Thursday 8 May 2014

No 11079, Thursday 08 May 2014, Lightning


ACROSS
1   Embarrassed to go back into decline, Democrat drifted away (8) WANDERED {WAN{DER<=}E}{D}
5   Isolated students outside old northeastern highway finally (6) LONELY {L}{O}{NE}{L}{Y}
9   Request from hospital department about a therapy’s limits (8) ENTREATY {ENT}{RE}{A}{TherapY}
10 Compete with two poles at a capital (6) VIENNA {VIE}{NN}{A}
12 Obscure call, at first earsplitting (5) CLOUD {Call}{LOUD}
13 Doctor loots one rug in commotion (9) UROLOGIST {LOOTS+1+RUG}*
14 Empty jail in US state, close to Detroit (6) VACANT {VA}{CAN}{detroiT}
16 Desperate to stop working after entry (2-2-3) DO-OR-DIE {DO-OR}-{DIE}
19 The solo representation for a country (7) LESOTHO*
21 Reward left out of championship game (6) PAYOFF PlAYOFF
23 Warmth shown by fine fellow engineer indeed! (9) AFFECTION {A{F}{F}{E}CTION}
25 Vegetation consisting of flowers? Not quite (5) FLORA FLORAl Not sure if anno is correct See comments
26 Relieve peacekeepers’ burden (6) UNLOAD {UN}{LOAD}
27 Man selling sacred things destroyed icons aim (8) SIMONIAC*
28 Attempts short compositions (6) ESSAYS [DD]
29 Serious, extreme nervous disorder (8) NEUROSIS {SERIOUS+N}* &lit
Cartoon by Rishi

DOWN
1   Twist spanner (6) WRENCH [DD]
2   Citizens of India, perhaps have a legitimate shot to begin with (9) NATIONALS {NATION}{A}{L}{S}
3   Correct measure at last (5) EMEND {EM}{END}
4   Give custody of letters from ardent rustic (7) ENTRUST [T]
6   Try weird ploy to go after crude oil market where few players exist (9) OLIGOPOLY {OIL*}{GO}{PLOY*}
7   Discontent about losing borders, genuine (5) ENNUI gENUINe*
8   New eatery is more zestful (8) YEASTIER*
11 Frame of mind of doctor returning to work (4) MOOD {MO}{OD<=}
15 Government that runs on its own? (9) AUTOCRACY [CD]
17 Flowers that fell off a piece of decoration were sent back (9) DAFFODILS {noitaroceD}{A}{FFO}{DILS}<=
18 A repulse turned into delight? (8) PLEASURE*
20 Variety shown by Bartoli outstanding! (4) OLIO [T]
21 Thoughtful of writer to separate out first edition (7) PENSIVE {PEN}{SIeVE}
22 Performances by people of Denmark outside the border of Copenhagen (6) DANCES {DAN{Copenhagen}ES}
24 Stuffs bells and whistles right away (5) FILLS FrILLS
25 Confound fellow regularly with alternative (5) FLOOR {FeLlOw}{OR}


Words connected to the poem Daffodils by William Wordsworth

82 comments:

  1. Re Kishore's cartoon...

    So the cow was not moved by the bull's demands?

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  2. Did anyone [other than me] discover the theme in this crossword?

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    Replies
    1. I looked but didn't see anything

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    2. Got it, but only after you pointed out that there is a theme.

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    3. The bull did not need "Moods".

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    4. I think the term is "ghost theme".

      It doesn't herald. It doesn't stare at you. It is not pegged to a day. It grows on you as you solve the XWD and get some answers.

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    5. I spotted that the initial letters of 10a-16a spelled out CODED, and was looking for more...

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    6. @Kishore 8:45

      ...whether dotted, ribbed, ultra-thin or whatever.

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    7. whether with the med ...

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    8. Kishore@8:45
      Now we know what folks want when they say they want protection for bulls

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    9. Re the theme

      Friends, I can tell you that there is a hint in the blog published above.

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    10. I thought it was emotions or spirit (ghost). But I think there are some 7-8 answers answering the theme's description..

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    11. I first came across the word PENSIVE from this...

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    12. It gets on your nerves

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    13. I see a lot of "EN"s in the lights

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    14. Nice puzzle. And the theme is my 'all time favourite'. Even visited the place which gave the inspiration for this!

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    15. I count 10 words in the puzzle that appear in the 'themed' work. The two top crosses first suggested the link - once I looked for it! Good catch, CV.

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    16. Sorry, Sandhya - I saw your 8:53 *after* responding to CV's original comment above which triggered the search for the theme.

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  3. Reading test

    Ref the box in Col 1 of today's paper.

    Read the sentence beginning "In this digital age..."

    Tell me if you were able to keep track and get the sense of it all.

    How many times did you have to re-read it before you got the drift?

    Or did you give up mid-way?

    PGW can write a sentence as long as this but there would be no need to re-read it to make sense of it.

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    Replies
    1. Did not read the paper yet. Yet to rescue it from my father's clutches ;-)

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    2. Hope it is not drafted by the newcomer! If so we are in for a long haul. I am sure the the writer himself got lost midway, not to speak of the reader.

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  4. Didn't Kishore"s toon capture the theme?

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  5. @Kishore &CV: Naughty boys! ; )

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    Replies
    1. We are in the mood for 'it' !

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    2. Logging in for a while. Missed the fun.

      Sandy 9:04 on CV and Kishore - PP Version 2?

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    3. The problem is that you get others in the 'mood' as well !!
      Richard @ 10.05- Does "SP" stand for Special P?

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    4. Kishore @ : You are in the mood for"it" @ 9:06 AM ?!

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    5. IT? Always. After all, it is my bread and butter.

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    6. Now Kishore means another IT- Income tax, right Kishore?

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    7. A whole bunch of naughty boys, Sandhya!

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    8. PP has able support in SP!

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    9. Relief! Thought we were being ignored!

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  6. Nice morning workout. Some very good surfaces and accessible (often intriguing) wordplay.

    @DG: Re. FLORA annotation: I don't see a problem with the annotation, but the clue also has an &lit touch, doesn't it? After all, FLORA does mean all vegetation, not just flowers.

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  7. Great cartoon, Kishore. I think the cow could not have WANDERED over anway, because the LONELY bull making the ENTREATY with AFFECTION was in the neighbouring farm, separated by a fence or perhaps by a mass of FLORA including some DAFFODILS. Quite a WRENCH for both of them, and bound to put them in a PENSIVE MOOD, but I am sure celibacy has some PAYOFF!

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  8. You guys seem to be bent on changing the mode of the mood in solving.

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  9. Incidentally, the Hindu has some great wordplay on the Sports page, worthy of a crossword clue: reporting that Federer and his wife now have another pair of twins, the headline reads "Two sets to love!"

    Kudos to the sub-ed who came up with that headline.

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    Replies
    1. TOI too has the same headline, so probably a syndicated one:

      http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/off-the-field/Two-sets-to-love-for-Roger-Federer/articleshow/34773546.cms

      The new additions being girls, if they are identical, leading to initial identification issues, if the mother asks the husbandr whether
      "A" has been fed, he could doubtfully reply. "I fed 'er, er, just five minutes back"

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    2. Kishore,
      The new additions are boys (will be boys?)- the older twins are girls. So ..er.... mo(o)dify.

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    3. Suresh, no time for sex-changes, right?

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    4. Abhay, both the pieces are credited to Reuters.

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    5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    6. Kishore @ 11:15 Your comment reminds me of an exchange I had with I S Johar in his 'Question Box' column of Filmfare, long long ago!

      Mine : Hi, handsome! Happy news! I changed my sex!!

      His reply : Just when I lost it!

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    7. As a former sub-editor I can say that agency reports don't carry headlines. Their reports will have only the barest of bare 'headers'.
      In olden days when news came via teleprinters, it would come in bits called 'takes' - each consisting of some 15 or 20 lines.
      The stream of paper spewing out of the teleprinter would have different takes of different stories. We would cut a long stream and then cut the different takes. Before the takes of a particular story were pinned, they were sorted out and assembled.
      When the story was to continue, each take will have 'mtf' at the end - meaning more to follow. When there was no more take to come, the last take will have (ends).
      The sub, after editing the takes, will pin them together and append a torn bit of white paper with his/her heading written on it.
      As for the heading of the twins story, it is possible two subs happened to give the same headline in different newsrooms.
      It is a good headline but it is none-too-original one for a seasoned sub to give.

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  10. The Amul guys may say that you are in boysterous mood!

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    Replies
    1. What bull! We are always in a boys-will-be-boysterous mood!

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  11. Maybe if the bull had performed DANCES, in a DO OR DIE effort to gain the LONELY cow's AFFECTION and FLOOR her - that would have been some PAYOFF ending in PLEASURE on CLOUD nine

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  12. And finally the puzzle by Lightning - as always smooth reading.

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  13. K's cartoon reminded me of someone who advanced men's pulses but repulsed their advances...

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  14. Excellent intriguing CW- A good exercise for the brain and a nice start for the day. IMO,lot of moody diversions have drifted the focus away.
    I was red faced - no, I do not mean the discussion. But for missing 1A,taking 'embarrassed' as the def. and wandered away.

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  15. Enjoyed today's puzzle.Esp.13a-doctor is def.& not anagrind.Likewise disorderly defined vide 29a.17d-the catch is in'fell' back to slip. Wonderful.also thunderous one marked by lightning.

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  16. I had just set a puzzle with a theme.

    Then I got a chance to see the grid entries in today's XWD. I was taken aback to see that the ghost theme in this was the same as the one that I had thought of and done the gridfills. I was yet to write the clues.

    I took a relook. I was relieved to see that all - except one - of the thematic words in my grid were unique. I quickly altered the repeat and thus my grid was saved.

    "Men work together, ... / Whether they work together or apart.'' - Frost.

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  17. Looking at Bhala's and CV's comments, I suspect the theme might be something else. Van Gogh? I have no domain knowledge.

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    Replies
    1. This above comment is after and despite my having icluded the highlighted grid in above post at DG's instruction

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    2. http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww260.html ?

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    3. Many words seem to be from the poem " I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" ( aka Daffodils) by William Wordsworth.

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    4. Oops! Did not notice @Ramesh 11;38 earlier before posting my comment.

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  18. I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
    That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
    When all at once I saw a crowd,
    A host, of golden daffodils;
    Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
    Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

    Continuous as the stars that shine
    And twinkle on the milky way,
    They stretched in never-ending line
    Along the margin of a bay:
    Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
    Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

    The waves beside them danced; but they
    Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
    A poet could not but be gay,
    In such a jocund company:
    I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
    What wealth the show to me had brought:

    For oft, when on my couch I lie
    In vacant or in pensive mood,
    They flash upon that inward eye
    Which is the bliss of solitude;
    And then my heart with pleasure fills,
    And dances with the daffodils.

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  19. Finally, updated solution grid. Frankly, I had no idea ...

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    Replies
    1. Ditto. However I remember slogging at school trying to remember the words. I for one could never remember poetry verbatim.

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    2. Your ditto seems to ref. to updating the solution grid, which both of us seem to have done. So we have one at the top and one at the bottom!

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    3. I think ENNUI is not a themed word from the poem.

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    4. Yes, my mistake. Looks like I am also the culprit for uploading it twice. ;-)

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  20. Col.
    Thank you for reproducing the lovely poem by Wordsworth. Enjoyed reading it again.
    And, of course, thanks once again to Lightning for the most enjoyable CW.

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  21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ6r5I6BGQA

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  22. Lightning strikes leaving us dazed with his brilliance. Well done.

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    Replies
    1. No doubt, one of the best. Kudos, Lightning!

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  23. Centum today! Somewhat easier to my standard - you people would have completed in a jiffy Lightning speed. Thanks Lightning!

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  24. i am still in confusion regarding (?) question mark. Can anyone explain? What is the function of question mark in 18 D?

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    Replies
    1. http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2010/08/how-to-interpret-punctuation-in-clues.html

      Please go through that link - of Crossword Unclued by Suchi.

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    2. As for 18 Dn it may be a case of -- "Sometimes '?' and '!' too, like other punctuation marks, only help the surface and imply nothing unusual " - Courtesy Suchi's Crossword Unclued.

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  25. Very well crafted clues and surfaces.

    I too thought that the Federer headline was nicely done. Although for some reason, I immediately looked for the syndicate's name.

    Chaturvasiat@02:06, make that at least three people in as many newsrooms who came up with the same headline. :-)

    http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/05/06/uk-tennis-men-madrid-federer-idUKKBN0DM1CL20140506

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  26. I first saw "Two sets to Love" on tennis.com's slider - right after Federer broke the news on twitter two days ago. Not saying that any journalist plagiarized here. I guess its more like a good, but easy to construct, "& lit" clue that no one wants to pass up on :)

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