ACROSS
1 Be calm! AI can be friendly (8) AMICABLE* Not if you have flown with them!
5 What ad libbers ignore (6) SCRIPT [CD]
10 He may come out with this knowledge (7) INSIDER [CD]
11 Propane explodes, theoretically (2,5) ON PAPER*
12 To each, a bit (6) APIECE (A}{PIECE}
15 Proper touch? (4) MEET [DD]
16 Bar pianist struck from two sides (10) BIPARTISAN*
18 Do you dig for such basic support? (10) GRASSROOTS [CD]
20 Girl has ordered chop (4) GASH {G}{HAS*}
23 Bet term I tossed is to cause hard feelings (8) EMBITTER*
24 Feel sorry bird follows leader of ruffians (6) REGRET {R}{EGRET}
26 Engage wholly in huge substitution of royal for knight (7) IMMERSE {IMME(-n+r)RSE}
27 Deny boy’s going back on a promise (7) DISAVOW {DIS<=}{A}{VOW}
28 Soldiers master threat (6) MENACE {MEN}{ACE}
29 Same piece of writing by three learners about drug (8) PARALLEL {PARA}{LL{E}L}
DOWN
1 Sexual attraction among those in the menagerie? (6,9) ANIMAL MAGNETISM [CD]
2 Spark off anger by dangerous spin (7) INSPIRE {SPIN*}{IRE}
3 Fanatic extradited from a Chad dictatorship (6) ADDICT [T]
4 The French accept alternative doctrine (4) LORE {L{OR}E}
6 Put limits on an urban area’s dimensions (8) CAPACITY {CAP}{A}{CITY}
7 One politician drinks and spits (7) IMPALES {1}{MP}{ALES}
8 Let out twentieth howl — or give up! (5,2,3,5) THROW IN THE TOWEL*
9 Conservatives don’t begin tale at fun time (4,5) TORY PARTY {sTORY} {PARTY}
14 Kitchen item no writer put in wedding cake story (3,6) TIN OPENER {TI{N O}{PEN}ER}
17 Private coteries disbanded (8) ESOTERIC*
19 It’s no yolk as cooking ingredient (7) ALBUMEN [CD]
21 Advent of a c-competitor (7) ARRIVAL {A}{R-RIVAL}
22 His age will do to have a Japanese dancing girl (6) GEISHA*
25 Thought ultimately Swami elaborated the raga (4) IDEA {I}{D}{E}{A}
Deepak
ReplyDeleteRe your Comment against 1ac.
If you were an actress, even small-time, the pilots may allow you to sit in the, ahem, cock pit.
Poor guys, cooling their heels now!!!
DeleteIf you were an actress, even small-time, the pilots may allow you to sit in the, ahem, cock pit.
DeleteAhem, ahem !
And work on their staff ?!
Call it Pilot Startrek project!
DeletePlanes and Ladies have one thing in common!
DeleteWings !?
DeleteTalking about yesterday's waterworks joke, the water tasted differently because one was from pilot's cabin and the other was from reversal of PIT.
DeleteGridman was a Cake walk today. I finished in record time, that is, record time for my standard. Meanwhile I want to thank all those, viz, Chaturvasi, Richard, Rangaswamy and others for discussing my pseudonym. Yes, my name is R.Sundaram , age 76, and the 'o' was added by me in my attempt to sink my ego ( a kind of mood which seizes me occasionally) to say that I am but a zero. This pseudonym was coined by me in 1995-96 when I first registered for yahoo mail. My email I'd maradnusro@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete.... and I thought you were some Sufi saint!!!
DeleteCol., he shares your bugbear !
DeleteI'd agree...
Delete1st degree evidence !
DeleteR. Sundaram? Thanks for your introduction.
ReplyDeleteFor us, you're not 0 but O! I.e., OHO!
So the name is nought R Sundaram...
DeleteNot Nought R Sundaram ? Looks like he belongs to the double O section !
Delete007?
DeleteWe all know Server Sundaram; but our man is Reverser Sundaram.
DeleteOr rather, reverse R Sundaram
DeleteWaiting for Raju to comment on the black grid in the THC app!!!
ReplyDeletePreempting Raju:
DeleteIf you visit
http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/the-hindu-crossword-xxxx/article5001680.ece
you can see that the grid is not displayed properly. One row and one column along with the numbers therein have been nibbled away by the rats on Anna Salai. This is what is causing trouble to the app.
Talking about Anna Salai, If Anna Salai ends (or starts) at Anna Silai, what is the name of stretch between Anna Silai to Anna Sidhai?
DeleteTake your choice:
Deletea. It starts from Anna Silai and goes both ways
b. Since stretch from AS1 to AS2 is not named, it continues to carry its old name: Mount Road
c. All of the above
d. None of the above
yeah right, Deepak and Kishore: What a crash landing and disappointment ! Must be some management like A India !! Pilot busy with hostesses in the cockpit? Blackbox found !!
DeleteI.m marking these Bermuda Triangle disasters and waiting to get near a printer to be able to access for a later date. Meanwhile, trying to collect the wreckage of my mind and floating to survive . Baaah !!!
Black hole tragedy in my crossword journey !
Delete22D Geisha has made a re-appearance within a few days, a coincidence though.
ReplyDeleteThey are there to welcome Raju, who goes there shortly.
DeleteGridman takes care that in a series of six crosswords no word gets repeated.
ReplyDeleteHe may even take care that no word gets repeated within a short time in my crossword bunches. However, the same word may have multiple appearances in the nearly 800 puzzles that he has set for The Hindu. In these cases a variation in clue types would have been attempted. Sometimes, however, word for word repeats may also have occurred if the given light was not amenable to varied breakups.
GEISHA has occurred soon after Sankalak's use of it . The anag fodder is the same but the phraseology is different.
I keep dB of Gridman's clues only.
ReplyDeleteHURRAH !!! Today I'm on cloud nine with a bottle of XXX RUM and a plateful of S?????S !!!
Thank you very much Gridman. At last I could crack you !
He is a hard nut to crack!
DeleteBut not today !
DeleteAh, C'mon now !! NUT again?
DeleteIs it possible to reverse engineer a grid. i.e given all the clue numbers and enummeration, and given that the grid would be symmetric, is it possible to create the grid ?
ReplyDeleteInteresting question! I guess it should be possible. Well, if we had all the answers, the number of ways in which the crossings could possibly happen is very limited.
DeleteYes, I have done it several times. It takes some extra time. Though, it will be very difficult, if step b fails to get much breakthrough. The following steps may be used:
Deletea. Use a paper with squares printed or MS Excel
b. Cold solve as many clues as you can
c. Depending upon the fact if there is a 1a and 1d, or 1a,2d combination or 1d without 1a, you can get an idea of how the grid may commence.
d. Look at the enu of across clues vs down clues to understand whether it is 2 way or 4 way symmetry.
e. Use words solved in b to see if any crossings can be spotted and put them down in the squares.
f. You may find that you have a mismatch of one row or column sometimes, so part of what you have put down may have to be slid to dovetail with the remaining. Hence, in a 15x15 grid, better to start with a 17x17 format and use an arrow mark to fill any blank that may have to be covered by sliding.
Also, if sum of adjacent across clues is 14, you will know where the block comes. It is more difficult if the sum is less than that because two or more blocks may be present.
DeleteAny setter here is welcome to send me (kishoremrao@hotmail.com) an advance copy of their puzzle without the grid and I shall try to solve it.
Sorry, my question was not clear. The aim of this is to automatically generate the grid using a computer program.
DeleteShould be possible if someone had the time and patience to write it. Since, even without cold solving clues, the clue numbers and enus can be used to manually make the grid. In some situations, however, the data would be insufficient to conclusively make the intended grid, though a grid or more may be made.
DeleteThe task becomes easier if the clues are of Gridman/ Sankalak quality and considerably tougher if the wordplay is convoluted, even if fair.
DeleteKishore @ 10:31
DeleteCold solving is not required to manually prepare a grid if the clue numbers and enumeration are known
It is not essential in all cases, but helpful in some. For eg, if there s 1a and 1d, 2d may start either from te 3rd or 4th letter of 1a. If you knew 1a and 2d, you could find out which o t two is correct.
DeleteShuchi's first post after her hard disk crash appears today.
ReplyDeleteI have not read Kishore's reply, but to answer the question above, I have often done it when there was a need to do so.
ReplyDeleteAlso, please note that in skeleton crosswords there will be a blank square with only some three or four clue numbers entered and some three or four blocks given at random. As you solve the clues, you have to build up the grid with blocks and number the cells. This sort of CWD, published in a UK evening paper and found in crossword books, I have done occasionally.
My answer to Ramesh's rephrased query would be No.
ReplyDeleteIt just would not know what basic pattern is used (in a 2x2 square, which of them is blocked, whether top left or top right or bottom left or bottom right).
I agree that would be the case if no clue numbers are given. But given clue numbers and anno, it is possible (I concede that 100% success may not be there) to make the grid.
DeleteOf course, you mean clue numbers and enu.
DeleteYes, of course, because that's what RJ specified. I goofed up.
DeleteBut 2X2 will not change the crossing which ever way it is. I was trying a 3X3 which has the same enu & clue numbers , but which has multiple grid layouts with diff crossings & could not come up with one. So may be there is a way to generate unique grids from enu & clue numbers. Let me explore further.
DeleteCompleted in 1/2 an hour which is a record.Clap clap!
ReplyDeleteIt is possible for me only if it is Sankalak or Gridman :-)
14D : ANNO : What is the link btn "Tier" and "Wedding cake story" ?
ReplyDeleteIt is the layer (story) in a wedding cake.
DeleteThanks LV garu !
DeleteCould it be a STOREY instead of a STORY ?
Delete21D : ANNO : R btn A and RIVAL is not clear.
ReplyDeleteIf C is Competitor, then R is for Rival, so C-competitor -> R-Rival
DeleteThis is a 'stuttering clue' . Just like the word competitor is spelt with a repetition of the first letter in the clue, its equalent rival is also taken with a repetitive letter.
DeleteHere is the link to Shuchi's blog about stuttering clues. http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2011/01/stuttering-clues.html
DeleteThanks. I didn't know about Darr Rahul clues. I was using a logical reasoning.
DeleteMB, LV and others: You may joint the THC orkut community (the link is given on the left side column of this blog) and post your answers with anno for maximum 3 clues daily. We need to have more solvers there.
ReplyDeleteMB,
ReplyDeletestory2
n pl -ries
(Fine Arts & Visual Arts / Architecture) another spelling (esp US) of storey
Thanks Renga and Ajeesh.
ReplyDeleteKishore's responses come thick & fast, much like 'quick gun Murugan'. Fastest draw of the East?
ReplyDeleteUsing a heavy Machine Gun....
DeleteHigh callibre !
DeleteMachine gun firing at cyclic rate
DeleteI still feel there could be a typo in 14D- 'story' in stead of 'storey'. I don't expect Gridman to use American version without a specific mention. I was bowled there.
ReplyDeleteRe. creation of grid from the clues & enu.-
ReplyDeleteI would like to try it too. I would like to add my mail ID to Kishore's- padmanabhan.pb@gmail.com
Had to rush off in the morning, but to-day was a samosa and chai day, for sure!
ReplyDeleteHave a great evening fellow solvers!
ON creation of grid and clues, has anyone tried The Crossword Maestro ? It has a lot of possibilities-- but I've never tried as it is easier to build a house with Lego blocks than that ! This software was created in 2000. They have not even updated it until recently . and I have one in my PC but rarely use it .
ReplyDeleteThose interested in this art should try the Skeleton crossword that was posted once on a Sunday Special here. It used to appear weekly in the Independent of London as a prize crossword. very challenging. In my time in Nairobi, I used to struggle to revamp and re-create (no recreation though !!) the wrongly printed Grid, using white-outs, and solve those tough cryptic crosswords and send it back to the paper !! There were no software or such assistance in those days. Only hard-worn patience would help ! I hold a few samples of them at home.