Friday 20 June 2014

No.11116, Friday 20 Jun 2014, The Phantom

Apart from Di, Phantom's got Monica Seles and Simi Garewal in the skull cave ...  But why do I feel I am missing something ... on the tip of my tongue ... but I am not able to pinpoint it


ACROSS
 1 Nut finally shut and bolted church door (8) ENTRANCE (EN T RAN CE)
5 Sad physician’s distressed? On the contrary (6) SOMBRE (MB SORE)* (SO(MB)RE) See comments
9 Problem horse starting off without right master (8) SURMOUNT (SUM mOUNT outside R)
10 Girl’s oath heard in competition (6) DISCUS (DI'S CUS ~cuss)
12 Fair lady meeting knight (4) EVEN (EVE N)
13 Without doubt one can be repelled by the Spanish in challenge (10) DEFINITELY (1 TIN< EL in DEFY)
15 Sweat according to Greek character exists in small measure (12) PERSPIRATION (PER, PI in S RATION)
18 Focusses on criminal cases about import of English books (12) CONCENTRATES (CON, CRATES around E NT)
21 Election involving councillor, broadcast over this media? (10) ELECTRONIC (ELECTION involving CR)*
22 Strong beer without trace of bitterness (4) ABLE (ALE without B)
24 Jail as punishment revoked for American’s honesty (6) CANDOR (CAN ROD<)
25 Fuel ignited shelters without oxygen? (8) FIREWOOD (FIRED shelters W/O O)
26 Scatter remains after small pail's emptied (6) SPLASH (S PaiL ASH)


Cartoon by Rishi
27 Rally efficiently to control return of disorder (8) ASSEMBLY (ABLY around MESS<)

DOWN
1 Made certain run out resulted (6) ENSUED (ENSUrED)
2 Jailor leaves Norway for another country (6) TURKEY (TURnKEY)

3 Small unit of weight in India comes up with plenty! (1,3) A LOT (TOLA<)
4 Averts dispute in conservation discussion (12) CONVERSATION (CON(AVERTS)*ION) or CONSERVATION* ??  See comments
6 Free drink taken inside after beano finally began (10) ORIGINATED (O RID outside GIN ATE)
7 Viruses from environment, alien vehicle brought back (8) BACTERIA (AIR ET CAB)< Aren't viruses and bacteria different?
8 Testing contents of boxes, say in godown (8) ESSAYING (T)
                                                                                                            Cartoon by Bhargav

11 Resemblances Ms. Garewal and late Iris shared (12) SIMILARITIES (SIMI (LATE IRIS)*)
14 Court No. 1’s restored, included in Monica’s preferences (10) SELECTIONS (CT NO1< in SELES)
16 Disciplines son and playful niece involved in vacuous capers (8) SCIENCES (S, NIECE* in CaperS)
17 Modern terminal’s nucleus moved out inside (8) INTERNAL (TERMINAL-M+N)* IN TERmiNAL
See comments
19 Stomach muscles brother built up to digest! (6) ABSORB (ABS BRO<)
20 Poisonous dye, lad mixed (6) DEADLY (DYE LAD)*
23 Dancing feet to entertain (4) FETE (FEET)*

100 comments:

  1. Very tricky surface reading and word placement in some clues, like 12A, 25A, 19D etc.

    Many good clues like 21A, 16D.

    27 A - The setter has 'ably' put 'mess' back in ASSEMBLY. Great clue, the risk of the contempt law getting invoked apart.

    11D - Liked this one as well. She has been my favourite.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I didn't find anything tricky in them..
      good clues though

      Delete
  2. The bad news is that, surprisingly, the link to TH miscellaneous page still shows yesterday's page as of now. Good news is that yesterday's puzzle is linked in it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looks like Miscellaneous page itself is in limbo

      Delete
    2. Or,
      wake up after 20 years!
      Interestingly all items (not just the CW) pertains to yesterday's paper.

      Delete
  3. Rishi's toon reminded me of Mother Goose.

    http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/literature/mothergoose/rhymes/ifalltheseaswereonesea.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore
      It was fun (re)reading that verse.
      Thanks for the link.
      Your brain is always abuzzing - even without a bee in the bonnet.

      Delete
    2. My favourite bee's hive is in Oz

      Delete
    3. Though India was recently described as a beehive ...

      Delete
  4. 5 Sad physician’s distressed inside? On the contrary (6) SOMBRE (MB SORE)*
    physician MB
    distressed SORE
    inside, on the contrary - outside
    Defn: sad SO(MB)RE

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The word inside does not appear in the published version. Did you guess it?

      Delete
    2. Message from Raghu in Orkut:

      5 Sad physician’s distressed? On the contrary (6)
      "inside" is missing from the fodder following distressed. Apologies to all.

      Original clue was:
      Morose physician nursing ulcer? On the contrary.

      Changed it at the last minute and missed inside.

      Delete
    3. I'd E mailed you and Col about this, but you were probably busy blogging.

      Delete
    4. I read it as

      Sad = def
      Physician's = MB has
      distressed = SORE,
      On the contrary = distressed has physician SO(MB)RE

      Delete
    5. Bhavan's anno, makes sense inspite of Raghu's confession!

      Delete
    6. I know that 's is used for has and is, but I did not mean it that way.

      Delete
    7. Looks like the Phantom had short term memory loss :-) as the clue works without the 'inside'

      Delete
    8. Venkatesh @ 8:36 & 8:43,

      In the first instance itself you could have mentioned that the 'inside' information came from the setter through Orkut

      Delete
    9. It has been Weeks since he met the Colonel ...

      Delete
    10. My 854 in response to DG's 853

      Delete
    11. You get 'inside' information regarding their meetings?

      Delete
    12. Venkatesh
      At 8-36 itself you should have told us where you got the revised version of the clue from.
      To leave readers in puzzlement first and then explain after queries is not in the best interests of this blog.

      Delete
  5. Re your preamble, Kishore. You've not missed anything. In fact I've missed an important indicator in the clue annotated by Venkatesh above.

    My sincere apologies to all who visit this blog and to all those elsewhere who must be scratching their heads for the anno.
    In trying to set this sort of clue in which I've indulged often, I've been over zealous trying various synonyms for SORE and missed out 'inside'.

    I apologise again to all solvers.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh well, I was too slow typing and posting my take on it then.

      Delete
  6. Raghu, anno required for 4d, please

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think it's an anagram, though it would have read better as

      'Discussion averts dispute in conservation'

      Delete
    2. 4 Averts dispute // in conservation discussion (12) CONVERSATION
      I took it as
      AVERTS* (dispute - AnagrInd) in CONSERVATION = CON(VERSAT*)ION (defn: DISCUSSION)

      Delete
    3. Now that I look at it again it's not a total anagram only the 'AVERT' part is in dispute. So CON ION is nothing

      Delete
    4. Col's clue has better surface reading, though I meant it as a partial anagram as indicated by Venkatesh

      Delete
    5. A partial anagram of AVERT inserted into what?? That is why I expressed a doubt in the blog. Conservation* looks fine with a slight change in the clue but the other anno is weird ...

      Delete
    6. It's not inserted. In CON SERVAT ION, SERVAT is jumbled.

      Delete
    7. I took it as a full anagram, but still not convinced.

      Delete
    8. Dispute is anagrind for AVERTS or CONSERVATION? If the former, imo, CONION should have some meaning/wordplay. If the latter, averts is superflous as you have indicated.

      Delete
    9. Averts = Anagram fodder
      dispute = Anind
      in = Position indicator
      conservation = Word within which the above is to be executed
      discussion = Definition = {CON{VERSAT*}ION}

      Delete
    10. I think the proper parsing would be, take CONSERVATION and anagram the AVERTS part of it to get CONVERSATION ...

      Delete
    11. That's what has been said earlier too.

      Delete
    12. Anyhoo, the clue led to a lot of 'conversation' here

      Delete
    13. That's not conservation of time and energy!

      Delete
    14. No, it's enthalpy. Energy content.

      Delete
  7. Very entertaining and had to work/ think hard. Still, 2 blanks- one doubtful. Apart from that I had to fill in many and look for anno in the blog. Quite a few not 1D. Liked the Assembly,Firewood and bacteria.
    I got 'assayed' for tested and got stuck for 5A.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too had put in assayed and got myself into twists, especially since I put in 5a as M.O. ROSE and was looking for words starting with E for 7d, exogenic? especially since bacteria is not the same as viruses ...

      Delete
    2. From http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=bacteria&title=thes

      bacteria
      n
      germs, viruses, microbes, micro-organisms, parasites, bacilli colloq. bugs

      Delete
    3. Thesauruses/crossword dictionaries give associated words - not exact equivalents. So while using one word for another, we have to use our discretion.

      Delete
    4. Raghu, as CV has rightly said, we should use discretion. If our doctors mixed up between anti-bacterial and anti-viral drugs ...

      Delete
    5. I'm not sure about the 'exact' equivalent, but maybe a 'say', 'perhaps' might have been better. How does flower become a river (when used as a def)? Leave alone a dictionary it's not even found in a thesaurus.

      I had micro-organisms earlier, but the clue seemed longish and too technical.

      Delete
    6. Touche! This is called a 'thirugu baaNa' in KannaDa. An arrow that bounces back at the archer. Raghu has used an example I gave him in an earlier mail. But flower as one which flows can be explained. Not the case with bacteria-virus. And seriously, yes, some indication would have been better ...

      Delete
    7. Maybe a doctor setting crosswords would have been better ;-) Just as you have the licence to extrapolate river to flow er, V and B both spread diseases and are micro organisms, broadly ( some B are good but V), so could be used. I would not have carried on if there was no ref to it in the Chambers.

      Delete
  8. The inside story:

    The mood was sombre. Prespirations increased. After thinking a lot, the conversation definitely was essaying to surmount the difficulties encountered.

    In this assembly, the able participants splashed plenty of ideas with candor. After the ideas originated, there ensued the final decision.

    Let us all go to Turkey to unwind!

    Details were sent in the electronic media so that people could discuss and absorb the details.

    Selections of hotels were made considering the similarities of food habits and reviewing the internal working of the kitchens,
    how they handled the food sciences avoiding deadly bacteria, etc.

    They even went to the extent of: "Do they cook traditional food with firewood concentrates?"

    Finally, the grand entrance at the airport welcomed everyone to the grand fete!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bravo! Any of our elected reps. going to Iraq on a junket?

      Delete
    2. Raju, on reading that essay, must be immensely happy that there is someone who has followed his suggestion.
      Only, he and we would have appreciated if the used words has been highlighted in some manner.

      Delete
    3. Kishore
      I appreciate your 'kuththal'! Yes, Iraq must be a good place to make a "study tour".

      Delete
    4. Not Iraq though quite a few of us are going to Chennai on 6th Jul to do all that Bhargav has said

      Delete
    5. He left out the 'gin'. Are you going to follow suit?

      Delete
    6. I've suggested Vodka instead ;-)

      Delete
  9. Cartoon for 26A

    Is it a small version of anaconda wound around Mr Not-so Fatso?

    ReplyDelete
  10. 17 Modern terminal’s nucleus moved out inside (8) INTERNAL (TERMINAL-M+N)*
    My anno is
    Modern = IN
    terMInal nucleus is MI moved out to make it TERNAL
    IN+TERNAL = INTERNAL = inside

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what I had intended.

      Delete
    2. My anno was
      modern=anagrind
      terminal with nucleus moved out, terminal-n+m
      def=inside=internal

      Agree, Renga's anno is more convincing. Thanks.

      Delete
  11. Phantom has crafted a grandmother of all cryptic crossie! Phantastic !

    ReplyDelete
  12. Phantom has crafted a grandmother of all cryptic crossie! Phantastic !

    ReplyDelete
  13. Had to sweat A LOT but finally SURMOUNTed Phantom's marvellous puzzle. Thank you Phantomji. :-)))

    ReplyDelete
  14. 14D: I feel MONICA for Seles is better than SELES for Monica.

    Monica is such a common first name and there'd be many famous celebrities sharing it. However, if it's a popular second name, it narrows down the options for the first names to just a few. So I feel the latter is more fair.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Court No. 1" in the clue suggest's a tennis link. In the recent past we had a clue with a first name, I think it was Bruce (Lee).

      Seles woud have been a giveaway. I had thought of tennis player, but with 'ex' or 'former' added to it, but then it would have been a lengthy clue.

      Delete
    2. My first thought on Monica was someone more notorious and after crossings realised it was far more mundane.

      Delete
  15. In Madras we had Monica Felton who wrote a book on Rajaji.

    ReplyDelete








  16. A few years back I was at the Voltas product launch at Vizag in a five star hotel. After the formal launch, a girl sang this song and repeated a few times, waiting for some one to react. I shouted MONICA with gusto (after a few drinks) and it was great fun for all!!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEGOEUyRDiU



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OMG, did you also follow up with OMD?

      Delete
    2. Next time you r in Vizag we can have an informal lunch and talk/shout about Lewinsky as much as you like.

      Delete
    3. a la Premnath or Clinton?

      Delete
    4. I was about ask Suresh the conn. between Vizag and Monica.

      Delete
    5. If the discussion happens, not in Vizag, but on a flight, it will be lewd in sky

      Delete
    6. Just a discussion and you've termed it as lewd in sky! Probably depends on what the chat's all about.

      Delete
    7. I did not bring up Monica or Lewinsky, buddy, I just played with words. That's why perhaps names of living persons should not be used in crosswords. And here we have Simi Garewal and Monica Seles in consecutive clues

      Delete
  17. When I visit our blog I find some words in the Comments section are highlighted with links to ads; also, the right top corner of the page peels down - which expands when the cursor is taken anywhere near to show some msg.
    Is this peculiar to me or is the blog attacked by something?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Which words, so we can check?

      Delete
    2. Now no word is highlighted.
      Last time some random words were in green.
      They were not words such as 'soap' or 'underwear' that might attract an ad for either product. They were random words.
      Now that corner dog's ear alone is there.
      It keeps moving down, tempting you to pull it down completely to see ad.

      Delete
    3. Minutes later, the words Suresh and times are highlighted.
      There is also a color change in the corner dog's ear.

      Delete
    4. No such problems on my PC.

      Delete
    5. Nothing dogging on my iPad

      Delete
  18. Oh No! Then the chat may turn out to be a pre-lude !!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Splendid xie. Quite engrossing & engaging. 11,14d wonderful worday using first names. Very interesting puzzle rife with turns equivalent to fairytale twists. Thanks to Phantom.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Very enjoyable puzzle from Phantom.

    ReplyDelete
  21. CG Bhargav: Your essay using the words in this crossword is a good go at essaying. Thus, one's imagination is put to use in essaying. Say, why not everyday, like the toons that appear here? This is what I meant by saying that we should build up and use gainfully our vocabulary acquired from these crosswords.Kishore attempted the reverse engineering by weaving a clue- conceal in a story, as opposed to what you have done. It need not be necessarily in prose. Poetry is also welcome ! Even, short skits ? (KIshore, I did mean skits and not what you thought !) Adds zest and tang and tabasco and Worcester to this fare, by expanding the Col's menu !! So, ye-all, let your imagination produce a great spread on this blog !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Why shpu;d Kishore alone think anything else for skits?
      Because, he is the one who is most likely to give the most interesting response!
      BTW-
      Kishore,did you do the quick Guardian of TH? There is a ref. to you by another name!

      Delete
  22. Kishore: Monica Seles did not boost sales but the other-- Lewd-in-sky sure did?

    ReplyDelete
  23. Seles or rather her attacker boosted sales quite a bit.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Me@2.30-
    2nd word should read "should". Sorry for typo- before any motives are attributed!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Paddy: You have also gilded the Lily pad !

    ReplyDelete
  26. enjoyable crossword..
    I found the cryptic readings in 4d and 6d to be very awkward though..

    ReplyDelete
  27. Somebody got infatuated with Monica
    Took a picture of her with his Konica
    Ooh la la
    He's now happy-ya
    And playing on his Harmonica !

    ReplyDelete
  28. I do not think that even a lay person should confuse bacteria with viruses. Both are microorganisms but totally different in their structure and the way they cause disease. I came back from work and got stuck thinking of all the viruses that I know and even thought of computer virus., till I realised the setter meant bacteria.Of course one can look up Wikipedia for the differences .between viruses and bacteria.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Incidentally I read a press report the other day about 40 year old Monica Seles getting engaged to a 72 year old man!

    ReplyDelete

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