Thursday 11 December 2014

No 11263, Thursday 11 Dec 2014, Incognito


HAPPY BIRTHDAY INCOGNITO. 
(Thanks for the Cake to relieve my hunger from yesterday)

ACROSS
1   Order around a soldier (8) COMMANDO{COMMAND}{O}
5   Sportsperson has fish at the beginning of round (6) SKATER {SKATE}{Round}
10 Scepticism about bout fixed after first of December (5) DOUBT {De...r}{BOUT*}
11 Caressing, after consuming a piece of uthappam, an abandoned child (9) FOUNDLING {FO{Ut...m}NDLING}
12 Ship carries fruit and weapons (6) SPEARS {S{PEAR}S}
13 A salt tin is floating around island of Atlas (8) ATLANTIS*
15 Unsullied river's having less impurity (5) PURER {PURE}{R}
17 Spy father peruse, uselessly, documentary material (4,5) BOND PAPER {BOND} {PA}{PERuse}
19 Participate on behalf of a country and show the slide show again (9) REPRESENT {RE-PRESENT}
20 Legal officer leads Karnataka in the capital (5) DAKAR {DA}{KAR}
21 Pickle with a dash of pepper and save for later (8) PRESERVE {Pe...r}{RESERVE}
23 Porter who gave us The Gift of the Magi (1,5) O HENRY Definition by example
27 Run, with Rita in custody, to Iowa or Hope's country (9) RURITANIA {RU{RITA}N}{IA}
28 Knave enabled hiding Indian instrument (5) VEENA [T]
29 Ridicule the German one before editor returns (6) DERIDE {DER}{1}{DE<=}
30 Puts in the same category like (and) (8) BRACKETS Definition by example

DOWN
1   Encrypts software laws (5) CODES [MD]
2   Play with an anti-pest contraption that a rodent bit back (9) MOUSETRAP {MOUSE}{TRAP<=}
3   Badly tears a flower (5) ASTER*
4   Idiotic to place five hundred just before the rear part of the ship (4) DAFT {D}{AFT}
6   Child slept and was abducted in book by Stevenson (9) KIDNAPPED {KID}{NAPPED}
7   Dance for Oliver (5) TWIST [DD]
8   Court official who may be found in a hospital (9) REGISTRAR [DD]
9   Lawrence stood behind female ruler in queendom (9) SULTANATE {SULTANA}{TE}
14 Watchful attendant follows ex-student (9) OBSERVANT {OB}{SERVANT}
15 Respired badly with a hint of paranoia and sweated (9) PERSPIRED {Pa...a}{RESPIRED*}
16 Once again put into office and let decree manipulation (2-7) RE-ELECTED*
18 Dog from the old Chinese capital? (9) PEKINGESE [C&DD]
22 Terrorist's innate mistake (5) ERROR [T]
24 Chaos caused by command cried out prior to letting slip the dogs of war (5) HAVOC [GK] [DD]  See comments
25 Whipped yeast for the poet (5) YEATS*
26 Two set right, after the engineers left (4) PAIR rePAIR

GRID

Tailpiece

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AFTERDARK
(Eating your cake as well in advance in anticipation of your next offering)

47 comments:

  1. Thanks, Deepak. Was born many years back today, a week before the liberation of Goa and 4 years before Afterdark. Happy Birthday, Shrikanth !

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  2. Happy Birthday, Kishore and Shrikant

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  3. Happy Birthday Kishore & Shrikanth!

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  4. Let me join the chorus in wishing the 26D a very happy memorable Birthday and many more to come- and be celebrated among the Black & White squares!
    Thank you Kishore for giving a samosa breakfast- after yesterday's fast. Full filling.

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  5. Struggled a bit in SE corner. The samosa seemed so near yet so far until I opened the brackets.

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  6. I was a little unsure about the anno of 'Havoc' and the plain GK in the blog did not help either- yntil I googled out-

    In English, the dogs of war is a phrase from Act 3, Scene 1, line 273 of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: "Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war".

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    Replies
    1. The link over HAVOC would have taken you there

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    2. Paddy, the Shakespearean quote also appeanrs on the first page of Frederick Forsyth's book 'The Dogs of War' .

      The clue is a DD

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    3. Yes, I remember that distinctly.
      While travelling in a day train from Chennai to Mayavaram the other day, I read an excellent murder story in a book of crime stories that my elder brother had with him.
      It was a great, momentary pleasure.
      There is no frigate like a book, as the poet said.

      Delete
  7. Thanks, everyone, for your good wishes

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  8. Happy birthday Kishore & Shrikanth.

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  9. Happy birthday Kishore and Shrikanth!

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  10. Happy birthday Kishore and Shrikanth!

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  11. A couple of MDs:

    2 Play with an anti-pest contraption that a rodent bit back (9) MOUSETRAP {MOUSE}{TRAP<=}
    6 Child slept and was abducted in book by Stevenson (9) KIDNAPPED {KID}{NAPPED}

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  12. Thanks for the Samosas, Kishore. :-))) A nice puzzle. My COD was 17A - BOND PAPER.

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    Replies
    1. MB
      Yes, it is an attractive clue, no doubt. But I am asking my setter-friend if the grammar is correct:
      Spy father peruse, uselessly, documentary material (4,5)
      If it is an affirmative sentence as it is, shouldn't it be 'peruses'? In which case the WP won't work.
      A fix could be to make it an imperative sentence:
      Spy father, uselessly peruse documentary material (4,5)
      Or, perhaps,
      Documentary material spy father has to peruse, uselessly (4,5)

      Delete
    2. Please read spy as a verb in the surface, sir ...

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    3. Ah, in which case it must have a comma after father, as in my edited version in a Comment above.
      In the clue as printed
      Spy father peruse, uselessly, documentary material (4,5)
      we would think it is a sentence in the present tense - in which case we would expect it to be 'peruses'.

      Delete
    4. Instead of another comma, which I think still leaves things a bit iffy, your first option given above, without the comma might work better.

      Delete
  13. Kishore and Shrikanth -

    Greetings to you! How did you [in each and separate way] spend your b'day?



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    1. Spend the day,indeed ... Pulling out my wallet ;-)

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    2. Usual stuff CV Sir. With kids and less righteous indignation.

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  14. Thanks Colonel and thanks folks. A honor to share the birthday with the indomitable Kishore. Happy birthday Kishore.

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    Replies
    1. My birthday I share with no less a person than MGR.

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    2. Thanks, Sri, the feeling is mutual. BTW, both of us are just a day older than Thalaivar.

      CV, that's a Joy, Lolita, as some people might say

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  15. Happy Birthday Shrikanth and Kishore

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    Replies
    1. From all of us here in this blog !! May God bless you both Kishore and Afterdark with many more years of good life and crosswords.

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  16. Enjoyed today's x'ie.Relished the literary touches vide 23a,2,6,7,23&24d.A nice birthday gift from Incognito.Happy birthday.

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  17. best wishes to the birthday babies! Please let me make a digression:http://worldschoolphotographs.com/

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  18. Happy Birthday Incognito and thanks for the samosas! After Dark, it is always LIGHT. Happy Birthday to you.

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  19. Happy Birthday Kishore & Shrikanth

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  20. “Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of ‘you’ to the world.”
    Happy birthday Incognito Afterdark

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  21. Many More Happy Returns of the Day Kishore sir and Shrikanth sir.. :) :)

    Wish you Entertain us more n more... A Big thank you :)

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  22. Kishore and Shrikanth - many, many happy returns of the day. Wishing you both Happy Birthday. Many more years of setting and solving! Good health and happiness.
    Kishore - thanks for a samosa day. Loved the CW.

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  23. You both are very young compared to me! I was born the year India got Independence!!

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  24. Happy birthday to both of you Kishore and Shrikanth :)

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  25. Many happy returns Kishore Sir and Shrikanth Sir !!
    +1 for the caption

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  26. Navneeth
    Nice to see your clue in the Crossword Centre CWC.

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  27. Thanks, everyone, for your good wishes

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  28. Missed out on missing two Bday boys. Many many wishes. Hope u continue to regale us as u have been doing. What a wonderful puzzle as a return gift!

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