subset that is trustworthy, small and quite enough (4,6) TRUE SAMPLE (TRUE S AMPLE)
19 Did it begin with a false ring? (6,4) PHONEY CALL cd?
          Something about my anno does not ring true ...
21 Many a measure in the valley (4) DELL (D ELL)
24 Change Putin’s contribution (5) INPUT (PUTIN)*
25 Large film presence finds great woman next to nothing (5-4) SUPER-HERO (SUPER HER O)
26 The kind of sari for a cool cat? (7) HIPSTER 2
          A 'low rise' style of wearing the sari which negates its very purpose? Or reinforces it? Depends on your point of view. Sorry (pun intended), to disappoint those who were expecting me to provide an illustration. You can, of course, look up "Sari" on Wikipedia
27 One of the English legal societies put away, as is natural (6) INNATE (INN ATE) Like Lincoln's Inn
28 Lawyer jolly indeed (4) DARN (DA RN)

29 Most break up after defeat (4,4) BEST PART (PART after BEST)

DOWN
2 Executive not running cooler (7) OFFICER (OFF ICER)
          Icer also appears in wordplay of 10a, but it is wrt cake icing there and refrigeration here
3 Having to leave the country, outside I was in the front (6) EXILED (EX I LED)
4 Pharaonic rework resulting in rhetorical device (9) ANAPHORIC (PHARAONIC)* Had to cheat here!
           Had to look up the dictionary, Had to go to Google, Had to go to Wikipedia, Had to mention all that here
5 Be partial to gender, if late in starting (5) EXIST (sEXIST)
7 Pure wit found in news article (5-2) WRITE UP (PURE WIT)*
8 OK for athlete to jump and begin lecturing (4,3,5) TAKE THE FLOOR (OK FOR ATHLETE)*
11 Catch medical department facing criticism (6) ENTRAP (ENT RAP)
12 Superior done in? (12) ACCOMPLISHED 2
17 Election Commission talk on little jerks in great circles (9) ECLIPTICS (EC LIP TICS)
18 Run away and get yourself involved in the thing… (4,2) BEAT IT (BE AT IT)
          Other than the MJ song, it always reminds me of the superb parody EAT IT from extraordinarily talented 'Weird Al' Yankovic
20 … theoretically where the crossword might be (2,5) ON PAPER CD,DD,&LIT
22 The sort of seat that might put one out (7) EJECTOR CD
23 Said to get smart for before-wedding contract (3-3) PRE-NUP (~PREEN UP)
25 Get rid of broom (5) SCRUB 2
          Is this a political suggestion?
 

28 comments:

  1. Characteristically Gridmanesque puzzle. INPUT, WRITE-UP, ON PAPER and a reference to Financial Times brought out the journalistic traits. Liked many surfaces like 9A, 15A, 21A.

    25D was quite topical with the AAP factor having raised the dust.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deja vu!
    Today, the blog appeared early, was taken off and then put back now.
    Wonder what the reason was.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prob'bly DG had :
      a. Keyed in wrong time instead of 830. Possibly due to hangover from yesterday's practice or in anticipation of the morrow
      b. Had not changed the level of moderation on this post and hence withdrew it for amendment
      c. Corrected any error he noticed after updating or inserted the toon
      d. NOTA

      Delete
    2. NOTA as you are the blogger today. Didn't you get my SMS sent at 7:54 AM

      Delete
    3. d is the correct answer.

      For DG did not blog today, I did. I must not have put in the publish time and it must have picked up the current time. Mea culpa!

      Delete
    4. I and my phone had parted ways for some time. Just saw your old message now.

      Delete
  3. 28A - DARN - I took RN by sheer guess. Can any jolly good blogger give me the anno for RN?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kishore. Venkatesh has answered the query @ 8-49.

      Delete
    2. Since the answer was not in the same thread, I noticed it only on scrolling down after answering you.

      Delete
  4. Entries for yesterday's prize crossword can be submitted till 8 PM today

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kishore, 4D - Call it height of honesty and candour!

    And your note on 26A was like how someone wanted a speech to be - like a miniskirt, long enough to cover the essentials and short enough to evoke interest. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Re 4D, the part in italics was an example of an anaphoric sentence...

      Delete
  6. Jolly is used for Royal Marine (RM) and sailors for Royal Navy (RN).
    Here, it has been used for a person in Royal Navy (RN)

    ReplyDelete
  7. 26A - again. As against 'low-rise', I would consider the Coorg way of draping a sari as one of the most charming ones.

    Google 'Coorg way of wearing a sari' and also pick YouTube entries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your ref. reminded me of Madikeri Sipayi at:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lofoBur60Fc

      Delete
    2. You have taste, brother. It is from the 1990 Kannada movie 'Muttina Haara' (A necklace of pearls). Suhasini Ratnam and the late Vishnuvardhan were in the lead.

      Incidentally,

      1. The outdoor locale where you can see the windmills is near Talacauvery, in Kodagu (Coorg), which river Cauvery originates.

      2. It was yesterday that the 14.3 km-long road between Banashankari and Kengeri in your city of Bangalore, passing by Abhiman Studios and BGS Global Hospital, was renamed as 'Dr Vishnuvardhan Road' in honour of the late actor. It is said to be the longest road in India to be named after an actor.

      Delete
    3. The movie too was really nice.

      Delete
    4. Pls read one of the sentences in post @ 9:43 as"..Talacauvery, in Kodagu (Coorg), where river Cauvery originates."

      Delete
  8. Only much later I cottoned on ...

    Similarly, confederate. Though have read of confederate army from the time of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, only recently I realised that it means anti-federation ...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Think anno for 18D should be BE AT IT. Or perhaps that's what you have indicated anyway?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Enjoyed the weird song (B)EAT IT by Yankovic ! Thanks, Kishore :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for anno of 28A. Cleared my doubts!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I would like to know how many of the Sunday special regulars did not submit their entries because they did not complete the CW. Please do submit your entries even if there are unsolved answers. Howdo you'll know if the others who have submitted have sent in all the answers?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good grid from Gridman. ANAPHORIC and ECLIPTICS are the clues of my day. Not knowing this word, i had keyed in ELLIPTICS ! of course, EC is always helpful in reigning in the corrupt !

    Each day, we learn new words, phrases and idioms ! that's the beauty of cryptic crossies !

    I admire the compilers who patiently and craftily beguile us with their creations !

    ReplyDelete
  14. In ORKUT Ms. P. Sandya has quoted THCC for some correction. Do we get the answers of today's Crossword. on same day?

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com