What type of clues can 16 & 17D be classified as?
ACROSS
ACROSS
9 - Lots and lots — most of a world map (6) - OCEANS [CD]
10 - Fearful of a female attack (6) - AFRAID {A}{F}{RAID}
11 - Goes round with black and yellow permits (8) - BYPASSES {B}{Y}{PASSES}
12 - Official to alarm Ned in a way (8) - ALDERMAN*
13 - Most reliable when back home (6) - SANEST {SA<-}{NEST}
14 - The flight ends here (7,8) - AIRPORT TERMINAL [CD]
18 - Rose, we punt merrily (4,2) - WENT UP*
20 - Where one isn't at home (8) - OUTDOORS [CD]
23 - One-piece garment — cape in general (8) - COVERALL {C}{OVERALL}
24 - By word of mouth — call to assemble? (6) - ORALLY {O}{RALLY}
25 - Will leaves it to real follower, perhaps (6) - ESTATE [CD]
26 - Youngster in prison's eateries (8) - CANTEENS {CAN{TEEN}S}
DOWN
1 - Such an amount of luck should get you a lot of gold, perhaps (6) - POTFUL [CD]
2 - Respectful man reportedly on his feet to settle an account
(6,2) - SQUARE UP (~squire?){SQUARE} {UP}
3 - Knowledge of a kind of tooth (6) - WISDOM [DD]
5 - Comrade's puzzle for musician (8) - COMPOSER {COM}{POSER}
6 - This must teach you! (6) - LESSON [CD]
7 - Submarine, literally (8) - UNDERSEA [E]
15 - Cool landmark in Chennai that used to store blocks (8) - ICEHOUSE [GK]
16 - Put back salesman up front (8) - REPLACED {REP}LACED
17 - Set apart Ted at the far end (8) - ISOLATED ISOLA{TED}
19 - It has a long arm, as convicts would know (3,3) - THE LAW [CD]
21 - In one's flesh, these are irritating (6) - THORNS [CD]
15 - Cool landmark in Chennai that used to store blocks (8) - ICEHOUSE [GK]
ReplyDeleteReminded me of the Poo-kaDe and Pai-kaDe on the way to the Icehouse.
3 - Knowledge of a kind of tooth (6) - WISDOM [DD]
As many would have already suspected, I do not have these. None of my WT have erupted and lie horizontally as shown in Deepak's illustration SW corner. Hence, I save on toothpaste and toothbrush wear and tear. My dentist, however, steadfastly refuses to give me a 12.5% discount which I am logically entitled to. Do not expect a 32 teeth smile from me...
Kishore: Can't imagine what we would be getting from you if you had wisdom tooth, for even allegedly without it, we are dazzled.
DeleteIf he had wisdom teeth, Kishore would have had a toothache, if Deepak's image is any indication.
DeleteNo, Suresh. No tootaches. They have been hibernating for over 30 years without causing any problem and I intend to let them lie.... till I lie down finally.
DeleteIf any one threatens me by saying "Teri batteesi utaar doonga", I know I will have the last laugh on him, albeit toothless...
Who among THC panellists are easy setters, who tough and who average?
ReplyDeleteIs it OK to have a mix like this or should TH strive to publish puzzles only of a certain standard?
They rate their sudokus because the supplier supplies the grade; the crossword comes without any herald of the difficulty level.
I like it the way it is. Sometimes easy sometimes tough.
DeleteIt should have a mix
DeleteDid anyone take more than ten minutes for this puz? Deepak, what is the shortest of times for you with a THC?
ReplyDeleteI can't do any puzzle in ten minutes. My two R's along with my cycle make it certain that even for the simplest puzzles take 15 to 20 minutes to go through and fill up.
DeleteThe shortest time for me with a THC was around 10 minutes, but that when I was doing it on paper. While doing it through the blog I am simultaneously looking up the net for illustrations/cartoons plus I have to format the answers so it takes longer, for eg today it took me around 25 minutes from start till I hit the publish button.
DeleteEasy and reasonably good puzzle for a start.
ReplyDeleteHowever, did not like 17D and I would like to distinguish it from the two clues of another setter which we had debated at length. TED is a very common ending to words to be a real indicator. Besides, with some research we may be able to find other words which fit the clue.
Regarding ICEHOUSE, there is a cousin of mine who does not do THC because he felt that it was too "Madras" oriented in its cluing. I tried to explain to him otherwise, though unsuccessfully. This clue would lend weight to that criticism since the term would be unknown to anyone who does not know Chennai.
Suresh,
ReplyDeleteI think 'icehouse' is fairly well known even to outsiders,given its origin to British days and with the recent talk about renaming as "Vivekananda House".
A nice puzzle to start with, may be easy but interesting. I feel the mix of CW in The Hindu is just about right and in a CW the rating is best left to the solvers. Only improvement can be done with the avoidance of typos which has been mentioned in this blog many times over.
I do not agree here. Icehouse is not a Mount Road, or Parry's corner or Egmore to be well known to persons other than those who have an association with Chennai. For instance almost everybody has heard of Connaught Place, Rajpath, India Gate etc. I do not think that Dhaulakuan would be quite so well known.
DeleteI smiled with 32 teeth (not all of them real!) on reading about wisdom (teeth)less man. Yes, no doubt he has enough of it already. More may probably lead to indigestion!
ReplyDeleteNo answers to my query for the classification of 16 & 17D? Has anyone seen these type of clues elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteI too don't recognise it as a known clue-type discussed in manuals. But I think I have come across it even in UK crosswords published in books rather than mainstream newspapers. But I might be wrong.
DeleteThe best that I can come up with is 'partial'.
Word puzzle enthusiasts on this blog, including the redoubtable Kishore, will remember a game where we had to find a word by stringing together parts from clues. Each of these clues will say a particular string is in one word but not in another.
16d is pardonable. But 17d, as Suresh has said, is very weak.
I have not come across this type of clue, but I am not a research student on the subject.
DeleteWhile CV has been kind to the setter with regard to 16D, I personally do not think it is a good way of cluing.
In earlier days we had a name for this on the blog.
This actually took me longer as the electronic version had truncated lots of the clues!
ReplyDeleteNice straightforward crossword (even if I only had a partial view)
Nice reference to the icehouse - my daughter is probably moving back to chennai, so I will hopefully be spending more time there.
Dave
DeleteDo you have this kind of problem only occasionally?
Anitya's clues are usually very short and if we look at the printed version we would see that in order to fill the text box many clues are broken (by a hard return, perhaps) even when they could easily be accommodated in a single line. I am just wondering if this artificial stretching affects display in the electronic version that you're using.
Thanks CV. This is the first time I've had this problem. I think you are probably right and the hard returns are causing the problem. It did add an extra cryptic dimension!
ReplyDeleteIn fact, i resided just besides ICEHOUSE (Dr. Besant Rd.). My Grand Pa came to the house, in 40s. Our family continued to stay till this century. So i was little surprised by the clue.
ReplyDelete