ACROSS
1 - Numb hands, a problem for the old farmer (10) - HUSBANDMAN*
6 - Sound is far from poor (4) - LOUD [DD]
9 - Many resent accommodation made at resorts (7) - {C}{ENTRES*}
10 - Beam and matron's quite different (7) - TRANSOM*
12 - Miserly artist going in for fish (8,3) - {STING{RA}Y}
15 - Sailor to back remade fortune telling cards (5) - {TAR}{OT<-}
17 - Rebel gunners are deployed in it (9) - {I{NSURGEN*}T}
21 - Fruit that takes fellow to work! (5) - {MAN}{GO}
24 - Salad served as the result of an old monarch's ruling (8) - {COLE'S}{LAW} Another good one
27 - In that place neither moved round (7) - THEREIN*
28 - He's not paid for taking a friend to the old city (7) - {A}{MATE}{UR}
29 - Lone ranger a coward, we hear? (4) - NOEL*
30 - A deep freeze that sends the cost of electricity soaring (4,6) - {HARD} {WINTER} [CD] Strange clue!
DOWN
1 - Wine or pop? (4) - HOCK [DD]
2 - Sore ant may find his way to the White House (7) - SENATOR*
3 - Jewish high priest (5) - AARON [E]
4 - Abandonment due to no one returning (9) - DESERTION
7 - Keep watch (7) - OBSERVE [DD]
8 - Authority of monk over one country (10) - {DOM}{I}{NATION}
11 - A couple of beasts writing letters in some confusion (7) - {A}{NAG}{RAM}
14 - Tidy up with shattering effect (10) - STRAIGHTEN*
16 - Craft of three big banks? (7) - TRIREME [CD]
18 - Fish kept in animal enclosure — a way to achieve balance (9) - {ST{EEL}Y}{A}{RD} Hearing this for the first time, had to Google it.
22 - It's most stylish to take meals in the home (7) - {N{EAT}EST}
24 - Study in Georgia for Latin American dance (5) - {CON}{GA}
25 - A Hindu mystic (5) - SWAMI [E]
26 - Spoken in U.S. as brother, but in Britain with hesitation (4) - {BR}{ER}
Hi all
ReplyDeleteWith the blog taking a day off yesterday, it felt like the longest day of the year. So addicted to this activity !
HUSBANDMAN, TRANSOM, STINGRAY, INSURGENT, APPLIANCE, MANGO, COLESLAW, THEREIN, AMATEUR, STRAIGHTEN, DOMINATION, PRECEDE, TRINEME and others were good.
Hi
ReplyDeleteI had heard of Animal Husbandry, but HUSBANDMAN was new to me. The Christmas Coward in 29a, was nice as was a tart with nothing in it in 15a. Reminded of books, from children’s’ books containing BR-ER rabbit and fox to Primal Fear containing AARON. Food like COLE’S-LAW, MANGO spilt on the APRON. SWAMI reminded of Vaishali Kasarvalli who passed away recently and had acted as his mother in Malgudi Days.
In 22d would ’orderly’ be the mot juste instead of ‘stylish’ ?
13A - Pilot officer ran around for a formal item of dress (5) - APRON* Formal item!!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe when it is worn in the kitchen, it becomes a formal wear ! ;)
Some nice clues indeed.
ReplyDeleteI thought 6A was GOOD, as in, sound = GOOD, and far from poor = GOOD. Don't know.
Couldn't sovle 3A 'cause I solved 9A as CENTERS instead of CENTRES. Also, didn't know what they'd call a Jewish priest.
11A ANAGRAM confused me.
15A: Is "remade" necessary? I thought the clue would have been fine without it.
26D: BRER was new.
Also had reservations about 23a, Ducks = geese ?
ReplyDelete13A: APRON made me think if there was some kinda apron that people wear for formal occasions.
ReplyDelete14D: I thought 14D was clever 'cause it took me a long time to realize that it was an anagram clue.
BTW, I had mentioned ETs and RATs here sometime back. They represent Equilateral Triangles and Right Angled Triangles.
ReplyDelete3D - AARON was the brother of Moses in the Bible. Not expecting it to be a proper name, I first took it as RABBI, for Jewish priest.
ReplyDeleteMay be Manna meant formeal wear for apron :)
ReplyDeleteI had the same doubt about ducks and geese, but both are birds of the same family, still...
So more or less, we've all had the same doubts
ReplyDeleteBhavan, that's a nice one.
Lone ranger a coward, we hear? (4)
ReplyDeleteNot very satisfied with this either. What's there to hear?
Same here....
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a homophone clue. It remained unsolved. What would have been an appropriate indicator? Perhaps? Maybe?
There isn't any anagram indicator either. Unless we take "ranger" as that (which makes no sense).
ReplyDelete4 - Abandonment due to no one returning (9) - DESERTION [CD]
ReplyDeleteActually this is DESERT (due or what is due to someone as in 'he got his just deserts' plus I ON (rev. of no one)
@CVasi, I was about to comment on that wondering how "due to" means "desert". Thanks for preempting it.
ReplyDeleteGood morning
ReplyDeleteA tough one for my standards...got atleast 7 left out.
What is 8,3 doing in 12 a it should be 5,3 or 8 by normal course. Confusing.
Good day
Mathu.
3D
ReplyDeleteAARON --> Jewish high priest or Indian Chess champion of the eighties?
@Bhavan:
ReplyDeleteLone ranger a coward, we hear? (4)
Not very satisfied with this either. What's there to hear?
NOEL is a Christmas carol.
@Sandhya, thanks. That answer makes sense.
ReplyDeleteBut does that make the clue any better ?
Lone ranger a coward, we hear? (4)
What is the objective here ? Find an anagram of Lone that means two things - name of the person Coward and something that you hear ?
I'd classify the clue as bizarre then !
COWARD does sound like COWHERD, I wonder if there is a connection?
ReplyDeleteI would like to know from the members of the group if there is any crossword quizzing event a la the Landmark and other famous events. If there isn't, could we moot ideas to conduct one such event?
ReplyDeleteQuite a number of youngsters are able crossword solvers. Crosswords are also a standard feature in symposiums of IITM (Shaastra and Saarang), besides CEG (Guindy) and other colleges.
Eager to hear from the seniors and pros :)
Hi Shyam, Do you follow @kweezzz on twitter? They have cryptic crossword quizzes too.
ReplyDeleteTheir quiz schedule is here. No crossword event coming up but keep a watch.
http://www.facebook.com/kweezzz#!/kweezzz?v=app_2344061033
More about @kweezzz in a Mirror article: link.
Hi Shuchi
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the link. Seems I have to pick my ways with Twitter pretty fast!
By the way, I had envisioned physical events like the Landmark. AFAIU the community is one that hosts online quizzes, right?
An Apron can also be a ceremonial item of dress, like the Freemasons seem to wear. In that sense it becomes formal
ReplyDeleteHey everyone!
ReplyDeleteWas back in the wee hours of the morn, after trekking about 90km through the Venkateswara forests/hills. Slept around 4am... got up around 6-6:30am... made a half-assed attempt at the CW. Many iffy clues left me deflated early on.
Looking at the answers, I found that there were in fact some really clever clues. STRAIGHTEN stands out as an excellent, well-hidden anagram. AMATEUR, COLESSLAW, MANGO were quite innovative.
However, many clues were worthy of carping (reversing 'ar' and adding 'p' acceptable!) on. They've already been pointed out by the pros.
All in all, I'm definitely looking forward to a change of setters. Manna has been underwhelming this series...
Hari, awesome... Trekking is fun I heard. Never tried it myself though. Where's venkateshwara forest hills?
ReplyDeleteBTW, artist = RA. No reversal there. Artist/ artists = Royal Academy, an institution in London. It's a standard I reckon. I don't really like it though.
Mr Rao,
ReplyDeletePlease refer to my 14th Oct. 1642 post.
Mathu, looks like indecision in the counting.
ReplyDelete@VJ - LoL! I must be an alien! I'm talking a language that only I can understand!! :-D
ReplyDeleteBy reversal... I mean in the word c'ar'ping. Reversing 'ar' and adding a 'p' after 'ra', gives "c....... on", which is what I think is "acceptable" to do on some of these clues!! haha
I know... I might as well have said it straight out. Maybe I've been CWing too much lately!... my normal language itself has become contorted! :-D
@ Kishore 20:46 - Oh wow! That's great to know Kishore! I can't even recognize the names of the mountains you mentioned. Sounds African... I'm gonna look them up just as soon as I'm done here. :) 17,799 is still a very impressive height! I went to Kangri with a group of 4 others, and a Sherpa who'd done Everest thrice. I was the only one to summit Kangri, and I nearly asphyxiated myself in the process! haha! IMHO, anything over 14,000 is immensely creditable, and it only gets exponentially harder from there on...
ReplyDeleteKishore Oct 14, 19:32 : "Just found out that another Rao around here is crazy about mountains (should I say Harry is Potty about them). I too used to be long back when younger: Kolahoi, Affarwat (before the ropeway 1983), Alpatherm, Tsomgo, the list is smaller than the other chap and not that high, not the Kangri and the like. Last was Surkanda. Now I cant climb with all my excess baggage. But for the last few years my Christmas hols destination has usually been in the Himalayas. Wishing you all the best to achieve more heights, more than 20135 as against my 17799."
@ VJ : The Venkateswara and Venkatgiri hills are mountain ranges that flank the east side of Tirupathi. I believe it's the biggest national park in India... (don't quote me on that tho'). The forest has got plenty of stuff for novices and experts alike. Great adventure. Climbing, swimming thro' streams/rivers, rare encounters w/ wild animals, undesirable encounters w/ some rather unwelcome thorned plants, sleeping on rocks with prime views of starry skies, catching fishes 'n crabs in the wild, ahhh... doesn't get much better than that! :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, I take pride in being the oldest - by 10 yrs! - (but fittest) member in that group! (Allow me some shameless self-aggrandizement here!) haha!
Hari (2111), LOL sorry, my mistake. Stupid me! I thought you were referring to one of the clues where the word "artist" was used. And you know what they say about assumptions being the mother of all....... ups. BTW, that was a nice one. I think henceforth I should learn to read each line of yours as a clue :)
ReplyDeleteAnd on trekking, that's really interesting. Sounds like great fun. One of my friends used to be a regular trekker. He invited me a couple of times, but I couldn't make it 'cause it sounded too adventurous. I get scared easily you know LOL. I wish I could do it sometime.
@ VJ : LoL! u know what they say about biting the bullet right?! :D Go for it man! It's one life after all! What do you have to lose?!?!? :-D
ReplyDelete@ VJ : addendum - also... this is from someone who's 10 yrs older than those "young" guys who thot they were the s#%t! :)
ReplyDeleteDude, all u need to do is sign up! :-D Do something out of ur comfort zone. U got nothing to lose man! :-D
Looking forward to hear of ur next crazy adventure! :)
Cheers,
Hari
Hari, LOL, nice words.... You've already inspired me to go on a trip to the Amazon rain forest :) But first, I think I should make a start and walk around the roads of Chennai. Even stray dogs and weird looking insects scare the hell outta me you know. And not to mention the fear of germs.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear that you're doing better than the younger guys around you. It just goes to show that age is just a number :) Great going...
Amazon??! WOW!!!! That will be absolutely fabulous!!! I envy you! :)
ReplyDelete