Tuesday 15 July 2014

No.11137, Tuesday 15 Jul 2014, Scintillator

I am not sure if the CURRENT theme is LIGHT (and things that deflect it) ...but there is sound too... Let us call it energy?

ACROSS
1 How inequity is hideous (6) UNFAIR (=NOT FAIR)
          The anti-fairness cream lobby will certainly have something to say about this ...      
4 Scintillator distributed real perks? That's baseless (8) SPARKLER (REAL PERKS-E, the log base)
9 Each chant is comforting (6) EASING (EA SING)
10 Woollen jacket — Bill's current and trim outfit (8) CARDIGAN (CARD I GANg)
12 Special picker rejects fifty in a panoply of colours (8) SPECTRUM (S PLECTRUM)
13 Cocktail of Thailand given to mother and myself (3,3) MAI TAI (MA I ~THAI)
15 Source of light needing some current? (4) LAMP (L AMP) That would put 'source of light' on double duty. Or is the anno a CD&lit saying lamp requires amp
16 Light trait shared by friends (10) WAVELENGTH (2)
19 Circus master, possibly a mischief-maker (10) RINGLEADER (2)
20 They may help narrow down your point of view (4) LENS (CD)
23 Increase in sound due to deaf idiot on a high (4-2) FADE UP (DEAF* UP)
25 City centre evacuated by army reaching another city in old form (8) CALCUTTA (CALICUT TA)
27 Intro from executive or unionist in dull environment (8) EXORDIUM (EX, R in ODIUM OR, U in DIM) See comments
28 Mostly backing workers to start to stir opinion (6) FOMENT (OF<  FOr MEN T) See comments
29 The most important year for a government (8) THEARCHY (THE ARCH Y)                                     
30 Note red crown right on top of golden parrot (6) MIRROR (MI R R OR)

DOWN
1 Let us in to cook something in the kitchen (7) UTENSIL (LET US IN)*
2 They mine fresh carps (9) FISHERMEN (MINE FRESH)*&LIT


3 Coal chopped off and set on fire (6) IGNITE (LIGNITE)
5 Told to shave the skin of fruit (4) PEAR (~PARE)
6 A tirade daughter in fury sent out (8) RADIATED (A TIRADE D)
7 The answer to this is not heavy (5) LIGHT (LIGHT as in an answer filled into a crossword grid)
8 Be passionate? Huh, grin slyly (3,4) RUN HIGH (HUH GRIN)*
11 Aunt not quite wary of being dubbed an eloper (7) RUNAWAY (AUNt WARY)*
14 Groups line to meet army officer (7) GENERAL (GENERA L)
 Cartoon by Rishi
17 Stellar pattern indicative of massive doom for stockbrokers? (5,4) GREAT BEAR (2) a huge bear run on the market
Cartoon by Bhargav
18 Struggle in league and collapse all over (8) FLOUNDER (F(L)OUNDER)
19 Think about reducing a bit, get tense (7) REFLECT (RE FLECk T)
21 Dispel and disturb rest all over, having let tiger in (7) SCATTER (CAT in REST*)
22 Influential people on company's service to get a hat (6) OCTOPI (O C TOPI)  They have their tentacles everywhere ...

24 I'll find this to be a one-way path (5) DIODE (CD, with I=current)  My CoD.
26 The wild American leader of yore (4) BUSH (2) Senior or Junior, take your pick

GRID

86 comments:

  1. As toons dept seems to be having a bull run (great bull or little one, I know not), I should probably have taken the easier way of taking it easy, rather than the easy way of adapting Me !'s toon !

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  2. Foot note: Thanks for the kick-start!

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  3. There is this news of dhoti-clad men being disallowed entry into a club in Chennai.

    I think this is preposterous - not the denial of admission but
    a) the very rule that dhotis can't be worn,
    and
    b) not having mentioned the code to the invitees prior to the event.

    Last week I stayed briefly at a prestigious club in Kalkotta but I had been given the rules well before I went there. Incidentally, that club allows dhoti.

    That club prescribes no dress code for women. I can't understand why. Can women wear three-quarters or two=quarters or one-quarter and walk in?

    That club does have some bars on sleeveless blouses/tops/vests in certain areas.

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    1. What I want to know is that are Judges allowed to wear dhoties while presiding over their court?

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    2. Who knows what lurks behind the legal desk?

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    3. Col Your Comment is simply நெத்தியடி

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    4. What's appropriate and what's not? Well the whole thing is completely subjective and since the club is privately-owned, it's all up to its management to decide what the guests need to wear or not wear. As I see it, it's a non-issue.

      However, if there was a dress code in place, organizers should have made it known to the invitees - just like our Colonel made it loud and clear couple of months ahead of the meet ;)

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    5. DS - You are depriving those of us, who cannot read or write Tamil, of the privilege. What is Nettiyati? :)

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    6. I tried Google Translation. No use!

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    7. Transliteration would be a spank on the forehead (Nethi) But the gist of it is a solid blow.

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    8. Thanks, Paddy, for a solid blow on the forehead,..er, I mean நெத்தியடி translation !! :)

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    9. Sorry. I thought someone will sign in and add flavour to the comment.

      It is a local parlance to "Hit the nail on its head" or "hit the bull's eye"

      Neththiyadi adds more punch than the above 2 usual phrases.

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  4. Sparkling one indeed from Scintillator.

    28 Mostly backing workers to start to stir opinion (6) FOMENT (OF< MEN T)

    Mostly backing = Fo(-r) ... backing as in supporting/pro

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  5. 13A - An interesting word. If I am not mistaken, 'tai' means sister in Marathi, while it is Kannada for mother (In Konkani, mai is mother). Tai is often seen as a prefix in Marathi names. Remembered Shalinitai Patil, who was in politics for long.

    Maybe Abhay or someone else can confirm about 'tai'.

    22D The text of the toon reminded me of another cartoon - on what was commented as a centipede passed by - 'there goes a nice pair of legs, another and yet another...' ;-)

    Kishore, nice to see you back in good form.

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    1. Sorry, Tai is not a prefix, but suffix in Maharashrian names..

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    2. Funny, we discuss Tai while parliament discusses TRAI.

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    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    4. We have no right to discuss T(-R)AI.

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  6. Not me !
    Now why did the fisherman mollycoddle you? Did he want his Tax Returns to be prepared for free?

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    1. He certainly was not courting, Me !

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    2. Molly-fying him to hide the 'net' assets!

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    3. 'Net' assets are not gross!

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    4. All in all something quite fishy.

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    5. No doubt. One says Me! and the other says Not me! It is a toss-up btn Colonel and Kishore! I change my mind now about who the real cartoonist is. I go for Kishore aka Incognito.
      Me correct, Me! ?

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    6. Me is not "Me !"
      "Not Me !" is me !

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    7. If Me is not "Me !" and "Not Me !" is me ! then how can me be not Me !

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    8. All crows are black. So is everything that is black is a crow? There is some logic there.

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  7. 20A- Is 'Lens' accepted in plural form? I thought it was 'Lenses' and hence did not fill in Lens. Is this one of recent changes?
    Agree with Kishore on COD. Using I for current there and diode being one way! I was beaten in spite of my Electrical background.
    MB,
    Note the fairly accurate sketching of the 'Great Bear' by CG. I t seems to be haunting us rather frequently.

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    1. You are correct, Paddy. The clue should have started 'it' and not 'they'. Lens is singular. Len is a short name.

      @I was beaten in spite of my Electrical background. Shocking! May be you have been insulated from it for long.

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    2. Paddy @ 9.:22 Reg sketch of CGB

      Noted :)

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    3. The centre of the Great Bear's tail is the Alcor-Mizar pair better known in India as Vasishta and Arundhati, which is usually pointed out to recently married couples

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    4. Talking of great bear and tails, doesn't the tail seem a bit too long for a bear? I am not ref.ing to CGB's sketch, but generally the outline of the constellation.

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    5. You are right there. The tail is long in the constellation and the physically bears have only short stubs as tails. Maybe, they went by the body resemblance and did not take it to its logical end! I always felt that the shapes of constellations, clouds etc. are left to each one's imagination.

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    6. The celestial bear bears little resemblance to the terrestrial bear.

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    7. Kishore back to full form- shot or no shot.

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  8. A fisherman to be in Fisherman's cove had to be owning quite a few trawlers to afford it!

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  9. What are the fundamental rights of a man wearing dhoti? On the other hand, do the clubs have any of their own rights, being PRIVATE clubs? Clearly, this is the tradition handed down by the British. The question is if it should be continued? CV had a valid point reg. the ladies.

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  10. 13 Cocktail of Thailand given to mother and myself (3,3) MAI TAI (MA I ~THAI)

    Unable to get the anno?

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    1. mother=ma, myself=i, Thailand given = ~tai

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    2. What's that? Is it that in Thai language 'given' = TAI

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    3. You mean of Thailand = THAI? Is given a homophone ind?

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    4. Tks. You cut short a step in the equation: Thailand given = ~tai.

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    5. I thought you would read between the blanks ...

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    6. My mind is still blank, on given = said, I feel there is no 'sound' indicator in 'given' for it to be a homophone ind.

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  11. Thailand = Tailand = Tieland. Don't know about others. I pronounce it as Thighland!

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    1. No comments on Bangkok?

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    2. Hahaha! Bang you go there!! No comments please. :)

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    3. Well! Tai is Thai (language, people etc.) What is land doing there is unknown to me. And Paddy as for the Capital it is Krungthepmahanakhon Amanrattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilokphop Noppharatratchataniburirom Udomratchaniwetmahasathan Amonphimonawatansathit Sakkatthattiyawitsanukamprasit, (Spelling mistakes may be excused)

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    4. Who can find a mistake there? Second meaning of my "Capital' was their comments and counter comments.
      Is it something like Gandhinagar in Ahmadabad?

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    5. :)
      http://www.publicradio.org/applications/formbuilder/projects/joke_machine/joke_page.php?car_id=1333216&joke_cat=Guy+Walks+into+a+Bar

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  12. Advance apologies. Any news yet on the online CW and the iPhone or Android apps ? Thanks

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  13. Kishore's comment at 9.44-
    Yes, I have been insulated/ isolated for far too long! But then Fundamentals are supposed to stay with you with no leakage.

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  14. Three-fourths went fairly smoothly, but the south-west corner of this puzzle proved to be one of the most harrowing experiences I have had in a long time! Many of the words were unusual, and DIODE required specialist knowledge of the subject - IMO, not very fair to non-technical types like me! In the midst of all the difficult ones in that quadrant, even a simple word like BUSH eluded me. :(

    Thanks to Scintillator for a well-done puzzle! And, of course, to Kishore and the cartoonists of the day.

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    1. Bush has eluded and deluded quite a lot of people...

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  15. Abhay, did you read my post @ 9-17?

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    1. Sorry - had missed out the question! You are quite right - "Tai" is indeed a term for elder sister in Marathi; added as a suffix, it is used both to address one's elder sister and as an honorific.

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  16. Hi all

    Some clarifications: in 13A, 'of' is an adjective qualifier - 'of Thailand' is the same as Thai or TAI, a spelling variant. Sorry for the mistake with LENS - a schoolboy error, indeed. 15A is an &lit, witht the ? in place to concede to the point that a LAMP may not necessarily require current. Unlike Abhay, I do not think DIODE is specialist knowledge, given the preponderance of its usage in everyday life (LEDs) and the fact that its electronics are taught at school-level.

    Thanks for the blog and comments!

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    1. Please read 'concede the point' instead of 'concede to the point'.

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    2. Thanks for stopping by to comment and respond. My point about the DIODE clue is that both the definition (one-way street) and the wordplay (I for current) require technical knowledge - whether it is high-school level or not is a different story (and it is eminently possible that my weak Physics in school is responsible for my ignorance here!).

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    3. Actually it wasn't fair even to technical types like me. I'm an Electronics & Communications graduate and after I read the anno here, had to check the definition of DIODE to understand the clue and why it's the COD. TBH, never knew how the current went around inside it.

      And Scinti, being aware of the fact that LED = Light Emitting Diode is one thing and knowing what happens inside it is another. As I see it, it's not a commonly known fact. As long as the LEDs glow where they're supposed to and give us the pictures we need on our TV sets, hardly anybody's gonna look beyond.

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    4. I found it easy because, believe it or not, I topped a course on electronics ( though in the thermionic valves era ) amidst a host of diodes, triodes, pentodes and the like having bases, emitters and grids ...

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    5. Some words today including 'diode' (being a CD clue) were tough. Hats off to Kishore's memory.

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    6. Some of the old timers may remember the crystal diode receiver and the magic eye tube

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    7. I do remember the old G E C set with diodes and magic eye(now that you mention it. Did it have something like a curtain), which we used to tune to catch Radio Australia in the early mornings and BBC in the afternoons to listen to Alan Macgilvray and John Arlott resp describing cricket, amidst lot of static and funny sounds. The radio used to get quite warm due to prolonged use

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    8. Are you referring to the aerial when you say curtain?

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  17. Padmanabhan
    In a post above you mean 'literal translation'.
    Transliteration is when we write நெத்தியடி (in Tamil) as neththiyadi (in English). From one script to another.
    'Forehead slap' is a literal translation.
    'A hit, a palpable hit' might be a literary translation! This line is from Hamlet, if I remember right.

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  18. Thank you. I get your point reg. translation, transliteration etc. I was under the impression that literal translation was our Indian coinage for transliteration. But I did not think about Literary.

    I still rue the fact that I did not study much of Shakespeare during my college days having gone on to Engg. after just 1 year of PUC.

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  19. Regarding discussion about domain knowledge wrt diode one of my forthcoming puzzles requires some geographical domain knowledge. People who have that knowledge will like it; though the rest may be at some disadvantage. Advance apologies ...

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  20. Anybody (other than one who wrote to me) wondered why toon is under 29a and not 27a?

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  21. But I have a late doubt about 27A-
    Is 'ex' correct abbreviation for executive? I did not get it while doing the CW. Normally, I would expect 'exec' or exe'. 'ex' makes you think of forner.

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    1. Paddy here's the list as per Chambers,

      Examination, Examined, Example, Except, Excepted, Exception, Exchange, Excursion, Excursus, Executed, Executive, Export, Express, Extra, (the book of) Exodus

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    2. Oh! My! I have to keep my eyes and ears open. Thank you Col.

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  22. Kishore,
    The radio's aerial was like a thin net strung up on the terrace or under the ceiling. I thought magic eye was a small light in the set with curtain like image in it, which used to move depending on the tuning frequency. Could be mistaken.

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    Replies
    1. Magic eye was to help you visually tune into a radio station for the best audio and signal strength.

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  23. Kishore,
    You did not tell us why 27/29?

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    Replies
    1. 29 because Me ! was praying to the rulers of the Thearchic Government

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