Saturday 5 March 2011

No 10094, Saturday 05 Mar 11, Gridman

ACROSS
1   - Broadcast lifer's shot from pellet propeller (3,5) - {AIR} {RIFLE*}
6   - Notion not completely perfect (4) - IDEAl
9   - Shy cop unravelled Hitchcock thriller (6) - PSYCHO* Saw this movie while in school. Used to dread going into the bath at nights after I saw the movie.
10 - Language of English no good in South Pacific island (7) - {B{E}{NG}ALI} My COD
13 - Eminent artist of an earlier period alters Dom's arrangement (3,6) - OLD MASTER*
14 - Worthless fellow heard to heave the gorge (5) - {~wretch}RETCH
15 - Challenge lawyer and engineer (4) - {DA}{RE}
16 - Feds lack no movement in kavadi, karagattam and kummi, for instance (4,6) - FOLK DANCES*
19 - Clothing routine takes hold of 51 husbands (10) - {HABI{LI}{MEN}T} New word for me, had to Google for it.
21 - Small bed for college servant (4) - {S}{KIP}
24 - Girl, jolly, to be exposed? (5) - {UNA}{RM} Couldn't get the link between RM and Jolly?
25 - Business involving high degree of skill? Not exactly! (5,4) - POWER LINE [CD] (Correction {POWER} {LINE})
26 - Boy back with female teacher's sack (7) - {DIS<-}{MISS}
27 - Undergo change, being silent about the heart of mate (6) - {MUT{mATe}E}


28 - Went on horseback with leading extra to a Tamil Nadu town (4) - eRODE
29 - Grin displayed by boy, on end of line, getting coveted seat at the circus (8) - {RING*}{SID}{E}
DOWN
2   - Belonging to a team, Rex is one with privileged information (7) - {IN}{SIDE}{R}
3   - Such tolerance fetches a clear article on reprinting (6) - RACIAL Something amiss here (Addendum - See comments)
4   - Not the place for shady operations? (5,4) - FRONT ROOM [CD]
5   - Burning bit in the latter part of the last month? (5) - decEMBER
7   - It's in Jack, for one, to turn up and be violent (7) - {DRA{S'TI}C} <-
8   - Settle down on a second berth for snack (1,5,6) - {A LIGHT} {S}{UPPER}
11 - Standard of new moral set out (6) - {N}{ORMAL*}
12 - Show of indifference to 100 on worn road edge (4-8) - {C}{OLD}-{SHOULDER}
17 - She is part of the family tree (9) - KINSWOMAN [CD]
18 - Students of the bygone days (6) - ALUMNI [E]
20 - Cooked seabird in a novel manner (7) - BRAISED*
22 - King, fool and Edward emulated Mme. Defarge (7) - {K}{NIT}{TED}
23 - Great to have a model — one's for free (6) - {GR}{A}{T}{I'S}
25 - Musician Comrade left with a question (5) - comPOSER



50 comments:

  1. 24 - Girl, jolly, to be exposed? (5) - {UNA}{RM} Couldn't get the link between RM and Jolly?

    JOLLY = British slang for ROYAL MARINE

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  2. Not too happy about 25a too.

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  3. COD 8D Beautiful clueing.
    The first word ALIGHT (settle down)is broken into two in the solution, the next part is a combination of two S(econd) and UPPER (for berth).

    CV has to clarify on 3D

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  4. Did not quite follow the POWERLINE and of course, RACIAL if that is what it is.

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  5. Friends
    3d It is RACIAL.
    Shall we wait to see if someone (Bhavan? Shuchi?Veer? Shyam? et al) annotate it.
    Actually Gridman had written the clue some seven or eight months ago and when I was doing the pre-publication check, I was stumped for long before I managed to unravel it! I was about to ask Gridman to rewrite the clue!
    If still pending, I will annotate it at 4 p.m. I am taking the train later today.

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  6. Unable to understand it. Also, Skip as a college servant.

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  7. As ever the cartoons are so apt.
    Thank-you to Deepak for taking the trouble over searching and giving the links or posting them directly.
    These cartoons raise a laugh in the morning and put us in a happy frame of mind. I can face my wife for the rest of the day. (She thinks I must have just come out of a meet of jok[st]ers.)

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  8. Oh, Kishore you mean 21a?
    Look up 'skip' in Chambers.

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  9. Kishore,
    See the links provided to 'bed' and 'skip' in the main post

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  10. Thanks, CV and DG.

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  11. I have corrected my Anno for 25A

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  12. Please refer to yesterday's poem on the LaDki from KhaDki.

    What would you call a poem whose stanzas are in the limerick format (may or may not generate individual Ahas)?

    Comment on the use of 'on the truck' vs 'in the truck'

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  13. 3 - Such tolerance fetches a clear article on reprinting (6) - RACIAL Something amiss here

    A reverse anagram
    Reprinting {A CLEAR ARTICLE ON*} GIVES RACIAL TOLERANCE

    The give away is the semi-&lit style indicator Such ... fetches

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  14. Well done Veer,
    However Gridman should have used another word instead of 'tolerance', maybe the clue should have read
    Such endurance fetches a clear article on reprinting (6)

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  15. Col.: I should have said composite anagram rather than reverse anagram. In composite anagrams, the anagrind is visible in the clue itself and if the composite anagram is a two word solve, one of the two words will be in the clue (tolerance, in this case).

    Example 1: Some sprinkling with this could give a tame meal gusto (9) &Lit composite anagram
    Ex.2: Kleptomaniac: a man to ____ indiscriminately (6) a lovely &Lit and composite anagram IMO

    Both are by Don Manley - a past master at this.

    In reverse anagrams (a term I used in error), the solution usually contains the anagrind.
    e.g.: Make wealth the wrong way? (5,3,3) BREAK THE LAW

    Using a synonym for tolerance will put the clue on shaky ground, it would not only be a composite anagram, but also an indirect one. Or the enu would need to be (6,9) with "for instead of "fetches" which would make it a straight anagram and an odd surface.

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  16. Veer
    Thanks.
    I too was wondering if the term was not 'composite anagram'. But these technical terms confuse me at my age.

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  17. I think 3D is good the way it is right now.

    It is in the format:

    ____ tolerance = X tolerance = (X + tolerance)*

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  18. Veer,

    Excellent anno. and an educative clarificatory note. In the present reading, 'on reprinting' tends to be taken together. I wonder whether it would not be better phrased if put the other way:
    A clear article on reprinting fetches such tolerance

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  19. @V: Yeah, Gridman was being a bit cheeky and sitting in his armchair with a smile on that one.

    Personally, I liked the way the location of "on" seeded doubt in the solver's mind. Was it Afrit or Torquemada who said that as a setter, " I need not mean what I say, but I must say what I mean"..? I must say I stared at the clue for a minute or two before I could lift and separate on from reprinting and IMO, it makes the clue that much better.

    But this sort of debate is clearly one a setter loves. Using a phrase from Tamil like several that CV sir quotes, it is like "kannadi munnadi azhagu pakkarathu.." meaning "admiring one's looks by standing in front of a mirror" and ostensibly trying on different outfits. The clue as you have it will also work I would think.

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  20. Glutamate fits but I do not think it is something that provides gusto (read as spice) to a tame meal. There is another fit which makes the clue more fun and an &Lit.

    Pickle was beautiful, wasn't it?

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  21. Oops, Venkatesh, I am sorry, the enu on the Some sprinkling with clue is (10) not (9) as I had indicated earlier. My apologies for the typo.

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  22. A difficult and unknown word. MALAGUETTA

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  23. Malaguetta pepper, the aromatic seeds of the Amomum Melegueta, an African plant of the Ginger family are sometimes used to flavor beer, etc., under the name of grains of Paradise.

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  24. @V: Yeah, that is correct. I am sorry for giving the wrong enumeration and leading to the wrong path - you know too much to be making that error. Nice clue but tough word. I loved the klepto clue so much better because pickle was a common enough word but used with with a not so common meaning.

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  25. Veer
    It was Afrit.
    I haven't read his book reprinted after many decades owing to stupendous efforts by Derek Harrison and again fast going out of stock (if it has not already gone).
    But it was quoted in the Ximenes book and later in many other works and so acquired a fresh and eternal lease of life.
    Once I erroneously attributed the quote to Ximenes and PB promptly put me wise.

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  26. Veer,
    You have attributed Malaguetta clue to Don Manley. This was actually contributed by B Franco and won the first prize in AZED competition in 1977.

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  27. Thanks for the correct attribution - I picked the clue out of Don Manley's Chambers xwd manual as I remembered seeing it there but clearly did not remember the details around it including the enu and attribution. So much for my rather faulty memory.

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  28. Here is another example of Composite Anagram:
    This uncle could be kinky, young and clean (5)
    [set by Prolixic]

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  29. Nice to be in company with solvers who are very scholarly, well-read, unassuming, ready to help those who ask questions and share their knowledge.

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  30. CV,
    IMHO this is the USP of this blog besides the discussion on things literary (or astronomic!)and the lively light banter (Kishore-an style).

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  31. Did not get the connection between agony and uncle

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  32. The uncle (pawnbroker) is probably married to the Agony Aunt.

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  33. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advice_column

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  34. @Ajeesh: Just like Agony Aunt, Agony Uncle is a male columnist who advises people on personal problems.

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  35. Bhavan - Another day another time.(old post)
    Venkatesh - AGONY struck immediately.

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  36. @Kishore: Sorry, didn't see your post.

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  37. I came across a PhD thesis on 'Computer generated Cryptic CW clues' wherein the scholar describes how he developed a system ENIGMA for this purpose. This may be of interest to the software professionals in our group:
    http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/research/recentphds/hardcastle.pdf

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  38. Bhavan would make an excellent addition to the stable of THC setters. I hope this topic was broached with him during the recent S&B meeting.

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  39. Thanks Sandhya and Kishore. I got only agony as an anagram after removing uncle from yo(-un)g(-cle)an. Even Agony Aunt is new to me:)

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  40. Bhavan is very good. I enjoyed his xwd the other day in this forum. I think Alberich picks and hosts guest puzzles in his web site - Maddy did it once, maybe Bhavan can see if he can publish there if he has interest? I think Tony and Vinod tried for a long time to get in the THC setter stable before Cryptonyte came through. Vinod Raman's clues in some of the other clue writing forums that I have seen are awesome actually. One of my favorite ones from him is: Flying pigs off cue here? On the contrary (6,2,6)

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  41. Flying pigs off cue here? On the contrary (6,2,6)
    Flying -AnagrInd
    (pigs off cue here)* = FIGURE OF SPEECH

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  42. This would also be an &lit clue.

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  43. The Hindu would do a favour to its readers by dropping a certain setter and giving more puzzles to Spiffy and Crypto.

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  44. This bat and pad if together confuse a slip fielder (7)

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  45. Here is one for Kishore:
    This plus two, otherwise twelve plus one (6)
    [Both are from Times: Listener CW site]

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  46. Math always comes first, Venkatesh:

    ELEVEN

    Thanks for a personally addressed clue.
    & as you all know, no comment for cricket.:-)

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  47. Why there is no takers for Kishore's in & on a truck. Something is in store or else he would not carried over to today. All knew that you can be in a truck, when it is a closed one. Tell the rest Kishore.

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  48. Oh, nothing special, Ram. Just sounding out experts' views on usage.

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