Saturday 18 August 2012

No 10545, Saturday, 18 Aug 12, Gridman

On the train enroute to Calicut for a wedding so no pictures and cartoons today. Stumped by 23D.

ACROSS
1   - Hard taskmaster gets money restricted by a term, perhaps (8) - MARTINET {MAR{TIN}ET*}
5   - Set out to brew tea in property (6) - ESTATE {SET*}{TEA*}
9   - Condition when one does not have much consuming interest (8) - ANOREXIA [E]
10 - Warnings given by a learner taking munitions (6) - ALARMS {A}{L}{ARMS}
12 - Young hooligan strays back close to pristine plot of the first couple (4) - EDEN {E}{DEN<-}
13 - He draws vehicle; also damaged tins (10) - CARTOONIST {CAR}{TOO}{TINS*}
15 - A loose relation? (6) - AUNTIE {A}{UNTIE}
17 - Credit to each mother joining the elite (5) - CREAM {CR}{EA}{M}
20 - French king – good man – to swagger (5) - ROIST {ROI}{ST}
21 - Makes deductions in warm clothing, we are told (6) - INFERS {IN}{FERS}(~furs)
24 - Remove all traces of oil with a better treatment (10) - OBLITERATE {OIL+A+BETTER}*
27 - To boot, a number with starters to some operations (4) - ALSO {A}{L}{S}{O}
29 - Appeal to that man following a Gandhian philosophy (6) - AHIMSA {A}{HIM}{SA}
30 - Back number? (8) - EPIDURAL [E]
31 - Parisian palace vaguely seen – and partially (6) - ELYSEE [T]
32 - Green one, around 50, is upright (8) - VERTICAL {VERT}{1}{CA}{L}
DOWN
1   - Are men deemed to be more miserly? (6) - MEANER*
2   - A revolting person (6) - RIOTER [E]
3   - Article I encountered facing the wrong way (4) - ITEM {I}{TEM<-}
4   - Professor Higgins’s pupil spreads zeal around one (5) - ELIZA {EL{1}ZA*}
6   - Five also involved in a blast (5) - SALVO {V+ALSO}*
7   - Song and poetry in routes up above (8) - AIRLINES {AIR}{LINES}
8   - Yes, a mite produced in problem-free effort (4,4) - EASY TIME*
11 - What history is said to repeat (6) - ITSELF [GK]
14 - Evict from Houston (4) - OUST [T]
16 - The ones who make an attempt to be judges? (6) - TRIERS [DD]
17 - In essence, son left Group of Twenty (4) - CORE sCORE
18 - Claim unjustly that Yorkshire town is without aspiration (8) - ARROGATE hARROGATE
19 - Wrong house, very small, with no opening (8) - VILLAINY {VILLA}I{N}Y Anno not clear (Addendum - {VILLA}{tINY} - See comments)
22 - He takes order to disband circle (6) - CLERIC*
23 - Pretty good ring – old and large (3-3) - ?O?-L?L (Addendum - TOL-LOL {TOL-L}{O}{L} - See comments)
25 - Sample food in one sense (5) - TASTE [DD]
26 - Sun helmet for high-class Orientals (5) - TOPEE {TOP}{EE}
28 - “Prepare copy,” one finally said in French (4) - EDIT {E}{DIT}

LINK TO GRID



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43 comments:

  1. Anonymous18 August 2012 at 08:32

    Real beauts today:

    13a,30a,

    5a reminded me of the time when heroines in Kannada movies used to have fathers with ‘namma estate’, usually a coffee estate in Chikamagalur. Around the same time, heroines in Hindi movies used to have fathers in the ‘import-export business’, usually an euphemism for smuggling.

    4d reminded of a loverly song:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2CnRuk6Nk

    Lots of coal makin' lots of 'eat.
    Warm face, warm 'ands, warm feet,

    Also, :The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous18 August 2012 at 08:33

    19 - Wrong house, very small, with no opening (8) - VILLAINY {VILLA}I{N}Y Anno not clear

    wrong=def
    house=villa
    very small=tiny, without opening=iny

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dr.gayathri Sreekanth18 August 2012 at 08:34

    AHA! TREAT DAY ALL.THANKS MR.CHATURVASI. I AM UNKNOWN,NO MORE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18 August 2012 at 08:39

      Aha, a doctor. Then the back number today must be right up your street

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath18 August 2012 at 09:29

      So we get the treat at the next S&B?

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan18 August 2012 at 09:58

      The unknown now becomes well known!!

      Delete
    4. Richard18 August 2012 at 12:20

      Doc, pls buy a red carpet and get set to host S&B VI.

      By the way, you seem to have many fans already! Congrats.

      Delete
    5. Unknown19 August 2012 at 21:51

      can someone pl explain the connection btw-back number & epidurals?

      Delete
    6. Deepak Gopinath21 August 2012 at 08:11

      An epidural is a local anaesthetic given in the back, so 'Back number'. See EPIDURAL

      Delete
  4. Anonymous18 August 2012 at 08:38

    Did not get 23d

    ReplyDelete
  5. Chaturvasi18 August 2012 at 08:44

    If you are a medical doctor, you join Dr. Pankajam and Dr. Sumitra (who have attended a couple of S&Bs in Chennai). Also Dr Jaggu in Delhi who comments whenever there is a medical term in the grid. We also have a Venkatesh of Delhi who may be a doctor but I don't think he has used the title publicly for me to be sure.

    ***

    In the Comment section on Aug 16th I gave detailed instructions as to how the user name can be changed. I am not a techie but only an interested end-user. I had to grope a little before I provided the demonstration. Because of age and attendant memory lapses, I took some time over it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chaturvasi18 August 2012 at 08:54

    Kishore wrote: "5a reminded me of the time when heroines in Kannada movies used to have fathers with ‘namma estate’..."

    True of Tamil movies too. Remember 'Kathalikka Neramillai'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18 August 2012 at 09:04

      Yes, remade in Hindi as Pyaar kiye jaa, a popular comedy which endures

      Delete
  7. Chaturvasi18 August 2012 at 08:55

    Kishore cited: "Lots of coal makin' lots of 'eat."

    See today's cartoon in the paper.

    UPA is facing the heat.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18 August 2012 at 09:05

      Thanks for referring to the cartoon. I had not seen it, but I found the song topical so I linked it.

      Delete
  8. Bhavan18 August 2012 at 09:01

    23 - Pretty good ring – old and large (3-3) - TOL-LOL

    Ring = Toll
    Old = O
    Large = L

    From Chambers

    tol-lol /tol-lolˈ/ (old slang) (adjective) : Pretty good

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chaturvasi18 August 2012 at 09:13

    The title 'Kathalikka Neramillai' was very intriguing for me in those halcyon days when to be young was very heaven.

    Does it mean that you're so busy that you can't spare time for making love?

    Or, you're so interested in making love and in fact you take part in it so self-indulgingly that you never have had enough of it and always crave for more time.

    Or, for making love the hour is of no consequence - morning, afternoon, evening - any time is fine. "Kaalaiyunm neeye, maalaiyum neeye - pirpagalum neeye..."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous18 August 2012 at 09:30

      Thanks for explaining. Till now, I had only thought of it in the 3rd sense

      Delete
    2. Suresh18 August 2012 at 16:30

      Considering the next part of the song is Kaadalippar yaarum illai, Maybe he really had no time.

      Delete
    3. Suresh18 August 2012 at 17:50

      Or does it mean " Is it not the time for love. But there is nobody to love."

      Delete
  10. VMA Nair18 August 2012 at 09:45

    Very goo.d crossword. Didn't get a few

    ReplyDelete
  11. Richard18 August 2012 at 12:30

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  12. RameshJ18 August 2012 at 12:36

    A tougher one today. Probably the toughest from Gridman that I have come across. Liked most of the clues. Oust was nicely slipped in.

    One quibble about clues like arrogate, that require extensive geographical knowledge. Though to be fair Harrogate is a popular enough place. My view is that this was like cluing 'A town in Gujarat missing no agar for food.'(3) for jam. Easy enough if you have heard the existence of Jamnagar. else you will have to trawl through the list of Gujarat towns.

    Over all I though today's crossword was

    Polished host accepted almond centered preparation.(6)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard18 August 2012 at 12:41

      S(MO)OTH*

      Delete
    2. RameshJ18 August 2012 at 13:52

      Location continuing to be right ( 4-2)

      Delete
    3. D.Srinivasan18 August 2012 at 15:48

      SPOT ON

      Delete
    4. RameshJ18 August 2012 at 16:34

      Discipline in drawing disc or rectangle (6).

      Delete
    5. VMA Nair18 August 2012 at 17:10

      correct

      Delete
    6. VMA Nair18 August 2012 at 17:15

      barbadkatte ,
      why don't you create a 15*15 grid ?:-P

      Delete
    7. RameshJ18 August 2012 at 18:31

      Ajeesh@5:15. Hopefully will get good enough some day to attempt that. Right now I am just cutting my teeth in this art.

      Delete
    8. RameshJ18 August 2012 at 18:58

      Ajeesh@5:10

      Is Romeo displacing Montague from power morally good ? (5)

      Delete
  13. Richard18 August 2012 at 12:58

    22D - Remembered an old one-liner: Married salesmen are successful because they are used to taking orders.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Chaturvasi18 August 2012 at 17:53

    Re barbadkatte@12:36

    I have not been to Harrowgate but I have stayed for a month on a holiday in Jamnagar.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RameshJ18 August 2012 at 18:27

      Chaturvasi@5:53 Exactly my point. While the Jamnagar clue may be ok for an Indian crowd, I would like to see the faces of the London solvers if they find one in their daily. I would cheerfully accept Harrowgate as a part of a clue in a London Newspaper but would quibble when I find one in an Indian newspaper ( or rather in a crossword set by Indians primarily for an Indian audience )

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi18 August 2012 at 20:11

      Let me address the issue here.

      The Hindu Crossword takes the credit for being an original crossword set by Indians. It has been running since 1971.

      It also takes the credit for injecting some Indianness in the English crossword. Often Indian words are in the grid. Clues too may have an Indian appeal.

      However, this cannot be overdone. Take ARROWGATE. If the name of an English town was used for wordplay, it is just that it yielded itself to that wordplay.

      The grid cannot be filled with all Indian words. It is just that word patterns won't allow that. Also, Indian words will have their own letter strings and they may not yield themselves to good wordplay. Say you put in KUMBAKONAM. How would you break it and write a decent clue?

      So in my opinion it can only be an English crossword but one with an Indian touch.

      OTOH, a crossword in Tamil (or any Indian language) will have a Tamil air totally.

      Delete
    3. Shuchi18 August 2012 at 22:00

      Hi CV Sir,

      I think barbadkatte is making a larger point (please correct me if I'm wrong here, barbadkatte) about the audience's familiarity with the knowledge required to solve the crossword. For example abbreviations used in an IT firm's in-house newsletter crossword may be obscure for a crossword like THC - even if these abbreviations are wordplay-friendly, a fair THC setter would try to avoid them.

      About the Indianness or otherwise of clues/grid fills - from a solver's POV, I enjoy Indian references in crosswords, but this by itself is not very important to me. The overall fairness and entertainment value matters.

      PS: Harrowgate is all right by me even in THC, and I'd love to see Jamnagar in a UK crossword :-) I remember coming across Gandhinagar and Gujarat in the Guardian crossword...and being accepted by commenters on 15sqd without complaints.

      Delete
    4. RameshJ18 August 2012 at 22:47

      Yes Shuchi. That was the point I was trying to make.

      From a pure word play point of view, Harrowgate was a very good clue. Just that it did not seem right to expect the average Indian crossword solver to remember its existence.

      Digging further into the Gandhinagar, Gujarat reference I got

      5a. I pull up to grab drink with a native of Gandhinagar, perhaps (8) - Gujarati

      A relatively lower expectation on the requisite level of societal / geographic knowledge of India to solve it.

      Over all I think it is wonderful that The Hindu actually puts out a crossword with an Indian favour ( last few days or so we have had muni, Gita, adharma and ahimsa as part of clues or solutions.

      My apologies to Gridman if I have upset him with my quibble.


      Delete
  15. Chaturvasi18 August 2012 at 20:17

    Or the air of that particular language.

    ReplyDelete

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