Tuesday 8 September 2015

No 11494, Tuesday 08 Sep 2015, Arden


It's one of those days today ... took me ages to complete this, just managed to meet the deadline with some annos pending.

ACROSS
1   Correct hunch about the thing to disengage (7) UNHITCH {UNH{IT}CH*}
5   Complain over John's travel arrangement (3,4) CAR POOL {CAR P}{OOL<=}
9   Gem may appear luminous somewhat (5) PEARL [T]
10 Can sail through via Bengal, perhaps (9) NAVIGABLE*
11 Restless to move to hospital in another city, a short distance away... (5,4) ITCHY FEET {ITC{H}Y*} {FEET}
12 ...and old painting's returned (5) EXTRA {EX}{TRA<=}
13 Start with nose, get into ear, get a breather (4) LUNG {LU{Nose}G}
15 Looking around French capital for some extreme sport (8) KLOOFING {KLOO{Fr...h}ING*}
18 Mandatory, detailed, becomes indiscriminate (2,6) AT RANDOM MANDATORy*
19 Fat land owner's heartless (4) LARD LAiRD
22 They may be solemn, endlessly secretive (5) MOLES SOLEMn*
24 Don Corleone started with a song — a matter of habit, perhaps (5,4) DRESS CODE {DRESS} {Co...e}{ODE} Nice one
26 Seamen finally reach Goa, make port (9) ANCHORAGE {s...eN+REACH+GOA}*
27 A team backed by almost every one — like X, Y and Z, say (5) AXIAL {A}{XI}{ALl}
28 Mercurial but no cuckoo painting (7) TEMPERA Anno left for any solver (Addendum - TEMPERAmental - See comments)
29 Essential text kept under vaults — taking precautions (4,3) SAFE SEX {SAFE S}{tEXt}

DOWN
1   It's due — regular turn-up will help (6) UNPAID {tUrN-uP}{AID}
2   For number of people, boss is noble (4,5) HEAD COUNT {HEAD} {COUNT}
3   A model associate for 2 (5) TALLY {T}{ALLY}
4   Harassed fellow started nibbling and nibbled some more (9) HENPECKED {HE}{Ni...g}{PECKED} I liked this one
5   Stud changed topcat (5) CIVET (-r+c)CIVET
6   Feeling badfret about being covered by rule, but only partly (9) REGRETFUL {R{EG}{FRET*}ULe} Anno for EG not clear (Addendum - {REG{FRET*}ULation} - See comments)
7   It's exorbitant, having to go around (5) ORBIT [T]
8   Drift from general procedure (6) LEEWAY {LEE}{WAY}
14 A Prime Minister was willing to carry weight (9) GLADSTONE {GLAD}{STONE}
16 Working with themsome reading, some showing resistance (9) OHMMETERS {THEM+SOME+Re...g}*
17 Costa Rican criminal dumped American drugs (9) NARCOTICS {COSTa+RICAN}*
20 Bearing on one — the law maker and the law (6) IMPACT {1}{MP}{ACT}
21 King had run away — shortly turned backwards (6) REFLEX {RE{FLEe}X}
23 Stand in spot as seconds become minutes (5) LOCUM LOCU(-s+m)M
24 Say No to dosa — not very big, but full of butter (5) DRAMA {Do{RAM}sA}
25 Rod gets erect — depends on one in the middle (5) STAFF ST(-i+a)AFF

GRID

78 comments:

  1. With my younger son obliging, I've become a grandfather third time around with effect yesterday :-)

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    Replies
    1. Great news Col! Hearty congratulations to you and your wife

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    2. Congratulations again Col. Very well done. Keep up the good work. More of us are being benefited. A big Thank you!

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    3. That was for the 3 million mark0 wrongly placed.

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    4. Congratulations sir...one more addition to the family ...

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    5. Congratulations to you and your family, Col!

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  2. 28 TEMPERA(mental) Cuckoo= mental

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  3. Yes 4d is good. It is these occasional fun clues that lift a crossword from the routine jugglery of anag, telescopic, c/c and so on.

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    Replies
    1. I wonder how many of us are nibblers here

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    2. I nibble at Lays, malabar (or ribbon) pakkoda, Manapparai murukku and so on.

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    3. ... and the 'answer' in the clue? ;-)

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    4. That's why he gets to nibble only

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    5. The lion's (or lioness') share is not for me. But I am content.

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  4. (From yesterday)
    I too think no useful purpose will be served by starting a Whatsapp group for us.
    This is a place that we have been frequenting for so many years. Some of us still do. These regulars are a minuscule part of the total membership. These are committed with a great sense of camaraderie.
    In early days we had more fun with cartoons, limericks, puzzles and above all a great sense of nostalgia and remembrance of thins and people past. If all that is somewhat reduced, it's understandable. But still the dictum is "if it's THC go to THCC."
    Let that remain as such.
    Also, smartphone with apps is for people at work. Persons like me and other retirees can takes things a bit easy.

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    Replies
    1. Well said, CV sir. Liked your "dictum"

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    2. Agree with the Col & CV ji that whatsapp group can end up splitting the community into two islands ( Mobile & Web islands).

      Here is the problem that I am trying to solve. I would like to be notified on my mobile when some one comments on the blog. There used to be RSS readers & feeds for this. I tried looking around but was able to get the feed only for the posts but not for the comments. Any ideas on how to get these?

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    3. I know of a young Lapp,
      Always stuck to WhatsApp,
      He's henpecked...
      Last time I checked
      His missus went and deleted that very app

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    4. WhatsApp and FB groups tend to flood you. Though no longer as active as earlier, THIS is where I drop in for clarifications or help

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    5. Agree with CV sir...whats app really eats your time...& this forum..just superb!

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  5. The words in the CW today make for an excellent story. What do you say Bhargav?

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  6. I UNHITCHed myself from the daily jangle at home. I went out of my home and waited for my friend in CAR POOL to arrive. Came PEARL. She was in a NAVIGABLE mood. The ITCHY FEET of mine began acting up. I took EXTRA caution to keep them in check. I took a deep breath from my LUNG.
    Get the idea? Answer words in order of appearance.
    Continue...

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    Replies
    1. ... we decided to go KLOOFING, AT RANDOM locations greasing ourselves with LARD as MOLES do while trying to escape but our DRESS CODE did not permit us to do so, so we went to ANCHORAGE and decided on an AXIAL course of TEMPERA paintings on couples practising ... continue

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    2. The HENPECKED guy UNHiTCHED ...

      Not a grouse, just an observation: quite a few hyphens in the clues today and well used at that

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    3. to crack a SAFE. SEX, they found, had no correlation with that ability. The UNPAID volunteers took a HEADCOUNT which seemed to TALLY with the number of HENPECKED husbands present there.

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  7. Does 15A need a container ind?

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  8. OT
    A grand theory arising from CV's questions yesterday:

    Maximum Number of blades in razor = n, where n is a number representing the latest generation of mobile communication

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  9. People who want to get a handle on how I Like to solve crosswords can see this video:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVWdbO6FFfw

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  10. 6A : rule but only partly= REGUL(ation)?

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  11. Curiously, for 19a, this also works:

    LAndloRD
    A rather large hearted landlord...

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  12. Talking of razors....
    The other day I was horrified to see a TV ad for a razor that they say does its job well when you want to go hairless in a certain unmentionable area of your body. The model looks down below and apparently Makes a short work of what he set out to do.
    Now for a razor for the underarm, another for forearm, a third for the hair on the mole, a fourth for the tragus...

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  13. Like Col was stuck forever ..the NE corner took the longest..in particular...carpool...leeway & civet which was the last one in...tougher today but an exhillarating solve

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  14. Joining in late with congratulations to Col. and Best Wishes to the young parents at this proud moment. Federer kept me away from the blog for a while, but not from the CW which I managed to do (though partly) during breaks. No razor Ads!
    Thank God (and others who chipped in) we stick to THCC

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  15. I was thinking of Landlord only for the Lard. Another method of getting the sane answer. Cooked up?

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  16. Replies
    1. That was fast. Congrats Col. on another milestone

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    2. Congrats again! Alea iacta est ...

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    3. And some moons back we were musing on the counter 's ability to move beyond 999999

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  17. Congrats Col on becoming grandfather for 3rd time and your blog for getting 3000000.

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  18. I know the very first Indian Crossword Rex,
    Whose blog views have crossed three x 10^hex,
    May they cross a zillion billion million googolplex!

    This is not a limerick, why make it spicy by using "sex"?!

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    Replies
    1. Seen somewhere yesterday

      Millionaire, Billionaire, Trillionaire and now Onionaire

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  19. Congrats Col: Aren't you feeling older, being made a grandpa third time over ? God bless you and may your tribe increase !! Does it also coincide with the blog 's hit coming of age at 3000000. ? How does this read? Three million? Great going ! may your blog blog on to 5m and more !!

    As for WHATSUP, whats it? I know and would like only THCC ! Baaki sab bakwaas hai !! As it is, our hits are getting lower on days and especially on Sundays and other odd days . Lets not get dissipated into faceful books and other thingummybob !

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  20. Kishore at 9.48

    To complete a crossword in a jiffy
    Clues shouldn’t be iffy
    If it’s so
    One can go
    Do it provided he’s not squiffy.

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    Replies
    1. Sometimes it's tricky,
      Sometimes it's yucky,
      But it's fun,
      Sonovagun,
      When you have some time for a quickie!

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  21. Clue 4Dn reminds me of a joke....

    A new group of men had just arrived in heaven. Saint Peter looked them over and ordered, "All men who were henpecked on earth, please step to the left; all those who were bosses in their own homes, step to the right." The line quickly formed on the left. Only one man stepped to the right. Peter looked at the frail little man standing by himself and inquired, "What makes you think you belong on that side ?" "Because this is where my wife told me to stand."

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    Replies
    1. Thére was an Akbar-Birbal version of this... The emperor claims all the men in his kingdom are "mard", but Birbal disagrees. To settle the dispute, he sits disguised near a bridge, with a basket of eggs and some horses, handing out an egg to the henpecked. The eggs run out fast, but no claimants for the horses. Finally one "mard" turns up and gets a black horse. A little later he sheepishly returns saying his wife asked him to get a white horse. Thè black horse is returned and yet another egg gets handed out

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    2. Remember seeing a T shirt logo- "I am the Boss in this house..and I have my wife's permission to say so!"

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  22. There's a simple solution to your STAFf problems.... It's can be reached via Agra

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  23. Congratulations Col Gopinath!
    Celebrations are in order!

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  24. Kishore : I think, you had misspelt Staff by using the first vowel instead of the third?

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