Tuesday 18 February 2014

No 11011, Tuesday 18 Feb 2014, Mover


Attempt at a pangram from Mover has lost its 'Z'ing.

ACROSS
1   Getting back bit in Radio Telephony for evidence of payment (7) RECEIPT {R{ECEIP<=}T}
5   A legendary musician, he joins us after turning professional (7) ORPHEUS {ORP<=}{HE}{US}
9   Watch for order containing fifty boxes with arrows (9) FLOWCHART {F{L}OWCHART*} Singular plural mismatch
10 Simply missing the point, I suggest (5) IMPLY sIMPLY
11 Former prongs may furnish outer coats (7) EXTINES {EX}{TINES}
12 The sound of raindrops -- last thing in design for a model (7) PATTERN {PATTER}{N}
13 Monsieur drowned in unspecified French river (5) SOMME {SO{M}ME}
15 Right after two copper bits for gourds (9) CUCURBITS {CU}{CU}{R}{BITS}
17 Evil, it’s normal, possibly (6,3) MORTAL SIN*
19 Proficient in algebra, starting with short division (5) ADEPT {Algebra}{DEPT}
21 Juliet and I invested in suet-like snacks (7) FAJITAS {FA{J}{I}T}{AS} That's hardly a snack, more like a full meal!
23 United Nations leads a war, with Eritrean head caught napping (7) UNAWARE {UN}{A}{WAR}{E}
25 Mendacious storytellers? (5) LIARS [E]
26 Confine bear without a trade (9) CARPENTRY {CAR{PENT}RY}
27 Merchants could be card players (7) DEALERS [DD]
28 Umpire Southhead surrounding jumper provides shelter again (7) REROOFS {RE{ROO}F}{S}

DOWN
1   Beams in reverse alphabetical order? (7) RAFTERS {S AFTER R}
2   Appropriate work in bed (5) COOPT  {CO{OP}T}
3   Whip up perfume (7) INCENSE [DD]
4   Conducts tense incomplete search before Tuesday, the 5th of August (9) TRANSACTS {T}{RANSACk}{T}{auguSt}
5   Readily available, like piped water (2,3) ON TAP [C&DD]
6   Boat for Landseer, perhaps (7) PAINTER [DD] A 'painter' is not a boat, it is a rope used to fasten a boat.
7   Unnecessary oath from ex-priest I’ve allowed in earlier (9) EXPLETIVE {EX}{P}{LET}{IVE} P for Priest ?
8   Statements, perhaps more than one saw (7) SAYINGS [CD]
14 Famous lover partly embraced by Maria could knock you down (9) MARIJUANA {MARI{don JUAN}A}
16 Victor William? (9) CONQUEROR [DD]
17 Quietened when learner bungled around (7) MUFFLED {MUFF{L}ED}
18 Skill is extremely troublesome for a performer (7) ARTISTE {ART}{IS}{TroublesomE}
19 He is not doing it for money; a good friend coming to ancient city (7) AMATEUR {A}{MATE}{UR}
20 See tidy artful batiks! (3-4) TIE-DYES*
22 Dismisses dry white wines (5) SACKS [DD]
24 Jetsons dog star? (5) ASTRO [DD]


56 comments:

  1. Didn't get a few in the lower side. Liked RECEIPT, ORPHEUS, IMPLY (simply solved), CONQUEROR, AMATEUR, CUCURBITS and TIE-DYES were good.

    17D - Interestingly, the anagram fodder sounds like an oxymoron. In Christian faith, a MORTAL SIN is no normal, but the gravest of the offences, as against a venial sin. I am not faulting the setter. This kind of trap makes crossword more challenging.

    18D - Often the native users of English are found confusing artiste and artist for each other. A painter, sculptor is artist. One involved in moving art or performing art like theatre, mime, classical dance is an artiste.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 21A - DG, did we hear a 'Yummy' from you?

      An embarrassing moment or experience is called FAJITI in Kannada. ;-) You may have heard it often in Bangalore.

      Delete
    2. You heard it all the way at Mangalore!!

      Delete
    3. Richard, what is the correct Kannada spelling of that word? Having heard it as Pajjati, I suspect you have tried to 'fudge'ti ...

      A new convert is supposed to be more zealous that an oldtimer. I head the word 'fudge' used many times yesterday and was prone to use it at the earliest ;-)

      Delete
    4. OMG, I am getting fidgety now, 'fudge' being also a 'sweet' term notwithstanding!

      After coming across FAJITAS, I referred to a few dictionaries looking for the etymology of 'Fajiti'. It may have an Urdu root. Let me check in some other reference books.

      It is used in TuLu and KonkaNi as well - I have heard it as 'pajint' in our edition of the latter.

      Delete
    5. It is used in Marathi too. Of all the places, it is found here in a Marwari online dictionary!

      It is found under 'F' - to mean 'insult'.

      Delete
    6. So it is a F word, except in Konkani

      Delete
    7. I speak Kannada at home but that is very rudimentary as I am born and brought up in what is Tamil Nadu now.
      I was wondering about that F word.
      Can you put it in an example sentence? Please write the Kannada version in English script.
      What is the exact meaning? Embarrassed or insulted or what?

      Delete
    8. Examples: "oLLe fajiti maaDkond biTralla neevu" - 'That's a fine mess you have landed yourself into'. (I am reminded of a similar line from one of the Laurel and Hardy comedies.) The second syllable is dragged and pronounced 'jee'.

      'En fajiti aag hoyitalla saar!' is another example.

      In case of difficulty, Mrs CV, who spoke to me in chaste Kannada last time when I had phoned, should be able to grasp it at once..

      Delete
    9. Btw,, fajita is pronounced fahita.

      Delete
    10. Richard,
      Thanks for putting the word in context. I get it!

      Delete
    11. K 1:58 - Good to know the correct way to pronounce it.

      That matches other Spanish words like the proper name Juan (pronounced Hwan) and marijuana (pronounced marihwana).

      These days, new faces in the tinsel town seem to run short of screen names. I am sure one of them will soon pick Fajita. Sounds smooth, at least.

      Delete
    12. It belongs to the family of 'baby' words in Spanish and Portuguese. The 'ita' suffix and 'inho' are little versions of the word to which they are attached. 'Faja' is a strip of meat and 'fahita' is a little strip. You can now guess where the nickname of footballer Ronaldinho comes from. There was already one Ronaldo in the team and he was the little Ronaldo. I am sure you are familiar with Couto and Coutinho.

      Delete
    13. With the kind of flesh being exposed, 'little' would be an inappropriate adjective, for a tinsel town character

      Delete
    14. K 5:58 - I wasn't aware that Coutinho is a diminutive of Couto. Your stay in Goa has stood you in good stead, apparently.

      Delete
    15. While the highground near Aquem in Margao is called Aquem Alto, the hillock in Ponnje is called Altinho. I stayed at the former and wrote my exams at the latter!

      Delete
  2. 9 Watch for order containing fifty boxes with arrows (9) FLOWCHART {F{L}OWCHART*} Singular plural mismatch

    I think he means that a flowchart has boxes and arrows. A flowchart must have at least 2 boxes and one arrow and most have many boxes and arrows. Like we call a car as wheels, but wheels may be car or cars

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then it should have read

      Watch for order containing fifty has boxes with arrows

      Delete
    2. 9 Watch for order containing fifty boxes with arrows (9) FLOWCHART {F{L}OWCHART*} Singular plural mismatch
      Grammatically, I suppose it's OK. The Def is 'boxes with arrows' = A flowchart.
      But I feel it's not an adequate definition.

      Delete
  3. We can't be sure that a setter set out creating a pangram and missed out a certain letter (because of carelessness or inability to put it in).
    If a crossword is indeed a pangram, we can say it is one such. If it is not, we ignore. We can't say it's lost out on a letter or two.
    Does any setter each time he fills a grid keep looking for the occurrence of all the letters A-Z? I don't think so.
    I have created some pangrams; other setters have. But they are occasional forays, that's all.
    I am making bold to express this opinion. What do others think?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm with you. Unless I can find common enough words, I don't pay too much attention to a grid fill allowing it to be a pangram. I'd rather miss on that than use a totally new/hard word for the sake of a pangram.

      Delete
    2. Says a lot about the way you compile your CW's. Great.

      Delete
    3. I agree with the views expressed by CV Sir and Bhavan.

      Delete
  4. The pangram would be complete if 'muffler' is replaced by 'muzzler'- also giving the same meaning. But then we will have to find a snack starting with Z ( noted the comment about it being more than a snack) Any possibilities? Maybe, the setter had made a pangram!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Quoting two headlines from two reliable sources:

    The Hindu, front page, upper right: Cars are cheaper, cellphones dearer

    The Economic Times, front page, upper right: Excised Duties Spell Bonanza for Buyers: Two-wheelers, mobile phones, consumer electronics and appliances set to get cheaper.

    The phones work in both directions ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Moral of the story: Drive two-wheelers to meet persons. Talk less over phone.

      Delete
  6. A TV headline says : --- charged for rape by Goa Police.

    Wouldn't it be better to phrase it : --- charged by Goa Police for rape

    In the hurry for 'Breaking news', they seem to 'break' the news in more ways than one

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another one - Daylight Robbery in Mid-city Bank - by our correspondent

      Delete
    2. The truth is both headlines are half truths.

      Delete
  7. Many of the pics of our actresses and models that appear in the supplements of some of the newspapers are barer, curvaceous, wrinkling and stimulating than the SportsWorld cover pic of Boris and his GF - which is in no way excitable (can get by googling). That it took so many years for the mag (now defunct) to get out porno charge speaks for the utter lack of sense and propriety of us who accuse at the slightest pretext more to get publicity for ourselves than any hurt feeling.

    Incidentally, I contributed more than 100 small, thematic (sports-related) crosswords to that magazine which used to appear on the last page.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Strangely, ET has even repeated an item, with slight differences, on page 2 and 3 of Bang ed.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This crossie from Mover is more Ardenesque or Gridmannish !! Simple and straightforward. FLOW CHART and FAJITA were interestingly constructed.

    Bheja Fry and FAJITA or BHURJI ? are these not new words in the local parlnace? Nice to see them in crossies. A hodge-podge that makes our fare interesting !!

    BREAKING NEWS has become old gas news now in the TV as we always have them breaking wind across the waves like a gastro- patient !! So much of HOT AIR polluting the flatulent TV Channels !

    ReplyDelete
  10. News Now above has no place in that sentence, though it may be appropriate to that Channel and its belly-aching anchor !

    ReplyDelete
  11. 1 Beams in reverse alphabetical order? (7) RAFTERS {S AFTER R}

    Anno not clear. Could anyone help me pl ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Beams = Rafters.
      In A to Z, S is after R and in reverse order: R after S. This and 5 A were the best IMO.

      Delete
  12. kishore- A doubt

    In today's Young World, there is a number cross on the last page. In that a clue reads as "number of factors of 100" and the answer is given as TEN. I could only count 9. Am I wrong?.

    ReplyDelete
  13. CV @ 11:23 - Many of the pics of our actresses and models .... - about SportsWorld cover

    K @ 11:25 - Strangely, ET has even repeated an item, with slight differences.....

    I am confused....

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kishore's at 11.25 is a continuation of his previous msg about Hindu & ET headlines and not connected with CV's comment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Paddy. But the confusion was because of the item...

      Delete
    2. Now, I am confused. Richard is talking about items and Paddy was asking about some numbers.

      Putting the two together, I see item numbers

      Delete
  15. Perfect squares have odd number of factors. So 10 is wrong

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was in reply to Padmanabhan@4:08

      Delete
    2. Ramesh is perfectly correct. Let us look at it this way, in case of every perfect square, the square root will be at the centre of the list of factors when written in ascending or descending order. All other factors have a pair or conjugate number, except the square root. Hence, the number of factors of a perfect square is always odd. In this case for example, taking the factors and their conjugates the list becomes

      1 x 100
      2 x 50
      4 x 25
      5 x 20
      10 x 10

      But the last two 10s form the same factor. Starting at 1 and proceeding counterclockwise or starting at 100 and proceeding clockwise will give us the ascending or descending series mentioned earlier.Of course, both the 10s are treated as the same.

      Delete
  16. Thank you Ramesh. What you say reg. perfect squares- good but I have not thought on those lines at all. It sets me thinking. But I am surprised that there is such a mistake in The Hindu's Young World. It is incorrect to give a wrong answer to children.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Yes Kishore. I thought about the odd nos. of factors and found that the square root being unique to perfect squares makes it ODD! Thank you. I wanted to double check since I expected The Hindu to be doubly careful in this.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Visitors have crossed the 1.8 million mark today. Did anyone notice?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It will be truer to say 'visits', I think.
      The figure does not show unique visitors.
      Each time you visit this page on a single day, the figure goes up, I think.
      Scroll down fully and see another figure at left - which is unique visitors since a particular date.
      And what is the definition of 'unique visitor'? I don't know. Does it take into account one when they visit for the first time and ignore them on all subsequent visits ehether on the first day itself or later?
      So are all 638988 visitors different?

      Delete
  19. As usual, I did my crossword past midnight. :-( I got 28A right by guessing from shelter (roof) and again (re) & with the other clues already answered but didn't understand the reference to Umpire Southhead. Could someone explain? Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Umpire= Referee = REF
      Southhead = head (top) of south = S

      Delete
    2. Amplifying further

      Umpire = REF
      Southhead = S
      surrounding = Encapsulation indicator
      jumper = ROO
      provides shelter again = Definition = {RE{ROO}F}{S}

      Delete
  20. Further...
    jumper = one that jumps = kangaroo = 'roo, as kangaroo may be called by babies,

    ReplyDelete

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