Saturday, 5 January 2013

No 10663, Saturday 05 Jan 13, Sankalak

Sankalak never fails to amaze me with his clues.

ACROSS
1   Agile BARC stumped by such an equation (9) ALGEBRAIC*
5   One’s girl is a problem (5) ISSUE {1'S}{SUE}
8   Superficial application lacking resistance would disappear (6) VANISH VArNISH
9   Fashionable female, maimed, is angered (8) INFLAMED {IN}{F}{LAMED}
11 A European among the wiser boys (4) SERB [T]
12 Precious hard stuff which arrivals strengthen (10) BIRTHSTONE {BIRTHS}{TONE}
14 Ring back about one flower (5) LILAC {L{1}LAC<=}
15 Group of stars in British system originally — they manage finances (7) BURSARS {B{URSA}R}{S}
16 A contestant but a big loser (4-3) ALSO-RAN [CD]
17 Give up building toy with a touch of tiredness (3,2) LET GO {LE{T} GO}
19 The base for a possible stalemate? (10) CHESSBOARD [CD]
20 Designer girl gets gold (4) DIOR {DI}{OR}
22 Depraved urban mush trashed right away (8) SUBHUMAN {UrBAN+MUSH}*
23 Alga prevalent widely from India to Malagasy (6) DIATOM [T]
24 Father crosses track for wood nymph (5) DRYAD {D{RY}AD}
25 Totally occupied with points, earned money (9) ENGROSSED {E}{N}{GROSSED}

 DOWN
1   Counsel Davies to improve (6) ADVISE*
2   Peacekeeper’s body, as a rule, keeps a German guard and English physician (7,8) GENERAL ASSEMBLY {GENERAL {A}{SS}{E}{MB}LY}
3   Smash the sculpture! (4) BUST [DD]
4   Police force finds rascal, bounty doubtful (12) CONSTABULARY*
5   Give an example of the Italian polish hiding a hint of temerity (10) ILLUSTRATE {IL}{LUSTR{A}{T}E}
6   Milton’s work against some sons translated (6,9) SAMSON AGONISTES*
7   Amend lessons with no finish inside (7) ENDLESS [T]
10 Gloomy record — working very much behind time (12)  DISCONSOLATE {DISC}{ON}{SO LATE}
13 Radical, healthy diagnostic tool (10)  ULTRASOUND {ULTRA}{SOUND}
16 A conservative, caught, exploited and charged (7) ACCUSED {A}{C}{C}{USED}
18 Well-known to be shielding Rontgen, got falsely implicated (6) FRAMED {F{R}AMED}
21 Swimming pool provides a cover over nothing! (4) LIDO {LID}{O}

LINK TO SOLUTION GRID

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16 comments:

  1. Deepak Gopinath5 January 2013 at 08:47

    Anyone interested in submitting CW's for the Sunday specials please send them to me at my email ID shown in the Contact details page (link at the top of this page)

    ReplyDelete
  2. maradnusro5 January 2013 at 09:24

    Thank you Sankalak. It was a wonderful experience. I solved the puzzle before 9 AM. I seem to find that I am best aligned with the "amazing" clues of Sankalak . . I shall be thankful if Col and Bhavan could please let me know if there is any theory about the setter-solver affinity. May be we went to the same colleges.

    ReplyDelete
  3. dr.r.pankajam5 January 2013 at 09:30

    I admire his simplicity and clarity of thought and so anybody who has/who wish to have those qualities enjoy his clues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VMA Nair5 January 2013 at 09:32

      +1

      Delete
    2. D.Srinivasan5 January 2013 at 09:36

      +2
      "Simply superb" can now be rephrased "simply Sankalak"

      Delete
    3. Unknown5 January 2013 at 10:43

      +3!

      Delete
    4. Padmanabhan5 January 2013 at 10:43

      +3.

      Sankalak has a silken touch- smooth, easy in a way but absorbing probing in another sense,making it special. I used to wonder how some people guess the setter from the clues. But it looks like I may not have a problem in spotting Sankalak's clues.

      Delete
    5. Krishnan5 January 2013 at 11:01

      +4.

      Delete
    6. VP5 January 2013 at 11:40

      Plus "n" :)
      Satisfaction guaranteed with Sankalak's puzzles

      Delete
    7. Richard5 January 2013 at 18:27

      + 'u' (unlimited)

      Delete
  4. Bhalchandra Pasupathy5 January 2013 at 09:53

    Sankalak for long has been a setter whose puzzles I enjoy. Used to be too easy earlier, but finding a change now.

    Am a bit surprised with the grid though (also yesterday), has instances of 3 consecutive unches, which is generally not done

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dr.gayathri Sreekanth5 January 2013 at 10:14

      +1

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath5 January 2013 at 10:21

      Surprising that you have noticed it only now. Sankalak & Gridman have their standard set of 6 grids

      Delete
    3. Bhalchandra Pasupathy5 January 2013 at 10:30

      True I may not have noticed earlier, but then I was not so much into the technicalities. The surprise for me is that such a grid is being used. It was Gridman who alerted me to the fact that a standard grid should always have every alternate letter checked. Found an article on this in Shuchi's blog as well (including some comments about another setter in this regard)

      Delete
  5. Sumitra5 January 2013 at 15:04

    Thank you, Sankalak, again. Each and every puzzle is pure perfection, an absolute pleasure.
    Obviously, the setter solver affinity is widespread!

    ReplyDelete
  6. krishnavemana5 January 2013 at 15:43

    Great. I am so happy I found Sankalak fantastic blog

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com

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