Wednesday 5 March 2014

No 11024, Wednesday 05 Mar 2014, Sankalak's files


ACROSS
1   Slavery made fictional agent grow old (7) BONDAGE {BOND}{AGE}
5   Cold stuff in the main where, reportedly, I see water bird flying back (7) ICEBERG {I}{(~see)C}{EBERG<=}
9   A pad she cannot use, surprisingly, is a problem with an easy solution (4-3-4,4) OPEN-AND-SHUT CASE*
10 To add to the profundity, editor turns back English writer (6) DEEPEN {DE<=}{E}{PEN}
11 A benefactor for ultras it is strange principally from Asia (8) ALTRUIST* Why principally from Asia?
13 Sodium application at close of binge may be disgusting (8) NAUSEATE {NA}{USE}{AT}{bingE}
15 Old African setter carrying a model headgear (6) BOATER {BO{A}{T}ER} That should have been 'settler'
18 Some old money put in plant (6) PESETA {PE{SET}A}
19 Extremely lazy, even to lie on bed, surprisingly (4,4) BONE IDLE*
22 In the state of being born, military wing is infiltrated twice by leaders in information technology (8) NATIVITY {NA{TI}V{IT}Y}
24 Telepathy, a new article in castanet country (6) ESPANA {ESP}{A}{N}{A}
27 Medicine for a rich moll on cheap trip (15) CHLORAMPHENICOL*
28 English essayist who had accessory going over island (7) ADDISON {ADD{IS}ON}
29 Following end of exercise, Dexter, stumbling, struggled (7) EXERTED {E}{DEXTER*}

DOWN
1   Enlarge the scope of the British study covering the last two in Protozoa (7) BROADEN {BR}{protozOA}{DEN}
2   Back at home, first lady shows the fist (5) NIEVE {NI<=}{EVE}
3   A time to hold complex network people in great surprise (9) AMAZEMENT {A}{MAZE}{MEN}{T}
4   Objectives seen as part of returns from company stock (4) ENDS Anno pending (Addendum - dividENDS - See comments)
5   Take in air and get one close to rejuvenation, healthy and robust (6) INHALE {I}{N}{HALE}
6   Get in and be part of the race (5) ENTER [DD]
7   Became abnormally thin when a diet came unstuck (9) EMACIATED*
8   A time around which old star Garson was even more impressive (7) GREATER {GRE{A}{T}ER}
12 Greek character signifying when the train might arrive (3) ETA [DD]
14 Such debts may make one worried (9) UNSETTLED [DD]
16 The niece’s boa got crumpled in a gesture of respect (9) OBEISANCE*
17 Look at the team leader whose wife became a pillar of salt (3) LOT {LO}{T}
18 A canapé prepared as a universal remedy (7) PANACEA*
20 Reversing a curse? A kind of diode made it possible (7) ENABLED {ENAB<=}{LED}
21 Part of a flower which could last endlessly with people supporting (6) STAMEN {STAy}{MEN}
23 Deadly stuff carried by a karmavir used in hacking (5) VIRUS [T]
25 Silk tie seen in English town (5) ASCOT [DD]
26 That girl carries nothing but footwear (4) SHOE {SH{O}E}

87 comments:

  1. My post on Monday, March 3 @ 5:51pm:

    After a Spinner spin tomorrow, it would have been Sankalak's round. Sincerely hoping that some of his already submitted puzzles have remained unpublished with TH, so we will still have the pleasure of solving his cws.

    Paddy had echoed my sentiment and requested CV to see that the unpublished lot would be put out in schduled rotation, with the concurrence of Sankalak's family. My guess is that things have worked that way.

    I am glad that prayers of mine, and, in most likelihood, of so many others here, have been heard. Sankalak, even if he has gone away from us, will continue to delight us for some more days.

    However, the more I enjoy solving his crossies, the sadder I feel that the joy would be short-lived.

    Now, coming to today's puzzle -

    CHROLAMPHENICOL - who would have thought of this mouthful of a medicine? An awesome anagram. Had to Google. Except this, all the rest fell smoothly. The surfaces were so cool.

    22A NATIVITY - The repeated IT part is in different directions. Not sure how the reversal is explained. Even the shorter ones like ETA and LOT were well-clued.

    A repeated prayer: May his soul rest in peace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A typo in my post @ 8:30 - it should have been CHLORAMPHENICOL.

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    2. Thank heavens you are not a doctor. Your handwriting might also have disqualified you and failed to protect you.

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    3. Clinically correct analysis!

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  2. Let us be thankful for all the wheels that have turned to make this possible. RIP, old friend.

    4d dividENDS

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    Replies
    1. 4 Objectives seen as part of returns from company stock (4) ENDS
      returns from company stock=dividends
      part of it is ends
      defn=objectives=ends

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  3. A thought: Does this cwd reflect Sankalak's world when he was unwell? You can see several words for yourself

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  4. Nice commemorative cartoon, Kishore. Well done!

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    Replies
    1. The lines were inspired by Helen.

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    2. ... the one who launched a myriad of hardships?

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    3. K 8:41 - Was the typo inended?

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    4. Yes. Remember my T-shirt?

      Ancient Geek

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    5. Tut! Tut! 'Intended, I mean.

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    6. You mean the T-shirt was anc...?

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    7. The shirt is new. The contents however are more than half a century old

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    8. Old wine in new bottle, so to say...

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    9. But I thought you were a TT...

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    10. TT matlab Thoda Taste kiya hai

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    11. mainly girijaghar me

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    12. Now who is this Girija? Never heard of her...

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    13. Lagta hai, aap apne raaste se bhaTak gaye hai !

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    14. Girze tak jaane-aane ke waqt, raaste se bhaTak nahin sakaa, kyon ki us raaste ke aajoo-baajoo mein kisi Girija ka ghar nahin tha!

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    15. Bahut khoob! Wapas bhi usi raaste se aaye, janaab, ya kisi aur ka sahara liya?

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    16. Sahara kaise loon? BaDe saheb ki haalat to pataa hai na?

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    17. The pen is mightier than the sword!

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  5. I happened to just look at today's crossword in the op-ed page of BusinessLine. Clue 23d of 'Not so easy' reads: Some ballad is committed to record (4)

    Good clue and decidedly easy, despite the category.

    Now, the clue in 'Easy' reads: Record (4)

    I have come to say that the crossword is not a 'two-in-one' but rather 'one after one'.

    I think rabid solvers can first use pencil to do one and later use pen to do the other (since only one blank is provided)
    .
    I am saying this because in a two-in-one crossword you can jump from one clue in one crossword and to the same clue in the other, both leading to the same answer. If the clue in one crossword doesn't yield itself quickly, you move to the other and you might probably get the answer quickly from the def.

    However, in the clues I have cited, the definitions used in the 'easy' and 'not so easy' are the same. In a two-in-one crossword, the same definition is unlikely to be used in both the clues. Of course, the 'not so easy' clue I have quoted is telescopic and yields quickly. If it had not been and if you did not get the answer from 'record' you would jump to 'easy' and if the def there had been different you might probably have got the answer without much delay.

    I trust my readers have got the point I am trying ti make laboriously but I believe in clear terms.
    What do others think?

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  6. I must add that in the BL crossword too, both sets lead to the same answers.
    My statement that you use pencil for one set and pen to the other is true only if the sets lead to different answers.
    So I may rephrase: in a two-in-one crossword such as this, the clues in easy and in hard must have different definitions so that if the def in one defies, the solver can move to the other for prob a more yielding def.

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    Replies
    1. The crossword with same answers for 'Not so easy' and 'Easy' clues will be good for those trying to understand Cryptic CW's

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    2. Ideally, as CV says, the definition should be different. But it may not always be feasible.

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    3. pencil for one set and pen to the other ...
      The way I do it is to write the 'easy' solution is small letters on upper right corner of cell and for the other in capitals in the bottom part.

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  7. Answer to the clue posted by me at 536pm yesterday will be posted today evening.

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  8. Our salute to the great setter and his impeccable CW's. Whoever acted in the background, our sincere thanks to them for reviving (?) our memories and increasing the 1A. May his soul rest in peace.
    25D- Knew about Ascot as a race course but not as a tie. Had to confirm.
    Had to confirm 'Lot' though remembered to have read about him.
    27A- What an awesome anagram! Knew about it thanks to my brother in law who is a pharmacologist.

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  9. When a kid was told in Sunday School that Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, a young boy said: I can understand that. My mom came around the corner in her car and turned into a tree.

    I think it was from Readers' Digest (from memory)

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  10. Kishore @ 8.33 led me to think if chloramphenicol might have been prescribed to him and on looking up was amazed that its main advantage for use in developing countries is that it is 'cheap'- and this word has been used as part of anagram fodder. Great!
    "Chloramphenicol (INN) is a bacteriostatic antimicrobial that became available in 1949. It is considered a prototypical broad-spectrum antibiotic, alongside the tetracyclines, and as it is both cheap and easy to manufacture it is frequently an antibiotic of choice in the Developing World."

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    1. I looked in AMAZEMENT at all these words in addition to the medicine prescribed

      BONDAGE, NAUSEATE, lie on bed= BONE IDLE, INHALE and its clue, EMACIATED, PANACEA, VIRUS

      It was an OPEN AND SHUT CASE ...

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    2. Reminded me of Araucaria

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    3. Only you can compound all these words..

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    4. I am not a compounder

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    5. Just a landownwer with a compound on Bannerghatta road.

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    6. Nope, not even that

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  11. I have just returned from a trip to Srirangam.

    As in Madurai I walked around. Some street names were quite strange. One was named Saththaari Street (if I remember correctly. I don't find it in Google maps.) Anyway, I liked walking on the street. It was crowded and on either side of the road were street vendors selling all kinds of things - vegetables, fruits, flowers, 'naar', plastic strings, decoration articles for 'manavarai' (nuptial room), etc. My eye took in a myriad colours. The street was filled with voices - of buyers, stockists and sellers, unloaders and others shouting to each others above the din. Motorcycles weaved in and out of knots of people. Much like in Ranganathan Street in Chennai, the street had heaps of garbage swept to the middle as vendors cleaned up areas where they set up shop in the morning.

    And then there was this East Adayavalanjaan Street. Can anyone give me the history behind this street name and what it denotes? Venkatesh? Nadathur? Or both?

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    Replies
    1. CV Sir, Adayavalanjan means that 'one who has come to surrender' .. If I am right, this is the first concentric prakaram, providing abode to those who have come to surrender to Perumal.

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    2. Strictly translated the word means 'one who bent in surrender'

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    3. You know, that was exactly what I was guessing. If the original names stay uncorrupted, we could easily figure it out.
      adaya - to reach (God)
      valainjaan - one who bent, kneeled, genuflected

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    4. CV, Thanks for remembering me. You have visited a town that has been the centre of vaishnavite philosophy for the past two millennia (& now privileged to be the CM's constituency). The seven prakaras are built on the foundation of Saligrama perumal. Hence, it has been mentioned in lore that it is not advisable to stay in the first 7 prakaras. The 8th prakara, where people stay when they come to Srirangam, is called Adayavalanjan street. This word “ADAYAVALANJAN” is a 'senthamizh' (pure Tamil) word, broken down as follows: Adaya – to seek, Valanjan – those who have come. Hence, this street means it provides accommodation to people who have come to seek the blessings of Lord Ranganatha, the presiding deity.

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  12. :-)
    Probably now we understand why he had to reduce his quota- he did not allow its quality to be reduce even one bit!!

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  13. I have already said that solvers should not draw any conclusions about a setter's personality by the words/phrases that they put in their grids.

    If one has MULTIPLE PARTNERS in his grid, it doesn't mean that he strayed away from the conjugal bed.

    If one doesn't have MULTIPLE PARTNERS in his grid, it doesn't mean he's one on one.

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  14. After many days I got most of the answers in THC, thanks to the late Sankalak.

    I am reminded of the famous Tamil phrase: "செத்தும் கொடுத்தான் சீதக்காதி "

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    1. DS Sir, konja translation pandringe.

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    2. I deliberately did not give the translation or allusion in the fond hoe that someone like CV sir or Padmanbhan or Rengaswamy will chip in with details.

      Will oblige in a short while

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    3. Online translation tools translate it as 'Seth gave the khadi'!!

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    4. That is further confusion!

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    5. Seethakathi is a Kilakarai Muslim who was a well known philanthropist in 18th century. Folklore says that when he was interred his hand would not go inside, because he still wanted to give. And thus came 'seththum kuduthaan seethakathi' meaning 'even after death, seethakathi gave' ... Even today there are many trusts running under his name in Tamilnadu, but not very sure whether it is by people of his lineage

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    6. The good that men do, lives after them ...

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    7. Thanks Shrikanth for the details . If there is any addition to this, I will fill in later.

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    8. Shrikanth, (this may be of use in your ongoing research on Madurai)

      Kilakkarai is a charming coastal town close to Rameswaram. Most of its present Muslim population trace their lineage to the Pandya King Mara Varma Kulasekhara-I (reign: 1268-1308 AD). Sultan Taqiyuddeen, who came from Medina, married a daughter of this King and governed the area around Kilakarai from 1269 to 1310 AD. Shaykh Abdul Kadir, better known as 'Vallal Seethakkathi', was one of his descendants. He was the prime minister of the Raja of Ramnad Sree Vijaya Ragunatha Sethupathy, also known as Kishwar Sethupathy.

      In those days, whenever any ruler died, at the coronation of his successor, it was necessary that the crowning was performed by the 'Pattathu Maraikayar' of the day - a Muslim belonging to the family of Labbai Naina Maraikayar (grand son of the famous saint Shaykh Sadaqatullah) who built a Mosque, a temple and a Vihara in Naina Theevu in the Palk Strait (now Naga Deepa).

      The secular people of Kilakarai had extended financial support to Swami Vivekananda for his travels overseas. Emirates Trading Agency (ETA) in Dhubai and 'Mohamed Sathak Trust' (MST) based in Bangalore showcase the success of Kilakaraians. The Crescent group of educational institutions are managed by the Seethakathi Group. Citicenter in the heart of Singara Chennai was also launched by Kilakkaraians.

      The Kilakkarai diaspora families are spread all over the globe, but make it a point to visit their home town at least once a year for marriages and other functions.

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    9. Seerappuranam ezhutha uthaviya vallal

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  15. Understood. My apologies if I have offended in any way. It was just amazement that led me to it.

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    Replies
    1. From me too. It just reminded me of Araucaria's puzzle. BTW, EMACIATED also appears in today's Quickie

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  16. A little gem of a puzzle from a gem of a person ! Hope there will be one more CW (of Sankalak) tomorrow as well. Thanking The Hindu in advance.

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  17. CNN-IBN says 814 million voters to 'caste' their vote

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    Replies
    1. Now rectified. But weren't they correct in the first place?

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    2. In Indian elections, the die always caste, invariably...

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    3. As often said in Asterix

      alea jacta est

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  18. Shrikanth,
    Subject to correction, the version I heard runs like this-
    A price was fixed for his head by one of his rivals and when a person in need approached him for some money he was not in a position to help, being in exile himself. So, he told that person to take his head and get the money offered.
    Probably I am talking about a different person?

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    1. Here is a little different version I have received from my Tamil Pundit friend ( Richard, probably, confusion still growing?)

      Seedhakkadhi is a Maraikkaayar ( who traveled abroad for trading and earned a lot of money) and a great philanthropist.
      His philanthropy is well known in the area he lived.
      UmaRuppulavar, a poet who has heard of Seedhkakaadhi's benevolence aspires to meet him and sing his glory to
      get some wealthy gifts. When he reaches the place where Seedhakkadhi lived, he comes to know that the noble man has indeed died and the natives show him the tomb where Seedhakkaadhi is interred. Undaunted, the poet sits in front of the tomb and extols the philanthropic virtues of Seedhakkaadhi in the form of an epitaph,when the tomb breaks open and both the hands of Seedhkkaadhi wearing a variety of ornaments appear, as if to donate them to UmaRuppulavar .
      Citing this incident he praises him as Seththum Koduththaan Seedhakkadhi.
      UmaRuppulavar wrote the famous book of poems in Tamil called Seeraappuranam.

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    2. The other lore is that , without knowing his death someone visited him for alms but by that time he was interred. But by miracle, when the alms-seeker visited his grave, the arm went out and there was a gold ring in it.

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    3. Yes, this lore is the most popular one involving Seedhakkaadhi, Thanks Shrikanth.

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  19. I stand corrected. It is Kumanan I was writing about.

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  20. Your comment seem equally enjoyable and informative.

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  21. DS/ Shrikanth,

    Since my Tamil poet friend is away in U.S., I had to google for more details. I really was in for a surprise in this blog-

    http://karkanirka.org/2008/06/09/purananuru-164-165/

    Look who has done the translation from 'Purananooru'-

    Translated by George L Hart and Hank Heifetz (George L Hart had pure English Translations in his Poets of Tamil

    Anthologies book. It was crisp and poem like. Translations in Purananuru by George L Hart and Hank Heifetz have more

    detailed and nearly word to word precise translation. I have taken lines from both the translations and posted a mixed version

    here in my blog.)

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  22. @ 10:32 The good that men do, lives after them ...

    Hope no one would perceive a gender bias ...;-)

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    Replies
    1. Given the fact that the original Shakespeare quote that I had paraphrased has "The evil that men do, lives after them", I do not think the ladies will object. At most, PP may say "Boys will be boys"

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  23. It was never intended that way. Man was generally used to refer to humans in general. The gender bias came much later in the name of claiming equality.

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  24. Thanks to "The Hindu" for responding to the sentiments of the solvers; a fitting tribute to a veteran.

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  25. Chloramphenicol [Chloromycetin] used the standard antibiotic given for typhoid fever and very effective too. Sadly The organism [ salmonella typhi] became resistant and we had to switch over to other drugs, sometimes costlier.. Recently the wheel has turned full circle and at least some typhoid patients have started to respond to chloramphenicol .

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  26. Simply overwhelmed by the veteran's well-thought -out clues.Evven for a layman ideas and images gush out.Such was the quality and natureof the veteran's clues.Really the realm of cw suffers a loss by his departure. It was he who had inculcated the seeds in the fledgelings' mind.May his soul rest in peace.

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  27. The answer to yesterday's clue is R(ID)ING

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  28. Coming in late with some observations on the Srirangam narrative.

    Flowers play an important role in the worship of Lord Ranganatha. The kili maalai (parrot garland) worn by the Lord on Vainkunta Ekadasi makes a fascinating sight. The body of these tiny life-like parrots are made with the leaves of the arali (nerium) plant, and their beaks set in rosy softness with red arali blooms. These flowers are from the exclusive Madhurakavi Nandavanam near Amma Mandapam Road.

    CV has mentioned about the famous Flower Market on Sathara Veedhi (street) in Srirangam where specialists make garlands of fresh flowers. The street, also, has an important connection with T.A.Madhuram, famous comedienne of yesteryears. She had bought Rangaraja Talkies there for her brother over seven decades ago. This and Devi Talkies were the only two cinemas that used to exist in Srirangam for a long long time. The latter theatre, once owned by Nawab Rajamanickam Pillai, has now been converted into a wedding Hall.

    Renowned author, Sujatha, and popular lyricist, Vaali, were both from Srirangam (their original name is Rangarajan). The famous music director G,.Ramanathan, belonged to Bikshandar Kovil nearby.

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