Saturday, 22 February 2014

No 11015, Saturday 22 Feb 2014, Lightning


ACROSS
8   Conceited one breaking vehicle (4) VAIN {VA{1}N}
9   Miner to search for gold (10) PROSPECTOR {PROSPECT}{OR}
10 Stop the unending battle with a bit of tact (6) THWART {THe}{WAR}{T}
11 Survey on the way out used to call an election (4,4) EXIT POLL {EXIT} {POLL}
12 Connected flier with journalist outside meet (8) ADJOINED {AD}{JOIN}{ED}
14 Directions to ratify standard (6) ENSIGN {E}{N}{SIGN}
16 Illogical to cut short a perennial plant (4) IRIS IRISh
17 Confine daughter in a type of community that is protected (5) GATED {GATE}{D}
18 Trump, in trouble, boots out the Parisian (4) RUFF RUFFle
19 Lightning’s past field of work? (6) BYLINE {BY}{LINE}
21 F1 driver initially circumspect about overwhelming defeat (8) MASSACRE {MASSA}{C}{RE}
23 End dance game (8) FOOTBALL {FOOT}{BALL}
26 Cushion stomach muscles with a spherical object (6) ABSORB {ABS}{ORB}
27 Advocate reshaped consul role (10) COUNSELLOR*
28 Democrat to partly censure nobleman (4) DUKE {D}{rebUKE}

DOWN
1   Technology used in TV where each dot is shaped by a beam of light (7,3) CATHODE RAY {CATHODE*} {RAY} 
2   US state, well known for having a bad reputation (8) INFAMOUS {IN}{FAMOUS}
3   First time, dividing two grams of heroin, yielding precisely what is required (4,2) SPOT ON {SPO{T} ON} Anno not clear - See comments
4   Father of English leader (4) POPE {POP}{E}
5   23 player’s snap complete (5,3) SPLIT END {SPLIT} {END}
6   Investigates complaint where pawn supplants King of Sweden (6) SCOPES Anno pending (Addendum - {SCO(-r+p)PE}{S} - See comments)
7   23 player’s target score (4) GOAL [DD]
13 Piece of information provided by lawyer initially taken with hesitation (5) DATUM {DA}{T}{UM}
15 Forgo? Take a chance (2,3,5) GO FOR BROKE {FORGO}*
17 Sort of agree to embrace Satyajit’s counter to an unclear topic (4,4) GREY AREA {GRE{Y AR<=}EA*}

SEE THIS GREY AREA

18 Without a bit of delay, composed shoddy rap music piece (8) RHAPSODY {SHODdY+RAP}*
20 Plan home shelter (6) INTENT {IN}{TENT}
22 Are celebrities on air on such a night? (6) STARRY [CD]
24 Old bandsman, at first, with ordinary electronic instrument (4) OBOE {O}{B}{O}{E}
25 Rookie’s struggle, initially lacking rhythm (4) LULL {L}{pULL} (Addendum - LILT {L}{tILT} - See comments)

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48 comments:

  1. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 08:32

    I understand that a 'spoon' is an user's measure of two grams of stuff

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prabhanjan22 February 2014 at 08:36

      How many spoons for you Kishore? :-)
      And with milk or cream?

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 08:46

      Couldn't find a reference to this anywhere on the net

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 08:46

      Black coffee without milk ...

      When I ordered black coffee, a 'trained' waiter with a pre-meditated script, asked me:

      With or without milk, Sir?

      Delete
    4. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 08:55

      "Couldn't find a reference to this anywhere on the net"

      That's why I couched my earlier statement with "I understand that..."

      Delete
    5. Richard22 February 2014 at 09:36

      Our in-house pundit seems to be adept with both spoonersims and spoons...

      Delete
    6. Richard22 February 2014 at 09:55

      Before someone points it out, let me correct it as 'adept at'.

      Delete
    7. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 10:24

      Something I learnt when working with your small rented farm

      Delete
    8. Richard22 February 2014 at 10:51

      When Kishore couches his comments in enigmatic words, I keep looking at them from different angles. For example, look at the above sentence, 'Something I learnt when working with your small rented farm, naturally leading one to believe that it is to be read as YOURSMALLRENTEDFARM*.

      Anagrammed, it becomes TRANSFORMER DULY LAME or SURE, MARTYRDOM FALLEN and many other ways.

      Can someone help me in understanding it?

      Delete
    9. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 11:03

      A toned down version appears at 1027

      Delete
    10. Mukundala Balasubramanyam22 February 2014 at 11:31

      Like Toned Milk !?

      Delete
  2. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 08:34

    Bhala, yesterday I mentioned Satya and he turns up today in 17d

    ReplyDelete
  3. Prabhanjan22 February 2014 at 08:34

    Relatively easy for me today. Thanks Lightning.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 08:45

    25 Rookie’s struggle, initially lacking rhythm (4) LULL {L}{pULL}

    I took this one as L tILT with rhythm as definition.

    tilt=struggle/fight as in jousting

    ReplyDelete
  5. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 08:50

    My commenting problem with Firefox continues

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 08:56

      So, your only comment with Firefox is "No comment"

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 09:15

      Problem solved using 'Reset Firefox' feature

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 09:24

      Glad to note you have reduced your consumption of t

      Delete
  6. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 08:59

    6 Investigates complaint where pawn supplants King of Sweden (6) SCOPES Anno pending

    complaint=score
    pawn supplants king =score-r+p =scope
    Sweden =S

    SCO(-r+p)PE S

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 09:12

    With ref. to cartoon for 17d, another grey area is whether 'gray' or 'grey' is the correct spelling

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 09:16

      It appears that both are used

      Delete
    2. Richard22 February 2014 at 09:38

      I have noticed that 'gray' is used more in the US. Since Indian papers stick to the UK English, 'grey' is commonly observed here.

      Delete
  8. Raghunath22 February 2014 at 09:14

    Kishore, did you receive mails sent by me yesterday? Normally your responses are like the byline in today's CW

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 09:17

      Yes, will respond by eod. Was tied up for most of yesterday.

      Delete
    2. Richard22 February 2014 at 09:52

      At the end of the day, a nice abbreviation...

      Delete
    3. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 10:27

      Oh, it is quite commonly used. End of day EOD operations are usually performed on computerised bank (and many other) accounting systems to close transactions for the day. In hotels, it is usually called 'night audit' and is run at midnight to post the day's rent to individual guest ledger accounts and to close the day's sales.

      Delete
  9. Raghunath22 February 2014 at 09:29

    Fom http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=spoon&title=21st:

    SPOON: drug-taking slang, two grams or one sixteenth of an ounce of heroin

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous22 February 2014 at 10:27

      I heard it from your croft

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 10:45

      That colon at the end in the link given by Raghu needs to be deleted to go to the right page

      http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=spoon&title=21st

      Delete
    3. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 10:51

      This meaning is not there in the Chambers print edition (12th edition)

      Delete
  10. Venkatesh22 February 2014 at 11:24

    15 Forgo? Take a chance (2,3,5) GO FOR BROKE {FORGO}*
    It is the other way round FORGO = {GO FOR}* with Broke as AnagrInd
    Take a chance = GO FOR BROKE

    9 &11 Across and 1 Down would also qualify as &lit / GK.

    ReplyDelete
  11. raju umamaheswar22 February 2014 at 13:02

    Many grey areas of construction today by Lightning. Not all too happy as , though I finished the crossie in good time, didn't have'' that'' feeling of satisfaction. Didn't like SCOPE, LILY or LILT, or whatever ! Hence these are NOT the clues of my day !

    Again, I feel, others can disagree with me, standards are dropping ion the construction, as one can only '' justify'' the parsing as an afterthought and not logically lead to a correct solution.

    We look forward to seeing more appetizing fares to get that '' filled'' up feeling .

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chaturvasi22 February 2014 at 14:08

    Not having done this crossword and so not aware of the quality of clues therein, I am writing the following.

    Wrt the second para in Raju's post above, I would like to ask what is wrong if a solver does not get the answer to a clue or two by reading them and carrying out required operations but from the crossings, compelling the solver to do a back-operation as to how the answer is derived.
    Of course I would expect the wordplay to be impeccable - it was just that the solver could not get the answer because the word itself was rare or because one or two components were obscure.
    Are you on Raju's side or my side or the side of ...?

    ReplyDelete
  13. raju umamaheswar22 February 2014 at 15:41

    Came across this article a few minutes ago.

    Thought, I can share it with ye-all.

    Observations welcome. If any one has any moe info' on this , why not share it here?

    ""Meet city man Ghogre, the brain behind brainteasers for 200 global publications.
    Mangesh Ghogre at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival on Tuesday Rajendra Gawankar DNA
    The first time Mangesh Ghogre’s crossword was published in the Los Angeles Times (LA Times) it went with his name, Mangesh Mumbaikar Ghogre. He added Mumbai to his name as a tribute. After all, it was travelling on the city’s locals over 12 years that gave him time to solve (and get hooked to) crosswords. Ghogre’s crosswords have since been published in not just the LA Times but also in the Wall Street Journal and over 200 other newspapers across the world.

    For Ghogre, who is an investment banker, creating crosswords is a hobby. And although it’s a hobby that doesn’t pay too well, it has got Ghogre enough attention. On Wednesday, at the ongoing Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, he will be giving his debut lecture. “I’ll share some of my secrets to creating a good crossword,” he said.

    An exhibition at Artist’s Centre, called Between the Lines, features some of Ghogre’s works. These include his debut crossword, accepted after 15 rejections, called Themeless. The crossword features two stacks — an answer that runs across the entire grid — that first got people’s attention.

    Creating a crossword is no mean feat. It usually takes Ghogre six to nine months to complete one. “There are many rules to follow — the design must have symmetry, you cannot have two-letter words, all the answers must be connected to the rest of the grid and so on,” he said.

    The most difficult aspect for him is coming up with a theme. “There are two types of crosswords, those with themes and those without,” said Ghogre, adding that most of his crosswords have themes.

    His favourite exhibit (crossword) is the ‘Kala Ghoda / Black Knight’, which pays tribute to the power of a knight in chess, and its moves, on the crossword grid. Another one is titled ‘Maths or English’ and features mathematical clues that result in figures of speech. For example, 8 is ‘had dinner’ (ate), 1 is ‘took the gold’ (won) and 4 is ‘in favour of’ (for).

    ‘What’s in a name’ has Walt Disney, Calvin Coolidge, and Russell Crowe as crossword answers. The three are bound by the fact that the last two alphabets of their name and the first alphabet of their surname are the abbreviations of businesses – LTD, INC and LLC. Then there is the ‘Imcomplete Grid’ which, on first glance, appears to be incomplete with empty squares at the end of words. Closer inspection reveals that the empty squares are part of the answer. For example, the answer to the clue the protest of ’89 is ‘Tiananmen Square’ and the answer to the clue a healthy diet is ‘three square meals’.

    Ghogre will be conducting a workshop on crosswords on Wednesday, February 5, at the Artist’s Centre in Kala Ghoda from 11.30am to 1pm.""

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi22 February 2014 at 16:36

      ASAIK, he has had a few puzzles published in NYT. Considering that only10 per cent of puzzles submitted to Will Shortz are said to be accepted and published, it is a credit.
      Those 200 global publications must be those where the NYT puzzle is reproduced after a time-lag.

      Delete
    2. raju umamaheswar22 February 2014 at 16:49

      I thought as much. Not my cup of tea !! My cup already overflows with cryptic crossies !

      Delete
    3. Chaturvasi22 February 2014 at 17:08

      Pl read: AFAIK

      Delete
    4. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 17:24

      If I am not mistaken the name he uses is Mangesh Sakharam Ghogre, I remember the name from the days I used to do the TOI CW, which was initially syndicated from the Star Tribune CW and later from The LA Times CW.

      Delete
    5. Col_Gopinath22 February 2014 at 17:29

      You can read his interview at this link

      http://crosswordcorner.blogspot.in/2010/03/interview-with-mangesh-sakharam-ghogre.html

      This interview was published in the blog which gave me the inspiration to start this blog

      Delete
  14. Raghunath22 February 2014 at 15:45

    Liked most of the clues except 11a. Could have been worded better.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Padmanabhan22 February 2014 at 17:04

    Joining in late. Col.,
    The link for scopes leads to lily. Is the ref. to Sir John Thomas Scopes?

    ReplyDelete

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