Monday 5 May 2014

No 11076, Monday 05 May 2014, Incognito


Around the world across clues with Incognito.


ACROSS
7    Secure an animal insignia (4) SEAL [MD]
8    Tell endlessly, for starters, a new girl about national airline to a promised land (9) TELANGANA {TELl}{A}{N}{G}{A}{N}{A}
10  Disheartened Benegal in this region of the Indian subcontinent (6) BENGAL BENeGAL
11  Left upper-class girl in a country (8) PORTUGAL {PORT}{U}{GAL}
12  Spike soda cocktail in an island (8) BARBADOS {BARB}{SODA*}
14  City where planes are built (6) NAPLES*
16  Following an infant, Don leaves London for Hammurabi's capital (7) BABYLON {BABY}{LONdon}
18  American state that was once a part of the Soviet Union? (7) GEORGIA [DD]
21  Lebanese city with cove path, we hear (6) BEIRUT (~bay route)
23, 30 Location for some sports - polo, maybe (8,4) SWIMMING POOL {POLO*}
25  A Chartered Accountant firm admits leaders of power utility licensee in Mexico (8) ACAPULCO {A}{CA}{P}{U}{L}CO}
27  Confused Thai takes it back to Pacific island (6) TAHITI {THAI*}{TI<=}
29  State: "Look, I got into the United States on Indian Airlines carrying sodium" (9) LOUISIANA {LO}{U{I}S}{IA}{NA}
30  See 23

DOWN
1    Rare mead brewed in South American region (8) DEMERARA*
2    Creature that might come out of a gun (4) SLUG [DD]
3    Oil spilled on street at beginning of day, stupid! (6) STOLID {ST}{OIL*}{D}
4    Mad fat spy takes rookie for aerobatic display (7) FLYPAST {F{L}YPAST*}
5    Hold spellbound at the entry point (8) ENTRANCE [DD]
6    Osibisa percussionist 'Potato' lost his head to bachelor in a port on the Caspian Sea (4) BAKU (-d+b)BAKU
9    Not sleeping during a ceremony for the dead (5) AWAKE {A}{WAKE}
13  RAF left February aerobatics to purchaser (5) BUYER fEBRUarY*
15  Feast of Lots is observed in Puri marketplace (5) PURIM [T]
17  Do better balancing an egg on a damaged cutlass (8) OUTCLASS {O}{CUTLASS*}
19  10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,0, ________, Lift off (8) IGNITION [GK]
20  Mince oracle's fish (7) ESCOLAR*
22  Do exceedingly well at one time church lesson at first (5) EXCEL {EX}{CE}{L}
24  This may contain papers needing your attention about train derailment at yard (2-4) IN-TRAY {IN-TRA*}{Y}
Cartoon by Rishi
26  Transfer liquid for the French (4) POUR [DD]
28  Initially, Head Office police sergeant jumps (4) HOPS {H}{O}{P}{S}



62 comments:

  1. A very nice offering from Incognito to start the week. Completed the puzzle before time and am now grinning like a Cheshire Cat! :-)))) Thank you Incognito.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, MB, as foretold on Saturday, some might like 8a and some might not! Will you disappear now, like the said cat, leaving behind your grin ?

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    2. No. I'll be hanging around for some more time to hear some more comments!

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  2. I often admire TH cartoons - of both the cartoonists.
    Today, I am very uncomfortable with the published cartoon.
    Light/beam/rays travel in straight lines and so the bent limelight is quite unnatural.
    The cartoonist could have had two limelights - one straight from the overhead lamp going elsewhere. Another from an out-of-sight lamp falling on the woman.
    Did anyone else wonder about this aspect?
    * * *
    Or, is the cartoonist trying to convey that the late effort to bring Priyanka into the campaign won't work?
    In any case, this is a cartoon that I won't put in the cartoonist's Hall of Fame.

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    Replies
    1. I think he is illustrating that she is stealing the limelight!

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    2. Yes, as I guessed, the cartoonist must have had some inner meaning but I somehow cannot accept something that is against the rules of nature.

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    3. There is something in nature which 'bends' light, if you believe all that Einstein says, but that is bending light around and not at the object responsible for it. In fact, repulsion, not attraction seems to be the keyword there.

      He also said 'God does not play dice ...." . As we all know, some Indian gods do!

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    4. Maybe the "gravity" of the situation as depicted in the cartoon is so high, that it causes light to bend :)

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  3. An apt KonkaNi cartoon:

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202473393530500&set=gm.10152417455411282&type=1

    #Spoiler Alert # For the benefit of friends who cannot understand Caption: Elections and the future of our country by Roque Vaz M: For running the country you require a wide chest P: For running the country you require a big heart My comment in KonkaNi: Well said, Sir. So you say a head is not required?

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    Replies
    1. Kishore
      Thanks for sharing that cartoon. For the first time in my life, I was looking at a Konkani cartoon.

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    2. Believe it or not, my kids too saw a Konkani cartoon for the first time.

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  4. I wrote elsewhere that the day's setter is going places.

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    Replies
    1. My atlas, sadly, does not have any place called "Round the bend', otherwise I'd have gone there already

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    2. In school geography we have read that ships sail go out of sight as they sail round the bend of earth's curvature.Today we traveled around the bend all over the world for a nice Geography lesson!

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  5. 23,30 was 'inspired' by the puzzle given above and the idea was 'pinched' with permission

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looks like Suresh is giving you company at "aha!puzzles.com"!

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    2. Suresh is a regular there. Earlier there was a lucky dip to decide winners. Suresh has won once. I got lucky twice

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    3. You always have Lady Luck behind you! :)

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    4. Many of the other regulars are persons whom I have encountered on Mukul Sharma's Mindsport for several years

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    5. MB, it must be the perfume I use: Hatchet !

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  6. Really enjoyed the trio today

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  7. Brilliant surfaces! Thanks to Incognito, I am discovering that comparatively easy puzzles can be great fun. The triple definition at 7 is delightfully done.

    New word learnt - escolar. Waise bhi, crosswords ke eskul mein Incognito escolar hain!

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  8. Usually we are supposed to have a dictionary by your side for CW. but today Incognito changed it to an atlas! Thank you.

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  9. Are we supposed to talk about the phrase in the puzzle or is it too obvious?

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  10. Cartoon by Rishi: Not even having time to tear the papers, tearing the hair wondering what to do?

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  11. Isn't 23&30A an &Lit as well ?

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  12. Telengana was my CoD. I went searching for biblical lands before I ended up getting somewhere closer home

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    Replies
    1. That was intended!

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    2. Same here. I mean I too went around in search of the promised land.

      Nice one Kishore again. Liked it.

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    3. It reminded me of the Kabir doha "कस्तुरी कुंडल बसे, मृग ढूंढे बन मांहि"

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    4. Ditto on searching for the promised land. Another enjoyable puzzle from Incognito.

      Iphone app did not load today, so did this crossword on paper and as Padmanabhan pointed out a few days back, the new format just does not seem right.

      Delete
  13. KISHORE: You can get mounted on the Hall of fame , for taking us on a HIstory and Geography tour !!

    OSIBISA :: Ha ! His music used to be heavenly and transcendental ! You brought back so many fond memory of his Band !! Nice to listen late nights when every one else is asleep ! Are you a fan ? anyone else ? He came to Coimbatore a few months ago ! Alas, I missed seeing him in person !!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I still remember the 'flying elephant' and that they sang a version of "Raghupati Raghava Raja Raam" and snatches from some songs, though I do not know their names! Of course, Teddy Osei and Daku Potato

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    2. Went thru You Tube and found Sunshine Day, Dance the body music, Kelele, Ojah and several others.
      Here is Dance the boy music for you

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTdxIQbdrDw

      Delete
  14. Yesterday's regular Crossie:Missed today's as Orkut has gobbled up the entire Down clues !! No fun in a coi- inte !!!

    Kishore or DGor CV; can you post a picture of the Bagatelle game? Does this word also not mean a lot of rubbish? what's the connection between the game and nonsense

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    Replies
    1. DG has posted a picture of it yesterday itself.

      Delete
  15. TO BUILD A NEST

    Every year during this season I would watch crows building nests on a spreading neem tree near the large window of my room on the second-floor. This as I lie in bed and idly gaze through it.

    Yesterday too I saw a crow fly with a twig in its beak. It landed somewhere on a crook hidden from my view. Alas, as it was trying to place the twig, the latter fell - not all the way down to the ground (previously I have seen this happen); it got entangled among leaves: it dangled precariously: just a waft of the breeze and it would have plunged.

    But before all that I saw the persevering crow flying to a leafless branch opposite the cluster of leaves and then from there pick up the suspended twig and replace it.

    I have seen the crow bringing in twigs of different lengths and thicknesses. Sometimes it is wire, sometimes it is a fluff of cotton - it seems there is quite a planning and sourcing of materials for the cozy nest.

    I wouldn't know whether a male crow and a female crow are engaged in this activity. For me every crow is similar.

    As I write this, I hear repeated caws - as if the crow is appreciating my recording if its endeavour.

    And believe me, at 12, 12-30 or 1 - whatever the time I begin taking my lunch, a crow will come and sit on the top frame of the glass window of the dining room and vociferously demand a morsel. But I am not the one to feed it as many of my co-residents do.

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    Replies
    1. Well, i am surprised. I heard somewhere that crows do not build their own nest and for breeding, they use other birds nests. Please correct me if i am wrong.

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    2. Interesting. By the way, do you still have sparrows in Chennai? In Bangalore, they seem to live only at the airport!

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    3. Cv had mentioned earlier about the missing sparrows. I have also not seen them anywhere in T.Nagar. Maybe, in places like Triplicane or Mylapore a few may be surviving near the temples.

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  16. Our 'feeding the crow' time is early morning in our backyard. I watch a murder of crows (I believe that is the group name for crows) clamour for it and make a lot of noise inviting others to join in- all this while I am going around the world with Kishore's CW! We are lucky to have a big yard of our neighbour with a lot of trees ( I am not sure how long this may last before they are converted to apts.) Yes, of late, I have also seen a few of them carrying twigs in their beaks. I have read that these nests are for their eggs (as well as that of cuckoos) to hatch.

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    Replies
    1. I have seen in ccs that collective nouns being used to clue DD. Is it fine ?
      Killing crows (6) ok for murder?

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    2. another interesting group name- parliament of owls'. About their use in CW's it is over to the experts.

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    3. No comments about collective noun for baboons;-)

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  17. I have used:

    31 Animal that can be part of an ambush (5) in

    http://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.in/2014/03/no-11043-thursday-27-mar-2014-incognito.html

    The collective noun has been used in the clue. I do not see any problem using it in a light as long as proper definition is given. I am not sure if just the plural of the animal concerned can be used ...

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    Replies
    1. I just got it comfirmed- Tiger. Is it the origin of the word 'Ambush' or vice versa?

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  18. For Vijay

    http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/if-the-crow-is-smart-the-koel-is-smarter/article3007076.ece

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  19. Interesting article. thank you Cv for hunting it out.

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  20. Sparrows are not as ubiquitous as they were in say the Fifties and the Sixties. We had sparrows flitting in and out of our palatial house set in a large compound with coconut, neem, mango and koyya trees. The house had ample girders and beams so convenient for the birds tos ettle down. And, of course, the top, inverted cup of the fan was a cosy place,

    Sparrows became almost extinct in the concrete jungle that Madras is now but quite recently some have been sighted.

    In fact, I saw one some days ago on the same tree that I mentioned. The problem is before I get up from bed and put on my specs, the sparrow flies away: it is always restless.

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    Replies
    1. Seems mobile phone towers are the cause for the dwingling number of sparrows. You seem to be in luck seeing crows, which shortly will go the sparrow way.

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    2. When I was in Port Blair during my first tenure between 95 and 98 I never noticed any crows there other than the one in the local Zoo.

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    3. It is a very pertinent observation. House crows were first reported in Port Blair only in Oct 2002.

      Andaman Crowis a variety of butterfly which figures in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

      In tall eucalyptus or gulmohar trees, we often spot crows (Corvus splendens) feeding raucous young ones of the koel (cuckoo, Eudynamys scolopacea).The male koel needles (irritates) the female crow which dashes madly after it. The female koel quickly slips into the vacated nest and lays her clutch; if she gets some time, she also pushes out some of the crow eggs. Then, she quietly flits away.

      Though we regard the crows as cunning birds, they are naïve when it comes to counting chicks before they are hatched. They hatch the koel's eggs, and when the chicks emerge, they do not recognize these as imposters but raise them as their own.

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  21. @Vijay- koels(cuckoos), not crows use other birds' nests

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  22. @Kishore- we now find an increase In the sparrow population in Chennai, we regularly see some in our neighborhood, thanks to conservation efforts

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  23. Thanks, folks for liking the puzzle. Till next month then ...

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  24. Thanks for the fun puzzle.

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