Wednesday, 3 August 2011

No 10223, Wednesday 03 Aug 11, M Manna

ACROSS
1   - Surprisingly youthful conservationists thwarted mains water scheme (4,9) - WELL PRESERVED {WELL} {PRESERVED}
8   - More can play the violin (7) - CREMONA* Isn't this is a Brand name for a Violin or is it recognised as a Violin? Any Violin players amongst us?
9   - Not so many in Rose's home were made happy (7) - BLESSED {B{LESS}ED}
11 - In disturbed state turn towards perceptive person (6) - ASTUTE {AST{U}TE*}
13 - Impressed by Oriental bolt (8) - STAMPEDE {STAMPED}{E}
15 - Blush when pierced? (5) - GORED {GO}{RED}
16 - Listener heads home in determined mood (7) - EARNEST {EAR}{NEST}
18 - Colours allowed in by the head (7) - PALETTE {PA{LET}TE}
19 - With direction hunt on another track (5) - SHUNT {S}{HUNT}
21 - A woman's handbag (8) - RETICULE [E]
23 - She and I caught one in Alabama (6) - ALICIA {AL{I}{C}{I}A}
25 - Getting things straight at the end of the day (7) - EVENING [DD]
26 - In Asia England starts to be seen to be behind (7) - EASTERN {E}{ASTERN}
28 - Did they mount Hitler's lightning offences? (5,8) - STORM TROOPERS [CD]
DOWN
2   - He may give a seat to someone standing (7) - ELECTOR [CD]
3   - A lion for the French ring! (3) - LEO {LE}{O}
4   - Ran around yard to catch him (4) - RYAN {R{Y}AN}
5   - Sad tales of the conservatives under new boss (3,7) - SOB STORIES {SOB S*}{TORIES}
6   - Discharge ambassador in strange surrounding (5) - RHEUM {R{HE}UM}
7   - See it as being the least difficult (7) - EASIEST*
8   - Sister who is male? (6,5) - CHARGE NURSE [CD] ? They are not always male?
10 - This engine upset residential characters (6,5) - DIESEL TRAIN*
12 - Regulated by the sudden flow of feeling (5) - TIDAL [CD]
14 - First trip of airliner? Check steps! (4,6) - TEST FLIGHT {TEST} {FLIGHT}
17 - Lease made out for a blackboard frame (5) - EASEL*
18 - Doctor's client sustaining pain (7) - PATIENT [DD]
20 - Not free from obstruction (7) - UNCLEAR [E]
22 - He shouts to make official proclamation (5) - CRIER [E]
24 - Old timer famous as hot fiddler (4) - NERO [CD]
27 - Proceed insidiously towards a week person (3) - SAP [DD] That should have been 'weak'!

GRID


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40 comments:

  1. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 08:35

    I only know that 'cremona' leads to ROMANCE.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 08:39

    8 - More can play the violin (7) - CREMONA* Isn't this is a Brand name for a Violin or is it recognised as a Violin? Any Violin players amongst us?

    I indulge in non-violin(t) fiddling.

    27 - Proceed insidiously towards a week person (3) - SAP [DD] That should have been 'weak'!

    This may be a printer's devil. But I would haave liked 'offensives' instead of 'offences' in 28a, though MM might have meant it as an apposite opposite to 'defences'.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 08:47

    Kishore

    Holding no brief (I don't like jockeying) for the setter, I don't understand your reservation wrt 28a.

    What's the best form of defence?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 08:49

    CV, conceding your argument, I felt that storm troopers were involved in offensives, though they might have committed offences in the process.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 08:52

    (from yesterday)

    I was not talking of the device, FER by itself is not a word, that's what I meant.

    ---

    A point to ponder!

    Often we have homophone clues where the homophone is not a word in itself.

    I don't think G resorts to this device.

    ReplyDelete
  6. SandhyaP3 August 2011 at 08:53

    8 - Sister who is male? (6,5) - CHARGE NURSE [CD] ? They are not always male?

    (Brit) a nurse in charge of a ward in a hospital: the male equivalent of sister...(Freedict)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 08:53

    "Holding no brief "

    That evoked a vivid image of your holding out an undie for MM to step into, somewhat like parents holding shorts for their kids to step into.:-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Bhavan3 August 2011 at 09:02

    I was not talking of the device, FER by itself is not a word, that's what I meant.

    Apart from the homophones that CV mentioned, partial anagrams in clues too have the same issue.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 09:05

    My long letter in MM (read: Madras Musings) on briefs fetched me an unexpected letter from a senior, long-lost relative who said he liked it and who indulged in nostalgia going back to the Forties in CBE remembering my Dad and several members of the clan (when 'nuclear family was a term that was 'unclear' and when I was a mere child).

    ReplyDelete
  10. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 09:07

    *'nuclear'

    ReplyDelete
  11. David Dobson3 August 2011 at 09:11

    I thought today's offering was "manna" from heaven.
    Some elegant clues. I was however an idiot and spent an embarrassingly long time trying to work out how gored related to blush, until I finally saw go red.
    I can't see any issue at all with 28A.
    My COD 13A

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 09:13

    A point to ponder:

    How brief would be the briefest of briefs?

    ReplyDelete
  13. David Dobson3 August 2011 at 09:21

    Fig leaf?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 09:23

    Exactly!

    The one that pictures depict a Hindu god wearing.
    Made of silver.

    ReplyDelete
  15. David Dobson3 August 2011 at 09:26

    Back to FER

    It does have a couple of meanings
    It is a red wine grape
    It also means iron in French which wouldn't be allowed, but I think chemin de FER is in common usage as it's a card game.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Suresh3 August 2011 at 09:28

    I was not talking of the device, FER by itself is not a word, that's what I meant.

    Fer is listed as a word in fredictionary. Source Websters. And meaning far.

    But I take Deepak's point. If it is a word it is definitely more elegant. If it isn't it feels a bit crude.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 09:29

    I knew 'chemin de fer' only as 'railroad'.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 09:32

    Some old timers might remember an ornament called 'puchataaLi', if I remember the word right.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 09:33

    I am not sure which language that word is from.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 09:34

    The perils of swearing by one dictionary!

    'fer' is not recorded in Chambers.

    However, it has 'fer-de-lance', which is the lance-headed or yellow viper of tropical America.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Deepak Gopinath3 August 2011 at 10:25

    Sandhya @ 8:53'

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  22. Deepak Gopinath3 August 2011 at 10:26

    Kishore @ 9:13,

    Now that would be telling, wouldn't it!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Deepak Gopinath3 August 2011 at 10:27

    I remember the briefest Headline item

    NUT, SCREWS AND BOLTS

    ReplyDelete
  24. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 10:54

    I have this book

    Eats shoots and leaves

    Place the comma where you will.

    BTW, I don't have a great opinion about the book. I have read better books on usage, e.g., those of G H Vallins, Eric Partridge et al.

    The author of ESL approaches the subject in a light-hearted manner (about which I don't have a problem) but it's repetitive and has other drawbacks (like using big font, double space and blank pages, to make a book out of the matter on hand.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Suresh3 August 2011 at 11:06

    Richard used to talk about this book, of which I too have a copy

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 11:30

    I remember the briefest Headline item

    NUT, SCREWS AND BOLTS

    I had read one which said NUT SCREWS WASHERS AND BOLTS

    ReplyDelete
  27. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 11:45

    Talking of odd books, has anyone here read Aphabetical Africa (an odd sort of book)by Walter Abish which starts:

    Ages ago, Alex, Allen and Alva arrived at Antibes,...

    Notice why it is odd? ;-) Well, each chapter changes the constraints a bit (though the narrative is not very gripping, and there are violations of the self imposed constraints).

    ReplyDelete
  28. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 12:48

    If you like, read my post "Living off crosswords?" on my blog

    http://cgrishi.wordpress.com/2011/08/03/living-off-crosswords/

    You may leave a Comment if you're moved to do so.

    ReplyDelete
  29. raju umamaheswar3 August 2011 at 13:10

    Man O Man, Manna, Maan na maan, the Tuesday's crossword was a cake walk. Maybe, he was somnolent and that's why he had put in too many anagrams? Or is that he was on a pressure to beat the dead line with the publishers?

    Rishiji, I wanted your comments on conjoined clues. I had posted my remarks three days ago.Didn't you see it?

    ReplyDelete
  30. Chaturvasi3 August 2011 at 13:31

    It is called 'twinning'.

    As far as THC is concerned,Gridman and Sankalak have used that clue-type. Others may have.

    In any case I am not able to cite any readily.

    As for the instance you're talking about, there might have been a possibility of linking them together, but as mentioned earlier the clues were written some six or seven months ago and so it was missed.

    In any case, we don't know whether there is an END IN SIGHT. Any linking will be fraught with unpleasant consequences.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 16:55

    Former student of violin-playing and lover of violin music here (not to mention being an accomplished air-violinist): Cremona is/was home to many of the most-valued violins made by famous lutenists of yore like Antonio Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu, to name just two, but I haven't come across instances where the violins were referred to by the name of the place itself as opposed to the name of their makers.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Rengaswamy3 August 2011 at 18:15

    @DG 10.27

    A news-writer was fired by editor to give short headlines for the news items. The writer had a story next day.

    A lunatic escaped from an asylum after raping a nurse. Since he had to give a brief headline for this story, he gave the headline as
    "NUT SCREWS AND BOLTS"

    ReplyDelete
  33. Deepak Gopinath3 August 2011 at 18:28

    Rengaswamy,

    Kishore had further amplified it with his 11:30

    ReplyDelete
  34. Rengaswamy3 August 2011 at 18:51

    Thanks DG. I missed Kishore's. It is still better.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Rengaswamy3 August 2011 at 18:53

    8 - Sister who is male? (6,5) - CHARGE NURSE [CD] ? They are not always male?

    Can we have it as CHANGE NURSE?

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 19:34

    Rengaswamy@18:53,
    That's what I'd guessed and, after some hesitation, wrote down in the grid.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Suresh3 August 2011 at 21:01

    Look up charge nurse in freedictionary. Quoting from Collins chrge nurse is the male equivalent of a sister

    ReplyDelete
  38. Bhalchandra Pasupathy3 August 2011 at 21:21

    If you can have Gibson Guitars, then I suppose you can also have 'Cremona' Violins

    ReplyDelete
  39. Venkatesh3 August 2011 at 22:48

    An interesting article on the Cremonese violins from Engineering & Science:
    http://eands.caltech.edu/articles/LXVII4/Hsieh%20Layout.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous3 August 2011 at 23:17

    Thanks for the link, Venkatesh.

    ReplyDelete

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