Saturday, 23 November 2013

No 10938, Saturday 23 Nov 2013, Gridman


ACROSS
1   Coffee brought by the in-charge aboard wagon (7) ARABICA {ARAB{IC}A}
5   Engineer boy’s ultimate craze to whistle again (6) REPIPE {RE}{PIP}{E}
9   Large, almost wealthy, character in Hamlet (5) OSRIC {OS}{RICh}
10 Spies going over First Street find top part of spot dry (9) MOISTLESS Anno pending (Addendum - {MO{1}{ST}LES}{S} - See comments)
11 Magical child bearing weapons (7) CHARMED {CH}{ARMED}
12 Good-line drink matures (5,2) GROWS UP {G}{ROW}{S UP}
13 Chinese principle recalled in high school affirmations (5) OATHS {OAT<=}{HS}
14 Phasa also let loose the dog (5,4) LHASA APSO*
16 Dressed crazy (6,3) TURNED OUT [DD]
19 Drift in two articles (one French) about doctor (5) AMBLE {A}{MB}{LE}
21 Graduate caught in messy arrangement in diplomatic office (7) EMBASSY {EM{BA}SSY*}
23 Vehicle to almost support reversed vehicle (7) AUTOCAB ? Anno pending (Addendum - {AUTO}{kCAB<=} - See comments)
24 Such a person presents no beautiful aspect (4-5) UGLY-FACED [CD]
25 Swiss mathematician’s crazy rule encompassing constant (5) EULER {EUL{E}R*}
26 Private Secretary’s contributions in devotional songs (6) PSALMS {PS}{ALMS}
27 Sensing agitatedly they might be flapping in the wind (7) ENSIGNS*

DOWN
1   The result when a heavenly body’s ray hits you (1,5,2,3,3) A TOUCH OF THE SUN [CD]
2   Up-to-date, right direction given to sailor (7) ABREAST {AB}{R}{EAST}
3   Without which there can’t be any outgoes (7) INCOMES [CD]
4   A jolly ballyhoo about ailing mammal (9) ARMADILLO ARMAD{ILL}O Anno pending (Addendum - {A}{RM}{AD{ILL}O} - See comments)
5   Grieving Russian in government (5) RUING {RU}{IN}{G}
6   Hard part of a bone a poster set out (7) PETROSA*
7   Gymnastic exercise before second superior (5-2) PRESS-UP {PRE}{S}{S-UP}
8   A superb scooter dangled as bribe (1,3,2,8) A SOP TO CERBERUS*
15 With one leg on either side of a jockey’s seat, holding tips of tight reins (9) ASTRADDLE {A}{S{T}{R}ADDLE}
17 Artist, old star, meets the French crowds (7) RABBLES {RA}{BB}{LES}
18 “I have been half in love with __ Death” (Keats) (7) EASEFUL [GK]
19 Suitability of a training head (7) APTNESS {A}{PT}{NESS}
20 Things piled up in “in” rather than “out” (7) BACKLOG [CD]
22 A cook in the bounds of your recess talks endlessly (5) YACKS {Yo{A}{CK}uR} (Correction - {Your}{A}{CK}{recesS} - See comments)

39 comments:

  1. 23 Vehicle to almost support reversed vehicle (7) {AUTO}{(-k)CAB <-}

    4 A jolly ballyhoo about ailing mammal (9) ARMADILLO {A}{RM}{AD{ILL}O}

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We seem to be awash with pangolins and armadillos !

      Delete
    2. Speak of ants in the p**** as our friend commented...

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  2. Kishore, the representation of the face behind the bank counter in the cartoon wasn't exactly flattering...

    ReplyDelete
  3. 10 Spies going over First Street find top part of spot dry (9) {MO{1}[ST}LES}{S}

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sandhya, you seem to be able to crack any tough clue with ease and elan. What's the secret?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These were cakewalk for her, Richard. You should see her crack much tougher ones in other fora.

      Delete
    2. Oh, I wasn't aware of the feats in other fora. Kudos to her.

      Delete
    3. After the Col does the hard job of cracking the answers - I just annotate :P

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    4. Even Shuchi has complimented her several times for her extraordinary clue-cracking talent

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    5. @Kishore: Who is the one at the head of the Leaderboard?

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    6. Shuchi for Round 6, and Mohsin on overall basis. Mohsin drops in here one in a while.

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    7. To get complimented by the one in that position is no less...

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    8. I meant you - you are in the top few!

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    9. Oh, no. I've bombed a couple of times.

      I had thoght your question was a factual and not figurative one!

      Delete
    10. Sandhya is a superb solver , and she can be a fantastic setter also !

      Delete
  5. Congratulations ! Nice to hear you are expecting ;-) - post in yesterday's blog.

    A loaded comment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The load will be delivered after due gestation

      Delete
  6. 22 A cook in the bounds of your recess talks endlessly (5) YACKS {Yo{A}{CK}uR}
    A CooK
    in
    bounds of Your recesS = YS

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Coook or kook in Konkani referts to a vegetable presently in season called Chinese pototoes or koorka in Malayalam.

      Cook, as chess problem solvers, call it, is an undesirable feature in chess problems

      Delete
    2. It is a second possible solution to the problem that the setter never intended.

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    3. Chinese potatoes are seppankizhangu in Tamil.

      A little mushy when boiled in water but after the boiling if they are fried and some red chilli powder is sprinkled on them, theya re quite tasty.

      I don't enter the kitchen to help my wife but I might rarely peel the boiled vegetable licking my lips for what is to come!

      Delete
    4. I thought seppankizhangu was colocasia or arbi in Hindi. I have heard some Tamilians ref to this one as koorkakizhangu

      Delete
    5. Actually I got the equivalent terms from the Internet but then sometimes the online info could be wrong.
      Yes, I too wondered for a moment because seppankizhangu is not seasonal.
      But Koorkankizhangu may not be available all the time.
      I do remember my mother preparing kari from that vegetable but it is a long time since I had it.
      Thanks for your elucidation.

      Delete
  7. For the benefit of new members, the real-life incident mentioned in the cartoon is narrated in post @ 10:17 am HERE. Incidentally, it was in connection with the answer ROBUSTA, also in a Gridman creation.

    ReplyDelete
  8. One-ten-fifty...X.XXX

    Interpret the above as you will.

    ReplyDelete
  9. 4D : ANNO : {A}{RM}{AD{ILL}O}
    How is 'jolly' linked to RM please ?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congrats, Mohsin, for the hat trick!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Seppankizhangu IS colacasia. I think koorkankizhangu is a variety of it, but not as tasty or as easily cooked (it is slightly bigger in size)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope, kk is smaller. Malayalis are more familiar with it.

      Delete
  12. Could somebody help me with the following please?
    5A - Engineer - RE? How? Royal Engineer?
    12A - didn't understand the connection to the drink bit.
    19A - In general, are MB, MO, MP, DR all referring to a doctor? What are the expansions for MB, MO?
    17D - Where does RA come from?
    Thank you very much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sujatha,
      5A - RE is standard abbreviation for Royal Engineers (an army unit)
      12A - Drink = SUP check it out in dictionaries
      19A - MP is for Member of Parliament and not for doctor, the rest are. MB - Bachelor of Medicine, MO - Medical Officer
      17D - RA = Royal Academician = Artist

      Delete
    2. This blog is famous for offering help to solvers in understanding how crossword clues work.
      As I always say, before this a Yahoo group (now-defunct) and an Orkut group was generous in offering annos.
      While I appreciate the Col giving the above explanations, I would intercede to say generally that any solver trying to improve their skill must equip themselves with a good dictionary. Some work needs to be done in understanding the answers with the solutions published the next day. If that work doesn't yield results, help might be sought and there are many advanced solvers here who would readily come to aid.
      All the above abbreviations could easily be checked with a dictionary or even googling. As the Col has gently suggested, a dictionary lookup would have helped in getting to know that 'sup' has the meaning 'drink'.
      This is not to discourage solvers in asking questions but they must be such that some initial lookup has failed.

      Delete

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