1. Each commenter can give three answers with annotations.
2. Answers to the additional clues marked as North, West, East and South are also part of the quota of three.
Left, Right, Left
....
As you will see, this is an unorthodox
grid because:-
1. The four corner areas do not have
any connection with each other (or so it seems).
2. There is a central area unlinked to
the above.
c3. There are a few squares which apparently
do not form part of any word to be filled in. These have been filled up in advance
since they do are unlinked.
Proceed in the usual way you solve your
puzzles.
The part below is not essential to or
compulsory for solving the puzzle. However, it can offer an extra twist.
Once you solve the entire puzzle, you
will notice:-
1. There are four crosses in the grid.
If you start from the square to the north of any cross, and go around the cross
either from the left or from the right, up to the square to the south of that
cross, you will get two words of 5 letters each which are similar to each other
in structure and spelling but differ very slightly.
2. A similar variation may also be seen
in the squares diagonally adjacent to the central square.
Alternatively, you may want to solve
the words around the crosses first, before attempting to solve the regular
clues.
For doing this the clues are:
North: Chap is penniless (5)
West:
Weak beat (5)
East: Insipid pattern (5)
South: Colourless gap (5)
Each of these clues has two definitions
and no wordplay. The two answers have exactly the same spelling except for one
letter. One answer goes round the cross from the left and the other from the
right, though not necessarily in the same order as given in the clue.
ACROSS
7 Ivy-league
university where maize is placed in front of tailors' four feet (7)
8 Food for an
unending body of soldiers (7)
9 Make a monk
give up his habit (7)
10 King, before
dark times, created jumpers (7)
11 Rearrange file
for a period till death (4)
14 Be complicit in
a crime to beat revolutionary (4)
15 This, when old,
may be seen on top of flagpoles in the U.S. (5)
18 Expand outward
and erupt suddenly (5)
21 Energy, money
and a bit of daring can get you an expensive metal (4)
22 God with zero
noise (4)
23 Strange
dialect's stronghold (7)
25 Engineers mould
and form into new pattern (7)
27 Off and on
football tournament held in honour of Malaysian independence (7)
28 Extra cloth
stitched with thin material seems like arranging to an auditor (1,6)
DOWN
1 This when
ingrown may lead to elation? (7)
2 Remodelling
earring made him more mad (7)
3 Bar endlessly
and form a group (4)
4 Latin American
labourer is an office assistant in India (4)
5 Glossal sounds
made by Mulligan after dropping some money and running around (7)
6 Wing component
made by dad after consuming some egg (7)
12 Furtively, at
first, saw disembowelled lady twice (5)
13 Big number right
in the centre (5)
16 Initially
Zambian iodine was modified and charged (7)
17 Personal
identification documents that are like greetings for a Muslim festival (2,5)
19 North has no
right to make gin cocktail from scratch (7)
20 Frigid wind can
pin you both ways. Good! (7)
24 Scared sounds
made by females during geek shows (4)
Correction - 26 Dock and put back thin slippery fishes (4)
My 3
ReplyDelete9A - UNFROCK [CD]
10A - {K}{NIGHTS}
28A - A LINING (~aligning)
22A God with zero noise (4) {O}{DIN}
ReplyDelete4D Latin American labourer is an office assistant in India (4) PEON [2]
6D Wing component made by dad after consuming some egg (7) F(E)ATHER
My three (Remembering my childhood classmate Maitri :))
ReplyDelete14A BETA (BEAT*)
21A GOLD {GO}{L}{D}
23D CITADEL (DIALECT*)
Pls read 23A CITADEL (DIALECT*)
DeleteAnd BETA as ABET. It was a typo.
Delete23A - Citadel (dialect)*
ReplyDelete1D - Toenail (elation)*
26D - Radish (h)ardish*
Comp for 23A
ReplyDelete16D - Ionized (Z + Iodine*)
Afterdark: 26D is 4 letters
ReplyDeleteRichard: 14A is ABET (Defn: be complicit in a crime)
Thanks, Venkatesh. I noticed the typo and wanted to correct it at once. But then there was this ever-obliging power failure. I have mentioned the correction above.
DeleteRichard I don't think 14A is correct.
ReplyDeleteI didn't see the grid Venkatesh. But enu says 6. :(
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be an error in 26D
Delete11A LIFE (FILE*)
ReplyDeleteDef period till death
19D NOTHING (NORTH-R + GIN*)
ReplyDeleteDef From scratch
11A Rearrange file for a period till death (4) LIFE (FILE)*
ReplyDeleteSorry friends, the clue for 26 down is:
ReplyDelete26 Decapitate and put back thin slippery fishes (4)
Requesting the Colonel to kindly correct the same in the main post.
Done
DeleteBD: Wouldn't 'Put back and decapitate thin..' fit the sequence?
DeleteMany thanks.
DeleteSo i get one more chance :)
DeleteVenkatesh is correct. Shoddy replacement on my part.The clue should be:
Delete26 Dock and put back thin slippery fishes (4)
Thanks in advance to the Colonel for helping me out again.
2D Remodelling earring made him more mad (7) ANGRIER (EARRING)*
ReplyDelete17D ID CARDS (DD)
ReplyDeleteComp for 26D. 8A - Regimen - regimen(t)
ReplyDelete3D Bar endlessly and form a group (4) BLOC(K)
ReplyDelete5D
ReplyDeleteGlossal sounds made by Mulligan after dropping some money and running around (7)-LINGUAL(MULLIGAN-M)*
27 A: MERDEKA [2]
ReplyDelete12 D: S LY LY
20 D: ->NIP PIN G
7A-CORNELL {CORN}{ELL}
ReplyDelete24D-EEKS G EEK S HOWS
25A Engineers mould and form into new pattern (7) RESHAPE (RE+SHAPE)
ReplyDeleteLeftovers
ReplyDeleteAcross - 15, & 18
Down - 13, & 26
Also, North, East, West and South
ReplyDelete15a GLORY CD
ReplyDelete18a FLARE 2
26d EELS (SLEEk<)
13D C{R}ORE
ReplyDeleteThat wraps the normal clues. Now for the abnormal ones, and the relationship with the puzzle/grid.
ReplyDeletePS: Kishore seems to be surrounded by Bald men.
The grid has stand-alone grids within but then it has been seeded with words in a very methodical and carefully designed manner. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteThe instruction says: 1. There are four crosses in the grid. If you start from the square to the north of any cross, and go around the cross either from the left or from the right, up to the square to the south of that cross, you will get two words of 5 letters each which are similar to each other in structure and spelling but differ very slightly. (Emphasis added)
I am not sure if it is 5 letters.
Anyway my observation:
North: BLKE/BRKE
South: BLAK/BRAK
East: FLIL/FRIL
West: BLND/BRND
Also noted is L R and L R in rows 7 and 9 forming the square
LOR
Y_O
LAR
The title Left, Right, Left suggests Ls and Rs are placed appropriately to a column.
You've left out the 3rd letter in all cases
Delete
DeleteNorth: BROKE/BLOKE
South: BREAK/BLEAK
East: FRAIL/FLAIL
West: BRAND/BLAND
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteJust now I noticed that we had to solve four Bridge Players' clues.
ReplyDeleteNorth: Chap is penniless (5) BL[a]KE
West: Weak beat (5) FL[a]IL
East: Insipid pattern (5) BL[a]ND
South: Colourless gap (5)BL[a]CK
Note that in each case A is to be dropped.
At first I wrote BL[o]KE but after the three latter answers changed it to BL[a]KE
Now I understand that the enu 5 is in a way correct. Earlier I was merely looking at the gridfills.
Revised answers
ReplyDeleteNorth: Chap is penniless (5) BLAKE/BROKE
West: Weak beat (5) FRAIL/FLAIL
East: Insipid pattern (5) BLAND/BRAND
South: Colourless gap (5 BLEAK/BREAK
The gridfills are too clever by half.
The instruction says: 1. There are four crosses in the grid. If you start from the square to the north of any cross, and go around the cross either from the left or from the right, up to the square to the south of that cross, you will get two words of 5 letters each which are similar to each other in structure and spelling but differ very slightly.
ReplyDeleteI think the above instruction needs some revision.
Try:
The instruction says: 1. There are four crosses in the grid. If you start from the square to the north of any cross, and go around the cross either from the left or from the right, up to the square to the south of that cross, you will get two strings of 4 letters each which are similar to each other in structure and spelling but differ very slightly.
By inserting a fifth letter in each of the pairs, we get answers to the NEWS clues, each of which yields two answers.
Balder Dash, please confirm. I am writing all this w/o too much of thinking.
North is BLOKE/BROKE
DeleteBlake, the poet, is also a chap.
DeleteActually I first wrote BLAKE in the notepad. Then I realised it must be BLOKE. But when I wrote the post here, I did not enter BLOKE.
DeleteAs per the instructions there is a difference of one letter only in the two words
DeleteOh OK. I was too dazzled by the ingenuity displayed in this grid/puzzle that I did not look too closely into the minutiae.
DeleteWhy was 'A' in East & West changed to L?
ReplyDeleteSorry. Overlooked the starting letter in the North of the cross is B
DeleteChaturvasiji, the bridge clues, as you call them, are five letters each and the middle letter is also available in the complete grid. The only difference between the the two words is that the left word has L whereas the right word has R.
ReplyDeleteAnd you are absolutely correct in your summation that the 7 and 9 columns have L and R respectively in all intersections except with row 4 and 14.
The grid has stand-alone grids within but then it has been seeded with words in a very methodical and carefully designed manner. Congrats.
The gridfills are too clever by half.
While the second part of the above quote is usually not a compliment, I take it as one when it comes from CVji and when read with the first part.
Re the use of the expression "too clever by half" -
DeleteI was talking only of "gridfills" - not the person who made them!
Kudos to Balderdash for putting up something interesting and not something which his handle means. The clues by themselves were quite straightforward.
ReplyDeleteNow that I notice his name (in two parts) on the previous comment I may be mistaken in my assumption on what it conveys:)
DeleteThanks, Raghunath. The ID creation insisted on a surname, and threfore I had to split it.
ReplyDeleteSpecal thanks to the Colonel for hosting a Balderdash puzzle.
Dash ____
ReplyDeleteBalder Dash __
Balder ___
Delete8a: REGIMEN-- Regiment truncated.
ReplyDelete10a. KNIGHT K-night-- Move in a chess
22a: ODIN-- Zero --O-- noise__ DIN -- ODIN a norse God
What's the logic of three clues per person? Why not free for all?
Its a pity that I can't do this on line nor can I have a printer to access. I'd love to see the final result in prin for this unusual crossie.
The Colonel may now give a link to the solution grid
DeleteLink to solution grid added
DeleteRaju, if its free for all and if the first person posts all the answers what will the others do?
DeleteYou can lay a time-limit and the solutions as a whole can be published ? Again, all of us solve the whole puzzle without fail and hence publishing it the next day should be in order I suppose?
DeleteOf course, time-differences will come into play as we have several zones from where bloggers log on. I'd like to preserve a copy of this one in particular for my archives. Thanks and regards.