ACROSS
1 - Doctor leaves a road intact, suffering from an abnormal mental state (9) - CATATONIA CATATONIAdr*
5 - Girl protected by Mabel Larsen (5) - BELLA [T]
8 - Stringed instrument, at home, is another one (6) - VIOLIN {VIOL}{IN}
9 - One made by a cabinet-maker? (8) - MINISTER [CD]
11 - Precious stone needs polish, a bit yellow (4) - RUBY {RUB}{Y}
14 - Leaders of East and North play a part to stage a play (5) - ENACT {E}{N}{ACT}
15 - Conservative girls in parts of a school (7) - CLASSES {C}{LASSES}
16 - One Hun, man, rendered bestial (7) - INHUMAN {I}{NHUMAN*}
17 - Current — continuous discharge of current, repulsed in capital (5) - ACCRA {AC}{CRA<-}
19 - The camera is kind to such people (10) - PHOTOGENIC [CD]
20 - Fertilizer component from old place with a bit of earth added (4) - UREA {UR}{EA
22 - Acute dislike, says one acting (8) - AVERSION {AVERS}{I}{ON}
23 - Daughter changes route as a diversion (6) - DETOUR {D}{ETOUR}
24 - Guests make them what they are (5) - HOSTS [CD]
25 - There is still a match after this (9) - SEMIFINAL [CD]
DOWN
1 - Secret, false identity beginning to terrify (6) - COVERT {COVER}{T}
2 - Problem-solvers, but they do not really need firearms (15) - TROUBLESHOOTERS [CD]
3 - Victory after time for a lookalike (4) - TWIN {T}{WIN}
4 - Satiric actor, reformed, is of noble birth (12) - ARISTOCRATIC*
5 - Intense light reveals outstanding intelligence (10) - BRILLIANCE [DD]
6 - A real hedonist, now unwinding to enjoy life freely … (3,4,4,4) - LET ONES HAIR DOWN*
7 - … seizes artist upset over props (7) - ARRESTS {AR<-}{RESTS}
10 - Can bad-tempered crone ask a nut for change? (12) - CANTANKEROUS*
13 - Tillers' homes, now status symbols for some (10) - FARMHOUSES [E] Why are they status symbols now?
16 - Charge, as they did Warren Hastings (7) - IMPEACH
18 - Container, maybe for beer that lawyers relish? Not half! (6) - BARREL {BAR}{RELish}
7D and 16D quite the current topics with 10d 2d thrown in, what? One put into the Indian desert to get a pen (5)
ReplyDelete9 - One made by a cabinet-maker? (8) - MINISTER [CD]
ReplyDeleteRemember the joke about Gianiji and IG?
Farmhouses are where the rich stay now and are status symbols.
ReplyDeleteSo, can we call Mukesh Ambanis 'Antilla' a farmhouse?
ReplyDeleteDeepak
ReplyDeleteThe word 'pelf' nowadays is mostly found in the phrase 'power and pelf'.
It is a literary word and one of the notable verses in which it is used is in a Walter Scott poem (the last line of the quote is what everyone of us would now):
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour’d, and unsung.
The above lines reflect the thought in Gray's Elegy.
ReplyDeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteYou're up-to-date!
With the news you read and the crossword of the day!
As for your clue, I would only say
Leaders of the Indian hierarchy are ruing...
Talking of Warren Hastings, I remembered a clerihew:
ReplyDeleteThe best thing about Lord Clive
Is that he's no longer alive.
There's a great deal to be said
For being dead.
A farmhouse is the home of a farming family. In recent decades, it is also the preferred architectural style for those wishing to have a home in the country (with the added tax benefits being a farm/agricultural property). Typical instances are Sainik Farms and Chattarpur areas on the outskirts of New Delhi. Many of these farmhouses are also rented out as marriage venues.
ReplyDeleteThe term refers to a rural estate, usually quite expensive, that has been built by urban residents seeking a part-time home in the country.
Wow... a current affairs crossword if there ever was one!
ReplyDeleteTo the already mentioned, I'll add
Impeach - Soumitra Sen
A nice enjoyable CW.100 % in a while and that too without resorting to gadgets-dictionary,google et al.
ReplyDeleteThank you Cv for the nice quote.Trying to recollect the title of the poem.
Sankalak really makes solving such a pleasant experience.
ReplyDeleteHis clues seem to say "what's the big fuss about setting puzzles"
No doubt there might be precedents, but this is the first time I'm seeing him use clues with ellipsis.
I think this is not the first time that Sankalak uses linked clues.
ReplyDeleteAre these also called 'twinning clues'?
I would think that an elliptical clue (with dots at the end) is one where the solution comes from outside the clue wording.
ReplyDeleteFarmhouses are where the rich stay now and are status symbols.
ReplyDeleteYes, and sometimes, so are the pens mentioned in my first post being 'essential' qualifications to stand for elections. May I hasten to add that IMO, the present situation is not one of those times.
I can recall I had come across the expression 'pelf and penury' in college. Can someone help me in tracing the source?
ReplyDeleteI would think that an elliptical clue (with dots at the end) is one where the solution comes from outside the clue wording.
ReplyDelete@CV : Not sure I understand what this means. May be an example might help?
100% after long time, thanks for S& B
ReplyDeleteI will join S& B meets in chennai as I am staying at Nellore.
Me too 100% after a long time. Agree 100% with Bhavan when he commented "Sankalak really makes solving such a pleasant experience".
ReplyDeleteMr. Sankalak,
ReplyDeleteThank you... I clocked my PB time in completely solving THC. 2 hrs (including time off for breakfast and work and all). Agree with the "pleasant experience" comments by Krishnan and Bhavan.
Manju
Bhavan
ReplyDeleteThe following is cited from the book by D. St. P. Barnard
Quote
Where it so happens that two lights suitable for cross-referencing happen to fall in immediate succession, they are sometimes clued as a pair or 'twinned'.
6a Father not in time for a taster... (6)
7a ...but he is taken in by others fao a meal (6)
PA-LATE
RE(PA)ST
An elliptical clue takes the form of a sentence from which the light has been removed.
11a 'It is a ___ shame,' she sobbed (6)
CRYING
Unquote
I think some THC setters have tried both these types.
As for what I said in the first instance, let me check Gridman's dB and come back.
ReplyDeleteWhat I call elliptical clues in Gridman's work are, e.g.,
ReplyDeleteWhat a person on maun vrat says... (7,2,3)
NOTHING AT ALL
What is a cheque if you can't... ? (6)
ENCASH
In both the examples above the answer comes from outside of the clue, doesn't it?
Did Walter Scott really use "from whence"?
ReplyDelete@CV : Thanks. I was familiar with the first of your examples (PALATE, REPAST) but the second set including Gridman's I always regarded them as simple fill in the blanks.
ReplyDeleteCV, thanks for your 1204 explanation of the finer distinction between two clues sharing a common surface from one or two clues having missing text indicated by ellipsis in the form of ..., ___ or maybe even *** / *@$#.
ReplyDeletenavneethc 13:17
ReplyDeleteI didn't think 'from whence' was odd.
To answer your question: Yes. And Scott has a whole lot of other literary giants with him in the use of 'from whence'.
Read:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-fro2.htm
Chaturvasi@17:09,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I was utterly unaware of those other instances that Michael sites. And they are all the more surprising because those writers were not going for some poetic/literary effect but were simply using 'wrong' English.
Nevertheless, I still prefer to side with logic. ;-)
*Ugh* Cites. Not "sites".
ReplyDelete