Tuesday, 24 August 2010

No 9929, Tuesday 24 Aug 10, Nita Jaggi

NJ has knocked me over today. No time for pictures or cartoons
ACROSS
4   - Source of each kind of trouble (8) - {HEAD}{ACHE*}
8   - Like to accommodate the writer in town (6) - {AL{PEN}A}
9   - Energetic, immature boy is in the other state out of the house in America (10) - {BOy}{IS}{TEROh}{US} Oh boy !!
10 - Quiet spot in the small bay (4) - {S}{HOO}
11 - First place to dig in for fuel (4) - {P}{EAT}
13 - Young one is in the borders of the city gently roaming in the outside yard (6) - {CitY}{GNETy*} (Correction - {CitY}{GNETly*} )
15 - Hide the key in an empty chest (7) - S????TE
17 - Spread the content of dogma yourself (4) - MAYO [T]
18 - Caught a couple of students on the phone (4) - {C}{A}{LL}
19 - Likely to lock up the head cashier of a bank (7) - {IN{C}LINE}
21 - Bug characteristic I see (6) - ?O?E?D
22 - Female does not fancy the mixed up shade of blue (4) - fCYAN*
25 - Cheese etc brought to a desired maturity (4) - AGED [CD]
26 - Zoom fast on top (5,5) - RAPID CLIMB
27 - Each gate is entangled with grass (6) - E????E (Addendum - {EA}{TAGE*} - See comments)
28 - Pudding in jail (8) - PORRIDGE [CD]
DOWN
1   - Scare the lawyer in the county (5) - {DA}{?S?}
2   - Stand up against the leaders of political parties on several endowments (6) - {O}{P}{P}{O}{S}{E}
3   - Stay in a taxi in front of the Lebanese leaders (5) - {CAB}{LE}
4   - One shot fired in the lift (5) - {HO{I}ST*}
5   - It may be indefinite (7) - ARTICLE [CD]
6   - 'I' problem with this kind of an attitude (9) - ARROGANCE [CD]
7   - Common name to reckon with (9) - HOUSEHOLD [CD]
12 - Early priest is on the river side (5) - A???N
14 - Running around after the coal, essentially for the black diamond (9) - CARBONADO Anno pending (Addendum - {CARBON}{ADO} - See comments)
15 - Mom relies on the order taken by the waiter (9) - SOMMELIER* New word for me
16 - Fit the software (5) - TALLY [DD]
19 - Brought about the popular Italian leader in Germany (7) - {IN}{DUCE}{D} D from Deutschland ?
20 - Poor man will go acquire the horse (6) - ??G???
22 - Sound in a tunnel not in New York (5) - {CHIMnEy} Tunnel & Chimney now now !!
23 - Baby crying outside the entrance in front of the cathedral (5) - {ABB{E}Y*}
24 - Bye-bye! (5) - ADIEU [E]

56 comments:

  1. 10 - Quiet spot in the small bay (4) - NOOK
    15 - Hide the key in an empty chest (7) - SECRETE
    21 - Bug characteristic I see (6) - COREID
    27 - Each gate is entangled with grass (6) - EATAGE

    1 - Scare the lawyer in the county (5) - {DAUNT
    20 - Poor man will go acquire the horse (6) - BEGGAR

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  2. 12 - Early priest is on the river side (5) - AARON

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  3. Hi

    Incomeplete, got 1a :-)

    Let us hope this signifies a 24d to 6d. A brand name TALLY, indefinite ARTICLE, a HEADACHE HOISTed on us, a SOMMELIER offering MAYOnnaise, a gem of CARBONADO, quite a pout-pourri.

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  4. Arunprasad,
    Please provide the annotations for your answers.

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  5. 13 - Young one is in the borders of the city gently roaming in the outside yard (6) - {CitY}{GNETy*}
    The correct anno is
    borders of city - CY
    gently roaming - GENTLY*
    out [-]
    side L
    yard Y
    Defn: Young one - [CY][GNET[-ly]*}
    A cygnet is a young swan

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  6. Thanks for the clarifications, Arunprasad and Kishore. Now if only anyone can demystify the annotation. My my, having done this hobby for so many years in the back benches of classrooms, I am still stumped speechless by NJ's unbelievable logic. Can't wait for a good old Sankalak or Neyartha grid.

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  7. Thanks Venkatesh I forgot to delete the L

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  8. I agree with Arun.
    10a DD
    1d DA (Lawyer) UNT (in the coUNTry)= scare

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  9. 14 - Running around after the coal, essentially for the black diamond (9) - (CARBON)(ADO)
    coal - CARBON
    running around - ADO
    Defn: blcak diamond - CARBONADO

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  10. Kishore,

    What is the indication that UNT is to be taken from County in the clue and not Country as mentioned by you?

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  11. Deepak, Gossammer of imagination used in plenty when dealing with NJ

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  12. i maynt be rite in all , here are my guesses.
    10 - Quiet spot in the small bay (4) - NOOK
    15 - Hide the key in an empty chest (7) - SECRETE [CRATE->CRETE]
    21 - Bug characteristic I see (6) - COREID
    27 - Each gate is entangled with grass (6) - EATAGE - EA+GATE

    1 - Scare the lawyer in the county (5) - DAUNT
    DA+UNT
    20 - Poor man will go acquire the horse (6) - BEGGAR [maybe acquire - beg,buggy- horsecart]
    12 - Early priest is on the river side (5) - AARON - CD priest -AARON

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  13. Arunprasad,

    We will assume you are NJ unless you prove otherwise

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  14. 27 - Each gate is entangled with grass (6) - (EA)(TAGE*)
    Each - EA
    gate entagled - GATE* gives TAGE
    Defn: grass EATAGE grass or hay for browsing or grazing by cattle

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  15. Deepak, LOL I thought Anuprasad's the new crossword editor we've all been talking about.

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  16. Is this the 'good' news the Director General was talking about; NJ participating here ?

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  17. I didn't solve today's puzzle. Woke up late and in no mood to solve any crosswords.

    Seems like it was a challenging puzzle today.

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  18. VJ, thats Arun not Anu

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  19. Can someone please explain the anno for 19d- induced? It is inducing a rapidly climbing headache for me.

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  20. You removed a right and anagrammed him !

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  21. 19d: Brought about the popular Italian leader in Germany
    INDUCED=BROUGHT ABOUT
    IN=Popular
    DUCE= Mussolini, Italian leader
    D= Deutschland, Germany

    An WW2 Axis clue, wonder why Japan left out.

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  22. Oh my, lol. I've been reading it as "Anuprasad" ever since he started appearing.

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  23. No no..I am juz another blogger/slogged. And 15a I feel is a homophone..se,key,crate

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  24. Could NJ be a fascist Nazi? She writes her clues like she's one.

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  25. VJ: ROTFLOL What with 9a SOCIAL DEMOCRACY yesterday !

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  26. We might want to request the Oxford English dictionary to move the word "Asphinxiation" out of its vault of non-words http://soda.sh/xl4. It is sorely needed on NJ days.

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  27. Kishore, didn't you notice? That clue wasn't written like she was a part of social democracy. It was like she was mocking it and having a big laugh afterward.

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  28. Wow, Shuchi. Also, I did not know LOTR JRRT was ed of OED.

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  29. Lotsa funny words there. Whinese? Stealth geek? Pharming? Earworm? Nonversation? LOL!!

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  30. VJ, people are 'power-less' in Bangalore..

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  31. Chennai's no different. People are "power-less" in every sense of the word.

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  32. @VJ - don't be surprised if those words appear in tomorrow's crossword. I am fairly sure that NJ lurks on this blog and responds the next day with impossible clues just to smite all of us...I predict that the following clue appears tomorrow:

    "19d - comestible eating the gel spread creep mutant" - STEALTH GEEK!!!

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  33. As we say in Chennai: "Yenna kodumai sir ithu!"

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  34. Most of these seem to be portmanteau words. We dont see many of these in crosswords, so NJ might plop some in.

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  35. Aash, you got the same idea !

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  36. Or in Tinglish, we say toture taangala.

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  37. Shguchi @ 9:17,

    Add my signature to the memorandum to be sunbmitted to OED for inclusion of Asphinxiation

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  38. Is it a record or something - within a short time so many comments!

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  39. Subramaniam,
    Nothing new for NJ CW days

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  40. @Col_Gopinath: Sir, I have to ask - how many more days of NJ do we have to tolerate this week, and how is it possible to predict who will set the next day's grid? It would be nice to know in advance about the terrible starts to the morning such as these.

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  41. Aash,

    The sequence goes like this (Excluding Sundays)

    Nita Jaggi - 10
    Gridman - 6
    M Manna - 7
    Neyartha - 2
    Sankalak - 6

    We've had 3 from NJ in this round so you will have to bear another 7 days of Asphinxiation.

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  42. Col, "Shguchi"?? "sunbmitted"???

    Symptoms of asphinxiation?

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  43. I am a late Latif in logging in today, having been away from the desk since early morning. Thoroughly enjoyed reading the discussion here.

    While on the subject of puzzles, enigmas, sphinx etc., those who missed reading yesterday's headline in The Hindu may find this interesting:
    MONA LISA SMILE UNRAVELLED

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  44. A correction to the above post: The news appeared on August 22, 2010.

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  45. New to this blog. Just discovered it today after finally giving up on NJ's torture! Am I glad I did! This forum provided more fun for me than NJ's tedium! :) Thanks!
    -Hari

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  46. Hari: Anything would.

    Fat chance of NJ pulling off her whiskers and saying boo, in case she visits this blog.

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  47. 12 - Early priest is on the river side (5) - (AAR)(ON)

    River - AAR (a river in Switzerland, tributary of the Rhine)
    Side - ON
    Defn: early priest - AARON (Aaron the Levite was Moses' brother in the Hebrew Bible.)

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  48. 15 - Hide the key in an empty chest (7) - SECRETE

    By emptying, probably NJ means taking AIR out of SECRETAIRE (chest of drawers) to give SECRETE (hide).

    But, where does the key come in?

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  49. The name Aaron recalls to mind Manuel Aaron, the first International Master (chess) from India. It was his inspiration that helped Tamil Nadu emerge as the chess powerhouse of India. I used to follow his column regularly in the seventies and eighties.

    It is amazing that he is still active at the age of 75. A journalist with Hindu, he has been contributing regular pieces. His son Arvin has also made his mark as a journalist.

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  50. Out of curiosity, I tried to unravel some of the mysteries in today's puzzle, but I failed miserably.

    21A - Bug characteristic I see (6)

    I think the answer is COREID. {CORE}{I}{D}... We could get CORE from characteristic and I from I. How "see" became D would remain an eternal mystery. The closest connection as far as I can see is that "see" is a homophone of C, which happens to be D's neighbor.

    20 - Poor man will go acquire the horse (6)

    How this poor man would go acquire the horse and still be a BEGGAR is a million dollar question.

    15 - Hide the key in an empty chest (7)

    I wonder where NJ hides her annos. Wherever it is, there's no denying that it's pretty damn safe.

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  51. VJ

    20 - Poor man will go acquire the horse (6)

    There is a well known proverb:
    Set a beggar on horseback, and he'll ride to the Devil
    which means that one unaccustomed to power or luxury will abuse it or be corrupted by it.
    May be NJ has picked up the clue from this.

    Coming to brasstacks,
    One of the terms used for 'to acquire' is 'to bag'. Can it be 'rag'+'bag'(slovenly person)?

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  52. The horse can stand for BAY (reddish brown, bay horse).

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  53. Aar river - Indeed this is the river which flows in a horseshoe shape thru the Swiss capital Berne. It's spelt Aare in German.

    One of John Le Carre's novels is set in this town - I think it is Smiley's People. I think he spells it 'Aare'. He describes people playing chess in the streets with chessmen the size of real people which sway in the winds from the Aare River or something like that.

    (John Le Carre attended the Universoity of Berne)

    Wikipedia however calls it 'Aar' so I guess NJ's spelling would be justified. But this river is not like it is the Rhine or something that it has a English rendering. Perhaps someone in the 19th century spelt it without the terminal 'e'.

    It would be interesting to know.

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  54. Today's Hindu Metroplus carries an article about the RASAM meet of the stalwarts of the followers

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  55. Gita has uploaded it on facebook. It is yet to come in Bangalore ed (may not too since not local topic).

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