1 - Retreat river is peculiarly black (4,4) - {FAL}{L BACK*}
5 - Except behind a neighbour (4) - {A}{BUT}
9 - Sicken to see a aunt in distress (8) - NAUSEATE*
10 - Sellout to this girl at this place (6) - {HIT}{HER}
12 - Tunnel effect for one out of a hole (4) - ECHO ?
13 - Gun sound for a youngster she demonstrates in an Asian country (10) - {BANG}{LAD}{ESH*}
17 - Plant fragment in the land even led to confusion (6,8) - FRENCH LAVENDER Anno pending
26 - A beer den is erected in the North sea port (8) - ABERDEEN*
27 - Soldiers half keep the toothy tool (4) - {RA}{KE
DOWN
1 - Pass the tube (6) - FUNNEL [DD]
2 - Giggle at the French with a cry of disgust (5) - {LA}{UGH} Giggle!!
3 - Soundly wiped out the salad ingredient (4) - BEET(~beat)
6 - Cracked bearing around the tin vessel (10) - {BRIGAN{TIN}E*}
8 - Out into view in a tower in front of the house (5) - PORCH [CD]
11 - Taj Mahal city is in the diagram (4) - AGRA [T]
14 - Bit of this and that (5,5) - KNICK KNACK [CD]
16 - Somehow corresponded out with the Civil Service Democratic leader about the military formation (4,5) - {OPEN ORDER
18 - Stolen money is left in the hill station endlessly (4) - {L}{OOT
19 - Force at the tip-off the holy book can be seen (7) - {VIS}{
20 - Colours in a streamer (6) - BANNER ?
21 - Blackberry regularly used by the pastry chef (5) - {B}{A}{K}{E}{R}
23 - Deal with a threat unexpectedly out of the house (5) - T
24 - Show off the crown around the front of the warehouse (4) - CROW Anno pending
Hi
ReplyDeleteStarting with an interesting bit of news: The cat has been let out of ‘The Mousetrap’ after 58 years. Agatha Christie would have been shocked. Well NJ, confirms my WHEEZE yesterday.
My response to CV’s query on Orkut as the trickiest, best and easiest today(please pardon me for the long pillar):
7d was pretty convoluted. TEHUELCHE, quite a mouthful and pretty obscure. Gets the Nut Cookie prize. Probably, the motorbike is better known to some people here. Standard NJ use of left. The role of ‘will’ is also unclear. COUNTERATTACKS and BANGLADESH are the runners up.
6d BRIGANTINE was the best, IMO. I am not saying this on quality as probably ABERDEEN would rate the same in terms of definition, anagram indicator and fodder, but purely on the pleasure (note not satisfaction) that it gave on solving it reminding of old sea-faring/pirate books. Aberdeen, however, loses out to Brigantine on the fact that when you read ‘a beer den’ there is only one alphabet out of place when compared to the answer. Also liked innovative use of ‘daybreak’ for ‘nap’ in 25a.
11d and 22e were both equally easy. Both 4 letters, clear indication of def and only one word in which to look for the answer. As Jimmy Connors would say, “Even my blind grandmother could see it’. I don’t have a blind grandmother, but if I did and if she did crosswords, she could have solved it by mere hearing of the clue. Try closing your eyes and attempting it and you will understand what I mean. You would have to work very hard to go wrong on these two.
16d OPEN ORDER had another standard NJ ‘out’, I would have preferred Canteen Stores Department (so would some others here, though I am not sure whether they would appreciate the ‘out’ with it sentiment) instead of Civil Service Democratic, especially when the military was being referred to .
R(ED (WAT)ER*) had to be Googled, so doesn’t qualify for the prizes. KNICK KNACK reminded of the small villain in The Man with the Golden Gun. FRENCH LAVENDER and BLOCKHOUSE did not appeal to me.
21d, though this may be an unintended coincidence (!), and Blackberry may not refer to the phone service, it is appearing on the day the deadline given by GOI expires. I am not sure whether I dislike regularly appearing regularly or the Blackberry Company’s name ‘Research in Motion’ more, what with its alternate meaning of the last word.
Hi
ReplyDeleteStarting with an interesting bit of news: The cat has been let out of ‘The Mousetrap’ after 58 years. Agatha Christie would have been shocked. Well NJ, confirms my WHEEZE yesterday.
My response to CV’s query on Orkut as the trickiest, best and easiest today(please pardon me for the long pillar):
7d was pretty convoluted. TEHUELCHE, quite a mouthful and pretty obscure. Gets the Nut Cookie prize. Probably, the motorbike is better known to some people here. Standard NJ use of left. The role of ‘will’ is also unclear. COUNTERATTACKS and BANGLADESH are the runners up.
6d BRIGANTINE was the best, IMO. I am not saying this on quality as probably ABERDEEN would rate the same in terms of definition, anagram indicator and fodder, but purely on the pleasure (note not satisfaction) that it gave on solving it reminding of old sea-faring/pirate books. Aberdeen, however, loses out to Brigantine on the fact that when you read ‘a beer den’ there is only one alphabet out of place when compared to the answer. Also liked innovative use of ‘daybreak’ for ‘nap’ in 25a.
ReplyDelete11d and 22e were both equally easy. Both 4 letters, clear indication of def and only one word in which to look for the answer. As Jimmy Connors would say, “Even my blind grandmother could see it’. I don’t have a blind grandmother, but if I did and if she did crosswords, she could have solved it by mere hearing of the clue. Try closing your eyes and attempting it and you will understand what I mean. You would have to work very hard to go wrong on these two.
16d OPEN ORDER had another standard NJ ‘out’, I would have preferred Canteen Stores Department (so would some others here, though I am not sure whether they would appreciate the ‘out’ with it sentiment) instead of Civil Service Democratic, especially when the military was being referred to .
R(ED (WAT)ER*) had to be Googled, so doesn’t qualify for the prizes. KNICK KNACK reminded of the small villain in The Man with the Golden Gun. FRENCH LAVENDER and BLOCKHOUSE did not appeal to me.
21d, though this may be an unintended coincidence (!), and Blackberry may not refer to the phone service, it is appearing on the day the deadline given by GOI expires. I am not sure whether I dislike regularly appearing regularly or the Blackberry Company’s name ‘Research in Motion’ more, what with its alternate meaning of the last word.
Good morning
ReplyDelete9A - NAUSEATE - a good anagram, but the clue 'see a aunt' is likely to invite many comments.
6D - BRIGANTINE - another anagram.
2D - LA+UGH was good. BANGLADESH, ETNA and ABERDEEN and a few others were easy.
A good dose of anagrams over the past few days, the best of them being - the one the Colonel
COUNTERATTACKS [CD] - what kind of skill is this?
ReplyDeleteI believe it is some sort of Chess terminology but I don't follow myself.
could 3d be "bleu" (blew as in wiped out)?
ReplyDelete12 - Tunnel effect for one out of a hole (4) - {EC}{HO(-le)}
ReplyDeleteThe last sentence of the above post to read:
ReplyDelete'A good dose of anagrams over the past few days, the best of them being - the one the Colonel termed 'awesome' - CINEMATOGRAPHY which appeared yesterday.'
17d did 'lead to confusion' as stated in the clue.
ReplyDelete12a one=each, out a= minus a, hole =o, hence E(-a)CHO ?
Though I put the exact words, Deepak, in 15a, 17a, 20d and 24d, I am non-plussed too.
Vishwanathan Anand says he does not follow chess !!! 834
ReplyDeleteagree w/ Kishore on 12a Echo.
ReplyDeleteKishore, your anno for 12a seems to make more sense. (8:36)
ReplyDeleteAlso, no relation to the chess grandmaster!!! (8:38)
3 - Soundly wiped out the salad ingredient (4) - BEET(~beat)
ReplyDeleteLike Hari did, I too got it as BLEU, a homophone of BLEW.
'Soundly wiped out' would have been BEATEN (past participle). But, you would never know, during these ten days anything is possible.
17a: fragment(fr) in the land (Ranch) (even) (led) = French Lavender
ReplyDeleteany takers for "Bleu" cheese for 3d?
ReplyDeleteKeep your fingers crossed, tomorrow 3d might spring a surprise if you get beet-en black or bleu by an entirely different word.
ReplyDeleteThx Richard. I feel better now. :-)
ReplyDeleteRichard, I liked the way you started with Good Morning and immediately went to the morning sickness..
ReplyDeleteThe invigorating Kishore ka shor ;-)
ReplyDelete9A - NAUSEATE - a good anagram, but the clue 'see a aunt' is likely to invite many comments.
ReplyDeleteIt has - at least one - in the Orkut community: THC Solutions. Also, there was a challenge in respect of this - to make minimum change to the clue to remove the horrid grammatical mistake. Any takers here?
Richard et al
You might be interested in looking at my reponse to a post here:
http://www.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?action=read&id=1283165539&user=dharrison
Richard,
ReplyDeleteSoundly is the homophone indicator, wiped out being the fodder. Wiped out can be taken as Beat, not necessarily Beaten.
Nice one Hari... On FRENCH LAVENDER
ReplyDeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your answers here to my questions in the Orkut community.
Sicilian peak in Vietnam!
ReplyDeleteNJ appears to be moving heaven and earth!
Sicken to see a tuna in distress (8)
ReplyDeleteHari
ReplyDeleteForgetting all else about the clue - what is your authority for fr. - fragment?
Chambers, Collins, Oxford, Lifco, Sura, Varthaman, what?
Could this lead to a Vietnam war II??? The mafia might get involved this time around.
ReplyDeleteSEE A TUNA
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Deepak! You have got it! Though you may have to go 'full fathom five' for tuna.
Somehow I'm not fully convinced with this "sicken to see......" thingy. Is it correct usage?
ReplyDeletethx VJ! Thanks to the explanations offered here, I went from solving less than half of NJ last week, to just 3 words shy of the whole puzzle this week! I'm stoked! :-)
ReplyDeleteMy take on 24D
ReplyDeleteCRO from crown around the front... i.e. the first 3 letters of "crown." W from warehouse.
20D... I think it's a DD... One of the thesaurus definitions of BANNER happens to be "colors."
ReplyDeleteForgetting all else about the clue - what is your authority for fr. - fragment?
ReplyDeleteChambers, Collins, Oxford, Lifco, Sura, Varthaman, what?
CV,
You forgot the NJ Longlist Dictionary
Thanks, CV, I was afraid I was a bit too long, but there you are. Brevity might be the soul of wit, but it certainly isn't the wit of the soul.
ReplyDelete@ Chaturvasi: If your question was meant to intimidate, it succeeded! :-)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I have no basis for fragment=fr, except that it's the only thing that fits and makes "sense" in a very NJesque way..
Oh yes, Deepak. It is there!
ReplyDeleteI think Fragment = fr is all right... Setters should be able to make up new abbreviations. Not that Fragment = fr is illogical or something. In fact fr happens to be a fragment of "fragment."
ReplyDeleteHari
ReplyDeleteYou had better introduce yourself. We want to draw you into our fold - except that like the camel don't dislodge us. Deepak, Kishore, Richard, Srinivasakrishna, Venkatesh, Gita, Shuchi, Bhargav and several others here know each other though we live in different places.
VJ
ReplyDeleteYou're v. cl. in yr. d. of cr. co.
@ CV: :-) Yep.. Saw the "Rasam" article in Hindu and the other online link.. Very cool to have such a bond!
ReplyDelete@ all: myself- been an on-n-off THC solver since school days.. left for the US to pursue studies/career/etc. Was able to consistently do the cwd only during the 3-4 wks i visited india. After 15 yrs in hinterland, returned to desh last Dec. Been able to pursue cwds more regularly now, but NJ was really getting on my nerves till 2 wks ago... when I discovered this blog. :-) Living in Chennai w/ wife n kids. If I could write in abbr. like u, I'd be able to say more abt myself! lol.
It seems that a person who gets on your nerves might in course of time get under your skin.
ReplyDeleteTime is a great healer, didn't they say?
Chaturvasi, LOL, what was that again!
ReplyDeleteFinally a break from NJ tomorrow. This will give time for all the hairs that I have pulled out to grow again. Who knows what colour they will be...
ReplyDeleteI think Chaturvasi is saying "You are very clever in your d? of crossword conventions"...am I right?
ReplyDeleteAash, I think NJ's got one more.
ReplyDelete7 - The other university will measure each review left of a language (9) - {TEH*}{U}{EL}{CHEa*} My God!!
ReplyDeleteHow many components in the breakup of a word can you tolerate without disturbing the Almighty in Heaven where everything is all right?
CVasi sir,
ReplyDeleteCould this work?
Sicken to ease aunt in distress (8)
thanks hari. i thought i was the only one who was foxed(?) by Nita Jaggi and had studiously avoided the crossword on her days, till i came across this blog yesterday. am very pleased to have got most of the regular ones - not happy with porch, counterattacks or french lavender. also though i solved itm i hadn't really heard the usage of knickknack in the singular form
ReplyDeletere: 7d - Being 3 words away from finishing, I took desperate measures and looked up "languages of the world".
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers
Nothing in there fit.. so I finally let it go.. "My God!!" is right, although I wasn't as kind in my choice of words! :-)
Sandhya @ 10:01
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog. You are the second Sandhya here.
Satya
ReplyDeleteThe def, anag fodder and anag sign - all these are OK.
Sicken to ease aunt in distress (8)
ReplyDeleteSatya
I meant to add that the surface reading is not convincing. I mean, why should one sicken to ease aunt in distress? Usually, one must be glad to relieve somebody of pain. What do you think?
CVasi sir,
ReplyDeleteI agree.
I filled in 8D as Forth and not Porch. Could not understand the clue. Can someone help?
ReplyDeleteI solved it as FORTH too i.e. FORT (tower) + H (front of house) and forth meaning come into view.
ReplyDeletei had also filled 8D as Forth.
ReplyDeleteDef = open into view
tower=fort
in front of house=h
answer=forth
This word FORTH means "out, into the open, in continuation".
ReplyDeleteIt is used in such expressions as "come forth", "put forth", "hold forth", "and so on and so forth".
Do we ever use the word 'forth' by itself?
Chaturvasi, I think it's all right. Consider these examples...
ReplyDeleteWe could say "bring him forth from the grave," "come forth from the darkness," "come forth from the ruins," "springs forth from the earth" etc. In these, "forth" could be replaced by "out," or in some examples, it could even be replaced by "out into view."
From The Lord of the Rings
ReplyDelete'Forth, and fear no darkness'
Today,
ReplyDeleteWe are sixty going on seventy
Thanks toooo aaaaall of yooou.
If Hari had discovered this blog earlier, you people could have one more ingredient in your Rasam.
This has no reference to the clue.
ReplyDeleteVJ, In your post above I am afraid you've skirted the issue.
Your post only reinforces what I observed: 'forth' usually goes with some verb preceding it. In your illustrative phrases, they are 'bring', 'come' and 'springs'.
Going back to my poser: Do we ever use the word 'forth' by itself?
tpa
ReplyDeleteTa to you and the Lord!
Richard 849: Shor reminds me of a song from a movie on the same name sung on a sea shore:
ReplyDeleteIk pyaar ka nagma hain, maujhon ki rawani hai,
Zindagi kuch bhee nahin, teri meri kahani hai.
Beautiful lines in the song.
Oh sorry Chaturvasi... I presumed that you had some issues with the clue.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, well, I think forth is basically an adverb. Don't know how it'd be used otherwise.
Kish 13:42
ReplyDeleteThat song from Manoj Kumar's 1972 movie Shor, so soulfully rendered by the Melody Queen Lata-didi and the late Mukesh, has been one of my favourites too. (Lyrics: Majrooh Sultanpuri and music: Kalyanji Anandji)
A slight correction: It should be Zindagi aur kuchh bhi nahin, teri meri kahani hai.
The stanzas have an inspirational philosophy in them. Kuchh paakar khona hai, kuchh khokar paana hai, jeevan ka matlab to aana aur jaana hai. For those interested, here's a decent translation into English: Ek pyar ka naghma - in English
CV 13:33
ReplyDeleteThe only context in which 'forth' can otherwise be used is in inverted commas, as follows:
'Forth' is a word containing five letters ;-).
Thanks, Rich, for the correction. My mistake.
ReplyDeleteMy fav part is:
ReplyDeleteDo pal ke jeevan se ek umr churaani hai
Unless we are talking of the Firth of Forth.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, Hindi makes me wanna scream out loud.
ReplyDeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteThat line Do pal ke jeevan se ek umr churaani hai reminds me of Marlowe's infinite riches in a little room
Kishore @ 13:31
ReplyDeleteNJ days are the only days when we invariably cross the fifties.
NJ not only stretches meanings, but also time and number and length of comments...
ReplyDeleteVJ: Which language do you scream in ?
ReplyDeleteKishore, definitely not Hindi....
ReplyDelete"And thus methinks should men of judgment frame
ReplyDeleteTheir means of traffic from the vulgar trade,
And, as their wealth increaseth, so inclose
Infinite riches in a little room."
CV, this reminds me of The Miser and his Friends from Chesterton:
"
The modern millionaire loves nothing so lovable as a coin. He is content sometimes with the dead crackle of notes; but far more often with the mere repetition of noughts in a ledger, all as like each other as eggs to eggs. And as for comfort, the old miser could be comfortable, as many tramps and savages are, when he was once used to being unclean. A man could find some comfort in an unswept attic or an unwashed shirt. But the Yankee millionaire can find no comfort with five telephones at his bed-head and
ten minutes for his lunch. The round coins in the miser's stocking were safe in some sense. The round noughts in the millionaire's ledger are safe in no sense; the same fluctuation which excites him with their increase depresses him with their diminution. The miser at least collects coins; his hobby is numismatics. The man who collects noughts collects nothings.
"
NJ is both famous and infamous, ain't she!
ReplyDeleteKishore, you always make me remember Wodehouse, prolly 'cause of the references you make. Your 1837 comment reminded me of a character named Euclid or somebody. It's something to do with nature stretching him or something....... Do ya recollect? I remember liking that bit.
VJ: Ayyyo, Ayyyo, Ayyyayyyao, as actress Manorama (the Tamil one, not the Hindi one says)
ReplyDeleteVJ : From Uncle Fred in the Springtime:
ReplyDelete"Nature, stretching Horace Davenport out, had forgotten to stretch him sideways, and one could have pictured Euclid, had they met, nudging a friend and saying: “Don’t look now, but this chap coming along illustrates exactly what I was telling you about a straight line having length without breadth.”
I am surprised that there was no comment on 28Ac
ReplyDeleteInitially revive an infected deer around the Buddhist monastery having a cattle disease (3,5) - {R}{ED {WAT}ER*}
This must have been a new term for most if not all solvers. It was for me. Some acquainted with diseases of cattle may recognise it as Babesiosis.
This parasitic disease occurs when a single-celled parasite gains admission into the cow's body via a tick bite. The urine colour becomes dark brown which gives the disease the common name of ‘red water’. Infection is often acute or subacute, rapidly leading to death. In fact, red water disease can leave cattle dead before one even realizes that they are infected.
For more details, please refer: http://www.ehow.com/about_6837474_red-water-fever-cattle.html#ixzz0y6249qEZ
http://www.dfid-ahp.org.uk/downloads/TickBorn_Book.pdf
Kishore, nice!!
ReplyDeleteAnyone here recalls the large-kajal-eyed Manorama from Hindi films, usually paired with David ?
ReplyDeleteVenkatesh, forth (pun intended) para of the second half of my first post 831 if you red (intended again) it.
ReplyDeleteKishore, I wikied her name soon after you mentioned it. I've never heard of her before. Looks like she was popular.
ReplyDeleteSo red water's to do with color of cow's urine? Oh my, I pictured a glass of red wine when I solved the clue.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Hindi and screaming, I was just given this wonderful advice today by a relative: "beta, tum naukri aur chokri dono dekhna." I think this made me want to go to some isolated spot and scream as well!
ReplyDeleteGemini,
ReplyDeleteConfusion is the Anagram indicator.
For annotation see Hari's comment at 8:44 and the subsequent comments by others on his annotation.
Aash,
ReplyDeleteI can understand the scream for 'naukri dekhna', but why for 'chokri dekhna'?
Chokriyon ko dekhte raho!!
Gemini 1956: We have chewed that cud quite a lot today
ReplyDeleteThe miser ... collects coins; his hobby is numismatics.
ReplyDeleteKishore
Who can forget Silas Marner's infatuation with his hoard? Some great descriptions in that novel.
Kishore, ewww nah, I'd wanna drink neither.
ReplyDeleteCV: I have been looking for a copy of 'A day with the photographer'. Have you by any chance come across it on the net ? I am not sure who wrote it, Jerome, Leacock, Chesterton ?
ReplyDeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteSee
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/23449/23449-h/23449-h.htm#Page_53
Thanks, CV: Especially like
ReplyDelete'dip it in sulphide, bromide, oxide, cowhide,'
Yes, I enjoyed that.
ReplyDeleteCV: So it was Stephen Leacock ! Thanks for the entire collection. You have made my day and probably the week.
ReplyDeleteI must thank my Dad and also the Uncles. All of them were voracious readers and proud too of their knowledge of English. I can never forget all those books lying around the house.
ReplyDeleteLadies and Gentlemen,
ReplyDeleteWhy does the crossword, since Monday, have this byline 'Miscellaneous' instead of Jaggi-ji's name?
What's going on?
LNS
LNS: The handwriting betrays the author. And the Bangalore edition says so in Bold Black.
ReplyDeleteCV: You must be clairvoyant, talking of uncles etc. As a bonus, I was about to quote you this poem (I could Google it, but poet's name is not mentioned):
ReplyDeleteA whale is stout around the middle.
He is stout about the ends,
& so is all his family
& so are all his friends.
He's pleased that he's enormous,
He's happy that he weighs tons,
& so are all his daughers
& so are all his sons.
He eats when he is hungry
Each kind of food he wants
& so do all his uncles
& so do all his aunts.
He doesn't mind his blubber,
He doesn't mind his creases,
& neither do his nephews
& neither do his nieces.
You may find him chubby,
You may find him fat,
But he would disagree with you:
He likes himself like that.
No no-balls can now be bowled to stop the century.
ReplyDeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteIf I am not mistaken, the poet is Mary Ann Hoberman.
I remember getting the book 'The llama who had no pajama' from the library when I was in CA.
I think we're safely through. We only gotta hope that Colonel doesn't take too many wickets tonight.
ReplyDeleteCV
ReplyDeleteRight on target.
http://bunnyplanet.blogspot.com/2006_04_30_archive.html
LNS,
ReplyDeleteYou must be seeing the html which does not mention the name and is under the heading 'Miscellaneous' .
Both the print edition and pdf file carry NJ's name.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/08/31/stories/2010083199350900.pdf
Bingo, CV, You can be trusted to arrive on time, like the US Cavalry.
ReplyDeleteIs 107 or with this one 108 comments a record?
ReplyDeleteVJ: The Col. wont mind, we have Oogway on our side.
ReplyDelete109 not out.
ReplyDeleteGood Night
Thanks for the hospitality, Deepak, Goodnight
ReplyDeleteJust did a check on all posts and found that the previous highest was 88 on 14 Jun 10 which was also an NJ offering and third place with 80 comments goes to Gridman's offering on 10 Mar 10. The blog has come a long way from it's beginning when the comments use to be a handful only.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Venkatesh, Kishore and others. Yes, I read the online edition of the paper. That used to have the names of the setters before. That's why I had that question.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Deepak, Thanks for the count. Of course, a lot of us digressed...but it was fun. Thanks to you we have a discussion forum that goes beyond its probable initial limits.
ReplyDelete