Tuesday 8 January 2013

No.10665, Tuesday 08 Jan 13, Sankalak

Yet another smooth offering from Sankalak

Across
1 Muscle shown in Delaware by Indian paper, an indicator of poor quality (7) DELTOID (DEL + TOI + D)
5 Gradual increase of a cold causing pain, reportedly (7) ACCRUAL (A + C + ~CRUEL)
9 Gimme a new talisman designed for seductiveness (6,9) ANIMAL, MAGNETISM (GIMME A N TALISMAN)*
10 A ditch for fighting fish with a bit of roughness (6) TRENCH (TENCH outside R)
11 Tom’s to pay the bill for a flower (4,4) CAT'S, FOOT (CAT'S + FOOT)
13 Got rid of bugs from old suede somehow (8) DELOUSED (OLD SUEDE)*
15 His business is growing (6) FARMER (CD)
18 Annul a caveat perhaps (6) VACATE (CAVEAT)*
19 Conspired to have strange duel in chill surroundings (8) COLLUDED (DUEL* inside COLD)
22 Such stock is reliable, though depressed by a conservative aware of the latest trends (4-4) BLUE-CHIP (BLUE + C + HIP)
24 Funny posture, with no energy, could be in a state of drunkenness (6) STUPOR (POSTURe)*
27 A very small amount for one going overboard in the Pacific? (1,4,2,3,5) A, DROP, IN, THE, OCEAN (DD)
28 Eccentric chap with an uneven plaything (7) ODDBALL (ODD + BALL)
29 Letters that spell out support for a table (7) TRESTLE (LETTERS)*

Down
1 Roped in for a purpose, head of detail travelled on a rubber boat (7) DRAFTED (D + RAFTED)
2 European river, one covered by rich traditions (5) LOIRE (I inside LORE)
3 Way to buy, deferring payment, a coconut developed with nitrogen (2,7) ON, ACCOUNT (A COCONUT N)*
4 Embankment, beginning to perish, is clammy (4) DAMP (DAM + P)
5 Blanket made in Kabul? (6) AFGHAN (CD)
6 Salad vegetable of which Thea leaves traces, she being upset (5) CRESS (tRaCES She)*
7 Like the police force in dress (9) UNIFORMED (CD)
8 For a miler, it becomes a device to restrict the speed (7) LIMITER (MILER IT)*
12 Busy insect associated with spelling (3) BEE (CD)
14 Given a protective coat, queer lad caught slipping (9) LACQUERED (QUEER LAD C)*
16 What is diamond vis-a-vis carbon? (9) ALLOTROPE (E)
17 Court a wife with spectacles (3) WOO (W + OO)
18 Slight variation in pitch is unfortunately abortive without key note (7) VIBRATO (ABORTIVe)*
20 Academician held by a stupid chap in confinement of old (7) DURANCE (RA inside DUNCE)
21 It can bring traffic to a halt (6) SIGNAL (CD)
23 Film director who put a lid on artist (5) CAPRA (CAP + RA)
25 Simple attempt to cover a fold in the garment (5) PLEAT (T)
26 A short note on honour with appeal (4) CHIT (CH + IT)


23 comments:

  1. 26 A short note on honour with appeal (4) CHIT (CH + IT)

    Reminded me of my first audit in Tamil Nadu, where a register is colloquially called a 'chitta'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chitta is actually a day book in accounts langusge,if I remember right.

      Delete
  2. 5 Blanket /made in Kabul? (6) AFGHAN (CD)
    7 Like the police force /in dress (9) UNIFORMED (CD)

    Both can also be seen as DDs.

    17 Court a wife with spectacles (3) WOO (W + OO)

    Is the wife bespectacled or is the wooer using spectacles to woo her?

    /\OO/\

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And when the courting was happening, did they make a spectacle of themselves?

      Curiously,

      Chaturvasi

      Delete
    2. It all depends on whether one has the specs appeal...

      Delete
  3. (Taking up from yesterday)

    Any published crossword may be sent by email privately to anyone. However, when it is published in the public domain, we may have to think carefully of copyright issues, as Col. Deepak intends to do.

    As a setter I believe the copyright rests principally with the setter. I think I can publish a collection of my crosswords published in the paper but I may be expected to say that the crosswords were published originally in such-and-such paper. That is a courtesy, an acknowledgement.

    Most UK-based blogs publish only the solutions. Yes, I know, some blogs do carry the clue text; concerned commenters often raise this question of copyright but they are ignored. Recently when a blogger posted clues of the crossword in a blog that does not usually carry clue text, most commenters did not welcome it. The paper's crossword is a paid-for service; to publish clue and solutions elsewhere on the same day seems to fly against the cherished practices of the paper.

    If setters/papers don't raise the copyright issues (I am sure TH editors must be aware of blogs that publish clue text with solutions) I think it is because they are tolerant, knowing well that the blog does not make money out of it.

    Also: if Raju sends scanned copies of the printed puzzles to the Col, how would the latter publish them? As an image? Or would he set the crossword and extract/type out clue text? I am not sure if it is worth all that trouble.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If Raju does send scanned copies then I will have no option other than typing out the clues and making an image of the grid

      Delete
  4. FWIW, you can scan the clues out of an image instead of having to type them out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That depends on the quality of the scanned image

      Delete
  5. Smooth one, to day. Good morning all.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Deepak, bogey at 1123.

    ReplyDelete
  7. To Snigdha who tried tos ell bus tickets to us...

    No member on this blog travels by bus. We are all rich people who usually travel by air, often to foreign climes. If, for some reason, we don't get air tickets, we travel by AC first class, often getting the reservation on the tatkal system. We may even travel by road by using posh cars that guzzle petrol by litres. All in all, we always pay through our noses and maybe other orifices. So, Snigdha, if you can contribute meaningfully to the theme of this blog, welcome. Try your sales talk elsewhere. Don't waste your time here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good response CV. This seems to be the new way of spamming.

      Delete
  8. And, Snigdha,

    Now don't try to sell air tickets to us.

    We always print our own tickets.

    ReplyDelete
  9. COL & CV: NOTED your comments. My collections are from a restricted circulated magazine in Nairobi in which each month, a friend of mine, Barry Goode, calling himself BEGGAR, a venerable old man (God bless his soul, I hope he is still alive and compiling) used to create unusual shapes and clues that I used to enjoy solving,These were Festival specials. His wife was also a solver, and unbeknown to him she and I used to exchange lots of notes on various crosswords of London origin. Whilst I had met him a few times, I have had the opportunity of only talking to her many times, but had never seen her. I don't think there will be any copyright issues as that Magazine nay have even folded up. He would of course be honored to have his efforts published as many of our solvers here will have the opportunity of cracking his puzzles. We can possibly give him the credit in our blog, as rightly said by CV. I promise NOT to participate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Credit will definitely be given, both to the magazine where it was published as well as to the setter, if you are confident that there will not be any issues of copyright. However I will not be able to put up unusual shapes in the grid.

      Delete
  10. Excellent run by Sankalak.
    Work is hectic, solving crosswords deferred to later in the day :(

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nice one from Sankalak as usual.

    Had a question regarding the 5a. From my understanding of what Bhala had said about A+ ~cyst = Assist ( Jan 2 , 10660) Wouldn't this one also fall in the same category ? ( Crual is not an English word) or did I misunderstand him ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know what exactly you mean (as I don't recall the earlier conversation) but I will try to answer.

      I see no problem in the clue's anno: A C CRUAL (~cruel)

      Well, if your observation is that the homophone here ('crual') is not a word in its own right, you're correct!

      I generally expect the homophone also to be a proper word and that, I think, is a principle I generally follow in clueing, though I may have broken it once or twice in all of my nearly 800 puzzles.

      However, UK crosswords do have such homophones and so it accrues to Sankalak's credit that he is only following an existing practice - forget personal preferences.

      Delete

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