Tuesday, 28 January 2014

No 10993, Tuesday 28 Jan 2014, Sankalak


The answer to 23A says its all.
ACROSS
1   In most cases it is not, however, exclusive to brass hats (2,1,7,4) AS A GENERAL RULE [CD]
8   The fad that a periodical had (6) MAGGOT {MAG}{GOT} Didn't know this meaning
9   Situation of severe trial for the club: rice gone bad (8) CRUCIBLE*
11 A missile in the birdhouse; nothing could be more restrictive (9) NARROWEST {N{ARROW}EST}
12 Trainer trades cents for power to hunt illegally (5) POACH (-c+p)POACH
13 Get possession of a quantity of paper, about 100 (7) ACQUIRE {A}{C}{QUIRE}
15 Dried, it somehow was made unclean (7) DIRTIED*
17 Contract to take a hundred from one noted for eccentricity (7) CHARTER CHARacTER
19 The amateur escorting prisoner is short and to the point (7) LACONIC {LA{CON}IC}
21 Standards for new writing about gold (5) NORMS {N}{OR}{MS}
23 Ram’s flute played with the authority of an expert (9) MASTERFUL*
25 Salesperson, first girl carrying prison term, gets a deferment (8) REPRIEVE {REP}{RI}{EVE}
26 Aid distributed in space station in the skies (3-3) MID-AIR {MI{D-AI*}R}
27 Such a report about climate cites space body with nothing national (14) METEOROLOGICAL {METEOR}{O}{LOGICAL} National appears to be a typo for 'rational'

DOWN
1   Cleaning agent for bullets in a mess (7) AMMONIA {AMMO}{NIA*}
2   Boring tool to portend the outcome, say (5) AUGER (~augur)
3   Expert in the science of wealth in eastern business with no haze (9) ECONOMIST {E}{CO}{NO}{MIST}
4   Fizzy and top-grade assessment given, containing energy (7) AERATED {A}{E}{RATED}
5   Cover the top again for a summary (5) RECAP [DD]
6   Sign followed by returning Keralite, one taking care of the books (9) LIBRARIAN {LIBRA}{RIAN<=}
7   System, some times seen in madness as well (6) METHOD [C&DD]
10 High point, reportedly, for a dog (4) PEKE (~peak)
14 Penny caught in courtyard regulation consisting of four parts (9) QUADRUPLE {QUAD}{RU{P}LE}
16 Going up rapidly, like prices in super-inflation (9) ROCKETING [CD]
17 Baseless rumour finally replaced by unknown bird (6) CANARY CANAR(-d+y)Y

18 Little time taken by aimless priest, one helping you change homes (7) REMOVER {RE{MO}VERend}
19 Shoemaker’s model, the final thing (4) LAST [DD]
20 Colourless liquid for beginnings of cold, hypothermia and laryngitis, administered by the mouth (7) CHLORAL {C}{H}{L}|{ORAL}
22 A bit of bread for a golf shot (5) SLICE [DD] Along with 'draw' my bugbear in golf !!
24 Currency managed in capitals of France and Croatia (5) FRANC {F{RAN}C}

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30 comments:

  1. Kishore28 January 2014 at 08:30

    I did not know 8a either

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kishore28 January 2014 at 08:33

    20 Colourless liquid for beginnings of cold, hypothermia and laryngitis, administered by the mouth (7) CHLORAL {C}{H}{L}|{ORAL}

    Reminded me of Chloral Hydrate which was found in the body of Norma Jean Mortenson ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nadathur Rajan28 January 2014 at 09:54

      'Chloral Hydrate' was a favourite poison of Dame Agatha.
      "Micky Finn", chloral hydrate in alcohol, was made popular by Peter Cheyney in his Lemmy Caution & Slim Callaghan series.

      Delete
  3. Padmanabhan28 January 2014 at 08:33

    So did I not! That was the only one left in a smoothie. "Smooth as Sankalak" (and fast too)

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  4. Richard28 January 2014 at 09:02

    11A - The figure - pun intended - seems to have come out effortlessly. No curves. All straight lines. Yet so graphic and telling.

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    Replies
    1. Richard28 January 2014 at 09:11

      with the exception of the zero-shaped head, of course...

      Delete
  5. VMA Nair28 January 2014 at 09:45

    19 A Escorting is container indicator?

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  6. VMA Nair28 January 2014 at 10:36

    Thanks Col

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  7. Mukundala Balasubramanyam28 January 2014 at 11:02

    No sweat today ! Thanks Sankalak :))

    ReplyDelete
  8. raju umamaheswar28 January 2014 at 11:08

    Sankalak makes your day ! Without even looking at the title, one can ''feel'' that the crossie is by Sankalak. His imprint is impressionable ! Gridman takes the next piece of cake in this ! Thier signatures are immediately discerned. Somewhere, I read the other day that there is no 'sixth sense' These compilers prove that wrong !
    Cryptic crosswords train you in ESP in a great way-- and Telepathy !

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  9. raju umamaheswar28 January 2014 at 11:32

    Rengaswami: re your comments on Sunday that Orkut never opens on the Sunday Magazine crossword-- This is happening only over the ;last few Sundays , whist on other days, it stares at me in full ink- black attire and a few others with the down clues section spun into cyberspace !
    So stoically, one tells oneself: What cannot be cured must be endured .When Orkut goes kaput, stay put, saying tut,tut !

    ReplyDelete
  10. pavalamani pragasam28 January 2014 at 13:02

    Kindly allow to make this digression: Dear friends, I'm happy to inform you that my entry(War and Peace) for the short story contest conducted by notionpress.com,voted by you has been selected as one among the top 6! I received e-Gift Vouchers worth Rs.1000 to be redeemed at flipkart.com! Hope to see my story printed in their anthology.:-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath28 January 2014 at 13:09

      Heartiest congratulations PP

      Delete
    2. Kishore28 January 2014 at 13:48

      Congrats, PP

      Delete
    3. Richard28 January 2014 at 16:27

      Congrats from me too, PP. It feels so nice whenever someone from our blog makes a mark somewhere or other.

      Delete
    4. Lakshmi Vaidyanathan28 January 2014 at 16:57

      Congrats PP ma'am :)

      Delete
  11. Unknown28 January 2014 at 13:10

    8A was new for me, too!

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  12. Unknown28 January 2014 at 13:15

    17 D - A clarification. Does, 'baseless & finally' denote same thing or not.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Padmanabhan28 January 2014 at 13:24

    'baseless rumour' = Canard
    Finally = last letter 'D'
    replaced by 'Y' (unknown) becomes 'Canary'.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Padmanabhan28 January 2014 at 13:25

    Heariest congratulations PP. I remember your story and liked it verymuch. Happy 'flipcarting'!

    ReplyDelete
  15. pavalamani pragasam28 January 2014 at 13:37

    Thank you, Colonel and padmanabhan! Not happy with flipkarting: I selected saris and handbags and alas I do not find e-Gift Voucher buying option. It was found out by me that these vouchers can be redeemed with WS sellers! GOK who they are! The vouchers are valid for one year. Must seek help from my kids and know if I can redeem them at all! Anyway it suffices for me to have got this much recognition!

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  16. PKPSwami28 January 2014 at 13:42

    Lovely cw. The Author has simply walked us along the sinuous path of an amusement park thanks to the geometrically designed clues

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  17. Padmanabhan28 January 2014 at 13:59

    Geometrically?

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  18. Padmanabhan28 January 2014 at 14:02

    PP,

    Here is the link to WS sellers. There seems to be good varieties to choose from. happy shopping. Yes, kids' help would be most useful. They always have up to date info on such things!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Padmanabhan28 January 2014 at 14:02

    Sorry,forgot to add the link.

    http://www.flipkart.com/seller/ws-retail/wsr

    ReplyDelete
  20. Mukundala Balasubramanyam28 January 2014 at 14:58

    Hearty Congratulations to PP from me and my daughter for "War and Peace" success !!!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Chaturvasi28 January 2014 at 17:04

    Congrats to Mrs PP on her story of success.
    I returned to Madras after a brief out-of-town trip.
    Would like to record my engagement with this puzzle.
    Was done on paper with pen aboard a train that I took very early in the morning.
    Among the first to enter: AUGER.
    Most of the answers were in in ten minutes.
    At which stage three remained to be solved: 8a of course (I had not known the meaning 'fad'), 27a (because of peculiar construction of the clue, if I may say so) and 1d (because the third checked letter was still unavailable: at one stage I realised that an anag of 'in a' was involved but was not getting 'ammo' from 'bullets' with its -s termination.
    Did not struggle. kepat away the paper. Later when I took it and looked gain, these three answers fell in place.

    ReplyDelete
  22. pavalamani pragasam28 January 2014 at 18:23

    Thanks, MB and C-V!

    ReplyDelete

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