A delightful judicial pangram from the Commander of the Jungle Patrol.
8 Bit of cream, Mabel used to soothe (6) BECALM {C
9 Wobbly unfit to cross road (8) UNSTABLE {UN{ST}ABLE}
10 Half-empty glass is half-full to him (8) OPTIMIST [CD]
11 Top effort to earn one pound (6) TRILBY {TR{1}{LB}Y}
12 Thrash husband running away from her, with model (6) WRITHE {
13 Small runaway car veers off into abyss (8) CREVASSE {S}{CA
15 A couple of votes favouring lemurs (3-4) AYE-AYES {A}{YE-A}{YES}
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20 Collect beer bottles, litter thrown around by bachelor (8) ASSEMBLE {A{SSEM<=}{B}LE}
22 Have a liking for recipe book review (4,2) TAKE TO {TAKE} {TO<=}
23 Plain fish consumed by doctor? The other way round (6) TUNDRA {TUN{DR}A}
25 Go about greeting boy with small presents (8) EXHIBITS {EX{HI}{B}IT}{S}
26 Gran with gene that’s faulty leading to ailment of tissues (8) GANGRENE*
27 An endless jungle alongside river (6) AMAZON {A}{MAZ
DOWN
1 Danger foremost in jungle, big cat’s left out close to prey (8) JEOPARDY {J}{
2 6’s attribute reported in one on the bench (10) MAGISTRATE {MAGI'S}{TRATE}(~trait)
3 Don’t start to cross-examine and anger judge (6) UMPIRE {
4 Vacuous starlet applies fruit extract for fairness (7) JUSTICE {JU{S
5 Alternative theory about lines of equal temperature (8) ISOTHERM {IS{OTHER}M}
6 Imagination found in wise men? On the contrary (4) MAGI [T]
7 Jumping bail, one’s offering excuses (6) ALIBIS {BAIL*}{1'S}
14 Notice Zambia, UK and India develop a new kind of plea (6,4) ADZUKI BEAN {AD}{Z}{UK}{I} {BE}{AN} Typo: FOR plea READ pea
18 New book first in a century, depicting, symbols (8) NOTATION {N}{OT}{A}{T{1}ON}
19 Break free and forever upset judge (7) REFEREE {FREE*}{'EER*}
21 Grass seen in picturesque Alaska (6) SQUEAL [T]
22 One leaves the troubled West Asian country’s capital (6) TEHRAN {THE*}{
24 Magistrate pursuing drug trail? Just the opposite (4) DOGE {E}{DOG}<=>
In the online version, the top two rows of the grid have been dropped, though the print version is fine. Hence, Raju will draw a blank today...
ReplyDeleteI guess that's why the Anrdoid app version didn't load at all today - it gave an error message saying there was a "grid issue".
DeleteI did. Paprika on the pimple again ! Though an optimist, my cup of woes overfloweth !!
DeleteRishi's cartoon is apt for my condition today !!
The ipad app loads a grid but it has many rows with empty squares..so I missed the crossword too:( Wonder when THC will take the initiative to move to an interactive crossword on their site..
DeleteRepeating the shameless plug for those who didn't see it yesterday
ReplyDeleteSee Page 24 of the March issue of Harmony magazine at this link HARMONY MAGAZINE
Congrats for being featured in the mag!
DeleteThanks Sandhya
DeleteGreat Col. Picture perfect! Loved the well written article. Congratulations. Collection of articles is also good.
DeleteMay I repeat my congrats, equally shamelessly? ;-)
DeleteUnable to view it since my Bsnl cable is cut.
Deletethanks Paddy, Richard and Raghu
DeleteVery nice write-up, Col! A question: what is that wall of grids in the background? Looks very intriguing!
DeleteNice article. Celegrating age, you are very much on the way to becoming a celebrity at this age.
DeleteSome of us believe that you are already there.
DeleteThanks Abhay and Suresh. Abhay that wall of grids is four sheets of the worlds largest CW which was presented to me by Shuchi, Kishore and Arden on my 60th b'day. The CW has over 28,000 clues which are in a booklet. Unfortunately the CW is not a cryptic one and it needs a large wall where it will have to be fixed.
Delete17A
DeleteCongrats Colonel.
DeleteCongrats Colonel. Very nice article. Enjoyed reading it.
DeleteThanks Ajeesh, VP and Sowmya
DeleteWow! Great! Congrats, Colonel. I loved the words at the end-"You need to have an obsession with
Deletewords and the perseverance to go at it." Exactly! It is a magnificent obsession!
Thanks PP
DeleteA question a la Raghunath:
ReplyDelete5 Alternative theory about lines of equal temperature (8) ISOTHERM {IS{OTHER}M}
The defintion 'lines...' calls for a plural. The solution ISOTHERM is in singular.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out the slip. Should have line joining pts. of equal temp.
Felt satisfied it was an error free cw, till this and the one by the paper showed up.
Yes, I also hesitated before filling in and thought about 'isobars' (but that is for pressure)
DeleteI was 'pea'ved about 14D. It messed up my SE corner.
I liked the tundra for its 'plain'ness. I was toying with 'humble' (MB for doctor but there was no fish)
A small doubt about 22D. I think the def. is only capital, since the country (Iran) becomes part of wordplay. It so happens that the Capital and country match. Or the Phantom was able to find a good match.
ReplyDeleteHow does capital and country match?
DeleteActually West is an incorrect indicator for a down clue
Delete22 One leaves the troubled West Asian country’s capital (6) TEHRAN {THE*}{IRAN}
DeleteWest Asian Country is IRAN
One leaves to make it RAN
THE troubled to give TEH
So, the definition is capital only as suggested by Paddy
Tehran is the capital of Iran.
DeleteIt is 'West Asia', the country Iran being in W.Asia. IMO West is not reversal indicator.
DeleteCould be considered semi&lit - troubled West Asian country's capital.
DeleteMy mistake I didn't look at it correctly, thanks Paddy & Renga.
Delete20 Collect beer bottles, litter thrown around by bachelor (8) ASSEMBLE {A{SSEM<=}{B}LE}
ReplyDeleteNice clue. Liked bottles as container indicator. Missed it out in the first glance because of smooth surface reading.
10A - OPTIMIST
ReplyDeleteRepeating what I had quoted in this forum a couple of years ago.
Man walks into a bar optimistically and walks out misty optically...
Was that the Rev Spooner?
DeletePite quossible!
DeleteThanks to Mr Walker for a very nice puzzle, and to DG for the blog. For me, about 50% went in in no time, followed by a frustrating hour of intermittently starting at the clues, till TUNDRA suddenly thawed out and the flow restarted!
ReplyDeleteLOI was ADZUKI BEANS - and not just because of the typo!
LOI = Last One In.
Delete(Contract people use it for 'Letter of Intent'; in Internet slang, it stands for 'Laughing on the Inside')
6D - Imagination found in wise men? On the contrary (4) MAGI
ReplyDeleteLiked this one.
Contrariwise, it is the wise men found in imagination. Found it well-constructed.
16D - Intimate-sounding is the COD. ;-)
16D - I meant 'Intimate-sounding one is the COD'.
DeleteIn 22 Across, recipe is used to clue in TAKE.
ReplyDeleteChamber's Dictionary gives the following:
recipe noun (recipes) directions for making something, especially for preparing and cooking food, usually consisting of a list of ingredients and instructions point-by-point.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: Latin, originally meaning 'take' or 'take it' when written at the top of medical prescriptions, from recipere to take.
Oxford Dictionary also describes the origin of the word to be late Middle English: from Latin, literally 'receive!' (first used as an instruction in medical prescriptions), imperative of recipere.
Can we use the etymological derivation as the meaning?
Doctors still put an "R" at the top of their prescriptions, and it still means "take" in that context, so it's not just etymology at work.
DeleteI think that R is different and means 'Referred by'.
DeleteYou are right Abhay. This is what wiki says-
Delete℞ is a symbol meaning "prescription". It is sometimes transliterated as "Rx" or just "Rx". This symbol originated in medieval manuscripts as an abbreviation of the Late Latin verb recipe, the imperative form of recipere, "to take" or "take thus".[3] Literally, the Latin word recipe means simply "Take...." and medieval prescriptions invariably began with the command to "take" certain materials and compound them in specified ways.[4]
Singapore is a country with the capital by the same name. Are there any more ?
ReplyDeleteCol: Yeah I too have the same largest crossword that was featured by Shuchi in her blog earlier. Though not cryptic, it is a collector's item and hence I had mounted one part to fit my wall in the living room that you had seen. I have another one of cryptic mounted in a frame similarly but I dare not give it to any body here to clean and restore it , lest I lose the whole . It survived the vagaries of a voyage in the hold from Nairobi to Mombasa to a middle east country to Colombo, Cochin and finally Coimbatore.
There are 11
Delete6d - Defn in the middle - Is it alright? My score 98% today. Thank you the Ghost who walks!
ReplyDeleteGot curious. Here is the list-
ReplyDeleteSingapore - Singapore City
Mexico - Mexico City
San Marino - San Marino
Kuwait - Kuwait City
Vatican - Vatican City
Guatemala - Guatemala City
Panama - Panama City
Monaco - Monaco
Andorra - Andorra la Vella
Luxembourg - Luxembourg
Djibouti - Djibouti
Capital ! Paddy !! Curiosity never killed a cat !!
DeleteWe may also consider:
DeleteSão Tomé and Príncipe - São Tomé
El Salvador - San Salvador
Guinea-Bissau - Bissau
Tunisia - Tunis
Brazil - Brasilia
Nadathur : You're a nadakkum wikipedia !!
DeleteKishore seems to be terribly busy today, as there was just one comment from him. Was waiting for his graphical version of 16 d's answer.
ReplyDelete3 Don’t start to cross-examine and anger judge (6) UMPIRE {jUMP}{IRE}
I had it as pUMP IRE, where Pump: Cross examine, and:
19 Break free and forever upset judge (7) REFEREE {FREE*}{'EER*}
(FREE*) (EER<=) (upset). The anagram also works here.
Another shameless plug (this does not mean that I endorse that the one yesterday was shameless):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dramadose.com/avanu-ghazal-avalu-shayari/
I had been an occasional reader of Shuchi's site.
DeleteNot only your review but your comment also makes interesting reading.
Hilarious! Hats off to you, Kishore!
DeleteRe CV's toon, while the optimists and pessimists were debating whether the glasses were half full or empty, the opportunists settled the debate by emptying those glasses.
ReplyDeleteRepresented graphically by our cartoonist.
Delete... making them full empty!
DeleteWhat would a TamBrahm name if he discovers a new element?
ReplyDeleteTatsaviturvarennium
Really nice one from Phantom with lots of good clues. Liked 16D & 20A the most.
ReplyDeleteQuite enjoyable.To single out12a-model is anagrind.wow.25a-equally nice.14d able to crack thanks to google.2d lovely clue.In fine, a wholesome entertainer.
ReplyDelete