ACROSS
8 - Non-stop, a client travels in this Turkish city (14) - CONSTANTINOPLE* Reminds me of what we used to ask in school 'Constantinople is a very big word if you can't spell it you are the biggest fool in the world?'
10 - Sign to pause at midday is the same for the military man (8) - COMMANDO {COMMA}{N}{DO} Comma is sign? (See comments)
11 - Short mixed drink (8) - COCKTAIL [E]
13 - You now left the fence closed (6) - UNOPEN {U}{NOw}{PEN}
14 - Gives in to the youth leaders holding one elder without hesitation (6) - YIELDS {Y}{I}{ELDer}{S} 'S' from?
16 - Goes off with the least fashionable shirt in front (6) - STEALS {STEAL*}{S}
19 - A bluish mineral (6) - GALENA [E] The color is actually lead grey and silvery
26 - Essential swimming wear (7,7) - BATHING COSTUME [E] Is it really essential?
1 - Unfriendliness of a character — an army icon (8) - ACRIMONY* Where's the AInd?
2 - Found the main character within a short distance (4) - INCH [T]
3 - Some best ratable levels (6) - STRATA [T]
4 - King uncle somehow covers the crack at the base of this part of the fist (7) - KNUCKLE {K}{NUC{K}LE*}
5 - French queen will love you in an effort to get off the horse (8) - DISMOUNT DISM{O}{U}NT Anno pending
6 - An African otter-like mammal (10) - POTAMOGALE [E]
7 - I ignore the claim of the director general to make the final promise (6) - PLEDGE {PLEa}{DG}{E}
12 - Diatomaceous earth (10) - KIESELGUHR [E]
15 - No longer carrying current trade within this particular time limit (8) - DEADLINE {DEAD}{LINE}
17 - Contraband carrier (8) - SMUGGLER [E]
20 - Exercises prescribed by Ayurveda (6) - ASANAS [E]
22 - Note the British tax rate (6) - RECESS {RE}{CESS} Rate?
25 - An Asian river between China and Russia (4) - AMUR [E]
10 - Sign to pause at midday is the same for the military man (8) - COMMANDO {COMMA}{N}{DO} Comma is sign?
ReplyDeleteComma is sign to pause.
Loved the 20 D pics :)
ReplyDelete8A reminded of the Bosphorous and PGW's ref to dump aunts in the same. Gives one ideas, doesn't it?
ReplyDelete12d reminded of the time I tried to make NG, not NJ, with not much success. Stirred, not shaken.
14 - Gives in to the youth leaders holding one elder without hesitation (6) - YIELDS {Y}{I}{ELDer}{S} 'S' from?
ReplyDeleteProbably since 'youth leader'is a Y , 'youth leaders' is to be interpreted as Ys =YS
Hence, Y(1 ELD(-er))S
26A Clearly NJ has not heard of skinny dipping :p
ReplyDelete22D One more quibble with a terrible clue: A tax and a cess are not the same thing. They're used interchangeably in some places but basically a tax is compulsory payment without any element of quid pro quo whereas a cess tends to have an element of quid pro quo. Don't know if other CWs make the same error.
What is the point in having words like POTAMOGALE and KIESELGUHR clued as CDs? For that matter wouldn't it be wise to not even put such words into the grid?
ReplyDeleteAt least Kieselguhr, I think, we have come across in our high school chemistry, but you are right, Bhavan, obscure places, flora and fauna are jarring to the say the least.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the quid pro quo in cess Alok?
ReplyDeleteToday we have an education cess, a special higher education cess, a mining cess etc. Their nature is nothing different from a tax.
Deepak. the S in 14A is perhaps from 'youth leaders' being converted to Ys.
NJ with her recent penchant for obscure E clues (for which I have zero tolerence) is becoming unbearable.
ReplyDeleteWill someone find her a job so that she stops setting crosswords full-time.
+1 to Suresh's 0935. I think she opts regularly for obscure Es so that we can't find faults in the clue!
ReplyDeleteCess=tax should be okay in crosswords, I thought...
Yes, the obscure "easy" clues are extremely annoying.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I put in recess but don't know how this equates to rate.
Not a happy bunny today
I definitely need an idiots guide to indian mammals.
ReplyDeleteI just saw what I could only describe as a thin tailed otter run across my lawn, only to be told not to be silly - "that was no otter, that was a mongoose"
A guessing game - How do you think NJ comes up with those obscure words she puts in the grid (with the "Easy" clues). Let me go first - she opens the dictionary at some random page and uses the first random word that matches the number of letters she is looking for.
ReplyDeleteDD, as against otters which are usually semi-aquatic, my French gooses are arboreal. I think you may recall Kipling's Rikki Tikki Tavi where a mongoose of that name battles Nag, a naja naja.
ReplyDeleteV1025, results show that it is probably worse. Dict. or atlas or net. Locate unheard of word of required length. Fill in grid. Fill in easy words to plug the grid. Write hilarious/ridiculous/chose-your-adjective words.
ReplyDeleteIt was definitely a Kipling-esque moment. I can't believe I hadn't actually seen a mongoose before ( as a child I thought they were birds, so not the best start)
ReplyDeleteAm hoping it will do the needful and track down a rather large snake I saw earlier in the week.
Lots of ANTI_NITA Jhagda today. Someone has even said: Ja ja Jaggi, Ghar Ja. At least to that extent, her crosswords are entertaining to read about the Jagged nerves she creates.
ReplyDeleteHere's a clue:
A missing lady from the slums of Delhi u replace for the beginning of anything.
Ah yes, DG: Forgot totally-- being a busy NJ week. Your sister, Nimmi called us up early last week. Thanks for putting us in touch with her. She recalled, with a lot of nostalgia, as to how you both used to fight for the crossword page to solve the daily shots. She chatted for a long time with Sapna and they both have agreed to meet up soon. You are great in creating a network of HC family members.Keep it up. How come you are so laconic to her voluble nature? We enjoyed it. Same genes, different means , eh?
ReplyDeleteRaju,
ReplyDeleteI am glad you enjoyed my sisters company.
Regarding the fights, I solved the problem by getting up early and polishing off the CW using a pencil then rubbing off my answers and grinning like a Cheshire cat when she came downstairs to get the paper.
My wife too has the same crib about my nature as she is more voluble than my sister. My answer to that is 'God has provided a quota of words per family per day, so if one person uses up the whole quota there is nothing left for the other' :-)
RU 1207: ;-)
ReplyDeleteDelhiwalas use Jhuggi, as you have rightly noted, as compared to JhopaDpaTTis of the Mumbaites.
Instead of getting slammed for slumming, I would like to say:
Diminutive of Forsythe P Jones' nickname, say, sets some The Hindu crossies (5)
DG:
ReplyDeleteA small correction: may be you thought , she called ON us- no; She called US up or rang up on the ubiquitous boon to modernity called the cell phone.
So cunning of you . I dare not use a pencil and erase on a crossword. In fact, the Sunday times of India comes with a double whammy and I take a xerox copy ( in Kenyan lingo Photocopy)and solve each separately. I believe in virgin lands not to be ravaged .
So your sister did put up with hand-me-downs from you?
I am with your wife and sister. I believe in a yakkity yak non-stop. I also don't believe in the saying against it that -Silence is golden .
Raju,
ReplyDeleteMy mistake, I should have said 'enjoyed talking to my sister'
Correct. Though called blue lead, galena is not bluish!
ReplyDeleteSince there will be no paper on the 2nd, I have a surprise lined up for that day
ReplyDelete26A - Essential swimming wear (7,7) - BATHING COSTUME [E] Is it really essential?
ReplyDeleteTongue-in-cheek. :)
Maybe a 'bare' necessity?
All mocking apart, I view NJ's hard-to-answer Es as an opportunity to learn something new. (Lots of real-estate available inside my noggin!) And I think that she often refers to something in Africa (languages, and today an animal)... maybe it hints that she has an interest in the continent; just maybe.
ReplyDeleteKishore@10:17,
I think we studied 'Rikki Tikki Tavi' in school, but I can hardly recall the story. I'm going to google it now.
No comments on 'Constantinople is a very big word if you can't spell it you are the biggest fool in the world' ?
ReplyDeleteColonel@2200,
ReplyDeleteYes, it struck me as odd, because you had the question mark within the quote (or was it intentional?), and I could neither make head nor tail of it. But while reading all the comments, I forgot about it. Please do enlighten us.
Navneeth,
ReplyDeleteThe question mark was a mistake.
The answer is 'it' ;-)
One of my friends made a webapp for solving hindu crossword. It also has a collaboration facility.
ReplyDeletehttp://onlinecrossie.appspot.com/
Hope you'd find it useful.
Admins, could you please have this in your next post if you like the app.
WRT my above comment, turns out it works only with Chrome. Yet to be tested on Firefox and IE.
ReplyDeletecan any one tell me the answer of "Constantinople is a very big word if you can't spell it you are the biggest fool in the world?"
ReplyDelete