Saturday, 12 February 2011

No 10076, Saturday 12 Feb 11, Spiffytrix

In a hurry....
ACROSS
1   - Boorish Swiss psychiatrist returned one pound (6) - {JUNG}{LI<-}
4   - Time for furry tailless bear to reproduce (8) - FEBRUARYr*
10 - Lilliput is evil to kidnap revolutionary that leads a life of extravagance (5,2,2) - LIVES IT UP [T<-]
11 - Stake to execute queen (5) - {WAG}{ER}
12 - Devious general returned with one of the axes (4) - {EEL<-}{Y}
13 - Ornate item used in kathputli? (10) - MARIONETTE*
15 - Log house used by writers? (4-3) - {NOTE}-{PAD} My COD
16 - The German's teaching abridged law (6) - {DEr}{CREEd}
19 - Dope with one American maestro (6) - {GEN}{I}{US}
21 - Good English gallery for film (7) - {ACE}{TATE}
23 - Sporting woman's frock without knickers initially caused a big problem (3,2,5) - CAN OF WORMSk*
25 - Thank you soldiers and goodbye (2-2) - {TA}-{TA}
27 - Brand of car with no sound (5) - {AUDI}{O}
28 - An Indian village sent back girl's drink (9) - {MARGA<-}{RITA}
29 - Evening prayer's still no good (8) - {EVENSO}{NG}
30 - Upset with Judge's viewpoint (6) - {J}{ANGLE}
DOWN
1   - In Jun, eel can be cooked to make a clear soup (8) - JULIENNE*
2   - Book is new and better without margins (9) - {NOVEL}{bETTEr}
3   - Tie with belt (4) - LASH [DD]
5   - English politician's exhausted — disheartened and exhausted (7) - {E}{MP}{TIrED}
6   - Cried after fighting with eight? (6,4) - {ROWING} {CREW}
7   - Doctor refused to drink anything at all (5) - drAUGHT
8   - The three bridge players abandoned a person from the Big Apple in a ball (6) - newYORKER
9   - Bear ate queen on a beach (6) - {ST{R}AND}
14 - March is over, now they will be taken for a ride (5,5) - {APRIL} {FOOLS} &lit
17 - Horrible mean giant is coming (9) - EMANATING*
18 - Removed spoilt pears and consumed (8) - {SEPAR*}{ATE}
20 - Among the letters from Nargis, how many for Raj Kapoor? (7) - SHOWMAN [T]
21 - Like the novel I read about the leader of Mongolia (6) - {AD{M}IRE*}
22 - Knocking number in cars? (6) - OCTANE [CD]
24 - Poke girl's leader wearing flesh coloured cloth (5) - {NUD{G}E}
26 - Mother said — yes it's an illusion (4) - {MA}{YA}



30 comments:

  1. Yaaahooo ! Chahe koyee mujhe Jungli khahe !

    Terrific one, oozing with Indian stuff: Gram, Nargis, RK, MAYA, kathputhli, Jungli,
    Also, cause for difficulty to chose cod amongst the pearls strewn before us, though I would not say we are porcine :-)
    WRT to the SHOWMAN, a streak of brilliance involving Nargis in it. RK’s brother, the fake Indian tiger (8), is also indirectly referred to in JUNG-LI<- (though with a different spelling). Last heard, he and another brother Balbir were in separate hospitals.
    Also liked innovative use of the word ‘bear’ in different connotations in
    MARIONETTE reminded of Pinocchio and AUGHT, of course, reminded of Marcus Aurelius (as quoted by Plum):
    'Does aught befall you? It is good. It is part of the destiny of the Universe ordained for you from the beginning. All that befalls you is part of the great web'."
    This, followed by the rather irreverent and flippant statement, in classic PGW style: "Well, you can tell him from me he's an ass."
    Another classic from the same book: “As far as the eye could reach, I found myself gazing on a surging sea of aunts. There were tall aunts, short aunts, stout aunts, thin aunts, and an aunt who was carrying on a conversation in a low voice to which nobody seemed to be paying the slightest attention.” would in this era probably lead to a suspicion that she was using a hands free mobile phone !

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  2. Superb set of clues.Spoilt for COD choices, so will go a separate way.

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  3. 20 - Among the letters from Nargis, how many for Raj Kapoor? (7) - SHOWMAN [T]

    Great clue :)

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  4. My comments are in the Orkut community: THCS.

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  5. I wish I had time to write a full-fledged analysis of this crossword for its gridfills, clueing style, wit and humour.

    Sporting woman's frock without knickers initially caused a big problem (3,2,5)

    What a picture this conjures up in our mind?

    Is the person in the act a woman or a normal man - a husband perhaps in a briefly erotic moment - or a transvestite?

    Was the frock transparent?

    Those knickers - were they knee-length or teeny-weeny?

    Oh, what was the big problem that ensued?

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  6. The first ? should have been a !

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  7. CV, 859, the knickers are missing ! I understand an actor YG made headlines (?) for this.

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  8. Oh my... I didn't examine the clue closely when I wrote the Comment!

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  9. transvestite, transparent... Are you in a trance :-)

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  10. CV 905, your slip is not showing ;-)

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  11. Most enjoyable. Lots of CODs. I normally do not like T type clues but 'SHOWMAN' is a great exception. Super.

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  12. By next weekend I should be able to split and rename the Reactions into Quality (Outstanding, Average and Poor) and Difficulty (Tough, Average and Easy) I am yet to get a Midway word between Tough and Easy, one suggestion was Teasy but that doesn't explain itself to someone new to the blog. Any other suggestions?

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  13. Deepak,

    how will 'Moderate' do ? I did not want to use the word 'mediocre'. Alternatively, middling.

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  14. Most innovative and teasing surface reading of almost all the clues making it very enjoyable.Spifytrix must have spent a lot of time effort in writing the clues enjoying it himself while writing!Lot of good new words as well.

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  15. We look foward eagerly to the interviews conducted by Shuchi with four THC setters which will appear on Mondays, starting 14th in the 'CW UNclued'. She mentions that one setter could not be contacted and one declined.

    Gridman and CrpTONYte have already been interviewed. So, it may be Neyartha (a very proactive setter), M. Manna, Sankalak and Spiffytrix .

    Col,

    Some days back, CV had given us the pdf of a prize CW for which the last date was over. It was a tough one. May be we can do this (3 clues per head) after the Sunday THC is finished.

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  16. Here is the link that CV had provided:
    http://media.ft.com/cms/1d38fdae-18e0-11e0-b7ee-00144feab49a.pdf

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  17. O/T

    It is probably too short a notice to call an S&B - 3, but wondering if any of the solvers here are interested in meeting for a cup of coffee ?

    I had a word with CV via e-mail about the same.

    I'll be in Chennai between 21st and 24th February and may be we could meet on one of the evenings?

    I'm going to repeat the same question at the orkut forum.

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  18. For two days now, I have not been able to get the Col's blog for most part of the day after the early morning flurry.
    I shall make an announcement about S & B III tomorrow both here and on the Orkut community: The Hindu Crossword Solutions.
    I don't want to let go Bhavan's chance of meeting me and whoever else in Chennai wishes to come.

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  19. Thanks all for the kind words. Solvers like you are any setter's dream.

    @Kishore - Glad that the crossword reminded you of so many varied things. Believe it or not, Shammi Kapoor was the first image that came to my mind when 'Jungli' appeared in the grid.

    A bit Surprised that nobody has noticed the theme in the crossword. More than one-third of it has a common thread. Would my saying that I thought the crossword would be published in Jan help?

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  20. Ah, Spiffy, now that you mention it:

    JANgle
    FEBRUARY
    MARionette
    APRIL FOOLS
    MAYa
    JUNgli
    JULienne
    AUGht
    SEParate
    OCTane
    NOVellette
    DECree

    Wow, Spiffy, you are the goods !

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  21. Yes, Spiffy, that was my first image too. That's why I started off with Yahoo ! and also shoved in a clue:
    the fake Indian tiger (8)

    SHAM-SHER (being Shammi's real name)

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  22. Another memory that was brought forth was by the clue and answer for 6d - Cried after fighting with eight? (6,4) - {ROWING} {CREW}

    Cried in English and Rowing in Hinglish.

    Remember Rajesh Khanna in Aradhana, asking his sobbing mum, "Why are you rowing ?"

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  23. Wow... Sheer brilliance Spiffy! Keep them coming.

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  24. Venkatesh @ 18:23,
    I don't want to do that as it may involver copyright violations

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  25. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  26. @CV(08:59): Wow! Very vivid imagination! :P

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  27. Spiffytrix,
    It was a thoroughly enjoyable offering, as always. I noticed Feb through Jun (March and June as part of the clues, rather than answers), but not the rest of 'em.

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  28. Thoroughly enjoyed Spiffytrix's sense of humour and fresh style of clueing. Agree with Colonel in the choice of COD. 20a is very interesting and I'm a sucker for movie references, it's a pity that "for" is intrusive in the structure "Among the letters from [fodder] [definition]".

    Brand of car with no sound (5) AUDIO: I don't think "no = O" is valid, or is it?

    I like the unexpected parts of speech used in clues like 9D and 18D, ("bear" and "removed"). The use of connectors is a bit loose for my taste (e.g. 10a, 9d) but there's a lot else to make up for it. Well done Spiffytrix.

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  29. Brand of car with no sound (5) AUDIO: I don't think "no = O" is valid, or is it?

    NJ used it quite extensively in her most recent stint. Even to the extent of its appearing three of four times in a single grid. (Not that it does anything to validate the usage. ;-))

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