Friday 14 March 2014

No.11032, Friday 14 Mar 2014, Gridman

Entertaining one from Gridman. To celebrate the fact that "Every Pi dog has his day", Gridman has offered us Champers, Eye Candy (inedible), Vanilla, Coffee, and some Specie to blow up! Vampires, of course, have an additional choice of A, B or O!

ACROSS
1 Tourney winner, with hesitation, gets small drink (8)  CHAMPERS (CHAMP ER S)
5 Short detail that is set out for coinage (6) SPECIE (SPEC(ification) I.E.)
10 Weapon company accommodating listener (7) FIREARM (FIRM accommodating EAR)
11 Hardly a covert way to perform (7) OVERACT (A COVERT)* &LIT
          Ham!
12 Blow from Times writer employed by Edward (6) EXPEND (X=times PEN in ED)
13 Fuss by servile follower in government (8) DOMINION (DO MINION)
15 It might make pupils shrink (4) TEST (CD)
16 Significance of part of a Wilde title (10) IMPORTANCE CD,DD
18 A, B or O? (5,5) BLOOD GROUP (GK)
20 Quiet circles wave away (4) SHOO (SH Os)
           Sometimes a shoe is used to shoo insects away
23Pupils find it appealing (3,5) EYE CANDY (CD)
24 Walker goes over fool left behind (6) PASSED (PED goes over ASS)
26 View reveals nothing on the wing (7) OPINION (O PINION)
27 Plain article in house (7) VANILLA (AN in VILLA) As in Plain Vanilla
28 Big-enough fish for the prison guard? (6) KEEPER (DD)
           "I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man, I keep his house"-Zsa Zsa Gabor        
29 Go over poetry following review of art (8) TRAVERSE (VERSE following ART*  ART<) See comments
Incidentally, the Gasherbrum Massif is the only place one has 3 8000ers in close proximity and such a traverse is possible

An Indian is now planning on the Seven (or eight to be absolutely sure) Summits. Wishing him luck! Surprisingly, Seven Second Summits, i.e. the second highest peaks in each continent is considered tougher, since K2 is considered tougher than Everest.


DOWN
1 Yet you might browse through it at tea (6-5,4) COFFEE TABLE BOOK (CD)
2 About a supporter very backward (7) APROPOS (A PROP SO<)
3 Mournful song by one in factory (6) PLAINT (1 in PLANT)
4 Right match official is back (4)  RUMP (R UMP(ire))

                                                  It was a horrible speed bump,
                                                  That rattled his rotund rump,
                                                  The firm's output fell,
                                                  And I can surely tell,
                                                  Because the stock market went into a slump.

6 Declares in advance prince’s orders (8) PREDICTS (PR EDICTS)
7 Sort of call made by liar involved in trickery (7) CLARION (LIAR* in CON)
8 Friendly relations in France (7,8) ENTENTE CORDIALE (CD)
          I prefer Lime cordial
9 Singular delivery? (9) MONOLOGUE (CD)
          Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. (Hamlet about Yorick's skull). Q: Was Hamlet gay?
14 Unwise, I am priggish, irregular neta (9) IMPRUDENT (I'M PRUDE NeTa)
17 That is about ladies running around to glorify (8)  IDEALISE (I.E. about LADIES*)
19 Past bearing no repetition? (3-4) ONE TIME (DD)
21 Henry with fresh lustre is an enterprising individual (7) HUSTLER (H LUSTRE*)
22 Settled before return of vehicle for a method to find way (6) SATNAV (SAT before VAN<)
          But not missing planes if transponders are switched off
25 State Mumbai suburb is out of hate (4)  AVER (AVERsion)

46 comments:

  1. Could crack longer ones like COFFEE-TABLE BOOK, ENTENTE CORDIALE, BLOOD GROUP, IMPRUDENT, IDEALISE and MONOLOGUE at first look.

    Besides the above, many well-fiormed clues like 10A, 11A, 20A, 26A and many others.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tougher one today from Gridman. Faced rough weather in North-West corner. Missed out on 12 Across and 2 Down. An engrossing and engaging puzzle !

    I think 22 Down enumeration should be (3,3) (SAT NAV)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chambers has SATNAV without space or hyphen

      Delete
    2. I tried WIKI Free encyclopedia and it shows as SAT NAV Now referred OED and found what you say is correct. I stand corrected. :)

      Delete
  3. My laptop OS was changed during recent hospitalisation, I now have WINDOWS 7 and the terrible Office 2007. I find that office 2007 has a feature for directly publishing to blogs after preparing the blog post in Word. I have been rying to register the same with Blogger, however I keep getting a failure message at the last step. Does anyone have a clue why? Anyone here with Office 2007 using that feature in their blogs?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MS products are progressively regressive (or is it regressively progressive). Win8. Brrr! I use 2007 but have not tried that feature. Pasting from there resulted in change of font, so abandoned it.

      Delete
    2. On a lighter note, your laptop got a couple of new souls in the same body

      Delete
    3. Remember the Mukesh number from Ra;j Kapoor's 'Sangam' - O mere sanam, o mere sanam, doh jisme magar ik jaan hain hum...?

      Delete
  4. I have Office 2007 which I installed on my Windows XP after removing 2003. I regret that eternally. The many buttons now are a clutter and I am not able to do what I was doing quite easily previously.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 29 Go over poetry following review of art (8) TRAVERSE (VERSE following ART* )

    Could 'review' be a reversal indicator for 'art' in the clue pl ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perfectly possible. A review can be look over or realign. Your anno seems more plausible

      Delete
    2. Review is a <= indicator, and I too thought that was how it was clued.

      Delete
    3. Add another 'that' after that.

      Delete
  6. Replies
    1. 3.14 (U.S. Pi day?) Is 22/7 Indian 'Pi day'?

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. Yen? Yarumai T-shirt poDule!

      Delete
    2. CV's comment reminded me of "MuD muD ke na dekh muD muD ke"

      Delete
  8. I agree with Kishore about 'Lime cordial'- managed to get 'entente' but not cordiale. I find that quite a few French expressions (considered quite common) are used in CW, leaving me stumped.
    14D- Is 'Irregular' a new (at least for me) way of choosing alternate letters? Though I got the word with the help of crossings, I was looking for an anagram of 'neta'.
    Intersting,engaging CW. Enjoyed solving it. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paddy's reference to French in para 1 and letters in para 2 seem to make a good combination in the light of a discussion here the other day.

      Delete
  9. Deepak

    I have managed to do it successfully.

    I wrote something in Word 2007, then had my blog registered, then by my simply pressing 'Publish' in Word, the post was published. The title was in place and the formatting done in Word appeared OK in the blog post.

    Check if you are entering details properly when you register.

    The tag http etc is in the field. When you copy and paste your url, some elements may be repeated. Remove any duplicate strings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Will try again. Do you have to use the URL of the blog or login ID and password?

      Delete
    2. In top field you have to enter the URL of your blog.

      In the later fields you enter the username and the password that you use at Blogger/Wordpress/whatever.

      I might add that I tried it to post at Wordpress - not Blogger. I must try there but that means recalling the relevant details!

      Delete
    3. Just retried for blogger. It doesn't work

      Delete
  10. K-2 is also known as the 'killer' mountain, as many have died on it's slopes, because of very steep verticals on all sides, making it tougher than Everest, to climb, as Kishore has written.

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Microsoft Works" is an Oxymoron

    ReplyDelete
  12. 24 A : I think the definition part also needs, 'left' to be included and highlighted.

    ReplyDelete
  13. 12ac When the intended word is 'times' capitalizing the same is allowed? Setters' freedom? Kindly enlighten.

    ReplyDelete
  14. False caps are permitted, but when cap is reqd it is wrong not to have it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On this topic, see relevant discussions here following the clue "bit of a stink..." in which I have taken part:

      http://www.ukpuzzle.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=587#p20039

      Delete
  15. Is SATNAV an abbreviation for SATellite NAVigation? If so, finding the way is the indicator?

    CV seems to have not seen my comments relating to RHUBARB in yesterday's blog?

    Today's crossie was very SOLVER-CORDIALE!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You guess right. Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_navigation

      Delete
  16. Thanks are due to Kishore for citing an important scene for 9 Dn: Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft. (Hamlet about Yorick's skull). A very poignant scene that, also a turning point!

    While, on one hand, the bone (Y's skull) cuts through shadows, on the other, it reveals life to be a dream.This negation that death presents informs Hamlet's thinking about the reality of life: that life is not the immediacy of appearance, but is nonetheless like a dream.

    The permanent reality of negations prevents our merging with what we take things to be. It reveals our life to be mediated through our recollection of it. This scene in the play marks the transition from unclear limits between shadows and reality, toward the unity of thought and being. Here, hamlet understands the reality, and the role in life of .. .. the final curtain.

    For further on this sensitive analysis, read Bates' treatise on 'Hegel and Shakespeare on Moral Imagination'. She is with the University of Guelph at Canada.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nadathur,
      If I may ask:
      Are you working (or have you worked) as a Professor of English?
      I started my life of livelihood as a Lecturer in English in a city college but just after one year changed t(r)ack.
      I was dealing with pages of newspapers instead of pages in Shakespearean plays.

      Delete
    2. You must have really cherished the occasion to interact with and mould young minds; so did I. Now, I have a joyful time giving company to 'grand'children in Ramdas Peth, Akola.

      Your subbing experience must have been really something else - you have helped shape a new product every day, that gets circulated by road, train and air freight and then delivered at the doorsteps and read in millions of homes and workplaces around the country. I saw an interesting write-up on journalists gradually evolving into 'journanalysts' - a mix of classical storyteller (raconteur), social media manager and algorithmist. And, we have digital journalism ensconced in the newsroom, not to mention the new trending automated journalism!

      Delete
  17. 10,16a feasted over well-chiselled clues the desired dish.1,22,25d-intellectually demanding clues. GM has proved himself he is a think(er)maker. Nice puzzle indeed.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thanks NRajan. I have come across this SATNAV in the Guardian Quick crosswords and elsewhere a few times but never ina cryptic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are more used to SecNav (Secretary of the Navy) in JAG (acronym for Judge Advocate General) serials.

      Delete
  19. Gridman had been giving a clue in each of his last two Cryptics on horse-drawn carriages - Tonga & Dog-cart. There is a break in the thread today. Wonder why?

    ReplyDelete

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