ACROSS
7 - Get-together of engineers in the club on Saturday (7) - {RE}UNION ?
9 - Fair-haired lawyer will start discussing outside at lunchtime (6) - {BL}{ON{D}E}
11 - Protect the catcher heading inside the bird area in a hurry (9) - BARRI{C}ADE*
12 - Crowd sitting in front is enthusiastic (5) - {S}{WARM}
13 - Unstressed a fundamental note (6) - (Addendum - ATONIC [CD] )
14 - Mention an award (8) - CITATION [CD]
17 - Polite behaviour of the quiet character in the film reflecting an alien (9) - {E{TIQUE*}T}{TE<-} )
22 - Mayan prophecy may end times (8) - DOOMSDAY [CD]
23 - Purchased the second book covering the Ugandan leaders in Hungary (6) - {B}{O{UG}{H}T}
25 - Call off the sailor from the tip-off the jetty (5) - {AB}{(-p)ORT}
27 - Firm order accepting the outrageous titans (9) - OB{STINAT*}E
28 - Rest in the field at lunchtime with no one initially (4,2) - {LEA}{N ON(e)}
29 - Old dear girlfriend spotted in the garden (8) - (Addendum - LADYBIRD [CD]- )
DOWN
1 - Right inside bug was stuck in the machine in the marble factory (4,3) - (Addendum - {G{R}UB} {SAW*} )
2 - Get out of control unexpectedly on a round-trip without the Democratic head in Portugal (3,4) - RUN RIOT(-d-p)*
3 - Tell tales about the snake (5) - SNEAK*
4 - Extra rich without husband (4) - PLUS(-h)
5 - Force to retire at home in Virginia, 51 are the first to decide (7) - {IN}{VA}{LI}{D}
6 - Country has the virus to some extent (7) - {GERM}{ANY}
8 - Begins playing on an island with one in the gallery in Sweden (9) - {INI}{{T{I}ATE}{S} Anno for INI pending
10 - Decorate the garden for a Buddhist teacher (7) - (Addendum - {BED}{I}{ZEN})
15 - Government prerogative (9) - AUTHORITY [DD]
16 - Cut short the same point on the line (7) - {EQUA(-l){TOR}
18 - Perfectly thought of a couple of learners at the end of the day (7) - {IDEA}{LL}{Y}
19 - Little woman has an appointment with the regular Parsi for the botanical ingredients (7) - {JO}{JOB}{A}{S}
20 - New world lizards (7) - IGUANAS [CD] (Correction - IGUANIA [CD] )
21 - Provides help to the soldiers going up on time in the boundaries of Damascus (7) - {AT<-}{TEN}{DS} )
24 - Have a go at an assignment (5) - ESSAY [DD]
26 - What truckers blow in the middle of traffic? (4) - TOOT [CD]
GRID
@Colonel, its rare to see you stuck for so many clues. NJ is back with a vengeance it seems. I have a few answers though at times the annos are neither convincing nor existent.
ReplyDelete7 - Get-together of engineers in the club on Saturday (7) - REUNION [no idea, but that's the only thing that fits the crossings]
13 - Unstressed a fundamental note (6) - ATONIC [CD]
29 - Old dear girlfriend spotted in the garden (8) - LADYBIRD
1 - Right inside bug was stuck in the machine in the marble factory (4,3) - [G{R}UB,SAW]* - a handsaw used for cutting marble
3 - Tell tales about the snake (5) - SNEAK*
10 - Decorate the garden for a Buddhist teacher (7) - BED{I}ZEN
20 - New world lizards (7) - IGUANAS [CD] - IGUANIA - I had written IGUANAS too, but LADYBIRD won't fit otherwise !
Thanks Bhavan,
ReplyDeleteNJ really 'got my Goat' today.
Good morning all.
ReplyDeleteYour masthead comment would be everyone's lot today. The top left corner has left me gaping and gasping.
Could 7A be REUNION? Just a guess. Anno? A big NO.
29A seems to be the name of a flower. MARYLAND is one of the few words that fit there.
Richard
@ Bhavan, all your solutions appear to be accurate. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Where is the anagram indicator in 1D?
ReplyDeleteBED for Garden in 10D is stretching ones imagination it a bit too far.
IGUANIA is there check this out IGUANIA
Col Sir and all,
ReplyDeleteHere's wishing everyone a very Happy and colourful Holi. Col sir, are today's many misses the result of a bhang and thandai binge? :)
13 A is not a CD. I think the anno is
Unstressed - Defn
a - given gratis
fundamental note - Tonic
Also for 8D, I interpreted INI as -
ReplyDeletePlaying - In, the context being not out, still playing.
Island - I
Thanks Maddy,
ReplyDeleteNo Bhang and Thandai it's the NJ effect instead.
Happy Holi to everyone from my side as well.
8 DOWN: Begins playing on an island with one in the gallery in Sweden (9) {INI}{T{I}ATE}{S}(INI ISLAND: a Free Game by mak89 - ROBLOX - Google search)
ReplyDeleteHi friends, good morning, happy Holi to all. I gave up midway, quite tough for me.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone please tell me how Buddhist teacher can mean ZEN. Zen is off course a school of Buddhism and then there are Zen masters as they are all kinds of other masters. But Buddhist teacher as synonymous for a school of Buddhist thought is as bad as bed for garden. Are we in the realm of subjective synecdoche and metonymny...
ReplyDeleteNot to mention how catcher represents C. Her clues are very mechanical and need to be tooled together in a laboured fashion... Hardly the stuff that makes for intelligent fun
Just noticed Maddy's annotation for 8 DOWN. Please ignore my earlier comment for the same.
ReplyDeleteHi Ajay,
ReplyDeleteAs it is NJ puts me in a spin and you have made me spin faster with 'synecdoche' and 'metonymny' words which are likely to figure in Neyartha's CW's.
As far as NJ's CW's are concerned you can ask questions but expect no answers. The only one who can answer such questions is NJ herself and she has no time other than for time for mass producing such products, for that matter I don't think she is bothered as to what happens after she gets paid for the CW's she conjures up.
As a result of a fatal attraction to THC, like a moth to a flame, we just torture and kill ourselves doing an NJ puzzle. Given the Col.'s opinion of NJ that he just expressed, it is amazing that he does not throw in the towel for at least one day in a year of NJ! Need Bhavan to provide comic relief with another limerick..
ReplyDeleteHi Colonel, I know and gosh she makes 10 of them every month and only the Hindu can tell us why they pay her for so much mediocre stuff. Maybe it is cheaper by the dozen.
ReplyDeleteI dont think it is worth spending too much time on her. Plaudits to you for still persisting and thanks to your blog that we ventilate our collective angst as a poet said of another "ineffectual angel, beating in the void his luminous wings in vain." we all do that when we tackle NJ. ( am afraid veer neither comic relief nor limerick but verse nevertheless)
BTW, I spelt metonymy wrong. Forgive. Preparing for Neyartha is not such a bad idea after all
She makes 10 for the HINDU, but you should see the stuff she churns out daily for the DNA, I shudder in horrror at times when I see them.
ReplyDeleteOh, and btw, Col., how was your golf yesterday? Are you as good a golfer as you are a XWD solver? In which case, you would be my new hero !
ReplyDelete@veer,
ReplyDeleteThanks for enquiring, I finished third, from the bottom though!!! I am a beginner at golf, started the game only in Mar 08 a year after I retired, game is improving slow and steady, have a long way to go though.
Except for few of the clues ,the whole thing was just gibberish.Its hightime we bloggers took up the matter with HINDU EDITOR and demand for some semblance of logic to be followed by the compilers
ReplyDeleteIts always a lottery with NJ. Even after you get the answer you are left wondering 'how'.
ReplyDelete@Colonel
Where is the anagram indicator in 1D?
In her imagination ?
BED for Garden in 10D is stretching ones imagination it a bit too far.
That's never been too hard for her !
3 - Tell tales about the snake (5) - SNEAK*
ReplyDeleteThis one stuck me instantly because of a certain Marietta Edgecombe.
Hi Colonel, After u mentioned about NJ's exploits in the DNA I checked out the website as in Delhi we still dont have a DNA edition. (Thank God) She not only does crosswords but all kinds of other word-games like Bollyword (a filmy crossword) and other silly ones (which are really dumbed down) I could not help but chuckle out aloud when I saw the Bollyword. I am still laughing as I am sure NJ is laughing all the way to the bank.Unfortunately I could only access last one week's issue. But sure makes for good verbal slapstick.
ReplyDeleteWhat else can one expect
@Ajay,
ReplyDeleteAnd even in those silly ones that she does in the DNA there are glaring errors and howlers which even a novice at compiling CW's would not commit.
@Bhavan,
ReplyDeleteSomehow I never got down to following the Harry Potter series
I think 1A is REUNION because RE stands for Royal Engineers and UNION for club
ReplyDeleteNever heard of JOJOBAS
After reading this blog I know I was not he only one depressed .
@Jaggu,
ReplyDeleteThen what about Saturday in the clue?
@ajay,
ReplyDeletewell said ajay! all along i have been saying this, that the crosswords are too formulaic without any intelligence or imagination. they are more or less like words plucked out of nowhere and stitched with the thickest suture material posssible in the most disfiguring manner. (i have been castigated once for being uncouth. hence i have made my remark as parliamentary as possible)
Hope our esteemed senior members dont find fault with the phraseology in my comment.
ReplyDeleteOnce we tried Codeword in that paper.
ReplyDeleteThe intro said all the letters of the alphabet were used in the grid.
This was exposed and the missing letters were noted.
(And the A in the title stands for analysis!)
Just for the heck of it I composed a codeword which used all the 26 letters and posted on my blog.
As long as newspaper editors accept puzzles without proper vetting such disasters will contine and the Limca book of records might add one more entry.
if anyone is to be tolerated it has to be Nita Jaggi.
ReplyDeleteanyway congrats to colonel for finding some order from the verbal chaos.
ReplyDeleteDear all!
ReplyDeleteDecided to take a holiday from NJ! After reading the blogs, looks like it was a good decision. I tried my best to be as positive as possible...but oh, God! Waiting for the next compiler...
waiting eagerly for a rebuke from our senior members.
ReplyDeletevck
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely acceptable!
Let me go back to the Seventies when the paper carried puzzles of Adm. Katari (anonymously).
I was thrilled that here was an original crossword (as against UK syndicated) set by an Indian for six days in a week.
And the Admiral's work was, well, admirable.
I was a great admirer but (let me tell you) not a blind follower. Even then I was writing letters to the paper whenever I noticed a solecism (very rare though).
Now, for the reason why I started writing this comment. Whenever I met an elderly genleman, the father of a friend of mine (who appeared on the cover page article of Weekend Metroplus the other day), he used to debunk THC. This gentleman had lived in the UK and was used to the Times crossword and he found the local composer's work much less satisfactory (note how careful I am in my choice of words). He used to debunk and however much I tried to have him change his opinion he would not.
He never discussed clues - that was my grouse. Just dismissing someone's work I can't accept.
If I said a particular Codeword was poor it was because it did not live up to avowed objective. Without pointing out that such-and-such letters were missing and I just say it's awful, I am not being reasonable.
@vck: I am not a senior member here, but I do have an opinion. Agree that with some setters, the reliance on charades is high and detract from having many Aha! moments that one does crave. On the contrary, I do not know of any other national broadsheets publishing a cryptic crossword that is done by Indian setters and also has a long history such as this one. I solve these puzzles, or try to, and I am sure many others here as well, do so for a couple of reasons:
ReplyDeleteone, some of us grew up doing these puzzles in high school, college and so on and the thrill of continuing a childhood entertainment into adulthood is fun, and second, in my own small way, I want to strongly support Indian cryptic setters as a matter of pride. Through blogs like this and criticism like yours, it is certainly my hope that the opinions bubble up to the ivory towers and the quality of cluing get better.
Most, if not all, other major Indian newspapers carry syndicated UK puzzles which we also solve at various other fora (like a couple of communities in Orkut for Economic Times, New Indian Express and occasionally the Hindustan Times). In fact, around the world, most major newspapers syndicate the UK puzzles and there is only very few with their own original puzzles (Sydney Morning Herald, NY Times, Globe and Mail being some original examples).
We enjoy the syndicated puzzles very much as well, and like you, frequently bemoan the fact the quality of those clues are that much better than our very own THC. You should join these communities and you will likely enjoy those clues better. But, at the end of the day, the uniqueness of THC is something I and I am sure others here, hold dear and want to encourage as much as possible. Complain and criticize, we might, but it is mostly in the vein of a parents' eternal hope that even their duckling, however ugly she may be, is one day going to be the most beautiful swan in the lake.
That said, in THC's defence, not all setters are created equal and some are truly lauded for their Ximenean tendencies and beautiful cluing.
accepted chaturji.
ReplyDeletewow! veerji, thats the most eloquent rebuttal i have received so far! maybe said in the true spirit of a seasoned cruciverbalist!
ReplyDeleteone query. who sets the indian express crossword?
ReplyDelete@veer, amidst the grand eloquence i did not fail to notice your oblique reference to NJ as an ugly duckling ! ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe NIE (read New Indian Express as distinct from Indian Express of the northern centres with Shekhar Gupta at the NDTV studio as its boss) crossword is a syyndicated UK feature.
ReplyDeleteI happen to know that its setter is Roger Squires (he has a Wikipedia entry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Squires
)
He also usually sets the Monday puz for The Guardian(his 1000th Guardian crossword appeared today).
Every Monday his puz appears in the Daily Telegraph (anonymously but I happen to know this fact from the horse's mouth) and I have blogged on today's here:
http://bigdave44.com/2010/03/01/dt-26176/
Roger turned 78 last Monday.
@vck: Lol on me saying NJ is an ugly duckling..I did not intend that..I think in your earlier comments some days ago, you had expressed similar sentiments of disgust but the setter was not NJ, it might have been Gridman. Since you had criticised more than one setter, I was generally alluding to your view of the quality of THC as a whole in comparison to the other puzzles. Sorry for the unnecessary eloquence, I just wanted to express that while quality of clues is one aspect, the THC solvers likely have other motivations as well. I think we will all feel the void should the Hindu also decide to syndicate a UK puzzle. It is certainly a cross to bear that of the 5 setters, the two most unpopular ones get the lion's share of our mind..
ReplyDelete@veer, i fully agree with your comments.
ReplyDeleteFollowing the popularity of the thread on the HT/TT crossword in CROSSWORDMANIA, I have started a new forum for The Times crossword of old:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community?cmm=99084770
Join and enjoy your stay!
But don't blame me for any waste of time and glowering from any quarters!
The first post will appear tomorrow.
Thanks Chatur that was much needed. Great news.
ReplyDelete@veer loved the ugly duckling reference by the way a female swan is called a pen. just for information. Yes I know this is the only aboriginal crossword. But I remember it was not so bad some 15 years ago when I was in college. But yeah it needs to go on and could not agree more with you. Yet u know standards have to be maintained. I think the problem is NJ is to prolific. Quantity - Quality trade offs.
Anyway as they say Tomorrow is another day