Wednesday, 23 March 2011

No 10109, Wednesday 23 Mar 11, Cryptonyte

ACROSS
8   - What the foreign minister has to deal with — infidelity perhaps (8,7) - EXTERNAL AFFAIRS [DD]
10 - Complain about new information technology asset (7) - {BE{N}EF}{IT}
11 - Disregard note on musical instrument (7) - {VIOLA}{TE}
12 - Vehicle duty for one (4) - {TAX}{I}
13 - Prearranges printed sheets to cover journalist's spectacles (9) - {FOR{ED}{OO}MS}
15 - Bird is large, fatty and has a bone (7) - {OS}{T}{RICH}
17 - Painting admittedly used for one-time love (7) - {I'M}{PAST}{O}
19 - Viler pig I sloshed — it's my prerogative (9) - PRIVILEGE*
21 - The first lady's right. Always (4) - {EVE}{R}
24 - The Fuhrer has kept us captive with no one. Shrewd, unscrupulous man (7) - {H(-i){US}TLER}
25 - Exiles from toppled regimes (7) - EMIGRES*
26 - I won't pen that nonsense for the communist party (5,3,4,3) - {PAINT THE TOWN*} {RED}
DOWN
1   - Match between local rivals in the German Bundesliga's first year (5) - {DER}{B}{Y}
2   - Writer's block in a poem? (6) - STANZA [CD]
3   - Writing on the wall: perhaps Steffi's in good shape to be number one (8) - {GRAF}{FIT}{I}
4   - What Gandhi was or what he made at Dandi? (4,2,3,5) - SALT OF THE EARTH [DD]

SEE THIS CARTOON

5   - Have the means for gold for daughter after a frantic fear initially (6) - {A}{F}{F}{OR}{D}
6   - Movies feature a lot of love for bullfighters (8) - {PIC{ADORe}S}
7   - Gossip when one is hugged by somebody (9) - {AS}{PERS{I}ON}
9   - Vestment raised in the wind for promotions (14) - ADVERTISEMENTS*
14 - Cap shop is dirty, pieces of cleansers needed (4,5) - SOAP CHIPS*
16 - Sudden fall as anti-slip fails (8) - TAILSPIN*
18 - Soft dismissals being double-checked with trial versions (8) - {P}{REVIEWS}
20 - Is leader of Nigeria allowed to come in at entrances? (6) - {I{N}{LET}S}
22 - Mistakes brought about by hesitation to take right alternative (the second) (6) - {ER}{R}{OR}{S}
23 - Away team's first class, at the top (5) - {A}{SIDE}

GRID


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22 comments:

  1. Bhavan23 March 2011 at 08:39

    Good enjoyable puzzle. My CoD is 2D.

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  2. Bhavan23 March 2011 at 08:45

    Colonel, what a super cartoon for HUSTLER !

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  3. veer23 March 2011 at 09:10

    Not a greatly enjoyable puzzle. Given that C'nyte has created expectations that exceed some of the cluing in this puzzle, I sure hope this was just a bad day at the office for him.. Like I said in the Orkut forum, the use of "for" as a linkword between word play elements in several clues seems very questionable. Also, some of the defs. and surface readings for the clues are not as smooth as they usually are with this setter.

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  4. Padmanabhan23 March 2011 at 09:19

    enjoyable one today-probably so because it is one of those 100% days,though with a little help.

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  5. Shyam23 March 2011 at 09:58

    Veer, Agree with you on those counts. But I never thought Cryptonyte had outstanding surfaces in his puzzles, especially when compared with Spiffy.

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  6. Shyam23 March 2011 at 10:00

    I understand Gandhi made salt at Dandi. But what does making "salt of the earth" mean?

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  7. Bhavan23 March 2011 at 10:25

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  8. Bhavan23 March 2011 at 10:26

    (wordplay) for (solution) is the most common usage of FOR right ? Is that the reason why it isn't good as a link word ?

    Unlike at,to,on,by,about,over,under etc FOR or FROM don't/can't indicate positions ?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Shyam23 March 2011 at 10:28

    Hi Bhavan

    As I see it, 'for' and 'from' act as linkwords in 2 cases: wordplay for solution (OR) solution from wordplay.

    In all other usages, they are padding and not linkwords, as Veer points out in many clues in this puzzle.

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  10. Bhavan23 March 2011 at 10:33

    Thanks Shyam, was thinking the same.

    I think its unfair to compare two new setters - especially when each has his own style : )

    ReplyDelete
  11. Meghna Agarwal23 March 2011 at 10:34

    My general observation is that the THC setters are not careful with their choice of connectors and linkwords. Two and three letter words are freely used for the purpose and since solvers are used to ignoring such words, they don't complain.

    I think a good cryptic clue is one where each and every word is given the same amount of significance. It should be as if the solver is reading the clue surface like it is an instruction and unravels the significance of each word in the surface by figuring out how it leads to the solution.

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  12. Shyam23 March 2011 at 10:56

    Ya Bhavan, I always think comparison is unfair, be it cricket or crosswords or any other creative work. My comment was just a subjective opinion formed as a result of solving their puzzles thus far. It could change soon, hopefully :)

    Meghna, very much true!

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  13. Bhavan23 March 2011 at 11:10

    @Meghna : I agree with everything you said, but wouldn't want to be too hard on the setters.

    From what I heard, Hindu has no crossword editor. If they had one, setters might have received the kind of criticism given here much before the puzzle goes to print.

    I also have faith that some setters do take the feedback given here seriously and incorporate suggestions into their future work.

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  14. Venkatesh23 March 2011 at 11:13

    Today's Metro section features an interesting article by Rajasree T (who starred in Sridhar's Kadhalikka Neramillai) with reminiscences of Madras of yesteryears (the fifties and the sixties).

    There is also a photograph of Mount Road at that time.

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  15. Padmanabhan23 March 2011 at 17:52

    Yes Venkatesh,the good old Madras.The photo features the then car park in the central 'round thana'as it used to be called.Did you notice all the old cars of the time-Austin,Ford etc. and the city bus in the background and so much of free space? Cv would remember the scene vividly.

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  16. Anonymous23 March 2011 at 17:53

    Hi
    Hiatus caused by high altitude, actually refrigerating my largest tarsal bones on a flight to yesterday’s 21d city, overflying Suresh’s GHQ, which permitted me to cover 6 crossies in all: THC, DH, ET (CCU Ed), ET (BLR Ed), DNA and BS. A rich haul, you will agree with the following gems:
    DH:
    1d A dotty mark? (5)
    5D An implement you need to push at the right angle (6)
    ET4584 (Blr):
    14d Fashionable writer taking ship for the cape (9)
    BS822:
    18a Note essential to Purcell? (6-1)
    8d When finally continental currency has little movement, that’s unstable (8)


    DH was the most enjoyable of the lot !

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  17. Anonymous23 March 2011 at 17:54

    I vaguely remember nicknames for cabs in Madras like baby taxi etc.

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  18. Anonymous23 March 2011 at 17:59

    Kadhalikka Neramillai was remade in Hindi as 'Pyaar Kiye Ja' with a great performance by Mehmood. But the original was superb.

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  19. Anonymous23 March 2011 at 18:00

    Hari, Sorry to note your mother's passing away. Wishing you strength to bear the bereavement.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Deepak Gopinath23 March 2011 at 19:45

    Kishore @ 17:53

    Why didn't you do 'The Telegraph' while at yesterday's 21D city :-)

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous23 March 2011 at 21:28

    The copy of the TT I got did not have the CW, hence my best laid plans went agley and were rendered null and void ab initio.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Sumitra23 March 2011 at 21:50

    @Hari,
    My heartfelt condolences and prayers to you and your family.

    ReplyDelete

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