Keep 'em coming, Textrous !
DOWN
ACROSS
8 Write home before rough tide (6) INDITE (IN TIDE*)
9 Sailor’s observer captured at a remote place (8) SEAFARER (SEER around AFAR)
10 Set off to cycle around platform (8) PEDESTAL (PEDAL around SET*)
11 Find fault with extremely elegant rug (6) CARPET (CARP EleganT)
12 Twist to turn around in speed (6) ROTATE (TO< in RATE)
13 Retiring cadet, autistic partly, offered a position (8) SITUATED (T<)
14 A glass substitute for every gender having power (7) PERSPEX (PER+ SEX having P)
16 Study nice characters assembling in small church (7) SCIENCE (NICE* in S Church of England)
20 Grapple with a popular word game (8) SCRABBLE (2)
23 Discuss grant (6) CONFER (2)
25 Change direction around north-eastern front (6) VENEER (VEER around NE)
Yesterday we had Rishi, today we have Veer
Yesterday we had Rishi, today we have Veer
26 Again make intense efforts to hold back (8) RESTRAIN (RE STRAIN)
27 Desire head’s image (8) LIKENESS (LIKE NESS)
28 Recover without drug, as a matter of fact (6) REALLY (RALLY without=outside Ecstacy)
DOWN
1 Beast to canter after tiny creature with energy (8) ANTELOPE (ANT E LOPE)
2 Picture in camera damaged in the absence of artist (6) CINEMA (IN CAMEra)*
3 The tea’s blended by English connoisseur (8) AESTHETE ((THE TEA'S)*E)
4 It’s no good to conserve (7) USELESS (2)
5 Reduction in duty time…chop chop (3,3) TAX CUT (T AX=chop CUT=chop)
Chop used in two different senses
6 Union’s hurt by one in fury (8) MARRIAGE (MAR+1 in RAGE)
7 Bridge opponents to surrender and withdraw (6) SECEDE (S E CEDE)
15 The basis of altitude measurements (3-5) SEA LEVEL (GK)
17 Bird guaranteed to be brash (8) COCKSURE (COCK SURE)
18 Female wearing cold, short fabric (8) CHENILLE (HEN in C ILLE) Anno not clear ) ('EN in CHILLEd) See comments
19 Cure is to change one’s habit (7) REDRESS (2)
21 Conservative and extraordinarily inert dunce (6) CRETIN (C INERT*)
22 Food brought up hesitation — fast food (6) BURGER (GRUB< ER)
24 Regular girl seen near lake (6) NORMAL (NORMA L)
18 Female wearing cold, short fabric (8) CHENILLE
ReplyDeleteIs female a cockney? CH('EN)ILLE -d
I think you got it Raghu.
DeleteNot specified, but possible. I thought on those lines, but was not 17d
DeleteBut as Kishore also would thought, there's no Cockney signal?
DeleteLooks like Textrous forgot that the H was already there in either HEN or CHILLED else I am sure 'e would have provided the indicator
Delete'es.
DeleteUsual Textrous puzzle. Neat and simple construction of clues.
ReplyDelete5D: Doesn't 'chop' require an American indicator?
You mean for the axed ax(-e)?
DeleteChop Chop reminded me of the movie 'The Passage' which starred Anthony Quinn and Malcom McDowell. Saw it way back in the seveties.
DeleteI remember the scene where the chopper is used near the victim's fingers with the words 'chop-chop' being used ...
DeleteUnless CHOP at the bottom is doing double duty (which I'm not a fan of)
DeleteSo it's fine I reckon. Ax is not shown as an American variant in freedictionary.com.
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DeleteHere is the scene Deepak mentioned:
DeleteIt is very violent. Please do not watch if you are squeamish.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6JZUmG0Ul2Y&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D6JZUmG0Ul2Y
The actor who is playing the victim is the same who played Lebel in The Day of the Jackal
Techie question
ReplyDeleteI use Windows XP, Chrome browser.
Suddenly I find that the address in the address field has become magnified. So also all the suggestions in the drop down from there.
I know how to reduce/enlarge type size on the screen (ctrl + roll button). But this has no effect on the letters in the address field.
Is there any way I can control the type size in the address field in the browser?
Looks like a chrome issue. They have increased the address bar font in this release. Hopefully they will fix it in the next one. AFAIK there is no option to control the size of address bar font in chrome
DeleteThanks for the prompt response. I knew I could depend on you to answer these occasional technical queries.
DeleteRaghunath
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your anno.
I went up to 'EN but did not probe further.
In any case, the clue must have had a Cockney ind, if your anno is what the setter intended.
Re 'cold, short fabric'
ReplyDeleteWe can speak of 'short fabric'.
We do speak of warm clothing, warm clothes.
We speak of cold weather wear.
Is 'cold wear' or 'cold fabric' in use?
Wondering.
I've never come across "cold fabric."
DeleteAnd for that matter I ain't never come across no "short fabric" neither.
Textrous was not so smooth for me. :-(
ReplyDeleteIt was a bumpy ride for me !
DeleteKeep 'em coming, Textrous !
ReplyDeleteI doubt it very much since by his own confession elsewhere this is his last puzzle. At least for a couple of years.
That is sad news for a couple of years
DeleteSorry to hear that. Hope is back soon.
DeleteA friend of mine says he is not cocksure if he is an 'and-picked husband. But he swears he is not 'enpecked...
ReplyDeleteBangalore is full of cockroachers and 'encroachers
DeleteDid they ever approach you ?
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ReplyDeleteEcstatic Textrous, you crowned a D for T today – Dexterous !
ReplyDeleteMy favourite ones are 28a and 5d and both are topical:
28a – REALLY – After days of brutal beating, the rupee (RE) recovered with the regulatory pill ( though for a short time) and thus found an ALLY in Reserve Bank of India
5d – TAX CUT – At first I thought it to be “CUT CUT” on the analogy of CHOP CHOP, but it made no sense. Textrous, you gave away the tax cut which the Finance Minister is reluctant to give to the Super-Rich ( if the new 35% tax bracket is anything to go by)
Got all except for CHENILLE which was a word I didn't know. Not satisfied with INDITE as dictionaries have marked the word as archaic. Those two aside, the setter has used common words.
ReplyDeleteThere is a problem with the ellipsis of 5D as I would have expected a single space before and after the dots.
Madhu
I see a lot of brouhaha about the use of American spellings. Are we trying to be more English than the English themselves?
ReplyDeleteEnglish is an international language and as long as a spelling or usage is recorded in a standard Dictionary of English, I do not see a requirement of qualifying the clue with the word 'American' or 'Indian'.
Propah-cum-spiff, huh?!
Delete@Suresh - I don't think anyone wants to fight a war of dialects on grids. But it would be a good idea if setters add those indicators to aid the solvers. This is what I've seen in many clues ( in The Hindu crosswords and elsewhere). Even standard dictionaries list and label them appropriately. PS: Shuchi's post on Americanism indicators is a good read: http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2009/08/american.html
ReplyDelete28d - Can somebody throw more light - I could not cash even though the 'anno' has been provided.
ReplyDeleteThanks
Please catch in the place of cash in the earlier mail
ReplyDeleteand 28a in the place of 28d
ReplyDelete28 Recover without drug, as a matter of fact (6) REALLY (RALLY without=outside Ecstacy)
DeleteRecover: RALLY. without = on the outside (of Drug = E), R(E)ALLY = as a matter of fact.
Since you referred to Shuchi's site above this one's covered in:
http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2010/07/ado.html
Sorry, Ram. I mixed up Ram & Ramanan.
DeleteRam @ 6:19
DeleteAdding some more info to Raghunath @ 6:28
Drug = Ecstasy (Abbreviation is E). Hope you are satisfied.
As we are following the Br dictionary, what's the problem in having the indicator? As it is you are dealing with so many meanings/ synonyms for the word or answer, having a spelling variant makes it tougher. If in clue sheet of 30 what if we used 15 clues with Am spelling w/o saying so, say from some of these words:
ReplyDeletecenter, fiber, liter, theater, color, flavor, humor, labor, neighbor, pretense, analog, catalog, dialog etc.
Sample this one's from the HT CW syndicated from The Times CW:
One’s looking for workers in an American playhouse — not hard (8)AN (T -H EATER)
Raghunath, Ramesh et al. I respect your views. But I beg to differ. I believe that we in India are very much used to American spellings with so many of our folk living there. We are not British and I believe that the universality of the language is a reality which we should accept.
ReplyDeleteAn article by the Guardian crossword editor at this link may be of interest to the purists http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2013/aug/06/1 and also http://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2013/jul/03/1
ReplyDeleteAs I said earlier are we being more British than the British
There is no question of being more British or American. It's just that things would be much simpler, if one dic was followed.
DeleteGetting used to Am spellings and these being widely used in India are two different things.
Talking of purists some amongst us say that Am spellings are a no-no
@ Suresh -
Delete(1) "Are we being more British than the British? We are not British"
Your question may invite a counter:" Are we being more American than the Americans?" Let us not get into that . You are right we aren't British - so much as we aren't Americans either.
(2) "We in India are very much used to American spellings"
It does not necessarily mean that majority of us use AmE in our daily communication in schools / colleges / offices. Even Indian newspapers including The Hindu do not use AmE.
(2)
I am not against AmE. In fact, I do both UK and US puzzles. The point is that you should know your audience. If majority of your audience does not use AmE spellings, you as a setter should aid your solvers with the language indicators in your clues ancastling not take for granted their knowledge of variant spellings / usage . Seasoned setters on both sides of the Atlantic add these indicators - American setters add non-US indicators and their British counterparts add iocal dialect and non-British indicators.
ReplyDeleteThe message is loud and clear: Know your audience.
A typo:
ReplyDeleteRead *ancastling* as "and should"
I see that the letter E's placement in the English language is the moot point to distinguish whether the usage is English-English or American-English. We are cryptic puzzle solvers and let's not try to kill an ant with a sledge-hammer !! Figure it for yourself !! Let it fall as it falls in the slot !! and prove to ourselves that we are adept at both Ends.
ReplyDeleteThese Americans had chosen to be on the opposite sidewalk to the English footpath in everything , including the road usage. We Indians can manipulate in- between the two.So let's all be Indians like 'that' only !!
Usual signage seen in the NY street corners--'' Left lane must turn Left !! I stand at the crossroads here in amusement. Textrous in his crosswords has chosen to be ambivalent and taught us to be ambi-dextrous like me !!
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ReplyDelete