ACROSS
1 - Somehow relate Government Officer to substitute (5,3) - {ALTER E*}{GO} ALTER EGO Government Order would have been better
5 - A little lower? (6) - HEIFER [CD]
9 - Bird gets information back in ace's place (7) - {COCK}{PIT<-} COCKPIT
11 - Emile isn't worried about bookkeeping entries (4,5) - LINE ITEMS*
12 - A team boy from pole to pole (5) - {A}{XI}{AL} AXIAL
13 - Conduit of the French court (4) - {DU}{CT} DUCT
14 - Indian magazine's leading position (9) - FRONTLINE [DD]
17 - Examples in postures (9) - {IN}{STANCES} INSTANCES
19 - Hot flower in the Shimla valley? (4) - LAVA [T]
23 - Opposition leader's grim about smell (5) - {O}{DOUR} ODOUR
24 - Query that will get you the location of a thing (5,2,2) - WHERE IS IT [E]
25 - Small rooms — the Spanish stay at last in a slack manner (7) - {LOOS}{EL}{Y} LOOSELY
26 - Labour of a number in course (7) - {TR{A}{V}AIL} TRAVAIL
27 - Proverb, for example, in Gujarat's capital (6) - {SAY}{IN}{G} SAYING
28 - Lied about Sen's wrong — doing nothing (8) - IDLENESS*
DOWN
1 - Drink Cade distributed around gets praise (8) - {AC{COLA}DE*} ACCOLADE
2 - Skill in private investigator's chinwagging (7) - {TEC}{HNIC*} TECHNIC
3 - To go for mend (6) - REPAIR [DD]
4 - If you do, you can't reach the destination (2,3,5,3) - GO THE WRONG WAY [CD]
6 - Bali, even loose, is worthy of being desired (8) - ENVIABLE*
7 - Girl's short hit on style (7) - {FA'S}{HIt}{ON} FASHION
8 - Artist and engineer extremely lucky — not often (6) - {RA}{RE}{LuckY} RARELY
10 - Just tenderised its pieces (13) - DISINTERESTED*
15 - Doctor eating piece of tasty fish (8) - {S{T}URGEON} STURGEON
18 - Word that is by no means old (7) - NEOLOGY [CD]
20 - Moderate, you heard, is in rub-down, not Mass (7) - {mASS{U}
21 - Dogs lose a bit of patience? Lots! (6) - pOODLES OODLES
22 - Gale blows during training raising hair (6) - {PE}{LAGE*} (Addendum - {P{ELAG*}E} - See comments) PELAGE
If you want your details to be added in the new THCC Members link above, please send me an e-mail with the details. My E-mail is given under Contact Details.
ReplyDelete1 - Drink Cade distributed around gets praise (8) - {AC{COLDE*} ACCOLADE
ReplyDelete{AC(COLA)DE*}
Cade is the name of a person. Scan the clue as "Drink [that] Cade etc.
ReplyDeleteI think one of Chase's books was titled Cade. Anyone remember?
22 The anno for PELAGE needs a little tweaking. P(ELAG*)E. Often, because of the disposition of letters, we tend to miss the true anno. This happens in blogs when someone sets it right.
ReplyDelete9 - Bird gets information back in ace's place (7) - {COCK}{PIT<-} COCKPIT
ReplyDeleteAll female crews have stopped using this word
Re David 1128 yesterday:
ReplyDeleteToday's NIE carries this:
3d Hardly descriptive of the time a final demand arrives (3-6,3)
Colour coded rubbers?
ReplyDeleteKishore @ 8:54
ReplyDeleteThen what is their name for that location?
Deepak @ 856:
ReplyDeleteHoney pot
Box office
Never heard of 'Fa' for girl before.
ReplyDeleteVenkatesh @ 8:38,
ReplyDeleteThank you, I have corrected the main post.
Bhavan @ 8:59,
ReplyDeleteNor have I, have heard of 'Fay' though, so I wonder if it is like Chas - Charles (CHASM) of the other day.
I believe Fa is a diminutive of the English girl's name Faith.
ReplyDeleteSudalamani Murugesan
ReplyDeleteDOB: 28 Apr 1982
Native of Ayiraperi, a village near Thenkasi
B.Tech. from Raja College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai
Currently shuttling around different companies in Bangalore, working as a software engineer.
Bachelor but parents are active in search of a bride.
913 & Begorrah !
ReplyDeleteBTW, Fa is a brand for personal care products owned by Henkel.
ReplyDeleteSudalamani
ReplyDeleteThanks for bio. You were one of the people about whom I wanted to know. The Col. will transfer the details to the relevant place.
I will be happy if others too could post these essential details.
Who knows, you could get a bride with the excellent compatibility in solving crosswords, if nothing else!
It was nice to be solving THC after a long time. Got tired of crosswords and hence took a break. I think I might start again.
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle today, however wasn't really happy with FA for girl thingy (7D).
And 15D, nice pic BTW.
FAS could be F as since it is girl's. But this would be an NJism
ReplyDeleteHey VJ
ReplyDeleteSome people in these parts were missing you!
They should be happy on your return.
I do understand one's need to take a break from whatever they do on a continuous basis.
Continuous/continual, what's the difference?
continuous = continually
ReplyDeleteVJ,
ReplyDeleteWelcome back. Like CV said someone was missing you ;-)
continuous = continually
ReplyDeleteAdjective = adverb??
Welcome back VJ in your old avatar ;) Going by last week, NJ needs more ardent supporters than one!
Who knows, you could get a bride with the excellent compatibility in solving crosswords, if nothing else!
LOL CV Sir. Hope your prediction comes true. I have not come across a young lass who solves crossies, though :(
Did anyone notice 8D - one example where NJ has surprisingly managed to outdo Gridman in clue writing? :)
ReplyDeleteFA for a girl may not be a problem:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crosswordunclued.com/2011/02/fa-nothing.html
I have enabled the blog for viewing on mobiles, that should make it easy for those accessing the blog through their mobiles.
ReplyDeleteCockpit is another beauty from Colonel's cartoon collection
ReplyDeleteActually if VJ had returned 10 days ago, NJ would have lost her only supporter.
ReplyDelete(in response to Raju's comment yesterday)
ReplyDeleteRe: Houyhnhnm
If one has read The Gulliver's Travels by the "rapid writer" one would know know what this race is.
The problem is most readers read the first two chapters of the book and completely skip the others (two more, if I remember correctly). They know what Brobdingnagian is but not this term.
I am sure this word must have been clued at some time or the other in UK crosswords.
Let me assure you that the viral you are speaking of has not affected Gridman, who uses rare words only occasionally - certainly not at the rate you might suspect.
Can the word 'hymn' be used as a verb? I believe so.
ReplyDeletePope has:
"To hymn harmonious Houyhnhnm through the nose ...".
Thanks, Rishi. I appreciate. However, Brobdingnagian is some tongue-twister, but this Houyhnhnm gets the tongue locked.!! Nice talking to you over the phone , and your mobile number was picked up by your daughter who said she uses it. I got your land line number from her which she unhesitatingly gave. I'm more than sure that I've not come across this word in any of the UK xwords, as perhaps, it may not have fitted in any grid,and only you could craft it into one. Needs a sculptor's skill to carve in such a word. Tell the Gridman in you to not let the solvers hiss through their teeth by such aspirate words.
ReplyDeleteRaju Umamaheswar
Good crossword today. Enjoyed it. Got most of the clues... except a few like HEIFER. New word for me. Can someone explain this please? WHat's the connection between a little cow/calf and the clue... "A little lower?" Is lower something like a flow...er? Thx.
ReplyDeleteManju
ps: it's great to have Mr CV/Gridman to be so active on this forum... you are the best, sir!
Thanks CV, Sudalamani, Col.
ReplyDeleteSo NJ's gone from bad to worse huh? Anywayz, whether I really meant it or not, defending NJ was fun, LOL! I started playing the devil's advocate for no apparent reason and then went on with it 'cause I kinda liked doin' it :)
Sudalamani, good luck findin' your soulmate :)
Gulliver's Travels describes the Yahoos as a group of savage humanoids, in contrast to the intelligent and rational Houyhnhnms, who are horses.
ReplyDeleteKudos to Rengaswamy for solving this on the first go in the Orkut group.
Late again today.
ReplyDelete@manju
It is a play on "lower". The noise cows make is called lowing as in the Christmas carol "the cattle are lowing, the baby awakes". So a lower is a cow, and a female cow (little) is a heiffer. ( it is also a term of abuse for an overweight female - but I don't think we need to go there!)
Just wanted to say I really like the new lay out for those of us using the blog on mobile phones. It is much easier to use.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteThank you. Appreciate your explanation.
Manju
Col Deepak: Here's my bio-data
ReplyDeleteRaju Umamaheswar.
DOB:5th Aug. Age: Young enough to be away from death, if one counted age backwards.!
Though qualified as a Chemistry graduate , stumbled into insurance (Ugh-- Who said something else was the 'oldest profession?') and 'served' my clients in Bombay and in Kenya, retiring from there as a CEO and Director. A Bombayite still at heart and trying to put in my
mark as a Coimbatorean, but not finding my feet digging in still. Spending all my current leisure time solving crosswords collected over a period of two decades- average output 20 -30 per day. Other available time is spent in reading and writing to newspapers, and whatever is left , with my soulmate Sapna. No one else around as two birds have flown the coop, one in Nagoya Japan- a boy, teaching English there and the younger one in Penn State in the US finishing her Phd in Philosophy.
Enjoy living by the moment and praying to the Almighty to give me all the time, healthy and mentally agile enough to do more and more crosswords, an undying passion which has earned me a place in the Limca Book. Trying repeatedly to get into the Guinness but they refuse on grounds of lack of comparable standards to be beaten.!!
.
Raju Umamaheswar
Happy to know about fellow solvers. Great initiative by CV Sir.
ReplyDelete@Rengaswamy: Son in Google SFO! He is GOD! Congrats a bunch :)
@Veer: If I may guess, is your other daughter's name Ahalya? And if I may know, does the UG in US mean your wife is an American? Sorry if you feel I am butting in your private space.
The noise cows make is called lowing...
ReplyDeleteThe first time I came across the word was in Gray's Elegy:
The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea
Sudalamani @ 15:32,
ReplyDeleteEarthly light that burns bright - Dhiya
@sudalamani, 15:32: Nah, no offense on the private space given that I put it out there. She is not American in the sense you are asking, I would venture to say.
ReplyDeleteOn the crossword itself, found it enjoyable but somehow filled it a lot faster than yesterday. Dont know how it can vary like that. Initially pencilled in GO THE OTHER WAY for 4D and was stuck for some time. Where Is It was one of those clues that seem light on the deception aspects of a CD, maybe intentionally so.
Raju @ 15:28,
ReplyDeleteWhy so much of blank space between your post and the name below? By the way you need not end your post with your name as it is already there in the header of your comment
Thanks. It just happened to have the name run away below and I could.nt be bothered to rectify for fear of losing the whole material.!! Ha Ha talk of a computer ignoramus.!!
ReplyDeleteveer on 4d
ReplyDeleteThe clue is not a CD; it's a straightforward clue, which might admit of other possible answers as in the instant case, though I never thought of that.
My commiserations.
Isn't it pleasant to be led up the garden path sometimes?
CV sir,True, it was pleasant. Given your history with Frontline, I knew there was a good chance that Other was Wrong - I just could not come up with it straight out. Though i am usually deserving, no need to commiserate on that count - after all, a crossword is supposed to be a brain teaser.
ReplyDeleteEarthly light that burns bright - Dhiya
ReplyDeleteOr Deepa
Suryaprabha?
ReplyDeleteThe speculation reminds me of the time when she was born and talking of what should her name be? The gospel truth of course in clues of NJish clarity is in the next day's paper, which in this case is the picture caption on the THCC Families page.
ReplyDelete@ David Dobson:
ReplyDeleteScaramanga?
Earthly light that burns bright - Dhiya
ReplyDeleteJyothi?
@kishore Exactly! Or as I prefer to see it - I am the next stage in evolution!
ReplyDeleteWhat is the significance of "ace's" in 9A?
ReplyDeleteAn ace is a top pilot. In combat, an ace was a pilot who had more than 5 kills.
ReplyDelete