Welcome, Aspartame,
That's a nice pen name,
Your crossword is quite clean and nice,
Sweet without sugar, but plenty of spice*,
Looking forward to plenty of the same.
* in the form of snake meat samosa filling, topless coiffeurs, scantily dressed bikers, ... and Chennai connections in 9a,10a, 22d !
Note: Small grid error: The square South of 14 should have been blocked.
That's a nice pen name,
Your crossword is quite clean and nice,
Sweet without sugar, but plenty of spice*,
Looking forward to plenty of the same.
* in the form of snake meat samosa filling, topless coiffeurs, scantily dressed bikers, ... and Chennai connections in 9a,10a, 22d !
Note: Small grid error: The square South of 14 should have been blocked.
ACROSS
1 Alumni throw thieves out of arts colleges where space is studied (13) OBSERVATORIES (OBS replacing CONS in CONSERVATORIES)
8 Wrongly encourage Greek character to go for a spin (4) ABET (BETA*)
9 Coiffeurs dance to a musical style (10) BARBERSHOP (BARBERS HOP) Reminded me of the alleged metamorphosis of Hamilton Bridge in Chennai into Barbers bridge. Our friend Mr S Muthiah once wrote on this in the Hindu
10 Bast, Ra, Tawaret and Seth to give grades (6) STRATA (T) Clever use of the Egyptian Pantheon (street in Chennai)
11 Make hoarders move when there’s no harm. That’s too much! (8) OVERDOSE (hOarDERSmOVE)*
12 Screen doc misuses causing a gradual increase in volume (9) CRESCENDO (SCREEN DOC)*
14 Open // discord (4) AJAR 2
15 “So, yeah” said the meal maker (4) SOYA (~SO YA) A hundred hunks can eat these chunks
16 Good man consumed cooked meat of snake in a vessel (5,4) STEAM BOAT (ST outside MEAT* BOA)
20 Party member who serves people? (8) POLITICO CD The q.m. from a sceptic ?
21 Measure // an association (6) LEAGUE 2 Lea, lea, lea onward ...
23 Forbearing sailor’s exercise is not right (10) ABSTAINING (AB STrAINING)
24 Pedagogy somewhat excited (4) AGOG (T) Goga Kapoor can see his name here, albeit backward
25 Shores kids play on? (7,6) ROCKING HORSES (SHORES*) My COD
DOWN
1 Our extremely rabid dog, for example, goes round and round (7) ORBITER (OuR BITER)
2 Scripture made by saint with heart of nun and god (5) SUTRA (ST around nUn + RA)
3 It provides cover when detectives rise in anger (3,4) RIB CAGE (CBI< inside RAGE) Cage and CBI in same breath ! How topical !
4 What coiffeurs do topless can make one feel cold (3,12) AIR CONDITIONING (hAIR CONDITIONING)
5 Nothing needed to clear this exam (1-5) O LEVEL (CD), Nothing=zero=O
6 Such a crime cannot be committed in the open (6,3) INSIDE JOB (CD) Possibly the title of a book John Gunther would have written if he lived in biblical times
7 It’s said to bring forth a gentleman, get a patron (7) SPONSOR (~SPAWN SIR) As one can see in The Great Expectations, all benefactors may not be 'gentlemen'
13 City lists out devices those are literary in nature (9) STYLISTIC (CITY LISTS)*
15 Drool when crier gets a bit of lobster (7) SLOBBER (SOBBER around Lobster) Been seeing a lot of dribbling on the football field lately
17 Al Gore left dancing brisk ballet movements (7) ALLEGRO (AL GORE L)*
18 An oral exam relating to water (7) AQUEOUS Anno not clear (~ A QUIZ) See comments
19 Cycling endlessly having one piece of clothing (6) BIKINI (BIKINg 1)
22 Collect rotten samosas that are not big (5) AMASS (SAMosAS)*
Talking of Chennai, I have memories of different types of taxis in Madras in the sixties: ranging from 'Baby taxis' to humongous big black ones. Can any one here with memories of details of these taxis (like make/model, etc) let me know more.
ReplyDeleteActually I yearn for the black and yellow taxi.
DeleteThere was a time when I stepped out and hailed it.
After they became scarce on most of the roads there were still some vestiges - taxi ranks outside five-star hotels. Now they have disappeared even from there.
It is probably the emergence and regular increase in autos and a whole new rotten culture along with them ["(naan ketta panam kodukkamaatteyaa?) Nee nadandhae po!" (spit)] that drove those taxis out but today the autos are by no means cheaper than taxis.
Nowadays 5-star hotels have their own fleet to pick up customers from airports.
The call-taxis are in different models and colours but they are not dependable.
E.g., read "taxi troubles", the second item here:
http://www.madrasmusings.com/shortnsnappy.html
(I never hire one as I hate waiting for its arrival. And, yes, the driver has asked me too for directions - something I hate!)
Were the very large ones Vauxhall? Any one knows more about these?
DeleteThere may have been "Plymouth" taxis.
Delete---
Not a taxi, but a privately-owned black Plymouth I have ridden in. With cousins and other relatives up the Nilgiris - the car driven by a cousin. I was some 14 years of age at taht time.
I looked through Plymouth photos online yesterday and did not find what I had in mind, so I thought I would pose a query here, since this place is frequented by samosaterian Chennaites.
DeleteNice article by MMM. I came across this recollection by ‘Venniradai' Moorthy
Deletehttp://www.hindu.com/mp/2011/04/20/stories/2011042050570100.htm
One of the smaller cars was Standard 10. I am trying to find out more about the others.
DeleteFiats were very much there.
DeleteAnd when was Premier Padmini's ? I remember seeing them too. Not sure there were taxi's in that though
DeleteI don't think FIAT's were there as Taxis. They started as Taxis only when they became 'Premier'
Delete18D - Exam - Quiz (Queous)
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteAre you telling me 'a quiz' and 'aqueous' are homophones?
DeleteI personally do not think so. Aspartame and Afterdark seem to think so.
DeleteI am not too convinced either :) Just mentioned the Anno. Or could there be something else. I took it that way because of 'oral' . The link below also pronounces it differently
Deletehttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/aqueous
As Doctor Gayathri undoubtedly knows aqueous humour is a watered down joke
Delete.... in the beholder's eye
DeleteVery good puzzle. Welcome Aspartame. Took a while to get the style, then it was a breeze.
ReplyDelete8A - Isn't it an indirect anagram?
25 Shores kids play on? (7,6) ROCKING HORSES (SHORES*) My COD
ReplyDelete+1
Kishore has a reason (when does he not have it?) to use the word 'sugar' in his lines.
ReplyDelete'Aspertame', I learnt, "is an artificial, non-saccharide sweetener used as a sugar substitute in some foods and beverages"
Read: aspartame.
DeleteWent astray copying an earlier spelling.
Et tu, CV ? Then fall, winter, spring and summer
Delete@Kishore: Like your welcome limerick. Hats off for finding the time to create poems, cartoons and add interesting tidbits!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sandhya. Actually, since new setters would 'spawn' after Afterdark and before Sankalak, I checked at around 0545 this morn and was all 'agog' to see a new one. So I postponed by pre-prandial ambulation and sat down to solve it. I had it wrapped up in about 15 minutes and was able to go on my walk without the worry of a manic Monday dangling over me. So, today, I had plenty of time to draw a reasonably passable passerine (strictly a parrot is not a passerine, but I could resist the alliteration).
Delete:))
DeleteI can find the Wodehousean touch in Kishore's comment above. Enjoyed.
DeleteVery good beginning from Aspartame. Smooth reading of clues. Add another +1 for 25 DN
ReplyDeleteWe had a couple of days back talked on the addition and removal of Abbr from Anagrams as in 22 DN.
25A :)
DeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteLike 'Gooses' the other day is 'Aspertame' deliberate or a typo?
A typo, now corrected. Thanks.
DeleteCV at 837 too fell for my transgression
DeleteRe 24a
ReplyDeleteI suppose -
A pedagogue can be somewhat excited.
Pedagogy can be somewhat exciting.
Pedagogy can't be excited.
Kishore,
ReplyDeleteDid you mean AB'S TrAINING in 23 AC.
8 Wrongly encourage Greek character to go for a spin (4) ABET (BETA*)
Indirect anag is probably acceptable here as there are no 120 combinations(as you say) of Gr characters.
Welcome Aspartame!
ReplyDeleteGood start - hope to see more of you.
8a is an indirect anagram though it is easily solvable, And not sure if the tense in 1d is right. Goes round and round would lead to ORBITS and ORBITER
ReplyDeleteOtherwise a nice one
And "and Seth" is not needed in wordplay
ReplyDeleteThis query is not for all. Only for those who read, both TOI & The Hindu. I chose this forum, as there are past & present editors of English mags. & papers.
ReplyDeleteIs there a difference between two papers, in formation of a sentence or / and paragraph.
I am afraid I don't understand what exactly the question is.
DeleteHowever, if it means whether there is any difference in the use of language, I won't say the two papers differ.
Some sentences in some articles in either paper may be in bad English and some articles in either paper may be excellent. Depends upon the writer.
News items in both papers may carry howlers and absolute horrors in the use of language.
If 18D had the word 'roughly' after 'test' it may have been okay. As just a homophone; no.
ReplyDeleteYep, that's what even I thought. I tried mouthing the words A QUIZ repeatedly, but it never even got close to AQUEOUS.
DeleteTry it with water in your mouth !
DeleteA mouth-watering proposition?
Delete19 D - How come you missed pulling the legs of Suresh while he was biking?
I am wearing only one piece of clothing much of the time this summer.
DeleteLuxuries of working from home.
About taxis in Chennai,nee Madras (since that is what Kishore was asking for in old times)-
ReplyDeleteThere were fiat taxis even before Premier Padmini, though fewer in no. Baby taxis were Standard 10's & Morris minors. Big ones were mostly Ambassadors (before they were being 'marked')There were a few Plymouths- not the long ones which are more familiar but the older round models. But those were times when I did not know much about different models and their exact names. I am not sure of having seen any Vauxhalls as taxis.
I enjoyed Kishore's ref. to Barber's Bridge and its mention by Muthiah. Extremes of translation woes!
Enjoyed reading about the parrot's defamation suit- before the same judge?!