1 - One not moving towards the medal (4) - GO(
9 - An encounter that may be paid-for (8,7) - CONTRACT KILLING [CD]
10 - Excellent party (4) - RAVE [CD]
11 - Boredom that is back around the disturbed nun (5) - E{NNU*}I <- )
12 - Also first lock the device (4) - {TOO}{L}
13 - The guilty may do this before the judge (5) - PLEAD [CD]
14 - Aroused the emotions of the holy man, I first recognised to be in debt (7) - {ST}{I}{R}{RED}
16 - Represent the Romans in the loyalist group in the popular resort (7) - {BE}{RM}{UDA} I am stiil to find out who it was that was following my Blog from the Bermudas
18 - Follow an argument (5) - TRACK [DD]
22 - Humble saint is a German leader (4) - {ST}{A}{G}
23 - Blind god rode out behind on top of the horse (5) - {H}{ODER*}
24 - Fix the base of the tooth (4) - ROOT [DD]
25 - Device that may be featured as all-in-one! (15) - MULTIFUNCTIONAL [CD]
26 - Push in part of the bed entirely (4) - DENT [T]
DOWN
2 - It's pale brown — a motel constructed around Austria (7) - OATME{A}L* What a terrible definition
3 - Bewitching hours of work (9,5) - GRAVEYARD SHIFT [CD]
4 - Warrant officer in the morning is upset by the new girl (5) - {WO}{MA<-}{N}
5 - Fuss about the bad smell (5) - STINK [DD]
6 - Prime interest calculated at last has been wrongly conceived (14) - {MISINTERPRETE*}{D}
7 - Small terrestrial isopod (6) - SLATER [E]
15 - Sign of man and beast is well combined (7) - CENTAUR [CD]
19 - Character in strips (7) - CARTOON [CD]
20 - Notice one angel at first in the city (5) - {AD}{AN}{A}
21 - Left out collar is different in colour (5) - CORAL(
Well, what have we got today, with MULTIFUNCTIONAL MISINTERPRETED CONTRACT KILLINGS in the GRAVEYARD SHIFT. Best goes to 8d for 'regularly', worst of course to 'oatmeal' (it 5d-ed!).
ReplyDeleteGood Morning. Back to fun NJ's strange definitions. Cluing by a somewhat vague property as the definition is weird..So, now, we can clue WATER by the definition tasteless or odorless or something to that effect!
ReplyDeleteWould 6D also have been better served by defining it as "wrongly perceived" rather than what it is given as? Does "conceived" mean "interpreted"?
Good morning everyone:
ReplyDeleteSurprising ! Could get many answers at first glance. E.g., plead, stirred, oatmeal, misinterpreted, annoyed, centaur, cartoon, coral etc. But failed to get a few others.
I wouldn't know if anyone - even the compiler - has noticed the number of words hidden in clue 25A - Bede, Eden, dent, tire, ire and rely
A big 'thank you' to all who took part in the game I flashed here yesterday. Cannot decide who the winner is. Those who missed can visit yesterday's postings and share the fun.
Richie meant 26a.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the correction, Chatsie.
ReplyDelete19 - Character in strips (7) - CARTOON [CD]
ReplyDeleteI am sorry. I am pained to see this clue and the given solution and also the designated clue-type.
Well, a cartoon is also known by the term 'strip'.
A cartoon or a strip or even a 'strip cartoon' has characters.
How does or how can 'character in strips' get the solution CARTOON?
Honestly, a solver must get the solver's solution not the compiler's solution. That too supposed solution.
Frankly, we must be spending time on quality clues.
@ CV, full points there. Solely on the basis of 'strips' I associated the clue with a 7-letter word CARTOON.
ReplyDeleteFrankly, we must be spending time on quality clues. You couldn't have put it better.
No rhyme or reason expected from NJ! Only blind guess work does the trick!!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHey y'all,
ReplyDeleteThis is a bit off-topic but a nice challenge for people who love solving cryptic crosswords. Could you come up with a word or a phrase, which when reordered (anagrammatized), forms a word that is the exact opposite (antonym) of the original word?
Dan,
ReplyDeleteYou should find a few here: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/hof.html
@ Dan 11:18
ReplyDeleteMOTHER-IN-LAW - WOMAN HITLER
Does this qualify for opposites?
Richard that could be a synonym :)
ReplyDeleteHow about NICE LOVE and VIOLENCE?
ReplyDeleteI don't think 19D is such a bad clue.
ReplyDeleteThe answer CARTOON could be in reference to the term Cartoon character, which might be used to refer inept people. And strips could refer to comic strips i.e. CARTOON.
Referring to the clue
ReplyDeleteCharacter in strips (7)
VJ says CARTOON could be in reference to the term Cartoon character, which might be used to refer inept people. And strips could refer to comic strips i.e. CARTOON.
Is there any support for this?
YES, 'character' can mean a person, esp. one noted for eccentricity. But is character = cartoon?
YES, 'strip' can mean 'strip cartoon'. But 'strips' (plural form)?
Is there anyone else else who thinks this is an acceptable clue, leave alone a good clue?
I repeat my statement that the solution CARTOON for the clue Character in strips? is the setter's. It is not a solver's solution.
ReplyDeleteYou can make whatever you want to make of it.
@ Chaturvasi,
ReplyDeleteIt was just my opinion. In strict sense, I don't know if it's an acceptable clue or not.
I think the clue could also be read this way.
Q: (What would you call a) character in (comic) strips?
A: Cartoon character.
VJ
ReplyDeleteYou're entitled to your opinion. I respect your right to hold any opinion.
All:
If you wish, please take part in the poll set up here:
http://cgrishi.wordpress.com/2010/05/06/poll/
@CV: Let me give my point of view as the new kid on the block. I'm barely a month old with this blog. I used to do THC 30 years back but things have changed since then. The only Indian words allowed then were ICS approved ones like ryot, anicut, gadi etc. However now you have Sumitra pressed into service for clueing 'tiramisu' and a girl might mean 'Lata'. However no compiler has so far obliged me with 'Mala' for girl :) despite repeated requests.
ReplyDeleteI have oats for breakfast every day. Also have oatmeal cookies every now and then. It was very hard for me to associate 'pale brown' with oatmeal. I think there shd have been a hint that some kind of food was desired.
Now about pancakes and spring rolls. No one in his right mind would think they were similar.
Re cartoon, I guess NJ wanted to avoid cliched clues like 'Nothing in box for Donald Duck' or something like that. 'Character strips' made me think of Vanessa Redgrave in the buff. It was painful to realize that 'cartoon' was desired.
I feel the compiler should gently draw the answer out of you. Coax you into blurting out the solution, so to speak. Especially where it concerns commonplace 6 or 7 letter words where the position of consonants and vowels are kind of predictable.
I remember an incident in a 'What's the Good Word' competition in the 70's. The current Secretary of a big computerization project of the GoI (previously CEO of a multibillion dollar Bangalore corp) was participating. He and his partner were the favorites. The word given was 'imagination'. This gent, then a strikingly handsome bearded young man, split it into two parts. He first clued 'image' and then he clued 'nation'. His partner didn't guess right. The next team, not so favored, had a savvy cluer. He just said to his team member 'figment?' in a questioning tone. The partner's response was instantaneous.
The interesting thing about this episode was that we in the audience were truly exhilarated when the second team cracked the word so easily and by the quality of clueing.
Just my 2c,
LNS
ReplyDeleteFine - except that I don't accept foreign currency!
Yes, the clue that you have written is hackneyed. I too commend the setter's wish to avoid that kind of treatment but the result, I am afraid, is not something to write home about.
(I am in home so don't know to whom else to write!)
The cartoon strip brought 'mugamoodi' (Phantom of Lee Falk in Tamil translation - a regular in Kumudam weekly in olden days)to my thoughts
ReplyDelete@CV: In the 70's, I prefered the ToI puzzle to THC. Just to set the record straight :)
ReplyDeleteThe ToI puzzle, as is well-known now but not so in the Seventies, was (yes, was) from the Daily Mail. Now reproduced in ET, it is still a great facourite and a devoted group of us are solving it in an Orkut group. All my complaints to the Editors over their fraud in repeating the same puzzles over and over again have borne no fruit.
ReplyDeleteTHC then composed by a retired navy Admiral was really good though we just can't compare home-grown variety with true blue ones.
@CV: can you give me the link to your group? Also, is this puzzle available on Facebook? THC is available on Facebook - in fact it gets loaded there before it's available in the paper. It's a great facility - one doesn;t have to print anything
ReplyDeletehttp://www.orkut.co.in/Main#Community?rl=cpl&cmm=60010798
ReplyDeleteThe above solves the ET crossword as well as the NIE crossword.
The ones to approve membership are CGB in US time zone and Raghunath who is now on a visit to the UK.
AFAIK, the ET puzzle has no external or third party application to solve it interactively.
ReplyDeleteTalking of these apps., someone on FB wants a 'check' button for the THC app. Then will come a request for 'cheat'. Later for 'reveal all'.
ReplyDeleteThey don't understand that the external app grabs the grid and clue text from the Website. For those extra buttons the solution must be available - which the paper can offer if it offers the facility itself but for that its editors have to apply their minds to it.
Now they are letting others do what they want to do, it seems.
@CV: I didn't quite what you were talking about until I saw the ET crossword puzzle.
ReplyDeleteSomehow I couldn't find the puzzle in that site which is on top in the Orkut community.
LNS
ReplyDeleteI don't know what exactly you mean though I get the drift.
ET in is different issues uses different crosswords. That is, the same does not appear across all editions.
The Orkut community follows the one in Bombay edition. If you live in any other city and get the ET paper (or visit the online edition of any other city), the one you have won't be the same as that in the forum.
Does this clarify?
There have been a few comments regarding the 'oatmeal' clue. As a person who regularly has oatmeal for breakfast, I could not connect pale brown with oatmeal. Regarding 'girl' standing in for a variety of names, sometimes one has to figure out the girl's name after getting the solution by alternate means!
ReplyDelete