A Little Story, about some Mad Men*
The mad leaders of Railway Workers' Association are in a small Karnataka town.They move to get into a car and go ahead. Travelling to Latin airway's railroad terminus they order, "Stew, without a hint of watercress, first, then a bit of dal, waiter!". "Stop, change sides before first train departs destroying the goose which has expelled an egg." "A snake is after George!", Edward panted. "Climb up a small church and leaving first alderman,go up. Go up, Sir, before 'e comes". "A heartless boa climbed on Edward's head and reduced intoxicated dash the first Kannadiga had in the stronghold", insinuated a Chair Car customer endlessly before starting dining. With resentment, a neutral girl wrestled the unknown mad men (in Asia) with loss of memory tiredly, without ego, and packing them into a set of modified wings.
*Well, that's an odd story you might say. I told you so upfront! Maybe, you will have to overlook a few odd usages and even some grammatical mistakes. But the above paragraph constitutes the across clues for this puzzle. The enumeration (the blank cells to be filled in each across slot) can be seen from the grid, but you will have to figure out where one clue ends and another starts. A single sentence may contain one or more clues, though no clue spans across the end of a sentence into the next.
DOWN
2 Modify an American advocate's exercise (5)
3 American bad-land stew (4,4)
4 Incidents of anger directed by or against fellow drivers (4-5)
5 French utilise safety device (4)
6 Run and endear to get the tail-bit (4-3)
7 A police department in charge is vitriolic (6)
8 Signify heavy weight is immersed backwards in the river (6)
11 Hermit ages abnormally (4)
15 Observe water-body endlessly with ecstasy (3)
16 Stamina to endure an accident involving first car (9)
17 Colour of nitroglycerine mixed after confused client left (4-4)
18 Thin English film director (4)
19 Immaculateness of little sister was observed after a month (7)
21 Prohibit a North American fruit (6)
22 Tintin's dance (3-3)
25 Mathematician king beheaded by expert, at first (5)
26 Wide awake and having a plan (4)
INSTRUCTIONS
One Across clue and One Down clue per person (with annotations) till 6 pm or till stocks last. Please give the text of the clue too when giving answers to the across clues.
The Across Lite version is available at the following link BALDERDASH5-A Little Story, about some Mad Men
Please remember that in the Across Lite version the Across clues are not as per actual clue numbers.
Enjoy.
21 Prohibit a North American fruit (6) BAN A NA
ReplyDelete11 Hermit ages abnormally (4) SAGE {AGES}*
ReplyDelete5.A. FUSE. F(USE)
ReplyDeleteSORRY 5 D
Delete22 Tintin's dance (3-3)
ReplyDeleteCAN-CAN {tin=can}
Is the limit of 3 clues/head applicable today also?
ReplyDeleteOnly one across and one down per person
DeleteRenga, Ram has answered your query and I have deleted the 2 extra downs
DeleteThanks DG
Deletemad men (in Asia) with loss of memory => AMNESIA* 29 ACROSS
ReplyDeleteRam, I think the Anno should be {A(MNE*)SIA}
DeleteSorry, I missed the instruction given at the bottom. Thanks Ram
ReplyDelete14A "A snake is after George!", Edward panted. {G}{ASP}{ED}
ReplyDelete4D 4 Incidents of anger directed by or against fellow drivers (4-5) ROAD-RAGES (E)
The mad leaders of Railway Workers' Association are in a small Karnataka town.
ReplyDeleteKA(RWA)R
Small Karnataka = KAR
Leaders if Railway Workers Association = R W A
The above across clue is for 1 A The mad leaders of Railway Workers' Association are in a small Karnataka town.
DeleteKA(RWA)R
If you want to use mad leaders, then anno is {K(ARW)*AR}
Loved it!
ReplyDelete27A: Insinuated a chair car customer endlessly before starting dining ====> A CC USE(-r) D(-ining)
8D: Signify heavy weight is immersed backwards in the river ====> DE(NOT<--)E
Sent you a mail at z****. That is your mail id, if I am not wrong.
DeleteSeems to be an asterisk short
DeleteOh, I did not count. It starts with zak ... And ends with i , right?
DeleteMistook it for another email ID I have (z*****)!
DeleteReplied
13 Across : Departs destroying the goose which has expelled an egg. (4) GOES {GO(-o)ES}*
ReplyDeleteTYPO ; Anno : {GO(-o)SE}*
DeleteMy 2
ReplyDelete5A - They move to get into a car and go ahead {FO{RWA}RD}
7D - {A}{CID}{IC}
19.A. ASCEND. Climb up. A Small CE(church) aND .AND leaving first of Alderman
ReplyDelete@Balderdash: Thanks for an enjoyable crossword :)
ReplyDeleteExcept 9 Ac got all!. Nice one Balderdash. Really boosting my confidence level. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteDid you get 10a?
DeleteNice workout. Think there might be something redundant in 19A
DeleteWill 9 be construed as 1 solution or...? Don't want to spoil it
19D: Immaculateness of little sister was observed after a month (7) A+SEP+SIS
19a 3d, though 2 def.s are synonyms ...
DeleteYou are right about 9. Ref my 101
A two header train, if i may say so, Bhala
DeleteYep Kishore, I spotted your 'tongue in cheek' 101 if I may say so. Anyway not giving it out now, there's no emergency there, even if I have my quota
DeleteDidn't figure out what you are saying about 19A and relevance to 3D
Nice job!
Climb up= go up, 2 def.s at either side, tho' as you say, go up was unnecessary. It was detritus from trying to continue to next clue, but got repeated and I decided to let it be as 3rd def
DeleteActually Kishore, I felt if you had put a comma after 'go up' rather than a full stop, it would have worked fine. Then the 'go up' could have been used for the next clue as def, which as things stand now, doesn't have one, or one term doing double duty. Only because in the instructions it specified that clues don't cut across sentences this problem arises, otherwise no issues at all
DeleteI think "go up" doing double duty for 20a is quite fine: the clue stands on its own without needing the previous "go up". I have a different problem with the clue: using "go up" as a reversal indicator for an across clue!
DeleteBhala, you have got it correct. I forgot this when writing the instructions. Apologies are due. Abhay, you are also correct about "go up" in an across clue. " go back" would have been a better choice.
DeleteAn enjoyable crossy of different variety! Thank you Balderdash.
ReplyDeleteFuntastic!
ReplyDeleteA novel and a CW. Nice and enjoyable combination. Unfortunately logged in late.
I think what I have got for 10A is right.
10A- Station
ReplyDeleteRailroad terminus
Ahem, ahem!
DeleteCol.
ReplyDelete5A- RWA from?
I also filled in 'forward' from 'Go ahead', but anno not clear for me.
"They", the aforementioned leaders of RWA
Delete9,10 - RAILWAY STATION ( TO LATIN AIRWAYS)* Travelling is the anagrid, Def. - railroad terminus
ReplyDeleteForgot to add the full line: "Travelling to Latin airway's railroad terminus"
DeleteBingo, Abhay!
DeleteThank you Kishore.
ReplyDelete17d: IRON GREY
ReplyDeleteDef.: Colour
Anagram of NI(t)ROG(l)Y(c)ER(ine) after removing the letters of client
Thanks to Deepak for entertaining this kind of Balderdash and to others for trying and liking it. I hope present some more nonsense in the future.
ReplyDelete18D- Lean- DD
ReplyDeleteA very interesting idea indeed! The only fly in the ointment is that the down clues are quite easy, and having them in place makes the task of identifying the matching across clues way less difficult. In retrospect, I should have tried just the across clues on their own at first and then checked the down clues to see if they fit!
ReplyDeleteThanks a ton to the setter for an entertaining puzzle!
I was a bit worried about the reception that the idea might receive and hence decided to keep down clues simple. If they were tough, given the nature of the across clues, I might have encountered substantial flak.
DeleteThat was my feeling too. But still, crafty bloke that you are, you had across words of same length, starting with same letter etc, so it was not entirely plain sailing. Very entertaining, thanks for putting this together
DeleteThanks. Unlike making a normal grid, I had to write a clue, and check for availability of suitable crossings, before proceeding. Making the men mad gave me some leeway to make them spout random sentences, but I tried to keep a narrative going around the threads of railway and dining.
Delete11 Across: STEWARD-- Stew, without a hint of watercress, first, then a bit of dal-- watercress anagram- with deletions- bit of dal -d-
ReplyDeleteAN excellent way of presenting the clues hidden- this is the way messages used to be sent across during the world wars , isn't it, using cryptic crosswords , COL?
11a not watercress anagram, Raju ...
DeleteThe complete clue is "they order, "Stew, without a hint of watercress, first, then a bit of dal, waiter!""
DeleteI parsed it a bit tenuously as STE (stew without 'hint of watercress'), then WAR from the 'first' clue (since "they" are referenced again at the beginning), and D from "bit of dal". Round about, I know, but I couldn't see any other way of making it work!
Chinese adage: Only mad men can make sense out of nonsense.
ReplyDelete2D A+DA+PT ADAPT
ReplyDeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteYou can add one more feather to your cap. I think you have opened a Pandora's box and many more are likely to come out.
23A: A heartless Boa climbed on Edward's head and reduced. {A}{B(-o)A}{TED} ABATED
ReplyDelete25D Mathematician King is beheaded by expert, at first (-r)(+E)ULER. EULER
28A With resentment a neutral girl wrestled the unknown ANGRILY A+N + Anag of GIRL+ Y
ReplyDeleteVery enjoyable but wish the crossword had opened in Acrosslite. For some reason it didn't open for me
ReplyDelete9A is done by Abhay
ReplyDelete12A DESIST Stop, change sides before first train {sides* + t from first train}
3d WILDWEST Anag of west.
Enjoyable balderdash
I parsed 3d a little differently.
Delete- The definition, of course, is "American bad-land" (although I don't think I have seen 'badland' used in the singular before - it is usually 'badlands')
- 'badlands'=wilds, so we can take "badland"=WILD, which is both the first word *and* the anagram indicator to get the second word WEST from 'stew'.
I must admit that this parsing is reverse engineering after having got the word from the crosses and the definition (this was one of the only two down clues for which the crosses had to be checked before I could get the solution).
DeleteBadlands, as you say, is a type of arid terrain. I am just referring to the bad land. The hyphen is to be ignored. When used as an adjective badlands, like highlands, loses its s. For eg, Scottish highlands, but highland regiment, highland dress etc. similarly, badland stew
DeleteYes. That is what I also had. But typed it in a hurry.
DeleteI didn't see that one is allowed one answer for down also: In that case, 16 down is ENDURANCE-- ENDURE AN C -- stamina
ReplyDeleteAnno elaborated:
Delete16 Stamina to // endure an accident / involving first car (9) (ENDURE AN)* with C inside = {ENDURAN(C)E*}
accident - AnagrInd
Thanks, Balderdash, for varying the routine and ushering in a novel challenge. Yet another feather in your hat!
ReplyDelete30A tiredly, without ego, and packing them into a set of modified wings. (6) (ELYTRA*-id)(A)
(TIREDLY-id)* (A) anterior pair of wings in Coleoptera and some other insects
6D 6 Run and endear to get the tail-bit (4-3) {R}{EAR-END*}
Having used up my quota of answers, I was waiting for someone to post the answer to 30a to voice my peeve: ego and id are NOT synonymous, they are different entities! This bit was disappointing in an otherwise well-clued puzzle.
Delete(ELYTR*-id)(A)
DeleteI agree they are not the same but analogous. Other wrong but accepted usages in cwds are company and firm, ratio and proportion, off the cuff
DeleteAnalogous at a BIG stretch, and strictly in the sense that id and ego are (two of the three different) components of personality in Freudian theory. While not quite opposite to each other (like id and superego), they are indeed different from each other.
DeleteThen the same applies to the other two examples, especially the latter
DeleteRemembering that this is a crossword and not a psychology exam, and that it didn't get in the way of solving the clue, I guess I should have let that go! Sorry, Kishore, didn't mean to belabour the point.
DeleteSince you persisted, I was thinking of directing your attention to the italicised paragraph in the post, especially the sentence starting with "Maybe". Sometimes some people do not read either the instructions or the notes ... Anyhow, your point is taken ... Lightly !
Delete26 D IDEA ( T)
ReplyDeleteI completed this puzzle and sent the sol grid to Kishore in an email.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed solving it.
Must thank the Col for providing a platform not only for budding setters but also well-budded-out setters.
Can't imagine such novel puzzles appearing in the mainstream newspaper where not only appreciation for even ordinary puzzles is lacking but also where even a good display for those ordinary puzzles is denied.
I had power outage from 10 a.m. and so could not enter any answers here. Will wait till 5-45 p.m. for anyone else to do so . After that time, I will enter my own quota.
Meanwhile, congrats to Balder__.
Three cheers to Balder-
DeleteI like the 'dash' part given above
DeleteYou know of the en-dash and the em-dath and the 100m dash ...
Deleteand a clue from a future Incog. puzzle:
DeleteHit - and run (4)
Superb puzzle - Had so much fun doing it:)
ReplyDelete15D SEE - SEA (-A)+E
20A RISE - SIR<<<<+E
20A - Go up, Sir, before 'e comes". {RIS<=}{E}
DeleteLast one 24A
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of fact, 24a for me was the LOI.
ReplyDeleteNot a difficult clue but what happened was I had inadvertently made an unintended mistake while entering the answer to 18d whose last letter is a checking letter for 24a.
While writing in answers errors are unlikely. But nowadays it is common when we solve crosswords interactively in small hand-held devices.
So if a clue proves intractable, don't give up! Carefully re-examine the answers in the area to spot any slip. Once that is corrected, the other one is likely to fall in place.
:-)
DeleteDo you advertently make intended mistakes ....?
24 A DRUNKEN
ReplyDeleteTo give the text of clue and the anno for 24a's answer entered above -
ReplyDeleteintoxicated dash the first Kannadiga had in the stronghold", D(RUN K) EN
Done and dusted.
ReplyDeleteBD, dhool kilappeeteenga.
Thanks, everyone for the roses and thorns.
ReplyDeleteCV, I did not get the import of your 522
Dhool is dust so I presume kilappeeteenga is either dusted or despatched
Delete'Dhool kilappittinga' means that you have done something extremely well (probably he means path breaking). Col. is right about dust. Probably the literal meaning would be that one has created such a ruckus that there was dust all over.
ReplyDeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteHave you heard the saying "Vasishter vayaale Brimharishi'? You have received the best compliment for the best compiler. So this type of cluing is not only appreciated, but has come to stay and the honour of creating it will always go to you. Like whenever you say Everest, you only think of Tensing Hillary and not thousands of others who have done it.
I only know of Sivaji vaayile jilebi, taught by Bhargav!
DeleteThat is not a compliment. That is only 3 three letter words which work out the same both horizontally & vertically. What Vasishtar... means is that you have got the compliment from one who will give it only to the most deserving.
Delete...and of course he is the best man to approve.
DeleteThanks, Paddy. Thanks, CV
DeleteFor "dhool kilappu", the Tamil phrasal dictionary that I have gives "perform brilliantly" as the meaning in English. The Tamil explanation, in my own translation, is:
Delete(in a task in which one is involved) to perform it exceedingly well or to exhibit one'sr talent so well that it elicits compliments from others.
Our Ram would say a similar phrase is 'pattaya kilappu' - one that I know - but alas that phrase does not seem to be included in the dictionary. I can't say why it is not recorded - maybe I don't know where to look.
When a herd of cattle stands still, it's no big deal. But if it moves fast, if it moves furiously, if it races heartily, if it stampedes - a lot of dust is created. (Raju - you guessed it right). People notice the dust and are awe-struck.
DeleteNice to get your explanation just past Godhooli ...
DeletePattya kilappu cannot be found in any dictionary since it is a total slang and and not a good one at that. That pattai refers to... of course CV knows.
DeleteIsn't Dhool kilappeettengala to kick up a dust? My Tamil is tatty and hence I'm not kicking up one !
ReplyDeleteCV: What's or who's BD?
Except 30 across, which I dare not put in, I completed the puzzle !! The trick seems to be - complete the easy down clues and get the other across clues ! Kishore; When is your next acrobatic acrostic cryptic trick? On hind sight ( eyes in the rump??) , I worked out the correct annotation of the stewed up watercress clue that you pointed out but didn't bother to respond .
Did I miss to respond? Pl let me what time you posted. I seem to have responded to the one at 204, after which I have not seen any post from you.
DeleteRaju,
DeleteAfter doing the whole puzzle, you are asking who is BD. It could not be anybody else but Balderdash, also known as Kishore. Vidiya vidiya Ramayanm kettu....
Reminded of a KannaDa ditty:
DeleteNaanu neenu joDi,
Onde yettina gaaDi,
GaaDi voLage laDy,
LaDy bayalli BD.
Meaning????
ReplyDeleteYou and me form a pair
How many vehicles do you have?
Inside the vehicle is lady
In the mouth of lady is Beedi
I had cut and pasted the story part into a text file, and kept marking off the clues as I found them. This resulted in the list of clues - am putting it down below for what it's worth!
ReplyDeleteThanks again to BD for a great time.
1. The mad leaders of Railway Workers' Association are in a small Karnataka town.
5. They move to get into a car and go ahead.
9,10. Travelling to Latin airway's railroad terminus
11. they order, "Stew, without a hint of watercress, first, then a bit of dal, waiter!".
12. "Stop, change sides before first train
13. departs destroying the goose which has expelled an egg."
14."A snake is after George!", Edward panted.
19. "Climb up a small church and leaving first alderman,
20. go up. Go up, Sir, before 'e comes".
23. "A heartless boa climbed on Edward's head and reduced
24. intoxicated dash the first Kannadiga had in the stronghold",
27. insinuated a Chair Car customer endlessly before starting dining.
28. With resentment, a neutral girl wrestled the unknown
29. mad men (in Asia) with loss of memory
30. tiredly, without ego, and packing them into a set of modified wings.
I think the second line means:
ReplyDeleteJust one bullock car
Other lines are as you've rendered them.
... Cart
ReplyDeleteSimply superb! I thoroughly enjoyed this exercise. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI have often referred to your page for solutions to the crossword.
This is my first comment, though.
Paddy:
ReplyDeleteDash my bald head ! I must have been in the Land of Nod. B(a)d B(a)d of me !!
Kishore: at times, the postings vanish.. in the clouds ? So when is the next Balderdash? from BD? makes every one's Brain go Dead !!
CV: Dhool is a Hindi word? How did it migrate to Tamil? I'm a Dhool Ka Fool in such matters