Friday 27 July 2012

No.10526, Friday 27 Jul 12, Gridman

Several clues to like here, the repetition of RAP (27,3) and SOUP (2,19) notwithstanding

ACROSS
1 International organisation’s workers to open by turns (7) UNSCREW (UN'S CREW)
5 Fallen dame’s cry of pain in grazing area (6) MEADOW (DAME* + OW)
9 Fit joke follows morose finish (5) EQUIP (QUIP after E)
10 Learn Dean’s out to listen (4,2,3) LEND,AN,EAR (LEARN DEAN)*
11 One who has joined the ranks recently (7) RECRUIT (E)
12 Firm affair (7) CONCERN (DD)
13 He takes with hesitation a south Indian paper (5) ERNIE (ER + NIE)
14 Satisfied a retreating deserter is twisting foot bones (9) METATARSI (MET + A + RAT<- + IS<-)
16 A non-guilty person’s statement (1,5,3) I,NEVER,DID (E)
19 Some drab masters returned to dance (5) SAMBA (T<-)
21 Body not abandoning sacrosanct arrangement (7) CARCASS (SACRoSAnCt)
23 Your anger as artist goes out is more fresh than others (7) YOUNGER (YOUr aNGER)
24 Does she pose as a man’s partner? (5,4) MODEL,WIFE (CD)
25 Inform upon that woman to Left Front (5) SHELF (SHE + L + F)
26 Smooth-talking host follows station master (6) SMARMY (ARMY after SM)
27 Hit the drink in emotional connection (7) RAPPORT (RAP + PORT)

DOWN
1 What one gains without working for it (8,6) UNEARNED,INCOME (CD)
2 A little quantity of broth for prisoner (7) SOUPCON (SOUP + CON)
3 Delight in criticism over Tamils’ leader and rue miserably (7) RAPTURE (RAP + T + RUE*)
4 Opportune, as a comedian’s deliveries should be? (4-5) WELL-TIMED (DD)
5 Fellow in charge is crazed (5) MANIC (MAN + IC)
6 Like cons getting a profit by the way (7) AGAINST (A + GAIN + ST)
7 Individual’s near-thirst for a short term in sentence (3,4) ONE,YEAR (ONE + YEARn)
8 Presumably what one would do when reaping the harvest (5,2,1,6) BRING,IN,A,PROFIT (CD)
15 Muddy, dry debate over stuffed animal (5,4) TEDDY,BEAR (DRY DEBATE)*
17 Deal struck over right mantra for nobleman’s land (7) EARLDOM (DEAL* outside R + OM)
18 I’d left bread line to fetch one who supplies the means (7) ENABLER (BREAd LiNE)*
19 Fruit that is right — in order — to be tossed in broth (7) SOURSOP ({R+SO} inside SOUP)
20 Scholar, good, to gain nothing from a kind of generator (7) MAGNETO (MA + G + NET + O)
22 Hot: One hundred caught by RAW worker (5) SPICY (I C inside SPY)

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41 comments:

  1. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 08:33

    14 Satisfied a retreating deserter is twisting foot bones (9) METATARSI (MET + RAT<- + IS<-)

    small typo in anno, a missing A, MrB

    Loved the hot and spicy clue...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr.gayathri Sreekanth27 July 2012 at 08:49

    tough one. my brain is word soaked.

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  3. Suresh27 July 2012 at 09:45

    Enjoyable crossword

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  4. Padmanabhan27 July 2012 at 09:45

    Nice CW and enjoyed doing it. Most of the anagrams are well concealed (shall I say differently worded?). Bhavan, enjoyed the wording on the T-shirt!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard27 July 2012 at 13:02

      Here's hoping that not many wives would read this. They may get ideas. And their husbands may not be available on line tomorrow...

      Delete
    2. Richard27 July 2012 at 13:08

      In passing, where have all the womenfolk commenting here gone?

      Delete
    3. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 15:51

      Those who open cellars to lock others, sometimes get locked in themselves...

      Delete
  5. RameshJ27 July 2012 at 09:53

    Nice one. Needed the dictionary for both the soup clues. Host=army was another new one for me.

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  6. svemuri27 July 2012 at 10:45

    Completed the the grid in commuting time between Nellore and Gudur.Nice,enjoyable crossword.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chaturvasi27 July 2012 at 10:56

    The first time I came across 'host' in the sense of 'army' was in Milton's Paradise Lost, Book I, which was one of the prescribed books while I was in college.

    It occurs several times in that book alone and in later books.

    The sense 'army' is archaic or obsolete, I think.

    But another sense, 'a great multitude', perhaps survives even today. I will leave it to others to recall where the word 'host' in this sense is famously used.

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  8. Chaturvasi27 July 2012 at 11:21

    Three solvers above have termed this crossword "Nice". I think it takes the biscuit!

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 15:52

      I found it Monaco, ref 22d

      Delete
    2. Suresh27 July 2012 at 16:23

      Getting into holiday mood, Kishore? Thinking of going to the south of France as well.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 19:17

      My last correspondent recommended me to a particular holiday resort with sulphur springs and warmth. I am still looking for it in the atlas. The nearest match to the recommended place I got was a place in Canada called Hull...

      Delete
  9. Chaturvasi27 July 2012 at 11:29

    Wrt the legend on the T-shirt in the pic above...

    To all married men on this forum

    What would you do if your wife locked you up in the cellar?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath27 July 2012 at 12:43

      Drink up all the wine in the cellar!!!

      Delete
    2. Richard27 July 2012 at 13:05

      A related message of mine is posted above @1:02 pm

      Here's hoping that not many wives would read this. They may get ideas. And their husbands may not be available on line tomorrow...

      Delete
  10. Padmanabhan27 July 2012 at 11:32

    One is supposed to age and become 'dear'er !

    ReplyDelete
  11. Arvind Ramaswamy27 July 2012 at 11:52

    What about 13A " south indian paper" = NIE?? How does that make sense? Though i guessed the answer as Ernie using the junction letters and the "he" refering to a male name, i don't get the funda behind nie. Can someone please enlighten?

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    Replies
    1. Suresh27 July 2012 at 11:56

      New Indian Express

      Delete
    2. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 15:53

      G Man doffing his hat at his previous newspaper...

      Delete
    3. Unknown29 July 2012 at 20:25

      The New Indian Express,popularly known as TNIE but here it is taken without t,I feel.

      Delete
  12. Arvind Ramaswamy27 July 2012 at 12:00

    Thank you Suresh :-) one of my "duh" moments i guess :-)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Bhalchandra Pasupathy27 July 2012 at 12:37

    Good one, even the not so common words could be done with a bit of reflection on the smartly constructed clues.

    Re 23A: During my schooldays, 'more fresh' would perhaps never have been acceptable as an equivalent for 'fresher'. Did a bit of googling, opinion seems to be divided. Any comments?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi27 July 2012 at 13:30

      The general rule (from my Wren and Martin days) is that if the adjective is of one syllable, the comparative and superlative forms take -er and -est, respectively.

      However, in some contexts it is possible to say, e.g., "more (adj)" than "(adj)-er". "This fruit is more sour than sweet" - where the speaker means that the quality of sourness is greater than that of sweetness.

      Grammar rules are becoming more liberalised now. Some speakers may use 'more fresh' where 'fresher' may be idiomatic. Listeners may pardon them.

      Delete
    2. VJ27 July 2012 at 18:23

      Well some might even say "more fresher." I kind of like it. It's like a double comparative used for emphasis. Quite the same with even double negatives and superlatives. Grammar should allow for them IMO.

      Delete
  14. Navneeth27 July 2012 at 15:18

    Learnt a few new words. Can almost always expect from the G-man.

    27A - clue and answer reminded me of a particular sequence from 'The Mating Season' (which I'm reading currently) where Bertie, posing as Spink-Bottle, the ostensibly non-drinking newt lover, bonds emotionally with Esmond Haddock (of the Haddock's Headache Hokies fame) over many glasses of port.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Chaturvasi27 July 2012 at 16:16

    Navneeth

    PGW's novel 'The Mating Season' is one that I enjoyed immensely when I was in college.

    One chapter in it I liked soooooooo much that I re-read it before I went to the next chapter! I may have mentioned this here before.

    I used to remember the chapter number but now I can't trust my memory. Do tell me if you find any one chapter particularly more interesting and funny! We may differ, though!

    I don't have the book with me as scores of novels I gave away to my nieces and nephews who are still thankful to me.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Navneeth27 July 2012 at 16:51

      As per your earlier comment, it's chapter 14. I haven't come that far yet, but I'll look forward to it.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 19:20

      The Mating Season is one of the best. It has a typical Pat and Murphy act in it accompanies by "bus." involving whacking the party of the other part with an umbrella, parasol, besom or whatnot.

      Delete
  16. pavalamani pragasam27 July 2012 at 18:03

    A promptly acting smart wife is not likely to get herself locked inside the cellar as Kishore hopes! If wishes were horses......

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 19:23

      I cannot besmirch the fair woman's name who fell for it in one fell swoop...

      Delete
  17. Richard27 July 2012 at 18:04

    That makes horse sense, Kishore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 19:21

      And, Richard, you were the one who wondered where the f.s had migrated to...

      Delete
  18. Ramani27 July 2012 at 18:35

    Navneeth from Yesterday - "Aayarpadi Maligayil" was originally released as an 'album'(cassette). It is not from any movie, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Padmanabhan27 July 2012 at 19:16

    Navneet@ 4.51-

    Thank you for taking us back in time. I observed that

    1. The discussion & comments were far more interestint then
    2. The no. of participants seems to have drastically reduced with many active (at that time) participants not to be found now.

    I somehow seems to have missed reading 'Mating season'. I will make it a point to catch up soon.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Padmanabhan27 July 2012 at 19:17

    Sorry- read it as 'interesting' and not as typed.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Padmanabhan27 July 2012 at 19:25

    An interesting titbit w.r. to the word yesterday- "clerical error". I read in a "What's it?" in today's TOI supplement- "Preist" (a purposeful error)- explanation being, clerical error !

    My question is can this just one word be a clue in a CW and if so would it be classified as quick or cryptic?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Navneeth27 July 2012 at 20:29

      It's certainly cryptic. If it had been a quickie, a straightforward interpretation would lead the solver to believe that the clue as printed was the result of a printer's error rather! And the answer might have been something like THEISTIC PADRE (for a bad example).

      Regarding the number of words in a clue, I remember Kishore mentioning this one many months ago:

      (2,4)

      (That's it.)

      Delete

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