Tuesday, 19 February 2013

No.10700, Tuesday 19 Feb 13, Neyartha

The usual bag of good tricks from Neyartha in this measured puzzle.

ACROSS
1 Fair in the outskirts of the old city has a degree of warmth (11) TEMPERATURE (TEMPERATE outside UR)
9 Visual with current temperature at the wrong place (7) OPTICAL (I + T + PLACE)* E for O in anagram fodder? TOPICAL with T moving ahead  See comments below
10 Significance of the pause in recital (6) WEIGHT (~WAIT)
11 Son’s serious about tempo (5) SPEED (S + DEEP<=)
12 Rang for engineer Ken to turn Dell around (7) KNELLED (KEN* + DELL<=)
15 Smart Nigerian leader usurps power to supply rations (4) NOSH (POSH with N for P)
16 Opera breaks brewer’s bow (3,7) WEB, BROWSER (BREWERS BOW)*
18 Interpretation of a disregard to the star spangled banner? (2-8) UN-AMERICAN (CD)
20 The windsail is worthless to the auditor (4) VANE (~VAIN)
23 The German’s back with a video of the bureaucratic procedure (3,4) RED, TAPE (DER<= + TAPE)

24 Call for ceasefire includes constraint (5) FORCE (T)
26 Size of coil model replaced by Bond’s boss (6) VOLUME (VOLUTE with M for T)
27 Expert studies can help one learn about rabbits initially (7) SCHOLAR (Acrostic)
28 Eternal divide bridged in an evening development (5-6) NEVER-ENDING (REND inside EVENING*)

DOWN
2 Revolutionary poem about South Carolina University gets old Portuguese money (6) ESCUDO (ODE<= outside S C U)
3 Remove the charm (4) PULL (DD)
4 Rainbow got at sea in a dinghy (6,4) ROWING, BOAT (RAINBOW GOT)*
5 Large number seen in note left on cooked tortellini (8) TRILLION (TORteLLINI)*
6 Fixes a shoe as the northbound man stumbles around (7) REHEELS (HE<= inside REELS) Probably there was no need to reverse HE?
7 Unanimity shown when Rio expelled the disguised connoisseurs (9) CONSENSUS (CONNoiSSEUrS)*
8 Worry and anguish after the princess abdicates (6) STRESS (diSTRESS)
13 Dome’s area put at the bottom by man in Michigan (10) HEMISPHERE (SPHERE after HE + MI)
14 Preserve to suspend boring (6-3) FREEZE-DRY (FREEZE + DRY)
17 Baby conceived outside the womb? (4-4) TEST-TUBE (CD) Does test-tube by itself convey baby?
19 Impressive for a Spanish honour to get respect outside (7) AWESOME (ES + OM inside AWE)
21 Ignore trademark military manoeuvre without really thinking (6) AIRILY (mILItARY)*
22 Heavily knitted woollen blanket for the countryman (6) AFGHAN (DD)
25 Soiled letters from a house detective (4) USED (T)


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54 comments:

  1. Anonymous19 February 2013 at 08:32

    9 Visual with current temperature at the wrong place (7) OPTICAL (I + T + PLACE)* E for O in anagram fodder?

    current=TOPICAL
    Temperature=t in wrong place
    (-T)OP(+T)ICAL

    ReplyDelete
  2. Deepak Gopinath19 February 2013 at 08:33

    My take on 9A - (-T)OP(+T)ICAL

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bhavan19 February 2013 at 08:37

    Thanks, should have known Neyartha doesn't make mistakes like I thought.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Richard19 February 2013 at 08:53

    17D Baby conceived outside the womb? (4-4) TEST-TUBE (CD) Does test-tube by itself convey baby?

    Since there is a hyphen there, it conveys the adjective sense. Nevertheless, 'the kind of baby' would have sounded more convincing, leading to a straight giveaway, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous19 February 2013 at 08:58

      A test-tube baby that is a giveaway ? Why did the parent have it in the first place ?

      Delete
    2. Richard19 February 2013 at 09:11

      A typical sample of Kishu's all-pervading sense of humour! Nothing can escape...

      Delete
  5. Anonymous19 February 2013 at 09:03

    Loved the red tape, Bhavan !

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 09:13

    Please see the latest post at Crossword Unclued (link to it is at sidebar on the left).

    I think THC setters have used NAIR for Keralite. SEN for Bengalis. They are all right, aren't they?

    Any suggestions for other readily recognisable names from the same or other sections of Indian society? (Each of them should be of 4 letters OR LESS.)

    PLEASE AVOID OFFENSIVE TERMS.

    Only acceptable, real names expected.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath19 February 2013 at 09:19

      GILL from Punjab
      BHAT from Gujarat
      IYER from Tamilnadu
      KAUL from J&K
      KHAN
      JAIN

      I'm sure there must be many more

      Delete
    2. Kishore19 February 2013 at 09:38

      The Gujarati Bhatt would be a teetotaller with two Ts and not one. The Bhats from other states, including Karnataka are satisfied with a single tea. The Kashmiri one, however, prefers the spelling BUTT, as in the case of a rifle butt.

      Delete
    3. Richard19 February 2013 at 09:41

      I have heard my Maharashtrian friends use the term GHAT for themselves. A national English magazine had, more than a decade ago, run a feature on Maharashtrian Bollywood heroines. It screamed, 'Gorgeous Ghatans'. (Ghatan is the feminine form.) Most prominent among them were Madhuri Dixit, Sonali Bendre and Urmila Matondkar. A large number of them were left out since they were BONGS (Bengalis). Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty and a few others also were excepted since they are Mangaloreans.

      Can a Bangalorean be called a BANG? :-)

      Alas, we have all these categories aplenty, with a very few Indians left...

      Delete
    4. Deepak Gopinath19 February 2013 at 09:43

      There are ifs and buts over what I have just said, but but me no buts. :-)

      Delete
    5. Kishore19 February 2013 at 10:27

      GOEL,
      SOZ,
      BRAR,this must be exciting
      NAIK,
      PAI,
      VIJ

      Delete
    6. Richard19 February 2013 at 10:33

      RANA, KAUR, OJHA, VIRK and many more.

      It should be easy to add Asan also.

      Delete
    7. Kishore19 February 2013 at 10:58

      Kaur would probably not qualify as it is not really a surname. But Virk reminded of Komilla :-)

      Delete
  7. Padmanabhan19 February 2013 at 09:44

    Not the butt of jokes I presume!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Padmanabhan19 February 2013 at 09:49

    Shah's of Gujarat are quite popular too. I have heard that US were reluctant at one stage to give them visas, since they tended to not only settle down there but also start their own business soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard19 February 2013 at 09:54

      Some of my friends from Gujarat call themselves Sah. I can remember Mukes, Kisore and a few others...

      Delete
    2. Kishore19 February 2013 at 10:29

      Yes-sah

      Delete
  9. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 10:40

    Please check and complete where needed

    GILL - Punjabi
    BHAT - Gujarati
    IYER - Tamilian
    KAUL - Kashmiri
    KHAN -
    JAIN -
    GOEL - Punjabi
    SOZ - Kashmiri
    BRAR - Kashmiri
    NAIK - Maharashtrian
    PAI - Mangalorean
    VIJ -
    SHAH - Gujarati
    GHAT - Maharashtrian

    Can some names overlap to people from other regions? That may not matter so long as we associate a name predominantly with a particular region.

    Any name from A & N, Col Deepak? !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore19 February 2013 at 10:53

      Brar is Punjabi, I think,as in Gen. Kuldip Singh Brar. Vij is also Punjabi, as in Rama Vij, actress and rally driver (but I am not so sure of Gen. N C Vij, ex army chief)

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath19 February 2013 at 10:55

      A&N does not have any names specific to the area as the local tribals language is not known to anyone and no contacts are allowed with them. Otherwise all those settled there are mostly from TN, WB and AP. So no names peculiar to A&N.

      Delete
    3. Col_Gopinath19 February 2013 at 10:59

      BRAR is not Kashmiri

      Kashmiris are DAR(Muslim) and DHAR(Pundit), BHAT can also be Kashmiri

      Delete
    4. Kishore19 February 2013 at 11:03

      Fishing in the above waters we have RAI too. can also add RAO/RAU and RAUT.

      Delete
  10. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 10:46

    When we setters try to use any of the above suggestions, we might find that they rarely allow us to use them as strings.

    Kishore, your note after BRAR is redundant because we are not trying to write a clue for BRAR but are trying to use it as a component in wordplay. Check yourself, man.

    BRAR and most others suggested above may not appear as a string in any English word/phrase for a setter to make use of them (unlike a MINA in MINATORY or a GITA in AGITATE).

    ReplyDelete
  11. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 10:54

    Well, some patient searches may be needed before we give up!

    LIBRARY / LIBRARIAN
    NEOBRARA
    VERTEBRARIUM

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 11:02

    Thanks, Kishore and Deepak.

    Kishore, may I ask you to please correct and update the above list. TIA.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Kishore19 February 2013 at 11:15

    Updated and down-pasted:

    GILL - Punjabi
    BHAT - Gujarati
    IYER - Tamilian
    KAUL - Kashmiri
    KHAN -
    JAIN -
    GOEL - Punjabi
    SOZ - Kashmiri
    BRAR - Punjabi
    NAIK - Maharashtrian
    PAI - Mangalorean
    VIJ -Punjabi
    SHAH - Gujarati
    GHAT - Maharashtrian
    RANA - Rajput,Nepali
    KAUR - Punjabi lady
    OJHA - Bihar,UP,Bengal
    VIRK - Punjabi
    DAR - Kashmiri
    DHAR - Kashmiri
    BUTT - Kashmiri
    RAO/RAU - AP, Karnataka
    RAI - when rhyming with Pi, Bunt
    RAI - when pronounced raaai, UP

    A few more
    RANE - Maharashtrian
    REGO - Goan
    PAIS - Mangalorean
    ROY - Bengali
    JHA - Bihari

    ReplyDelete
  14. Raghunath19 February 2013 at 11:19

    1 Fair in the outskirts of the old city has a degree of warmth (11) TEMPERATURE (TEMPERATE outside UR) : Is it fair?

    RE: GHAT or Ghati. I think a Maharashtrian would not like be called so, as it also means a bumpkin or a crude person. Some names though not common are definitely Maharashtrian: LELE, NENE, WAGH, GORE, KALE and the most infamous of them all Godse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath19 February 2013 at 11:30

      Could have been 'Fair on the outskirts.....'

      Delete
    2. Richard19 February 2013 at 11:42

      Yes, Raghu, I agree that Ghat is used in derogatory sense in most occasions and may please be avoided.

      But model Mugdha Godse proudly flaunts her family name.

      Nene made me recall this episode. Madhuri Dixit is married to Dr Shriram Nene. At a reality show, Javed Jaffrey of Boogie Woogie fame and son of senior Hindi comedian Jagdeep, had asked a small dancer as to who Madhuri Dixit was married to. She replied correctly. But she could not answer the next question on India's president.

      He told her, "Aap Madhuri-ji ke pati ko jaante hain, lekin Rashtrapati ko nahin jaante hain..." (You know Madhuri's pati but not Rashtrapati.)

      Delete
    3. Raghunath19 February 2013 at 11:52

      Which means Presidents have to participate in reality shows?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous19 February 2013 at 14:35

      Ghati is also used in Goan Konkani to refer to a 'villager' in a derogatory sense.

      Delete
  15. Col_Gopinath19 February 2013 at 11:20

    There are BHAT's in Kashmir also

    ReplyDelete
  16. Raghunath19 February 2013 at 11:54

    Could have been 'Fair on the outskirts.....'

    Would still lead to TEMPERATE UR. Maybe Fair around the out... But that would be meaningless.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 12:22

    At least one entry from that list has already been used by Gridman:

    2 Loud and rough, the Karnataka man gave company to you and me (7)

    That was in THC 8301 (Gridman's 257) published on Tue, May 24, 2005.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Padmanabhan19 February 2013 at 13:11

    Raucous

    ReplyDelete
  19. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 13:59

    Talking of the use of names in crossword clues, today's Independent crossword has the following clue.

    16 Old Shankar buried in Massachusetts region (7)

    I think this clue is in bad taste. Do you agree? If not, why not?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VJ19 February 2013 at 18:16

      I don't think the clue is in bad taste. Old Shankar is used to arrive at "Ravi." The connection with the great sitarist ends pretty much there. And I don't think anybody would take offense to it. If the whole clue is considered for review, it could be argued to mean anybody with the name Shankar buried in Massachusetts region. And there ain't nothing bad going on there IMO.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi19 February 2013 at 18:44

      Strictly speaking, only Shankar is used to derive RAVI. Old gives O, another component in word breakup.

      Opinions can differ about the quality of clues.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous19 February 2013 at 20:02

      VJ, I don't think it can refer to any Shankar, because Ravi need not necessarily be mapped to Shankar or vice versa. For eg, Ravi Kiran or Uday Shankar. If Shankar has to lead to Ravi there has to be some reference to he sitarist or spiritual leader. This one to one corelation between Ravi and Shankar may be due to the fact that the setter and his usual audience know only of Ravi Shankar. If a clue used Ravi in India without any further information, we would think of Vyalar, Shastri, Kiran, etc, but when Ms West is used we think only of Mae since we usually don't know any other

      Delete
  20. Padmanabhan19 February 2013 at 21:13

    You have a very valid point there- absolutely.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Navneeth19 February 2013 at 21:29

    A post on today's puzzle: slightly off-topic, I know. ;-)

    And if you include OPTICAL, PULL and STRESS, you have words out of the first year (or perhaps, first two) of a course in physics.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi20 February 2013 at 06:42

      VOLUME. WEIGHT - these also seem to be terms from physics.

      (I did one year of B.Sc. physics course - in Vivekananda - before I abandoned it and took up B.A. Eng. Lit. in Loyola and later M.A. in MCC)

      Delete
  22. Venkatesh20 February 2013 at 03:50

    Coming in late. Here are some Indian surnames that could fit in easily in clues:

    Apte - adAPTEd, chAPTEr
    Aron - bARON. macARONi
    Bedi - oBEDIent, suBEDItor
    Chet - arCHEType, croCHET
    Dama - aDAMAntine, DAMAsk, DAMAge
    Das - DASh, anaconDAS, armaDAS
    Deol - iDEOLology, viDEOLand
    Deva - DEVAluate, DEVAstate
    Dua - DUAl, deciDUAl, graDUAte
    Gade - briGADE,reneGADE
    Gore - clanGOREd
    Nagi - maNAGIng
    Pai - PAInting PAId PAInful
    Pal - municiPAL, PALadin, oPALesce, PALatable
    Puri - PURIfy, sPURIous
    Rana - gRANAry, intRANAsal, pomegRANAte, puRANAs
    Ray - disarRAY, foRAY, portRAY, stingRAY,
    Roy -viceROY, destROY,ROYal,corduROY
    Suri - asSURIng, cenSURIng, treaSURIes
    Vasi - eVASIve, inVASIve,
    Venu - parVENU, VENUe

    It is easy to clue them in by their place name as Mangalorean (PAI), by profession as Sunny actor (DEOL) or old Indian cricketer (BEDI) or as popular usage as Indian god (DEVA)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi20 February 2013 at 06:38

      I thank all contributors for their wonderful inputs for the name list. Will tuck it away somewhere and resort to it if needed.

      Delete
  23. raju umamaheswar20 February 2013 at 18:27

    I used to win prizes in Nairobi for my crossies using disguised names such as R.A.JUMA, JiyaraRAJUme and RAJ U-mayankh-- my son's name etc. They used to grant three for one night for two at the game reserves. Hat tricks played well, eh?

    ReplyDelete

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