Wednesday, 13 February 2013

No 10695, Wednesday 13 Feb 13, Gridman

It's Gridman as usual.

ACROSS
1   Primarily supported and moulded the French beachfront buildings (11) SANDCASTLES {S}{AND}{CAST}{LES}
9   Not odd in angry fit to forget a payback (7) REVENGE {Ra{EVEN}GE}
10 Green liquid I befoul by mixing (7) BIOFUEL*
11 A learner has much to dole out (5) ALLOT {A}{L}{LOT}
12 Lot gather slipshod in a slow movement (9) LARGHETTO*
13 British newspaper not initially eager for a country (5) INDIA Anno pending
15 Serenade — daily, I, at 5, get a right one (9) CHARIVARI {CHAR}{I}{V}{A}{R}{1}
18 Doubles teasing me badly (9) GEMINATES*
21 Box a revolutionary by the way? (5) CHEST {CHE}{ST}
22 Like Mr. Hardcastle’s ‘Liberty Hall´ (4,5) FREE HOUSE {FREE} {HOUSE} Connection not clear (Addendum [GK] - See comments)
24 Miraculous cure by ultimate fakir to happen again (5) RECUR {CURE*}{R}
26 Related about Hoe spoiling initial advantage (7) TOEHOLD {TO{EHO*}LD}
27 Indian party briefly goes back to clubhouse before 1 for Italian dumplings (7) GNOCCHI {GNOC<=}{C)(H}{1}
28 Weighing instrument for all seasons despite its name (6,5) SPRING SCALE [CD]

DOWN
1   Stare uncomfortably at monarch bolting stripped (9) STREAKING {STARE*}{KING}

HOW IT'S DONE NOW

2   Ocean-going boy follows collapse of van (5) NAVAL {NAV<=}{AL}
3   Limit hardship faced by prisoner (9) CONSTRAIN {CON}{STRAIN}
4   Chella’s changing wood coating (7) SHELLAC*
5   Left a peninsula for a country in west Africa (7) LIBERIA {L}{IBERIA}
6   Deadly sin that doesn’t require any effort (5) SLOTH [CD]
7   Fit illustration in a piece of luggage (8) SUITCASE {SUIT}{CASE}
8   Have a look around the South as well (4) ALSO {A}{L{S}O}
14 Stifled journalist following a politician into den (8) DAMPENED {D{A}{MP}EN}{ED}
16 Run up debts without interest (9) INCURIOUS {INCUR}{IOUS}
17 Somehow I enter ‘nil' as insert between rows of words (9) INTERLINE*
19 Outburst from revolutionary coming back after botched hunt (7) THUNDER {HUNT*}{DER<=}
20 Good man (English) gets a French weapon (4,3) STEN GUN {ST}{EN G}{UN}
22 Charge around Thailand for big party (4) FETE {FE{T}E}
23 Fictional captain’s boxing blows (5) HOOKS HOOK'S
25 Two companies to get a drink (5) COCOA {CO}{CO}{A}

LINK TO SOLUTION

Posted by at
Labels: ,

33 comments:

  1. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 08:40

    13a: While doing the usual previous-day checking of the crossword, I was myself baffled for several minutes; the wordplay, the thought-process behind the clue, dawned on me only late.

    One thing is sure: I wanted to avoid the revrsal of AID in wordplay.

    Let's see if anyone works out the anno.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13 February 2013 at 08:45

      13 British newspaper not initially eager for a country (5) INDIA Anno pending

      I took it as follows:
      British newspaper=Independent=Indie
      not initially eager = remove e, leading to Indi
      for a= and add a= India
      country =def

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath13 February 2013 at 08:48

      The Independent is nicknamed as 'Indy' and not 'Indie'

      Delete
    3. Anonymous13 February 2013 at 09:06

      Now I am not so sure ;-)

      I am sure CV will reveal all

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 09:07

      My life is an open book where women may read strange matter.

      Delete
    5. veer13 February 2013 at 09:09

      True, but Independent can be independently abbreviated (according to Chambers) or slanged (according to Collins) as INDIE. Gridman probably had this in mind, though in all honesty, when solving I did not consider all the ramifications. Just put it down based on def and crossings and thought about this later.

      Delete
    6. Deepak Gopinath13 February 2013 at 09:12

      The reference here is to 'The Independent' as a British newspaper and not just the word 'Independent'

      Delete
    7. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 09:16

      Well, DG is absolutely right, the British paper may be referred to as 'Indy' rather than Indie.

      However, Indie is also an acceptable spelling and the word, a short form of 'independent', refers to numerous things, including independent press producing small newspapers.

      Naan vizundettaendhaan, aana en meesale mann ottalle...

      Delete
    8. Deepak Gopinath13 February 2013 at 09:18

      Naan vizundaal, en meesale nariya mann ottum...

      Delete
    9. Anonymous13 February 2013 at 09:31

      You guys are muddying the waters with your mustaches !

      Delete
    10. veer13 February 2013 at 09:35

      A related question: Is it ok to have T represent Thailand, without indicating it as a first letter to be picked? I stumbled a bit over this for FE{T}E, believing the wordplay represents "TH" or something else.

      If so, I guess this take on India may not be awful:
      Country music genre: American, not English (5)

      Delete
    11. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 09:41

      You're correct, the abbr for Thailand is TH

      (see http://sustainablesources.com/resources/country-abbreviations/)

      However, the IVR code for Thailand is T.

      Delete
    12. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 09:45

      Veer's clue for INDIA is perfect.

      Anyone who is confident of setting standard 15x15 cryptic crosswords and can supply one puzzle a month on a regular basis (for possible publication) may send a sample puzzle to

      chaturvasi{at}yahoo{dot}com

      Delete
  2. maradnusro13 February 2013 at 08:41

    Thank you Gridman. I solved by 8.40 AM. To me it is an achievement.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 08:44

    Re the cartoon for 1d.

    The way sponsors, co-sponsors, associates, partners, etc, proliferate in the conduct of any event, including Carnatic music concert or literary festival, the chances of what is depicted in the cartoon happening are quite high.

    I am just wondering ad for what product can go where on the running body!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13 February 2013 at 08:49

      I wonder what ads ole Russi Karanjia would have got for Protima Bedi on her famous run

      Delete
    2. Anonymous13 February 2013 at 09:04

      Also, I am not sure if the spelling of Adidas is intentionally wrong in the cartoon, and if so, whether the sticker should have been on some other part of the body

      Delete
    3. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 09:06

      I think the mis-spelling is deliberate.

      The cartoonist would not have wanted to give any publicity to the company but at the same time would have wanted viewers to get the idea that they are biils for commercial products.

      Delete
  4. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 08:51

    If advertisers take space for knee-cap, cheddi, cap, backpack, gloves, socks, leggings (the most popular wear among women of all ages and classes in Chennai today), etc, etc, - all at appropriate parts of the body - the runner will be fully covered!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13 February 2013 at 09:02

      The runner, of course, would be wearing shoes for some soul purposes

      Delete
  5. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 09:01

    22 may be a little obscure.

    In Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer the main character is Mr Hardcastle.

    He always welcomes visitors to his home.

    There's a famous line "This is Liberty Hall, gentlemen" in it.

    That short, joyous, celebratory line is stuck forever in my mind from my college days and I used it here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. veer13 February 2013 at 09:14

      I remember reading She Stoops to Conquer sometime in 10th std as part of the ICSE syllabus I think. I don't know if the guy being wooed by the daughter ever paid for staying there..since it all ended well..hence, I filled in Free House.

      Delete
    2. Bhalchandra Pasupathy13 February 2013 at 10:24

      I think the visitor was directed to the place and informed it was a pub, hence the 'Free House' perhaps?

      Delete
    3. Bhalchandra Pasupathy13 February 2013 at 10:25

      That was my take, but I gather that it was intended as a pun from the name

      Delete
  6. D.Srinivasan13 February 2013 at 09:23

    "It's" appearing on Col's blueline today. Any further discussion on it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous13 February 2013 at 09:32

      Refer my 849. I am sure you will fit it ;-)

      Delete
    2. Richard13 February 2013 at 10:50

      I think the intro makes no mistake. No discussions, obviously.

      Delete
  7. Bhavan13 February 2013 at 09:43

    Some excellent clues here. Particularly the surfaces in STREAKING, CONSTRAIN and INCURIOUS were seamless and a pleasure to solve.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard13 February 2013 at 10:53

      In the place of INCURIOUS, I first thought of PENURIOUS, although the definition did not fit, because of reversal RUN-up and wondered where PE came from. Suddenly INCUR+IOUS dawned on me. Fully agree with Bhavan about STREAKING and CONSTRAIN.

      Delete
  8. PKPSwami13 February 2013 at 10:30

    Nice CW. 1ac;7d nice building blocks

    ReplyDelete
  9. gxdxr13 February 2013 at 12:15

    Hi, this is unrelated to today's crossword, but I was wondering if you've seen this awesome NYT crossie from the day of the 1996 US Presidential Election. http://i.imgur.com/Atd5Dry.gif

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi13 February 2013 at 15:14

      Actually that NYT feature was the debut puzzle for the setter Jeremiah Farrell.

      Delete
  10. Padmanabhan13 February 2013 at 12:21

    Loggging in very late. Had immense pleasure in completing the grid though I could not get the anno for a few. Wherever it was difficult, the clue (if read carefully) provvided all the help needed to crack it. Thank you Gridman for an enjoyable start for the day.

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)