Saturday, 21 June 2014

No. 11117, Saturday 21 Jun 14, Afterdark

This was a smooth and easy offering from Afterdark. Liked BURSAR, REASONED, AFOOT, INDIAN, INHABITANT, MOSES, NEUTRAL and FRIENDS.

Coming after two comparatively tougher puzzles, this might bring some relief to solvers. Those solvers that manage to get their hands on the puzzle that is, if The Hindu hasn't stuffed up the on-line puzzle for the nth day running.

ACROSS
1 Sign of spirit incomplete, Mumbai Indians admitted (6) GEMINI [GENIe outside Mumbai Indians]
4 3rd quarter outlook not ok, needs new capital (6) LONDON [LOwDOwN outside N]? Not sure
9 Lads, on return shed tears about youth leader (4) BOYS [SOB<= around Youth]
10 Institute agreement to admit non-performing model (10) UNIVERSITY [UNITY outside VERSIon] performing = 'on' as in 'on air'
11 Treasurer to stop accepting purse without limits (6) BURSAR [BAR outside pURSe]
12 Thought experienced partner should be replaced readily first (8) REASONED [SEASONED with Readily for S]
13 Powerful nuclear blast on Governor's trail... (9) HERCULEAN [Her Excellency + NUCLEAR*]
15 ... shakes roots and trunk (5) TORSO [ROOTS]*
16 Terribly out of date duet out in the air (5) AFOOT [OuT OF dAte]*

18 Way others turned out is fit for voyage (9) SEAWORTHY [WAY OTHERS]*
22 Luxury car not fully made in French province (8) LIMOUSIN [LIMOUSINe]
23 Hotel to accommodate princess and a fellow citizen (6) INDIAN [INN outside DI + A]
25 Trendy dressworker is an inmate (10) INHABITANT [IN + HABIT ANT]
26 Match without maiden this season (4) TIME [TIE outside M]
27 Senator, around Wednesday will reach the country (6) SWEDEN [SEN outside WED]
28 Member's first monthly article delivered through errand boy (6) LEGMAN [LEG + Monthly + AN]

DOWN
1 Viscous gel applied around pitch before Underwood's first ball (7) GLOBULE [GEL* outside LOB + Underwood]
2 Some, by mistake take saint as prophet (5) MOSES [SOME* + S]
3 Heard current practice to sack setter is unbiased (7) NEUTRAL [~NEW + TRiAL]
5 Traffic system a new boy operated on blackout (3-3) ONE-WAY [ A NEW bOY]*
6 Reject food first offered on return at old city (9) DISHONOUR [DISH + Offered + ON<= + UR]
7 Chats about train set I took away (7) NATTERS [TRAiN SET]*
8 African mountain range, one lean edifice (6,7) SIERRA LEONEAN [SIERRA + ONE LEAN*] edifice as anagram indicator?
14 Sweet of political satirist to keep General Assembly out of Coalgate corruption (9) CHOCOLATE [CHO + COALgaTE*]
17 Beasts when injected with a bit of Ranitidine become companions (7) FRIENDS [FIENDS outside Ranitidine]
19 Cut bone off, replace with a prime steel pipe (7) WHISTLE [WHITTLE with Steel for T]
 Cartoon by Rishi

20 Chief Ambassador takes on publicist (7) HEADMAN [His Excellency + ADMAN]
Illustration by Rishi

21 A small judge in old court (6) ASSIZE [A + S + SIZE]
24 Short meeting with top two umpires for a bit of information (5) DATUM [DATe + UMpires]

88 comments:

  1. We seem to have "Yellow" fever ... Any guesses, why? :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I allude to the highlighting of some of the answers in the above blog ...

      Delete
  2. Refreshing font, Bhavan! Which?

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  3. Our Headman has sketched for HEADMAN !

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  4. Two His Excellencies (HEs); 13a Governor & 20d Ambassaor.

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  5. The significance of the graphic for 17D should be mentioned for the benefit of newxomers here.

    They can be asked to unravel the puzzles.

    ReplyDelete
  6. If Ram is around he would at once say what the theme is.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kiashore,
    Nice variety of clues on bloggers' names.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, V. As you would have noticed, the salutation uses Fiends as in this clue. These were the names of the people who attended S&B5 at my residence on 12.8.12. Some of those clues may not have definitions, a la Neyartha's starred ones. Art by Kuldeep Rao, based on the Batman theme.

      Field is open for clue solutions ...

      Delete
    2. My take :

      1. Unwind one gray tie GITA IYER (1 GRAY TIE)*
      2. Sanskrit saint's hair on the banks of the river Ganga CG RISHIKESH (C{?}G RISHI KESH)
      3. Anurabha R Gavaskar hides him BHARGAV (T)
      4. Un-husked rice for an Irishman PADDY (PADMANABHAN)
      5. Sukhia model seen around Joint Entrance Exam SUJEET (SU JEET T)
      6. Aking sounds like girl's watch LASRADO (~LASS RADO) RICHARD LASRADO
      7. Saucy tipsy maid, huh? Ha ! SUCHY (I think, Cant parse it)
      8. Not shallow, a man above board DEEPAK (DEEP A K)
      9. A tavern had a cocktail DEVANATHAN (TAVERN HAD A)*
      10. Honk hours bewitched newbie KHUSHNOOR (HONK HOURS)*

      Delete
    3. One more Typo Solution no.9 : R DEVANATHAN

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    4. 7. The entire clue "Saucy tipsy maid, huh? Ha!" anagrams into SHUCHISMITA UPADHYAY

      Btw, how does "a man above board" parse as A K?

      Delete
    5. Also, "Rear I Shook" ---> Kishore Rao

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    6. Thanks, Mohsin :) I've no idea about A K ! Perhaps, Kishore could throw some light on it.

      Delete
    7. Could it be 'A man on board' mean A Knight on Chess-Board?

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    8. Or Arvind Kejriwal? :)
      'above board' as in 'honest/ without deception'

      Delete
    9. Yes, it could be! (...anybody's guess now?)

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    10. AK was meant to mean A King, tho' Knight works too

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    11. How can I say the Delhi AK is above or below board? As he himself says, "hamaari bhi kya aukaat hai?"

      Delete
  8. 22A Definition is 'French province'.

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  9. Rishi, the cartoonist. One can take the adman as a tribute to Bal Thackeray. Congrats.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bal (in Hindi) = hair, and yes the adman is quite hairy. But somehow made me think of Prahlad Kakkar ..

      Delete
    2. Though BT was a cartoonist, I am not sure if he did advertisements too

      Delete
  10. K's toon.
    Nice choice of words.
    to get her = together
    trip = journey, stumble

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  11. In yesterday's clue,to make Conservation into Conversation, the only letters that need to be interchanged are 'v' and 's'. This suggests another possibility. However, it is the setter's prerogative to chose his method of clueing,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pl read 'choose' for 'chose' in last line.

      Delete
  12. Elsewhere in a Girl's hostel..

    NEETU'S NATTERS:
    ===============

    Bina: (Whistle's a song in the air) Gemini, Gemini, Gemini

    Neetu: You are singing. It is time to think to undo the dishonour done to us.

    Bina: What?

    Neetu: We inhabitants of the Indian Sub-continent reasoned with our parents
    and managed to come to the University of London for further studies...

    Bina: So what?

    Neetu: Our Bursar has given us this Herculean task......

    Bina: What are you talking about?

    Neetu: I was told that we are supposed to go on a tour to Sweden to view the Torso of Venus
    kept in the museum there as if we have no other job... Moses gave just ten, but this guy
    keeps on commanding us. Ask him to go to Sierra Leonean or whatever...Give him garlic in a
    globule. Behaving like the legman of the Headman....This should be the last assize...

    Bina: Be neutral. This is not a one way trip. We will be sent to the airport in seaworthy,
    sorry, roadworthy Limousines. And that is not the only datum.

    Neetu: My foot.

    Bina: And this is not India. The boys are coming with us.

    Neetu: Hurray! Chocolate, chocolates for everyone. Long live Bursar!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well done ! CGB ____ One doesn't need KGB to unravel this play !

      Keep 'em coming !!

      Delete
  13. In spite of 'yellowlighting' it took me a while to get the theme! Feeling the absence (delayed presence) of Ram? Do I get a chocolate for getting it (though late)?
    Do we start naming the names in K's list or we wait for a while?

    ReplyDelete
  14. 8 African mountain range, one lean edifice (6,7) SIERRA LEONEAN [SIERRA + ONE LEAN*] edifice as anagram indicator?

    My defective reasoning-
    Edifice=building, which is an accepted anagrind
    But then edifice is a noun, and building in this sense is a verb...

    ReplyDelete
  15. 8 African mountain range, one lean edifice (6,7) SIERRA LEONEAN [SIERRA + ONE LEAN*] edifice as anagram indicator?

    edifice = building (AnagrInd)

    ReplyDelete
  16. "3rd quarter outlook not ok, needs new capital (6) LONDON [LOwDOwN outside N]? Not sure" -- After much speculation, left the clue as it is .. the intended anno was OND was for 3rd quarter ( AMJ, JAS, OND, JFM) .. Outlook , once again was treated a look being outside , minus OK . New for N .. I definitely thought this would come up for discussion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Start from April with all first letters of each month

      Delete
    2. I had taken it as
      Out=DOWN Each letter being a quarter, remove 3rd quarter meaning 'w'
      Lo comes from LOOK-OK
      N from new

      Delete
  17. The credit for the theme should go to Shuchi. In one of her blogs about themed crosswords, there was this suggestion of how one can keep a theme unobtrusive using common English words with no necessity of GK . The same was done by Incognito in this cycle with names of car models. But , in this case Shuchi had suggested this theme in particular.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I thought the anno was OND inside LOOK deleting OK and adding N to get LONDON, but what was OND?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes that is the idea. Making it as 3rd quarter of the FY would have made it clear

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    2. I gave up because as per Chambers OND: Ordinary National Diploma, a qualification in a technical subject (Having a sort of semester system?)

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    3. Since, other terms that could be associated with finance like 'outlook', 'capital' was used , I thought it would work ..

      Delete
  19. All four quarters are puzzling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. April, May June - AMJ ... so on so forth

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    2. There is no indication of the country.
      The financial years vary. While in India, UK and South Africa the 3rd quarter would be October - December; in US, it is April to June; in Australia, it is January-March, in Sweden, Portugal, Ireland, Germany, France and several other countries, it is July-September.
      Third quarter could also be W in NEWS.

      Delete
    3. I think it's ok as this an Indian crossword

      Delete
  20. Replies
    1. All the highlighted words are Tamil Movie titles

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    2. Oh nice... Not familiar with most of them movies and hence couldn't make a connection.

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    3. These movies would not have got tax exemption from the TN Government. OK, wrt those Tamil movies that do have Tamil titles and are given tax exemption, why does not the ticket cost less for me? Where does the tax go?
      Do those films enhance Tamil culture when - for much of the dialogue may be in English. The head of the villains is most likely to be called Boss!
      Also, if you have noted, even the films with Tamil titles might have an English subtitle or ana dd-on lest the non-Tamils should miss the film.

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    4. The above comment is w r t VJ @ 10:38

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    5. I'm just curious, are there any Malayalam movies with non-English titles?

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    6. CV Sir @ 11.26, these movies were before the tax-exemption rule came into effect .. when I was looking for them, I found that post 2008, there are few or no movies at all with English titles, just to get this concession. In fact , one movie that was titled Emden Magan (referring to the German warship) changed to En Magan to get tax rebate.

      Delete
    7. VJ @ 12:33

      I suppose you mean Malayalam movies with English titles, isn't it? Plenty if I'm not wrong, the latest one being 'How old are you?' I am told it's a hit as well.

      Delete
    8. From my dalliance with Malayalam movies: No.20 Madras Mail. Same period, non Malayalam title: Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha

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    9. No, I was actually being sarcastic. These days, every other Malayalam movie that's released here has got an English title. If you book your tickets online just looking at the name of the movie thinking it's a Hollywood or British movie or something and head to the theatres, you'd be in for a huge surprise :)

      Delete
    10. Agreed. The latest to hit the screens being 'Bangalore Days'

      Delete
  21. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AD has been contributing Sunday Specials regularly. I counted 17 of them - 11 in 2013 and 6 in 2014.
      This is a rare contribution to hone our solving skills; it merits gratitude and appreciation from all of us.

      Delete
  22. Successful outing today as well ! Had problem in parsing UNIVERSITY, REASONED and LONDON, nevertheless enjoyed solving this fascinating puzzle. Thank you AD. :-)))

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  23. AD: CHO Chweet chocolate ! Wonder whether CHO is known as a satirist in the Tughlaq Raj at large?

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  24. 11AC : Treasurer to stop accepting purse without limits (6) BURSAR [BAR outside pURSe]

    Treasurer feels let down for not having been highlighted please !

    ReplyDelete
  25. For all the football fans (I am not one) attached below is some advice I received from a friend

    Do's and don't's for dear wife during FIFA World Cup:

    My dear wife,
    The Fifa World Cup is close by.
    Let me give u a few rules that will preserve your beauty.
    1. The remote control belongs to me for the whole month.
    2. Tell all your friends not to give birth or wed or die or wateva during the World Cup coz we won't go.
    3. You support the team that I support.
    4. No talking during the game, wait for half-time or end of the game.
    5. Repeats & highlights are as good as the main match, so am gonna watch them.
    6. We can watch STAR PLUS provided actors and actresses are wearing soccer jerseys and they are in Brazil.
    7. U don't just pass in front of the TV if am watching soccer, u better crawl on the floor.
    8. Make sure you don't ask silly questions such as: is this Chelsea versus England?
    9. No funny faces to my friends when they come for soccer.
    10. Smile everytime EXCEPT when my team is losing
    11.There shall be no comments about Cristiano Ronaldo's looks. Professionalism shall remain an absolute part of the WC.
    12.If you miss the line up please don't ask, 'who is that guy?'
    13. Ronaldo the Brazilian and Ronaldo the Portuguese are not related, Tanzania and Kenya did not qualify, and there is a 10 hour time difference between Brazil and India

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    Replies
    1. ...applicable till midnight only, everyday, I believe!

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    2. All do's and dont's vetoed - I havent seen / heard anything - Dear Wife

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    3. No conflict at our place. 3 football fans, and the lady in the land of the Nod ( she is asleep and also nods consent to our commandeering the remote)

      Delete
  26. Power failure :( Could get all except the TIME. Really enjoyed solving. Thanks AD! The cat was let out CV Sir, before my trying :(

    ReplyDelete
  27. Looks like some kind of progress is being made. Today's CW clues are up in the online edition. The grid however is missing as a result we have the famous black square instead on the Orkut App. Venkat I think has recreated the grid for his site as it's working fine there

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    Replies
    1. We are limping back to normalcy, like we always do after storms ...

      Delete
  28. Nice crossword AD and cleverly hidden theme (couldn't catch on till you let the cat out of the bag though:() Here's my latest Brand Crossword for those who may want to give it a try. There is a something special hidden in the crossword as well - tried my hand for the first time at something I learnt in this blog:)

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    Replies
    1. Message to Ramkumar was seen :)

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    2. Happy Anniversary to Rams
      Read down the first letters of the clues to get the message.

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    3. Yes Venkatesh, you got it right:).. 'twas a clue acrostic, wishing my husband on our anniversary:) Can be parsed as "Happy Anniversary to Ram, S" as well:)

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    4. And here I was wondering about the plural ;-)

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    5. Plural as both have to be wished

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  29. It must have been Neeta. I used to run a magazine circulating library among friends some 40 years back. I find that Stardust magazine is still there as well as Neeta Natter.http://www.magnamags.com/stardust#neeta-natter

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  30. MB@2:31. Well done. Here is the full set:

    1) GITA IYER*
    2) (RISHI)(KESH)
    3) BHARGAV (T)
    4) PADDY [2
    5) (SU)(JEE)(T)
    6) RICHAR {~lass LAS}{A}{RADO}
    7) SHUCHISMITA UPADHYAY*
    8) (DEEP)(A)(K)
    9) R DEVANATHAN*
    10) KHUSHNOOR*

    KISHORE RAO*

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    Replies
    1. 6) RICHARD {~lass LAS}{A}{RADO}

      No AnagrInd for 7. The whole clue was anagram fodder. AnagrInd 'saucy' was also part of it.
      We can take it as &lit.

      Delete

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