Wednesday 24 February 2010

No 9774, Wednesday 24 Feb 10, Nita Jaggi

In a bit of a h urry so not adding many lmages
ACROSS
4 - One who sees a hole initially below the utensil (8) - {O}{B}{SERVER}
8 - If going overland you’ll need a cab (6) - {FI<-}{ACRE} )
9 - Solid fuel for the worker to cook hot rice, eater ignores invariably (10) - {ANT}{H}{RACITE(-eer)*}
10 - Have supper back in town (4) - ENID <- )
11 - Confuse the saint and the peacekeepers (4) - {ST}{UN}
13 - Small poisonous snakes (6) - VIPERS [CD]

15 - An early form of cannon that fired stone balls (7) - BOMBARD [CD]
17 - Grandfather’s art movement (4) - DADA [DD] Dada means grandfather is some parts of North India
18 - River state (4) - OHIO [DD]
19 - A stronghold (7) - BASTION [E]
21 - Democratic leader has four popular foremost episodes of Dante’s comedy (6) - {D}{IV}{IN}{E}
22 - Green leaf vegetables (4) - SAAG [E]
25 - Worker has a disease (4) - SCAB [DD]
26 - He may be the brain behind a terror outfit! (10) - MASTERMIND [CD]
27 - Be involved with the first exciting game console (6) - {E}{NGAGE}
28 - Game played in the time left out in cathedrals (8) - CHARADES (-t-l)
Down
1 - A proposal is not on forever (5) - {OFF}{ER}
2 - Bone segment (6) - LAMINA [E]
3 - Gathering around a large meal (5) - FE{A}ST
4 - Repeatedly playing on feet without energy (5) - OFTEN(-e)
5 - Competed with the crazy driver outside following the way (7) - {ST}{RIVED(-r)
6 - It may be held following the wedding day! (9) - RECEPTION [E]
7 - Think about to treat nine separately (9) - ENTERTAIN*
12 - Shadow length disappears in the shade (5) - UMBRA(-l) (Correction - UMBR(-ell)A - Thanks to Sures)
14 - A bird hasn’t flown without an initial support in the holy town (9) - BADRINATH(-s)
15 - Representative will check the angry rioters ignoring the head ombudsman (9) - {BAR}{RISTER(-o)}
16 - Chariot story has a king in place of the knight (5) - (-k+r)RATHA
19 - Same as befogged (7) - BLEARED [E]
20 - Vital fluid of the Gods (6) - NECTAR [E]
22 - Peels off the fruit coverings (5) - SKINS [DD]
23 - First chip is out of the cradle made of wood (5) - ALDER(-c)
24 - Subsided a bit early, in the soft mattress (5) - EB{B}{E}D*




GRID

49 comments:

  1. Good morning everyone:

    Could not figure out SAAG, BADRINATH and DADA. Managed the rest after a bit of nerve-racking at some places.

    Never knew DADA as a form of art, although DADAGIRI has been made a fine art in public life in India.

    If there is a case of one person keeping a large number of others on their toes for a good part of the day, then this is it.


    Richard

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  2. Good Morning, Richard and all:

    A question on 5D
    Competed with the crazy driver outside following the way (7) - {ST}{RIVED(-r)

    Is "outside" the deletion indicator for dropping the last syllable in "driver" which would explain the (-r)?

    I recall last week in a Sankalak puzzle that "docked" was a deletion indicator for dropping the last syllable in "lass", and that was new to me as well.

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  3. @ Veer
    NJ may have intended the literal meaning out-side, ie remove a letter from one side, hence deletion of 'r'in this case.I don't think this device is a fair deletion indicator and is entirely a NJ creation.

    "Docked" is a perfectly valid and frequently used deletion indicator since one ofthe meaning of dock is to cut short tail of (animal)

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  4. Thanks Maddy for the explanation. "Dock" was certainly fair, except that it was new to me. On the other hand, "outside", especially the way you have put it and likely correctly, is a bit outside the pale (pun definitely intended)..

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  5. 25 - Worker has a disease (4) - SCAB [DD]

    Certainly NJ has made an interesting choice for the clue - while some workers may be scabs, I doubt one will find any worker willing to call themselves that.

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  6. Good morning Richard and all: Could not get FIACRE, ENID, BOMBARD among others. NJ sure keeps one on tenterhooks.

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  7. I don't think outside means to remove a letter from one side. I think it means to take out a side (L or R), R standing for right.
    I think it is a fair clue

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  8. The entire RH bottom corner was a problem. Scab meaning worker was a new word. Never thought that something called N gage existed

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  9. @Suresh: I think your Anno for "outside" indicating removal of "r" does make the clue fair.

    Second your thoughts on NGage - it is a failed Nokia attempt to converge the game console and mobile phone segments and was surprised that NJ actually used it in a clue. Did not think it rose to that level in the popular consciousness at any time in its life.

    "Scab" is not a very nice way of referring to a worker - most union workers would probably be put out by the reference but it is quite a well known word in the USA because of the strong pro and anti union lobbies and media. I guess cultural differences play a huge role in familiarity with some words as otherwise I cannot imagine how it could have been a new word for you.

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  10. Thanks Veer. After seeing the answers I googled and got he explanations I was looking for.

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  11. Does Enid refer to the town in Oklahoma? Or am I missing something here?

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  12. @PITM You are not missing anything

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  13. @Veer
    Regarding outside, it's not the way Maddy put it but Suesh is right. This is the way to look at it
    side = R
    out = deletion indicator
    outside = - R
    perfectly fair

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  14. @Pip,
    You're not missing anything, the link provided with ENID in the main post takes you there. Anywhere close to where you are?

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  15. @Colonel: Thank you. I am watching and learning though at times I don't completely understand the Anno especially in charade clues like 24D wherein it feels like you and everyone else here seem to know which letters to pick from which words but I wonder how the clue indicated to pick those letters.

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  16. I stand corrected.Thanks Suresh. Just a case of overanalysing I guess...

    The device should be acceptable to most,though Ximenians may frown since strictly speaking "outside" is not the same as "out side."

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  17. @Veer,
    In the case of NJ quite often it is a case of reverse engineering, wherein the sloution comes first and then the Anno is fitted in, so was the case with 24D today

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  18. @Colonel: I am surprised that NJ chose 'town' instead of 'author' for Enid. As for me, I'm quite a distance away in Illinois.

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  19. 8A -If going overland you’ll need a cab (6) - {FI<-}{ACRE} )- where does the ACRE come from?

    9A - 9 - Solid fuel for the worker to cook hot rice, eater ignores invariably (10) - {ANT}{H}{RACITE(-eer)* - where is the deletion indicator?

    Can anyone help?

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  20. Today's CW was a disaster for me...depressing...too many DD,CD & E.

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  21. Vini ACRE is land

    9A deletion indicator is 'ignores' The question is how eer means invariably

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  22. Col,
    7D : Is 'separately' any sort of an indicator ?
    Though I got umbra(12D),I couldn't reverse engineer it.I couldn't get it from your anno also.Please enlighten.
    Thanks.

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  23. @Suresh,
    Here is the answer to invariably,
    e'er
    adv : at all times; all the time and on every occasion;

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  24. Of course, Colonel. How stupid of me

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  25. @ Colonel. I think there is a mistake in the anno for UMBRA. It should be UMBR(-ELL)A

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  26. Colonel and Suresh,
    Thanks for throwing light!

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  27. @Suresh,
    Thanks for 'length = l = ell'

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  28. @Suresh,
    Right you are, thanks. I was not convinced when I posted it in the morning

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  29. Actually Colonel Ell itself is a unit of length and no homonym is required here

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  30. couldn't get lamina,dada.fiacre and enid.rest were ok.thanks to this site .i can relax now since the grid is complete.

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  31. @Pip in the Midwest, So typically NJ that it should be 'town' instead of 'author'!

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  32. @richlas it's the Hinglish/Inglish that makes THC unique. We need a new dictionary.

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  33. @dr.r.pankajam, (u have complicated ur name), don't we have a spiritual thinking, patriotic,not just lateral but 'spiral' thinking compiler today? For all the flak she draws, can't help admiring her as she's taught me quite some new words.

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  34. A proverb that my dad and his brothers often used was "Give him an inch and he'll take an ell".

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  35. hi.doc .sumithra, how have i complicated my name? i totally agree with your assessment of NJ and her yeoman service of shaking everyones brain in her own inimitable style.

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  36. In Telugu and also in Tamil, I think an ell would be the equivalent of a 'mura'. This is a common measure used by all flower sellers

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  37. I got the full crossword in about an hour after coming back from work. However it was more by inspired guesses than any logical reasoning.

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  38. after working hard on sankalak and feeling exuberant at actually getting a hang of the CW NJ has managed to be the wet blanket. But hats off to NJ for coming up with such a cryptic CW
    hope i master this too soon

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  39. well done jaggu bhai; you are not an ordinary person. today's also was a toughie. i could almost hear the wheels in my brain creek trying to solve a few.

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  40. 'inspired guesses'- what an expressive, exact term for the experience of the majority of the solvers including me!!!

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  41. i think jaggu is in a zone like what tendulkar was in today.

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  42. John You are probably right. In which case it is a DD Let us see what NJ meant tomorrow

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  43. John your answer is more logical than Lamina. Congrats

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  44. Hey colonel, as ever fantastic to see your solutions and also special mentions to everyone who has commented and thrown light on all the clues, ensuring superb discussions :)
    An appeal, Colonel;
    Pl. make the hyperlinks open in new tabs or windows if possible as clicking on any link opens it in this window or tab itself and its a bit of a nuisance.
    Thanks again.

    Cheers

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  45. Hobbes, If you right click the link and ask for it to open in a new tab you can do it

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  46. @Hobbes,
    Suresh has given you the solution. I cannot do it while posting

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  47. Hi Suresh and Col.,
    I didnt know that the option of opening it in a new tab/window was not available in Blogger ( Its available in MS Word and other word editors. In fact, I think it can be done by changing the HTML formatting but I dont think that its required. Thanks anyway.

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  48. Landed here through a search and saw the comments only now, therefore the late response.

    Regarding opening links in new tab/window, it's technically possible in blogger: add the attribute target="_blank" to the link tag in the code. I prefer that myself, but many users do not want the site to forcefully do that. It's considered better UI practice to let the user decide - open on the same tab if they wish (the default), or right-click to open in a new tab/window. The way it works on this site is fine by usability best practices.

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