Posting from Coimbatore where I have come, to celebrate my mothers 84th birthday today, this is also the town of my Alma Mater PSG College of Technology.
ACROSS
1 - Enlarging things gets magician oft in trouble (13) - MAGNIFICATION*
9 - He offers a possible reward, the doctor around the corner (7) - D{ANGLE}R
10 - Encouragement received when the time’s up, perhaps (7) - IMPETUS*
11 - Speed is not his forte (9) - SLOWCOACH [E]
12 - Receiver of new aid in Romania (5) - R{ADI*}O
13 - Listen to a fresh song: Birthday Suit (6) - (~new){NU}{DITY}(~ditty)
14 - A proverbially difficult place for a search (8) - HAYSTACK [E]
17 - Is heaven where he goes when the special trooper expires, say? (8) - {PARA}{DISE}(~dies)
19 - Shedding tears and demanding urgent attention (6) - CRYING [DD]
23 - An extract of talcum indeed, it is used in cookery (5) - CUMIN [T]
25 - Abode for a recluse with a lot of time (9) - {HERMIT}{AGE}
26 - An ace find trained and considered a likely winner (7) - FANCIED*
27 - For a snob it becomes a defence (7) - BASTION*
28 - A code term LTTE worked out for a security device (5,8) - METAL DETECTOR*
DOWN
1 - Old President, one taken in by crazy boy (7) - {MAD}{I}{SON}
2 - Explosive that got Guy Fawkes plotting (9) - GUNPOWDER [CD]
3 - In writing in Cyrillic it is to an extent not legal (7) - ILLICIT [T]
4 - Encroachment in a fashionable street (6) - {IN}{ROAD}
5 - A detective had to hide ecstasy when finding a drug taker (4-4) - A{CID}-{H{E}AD}
6 - In foreign trade they need one thousand openings in ship (7) - {I}{M}{PORTS}
7 - A bit of money, Penny, is respected (5) - {NOTE}{D}
8 - Clergyman’s garment, initially considered as a hit (7) - {C}{AS}{SOCK}
15 - One obsessed with what is physical would put a creature first (9) - {ANIMAL}{IST}
16 - Fresh sod, a help for a plant (8) - ASPHODEL*
17 - Body of water which was surely not placid in WWII (7) - PACIFIC [CD]
18 - His work involves drilling and filling inter alia (7) - DENTIST [CD]
20 - A fresh edition concerning children (7) - {RE}{ISSUE}
21 - He collects loose grain etc., after the harvest and is more skinny following end of feasting (7) - {G}{LEANER}
22 - Fit for farming (6) - ARABLE [E]
24 - Half a note, musically speaking (5) - MINIM [CD]
GRID
Deepak-sir
ReplyDeleteI think today's cw, to borrow your own terminolgy, was quite a cakewalk. I could complete it in an hour's time, by 7 am. Some clues were quite clever, though.
Richard
A quiet day at the crosswords, shall we say
ReplyDeleteHi Richard,
ReplyDeleteSame here except for 16D, which needed confirmation through Google
16 Dn:
ReplyDelete16 - Fresh sod, a help for a plant (8) - ASPHODEL*
Clue with same answer appeared in ET of yesterday:
31 Lily has a shop spree before being shown the way back (8)ASPHO*DEL<-
By the way, how do you Google an anagram, e.g. as you did for 'asphodel'? Is there a specific website for anagrams?
ReplyDeleteRichard
Actually this observation of Raghunath's is correct and it happens frequently, if you are reading the Mumbai edition of ET. The ET crossword is lifted from some UK paper, I am not sure which. Perhaps Hindu's setter also looks at the same crossword regularly
ReplyDeleteWell Richard I think there are various sites like Answers.com which do give some help on anagrams, bu I have not found one particularly useful. You could try www.crosswordsolver.org. Most of the time we create the word in our mind and look at a dictionary to confirm the meaning.
ReplyDeleteRichlas,
ReplyDeleteThe ans to your question is in the Q itself! Google for Anagram sites.
there is a site called www.anagramsite.com
ReplyDeleteit is quite good
In fact I was looking for the best among the anagram-search sites. Thanks Suresh, tpa and Raghunath for your responses.
ReplyDeleteAbout 15 years ago, I had purchased an official copy of a software called "anagram genius" from UK (I think then the price was around Stg Pounds 20.) I got it in a diskette that time. I still have the same software in my PC now.
Those days, the worldwide web and CD's were not much in vogue. Now, I guess, the basic version is downloadable free from www.anagramgenius.com. I would recommend this site to all anagram-lovers. It is real fun to log on to it.
Those who are familiar with cognate anagrams - where two or more anagrams are closely connected or similar in connotation - would find it fascinating.
Examples for cognate anagrams: Adolf Hitler - Hated for ill, Astronomer - moon-starer, Cleanliness - all niceness, Declaration - an oral edict, Eleven plus two - Twelve plus one, Impersonation - apers in motion, Life Insurance - I rule finances, Margaret Thatcher - The great charmer, Madame Curie - Radium came, The Mona Lisa - Ah, not a smile?, Remuneration - Our men earn it, Slanderous - Done as slur, Total abstainer - Is not late at bar, William Shakespeare - We all make his praise etc.
The author of this software, William Tunstall-Pedoe, has also published in print form a compilation of cognate anagrams, which is a formidable, hilarious collection. I have a copy with me, which I had bought along with the software.
Have fun and share your opinion.
Richard
By the way, Deepak-sir, please convey our best wishes for good health and long life to your dear mother. My family joins me wishing her many, many happier returns of the day.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Thanks Richard, shall convey your greetings
ReplyDeleteIn case I am stuck on an anagram i check it out at ANAGRAM
ReplyDelete