ACROSS
9 - Agent to run old copy (5) - REPRO {REP{R}{O}
10 - They unwind a show of events (9) - NEWSREELS [CD]
11 - Hazy relative takes a road (7) - UNCLEAR {UNCLE}{A}{R}
12 - The sort of activity that is usually earth-shaking (7) - SEISMIC [E]
13 - Kind of pop to relax with at end of day (5) - LOLLY {LOLL}{Y}
14 - The German band to perform brave deed (7-2) - DERRING-DO {DER}{RING}-{DO}
16 - Gypsy throws hat! Top-class! The sort of attitude in India for ‘anything goes!' (6,3) - CHALTA HAI {CHAL}{TA H*}{AI}
19 - Plant Leblanc's burglar? (5) - LUPIN [DD]
21 - Tom, back, reportedly chooses elements of a strategy (7) - TACTICS {TAC<-}{TICS}(~ticks)
23 - Songbird - what a dog may do to show affection (7) - WAGTAIL {WAG}{TAIL}
24 - Engineer wordless about one bouncing back (9) - RESILIENT {RE}{SIL{I}ENT}
25 - Catch ambassador behind small, small game (5) - CHESS {C}{HE}{S}{S}
26 - Short ovation over Times' application (6) - PRAXIS {PRA{X}ISe} 'X' as multiplication symbol, like A times B?
27 - Each of these is on a ball to remove BO (4-3) - ROLL-ONS [CD]
DOWN
1 - Such an expression is not direct (14) - CIRCUMLOCUTORY [CD] A 14 letter word as a CD, not fair in my opinion.
2 - Newsworthy circle becomes an unknown quantity - that is characteristic (7) - TYPICAL T(-o+y)YPICAL
3 - Man welcoming approval with hesitation for breeding ground (7) - ROOKERY {RO{OK}{ER}Y}
4 - This year is centenary (9) - HUNDREDTH [E]
5 - Kills swallows (5) - DOWNS [DD]
6 - Wren's co-author gets one drink (7) - MARTINI {MARTIN}{I}
7 - Worker right to stick around with drinking vessel (4,3) - BEER MUG {BEE}{R} {MUG<-}
8 - Say spy Nicholas is grilled in crazy examination (14) - PSYCHOANALYSIS*
15 - Varuna's precipitation? (9) - RAINWATER [GK]
17 - He points a finger at cold borne by one who operates a cooling machine (7) - ACCUSER {AC}{C}{USER}
18 - X X X - a residential building (7) - TRIPLEX TRIPLE X
19 - Record - one about a learner - is based on reason (7) - LOGICAL {LOG}{I}{C}{A}{L}
20 - One may be taken in by taking this medicine (7) - PLACEBO [CD]
22 - In seconds Pallavan leader gets engineering data (5) - SPECS {S{P}ECS}
I hadn't heard of triplex before - but guess if you can have a duplex, why not a triplex.
ReplyDeleteAnd embarrassing confession time - I must have never seen Derring Do written down, and have somehow got through 50 years thinking it was daring do! Thank you G!
@kishore (from yesterday)
ReplyDeleteMilady Godiva is definitely getting about (she must be getting goose bumps by now - the English climate not conducive to nudity)
We non-native speakers of English rarely get any chance of hearing many, many words that you, dear Dave, may be dropping in conversation at home (I'll leave the bedroom part of it out), in the office or at the pub. For us, they are all in the books.
ReplyDeleteThe other day there was PECCAVI in a UK crossword. This I met first in mid-Sixties in Webster's play, 'The Duchess of Malfi' (if I rememebr right). (There is an interesting anecdote for this word, but I will leave it to Kishore or SR/Venkatesh.)
(off-topic)
ReplyDeleteFollowing INFER in a UK crossword there has been an elaborate discussion elsewhere over the need to keep the distinction in meaning between 'imply' and 'infer'. It seems that people use these two words as if there is no difference and even the dictionaries have recognised the usage. For me, they are not the same.
We are not alone in thinking so.
One caretman wrote:
"I, too, distinguish the two and wish they could maintain their distinct meaning. I am reminded of an old Nero Wolfe mystery novel which opens with Nero Wolfe, a word lover, tearing pages out of a new dictionary he had just purchased and feeding them into a fire. When a visitor asks him why he is doing that, he replies, “Do you use ‘infer’ and ‘imply’ interchangeably?” His new dictionary countenanced outrages such as that and he was purging it of its offending pages."
He then followed it up with:
"And since I had to figure out what the novel was, it was Gambit, published in 1962. The scene is introduced thus:
Mr. Wolfe is in the middle of a fit. It’s complicated. There’s a fireplace in the front room, but it’s never lit because he hates open fires. He says they stultify mental processes. But it’s lit now because he’s using it. He’s seated in front of it, on a chair too small for him, tearing sheets out of a book and burning them. The book is the new edition, the third edition, of Webster’s New International Dictionary, Unabridged, published by the G. & C. Merriam Company of Springfield, Massachusetts. He considers it subversive because it threatens the integrity of the English language. In the past week he has given me a thousand examples of its crimes. He says it is a deliberate attempt to murder the — I beg your pardon. I describe the situation at length because he told me to bring you in there, and it will be bad."
My most embarrassing mix up with using a word I hadn't seen written down was when we were planning our marriage. I was asking the vicar if we could decorate the covered gateway into the churchyard with flower garlands, and referred to it as the "lynch gate" rather than "lych gate". My usage could have put a whole new meaning on the ceremony.
ReplyDeleteAll clues gettable but I miss some good wordplay, charades and the like!
ReplyDeleteDD, what hang ups ! ;-)
ReplyDeleteDD, She should relocate to India. The climate here is more conducive.
ReplyDelete26 - Short ovation over Times' application (6) - PRAXIS
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of Praxy Fernandes, an IAS officer, who became Finance Secy, GOI, and who used to write articles in ET (?). He had also written a book 'The Tigers of Mysore' on Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali. I had met his around 1978 and was impressed by his demeanor.
On Googling his name, I found this article by our friend, which mentions PF:
http://www.daijiworld.com/chan/achievers_view.asp?a_id=10
Hence, I am sure RL knows more about this gentleman.
Kishore 17:19
ReplyDeleteThe 1926-born Praxy Joachim Fernandes has had a brilliant academic career - BA Hons I Class, Ist in the Bombay University, Ellis Prize for English, Lord Minto Scholarship for History and Sir Curzon Wadia Gold Medal). He joined the first batch of IAS after Independence and served for 30 years, holding eminent positions as political adviser, International Commission for Vietnam, chief secretary, Goa, Home ministry, Karnataka, DG Bureau of Public Enterprises, and finance secretary, government of India. After serving for six years in the United Nations, he settled in Bangalore.
He continued to be a consultant to World Bank, ILO and UNCTAD, and was UNIDO's principal adviser to African Industrial Development. He has written several books. The name of the book you mentioned is Storm over Seringapatam, authored by him. He died in January, 2001, if my memory serves me right.
I may add that his daughter Louise is married to Salman Khursheed. The junior Fernandes, Ashok, runs FOTOFLASH in Bangalore, Mangalore etc.
Thanks, RL. I knew you would have more gen.
ReplyDeleteI was ref to this book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=0BEcAAAAIAAJ&source=gbs_book_similarbooks
Hey, RL. I remember now. He also used to write 'middles' for Deccan Herald.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kishore 18:05.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected, partly, that is. The book mentioned by you is apparently a different book written by him. Ignorant me, I had never heard about it. The most-referred-to book with PJF's name is the 'Storm'.
And 19:07, yes, I missed mentioning his 'middle' contributions.
RL, even-stevens. Ignorant me too: I had not heard of the other, older book ;-) One lives and learns.
ReplyDeleteBTW, getting back to one of older interests: Today is 11/10/11
Msg from Raju
ReplyDeleteDD-- Strange that you had not come across Derring Do written down? DiDn't you? I Dare Do say!! Wasn't there also a fire asrm by the name Derringer? CV?
Today Gridman became a man after my heart. Very 2down of him. I enjoyed cracking 8down He took liberties in 2 down Indian style with 16
across. Are there any solvers beyond the borders of India, who may not have been top get this? I mean non-Indians and not NRIs. If so, is he fair to them? I do hope that this CHALTA HAI, will also find its way into the OED, like so many other Indian words. May Gridman's tribe increase.
Kishore: How come you doidn't notice the CHAI in CHALTA HAI? All papers HALT without the ubiquitous chai?