Tuesday 14 July 2015

No 11446, Tuesday 14 Jul 2015, xChequer


Brilliant CW, yet I don't think I will ever tire of saying, "xChequer is as devious as ever!"

ACROSS
7   Wrong of the team to decide on batting (6) INJURY {IN}{JURY}
8   Persecuted? Wrong; Rude? Wrong (8) TORTURED {TORT}{RUDE*}
9   Often thrown on top of couple, it reflects bits of a wedding shower (8) CONFETTI {Co...e}{OFTEN*}{TI<=}
10 Father's nose oddly corresponding to many a hooter (6) SIRENS {SIRE}{NoSe}
11 Essentially pronoun 'it' yields single identity (5) UNITY [T]
12 Recurring expression round long song of praise (6) GLORIA G{L}ORIA Anno pending (Addendum - {GL}{O}{RIA}<= - See comments)
14 Shady, lewd, snide calls, primarily rude, an extremely woeful issue? (10,5) WEDNESDAYS CHILD {SHADY+LEWD+SNIDE+Calls}*
17 Record set in concrete? Void! (6) REPEAL {R{EP}EAL}
18 Public transport subjected to extremely aggressive cursing (5) ABUSE {Aggre{BUS}ssivE}
22 Biography of English doctor aboard space station (6) MEMOIR {M{E}{MO}IR}
23 Third note to be rejected, bill's a fake (8) IMPOSTER {IM<=}{POSTER}
24 Hydrant appears to choke on discharge (8) FIREPLUG {FIRE}{PLUG}
25 Thieves heading away left such footsteps? (6) INCHES pINCHES

DOWN
1   Energy initially negative in opposition meeting (9) ENCOUNTER {E}{Ne...e}{COUNTER} 'in' is misleading See comments
2   Fan belt regularly getting cut — strong winds can do this (6) BUFFET {BUFF}{bElT}
3   Awkward task to receive unknown neighbour's money (5) KYATS {K{Y}ATS*}
4   Acts of obliteration beyond doubt through the ages (8) ERASURES {ERA{SURE}S}
5   Forbidden to come to community welfare programme (8) OUTREACH {OUT}{REACH}
6   Note a trailing layer of dye (5) HENNA {HEN}{N}{A}
8   Pirate swung over line, sailor gives indication that bonds are secure (6,1,6) TRIPLE A RATING {TRIP{L}E A*} {RATING}
13 Pressure continued to keep queen steaming (9) PLASTERED {P}{LAST{ER}ED}
15 Contracted to build new road without closing of tender (8) NARROWED {NEW+ROAD}* around {t...eR}
16 Fabulously artful shades contrasting pure black (8) SUPERBLY {S{PURE*}{B}LY}
19 Divide portion kept dry (6) BISECT {BI{SEC}T}
20 Amber, for instance, requires speed primarily to be held in check (5) RESIN {RE{Sp..d}IN}
21 Part of page inserted in narrow opening (5) SPLIT {S{P}LIT}

71 comments:

  1. Congratulations to Gita and Deepak Gopinath on the arrival of Viaan, their grandson. I am sure all of you join me in wishing every happiness and success to the young one.

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    1. Grandparents are becoming grander and grander! Congrats.

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    2. Congratulations on the new arrival.

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    3. I too join, Congratulations Col Sir & Gita ma'am !

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    4. Congrats to the family!

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    5. Congratulations to you and the family on the birth of your grand child Colonel.

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    6. Congrats Col Pass on our best wishes to the proud parents.

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    7. Congrats to the proud grandparents

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    8. Congrats to you and the family Col

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    9. Great news Deepak. And interesting name also. Wonder what it means.

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    10. Hearty Congratulations to the proud parents and grandparents.

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    11. Congrats col..nice name too

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  2. On a separate note, and this just might spur someone to expand this idea - the crossword addiction seems to percolate into the family members of the aficionados. I am sure you all know that Bhavan unveiled a different kind of Nina when he named his daughter. Now, the Colonel’s granddaughter’s name Avni just got anagrammed with an extra a to become Viaan. I am sure the Colonel can tell us the ‘inside story’ or is it just a serendipitous discovery (or as Anon recently put it ‘trouvaille’).

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    1. Trouvaille it certainly is as far as I know and as far as percolation of the addiction I'm afraid the filter in my house is totally blocked as nothing has percolated down!!
      Thanks for all the good wishes.

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    2. 'Viaan' means full of life and energy.

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    3. It certainly does and he displays it by keeping his parents awake at night!!

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    4. I was just pulling your leg, Deepak. Regarding keeping awake at night, it might be jet lag ... He is still following IST which is in his genes.

      On a lighter note, Sunnet might produce some pangrams!

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    5. CV, suspect the word vivacious probably comes from the same root

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    6. When I came across 'trouvaille' I suspected it must be from 'trouver' - which means to find.
      It turned out to be correct.
      A little knowledge of the foreign languages by our study of roots of English words helps. Can't be dangerous, in any case.

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  3. 1 Energy initially EN
    negative COUNTER
    Defn: in opposition meeting (EN)(COUNTER)

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    1. Encounter = to meet in opposition or with hostile intent;

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    2. I would side with the Colonel in his Comment on this clue without trying to justify the use of 'in' as NR has done.

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    3. I saw no problems with this clue:

      Energy = E
      initially Negative = N
      in opposition = COUNTER (adverb)

      meeting = ENCOUNTER

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    4. I didn't get the issue with the clue, it looks fine to me.
      in opposition = counter
      e.g. 'acted in opposition to popular demand' = 'acted counter to popular demand'

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    5. @Bhavan: Our comments crossed :-)

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  4. 12 Recurring expression round long song of praise (6) GLORIA

    [{GL}{O}{RIA})<-

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    1. Qns: How do we get LG from long? Is 'recurring' an apt rev ind? How do we get AIR (v.) from 'expression' (n.)

      Qns. raised merely for provoking discussion. Respect for setter's work remains.

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    2. LG: acronym for LONG (Freedict)

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    3. Air (n): public expression (Freedict)

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    4. Recurring: Coming back (wordweb)

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  5. 19Dn dry = sec. This may be new for most solvers. Champagne's sweetness is varied by the amount of sugar (dosage) added after the second fermentation, this determines how sweet a Champagne will be.
    ◘ Extra-Brut 0-6 g of sugar per liter (the driest of the dry, unsweetened)
    ◘ Brut less than 15 g of sugar per liter (dry, this is the typical style of Champagne with no sweetness)
    ◘ Extra-Dry 12-20 g of sugar per liter (still dry with a hint of sweetness or slightly sweet)
    ◘ Sec 17-35 g of sugar per liter (medium sweet)
    ◘ Demi-Sec 33-55 g of sugar per liter (sweet)
    ◘ Doux more than 55 gram of sugar per liter (Sweetest, very rare and is considered as dessert wine)

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    1. Many people beyond a particular age are diabetes prone and these degrees of sweetness are just a matter taken from the Internet and republished.

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    2. Sec is not new, it has appeared in THC n a number of occasions

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    3. Yes, it has appeared in Everyman X-word carried in The Hindu on 28 June, 2015:
      Dry time for religious group (4) SECT {SEC}{T}
      Has any local setter used it earlier?

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    4. http://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.in/2012/02/no-10382-friday-10-feb-12-mover.html

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  6. In Chennai fire hydrants such as the one in the pic in this blog are things of the past.
    There must have been a time when these were on city roads but as I grew up in Madras I never saw them in use.
    Even today rare unused fire hydrants such as this one may be seen as vestiges of the past, perhaps pre-Independence days. Paddy will confirm this. I think there is/was one near the CSI church on Cathedral Road.

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    1. Even if there are any fire hydrants, I have my doubts if any of them will work

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    2. I can testify that have seen fire hydrants in use .... By dogs

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  7. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Couple of wrong entries. Then it was all over the place. Decided to peep in here than to break my head further. And as usual , brilliant CW.

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    1. Shrikanth
      Will be grateful if you can please tell me which is the wrong side of the bed so that I may be aware of it and can try and avoid it.

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    2. Wrong side is that side which is not right, but it can be either left or right

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    3. It is the wrong side of the bed when Mother Superior ends wearing the Bishop's slippers ...

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    4. For southpaws, right-hand side could be the wrong side - and for others the right is the wrong side...;)

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    5. It is good as long as it is not waking up in the wrong bed .. forget the side

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  8. Yes CV. I have seen a fire hydrant (not sure if it was in working condition) in our road corner on Tirumalai Pillai Road, T.Nagar. But that was decades back. We cannot think of fire hydrants now in Chennai for the simple reason that there is no water!

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  9. On Col.'s byword-
    When surfaces get interesting (just as surface reading,e.g."...decide on batting..") parsing gets difficult and devious. I loved many of the surfaces, though I could not crack them.

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  10. Congrats to Deepak and Gita on becoming grandparents yet again. May you and the child's parents remain as vivacious as ever...

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  11. For the past two days the paper has shifted the crossword with other companion features to the back page. It is in an inconvenient position. We can as well bang our heads against the wall before the designer subs know what is convenient to crossword solvers.
    They title the page LIFE.How miserable it can be!

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    Replies
    1. Maybe TH could employ a UX professional.

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    2. Suresh
      Just found out what a UX professional is.
      Don't know about UX but the paper does have a design editor.
      Somtimes designs can be bad, it seems.

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    3. Just a passing comment, Rishi ji. My daughter happens to be a UX professional. Software designers also use them to ensure that the applications designed are friendly to users. What the design editor missed out here apparently is the convenience of the reader solving the crossword.

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  12. Today's Metro Plus in the Banged has an article on 'Ear cuffs' never knew that there was such an item even though the articles says that making a reappearance

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  13. When I read your Comment on ear cuffs, I did not know what you meant by ear cuffs.
    But after I saw the pics on the Internet, these were not seen in use when I was in college and some decades later.
    Then I noticed them.
    I think rich women sport just one of these, besides the usual ear ring or drop.
    But women in poorer sections of the city tend to use ear cuffs liberally. I think there it is considered a sort of status symbol. Some of them fave a whole lot of them on the entire length of the ear flap.

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  14. Congratulations DG sir and Gita maam :)

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  15. Congrats Col on becoming a granddad again.

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  16. Brilliant xword it was...missed out on 7a & 2d & annos of 10 & 12 a...it was very hard work

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  17. Thanks again for all the good wishes. Suresh @11:07 the name means 'Full of life and energy' as mentioned by CV in his comment @9:03

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  18. Congratulations to dear Col and Gita on this upgradation to another rung in the ladder of succession with the arrival of Viaan, a brand new grandson. May your tribe increase. Does this mean that you both have to attend and tend to Viaan for his viands and diapers , nocturnally? May this procreation by your progeny bring lots of prosperity and vivacity in your family. May Vian become Ivan the lovable to all !! God bless the mother and the child and may Viaan's father's chest expand to 45'' chowdai !!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Raju. Well we don't have to attend and tend to Viaan at the moment, as he is halfway across the world in Austin, TX

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