Thursday, 1 May 2014

No 11073, Thursday 01 May 2014, Gridman


An out of turn Gridman! Must be a May Day special.
Other than my first reaction above, I don't see a theme to support 15A. I stand corrected, see the grid below.

ACROSS
1   Release cargo of sponge (8) FREELOAD {FREE}{LOAD}
5   Bug busy one to let off (6) BEETLE {BEE}{LET*}
9   Decadent doctor I reprove (8) OVERRIPE*
10 Reach peak growth in the garden? (6) FLOWER [DD]
12 National staff (4) POLE [DD]
13 Keep moving around! It’s rousing (10) BESTIRRING {BE}{STIRRING}
15 Reportedly devised a celebration for workers (3,3) MAY DAY (~made A)
                                                                                           Cartoon by Rishi

 17 That Spanish-English monarch (5) QUEEN {QUE}{EN}
20 Briefly get to follow America’s custom (5) USAGE {USA}{GEt}
21 I must be in last crowning piece (6) FINIAL {FIN{I}AL}
24 It enables free movement between countries (4,6) OPEN BORDER [CD]

27 Just so-so (4) FAIR [DD]
29 Everyone following is fat (6) TALLOW T{ALL}OW Anno not clear. Looks like while editing Gridman missed out on something. (Addendum - {T{ALL}OW} - See comments)
30 Denies knowledge of saws Ovid propagated (8) DISAVOWS*
31 Goes away to pack stuff in vessel (6) SCRAMS {S{CRAM}S}
32 Band reportedly seconder released (8) CENSORED* (~banned)

DOWN
1   Old computer disk is hanging (6) FLOPPY [DD]

2   Fairly venerable clergyman in cathedral city (6) EVENLY {E{VEN}LY}
3   Lady’s man (4) LORD [CD]
4   Fruit stored in a heap — plenty! (5) APPLE [T]
6   English rule revised by Swiss mathematician (5) EULER {E}{RULE*}
7   Owlets in tangled tugboat cords (8) TOWLINES*
8   Maddening, cultivating grain in a country short of ground (8) ENRAGING {EN{GRAIN*}Gland}
11 Decide to remain with boy swimming across Scottish river (4,2) STAY ON {S{TAY} ON}
14 Shot mega quarry (4) GAME*
16 Puts off reallocation of freed section (6) DEFERS {FREED*}{S}
17 Sound important landing site (4) QUAY (~key) Another word I've always pronounced incorrectly
18 Copper has many set up to get divided skirt (8) CULOTTES {CU}{LOT}{TES<=}
19 The French beauty — right one to place tags (8) LABELLER {LA}{BELLE}{R}
22 Show partiality to a small number accepting authorised version (6) FAVOUR {F{A}{V}OUR}
23 Time primarily scurrilous journalist is got rid of (6) ERASED {ERA}{S}{ED}
25 Flourish — flourish even as saints desert (5) BLOOM BLOssOM
26 The select Oriental tile is broken (5) ELITE {E}{TILE*}
28 Destruction said to bring rules (4) LAWS (~loss)




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79 comments:

  1. Bhavan1 May 2014 at 08:31

    29a Following = in tow

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ramani1 May 2014 at 08:37

    Except Quay and Finial got all. Thank you Sir

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kishore1 May 2014 at 08:54

    A curious theme from Gridman:

    May may be used along with:

    Beetle
    Flower
    Pole
    Queen
    Fair

    .... list MAY be incomplete !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Col_Gopinath1 May 2014 at 09:13

      I did think of May Queen but gave up after that.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1 May 2014 at 09:29

      I have a friend whose birthday is In May and her email id is Mayqueen. That, subconsciously, helped me spot it.

      Delete
    3. Mukundala Balasubramanyam1 May 2014 at 10:39

      Kishore @8:54

      Apple could be added to the list.

      Delete
    4. Kishore1 May 2014 at 10:44

      Sure, I told you the list may be incomplete ;-)

      Delete
    5. Mukundala Balasubramanyam1 May 2014 at 11:28

      Now, there'll be no more intrusions into the list, I believe!? :)

      Delete
  4. Richard1 May 2014 at 09:19

    Liked 15A in particular. Appropriate for the date. No pun intended.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore1 May 2014 at 09:45

      Does your wife know about your date? ;-)

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan1 May 2014 at 09:54

      It could be with his wife!

      Delete
    3. Richard1 May 2014 at 10:01

      At least at breakfast this morning, I enjoyed devouring a few dates brought by a friend from the Middle East.

      Delete
    4. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:07

      Deliberately included 'devouring'?

      Delete
    5. Mukundala Balasubramanyam1 May 2014 at 10:14

      Feasting on 'dates'?

      Delete
    6. Richard1 May 2014 at 10:18

      My! You guys are getting more and more dangerous as each day passes...

      Delete
    7. Anonymous1 May 2014 at 10:24

      "Marriage isn't a process of prolonging the life of love, but of mummifying the corpse." – P. G. Wodehouse

      Delete
  5. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 09:50

    Kishore,

    Nice cartoon on 'floppy'. Hanging and past 'use by date'?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Padmanabhan1 May 2014 at 09:54

    Tallow is a lubricant used in wire drawing. They have both versions- vegetable & mutton.Basically the fat acts as a lubricant.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Padmanabhan1 May 2014 at 09:56

    Bonus cartoon is a May day spcial?
    May day was the first one I got and I was expecting an SOS somewhere along the line.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan1 May 2014 at 10:00

      There is one more! Did I miss that in my Mayday confusion?

      Delete
  8. Padmanabhan1 May 2014 at 09:58

    A bomb blast in an incoming train (Guwahati- Bangalore Express) this morning at Madras Central station has just been reported. One dead and a few critically injured.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 09:58

    Didn't know that S: section,

    22 D: Actually AV: Authorised version. So maybe the anno could be F(AV)OUR.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:06

      Couldn't find the abbreviations separately for A & V.

      Delete
    2. Abhay1 May 2014 at 13:16

      "AV" is standard shorthand for authorised version, referring to the King James version of the Bible used in Church of England services. The annotation should indeed be F{AV}OUR.

      I think this is the first time I am seeing AV referenced by the actual words, though - it usually appears clued as Bible or the official book.

      Delete
  10. Mukundala Balasubramanyam1 May 2014 at 10:08

    3 Lady’s man (4) LORD [CD]

    I thought Lady's man was HERO!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard1 May 2014 at 10:22

      I too thought of HERO at first. But then O could not be accounted for.

      Shall we have a spot competition for building a clue for HERO? It could be interesting, why, even hilarious!

      And your time starts now!

      Delete
    2. Richard1 May 2014 at 10:25

      The woman? Nothing for the leading man (4)

      Delete
    3. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:27

      Woman's love god.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous1 May 2014 at 10:28

      He uses her egg! (4)

      Delete
    5. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:29

      Man's run out superstar.

      Delete
    6. Anonymous1 May 2014 at 10:31

      He, without her, amounts to nothing (4)

      Delete
    7. VJ1 May 2014 at 10:33

      Lord's wife is a lady right?

      Delete
    8. Chaturvasi1 May 2014 at 10:36

      Leading man about to get back into home office (4)

      Delete
    9. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:38

      Cockney superstar'swoman found in home office

      Delete
    10. RameshJ1 May 2014 at 10:38

      The woman who finally became Leander's lover (4)

      Delete
    11. Richard1 May 2014 at 10:39

      Creativity seems to be working overtime. Carry on clueing! Will be away from some time. Have a good day, all!

      Delete
    12. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:40

      That doesn't work.

      Delete
    13. RameshJ1 May 2014 at 10:44

      Raghu@10:40. Which one ?

      Delete
    14. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:47

      Mine @ 1038.

      Delete
    15. Kishore1 May 2014 at 10:58

      Your's does not work?! Sorry about that ;-)

      Delete
    16. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 11:03

      Plenty of time for that to happen.

      Delete
    17. VMA Nair1 May 2014 at 11:16

      Actor appears in the role of principal character in a movie (4)

      Delete
    18. VMA Nair1 May 2014 at 11:27

      Does mine work as semi &lit ? With word play as hidden in the role ?

      Delete
    19. Lakshmi Vaidyanathan1 May 2014 at 11:32

      Her love for a leading man (4)

      Delete
  11. Anonymous1 May 2014 at 10:19

    If May was spelt as Mae, I am sure one of the lights would have been West!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Kishore1 May 2014 at 10:43

    With respect to the 'Floppy' , PP cannot say boys will be boys. It seems they cease to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:47

      Doc's words? That's what I alluded to @ 9.50

      Delete
    2. Kishore1 May 2014 at 10:49

      That's news to me, Raghu. ;-) Do they come with a use by date these days?

      Delete
    3. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:52

      Not unless one's a Greek god

      Delete
    4. Kishore1 May 2014 at 10:56

      These double negatives are a no-no!

      Delete
    5. pavalamani pragasam1 May 2014 at 14:55

      lol

      Delete
  13. Kishore1 May 2014 at 10:47

    Mexicali and Calexico are two 'twin cities', one on each side of the California(US)-Mexico border and both are portmanteau words made up of bits of California and Mexico. I have not come across any other similar usage in any other place.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:49

    32 Band reportedly seconder released (8) CENSORED* (~banned)

    Unusual to see an entire anagram used as a homophone fodder.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore1 May 2014 at 10:56

      It's BAND reportedly= BANNED, which is the defn
      and wp is seconder*= CENSORED.

      Hence, contention that anagram is used as homophone fodder does not seem correct. Band is the homophone fodder, not censored.

      Delete
    2. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 10:59

      Sorry. You're correct. Anyway it's unusual.

      Delete
    3. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 11:01

      And I'm not saying it's unfair, but that's uncommon.

      Delete
  15. Mukundala Balasubramanyam1 May 2014 at 11:10

    I couldn't get 1Dn FLOPPY. Result? A sloppy 'flop-show' in North-West corner! Nevertheless, I did enjoy this May-Day Spl by CV Sir. Thank you Sir.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1 May 2014 at 11:14

      MB, you reminded me of Jaspal Bhatti's Flop Show!

      Delete
    2. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 11:19

      The Gods must be (going) crazy, listening to him.

      Delete
    3. Mukundala Balasubramanyam1 May 2014 at 11:21

      Yes, I certainly did enjoy most of his "Flop Shows"!

      Delete
  16. raju umamaheswar1 May 2014 at 12:42

    Talking about Floppy , isn't it a misnomer? it was always stiff and square ? Flower and bloom Queen and Lord and bestirring and pole----- ahem, only deflowering was missing !!

    Good one from Gridman. Didn't find it hard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1 May 2014 at 13:07

      The stiff and hard was the outer cover. Inside, it was still like a sheet of plastic, as it was in earlier versions, when covered with cardboard

      Delete
  17. Abhay1 May 2014 at 13:10

    Good one from Gridman - thanks! Good clueing overall - especially loved 1a, 7, and 25 (I think the latter would have worked even with flourish being used just once).
    Somewhat disappointed, though, with 24 (barely cryptic - almost a straight definition) and 29 (tallow fell into place from the definition with the crosses in, but the wordplay...everything for all is fine, but following for tow? And nothing to indicate that the one is housed within the other? Or am I missing something?).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Raghunath1 May 2014 at 13:21

      Col's struck off his comment next to the answer in the blog and referred to Bhavan's comment, which you have not noticed.

      Delete
    2. Abhay1 May 2014 at 13:47

      So I missed not only the setter's clueing, but also a black-and-while comment right at the top! :(

      My apologies to Gridman, Bhavan, and the blogger - and thanks to you for pointing this out!

      Delete
    3. Abhay1 May 2014 at 13:49

      I should add that, from being disappointed with the setter re 29, I have now moved to being thoroughly disappointed with myself!

      Delete
  18. Abhay1 May 2014 at 13:54

    Liked your second cartoon a lot, Kishore - Bugs Bunny meets the Seven Dwarfs!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Richard1 May 2014 at 13:55

    K quoting PGW @ 10:24 - Marriage isn't a process of prolonging the life of love, but of mummifying the corpse

    Dead funny!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Abhay1 May 2014 at 15:27

      On the subject of marraige, I find a line by Archie Goodwin (Rex Stout creation) very funny too: "A man who marries a second time didn't deserve to lose his first wife."

      Of course, it works equally well with the sexes reversed!

      Delete
  20. Deepak Gopinath1 May 2014 at 15:06

    Main post updated with the themed entries marked in the grid.
    The second image was sent to me by Bhavan showing the explanation of the eleven themed entries

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore1 May 2014 at 15:26

      Thanks, Bhavan for the full list. My May Day is Mayd.

      Delete
    2. Abhay1 May 2014 at 15:33

      And the theme continues in 22 through the "Hunger Games" line: "MAY the odds always be in your FAVOUR!"

      I'll get my coat.

      Delete
  21. Suresh1 May 2014 at 15:55

    Wow! To the masters CV & Bhanav

    ReplyDelete
  22. Padmanabhan1 May 2014 at 16:31

    Great May day special ! Trouble is that it took us song- for Bhavan to tell us all the way from down under. Thank you Gridman & Bhavan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath1 May 2014 at 17:23

      Actually Bhavan had sent it to me in the morning but I was out and got back only by 2 that's the reason for posting it so late

      Delete
  23. Sowmya1 May 2014 at 17:22

    Wonderful crossword Gridman and thanks to Bhavan for the details that did justice to our fully comprehending the theme:):) Hats off..

    ReplyDelete
  24. Vasant1 May 2014 at 18:48

    Joining Late. Wonderful crossword; could appreciate the theme only after reading the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Suresh1 May 2014 at 21:31

    And we forget Kishore who spotted the theme in hi first comment

    ReplyDelete

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