Enjoyed a day at the "Double Pangram Circus" with Sunnet today.
ACROSS
1 River houses, West provided, for a former spouse (2-4) EX-WIFE {EX-{W}{IF}E}
4 Means of transport for the young, obtained from top youth congress leader, within a short time (8) TRICYCLE {TRIC{Y}{C}{L}E} Initially I was wondering how to fit R.... Baba in here!
10 Illustration of hysterical England at the beginning (9) ENGRAVING {ENG}{RAVING}
11 Containing gold supplied by Maurice (5) AURIC [T]
12 Hack a man clutching gold shilling (5) HORSE {H{OR}{S}E}
14 Persistent refusal by bridge partners to start playing (7) NONSTOP {NO}{NS}{TO}{P}
16 Almost rest on a beast (4) LION {LIe}{ON}
19 Some closet extremists communicate using a cell phone (4) TEXT [T]
21 Dress a large bird from the east, after taking a fee upfront (7) COSTUME {COST}{UME<=|
24 Start to signal, adopting oriental pattern, with spaces in between (4,5) OPEN WEAVE {OPEN} {W{E}AVE}
25 Register it back with a resident of the Sundarbans (5) TIGER {TI}{GER}<=
26 Fool king with a different side (5) CLOWN C(-r+l)LOWN
27 Kit’s joke found by soldiers in Ethiopia (9) EQUIPMENT {E{QUIP}{MEN}T}
28 Find completed record in the front (8) DISCOVER {DISC}{OVER}
29 Honourable circle found within some small medieval tournament (6) JOUSTS {J{O}UST}{S}
DOWN
1 Does this large animal become burdensome when pale? (8) ELEPHANT [CD]
2 Hesitation in engaging in making a bet (8) WAGERING {WAG{ER}ING}
3 Wafer, at first, floating on a sheet of water (5) FLAKE {F}{LAKE}
5 Plaything to tease an attractive person (3,4) RAG DOLL {RAG} {DOLL}
6 Defends studies around the site of the Vijayanagar empire (9) CHAMPIONS {C{HAMPI}ONS}
7 Greek enchantress nearly takes us to a public spectacle (6) CIRCUS {CIRCe}{US}
8 Once worried of Parisian scramble (6) ENCODE {ONCE*}{DE}
9 Large crown in ringmaster’s province (3,3) BIG TOP {BIG} {TOP}
15 Hewed teak, collected by a party, to demonstrate a martial art (9) TAEKWONDO {TEAK*}{WON}{DO}
17 Catch and throw entertainers in jail using right legs (8) JUGGLERS {JUG}{R+LEGS}*
18 Pledges to marry alien held in stocks (8) BETROTHS {B{ET}ROTHS}
20 Snare, Zee set, for a swinging bar in the air (7) TRAPEZE {TRAP}{ZEE*}
21 Quebec supports revolutionary means of money transfer (6) CHEQUE {CHE}{QUE}
22 Obligatory cross seen around church (6) FORCED {FOR{CE}D}
23 Zambia’s topless stars? They amount to nothing (6) ZEROES {Z}{hEROES}
25 Blood group of pet, you for the most part, treated (4,1) TYPE O {PET+YOu}*
Not to take away attention from Sunnet's wonderful puzzle, but for information of those who might be interested:
ReplyDeleteOne of my favourites on the puzzle circuit, Josie Faulkner, passed away on Friday. In spite of advanced years, she was mentally one of the youngest persons I knew. She was a really nice lady. I had a soft corner for her. I used to love her puzzles and specially the Knight's Tour ones. And when she found out that I was having difficulty in doing them since I was colour-blind, she went that extra mile to send me a copy of the puzzles removing the need for colour recognition. Only a kind and considerate soul would have thought of such niceties.
If anyone here is interested in doing any of her Knight's Tour puzzles, please let me know at kishoremrao@hotmail.com
Here’s one of her puzzles:
The letters A, D, E, J, M, N, O, V and Z each represent a different digit between 0 and 9. (One digit is not used.)
DAVE, ZENA, JOE and MO are all square numbers. Can you find them?
2401, 5184, 961, 36 :)
DeleteThat's right, Mohsin
Deleteand 7 the so called lucky number is missing.
I felt EQUIPMENT too was one of today's theme words.
ReplyDeleteI thought so too initially but didn't put it in as it's too generic
Delete4 Means of transport for the young, obtained from top youth congress leader, within a short time (8) TRICYCLE {TRIC{Y}{C}{L}E} Initially I was wondering how to fit R.... Baba in here!"
ReplyDeleteYou can do it, if you roll up your sleeves first
Fantastic puzzle. After ages I sat through and completed in a go.
ReplyDeleteI, as one who has known THC from the first puzzle, am so happy that the puzzle has come a long way since its inception.
ReplyDeleteYears ago a crossword solver and an aspiring setter after retirement persuaded the Editor of the paper to introduce the feature. He sent in his puzzles and the paper published them. It must have been just an affair between the setter and the solver: the editors themselves little concerned about the feature apart from giving space to it.
It took several decades before the feature really blossomed into a respectable and well-endeared one - thanks to the entry of setters who - unbidden by the editors but probably in the know of current developments such as pangrams, double pangrams, themes, Ninas, clue acrostics,etc, thanks to the existence of crossword blogs, message boards and so on, decided to go the extra mile to present well-crafted puzzles.
On the international scene there is competition to attract puzzles. I understand that the NYT has just enhanced the payment to a week-day 15x15 NYT puzzle to $300. A competitor immediately enhanced their pyament to $301. How I wish I could create an acceptable NYT puzzle!
Setting for the NYT shouldn't be too much of a problem. There is an Indian setter (Mangesh Sakharam Ghogre) from Mumbai on the panel of The LA Times which is reproduced in the TOI on weekdays.
DeleteSunnet transported me to the world of Galliano's Circus, a memory from Enid Blyton times.
ReplyDeleteMost enjoyable CW and a double pangram at that. As CV said all setters are going the extra mile and we, setters, are treated nicely. In addition to thanking TH,CV (for his efforts at improving) and the steers, we (on behalf of learners) have to thank the blog & Col. for enlightening and keeping us updated.
ReplyDeleteAs a coincidence, Chennai edition carrieas an article on Vijayanagar empire under the CW.
ReplyDeleteTypos in my 9.27-
ReplyDeleteread 'solvers' in stead of 'setters' & 'setters' in stead of 'steers'. How can I be asleep after solving the nice CW?
Enjoyable one from Sunnet. Went back to the days of the Great Russian Circus. You see circuses now, only in small towns, losing place to other forms of entertianment.
ReplyDeleteMost engrossing, enthralling and entertaining puzzle from Sunnet !!! Found NE corner a bit tough. Missed out first half of 13A. Could get only POUND. As for 9D, I was all at sea to link 'large crown' with 'ring master's province ! Missed this too. A centum eluded me by a whisker !
ReplyDeleteI recently saw a circus ad in a Bangalore paper. Features listed included 'fire proof tent'. The memories of the Bangalore circus fire still haunt.
ReplyDeleteVery good puzzle - thanks, Sunnet!
ReplyDeleteAnd fascinating and very informative exchanges between CV Sir, Kishore, Colonel and all the others.
Many thanks and a very good morning.
Col Sir,
ReplyDelete24 A : OPEN WEAVE underlined link is not responding.
Rectified
DeleteThe letters A, D, E, J, M, N, O, V and Z each represent a different digit between 0 and 9. (One digit is not used.)
ReplyDeleteDAVE, ZENA, JOE and MO are all square numbers. Can you find them?
V=0, E=1, D=2, M=3, A=4, Z=5, O=6, N=8, J=9, AND 7 is not used.
Solution how I arrived at the answer in the next post
solution: A square number can end only in 0,1,4,5,6 and 9. It will not end in 2,3,7 and 8. So A,E and 0 can be only from 1,4,5,6,9. We have to rule out 0 in this case as a square of a number ending in 0 will give rise to two zeroes at the end and in our problem no last two letters are same.
ReplyDeleteThe two digit square numbers are 16,25,36,49,64 and 81. So M=1,2,3,4,6 or 8
Since O is appearing as the middle number in JOE, O has to be 1,4,5,6 or 9. We have to find 3 digit square numbers which has 1,4,5,6 or 9 in the middle and two different numbers in the beginning and in the end. They are 256, 841 and 961 .
Now we have to find four digit square numbers such that the second number and 4th number are same in the other square number (E and A) and they must be from 1,4,5,6 or 9 (since they are squares). And no two digits should repeat in the same number. The square numbers which obey these rules are 1936, 2401, 2601, 2916, 4096, 5184, 5476, 7569, 7921, 8649 and 9604. The pairs that obey the rule that the second and fourth should be interchanged are 2401/5184 and 1936/8649. One of the last number is common for the last number of three digits. ( By looking at these and the possible 3 digit numbers 256, 841 and 957 we can infer that 2401 and 5184 are the two numbers that represent DAVE and ZANE, that leaves JOE as 961 and MO as 36. So ANSWER is : D=2, A=4, V=0, E=1, Z=5, N=8, J=9, O=6, M=3
Well done, Renga.
DeleteVariety is the spice of cryptic crosswords. Something offbeat by Sunnet who has netted sunnily a beautiful pangram. Haven't we come a long way CV from where you started? what would you call this pleasure of having completed a tricky cryptic, in terms of sensuality ? cryptosmic?
ReplyDeleteKishore: Where do you get the time to try various puzzles on line? I'll ty and have a go at the recommended puzzle-- again in the interest of variety.
I used to do many at Mindsport at first, and a Yahoo group called Puzzleteasers later.
DeleteMay be a coincidence. Just below, today's Crossword (in print edition), there is an article on Vijayanagara Empire.
ReplyDeleteJust to add my comment on the choice of words. Something I struggle with. It appears as though lots of effort has gone into just that. Very fascinating. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback everyone. Thanks to Kishore for test solving & patiently putting up with multiple iterations that one particular clue went through.
ReplyDeleteCostume now has the dubious distinction of being the first word to be repeated in one of my published CWs
So, you are well 'dressed'!
ReplyDeleteLike a chicken
Delete:-)
ReplyDeleteNice puzzle. Quite an entertaining one.25,27a &6,21d thoroughly enjoyed.Very happy today, having cracked all.Thank u Sunnet.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent cartoon by Kishore, punning on the word 'zeroes'. Seeing the absence of comments, its impact appears to have gone overhead.
ReplyDeleteMade by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Zero, aka Mitsubishi A6M or Navy Type 0, was a fighter aircraft, a single-seat, low-wing monoplane. It was used with great effect by the Japanese during World War II. Although Allied forces code-named the aircraft “Zeke,” it was popularly called the Zero, a term derived from one of its Japanese names - Reisen Kanjikisen (Type Zero Carrier-based Fighter Airplane), abbreviated Reisen. The production began in 1940, which marked the 2,600th anniversary of the ascension to the throne of Japan’s legendary first emperor, Jimmu, hence the “zero” designation.
Zero went on to become the stuff of legent, appearing in every major naval battle in the Pacific Theatre. Many Zeros were converted to kamikaze craft in the closing months of the war.
In last para, for 'legent' read 'legend'.
DeleteThese planes were used with telling effect during the attack on Pearl Harbour.
Thanks. Btw, nice pun on overhead. Yes, zeroes were overhead
DeleteRemember reading about Zeroes in II WW comics {these comics were smaller and thicker the usual (A 4?) ones featuring DC comics}
DeleteYes, they were smaller in size. I have several of them. Two brands, Commando and War comics
DeleteZeroes certainly went over my head though I wondered what they meant when I saw the cartoon. I should have asked for details. Thank you Venkatesh & Kishore.
ReplyDelete