Tuesday 26 January 2010

No 9749, Tuesday 26 Jan 10, Nita Jaggi

REPUBLIC DAY greetings to all. I will be publishing an interview with Shuchismita Upadhyay (Shuchi) the brain behind CROSSWORD UNCLUED later today, thought I would do it tomorrow as it may be a holiday for papers, which is not so.
13A has me stumped
ACROSS
 1  - Extremists regularly fear the new acts developed ingeniously in the beginning (8) - {F}{A}{N}{AT{I}CS}
 5  - Encourage the sailor to eat out in the afternoon (4) - {AB}{E(-a)T}
 9  - Small articles on sovereignty initially in the eastern vicinity of the capital city (8) - {S}{A}{RAJ}{E}{V}{O}
10 - Duration of a programme (6) - COURSE [DD]
12 - University that may offer independent education through correspondence (4) - OPEN [CD]
13 - Sound of which vehicle? (10) - ?R?T?S?I?M (Addendum - BROOMSTICK - See comments)
15 - Train Peter in to change the way the past is perceived (14) - INTERPRETATION*
17 - Take care to cut short an answer of one with limitless calibre (14) - (RESPONS(-e)}{I}{(-a)BILITY}
21 - Supplementary notice of the detailed validation does not have a sign (10) - {AD}DITIONAL(-a-v)*
22 - Sudama’s humble offering to the Lord! (4) - POHA [E] Poha is beaten rice in India
25 - Write-up again to see (6) - REVIEW [DD]
26 - Initially have a look right in the borders of Chile for the gas (8) - C{H}{LO}{R}{IN}E
27 - Said to look at the location (4) - SITE(~sight)
28 - Muslim leader is right in front of a gangster going back to the capital city (8) - {AGA}{RT}{LA<-} )
DOWN
 1  - Politician is out of the commotion in the merger (6) - (-con)FUSION
 2  - Look after the money when small change gets replaced by a note (5) - (-p+n)NURSE
 3  - The Spanish name for the Tagus river (4) - TAJO [E]
 4  - Hide the man finally in the car in Uttar Pradesh (5,2) - COVE{R} {UP} ?
 6  - They may be put up at fairs organised for publishers (10) - BOOKSTALLS [CD]
 7  - Special kind of person will start talking to the minister anyhow (9) - {T}ERMINIST*
 8  - Joint in the side of the wood (5) - ABEAM [DD] (Correction - STEAK - See comments)
11 - Animal spot (4) - STYE Is the only word that fits here Anno unknown (Correction MOLE [DD] - See comments)
14 - Behaviour is right for the workers in the warehouse (10) - DEPO{RT}{MEN}T
16 - Proceeded gingerly with ease after four plunges (9) - {NOSED}{IV}{ES}
18 - Black dust left out of the machines taken up (4) - S(-l)OOT <- )
19 - Friendly gesture in a dominant position (4,3) - BEAR HUG [DD]
20 - Hidden device from the public eye for security reasons (6) - CAMERA [CD]
21 - Kitchen garment is out in Paris stitched with the number upside down (5) - {APR(-is)*}{ON<-} )
23 - Language is the first option for the girl (5) - {O}{RIYA}
24 - Two pairs are on time (4) - FOUR [DD]

GRID

22 comments:

  1. Greetings to everyone.

    Just back from attending the Flag Hoisting ceremony in our apartment building campus.

    Missed Bhargav who usually delivers the pledge.

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  2. Hi all

    13A has beaten me too.

    11D is intriguing. STY is an enclosure for animals and therefore can be regarded as an animal spot. STYE is kind of inflammation of the eye. OK, it is a swollen spot. But what is the connection? Can't make out.

    Richard

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  3. Why is there an exclamation mark at the end of the clue for POHA? Anyone know?

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  4. Could 11D be MOLE as in Mole being an animal and a spot?

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. I think 8D is S TEAK. Though how steak is a joint beats me.
    In which case 13A has only one word that fits and it is BROOMSTICK,(a vehicle for witches??!)and what is all this about sound beats me

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  7. Broomstick could be the tick of brooms?, whatever that means. Just trying to understand the enigma of NJ

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  8. I see that Joint is also a slice of meat hence is equated to steak. So 8D is probably Steak. S is also a listed abbr. for side

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  9. @ Chaturvasi

    22A - POHA : Looks like the exclamation mark was added to throw a hint that it was a non-English word.

    Richard

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  10. Come on Richard

    Sudama’s humble offering to the Lord - could not have been an English word.

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  11. @ Chaturvasi

    I humbly offer to agree with you.

    Richard

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  12. 13 ACROSS: BROOMSTICK is right. It is a vehicle of a witch (~ which)

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  13. 13A - Sound of WITCH

    Brilliant. Congratulations to Sandhya. How come only she gets the right answer many a time?

    Richard

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  14. While congratulating Sandhya on her unravelling the clue, I am sorry I am not enamoured of the clue. I do not think that it has any cryptic element (despite the which/witch homophone which is just there without doing any work) nor can it be classified under any known category of clue or even considered as an uncategorised but brilliant clue.

    I am certainly willing to hear anyone defend this clue but with solid justification.

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  15. In Harry Potter Series, BroomSticks are used for Flight by all wizards

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  16. Encourage the sailor to eat out in the afternoon (4)

    If A goes out of EAT because of "out ... the afternoon" then, because of "in" it must get in!

    In other words, "in" in the clue is an intruder.

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  17. Thanks Sandhya.
    The homophone is doing all the work in this clue.It is a witch vehicle and sounds like which vehicle.
    I don't know how to classify it, but I would call it cryptic

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  18. 17A Take care to cut short an answer of one with limitless calibre (14) - RESPONSIBILITY

    Is it me or how is a verb like "take care" supposed to be yielding a noun "responsibility" for an answer ?

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  19. Bhavan NJ is not very strong in English grammer

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  20. @Suresh,
    What do you mean not very strong!!! does she know any grammar? Not that I am very good at grammar, but I definitely would not make such blunders

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  21. Maybe we could all present her a Wren and Martin

    ReplyDelete

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