Saturday, 5 October 2013

No 10896, Saturday 05 Oct 2013, The Phantom

Stuck for a couple of Annos.

ACROSS
1   In essence locals relive prophecy of Muslim leader (6) CALIPH {loCAls}{reLIve}{proPHecy}
4   Glutton: chap gobbling up kind of pumpkin? The other way round (8) GOURMAND {GOUR{MAN}D}
10 Slipshod woman’s robe is short; revealing edges of nylon underskirt (9) NEGLIGENT {NEGLIGEe}{N}{T}
11 Deride son spending time in bed with females (5) SCOFF {S}{COt}{FF}
12 Embroidered loop shown in page ninety-nine of book (5) PICOT {P}{IC}{OT}
13 Note bodyguard’s grabbing a rest (9) REMAINDER {RE}{M{A}INDER}
14 Evergreen shrub, in vessel, not alien to former rulers of Iran (5) SHAHS {S{HeAtH}S}
16 Artillery men, indefinite number, in a ball (8) ORDNANCE {OR}{D{N}ANCE} Why indefinite, just number would do? See comments.
19 Attractive secretary, despatching letters, removed outsized page earlier (8) TEMPTING {TEMP}{(p)(os)TING}
20 Peasant left following oppression (5) YOKEL {YOKE}{L}
23 Maintenance for one, out of marriage without love and work (9) ALLOWANCE {ALL{O}{W}iANCE}
24 Energy required after a breather, to charge (5) LUNGE {LUNG}{E}
26 Grand beginning! New Year’s more cheerful (5) GAYER {G}{YEAR*} This brought a smile to my face after yesterdays heated discussions!
27 Versatile lawyer’s back, doubly fit (9) ADAPTABLE {AD<=}{APT}{ABLE}
28 Unable to distinguish musical pitch, denote a fortissimo improperly (4-4) TONE-DEAF {DENOTE+A+F}*
29 Lacking strength, charge lost blood endlessly (6) FEEBLE {FEE}{BLEd}

DOWN
1   Ape going round an umbrella (6) CANOPY {C{AN}OPY}
2   Leading lawyer’s opinion given in court, has sound judgement (5) LOGIC {L}{O}{G}{I}{C}
3   Celebrate in Jaipur? Not unless we do this … (5,3,4,3) PAINT THE TOWN RED [GK] The Pink City will then become Red !
5   Beat and dismissed Gavaskar, initially, with guile (8) OUTSMART {OUsT}{SMART} My anno is not correct as 'oust' leads to dismiss and 'S' is from Sunil ? (Addendum - {OUT}{SM}{ART} - See comments)
6   Obstacle stopping European’s path in reckless game (7,8) RUSSIAN ROULETTE {RUSSIAN ROU{LET}TE}
7   Shunning key, cracking Da Vinci Code, detective departs (9) AVOIDANCE {A}{DA VINci COdE}
8   Start of Djokovic–Federer set is delayed (8) DEFERRED {D}{FEDERER*}
9   List includes first Rajdhani train (5) LEARN {LEA{R}N}
15 Hard climb for antelope going over a road, in this mountain range? (9) HIMALAYAN {H}{IM<=}{ALAY{A}N<=}
17 Fair review of painting in exhibition (8) STRAIGHT {S{TRA<=}IGHT}
18 Native Americans return silver present, being forbidden (8) ONONDAGA {ON)(ON}{DA}{GA}<=
21 Fence erected beside a lake in country (5) NEPAL {NEP<=}{A}{L}
22 Oppressive, perpetually, in middle of desert (6) SEVERE {deS{EVER}Ert}
25 Book by Anne, oddly showed up rich man (5) NABOB {BoOk By AnNe}<=

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65 comments:

  1. Kishore5 October 2013 at 08:30

    16a N is used in algebra for an unknown number
    26a “This brought a smile ...”
    What about 10 and 11 across ? ;-)
    5d dismissed =OUT Sunil Manohar ART = guile

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore5 October 2013 at 08:33

      Stuck for a couple of Annos.

      Only one, 5d, I think. This line was probably typed when you had two pending :-)

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 08:52

      10 and 11A brought a guffaw and not a smile!

      Delete
  2. Shrikanth5 October 2013 at 08:39

    Good puzzle. Though not very convinced with 5D. 10A immediately brought a smile as you said Kishore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore5 October 2013 at 08:48

      Agree it is a good puzzle. Poor Phantom might have to phace phlak for 11a, if yesterday is any indication ...

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 08:53

      Same here regarding 5D

      Delete
    3. VJ5 October 2013 at 08:54

      11A: My only objection is, "derision" there is undeserved :D

      Delete
    4. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 08:55

      VJ 8:54

      Liberal parents huh ?

      Delete
    5. Shrikanth5 October 2013 at 09:08

      LOL VJ 8.54

      Delete
    6. Kishore5 October 2013 at 09:13

      The multiple partner ref in 11a reminded me of two things:

      One, a joke sent by a friend when Tiger Woods achieved notoriety and a possibly iconic status: I spent 25$ on a DVD titled 'Eighteen holes I have played at' by Tiger Woods. It was a waste of money. Turned out it was about golf.

      And then a certain governor toppled him from that iconic position with his geriatric exploits ...

      Delete
  3. raju umamaheswar5 October 2013 at 08:55

    NEPAL was a Phantom's clue for me. Fence_ PEN erected to a lake: Is Pen a fence? or used as
    a fence?

    Gavaskar was a century hit clue !

    I thought this was apuzzle set by either Sanalak or Gridman.

    Very decently set ! No need to resort to the device of the legendary Amjad Khan's dialogue !!

    ONONDAGA had to be gouged out of Google. Very un-native to me !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 09:00

      Yes it is. To confine in or as if in a pen

      Delete
    2. Kishore5 October 2013 at 09:04

      When large insects, amphibians and creepy crawlies get into our house, I am usually summoned to capture them and release them back into the wild. I got this experience when we used to live in the highly humid and tropical environs of Goa. My penmanship is legendary.

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan5 October 2013 at 09:16

      I am sure your real penmanship and punmanship are also legendary!

      Delete
  4. raju umamaheswar5 October 2013 at 09:01

    Kishore" You have brought the jut of the jaw of Amjad Khan very villainously out !! Kitna time lagaa re Samba?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore5 October 2013 at 09:08

      After I had seen the clip, noted the dialogue and selected the frame I wanted to sketch - about 10 minutes. I had to wait for help in colouring as I am unable to select colours on my own.

      Delete
    2. raju umamaheswar5 October 2013 at 09:11

      All this before 830 am? Amazing compulsion to beat the deadline !

      Delete
    3. Kishore5 October 2013 at 09:15

      The longest I have taken is probably the White House one, since I had to bring in many details, though mostly straight lines. That took about 25 minutes.

      Delete
  5. Padmanabhan5 October 2013 at 09:08

    Good engaging CW. So near yet so far in a few places. 5D ed? Unashamedly yes!

    Sunil Manohar... Middle name is mostly forgotten!

    11A- 'spending time in bed- 'cot' minus 't' is totally different yet correct. Bowled there. Clue written to bring smiles or scoffs? Awaiting Gridman's comment reg.10A!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Suresh5 October 2013 at 10:15

    Excellent crossword Mr. Walker.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Suresh5 October 2013 at 10:18

    PICOT reminded me of a discussion back in New Jersey days regarding the usage of IC for 99. 99 is denoted as XCIX, although freedictionary gives ic as well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 10:25

      99 reminded me of Toby Hudson's 99of9 position for Arimaa ...

      Delete
    2. Shrikanth5 October 2013 at 10:25

      It was pointed out to me by Colonel as well to me. You can see it appear on Monday.

      Delete
  8. Mukundala Balasubramanyam5 October 2013 at 10:55

    At last my starving is over, as predicted by you yesterday ! Thanks Phantom, for feeding me with so many Samosas today !! My score today 90% :) I too got stuck for a couple of Annos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. maradnusro5 October 2013 at 11:34

      Agree. Thanks The Phantom. Some relief for Samoa band.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 11:45

      Sundaram Sir, when did you migrate to the South Pacific? ;-)

      Delete
    3. Raghunath5 October 2013 at 13:02

      He migrated to the West to become Sundaram taking along with him the Samoan from yesterday.-:)

      Delete
  9. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 11:17

    Everyone gone off to the IXL? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 11:18

      I registered there but never got my Login ID and password

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 11:44

      I registered yesterday (as the registration was not open earlier). Today the puzzle came on around 10.35. When I tried to submit it at around 10.55, I got an error message. This happened 3 times. Then I took screenshots of the solution grid and the error message and sent it off to the contact us address. Keeping my fingers crossed.

      Delete
    3. Shrikanth5 October 2013 at 12:08

      Same here. Yet to receive password. But i should say that the puzzle is not all that great. Does it improve in quality with time?

      Delete
    4. VJ5 October 2013 at 12:12

      I thought the quality of puzzle was very poor. Every other clue was an anagram and reading the clues gave me a migraine.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 12:13

      I am sure it will get tougher. No point in scaring participants away in th firt round, I think ...

      Delete
    6. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 13:20

      Correction; I registered at 7am today morning. I did not get an email but my phone got the text almost immediately.

      Delete
    7. Suresh5 October 2013 at 14:04

      Just got time to do the simple cw. But the software is a pain to navigate

      Delete
    8. Shrikanth5 October 2013 at 18:31

      I recd the password too. By text

      Delete
  10. Mukundala Balasubramanyam5 October 2013 at 11:21

    Yesterday's discussion over "ESSENTIALLY" has helped me in solving 1A clue without much trouble ! Missed out 20,24A,6,18 and 21D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Abhi5 October 2013 at 11:52

    Liked the puzzle. Difficulty level was similar to Sankalak, Arden, Gridman etc. And nice cartoon. Very similar to Amjad except for the lower lip maybe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 11:59

      Your observation about the lower lip is absolutely correct. My preview committee advised me to retain it as it showed a certain rakishness. ;-)

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi5 October 2013 at 14:44

      Why, even the facial expression of Ajay Malken the other day was good.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 15:38

      Thlanks ...

      Delete
    4. Richard5 October 2013 at 16:26

      Maybe the problem with the lower lip was because Gabbar could never keep a stiff upper lip...:-)

      Delete
    5. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 18:15

      He lisped and said 'Tere hont mujhe de de, Thakur' Sounds quite a gay character, doesn't he?

      Delete
  12. Unknown5 October 2013 at 12:36

    Sorry! print edition clues were, very small. So, i could not attempt.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Chaturvasi5 October 2013 at 14:43

    II was out since the morning. Re the IXL puzzle. I have not seen it as yet. But from the sample puzzle I realised that this setter contributed to the in-flight magazine of an Indian carrier - I forget which - that I had seen during my air journeys. I didn't have too good an opinion of the puzzle back then.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 15:30

      Indian Airlines

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 15:43

      Exactly what I and Shuchi thought too. She too faces registration difficulties and a funny problem with a J, like I did. Further in the puzzle the word 'in' appeared whereas on the home page 'at' appeared in the same clue. I had read the clue with the in and was at odds since the answer was obvious and the fodder needed an at.

      Long back, IA magazine used to carry a puzzle by an IAS officer called Sanjay (Jha?) and later on I think he was substituted by this setter.

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 18:01

      Finally registered J problem seems universal

      Delete
    4. Anonymous5 October 2013 at 18:14

      It gets entered in the cell fine, but is not fully displayed. I have brought this to the notice of the organisers.

      Delete
  14. Padmanabhan5 October 2013 at 14:48

    What is this about a new puzzle, login,password etc. Would someone pl. explain how to get there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 15:07

      Padmanabhan

      Visit the following site

      http://www.crypticsingh.com/indian-crossword-league-2013/

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath5 October 2013 at 15:29

      I gave up trying to register on the site, tried twice with two different mobile numbers but never got the password to log in.

      Delete
    3. Chaturvasi5 October 2013 at 17:04

      I got it pronto.
      Did you check the I agree (to T and C) box?

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi5 October 2013 at 17:22

      Having to click on each cell to enter a letter is rather a pain.

      Delete
  15. Bhalchandra Pasupathy5 October 2013 at 14:52

    Very neat clues in a clever compilation with some hilarious surfaces.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Padmanabhan5 October 2013 at 15:39

    Thank you Col. I will give it a try and let you know.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Raghunath5 October 2013 at 18:02

    Peaceful day today.

    A couple of points: Re the clue involving Gavaskar, I felt that it was fair, because we have used abbreviations for Rajaji and NT Rama Rao earlier, and that I had pointed out to his initials, though obliquely. When there was a clue featuring 'Sunny'(one who is long forgotten and consigned to history) a few days back, Gavaskar a well known personality and having a visible presence in the media even today, might have been acceptable.

    The Jaipur clue is shown as GK? Unless it featured 'Pink' I thought it was a CD.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Col_Gopinath5 October 2013 at 18:50

    The reason was because one has to have the GK that Jaipur is 'The Pink city

    ReplyDelete
  19. Raghunath5 October 2013 at 18:58

    I think any CD involves knowledge of some kind, on which the basis the wordplay follows

    ReplyDelete
  20. Navneeth5 October 2013 at 20:20

    28A: Fortissimo should lead to FF. F is simply 'forte'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath5 October 2013 at 21:36

      Spot on. Careless of me not to have noticed it. Infact I wrote the clue just a couple of days back and sent it to TH as an altered clue

      Delete
  21. raju umamaheswar5 October 2013 at 21:23

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shuchi6 October 2013 at 01:18

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  22. Chaturvasi5 October 2013 at 21:50

    I even mentioned about this in my previous post and had asked CV for more details which he seems to have ignored.

    I am a reader as much as anyone else. I have no connection with this contest and so how can I be expected to give further details.

    I just brought it to the attention of my friends here.

    I registered myself merely to see what it is and to acquaint myself with this site as I do with anything that is crossword-related.

    I recognised the setter from his work elsewhere.

    I don't like the cluemanship nor the software.

    I have no intention of persisting with this. I have no idea of how Rs 5 lakhs can be won. Will it be distributed among many or will it be won by a single person?

    And who is sponsoring the prize money?

    I

    ReplyDelete
  23. raju umamaheswar6 October 2013 at 00:23

    Thanks. I appreciate. I only mentioned because you had introduced the site and was waiting for a follow-up response to my query. A response would have helped me refrain from even attempting to log in. I thought that this was a leagued group effort to solve. Sounds vague, as their script. The only aspect I liked was their Tagline coloure that are my signature ones as l love the combination of blue and white, like the logos of Barclays and Microsoft ,I only hope that there is no entry fee and all the rest ?

    Lets wait and see the response form other blogs and the rest of India. Would be interested ..

    ReplyDelete

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