Saturday 19 October 2013

No 10908, Saturday 19 Oct 2013, Gridman

End of another fine round from Gridman. Yesterday someone was talking of the shortest clue, somewhere, and we have one at 29A today.

ACROSS
1   The rising times (8) MORNINGS [CD]
5   Slope disconcerted pacers (6) ESCARP* There are 7 more six letter words which can be formed with these 6 letters!
10 Cut with a singular cutting implement? (7) SCISSOR SCISSORs
11 Excitedly learns about love in Italian city (7) SALERNO {LEARNS*}{O}
12 Fixed leader of Naxalites and suffered (6) NAILED {N}{AILED}
13 It is fit for a queen in the retiring room (8) BEDCOVER [CD] Queen by itself cannot mean 'queen sized cot'.
15 Nervous characters among ousted gypsies (4) EDGY [T]
16 Gems in vehicle brought by black relatives (10) CARBUNCLES {CAR}{B}{UNCLES}
18 One is late for this examination (10) POSTMORTEM [CD] The enu should be (4-6)
20 Returning, I bag Romanian coins (4) BANI {BAN}{I}<=
23 Sending a virtual letter (8) EMAILING [E]
24 Former student’s revised manual (6) ALUMNA*
26 Vague idea to write about fish (7) INKLING {INK}{LING}
27 Head catching breath before one in Kenya’s capital (7) NAIROBI {N{AIR}OB}{1}
28 Gathers roaming angels (6) GLEANS*
29 0 (8) GOOSEEGG Shouldn't the enu be (5-3)?

DOWN
1   Explaining wrongly old university course in extraordinary springtime (15) MISINTERPRETING {MIS{INTER}PRETING*}
2   Coming down reportedly for checking (7) REINING (~raining)
3   Children on State’s top disputes (6) ISSUES {ISSUE}{S}
4   You finally left rogue wallowing in blood (4) GORE ROGuE*
6   Uniting made possible by special bonus (8) SPLICING {SPL}{ICING}
7   Landing by a royal competitor (7) ARRIVAL {A}{R}{RIVAL}
8   Strong patrician given to putting off (15) PROCRASTINATING*
9   Wrong blame’s overwhelming second radio model maker (9) ASSEMBLER {AS{S}EMBL*}{ER} Anno for ER not clear
14 Congratulate the man over time for sponsorship (9) PATRONAGE {PAT}{RON}{AGE}
17 U.S. oilmen produce a liquid mixture (8) EMULSION*
19 Leading sports journalist gets the French hamper (7) SHACKLE {S}{HACK}{LE}
21 Top opening into which a woman would let a hand go (7) ARMHOLE [CD] ? Why woman only? See comments.
22 Confederates run away from gatherings (6) ALLIES rALLIES
25 Serious about international circle (4) INTO {INT}{O}

66 comments:

  1. My misinterpretations procrastinated the solving. Enjoyed today’s CW.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 9 Wrong blame’s overwhelming second radio model maker (9) ASSEMBLER {AS{S}EMBL*}{ER} Anno for ER not clear

    I think the def was intended to be 'model maker' and radio gives the R. I have no idea about the surplus e.

    ReplyDelete
  3. After Swahili yesterday, we have Nairobi today. Nakupenda wewe, mzee!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another word in this puzzle which reminded me of Kenya was 5a. As you proceed from Nairobi to Lake Nakuru you pass the escarpment of the Great African Rift valley

      Delete
  4. Reminding everyone that tomorrow at 10:30 we will have the first Prize CW on Sunday Special. Instructions will be given along with the CW tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh! what is this about Colonel? Seems interesting .

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    2. OK I get it , Now I recall

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  5. After reading the Comment against 5a I am trying to anagram PACERS (without using any sw).

    ESCARP is already given.

    1. CAPERS
    2. SCRAPE

    I am leaving it to others to reach four other anagramsas mentioned above.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yeah, I agree with Deepak about the 2 clues: 13a queen itself does not indicate bed, I was thinking ER ad only got the word due to the other cross letters and 21d why should this be gendered again?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I felt the 'queen in the retiring room' did convey it in a cryptic way

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. CASPER - the friendly ghost
      PACERS - in cricket
      and
      PARSEC - in astronomy.

      No wonder Suresh calls me an anagram-lover.

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    2. Just noticed K has beaten me narrow on the latter two.

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    3. I heartily disagree with the use of the word narrow anywhere in my rather largeeconomy sized vicinity ;-)

      Delete
  8. Chambers defines top as
    a garment for the upper part of a person's (esp a woman's or child's) body;
    Have you heard of a man going to the shop to buy a 'top' for him?
    Have you seen any male models sporting 'tops'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As a small boy, I bought tops from shops to play with... :-)

      Delete
    2. hmmm, I read top opening as the top part of any garment, now that you refer to top as a particular kind of garment the it makes sense.

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    3. Richard @ 9:40
      ...string(s) attached or not ?!

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    4. MB 10:11 Of course! But tops in the other sense (as attire) too may have strings attached as part of fashion!

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    5. Well, I've a guitar for sale. In good condition. No strings attached !

      Delete
  9. Parsec, pacers

    And one that s/w may not generate:

    e-scrap !

    ReplyDelete
  10. The human brain (esp. that of certain individuals) is better than any computer!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gridman's crossies don't give much scope for discussion. Some indulgence for shop-talk please.

    Who's got the longest name as registered in this blog?

    Bhalchandra Pasupathy
    Raghunath Parthasarathy
    Lakshmi Vaidyanathan
    Venkatesh Prabhakar
    Mukundala Balasubramanyam
    Raju Umamaheswar

    MB takes the cake perhaps.

    I tried to create anagrams out of these names. Has anyone else tried?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You missed Shuchismita Upadhyay

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    2. Ladies first, MB ! Size of slice of cake will be in indirect proportion to length of name. So Ajay probably gets the largest slice!

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    3. But kishore ajay is only my first time......nevertheless, cake is always welcome....make it a rich chocolate truffle cake....tres bon...

      Delete
    4. Did I miss Pavalamani Pragasam and Raghunath Parthasarathy as well? Gayathri Sreekanth comes close but from a distance :-). Rangaswami Devanathan is also a contender, but he is known by a different name here.

      Delete
    5. @CV sir
      I have not tried to create anagram out of my name .Now after seeing your comment I got tempted ,used a sw and got this, though meaningless but funny
      "A Vandalism Ayah Think" .

      Delete
    6. If add my family name , I will take away the cake from MB Sir :)

      Delete
    7. Richard, you did count Rags in the first list too. A second image in a photograph is usually called a phantom image, I think. Nice to have just had a long conversation with you. You are a master debater !

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    8. LV: - I AM SHAKY VALIANT HAND.

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    9. Kishore, reading your comment, I bit my tongue!

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    10. Should both the above comments be read together ? ;-)

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    11. Hahaha! Nice one.
      Maybe it will be after I cross 60 .Not now :)

      Delete
    12. Agree with Mr Jaisinghani from Noida

      Delete
  12. 29A. Same doubt as Deepak. I do not think Goose egg can be written as a single word

    ReplyDelete
  13. There is clue number problem in today's IXL cwd.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since corrected and uploaded again.

      Delete
    2. 14 is always unlucky. It had become 13. But luckily, I could spot that shift in time. Last week (or the week before that) too there was a clue initially missing or wrongly numbered which I kept pending and when I finished the remaining and looked for it, it had appeared.

      Delete
  14. The clues were boring.... I broke my head to do one which i didnt get ittill the very end.....and submitted it in disgust

    ReplyDelete
  15. I always wondered why they called it a dashcam. Now I understand. All these drivers seem to be dashing characters !

    http://www.youtube.com/embed/5RAaW_1FzYg?autoplay=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0&showinfo=0

    ReplyDelete
  16. 13 A - BED COVER - Is two letter word or one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Checked Wordweb and Free Dictionary, both give it as a single word - BEDCOVER

      Delete
  17. Of the 35 names in the IXL leader board 15 are from Bangalore!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Logistics wise, easier to hold the final in Bangalore

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    2. Congrats to Deepak for maintaining his position

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    3. Do the earlier standings also exist somewhere along with the latest so that we can study the ups and downs?

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    4. The link to the individual weekly standings as well as the overall combined standings can be found on the right side of the Leader Board page.

      Delete
    5. Maybe you can have a Mini S&B wherever the finals are held, keeping in view that several persons in the list 'belong' to THCC

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    6. R1 standing: http://www.crypticsingh.com/indian-crossword-league-2013/leaderboard-r1/
      R2 standing: http://www.crypticsingh.com/indian-crossword-league-2013/leaderboard-r2/
      Overall standing: http://www.crypticsingh.com/indian-crossword-league-2013/leaderboard/

      Links are on the right side on LEADERBOARD page

      Delete
    7. Congrats, Mohsin, on topping Round 2 and winning the prize

      Delete
    8. Ama, baDe chhupe rustum nikle, yaar !

      Delete
  18. And to think I had one of the longer names! Of course, if I expand my initials the space here may not be sufficient and in any case I do not want to end up with a small piece of cake! While filling up forms (where they specifically ask with expanded initials) I overshoot.

    LV- Shaky valiant... one before 60 & the other after 60!

    ReplyDelete
  19. A laggard that I am ! What is this "SW" ? CV Sir mentioned it @ 9:02 and LV @ 10:56 Is it something one can buy it ?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Tops are worn by people who do not wish to remain topless.

    ReplyDelete
  21. 27A Isn 't "Kenya 's capital " a simple give away? Perhaps just capital would have suffixes.
    And yes, I was ruling out goose egg initially thinking the enu would then be (5, 3).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed! 'Capital' might have sufficed. However, Kenya's capital is helpful to young solvers in remembering and brushing up eography! And who knows, it might trigger nostalgia in some of the solvers! Mere 'capital' may have sent them scurrying to make more of it.
      I do agree that the clue is rendered easy. In many CWCs that I take part my clues are rarely found faulty but the criticism is that they are not hard!
      I agree that the enu 29a must have been 5,3 or 5-3. An error that occurred in peculiar circumstances, it is regretted.

      Delete

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