Monday 1 July 2013

No.10813, Monday 01 Jul 13, Gridman

High-fun day from Gridman: YES-MAN ! HAND-PICK, FULL-SCALE TRADE-OFFS

The Hindu online paper has numbered this puzzle as

The Hindu Crossword xxxx


Quite cryptic of them, I'd say: A four letter word, kisses, forty, extra-strength XXX stuff ? Take your pick. The print ed. is okay.

ACROSS
1 Eats (fish is consumed) resulting in upsets (5-3) SHAKE UPS (SUPS around HAKE)
5 Retiring taking strange, cheap wool (6) SHODDY (SHY around ODD)
9 A female and I hang out with a  foreign national (7) AFGHANI (A G (I HANG)*)  
          That's what he carries in his pocket too
10 These marathons are for amusement (3,4) FUN RUNS (CD)
11 All 12 inches of a foot-rule (4-5) FULL-SCALE (FULL SCALE)
          The half-scale (6") went into the instrument box and the full one went on the knuckles
12 Quiet people (no female) at a  dance (5) POLKA (P fOLK A)
          Reminded me of Little Dot, and Miss Fonseca 
13 Defeat,smart, not small (4) LICK (sLICK)
14 Decay isn't upsetting group (9) SYNDICATE (DECAY ISN'T)*
17 Exchanges revised ad efforts (5-4) TRADE-OFFS (AD EFFORTS)*
19 Breathe hard when general practitioner goes around (4) GASP (GP around AS=when)
          GP is a bird rarely seen now-a-days. Only specialisation counts ...
          'Breathe hard' reminded me of the sixteen-year old who responds "And I am only thixteen" to the GP who tells her "Big Breaths" 
23 Esteem a learner steeped in French panorama (5) VALUE ( A L in VUE= panorama or view in French)
          Reminded me of the villa converted into "Hotel La Dolce Vista" from 'Come September'
24 Egg-bearing Di dropped out of avoirdupois programme (9) OVIPAROUS (AVOIRdUPOiS)*



25 Place where things vanish - on top of Mt. Everest, perhaps (4,3) THIN AIR (CD) 
          Leading cause for HAPE and HACE, which I first encountered at IMI, Darjeeling
26 The sort of drink one likes on a hot day (3-4) ICE COLD (CD)
27 Dissolute artist Sikh's broke (6) RAKISH (RA SIKH*)
28 Cowardly - not like the protagonist of a Bollywood film, say (8) UNHEROIC (DD)

DOWN

1 Framework for building gone up in heat (8) SCAFFOLD (OFF< in SCALD)
2 Nice gal could well be... (7) ANGELIC (NICE GAL)* &LIT, too
3 Electronic mistake or slip (6) ELAPSE (E LAPSE)
          To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.” (Paul Ehrlich)
4 One of which is mixed with another to make a new hue (7,6) PRIMARY COLOUR (E)
6 Select carefully worker to play the banjo? (4-4) HAND-PICK (HAND PICK)
7 Jacket for two (7) DOUBLET (CD)
          I wonder how many a triplet can accomodate? Ménage à trois ?  (Read this last question with the next clue wordings ! )       
8 He would never say 'No' (3-3) YES-MAN (CD)
          It would be improper of me to give the example of a senior politician. I am sure you can guess correctly.
Cartoon by Rishi

           Rishi probably intended this to be a cartoon for OVIPAROUS (as I later deduced), though he did not specify which word he was drawing for and left it to my guess-work. But my guess went wrong and I included it under YES-MAN, the man who does not know how to say "No".  When the penny dropped, I let it remain here, partly because of the fact that I too had drawn for OVIPAROUS and partly because it fits here too. A contrary view is given in the footnote, so as not to take you attention away from the above cartoon @

10 Film what you can see at a given moment (5,2,6) FIELD OF VISION (DD)
15 How coin is inserted in a slot (8) EDGEWISE (CD) (Correction - EDGEWAYS [CD] - See comments)
          But flat when taken out of the refund slot. However, still edge-wise when taken out of the insertion slot itself
16 Somewhat poised, in-charge is coming at intervals (8) EPISODIC (POISED* I C)
18 Be boisterous! I will come back and sway around (7) ROLLICK (ROCK around I'LL<)
20 Sherry for a ladies' man (7) AMOROSO (A MOROSO)
21 Sailor goes after girl - a divine form (6) AVATAR (TAR after AVA)
          Sailor and girl reminded me of the iconic V-J Day in Times Square
22 Flower arrangement found right by champion setter (6) RACEME (R ACE ME)


@ Taking a contrarian position to the man who could not say 'No' as enshrined above, is the awesome Khamakhan who recites in Dakhni: at 4:50 in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UioFc9oLyk

For people who can't understand Dakhni, I give the words and translation below:
"Sarkari order hai; bachche 3 se baDkar naheen hona
 KhaTTA khakar ultiyan kartein, nahi bole to sunte nahin
"Have no more than 3 kids, says the government,
  But she eats sour and has vomiting, and if I say no, she just does not listen" 
 


29 comments:

  1. Typo: EDGEWISE should be EDGEWAYS.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks. I had it right in the solution grid, but messed it up here. Thanks to Deepak for correcting it.

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  3. A small typo in anno of 9A. It should read
    (A F (I HANG)*)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've a small doubt regarding the identity of two of our elite members Col.Gopinath and Deepak Gopinath !. Their names are almost similar and both of them sport identical manly moustaches !. Are they one and the same ? Or is it a case of split personality !?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I shall let Kishore give an explanation for that

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    2. Let me make it a little more unbearable !!

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    3. They are 2 different people. Col. celebrates his birthday on 18th Dec, Deepak on 16th Dec.

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    4. Still waiting, waiting, waiting !!!

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    5. If you want a straight answer from Kishore, you can wait an eternity.

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    6. U mean to say "A crooked stick will have a crooked shadow"!?

      Delete
  5. One and only Col. Deepak Gopinath. Don't let the shrubbery fool you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank GOD ! At last my long wait of 6hrs is over ! Pleased to know they are two-in-one ! Thanks Kishore, to-night I'll a sound sleep!
      Talking about manly moustaches, here's a Spanish saying : "A man without a moustache is like an omelette without salt!"

      Delete
    2. Mukundala,

      Do I look so different in the two profile photographs?

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    3. Col. Saheb ! The one that I see now is a long shot and another photo is a close-up, so colud'nt distinguish properly.
      But I was actually misled by seeing two names appearing under Contributors Column ! I am a recent recruit to this WONDERFUL,
      INFORMATIVE and ENTERTAINING Blog. Thank u Sir.

      Delete
  6. I, my friend, am that omelette without salt

    ReplyDelete
  7. 11 All 12 inches of a foot-rule (4-5) FULL-SCALE (FULL SCALE)
    The half-scale (6") went into the instrument box and the full one went on the knuckles

    Good one. instrument box .....In our days it was Geometry box

    ReplyDelete
  8. MB, then you must be 24a, like Suresh.

    ReplyDelete
  9. !5 a. No e and l _ NOEL; could have been defined as something relating to Christmas. Haven't seen such a clue before ! but not defining the answer also added to the mystery and added to the possibilities.

    Reminded me of another similar clue I had come across earlier.

    . (4,4)

    any answer from any one? Brevity is the soul of wit.

    I had posted this on Saturday and every one had missed the point !!

    how pointless I was !!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mukund II too have an ovoid pate. That makes for two oviparous heads good enough for a double omelette !!

    I invariably cover my Sahara , cap ke sahare ! because I suffer from multiple-personality disorder !!

    ReplyDelete

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