Monday 9 September 2013

No.10873, Mon 09 Sep 2013, Gridman


Best Wishes to all our friends on the occasion of Vinayaka Chaturthi

Gridman 'briefs' us entertainingly on Indian words, teaching us the ABC in Ahimsa, Benami and Chinkara

ACROSS
1 Directions carry disturbed sign (8) BEARINGS (BEAR SIGN*)
5 Definite article on doctor’s practice having continuous thought (6) THEMED (THE MED.)
9 Loud broadcasters’ drama where there isn’t any ‘foul’ (4,4) FAIR PLAY (F AIR PLAY)
10 More caring German children? (6) KINDER 2
          I wish they were more caring in Kinder-gartens
12 Lean on register? (4) LIST 2
13 Greek character behind time getting unlimited slice of stamp-collecting (10) PHILATELIC (PHI LATE sLICe)
15 One buzzing about to get one-way ticket in Paris (6) CALLER (C ALLER=go away (Fr.)=one way ticket)
17 Big cat is lightweight (5) OUNCE 2
20 One more time, a profit (5) AGAIN (A GAIN)
21 Move quickly with engineer’s arrow in India (6) BESTIR (BE'S TIR( or teer, arrow in Hindi)
24 Not a main railway track (6,4) BRANCH LINE (CD)
27 Not too much of a lake? (4) MERE 2
29 Reportedly dismiss Communist holy (6) SACRED (~SACK RED)
          Full Marx for this one
30 Gazelle found in hole by an artist (8) CHINKARA (CHINK A RA)
31 Leisurely walk by saint with wind behind (6) STROLL (ST ROLL)
32 One’s confession of being well-mannered but not actually so (8) IMPOLITE (I'M POLITE)

DOWN
1 Happen to grab eastern female in dance (6) BEFALL (BALL around E F)
2 Peacefulness of a man with appeal (6) AHIMSA (A HIM SA=sex appeal)
3 I see it’s a children’s game (1-3) I-SPY (I SPY)

4 Good American poet in grind (5) GNASH (G NASH, (Ogden))
          Throw in the East and mix well to get Ganesh !
6 The man is beginning to trivialise robbery (5) HEIST (HE IS T)
7 Girl did business (8) MADELINE (MADE LINE)
          Reminded me of the Basset female; "Stars are God's daisy chain" and "every time a fairy blows its wee 
          nose, a baby is born"
8 Provided the way to go (8) DIRECTED (CD)
11 Sabre-rattling around learner: turns the music up (6) BLARES (SABRE rattled around L)
14 Where grass roots development takes place (4) LAWN (CD)
16 Names first victim in Lok Sabha (6) LABELS (ABEL, the first murder victim, in LS)
17 Brief writing: “Life after Death” (4) OBIT (short for Obituary) CD
18 Roasts an essayist when going through street (8) LAMBASTS (LAMB, ST through AS)
19 One who maintains equilibrium — an accountant, maybe (8) BALANCER 2
22 Be new friend in Paris — one doing transactions for another (6) BENAMI (BE N AMI, friend in Fr.)
          I read somewhere that some authors use pseudonyms for avoiding taxes
23 Talk about the dead (6) RELATE (RE LATE)
25 Many dance with what a fisherman might use (5) CREEL (C REEL)
26 Prophet in North Arcot bustle (5) NAHUM (NA HUM)
28 Brief briefing (4) INFO (INFOrmnation)


48 comments:

  1. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to Col Deepak Gopinath and everyone from the THCC Solvers' Regiment and their families.

    Have a nice day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My UPS is about to give up. Corrections and responses may be belated.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Bangalore Edition of The Hindu has clarified that there will be no print edition but the online paper will be there, which means there will be a CW which will have to be blogged on.

    In view of the above and as suggested by Kishore I will post the special today, but a little later, at 12:30 PM to enable those celebrating have time for their puja etc.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have a crib on 29A. In SACRED the pronunciation of SAC is not ~sack but it is ~sake

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thetwo cribs remind me of Parvarish and Angoor ...

      Delete
    2. Make it three ! "Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi to all"

      Delete
  5. Kishore,

    The rendition of The White House in your cartoon looks real authentic, great job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. Actually, I referred to a photo and drew a larger sketch with more detail than is visible here. I later shrunk it for perspective.

      Delete
  6. Got many words like THEMED, FAIR PLAY, KINDER, PHILATELIC, OUNCE, AGAIN, STROLL, I-SPY, GNASH, HEIST, MADELINE, DIRECTED, BALANCER, LABELS, RELATE and a few others at first glance and only mild cerebration.

    Did not expect desi terms like CHINKARA, quite a topical term because of the court case h(a)unting Salman Khan and others and BENAMI.

    Re TIR in 21A, it is correctly spelt according to rules applied to Indian names. Long-sounding syllables in Indian names are to be spelt with 'I' and not 'ee'. E.g. Gita is correct and Geeta does not adhere to the rule. (CGR, Deepak, Kishore would give a smile.)

    Sitaram, Virendra, Tirtha and Kirtan are some examples. Well, adopting other spellings is individual choice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The first para above should end like this."........and after only some mild cerebration."

      Delete
    2. That court case is taking its own time ...

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    3. Your wordplay reminded of a Lata casette i had with the title 'Hunting melodies'

      Delete
    4. What is being dished out in the name of music these days, barring a very few exceptions, is nothing but 'Shunting Melodies'...

      Delete
  7. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all.

    Question on 2D
    Peacefulness of a man with appeal (6) {A} {HIM} {SA}

    How is this parsed ?

    Peacefulness = Defn
    Of = Link word
    A = A
    Man = Him ( I think Gridman does not like Man=him, hence the Q )
    Appeal = SA

    Is there a better way of parsing this ?


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. (the) man's been represented in two ways today. One as you wrote above and in:

      6 The man is beginning to trivialise robbery (5) HEIST (HE IS T)

      have seen HER & SHE for woman, so this one's fair I think.

      Delete
    2. Is "him" = 'man'? Or 'that man'?

      If I have said earlier that 'him' can only mean 'that man' and not 'man' but have used it here, my apologies.

      I might say that the book How to do Crosswords Better by May Abbott (Collins) has in a list at the back section:

      Man: he, him, male, mr; (Isle of) IoM

      But this does not - and cannot be - adduced as a defence. What do others think?

      Delete
    3. I'd say allow only: HE, male and IOM.

      Delete
    4. But Chambers has the following meanings:

      he: pronoun 1 a male person or animal already referred to.

      him: pronoun a male person or animal, the object form of he

      Delete
    5. The last time we discussed this ( I think was wrt woman=her ), the conclusion seemed to indicate that it we need to have 'a woman', 'that woman' , or 'woman's' to correctly indicate her. Will try and dig up the post

      Delete
    6. http://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.in/2013/04/no-10745-12-mar-13-sunnet.html had the discussion

      Delete
    7. wrt to my 10:14, Please ignore the 'appeal'

      Delete
  8. Deepak:

    Homophone clues always raise questions; you may have a point wrt your objection in 29a.
    I wrote a private mail to Kishore congratulating him for the excellent drawing in today's cartoon.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Another homophaone clue:

    21: BESTIR BE'S TIR, (or teer, arrow in Hindi). But it's not pronounced as Besteer?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghu,

      This was not a homophonic clue

      Delete
    2. My mistake. Sorry.

      I get Richard's point, but that's in case of proper names.

      Delete
  10. Shubh Ganesh Chaturthi to all fellow bloggers and their families!
    Excellent cartoon drawings, Kishore, and thank you, Gridman/Chaturvasi Sir for en enjoyable CW.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Does the labyrinth in the trunk of Lord Ganesh, as drawn by Kishore, signify anything? When his handiwork is involved, sky is the limit...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Eternity and Shunya, in the same breath, ...

      Delete
    2. Shunya reminded me of the all-time great hit Ae bhai, zara dekh ke chalo from Raj Kapoor's Mera Naam Joker (1970) penned by Neeraj, set to music by Shanker-Jaikishen duo.

      Haan baabu ye circus,
      Aur ye circus hai show tin ghanTe ka
      Pehla ghanTa bachpan hai dusra jawani hai
      Tisra budhapa hai
      Aur uske baad maa nahi baap nahi
      BeTa nahi beTi nahi tu nahi main nahi
      Ye nahi wo nahi kuchh bhi nahi rehta hai
      Rehta hai jo kuchh wo khali khali kursiyan hain
      Khali khali tambu hai khali khali ghera hai
      Bina chiDiya ka basera hai na tera hai na mera hai...


      May Kishore can give a very faithful, authentic rendition in English for the benefit of everyone...

      Delete
    3. Of course, how can I forget the voice of Manna Dey? No one else would have done justice to the song.

      Delete
    4. I have said I don't know Hindu but I will try...

      Haan baabu ye circus,
      Aur ye circus hai show tin ghanTe ka
      Pehla ghanTa bachpan hai dusra jawani hai
      Tisra budhapa hai
      Aur uske baad maa nahi baap nahi
      BeTa nahi beTi nahi tu nahi main nahi
      Ye nahi wo nahi kuchh bhi nahi rehta hai
      Rehta hai jo kuchh wo khali khali kursiyan hain
      Khali khali tambu hai khali khali ghera hai
      Bina chiDiya ka basera hai na tera hai na mera hai...

      My translation

      Yes man, this is circus
      And this circus lasts but three hours
      First hour is childhood
      Second is boyhood
      Third is old age
      And after that there is no mom, no dad
      No son, no daughter - not you nor me
      Neither this man nor that man exists
      Not a single soul lives
      Some do linger but they are just empty chairs
      ... ...
      ... ...

      (The last two lines I give up as I can make out only parts of it)

      Delete
    5. CV, please, never again claim to be ignorant of Hindi.

      The translation is faithful - in letter and spirit.

      Delete
    6. Nice job, CV

      Delete
  12. Copy pasted below is an e-mail from Arden

    Dear Colonel,
    I have launched a crossword App for Android phones today called
    CROSSCONNECT. The same could be downloaded from this link:

    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cross.connect&hl=en
    I would be very thankful to hear your comments and suggestions. Presently it can be used on Android phones only. Please send your comments to crossconnectapps@gmail.com

    Also please checkout:
    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cross-Connect/1407150762835296

    If you like the page, please indicate it. I would be very thankful if the links above are sent to other crossword enthusiasts and friends.

    Best Regards,
    A.R.Devanathan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I D/Ld it on my Nook and played around a little.

      Any detailed feedback must wait, I ama fraid.

      Delete
  13. The last 2 lines are something like -
    The tent is empty, the Ring is vacant,
    The nest is without any bird,
    It is neither yours nor mine....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, didn't see this post.

      Delete
  14. Deepak, sorry if I am going off-track again. But this could interest a lot of Netizens.

    I don't know how many TH readers noticed this headline. It should be of utmost interest and concern to all Internet-users.

    Govt. violates privacy safeguards to secretly monitor Internet traffic

    Besides the news content, I found something extraordinary - not necessarily inappropriate - I noticed the long sentences in the report. Maybe the technical contents necessitated it.

    The very first para contains a single sentence with over 70 words. The other paras are close competitors. Maybe media-watchers like CV and others could comment on this. I feel it could be a record of sorts.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Just to remind that the special is at 12:30

    ReplyDelete
  16. Kishore Ji,
    You have missed-out on another Hindi word TEER.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The given words are answers while teer/ tir is only a component of wordplay. Besides, as I noticed that the three words listed start with A, B and C, I thought I'd word it that way.

      Delete
  17. Typical grid from Gridman. One can grin like a Cheshire cat !!

    Et tu, Gridman? BESTIR Indian arrow--Tir-- Teer is more appropriate, if you must use an Indian word but Bestir is pronounce Bester (phonetically) Not a fair clue to non-hindi-speaking Indians or am I stirring a hornet's nest?
    Benami and Chinkara are admissible as, I'm sure, they have been democratically accepted by the OED? If not, they ought to be..

    ReplyDelete
  18. Post-blog script: After posting the above, read through the comments relating to Tir as teer. I seem to have echoes others' views. Richard's elaboration apart, in HInglish cryptics, such use can be justified phonetically, but I still feel (fil?) some hints apart from Hindi or Indian (pointers)arrows ? implied must be there. Of course, I do recognize the fact that The (H)Indu's is an Hi(E)nglish crossword and martinets like me can hee and haw !!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I reproduce an article from the Indian Express on English as it is spake in India as an example. Pardon me, Col, for the extra space hogged in the blog !!
    Musings on modern Indian English
    By K Sriram Published: 09th September 2013 07:03 AM Last Updated: 09th
    September 2013 07:03 AM
    What the Englishmen did to Indians for over two centuries, the Indians
    are now doing to their language with a vengeance, that too in a
    bewildering variety of shades and meanings.

    “English as she is spake”, used to be the phrase denoting “Queen’s
    English” that was sought to be propagated by the Oxford-Cambridge dons
    and the BBC to the rest of the world. As also by a select band of our
    own brown sahibs (Shashi Tharoor, for instance) who could hold their
    own in the language — both spoken and written.

    Of late, the offsprings of the brown sahibs have begun to speak with a
    Texan drawl that could put a blue-blooded Yankee to shame.

    Within the subcontinent, there are as many variations of spoken
    English as there are local lingos with each giving its own delicious
    flavour and touch to it. If its istation or ischool that’s heard
    frequently in the Hindi heartland, the Punjabis “my-ur” (measure)
    their “pli-er” (pleasure) in myriad ways. Be it their lions or loins!

    For a Malayali, “as” becomes “aass” and the “o” in his “office” and
    “college” gets a real boost (O-ffice and cO-llege).

    “Yes” and “Yums” and “Yuns” are of course the Intellectual Property
    (IP) Rights of the Tamils to describe the otherwise sedate alphabets
    “S”, “M” and “N”. “If your name is Yes Subramaniam, why do you always
    write No in the files that is sent down to you,” an exasperated
    Punjabi boss was once heard asking his Tamil assistant. Telugus —
    whether from Telangana or Seemandhara — seem to have something against
    the word “against”. Most of them cannot but pronounce it as
    “again-est”.

    For the Bengali, a pleasant stroll along the beach becomes a matter of
    “enjoying the bitch”.All his English vowels get rounded off to a
    uniform “o”, while consonants like “v” and “w” become “b”. So it is:
    “bhen I saw her bhutiful face, I was bholledobor...” Kashmiris
    routinely slip in an extra vowel in “structure” to make it
    “sutructure”.

    If you are offered “snakes” with “masala” tea at a hard-core
    vegetarian Gujarati’s house, don’t get alarmed. It’s just his special
    way of pronouncing “snacks” that all vegetarian Gujaratis consume with
    so much gusto, any time of the day or night.

    Why these delicious delicacies have such explosive sounding names like
    khakra, dhokla, fafda, handwa et al is a question asked by Kareena
    Kapoor in 3 Idiots that could well be the subject of a tantalising
    research!

    Some years ago, a first-generation Sikh settler in London used to tell
    his visitors from India that he could not quite make out what his kids
    were telling him in their heavily accented Cockney English. Parents of
    US-settled Indians face a similar dilemma today as they gamely try to
    “figure out” what is being conveyed to them over the phone/skype by
    their own offsprings or grandchildren from the US of A.

    That’s the price every “global Indian” perhaps needs to pay for the
    burgeoning globalisation.

    ReplyDelete

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