Gridman finishes this round with a nice one. The long ones are beautifully handled.
ACROSS
1 Fight and quarrel over a small bird (7) SPARROW (SPAR ROW) I do not have enough time on my hands to go and photograph one at the Bangalore airport, because in Bangalore that is the only place one can hope to see one.
5 Comfort from very thin fabric (6) SOLACE (SO LACE) A quantum of it can Bond us
9 You got up reportedly for currencies (5) EUROS (~YOU ROSE)
10 Part perfect for someone worth imitating (4,5) ROLE MODEL
11 Plant daggers in the French environs (7) LOBELIA (OBELI, plural of obelix or daggers drawn as used in footnotes (†), in LA)
12 Well, son, having been bashed up, is showing signs of injury (7) SWOLLEN (WELL SON)* Reminded me of the other MSD - Air Marshal Malcom 'Mally' Shirley Dundas Wollen, VC, who also headed HAL
13 Routine vehicle? (5) CYCLE 2 Suresh's routine crossword solving vehicle
14 Bisect- one that may produce ‘ha! (3,2,4) CUT IN HALF (cutting HALF in half would produce HA)
16 Time of year when people are in a sweat (3,6) HOT SEASON (CD) In Chennai, they call this winter. Summer, as you all know, is the hottest season.
19 Ill -bred fellow’s disorderly lurch (5) CHURL (LURCH)*
21 Such a library book is not in the stacks (4-3) LENT OUT (CD) This is what it is right now, after Easter
23 Castle I build at a stretch (7) ELASTIC (CASTLE I)*
24 Apply lotion to doctor absorbed in intricate toe care (9) EMBROCATE (MB in (TOE CARE)*) Reminded me of PGW's clue from Something Fishy
25 Cut through small insects (5) SLICE (S LICE)
26 You and I, with new desire, for Chinese literary language (3-3) WEN YEN (WE N YEN) Hu knows when Yen will appreciate
27 Pedlars or potters? (7) TINKERS 2
DOWN
1 Detective woman’s initial reconnoitre on secure dwelling, we hear (8,6) SHERLOCK HOLMES (SHE R LOCK ~homes) Quite elementary
2 Cobra that is executing a kind of dance (7) AEROBIC (COBRA I.E.)*
3 Determine to find an answer again (7) RESOLVE ( RE SOLVE)
4 These work up frenzy to break peace with an enemy (3-6) WAR DANCES (CD)
5 The sort of staff who do some pitching (5) SALES (CD) from Sales pitch
6 Eccentric fellow features a politician in satire (7) LAMPOON (A MP in LOON)
7 Mark I called haltingly (7) CEDILLA (I CALLED)* My Goan friend Colaco is usually addressed as 'Colaco' instead of 'Colasso' or 'Colazo' by many non Goans as the cedilla (which should have been present on the second c) is not commonly printed in the English usage of the name
8 In which players visualise men’s moves on the board (9,5) BLINDFOLD CHESS (CD) I wonder what would happen if this was merged with chess boxing. Blindfold chess boxing ? A sure-fire recipe to impress heavily upon the umpire.
15 Last one in examination is least tough (9) TENDEREST (ENDER in TEST)
17 Five pairs, clever enough, are solidly based (7) TENABLE (TEN (5 pairs) ABLE)
18 Money CO dispensed in frugality (7) ECONOMY (MONEY CO)*
19 A Danish man in study producing a song (7) CHANSON (HANS in CON) Hans(=swan in many Indian languages) is a name in North India too
20 One in France skirting one of a pair to unravel (7) UNTWINE (TWIN in UNE)
22 Coach artist wallowing in money (5) TRAIN (RA in TIN)
I am writing this immediately after reading the Comment against the first across clue.
ReplyDeleteYesterday I spotted two sparrows!
I was walking on a narrow street in my area when my eye caught the birds and the ear their chirping (or whatever the sparrows are supposed to do). One of them flew down and picked up a grain (maybe a spill from the provision store).
Their nest was in one end of the top of the roller shutters of the shop abutting on the street.
The other day someone asked if crows caw in different styles. Yes, they do! I have heard different noises emanate from their throats.
And believe me, whether I take my lunch at 12 or at 1, as I settle down with my plate even away from the dining room where there is a large window, a crow will come and sit on the glass frame and caw. This happens every day! The crow has some intuition of people taking their khaana.
But they are nowhere to be seen when a banana leaf with tarpanam is put out !
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete12 Well, son, having been bashed up, is showing signs of injury (7) SWOLLEN (WELL SON)* Reminded me of the other MSD - Air Marshal Malcom 'Mally' Shirley Dundas Wollen, VC, who also headed HAL
ReplyDeleteNext time we can clue it like this.
Air Marshal Shirley Dundas Wollen is showing signs of injury!
(cutting HALF in half would produce HA)-
ReplyDeleteIt will produce "Quarter"
You give me no quarter
DeleteNo fraction of a doubt...
DeleteHow many times can a magician cut a woman in half ?
DeleteHOT SEASON (CD) In Chennai, they call this winter. Summer, as you all know, is the hottest season.
ReplyDeleteYes. You are right! We have three seasons in Chennai. Hot Hotter and Hottest.
Kishore
ReplyDeleteIf I am not mistaken, 'obeli' is the plural of 'obelus'.
On the analogy of 'radius'/'radii' (as our mathematician friend Renga would agree).
It should have been obelisk, not obelix. While obelus is the math symbol representing division (÷), as you and Renga would agree, the clue talks of daggers, which is the typographic symbol obelisk. Just like asterisk (*) and obelisk †). I have wrongly used Asterix's friend Obelix.
DeleteIncidentally, the maths term radix (in the singular) becomes radices in the plural
Deleteobelus
Deleten (pl obeli ) a dagger-sign used in printing esp in referring to footnotes (double obelus).
Kishore: The dict. also has the meaning "a sign used in ancient manuscripts to mark suspected, corrupt or spurious words and passages" where one of the signs given is ÷
So I think both of us are correct!
Like index/indices
DeleteGridman mentions daggers, which is clearly †, while CV mentions ÷. Let them argue against each other ;-)
DeleteWhile on the topic, let us have a look at the dagger's mate, the double dagger ‡, which is also used in typography for footnotes. But this dagger is just two handles and no blades. Who is afraid of this type of Virginia Woolf double dagger ?
DeletePointless!
DeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteHow do you do your cartoons?
First sketch using paper and ink, then scan it and work on photoshop (if it's some other sw, what is it?)
Paint. Hence, my sketches are sketchy, to say the least.
DeleteCould you interpret the signature ?
DeleteKnew there was a hidden message in the signature that I noticed even the other day when your own cartoons appeared for the first time. But I didn't want to cudgel my brain.
DeleteThe typeface that you use for words in the bubbles suggests that you do rework your sketches on some sw. Don't you?
Oh, OK. I got it. You use "Paint".
DeleteSpeaking of Hans, the most prominent to hold that name in recent times is the Karnataka governor and former Union law minister, Hans Raj Bhardwaj.
ReplyDeleteHow can our favourite story-teller miss out Hans Christian Andersen of Aesop's Tales fame?
Pawan Hans too comes to mind.
Hans Raj Hans.
DeleteHow can our favourite story-teller miss out Hans Christian Andersen of Aesop's Tales fame?
DeleteProfessional rivalry/courtesy
17 Five pairs, clever enough, are solidly based (7) TENABLE (TEN (5 pairs) ABLE)
ReplyDeleteNice one. Using five pairs to get ten is clever enough.
What a delightful combination of Gridman and the man drawing grids (and puns and stories....)
ReplyDelete'something fishy' is always interesting!
ReplyDeleteI smelt it
DeleteLet us not carp here in this plaice! ( a la Unhygenix )
Delete:-) !
ReplyDeleteTwo days too late on replying to Ajeesh & a few others on Java (for the espncricinfo CW). Java gets into trouble every now & then. Despite permission to run, it doesn't. There are constant updates and some of them messes up with what is already there. I often, uninstall and reinstall the latest version. And it is best done from the Oracle site and not the java.com download link.
ReplyDeleteI was able to get it after trying for 2 days and enjoyed the CW. Nitin of cricinfo had also mentioned it in our blog yesterday. I believe he too does THC and occasionally looks into our blog.
DeleteAnd again on the Cricinfo puzzle, did Metcalfe captain Yorkshire?
ReplyDeleteI reproduce Nitin's comment yesterday-
ReplyDeleteHello all, hello Gopinath Sir.
I saw your comment on the Cricinfo crossword grid on Sachin Tendulkar's captains. Was great to see your comment on it. I thought there might be others who read this blog who might find it interesting. So posting a link here. Hope you don't mind.
(I used to be a daily solver of THC, and still do it sporadically. I work at ESPNcricinfo now, and run The Stands, where the crosswords are posted.)
http://www.espncricinfo.com/thestands/content/story/631984.html
This grid includes the names of 10 captains Sachin Tendulkar has played under.
He mentions 10 captains Sachin has played under. You may work out if Metcalfe is included.
Metcalfe was never the Captain. Please go to:
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yorkshire_County_Cricket_Club_captains
Talking of crows, they are the cleverest. Where there is food they will appear ! But strangely though, when we put food for them on the day of the Shraddh and not tarpan) for our ancestors, they refuse to show up ! Clapping also doesn't evoke any coming .Maybe the clapping drives them off? Makes you feel guilty that your forbears have refused to accept your offerings !
ReplyDeleteDid ye-all read about a crow stalking ( back to stalking, CV) a guy repeatedly, no matter how he tried to avoid by disguise and use an umbrella? and also a crow that followed some dead body being carried to the cemetery from the house?
How can our favourite story-teller miss out Hans Christian Andersen of Aesop's Tales fame?
ReplyDeleteSorry. I don't understand this. Aren't Aesop's Fables and Hans CA's 'tales' distinct? What am I missing here?
Extremely sorry for the horrible goof-up and mix-up. It all happened in a hurry to shut down the machine with a view to keeping an appointment a distance away, and to do a mild leg-pulling with Kishore. Aesop shouldn't have been brought in there. Apologies once again.
DeleteWe ( at least I) missed the part that Hans was Danish)Probably waht he meant was a direst ref. to the Fables would be more direct. But it is obvious that you did not want it to be so easy.
ReplyDeleteCV 922:
ReplyDeleteKnew there was a hidden message in the signature that I noticed even the other day when your own cartoons appeared for the first time. But I didn't want to cudgel my brain.
Only Shuchi and Richard may have some clue to interpreting it.
Cixor - the Konkani spelling for Kishore?
DeleteU got it !
DeleteAny comments on the train doodle?
ReplyDeleteWhither the hero of 13a?
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the CW. Could solve 80% only
ReplyDelete