Monday 30 March 2015

No 11355, Monday 30 Mar 2015, Incognito


Incognito is still broadcasting in code.

ACROSS
8   Michael's microphone (4) MIKE [DD]
9   Bill head office first created for this in Latin (2,3) AD HOC {AD} {HO}{Cr...d}
10 Italian one has company with rum for a Scot (4) UNCO {UN}{CO}
11 Bear malformed kid eating nothing before a king (6) KODIAK {K{O}DI*}{A}{K}
12 Auditor's wiser after male issue gets solar protector (3,5) SUN VISOR (~ son wiser)
13 Newer hay may be spread at whichever place (8) ANYWHERE*
15 Nonsense! Tangled net is spoilt (6) ROTTEN {ROT}{NET*}
17 Bucket in the Dahl's chocolate factory (7) CHARLIE [GK]
19 Dance with animal on the run (7) FOXTROT {FOX}{TROT}
22 What Spanish engineer created at first in Canadian province (6) QUEBEC {QUE}{BE}{Cr...d}
24 No member lost opening match around five (8) NOVEMBER {NO}{V}{mEMBER} Definition seems to be missing
26 Go away from bad oracle and a couple of females (5,3) CLEAR OFF {CLEAR O}*{FF}
28 A spot on a horse's face is on fire (6) ABLAZE {A}{BLAZE}
30 Boer leader's lost some shining dust (4) SMUT SMUTs
31 Told endlessly about short time in Austrian state (5) TYROL {T{YR}OLd}
32 Flog about a game (4) GOLF*

DOWN
1   Loki's troubled about weight (4) KILO*
2   He gives a second look at female sheep that has fallen into receding river (8) REVIEWER {REVI{EWE}R<=}
3   American pulls without direction but with ease, I hear (6) YANKEE {YANKs}{EE(~ease)}
4   West has his main drink (7) WHISKEY {W}{HIS}{KEY}
5   Plot has incomplete scene with a Spanish flower (8) SCENARIO {SCENe}{A}{RIO}
6   Heroine's got one alien after an endless month (6) JULIET {JULy}{1}{ET}
7   Repeat “After delta” (4) ECHO [DD]
14 Urn he remodelled for former Prime Minister (5) NEHRU*
16 Arouse lady consuming oyster kebabs for starters (5) EVOKE {EV{Oy...r}{Ke...s}E}
18 Undeveloped part of foot has corn with some eczema (8) INCHOATE {INCH}{OAT}{Ec...a}
20 Delays caused by megaliths metamorphosing in absence of primary heat (4,4) TIME LAGS MEGALIThS*
21 Regular peacekeepers have one shape (7) UNIFORM {UN}{1}{FORM}
23 Swain has an empty tray for a dish (6) BEAUTY {BEAU}{TraY}
25 Six can be workable (6) VIABLE {VI}{ABLE}
27 Circular mail in South American city (4) LIMA*
29 South African has pot behind the menagerie, I hear (4) ZULU (~ zoo loo)

GRID

69 comments:

  1. I am sorry about 24a. A bloomer on my part.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 3 American pulls without direction but with ease, I hear (6) YANKEE {YANKs}{EE}

    Homophone symbol missing in anno.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Let's have a discussion on the difference between a Homonym and a Homophone

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  4. Homophones are words that sound the same as another word but have a different meaning, and often a different spelling.
    Bear - bare
    Night-Knight

    A homonym is one of two or more words that have the same sound and often the same spelling but differ in meaning, such as
    bank - the land alongside a riverside
    bank - from where you withdraw money (provided you have put it there in the first place)

    In crossword clues 'homophones' are employed.

    Homonyms - have you found any instance?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Drawing on Raghu's 9.27 example, a clue :
      Helpful sort (4) KIND, would not only be a DD but also a homonym

      Delete
    2. That's what I'd thought too.

      Delete
  5. I found this on the net

    A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning, and may differ in spelling. The words may be spelled the same, such as rose (flower) and rose (past tense of "rise"), or differently, such as carat, caret, and carrot, or to, two, and too.

    A homonym is a word that is said or spelled the same way as another word but has a different meaning. "Write” and “right” is a good example of a pair of homonyms.

    Don't both seem the same

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 'write' and 'right' are spelled differently and are homophones and not homonyms (contrary to what's written)

      Delete
    2. Deepak, that 'or' between the 'said' and 'spelled ' should have been 'and' in the defn of a homonym. As rightly said in CV's comment.

      Delete
  6. Thank you Incognito. Loved doing it today.

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  7. Yes, certain dictionaries don't quite differentiate the terms.

    In fact, there are dictionaries that give one of these words as the meaning of the other word.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It looks like 'ease' for EE is like the setter saying things with a wink, like say 'flower' for a river. I am not sure if it is the right comparison. In other words, it may not fall into any known grammatical category.

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  9. From Chambers:

    homophone: 1 a word which sounds the same as another word but is different in spelling and/or meaning, eg bear and bare.

    homonym: a word with the same sound and spelling as another, but with a different meaning, eg kind (helpful) and kind (sort).

    ReplyDelete
  10. We have been using both homophones and homonyms in THCs. The second category especially is tricky as it tends to lead one in another direction as the spelling is the same but having diff meanings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The point of having a cryptic crossword is to mislead... After all...

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    2. And when The Miss leads, we all follow ! ;-)

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    3. Follow, of course, is to be understood as 'understand'. We all understand how crosswords work ...

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  11. 28a reminded me of the short story Silver Blaze by A. Conan Doyle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Similarly, Sudden's hoss Nigger was jet black except for a white blaze on its forehead

      Delete
  12. Can Raghunath or anyone else write a clue that uses a homonym for WP?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I find that Kishore has a homonym clue somewhere above this post. Thanks, mate.

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    2. But, sir, not in the wordplay ...

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    3. How can K serve delicious 'dishes' on an empty tray!? Maybe he's a pastmaster at it!

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    4. The swain has brought an empty tray, to carry away a dish. The tray will no longer be empty, when the dish is placed thereon.

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    5. Hope the tray was large enough to carry 23D ! ;-)

      Delete
  13. Deepak

    I looked up An ABC of English Usage by H. A. Treble and G. H. Vallins (Oxford at the Clarendon Press,1936) that bears the rubber stamp of my father Flt. Lt. C. M. Gopal, I.A.F.

    The definitions clearly keep the distinction that my post above describes.

    Frequent misuse (or is it misusage or abusage?) is faithfully recorded by dictionaries that boast that they are not prescriptive but descriptive.

    A Fowler is most likely to be prescriptive. I belong to that school!

    ReplyDelete
  14. As per the definition given by CV at 9:10 the catch words are 'Sound the same/Same sound', 'Often different spelling/Often same spelling' and 'different in meaning/differ in meaning' So what is the difference as they all mean the same?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looks like there is an additional 'often' lurking in the second defn. Hnyms need to have same sound and spelling, but Hphones need to have only same sound, while meanings are different in both cases.

      Delete
  15. So I conclude

    A homonym is pronounced and spelt in the same way but have different meanings
    whereas
    A homophone is pronounced in the same way but spelt differently and may or may not mean the same

    Is my conclusion correct?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. I think of 'phone' as the catchword meaning it sounds the same but spells differently ( but how can it mean the same if it's spelt differently and sound the same?)

      Delete
  16. CV at 9:39, How about

    A place where I can keep my valuables by the riverside (4)

    ReplyDelete
  17. That's fine.
    It seems homonym clues don't really need a homonym signal, or do they?
    I considered Kishore's DD too as a homonym clue.
    Maybe we can try writing a homonym clue with the signal as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't charade clues generally have homonyms? Why is a signal needed?

      Delete
    2. DG's clue, like mine, has a DD playing the homonym card. If WP has to contain a homonym with a signal (sidestepping, for the moment, Raghu's query), what words/phrases can constitute a signal? Has the same characters as? Spelt/spelled/written like?

      How about:
      'Insect' spelling competition (3)

      Delete
  18. To go with one of today's topic - Homonym.

    Why did the cat come down from the tree?
    Because it saw the tree bark.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hark! It could not have heard it's bark!

      Delete
  19. Today's comments are very useful

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  20. O/T: Continuing the previous puzzle theme, this one and that one together cover all the letters of the phonetic alphabet. We don't have a category for pangrams spread over 2 puzzles :-( :-)

    ReplyDelete
  21. O/T: A number crosspuzzle is up at The Crossword Corner

    http://www.crossword.org.uk/potblack.html

    Was really tickled by 9d !

    ReplyDelete
  22. Is it only in the Delhi edition that the Crossword and Sudoku appear on the same inside page, one above the other? Most inconvenient to try and fold the paper comfortably, to be able to solve both. Hope this is just a trial!
    Enjoyed Incognito's cw!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The problem prevails here too in Hyderabad, Ma'am!

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    2. With the new arrangement, I too have a problem on hand. I am a crossword addict, while my wife is a Sudoku buff.

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    3. Same in B'lore print edition. Richard you will have to buy two copies daily :-).

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    4. Good sales pitch! But leads to a disgruntled pair. On Friday, the Sudoku was below the crossword and a centrefold would have made the crossword even more puzzling. Luckily, Saturday was better ...

      Delete
    5. ...or keep fighting over one! Very very inconvenient for doing the CW on paper.
      Same problem in Chennai too.

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    6. Folding the paper daily is a good exercise, you see! Who knows one day I might as well outsmart the Japanese at origami !!

      Delete
  23. Same problem Richard here too😣😥😬

    ReplyDelete
  24. All are of the same opinion that it is impossible to change the habits of TH- by sheer past experience.

    ReplyDelete
  25. So I have company. One who has empathy towards or feels the pain with you is humdard.

    Can one who suffers like you be hum-suffer?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Humraaz humkhayal to ho, humnazar bano. Tai hoga zindagi ka safar, humsafar bano ...

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x11QNC9aA70

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a hit song ... Be sure to see till the end ... And don't miss the name of the band painted on the drum!

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    2. A typical Asha - O P number! Packed with punch!! Accompanied by the band - The Monkees!!!

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    3. K, the following also is my favourite:

      Humsafar mere humsafar, pankh tum parawaj hum, zindagi ka saaz ho tum, saaz ki aawaz hum from Purnima (1965), sung by Lata and Mukesh, under the baton of Kalyanji Anandji.

      Delete
    4. I like that one too, Richie. I quoted the Kismat one because it had a lot of 'Hum'ming

      Delete
  27. Punning across languages- suffer/ safar. All thanks to TH & its CW/ Sudoku placement. Sometimes one gets support from unexpected quarters!

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  28. Long before I saw the messages above about position of the crossword, I wrote the following to the Editor:

    "Dear Editor,

    It is advisable that a fixed order of appearance of the features Faith, THC and Sudoku is established. I see variations from day to day.

    Sudoku grid is in itself for solving and so it can be above the horizontal fold of the page while the solution grid is below the fold.

    OTOH, entries in the slots in the crossword grid are in relation to the clues. So the whole feature should conveniently be in a quarter fold of the paper. If it is put in the middle as in today's paper, it is inconvenient to the solvers as they have to spread out the whole paper.

    It would be nice if THC is carried at the end of the D/C on the Variety page."

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  29. Thanks, all for tuning in ...

    ReplyDelete

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