Thursday, 21 November 2013

No 10936, Thursday 21 Nov 2013, Gridman


ACROSS
1   Made a come-back and was elected (8) RETURNED [DD]
6   Head of police cut off sound (4) PLOP {P}{LOP}
9   A day opening is coming (6) ADVENT {A}{D}{VENT}
10 Daring girl left worker (7) GALLANT {GAL}{L}{ANT}
13 I am a droll, crazy animal (9) ARMADILLO*
14 Spirits in general (one follows another) (5) GENII {GEN}{1}{1}
15 Poor writer to break into the system (4) HACK [DD]
16 One difficult task CN Tower builders had, for example (1,4,5) A TALL ORDER [C&DD]
19 What one might do manually to attract attention (5,1,4) RAISE A HAND [CD]
21 Drat! That means a word has been omitted (4) DASH [DD]
24 Problem child? (5) ISSUE [DD]
25 Would a tired laundryman look like this? (6-3) WASHED-OUT [CD]
26 Woman, woman, woman (4,3) LADY EVE {LADY} {EVE}
27 Blame one politican’s SUV (6) IMPUTE {1}{MP}{UTE}
28 Unattractive feature of fight with troop leader (4) WART {WAR}{T}
29 Mired – up to the patallae (4-4) KNEE-DEEP [C&DD]
 
DOWN
2   Finish off Eastern rodents mostly spread over an area (7) ENDEMIC {END}{E}{MICe}
3   Completely changes soft objectives held by university (6) UPENDS {U}{P}{ENDS}
4   Gain stigma from plant disease (3,6) NET BLOTCH {NET} {BLOTCH}
5   Do try to catch girl out of sight (5) DOGGO {DO}{G{G}O}
7   Fifty got to be informed (7) LEARNED {L}{EARNED}
8   Chattier para about the church leader’s residence (12) PATRIARCHATE*
11 Kingdom of Spain taking in good Indian soldiers (6) LEGION {LE{G}{I}ON}
12 Not how men who have adopted children are called (7-2-3) FATHERS-IN-LAW [CD]
17 Big electoral victory is ground-breaking (9) LANDSLIDE [DD]
18 Hold in the highest regard one coming out of trance (6) REVERE REVERiE
20 In pressed drink, we hear, one has an advantage (7) INSIDER {IN}{SIDER}(~cider)
22 Ardent supporter of astop’ordered by the French (7) APOSTLE {A}{STOP*}{LE}
23 Outside one church, broken headpiece is put in a pile (6) HEAPED HEADPiEce*
25 Cause destruction with cracker-burst- backed car’s gone! (5) WRECK {W}{CracKER*}

68 comments:

  1. Sujatha, please go to yesterday's blog to see clarifications in respect of doubts expressed by you along with a word play based on your name ;-)

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    Replies
    1. Sujatha, with the response you got upon your quiet entry, you must be feeling on Vaanmughil Nine, right? ;-)

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    2. But seriously, looking at the time stamp of your post, either you are in a different time zone or using midnight electricity to post

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    3. The time post ref is to Sujatha's post at 1243 am

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    4. I have a 11 month old child. I do crosswords when I find the time - usually, after he goes to sleep. Some days, I just stack up the crosswords from previous days and check them when I can. Thanks, will check yesterday's blog post. I managed 5 today. :-)

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  2. People familiar with the Kilroy gag used in the cartoon, please let me know

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    Replies
    1. I have actually seen one at USAFB Dover at the HQ of the Airlift Command

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    2. For those who might have a chance to visit the place, look on the wall at the entrance to the ATC tower.

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  3. Good puzzle.

    29A - 'Kilroy was here' is a favourite graffito in western countries.

    That reminded me, here's the latest piece of research. Men have larger noses because they need more oxygen.

    By the way, Kishore, when is Helen arriving?

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    Replies
    1. Hell, e'en I don't know

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    2. Tomorrow early morning is the latest update. Hope she is more merciful than her two immediate predecessor, mild in India but horrible in Philliphines. I only hope she does not launch a thousand ships ...

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    3. Does she come dancing showing a lot of one leg?

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    4. That is something any of our members based in the Northern Circars can let us know tomorrow morning.

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    5. CV 9:03 - The other Helen was discussed earlier
      here and there a year ago.

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  4. First chance I've had since I arrived to sit down with the crossword. And very enjoyable it was! Always good to start off a visit with gridman.

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    Replies
    1. Welcome back. Can you attach a video showing how you managed to convey the word 'rat' to the Malayali mechanic ?

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    2. Hi Dave, nice to have you back.

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    3. You must be having megabytes of megapixels of Meg's wedding to share.

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  5. My rat mime consisted of lots of teeth gnashing! And when I get back to Bangalore (Monday hopefully) the official photos should be ready!

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  6. 29A - Isn't there a typo there? I guess it should be patellae...

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    Replies
    1. Yes, THC regularly commits mistakes either because of editing or the lack of it.
      No amount of writing to the Readers' Editor has been of any help.
      If the newspaper head starts taking action against subs for their mistakes, then soon they may not have subs at all to carry on the day-to-day work.

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    2. They have improved. A letter wrong is better than swallowing a whole clue like they did yesterday. Reminds me of the boss complimenting a newly appointed secretary (solely on the basis of her looks) with: "Your typing is improving. You have committed only 5 mistakes in the first line today"

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  7. Today's paper tells me Karnataka's Eldorado may be back on the election circuit, in the newer version !

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Anteaters on his mind!
    Gridman gave us PANGOLIN the day before and ARMADILLO today.

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    Replies
    1. As the Colonel observed yesterday, it was a zoo. The Armadillo probably escaped from the previous puzzle.

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    2. I am wearing only a veshti. If I were wearing pants, maybe the anteater may have crawled up and ultimately found its way to my mind.

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    3. Why can't he crawl up if you are wearing a veshti?

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    4. Because ants are in the pants only! Ha,ha, ha!

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  10. Chess, being on the horizon as of now, prompts me to ask if there are any Ultima(Baroque) or Arimaa players on this forum?

    I have recently been in touch with the inventor of Arimaa and am keen to try it out with a beginner like me.

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  11. The solution for the clue that was missing yesterday was ARRESTS as given in the Comments section.
    Here is an instant DIY clue-writing exercise.
    Write your own clue for ARRESTS.
    A prize of Rs 1 lac will be given if any clue submitted is the same, word for word, as what Gridman wrote.

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  12. CV Sir,
    Not the one given by Kishore in yesterday's first comment?

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  13. Obviously,I think! Otherwise Kishore may be richer by a lac oc rupees by now.

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  14. Arts containing endless stoppage leads to apprehensions (7)

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  15. My memory has gone for a toss!
    They say that if you do a crossword a day you can keep Alzeimer's at bay (incidentally if you click on that ad with a pathetic-looking man you have to keep on reading page after page without really knowing what they came to say) but I don't believe it!
    The above instant DIY CWE - announced thoughtlessly - is cancelled and the prize offer is withdrawn.

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  16. Of course, like Padmanabhan you may if you wish submit clues for the general audience.

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  17. That is of course what I did- I knew I was nowhere near.
    Now I have to unscramble 'DIY CWE'.- On going thro' CV's earlier post CWE is Clue Writing Exercise. Then, is DIY 'Do It Yourself'?

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  18. Captures rarest design by son (7)

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  19. Apprehends detentions (7)}

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    Replies
    1. The last symbol should be ignored ...

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  20. Timeless restarts could be stops (7)

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  21. Because ants are in the pants only! Ha,ha, ha!
    lol .soft (p) ants?

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  22. Stops revolutionary from best serration (7)

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  23. One Rupee worth of insect secretion? No, thanks.

    :P

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    Replies
    1. A good one. I generally use the spelling 'lakh' but used the variant here on a rare and mischievous instance!

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  24. Again, a masterpiece of a crossword by Gridman. 14 and 15 across (GENII and HACK) immediately brought in homonym- kind of - GENE HACKMAN- the actor who featured in The Chamber-- a movie that I saw just the day, based on the novel by John Gresham. a gripping flick, exposing the obsessions of KKK against the coloreds and the Jews..

    Clue of my day: FATHERS-in-LAW -- well-ado(a)pted for a cryptic crossword.

    Talking of ants, send that ant-killer over to my house which is infested with the termites of the black, harmless variety crawling all over .

    Any more visits to the zoo? Gridman?

    Again, CV, the Readers Editor of the Hindu had waxed eloquent a couple of days ago about the extent to which their Editor goes to make the paper readable !! Laughable? Do they ever care about feedbacks?

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  25. Kishore has already had his hand full with it!

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    Replies
    1. Careful, Paddy, on the words you use. These crossword fiends tend to interpret 'it' as SA.

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    2. Sh! it means something else...

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    3. Sweet hot Indian toffee, not perfumed Indian sugar syrup

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  26. I read somewhere that some T leaders were asking for a share of whatever comes from the KG basin. I suppose that includes Helen.

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  27. Kishore 9:00 I only hope she does not launch a thousand ships ...

    She may 'Troy' to launch thousands of hardships...

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    Replies
    1. Is par for Helen to have Paris* in knots, without troying

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  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  29. Kishore - a thousand pardons! I was not aware ki aap bhi shairana tabiyat ke hain! What a delight for me to learn of this, having grown up in Lucknow, myself. Urdu and the arts associated with it are very special for me.
    Richard, I hope when I am in Bangalore, next, I can meet up with fellow bloggers, and we get a chance to hear you.
    Regards and Good evening to all.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. tabiyat hai, mizaaz hai,
      akhbaar mein bhi chapa hai,
      par ye buDDhe aashiq ka,
      shaayri ka kitaab gayab hai

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    2. I used to write about 30 years back and my premarital verse book went underground after marriage. The above was composed impromptu just now

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    3. I learnt Urdu from Jamia Millia, Delhi, but nowhere close to the Lakhnawi standards

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    4. Rita, much water has flown down Ganges, Cauvery and Netravati since then. What you might hear now could be cacophony.

      It would be nice if you could make it to one of the S&B meets in Bangalore in the near future, with other new members in the nearby cities.

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    5. Kishore, during my banking days, I had once tried my hand at shaayari at a friend's party.

      An Urdu-speaking friend said, Shaayari ko chaaraa samajhke har gadhe charne lage, Urdu zubaan aati nahin, shaayari bakne lage...

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    6. How did you know I supported the Democrats !?

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    7. Even U.S.is not out of bounds for you:-)

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  30. Btw, Rita mam, did you try our Hindi cryptic crossword?

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  31. It is available at
    http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2013/10/hindi-cryptic-crossword.html

    ReplyDelete

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