1 - Would a sailor receive training, training in shooting? (6,8) - {TAR}{GET} {PRACTICE}
8 - The big bottle is in transport, son (6) - {CAR}{BOY}
11 - Unusual grotto in waterlogged lowland is neglected (9) - {F{ORGOTT*}EN}
12 - It provides a rise to the baker (5) - YEAST [CD]
13 - Endlessly dull diet cooked by opponent of new technology (7) - LUDDITE
15 - Put something inside a letter (7) - ENCLOSE [CD]
17 - Bug a phone to write about state of India (7) - {WIRET*}{AP}
21 - Watering hole in the neighbourhood (5) - LOCAL [CD]
23 - Become very angry with the (unending) wait for change (5,1,3) - {TH
26 - Constrain one master with an attitude (6) - {I}{M}{POSE}
27 - Members of the band with suspicions rest uneasy (14) - PERCUSSIONISTS* Neat anagram
DOWN
1 - Considerate to a fault, stumbling around court (7) - {TA{CT}FUL*}
2 - In Harare rapacity is more uncommon (5) - RARER [T]
3 - Specialist on the environment gets cool, I suspect (9) - ECOLOGIST*
4 - Organise shooting area after artist returns (7) - {AR<-}{RANGE}
5 - Drink that is, to a theologist, unknown (5) - {TO}{DD}{Y}
10 - On the eyelid it shows poor accommodation, reportedly (4) - STYE(~sty)
14 - Instruction that is straightforward followed by leaders in intensive vernacular education (9) - {DIRECT}{I}{V}{E}
16 - Presiding officer rejecting one daily (9) - CHA
17 - In a part of the U.K., a Polish personality (6) - {WALES}{A}
19 - Lively and active like an agent around capital of Russia (4) - {SP{R}Y}
20 - Constituents of correspondence (7) - LETTERS [CD]
22 - Look, general insurers with a way of reasoning! (5) - {LO}{GIC}
24 - Soft thread that can get biters clean (5) - FLOSS [CD]
View some pictures of my recent trip to Munnar HERE
Hello everybody
ReplyDeleteLiked today's puzzle. Learnt a few new words via Google. Not sure of anno for 24D.
TAR+GET PRACTICE, CARSON, CREDENCE, FORGOTTEN, YEAST, LUDDITE, ENCLOSE, WIRETAP, SCALPEL, LOCAL, THROW A POT, S{MIDGE}ON, IMPOSE, PERCUSSIONISTS (good anagram), TACTFUL, RARER, ECOLOGIST, ARRANGE, TODDY, C{ANT+A+L}OUP (a tough one, cracked by Googling), BEE+{TLE<-}, STYE, DIRECT+IVE, CHA{-i}RWOMAN, WALES+A, PI{TE}OUS (frequent appearance of Lawrence of Arabia in crosswords), SP{R}Y, LETTERS were all good.
Sorry, I was wrong on CARBOY and THROW A FIT.
ReplyDeleteDeepak, liked the pics from Munnar. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteSelection of cartoon for 5D was superb. Had a hearty laugh.
ReplyDeleteRichard/Col,
ReplyDeleteRe 24d
Floss is rough silk enveloping the cocoon.
In dental use, floss is a bundle of thin nylon filaments or a plastic (Teflon or polyethylene) ribbon that we use to remove food and dental plaque from teeth.
So, it is a DD and not CD
I won't say it's a DD. Barely cryptic definition.
ReplyDeleteThanks Venkatesh 08:46. I do use dental floss regularly. Wonder why I couldn't think of that. Perhaps the word 'soft' was a red herring for me. I settled for a word beginning with 'p'.
ReplyDelete24D: "biters" is the word that made the clue look cryptic. If not for it, I'd have gotten it in a second. I had to wait till I had an F. Flossing was fun when I first started out. I loved spitting the blood out.
ReplyDeleteSome really nice clues today. Learned couple of new words (LUDDITE, TODDY etc.)
VJ,
ReplyDeleteLearned couple of new words (LUDDITE, TODDY etc.)
I am surprised. Toddy and arrack are common words in India especially in Tamil Nadu. Toddy is palm tree sap and fermented liquor made from it. Arrack is liquor made from coco-palm.
CV/Richard may be able to tell us whether these words are also contributions to English language from India.
Deepak may remember 'Toddy' Watson from school
ReplyDelete24 - Soft thread that can get biters clean (5) - FLOSS [CD]
ReplyDeleteThanks CV for the clarification. I had initially taken it as d&cd (two different definitions) - Soft thread and one that can get biters (teeth) clean.
However, I find on checking from wikipedia site given by Col http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss that making of dental floss started with silk and then evolved through nylon to biodegradeable materials.
While Parmly, in 1815, recommended silk floss for cleaning the teeth, it was only after WW-II, when Dr Bass developed nylon floss that it became popular because of its greater abrasion resistance and elasticity.
Now-a-days, dental floss made from biodegradable materials is available in response to environmental concerns.
Venkatesh, I don't know, the word sounds new to me. Is it what they call "kalla saarayam"?
ReplyDeleteToddy is an English word contributed from various Indian languages
ReplyDeleteArrack is from Arabic "arak al-tamr" meaning an alcoholic drink from dates
Thanks, Suresh
ReplyDeleteVJ, Toddy is kallu in Tamil.
Kalla sarayam is illicit liquor - that which is produced by moonshining (in unlicensed stills).
Col may know that V.S.O.A. stands for "Very Special Old Arrack"!
Moonshine, incidentally, owes its origin to Appalachian home distillers who engaged in illegal distillation and distribution of "moonshine" whiskey clandestinely (by the light of the moon).
Some believe it to be a derivative from moonrakers (early English smugglers called so because of an 18th century legend).
Moonshining (illicit distilling) is not to be confused with moonlighting where a resident/fellow engages in a professional activity outside the course and scope of the approved training programme for extra income.
There is also moonlight flitting - removal by night to avoid payment of rent.
Venkatesh 09:51
ReplyDeleteI think TODDY had inspired a heady discussion. I knew the word had its root in Indian languages, since in Maharashtra and Konkan, toddy extracted from the palm tree
('tAD') is called tADi and one got from coconut tree ('mAD') is called mADi. So very often, you come across shops showing signboards reading tADi-mADi shop.
Following your post, I did a bit of Googling and found to my suprise that in western countries, toddy is the name for a different drink, a concocted one. The links here make an interesting reading.
TODDY MEANING
TODDY ETYMOLOGY
QUOTE
1610s, alteration of taddy (1611), tarrie (1609) "beverage made from fermented palm sap," from Hindi tari "palm sap" (in which the -r- sounds close to an English -d-), from tar "palm tree," from Skt. tala-s, probably from a Dravidian language (cf. Kannada tar, Telugu tadu). Meaning "beverage made of alcoholic liquor with hot water, sugar, and spices" first recorded 1786.
UNQUOTE
I guess the delicious fruit of the palm - my favourite - is called tATenung in Malayalam and Tamil. It may have the root mentioned above. Correct me if I am wrong.
TODDY did appear in THC once earlier, and I remember the Col making a mention that he hated its fermenting smell.
Looks like somebody's had too much toddy. Wonder what they call it in China.
ReplyDeleteThanks Venkatesh.
ReplyDeleteI got confused between kallu and kalla. I've heard of kallu. I've heard it's pretty strong stuff.
We have still to hear from Col about the "good" news he gleaned during S&B meet at Chennai.
ReplyDeleteDr.Castier(5,2,3,5) Clue from the Guardian.
ReplyDeleteAny ideas?
It has an interesting answer with a new approach
THROW IN THE .....
ReplyDeleteLet me think...
Oh yes.
ReplyDeleteTHROW IN THE TOWEL.
Solved from enu and 'cast' in the clue.
Who Dr. Castier is, I have no idea.
@CV The master at work, of course.
ReplyDeleteMaster at work? Like any of the THC setters perhaps.
ReplyDeleteThe toddy hangover persists.
Since there are several kinds of palm in India, for better identification, the toddy palm mentioned above is called
PALMYRA PALM and its botanical name is Borassus flabellifer.
I threw in the towel the moment I read the clue.
ReplyDeleteNice work, Chaturvasi. CAST (throw)in the DRIER (towel)... What should we call this? A CD?
Richard, you seem to have taken a great liking to toddy. I can sense what your plan for this Saturday evening's gonna be.
ReplyDeleteVJ, the neera kind of toddy from coconut tree is very low in alcoholic content and has a pleasant flavour. Unfortunately, it is not available easily like before. Whatever is being touted in some places is a pale apology and quality is at a premium,
ReplyDeleteIn the book Following Fish: Travels around the Indian coast, Samanth Subramanian has a chapter "On an odyssey through toddy shops".
ReplyDeleteIt has ecstatic descriptions. I liked the booka s a whole.
Interesting titbit from Wikipedia:
ReplyDeleteA. N. Prahlada Rao from Bangalore has composed some 23,000 crossword puzzles in Kannada, including 6,000 CWs on films made in Kannada, with a total of approx. 6.2 lakh clues. His crosswords have themes ranging from Film, Mythology, and Crime to Food and the works of famous Kannada novelists.
Two girls, one on each knee (7) (PAT)(ELLA)
ReplyDeleteWhat is the landmark that this clue achieved?
VJ
ReplyDeleteI would call it an occasional clue.
Dr. Castier is a name in existence (I found this subsequently though even if he were a real person he is of no consequence in solving the clue.)
From the clue/name we get the familiar phrase. That's all. Note there is no definition, an important component in any clue.
If I were able to solve it, it was from the knowledge of the phrase, the enu 5,2,3,5 coming in quite helpful. 2, 3 gives a hint to at/of/in/and/the/for
If every clue in a crossword were like this, we won't make any ehadway in filling the grid or completing the crossword.
This clue is the two millionth clue published in 2007 by Roger Squires who is the Monday compiler for The Daily Telegraph. No other setter has even neared publication of even his/her millionth clue.
ReplyDelete78-year-old Roger sets 23 crosswords every week. Besides DT, he contributes to The Guardian, the Financial Times, the Telford Journal, Church Times and The Globe and Mail in Toronto.
His weekly contribuions at 40 puzzles in the late 1970s earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records as the world's most prolific compiler.
Roger's only wish is to die in harness!
CV had long and personal associations with many setters whom we know only as names. Hope he will give us some interesting glimpses of their work.
He is the one who sets the 13x syndicated crossword that appears in New Indian Express and other newspapers in India.
ReplyDeleteOf course, every sixth and twelfth use 15x grid - which is published in the Sunday edition of the Times of India.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to Divya Kumar's write up in the Sunday magazine.
ReplyDeleteReg. the 'glad' tidings, the members of the S&B group appear to be either unaware or sworn to silence (Omerta!) by Col.
Will Col at least tell when he will tell?
CV,
ReplyDeleteWho contributes the CW which appears in The Statesman?
Col
ReplyDeleteAdvance congrats on reaching the 2 lakh mark for visitors. The counter shows I am the 1,99,918th visitor. The mark will be attained within the next 2 days.
This is a well maintained site with excellent presentation with appropriate illustrations and a devoted high calibre group which gives thoughtful inputs and discusses issues threadbare to resolve them finally. Wit and humour is never out of the reckoning and adds shine and sparkle.
The last line should read:
ReplyDeleteWit and humour are never out of the reckoning. The friendly banter and repartrees as well as the toungue-in-the-cheek comments/replies of CV, Richard and Kishore add shine and sparkle.
(In Hindi, we say chaar chand laga dete hain)
The good news must be that someone we know has been chosen to be the CW editor at 'The HINDU'.
ReplyDeleteThe COL is always upfront but he's a fauji.
toungue-in-the-cheek - sorry for the error.
ReplyDeleteIt is 'tongue-in-cheek'.
Thanks Chaturvasi. I didn't quite know how to annotate it. I agree that it cannot be a CD 'cause there's no definition. It carries a cryptic message though. Not the kinda clue I'd like to see often.
ReplyDeleteThe Dr. Castier clue has no def. I think there is a theme in this particular CW (the Prize Crossword for the week) about feeling Blue. In that sense it probably fits.
ReplyDeleteBUTTERFLY EFFECT mentioned by Kamalahasan in Dasavatharam while discussing the cause of the devastating tsunami of 24 December 2004 finds place in last Saturday's Times CW.
ReplyDeleteVenkatesh
ReplyDeleteI am unable to access The Statesman crossword now. Where is it tucked away? Even a site search did not yield a result. Anyway -
Years ago the paper used to carry The Times xwd on weekdays and The Guardian crossword on Sundays. At some point of time they seemed to have made changes.
If I remember right from a previous visit, the paper now carries The Independent crossword.
The Statesman, when I was in Kolkata 30 years ago used to carry a literary type of crossword, and unless one had a Master's degree in English literature was quite tough
ReplyDeleteThe 200,000 mark has been crossed for visits to the site.
ReplyDeleteViva la THC Corner...
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion on Toddy. Toddy is excellent when drunk early in the morning but the later you get it it the more sour and smelly it gets. Toddy is extremely popular in Kerala. It is also used in cooking for purposes of fermentation.
Was out whole day so could not contribute to the discussion earlier.
Thanks to everyone for making this blog a success and having contributed towards it's crossing the 2 lakh mark which actually is not a real indicator of the hits on the site as it counts one, every time the page is refreshed. Notwithstanding I am happy that the blog has become a great meeting place for so many of us.
Congratulations Deepak...
ReplyDeleteIt's been a quick leap from 100,000 to 200,000.
Well done!!!
Some really nice clues on today's Guardian crossword. It was my first effort (at solving their daily crossword) and I totally liked it.
ReplyDeleteThese were nice ones to solve.
M — give it ten? (4,2,5)
B — carry rain? (4,2,4)
Went I re hole? (3,2,3)
Unable to sniff, possibly, keeping one quiet (9)