ACROSS
1 - Home, about 100 square metres — that's as close as one can get (7) - {NE{ARE}ST}
5 - Little Thomas, back in action, is reduced in rank (7) - {DE{MOT<-}ED}
9 - Coveted award, not for warmongers? (5,5,5) - NOBEL PEACE PRIZE [CD]
10 - A bit of a restorer ordered for a bullfighter (6) - TORERO [T]
11 - Large pointer trained by international crime fighter (8) - INTERPO(L)*
13 - Paper chief, hiding million, was treated indulgently (8) - {PA{M}PER}{ED}
15 - Peacekeepers with fine appearance can be inequitable (6) - {UN}{FAIR}
18 - The end for a swimmer going around Indiana (6) - {F{IN}ISH}
19 - A number of breadwinners, they are still in training (8) - {L}{EARNERS}
22 - Knowing the latest trends is dependant on one's partner for the evening (2-2-4) - {UP-TO}-{DATE}
24 - What one may do when feeling cold or frightened (6) - SHIVER [CD]
27 - How to relent, with change, and accept defeat (5,2,3,5) - THROW IN THE TOWEL*
28 - If others begin yelling, the French revise the design (7) - {REST}{Y}{LE}
29 - Supreme Court lists on long pieces of paper (7) - {SC}{ROLLS}
DOWN
1 - Without interruptions, as an express may run (3-4) - NON-STOP [DD]
2 - A knight confronts embargo by old ruler (5) - {A}{K}{BAR}
3 - They cause blow-ups in the dark (9) - ENLARGERS [CD]
4 - Growth in a wood, for instance (4) - TREE [CD]
5 - Pour out the liquid for an accountant in depression (6) - {DE{CA}NT}
6 - The stuff of some syrup (5) - MAPLE [CD]
7 - Part of a flier — to follow a flier? (9) - {TAIL}{PLANE}
8 - A resident, the German straddles a source of water (7) - {D{WELL}ER}
12 - Prepared for six games (3) - SET [DD]
14 - Smart name fashioned for soldiers (3-2-4) - MEN-AT-ARMS*
16 - Direction over lead actor, brightest one in a constellation (5,4) - {NORTH} {STAR}
18 - Upset result, first in February, can cause confusion (7) - {F}{LUSTER*}
20 - Excess of income over expenditure (7) - SURPLUS [E]
21 - Posture of a good man with broken cane (6) - {ST}{ANCE*}
23 - Giving it is as wrong as asking for it (5) - DOWRY [CD]
26 - A thing already mentioned in ancient history (4) - THIS [T]
Hi,
ReplyDeleteAnother nice one. No need of RE-STYLE.
I understand AKBAR did not take DOWRY. On the contrary, he gave positions, horses, elephants etc to his in-laws’ families. However, the trend seems to have reversed in the very next emperor’s case.
When they DEMOTED MEN AT ARMS, did they really pluck off the buttons along with rank badges, a la, breaking bangles ?
ReplyDeleteAgree with Colonel, felt a bit let down after the last two days. A good puzzle still.
ReplyDeleteOut of curiosity, why/how is knight K ? If it is from chess reference, it would become N.
Totally liked the bottom left quadrant.
ReplyDeleteClues like UP TO DATE, THROW IN THE TOWEL, RESTYLE etc were really good.
Liked the way DOWRY was clued. So nice!!!
K is for knight as A is for apple or S is for saint.
ReplyDeleteIt is in Chambers.
'Good Knight, night,' said one night to the other night, the other Knight.
ReplyDeleteApropos the Dowry cartoon, the chappie seems to be 'good for nothing'.
ReplyDelete"Never forget that for most people crosswords are for entertainment"-Big Dave (as told in Scuchi's blog)
ReplyDeleteToday's puzzle epitomized Big Dave's thought adequately.
Simple yet enjoyable.Thanks Sankalak
Fully agree with Dr.DS.Simple and very enjoyable.Answers just flowed smoothly except for 7d where I had a doubt and had to look up the dictionary.Surface reading of most of the clues was the best part-I particularly liked the 'restyle' of 28a.
ReplyDeleteAn easy crossword (too easy). Did not like PAMPERED and TREE among a few others.
ReplyDeleteHi
ReplyDelete100 out of 100 for me...a deep sense of satisfaction as i finish within an hour..throw in the towel took me a lot time but i have not threw.
Good one
Mathu
Agree with DDS and Paddy. Too easy or tough, if it entertains, brings a few smiles, a few memories, then I feel enriched by it, feel it has been worth my while. If I wanted to learn obscure words, biological names or stations in Timbuktoo, Dictionaries, Google and Wiki are always available and I dont have to do crosswords to get at them. Some educational value is ok, but entertainment and the thrill of unravelling is paramount, in my opinion. Puzzles, crosswords or other numerical, logical or language ones, should tease the brain, make it unlock hidden stuff, otherwise they would be merely knowledge based quizes or math problems, maybe glorified problems, but definitely not puzzles.
ReplyDeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteEndowed with such a gift of wordpower, you have echoed my thoughts on puzzle solving.Cheers.
It's my theory that time spent is time well spent. Now that I'm past it I just gotta make up my mind and believe that it was good till it lasted. It's the best I can do and it works for me (irregardless of the nature of puzzle).
ReplyDeleteDDS,
ReplyDeleteThanks. Just wanted to differentiate between knowledge based stuff and puzzles. Sum of integers from 1 to 100 may be arrived at by:
a. Adding mentally these numbers
b. Writing down and adding
c. Using a formula n*(n+1)/2
d. Writing a long and inefficient program
e. Writing a snappy program
But all these would be merely efficient/inefficient ways of doing it, not puzzles. On the other hand, if I told you that a bird was flying between two trains 100 km from each other and approaching each other on the same track at 60kmph and 40kmph and asked you to find out the distance flown by the bird till annihilation, it would qualify on being a puzzle, as mere math knowledge would not suffice, and would require some imagination, some leap of faith, mind, whatever.
Thanks to Sankalak. Easy even for beginners like me. Got all except 6 D. Liked 22 A :)
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if I told you that a bird was flying between two trains 100 km from each other and approaching each other on the same track at 60kmph and 40kmph and asked you to find out the distance flown by the bird till annihilation, it would qualify on being a puzzle, as mere math knowledge would not suffice, and would require some imagination, some leap of faith, mind, whatever.
ReplyDeleteNot an appropriate example, me thinks; in fact it's a textbook problem. (One can laboriously write an inefficient program that shunts kinematic equations back and forth, if one so wishes.) If that's a puzzle, then so was adding the numbers, when Gauss was supposedly asked to do the same when he was, what, 7 years old? Even some crossword puzzles can seem formulaic once you know the conventions used. The difference, I think, essentially boils down to how much one knows (or doesn't know) of the methods used to solve a certain class of problems.
Aha, good for you Navneeth. So, some people read this febrile stuff...
ReplyDeleteHow about this one:
ReplyDeleteI asked my friend for his weight. He replied 180 cms. What is his age ?
Ask him for the same. He should oblige. :)
ReplyDeleteBut the crazy chap may now tell his weight...
ReplyDeleteHow could you not know your friend's age?
ReplyDelete*Thinking out loud*
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it has anything to with the BMI...
VJ, Kishore didn't say that he does not know his friend's age. We are supposed to find the age of one person among two babbling friends. :D
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePoser from a friend of mine:
ReplyDeleteWhen can the following be true?
0 / 0 = 1
Yes, read as zero divided by zero equals one!
Previous poser: Answer: 25
ReplyDeleteI am full crack and 50 years old, that chap seems half crack, so must be 25 years old. ;-)
Navneeth, yea, that was lame. I misread Kishore's 1809 comment.
ReplyDeleteKishore@18:35, whenever you want, within a system of mathematics of your own that allows it. ;-)
ReplyDeleteKishore 18:35
ReplyDeleteWhen you do not know math?? :D
The friend refered to 1835 and 1425 are not the same, so don't write off the 1835 poser...
ReplyDeleteI gave one answer which cannot be disputed. Others gave the following:
a. The answer is "never"
He did not say that its true ... it just ask if its true
b.In calculus, use is made of L'Hôpital's Rule to evaluate the quotient of two expressions both of whose values are zero for a specific value of "x."
For example, evaluate sin(x)/x at x=0. Its value is 0/0. L'Hôpital's Rule says to "evaluate" the 0/0, take the derivatives of sin(x) and x with respect to x at x=0.
Since d(sin(x))/dx = cos(x) and d(x)/dx = 1,
we define sin(x)/x at x=0 to be the same as cos(x)/1 at x=0 which is 1.
My take will be released later.
Answer B is balderdash. 0/0 is an indeterminate form, and as such cannot be claimed to be a "value," let alone equate it to 1.
ReplyDeleteNavneeth: Liked your 1843 comment: Reminded me of all possible universes from:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxieS-6WuA
Navneet 1859: I would call it baldest-dash.
ReplyDeleteKishore@19:13#1, I actually wanted to say that it would be valid in your own parallel universe of mathematics. :D
ReplyDelete19:13#2: HA!
Yesterday's Guardian Quick CW 10356 had along the edges:
ReplyDelete1a,3a, Resentment (4,8)
22a,23a Work performed voluntarily without hope of material reward (6,2,4)
1d,18d Roman fortification across Britain ((8,4)
7d,13d Unnecessary fuss (4,3,5)
A rare combo where all the four perimeters had 2 or 3 words forming part of the same clue.
Navneeth: :-)
ReplyDeleteI shall post the valid answer first thing tomorrow morning in today's post.
Kishore@19;26
ReplyDeleteReminds me of what we tell our clients:
Everything is wanted yesterday in this bloody place. So if you need something today, come tomorrow.
DDS, for tomorrow never comes...
ReplyDeleteJust noticed that answer B also fails to mention one very important word, thus truly making it the baldest-dash.
ReplyDeleteDestroy the scrambled beam from military, and terrorise at the border(5)
Navneeth, you are the LIMIT.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the correct answer is :
zero / zero in algebraic terms = 1, where zero in both the numerator and denominator is either (z x e x r x o and non-zero ) or (zero is the name of a non zero variable) .
In fact, the text of the problem said it in so many words...
Kishore: I must say I liked the "cracked" one better. :P
ReplyDeleteThat is because yours truly starred in it ;-)
ReplyDelete