Saturday, 19 March 2011

No 10106, Saturday 19 Mar 11, Neyartha

Neyartha having an early Diwali this year? But why in South India only?
Stumped by some annotations.
ACROSS
1   - Global warming accelerator? (10,3) - GREENHOUSE GAS [E]
9   - Bose's forces accepted the retail arrangement, among other things (5,4) - {IN{TER ALI*}A}
10 - Something corroborated in the discourse (5) - ORATE [T]
11 - Odd description, but they are not of some tennis returns (7) - TWISTED [CD?] Anno pending (Addendum - TW(-o f)ISTED - See comments)
13 - Crude tin desk is the least cold (7) - KINDEST*
14 - Mend split seams on the westbound German river (5) - RESEW <-
15 - Liberate mankind in democratic countries as a whole (4,5) - {FREE} {WORLD}
17 - Endorses bar packed with baseball catchers (9) - {BACK{STOP}S}
18 - Gift obtained by force in North Dakota for a pound (5) - E{ND}OW Anno pending (Addendum - E(-lb+nd)NDOW - See comments)
20 - Locate Gold Street before getting to the plain (7) - {AU}{ST}{ERE}
22 - Being out of debt, the untidy person advanced his love for the model (7) - {S(+o)OL(-o)VEN}{T}
23 - Bond found in cuprite mixture missing chromium (3-2) - TIE-UPcr*
24 - Capital leader (9) - PRINCIPAL [DD]
26 - Having an amiable disposition, one gets hardened candy first (5-8) - {SWEET} {TEMPERED}
DOWN
1   - Sai leaves upset geriatrist on vehicle used for road maintenance (7) - GRITTERsai*
2   - Foreign inciters, agitated, circle the marked spot (9) - {E{X}TRINSIC*}
3   - Trouble for the audience at the gate (3) - NOR Anno pending
4   - Greased to get the contents of the octroi ledgers (5) - OILED [T]
5   - Castle surrounded by lights needed for Diwali in south India (9) - {SPARKLE{R}S}
6   - Pitch with spin needed for Diwali in south India (6,5) - {GROUND} {WHEEL}
7   - Adder, say, in a loop (5) - SNAKE [DD]
8   - Let lift stop to take knight aboard (6) - RE(-s+n)NTED (Addendum - RE{N}TED<- See comments)

12 - Pole's new top designed by some villagers? Not exactly! (11) - TOWNSPEOPLE*
15 - Open urn needed for Diwali in south India (9) - {FLOWER}{POT}
16 - Tabasco given to the German from the south before the shower (3,6) - {RED<-} {PEPPER}
17 - Skin deep aspect stressing character's importance? (6) - BEAUTY [CD]
19 - Chattered after commencement about being fenced with interwoven stakes (7) - (-t+w)WATTLED Not sure of Anno (see comments)
21 - Auditor's hint about the glasses (5) - SPECS (~specks)
22 - Rising noise in the quarter is hurtful (5) - {S{NID<-}E}
25 - Restrict rest of Norse chief forced out by Charlie (3) - (-n+c)CAP

GRID



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39 comments:

  1. Chaturvasi19 March 2011 at 08:33

    Isn't there a problem with thematic crosswords if they are not timed properly?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deepak Gopinath19 March 2011 at 08:38

    Festival of colours(Holi) seems to have got mixed up with the Festival of lights (Diwali).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bhavan19 March 2011 at 08:43

    18 Gift obtained by force in North Dakota for a pound (5) - E{ND}OW

    ND for LB (pound) in ELBOW (force)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bhavan19 March 2011 at 08:43

    19 - Chattered after commencement about being fenced with interwoven stakes (7) - (-t+w)WATTLED Not sure of Anno

    It is fine. TWATTLED is chattered, and WATTLED is networked.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Deepak Gopinath19 March 2011 at 08:45

    Now why couldn't I think of Elbow ;-(. Thanks Bhavan

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chaturvasi19 March 2011 at 08:51

    Odd description, but they are not of some tennis returns (7)

    some tennis returns: TWO-FISTED
    they are not of - delete OF from TWO-FISTED
    Odd - def for TWISTED

    Now, my mind might be!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bhavan19 March 2011 at 08:52

    8 - Let lift stop to take knight aboard (6) - RE(-s+n)NTED

    I think this is RE(N)TED<-

    Stop = Deter
    Knight = N

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bhavan19 March 2011 at 08:53

    @CV, you smashed it - single-handedly...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chaturvasi19 March 2011 at 09:02

    On my use of the term 'gentleman-solvers', see some late posts under yesterday's blog.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Deepak Gopinath19 March 2011 at 09:03

    Nice smash, Ace.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Suresh19 March 2011 at 10:03

    Great shot CV

    ReplyDelete
  12. Padmanabhan19 March 2011 at 10:05

    Re.South Indian Diwali-
    I think crackers are a specialty of South India whereas in the North it is more of a festival lights(deep)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Padmanabhan19 March 2011 at 10:09

    Bhavan,

    Great solving.Excellent to have 'smashed' endow & 'wattled'.CV's two fisted was great too,but that was expected of him!
    Enjoted today's crossword though I could not the above.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Deepak Gopinath19 March 2011 at 10:19

    No annotations yet for 3D

    ReplyDelete
  15. Meghna Agarwal19 March 2011 at 10:39

    My guess is that 3D is a homophone clue indicated by `for the audience'. ~GNAW

    ReplyDelete
  16. Suresh19 March 2011 at 11:01

    Sounds right Meghna. I knew it was a homophone, but could not get the appropriate word. Gnaw sounds right.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Bhavan19 March 2011 at 11:07

    @Meghna, your guess seems to work.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Venkatesh19 March 2011 at 11:39

    CV @902
    Re: plural of gentleman-solver
    I raised the query because the plural for such double words is given in different manner at different places, e.g., for gentleman thief, it is gentlemen thieves and for knight-errant, it is knights-errant. You have explained that you developed it from your width of reading. What I wanted to know was the grammer behind it. Can someone clarify?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Venkatesh19 March 2011 at 11:45

    Grammar it is.

    It is not a question of your usage, which I am sure would be right.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Suresh19 March 2011 at 11:55

    First question. Is gentleman - solver a standard word, or compound word in an English word?
    I have not found it. If it is a word coined here by CV then he has the liberty to decide on what the plural should be.

    An aside

    The Know your English column last week says I am follically challenged, another coinage we may not find in a standard dictionary.

    Anybody has the Complete OED?

    ReplyDelete
  21. Suresh19 March 2011 at 12:11

    In my above post the correct spelling is follicularly challenged. Follically challenged is given as a variant spelling in the Urban dictionary.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Suresh19 March 2011 at 12:26

    Lots of mistakes in typing etc in my 11:55 post. Trust the ace gentlemen solvers or whatever will figure it out.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous19 March 2011 at 13:26

    B**d truth, Suresh ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Suresh19 March 2011 at 14:26

    S*D truth too Kishore :(

    ReplyDelete
  25. Venkatesh19 March 2011 at 15:06

    The official accepted plural of Gentleman Usher is Gentlemen Ushers.

    The Royal Household has Gentlemen Ushers of the Black Rod, White Rod, Green Rod and Purple Rod, not to mention those of the Sword of State.

    Pl refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gentleman-usher

    ReplyDelete
  26. SandhyaP19 March 2011 at 16:16

    You have Women Pilots as well as Lady Pilots; Manservant & Menservants but Maidservant & Maidservants.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Ramani19 March 2011 at 16:37

    @ Venkatesh 15 06 - Fits like T to SYSTEMS ANALYSTS also - first down clue-answer. I had a doubt on it originally.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Deepak Gopinath19 March 2011 at 17:05

    I wonder why we are splitting hairs over Queens english ;-) We all know English is a 'Phunny' language. I am sure most of you have read the following, but it's worth a repeat

    We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
    But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
    One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
    Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
    You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
    Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

    If the plural of man is always called men,
    Then shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
    If I speak of my foot and show you my feet,
    And I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?

    If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
    Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

    Then one may be that, and three would be those,
    Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
    And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
    We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
    But though we say mother, we never say methren.
    Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
    But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

    Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
    There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger;
    neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
    English muffins weren't invented in England .
    We take English for granted, but if we explore its paradoxes,

    We find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square,
    And a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

    And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
    Grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
    Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
    If you have a bunch of odds and ends
    And get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

    If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
    If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
    Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English
    Should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.

    In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
    We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
    We have noses that run and feet that smell.
    We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
    And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
    While a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

    You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language
    In which your house can burn up as it burns down,
    In which you fill in a form by filling it out,
    And in which an alarm goes off by going on.

    And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

    And if people from Poland are called Poles
    Then people from Holland should be Holes
    And the Germans, Germs.

    And let's not forget the Americans, who changed s to z, but that's another story.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Padmanabhan19 March 2011 at 19:30

    Thank you,Col.I have not read it so far and enjoyed it immensely.Quite a good collection of all "odds and ends"!Or should I say odds & endings?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Sumitra19 March 2011 at 20:18

    Thanks, Colonel, that was hilarious!Have read a shorter version before, but nothing like this.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous19 March 2011 at 20:38

    That was nice, Deepak. I had read a version earlier which did not include the poles, holes and germs.

    BTW, can we add 7d SNAKE to our bag of goodies containing SPARLKERS, GROUND WHEEL and FLOWER POT. Remember that black tablet when lighted which used to extrude about 2 feet of black stuff accompanied by obnoxious smoke.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous19 March 2011 at 20:39

    Perigee Syzygy

    Time to moonlight, get moonstruck and drink moonshine.

    Given today's moon is ,say, at 352000 km instead of the average say 382000 km, i.e. at about 92% of the normal distance, by how much % will it look larger than the average, a) in terms of the diameter perceived and b) in terms of the area perceived.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Venkatesh19 March 2011 at 20:58

    Thanks, Col for the quote. This passage appears in the book 'Crazy English' by Richard Lederer, the best-selling American author, speaker, and teacher who is famous the world over for his books on word play and the English language and his use of oxymorons. He is the author of The Word Circus and Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay.

    Talking of oxymorons, the name of the Union Health Minister, who coordinated the seat sharing with the TN CM, is one - how can a person be a Ghulam (slave) and Azad (free) at the same time.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Chaturvasi19 March 2011 at 21:16

    Venkatesh
    I riffled through the pages of the book you mention but I don't think the poem quoted above is in it. There is another on verbs and past tense, though.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Venkatesh19 March 2011 at 21:16

    I came across this new word - ANTIGRAM.

    It is an anagram whose rearranged word has an opposing meaning. In other words, it is the converse of the APTAGRAM (an anagram in which the new word/phrase has a similar meaning to the original word).

    Thus, for ASTRONOMERS, moon starers is an aptagram while no more stars is an antigram

    Some more examples of ANTIGRAM would make this clear.

    Evangelist — Evil's Agent
    Adultery = True Lady
    A Saint = I, Satan
    Santa = Satan
    Forty five = Over Fifty
    Funeral = Real Fun
    Inferno = Non Fire
    Restful = Fluster
    Violence = Nice Love
    Within earshot = I won't hear this

    How many more antigrams can we come up with?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Chaturvasi19 March 2011 at 21:19

    Manmohan - No man, ham

    ReplyDelete
  37. Venkatesh19 March 2011 at 22:18

    It is in sentences. The particular passage from the book 'Crazy English' by Richard Lederer has also been excerpted in its book review:
    http://www.amazon.com/review/R10WCCNZX6PJW2

    Here are some more interesting facts (ref: the first chapter http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671023233/ref=cm_rdp_product

    When we say first Century BC, we are actually referring to the last Century BC!

    When CV enjoys 'a hot cup of coffee', he is actually having 'a cup of hot coffee'.

    A near miss is, in reality, a collision and a close call is a near hit.

    I say, "I really miss not seeing you" when I actually mean "I really miss seeing you". A 'not' is gratuitously thrown in.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Deepak Gopinath19 March 2011 at 22:21

    Let's see if anyone can come up with the proof for this question.

    Prove that 'HUM' = 'TUM'

    My solution will be given after tomorrow's cricket match, India vs West Indies

    ReplyDelete
  39. raju umamaheswar22 March 2011 at 22:59

    Don't you all look for any logic in Neyartha's compilation.I sat in a clinic and wracked my brains and finally solved until I got stuck with RENTED.

    Convoluted compilation that can be cracked only after one solved it and apply logic and rationalize the answer.

    Raju Umamaheswar

    ReplyDelete

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