ACROSS
1 Front man whole number precede (10) FIGUREHEAD {FIGURE}{HEAD}
6 Ornamental case used in piqué tuition (4) ETUI [T]
10 Get rid of member bringing gun (7) FIREARM {FIRE}{ARM}
11 Punishment - type man dished out (7) PAYMENT*
12 Fruit, choice by London station (8,4) VICTORIA PLUM {VICTORIA}{PLUM}
16 A salary and gratuity aboard ship (7) STIPEND {S{TIP}END}
17 Hold-up, unfortunately, behind start of race for reindeer (7) RUDOLPH {R
20 Children's author's wife brought in fresh éclairs and burger bun (5,7) LEWIS CARROLL {LE{W}IS CAR*}{ROLL}
23 Item of clothing found in untidy manger by second of stalls (7) GARMENT {MANGER}*{
24 Beginning, briefly, to frame American and Japanese art (7) ORIGAMI {ORIG}{AM}I
25 Reckless prang, not chauffeur's first (4) RASH
26 Put in jeopardy as grenade exploded next to border (10) ENDANGERED {END}{GRENADE}*
DOWN
1 Female provided with English flute (4) FIFE {F}{IF}{E}
3 Berkshire university - good girls may wear these during tutorials (7,7) READING GLASSES {READING} {G}{LASSES}
4 Rodent in middle of the stream, swimming (7) HAMSTER {
5 Has an ambitious plan when shown round tower (7) ASPIRES {A{SPIRE}S}
7 Artist's subject, unhappy little chappie (3,4,3) THE BLUE BOY [C&DD]
9 Dodgy business practice that began in ancient Egypt? (7,7) PYRAMID SELLING [C&DD]
14 Crooked undertakings causing one to argue (5,5) BANDY WORDS {BANDY} {WORDS}
18 Number, following try, cheer (7) HEARTEN {HEAR}{TEN}
19 This'll support climbers galore, scrambling under pressure (7) PERGOLA {P}{GALORE}*
22 Impulsive dramatist? Sounds like it (4) WILD (~Wilde)
Hearty congrats to Kishore, the Fastest Finger First, on winning the 1st round of IXL 2014. :)
ReplyDelete+1
Delete9 out of top ten are from amongst those who comment here
DeleteNo wonder :)
DeleteIt could have been a perfect ten, if only you had participated Sir !
DeleteYes, No wonder! Awesome!
DeleteMaybe I should comment more often... that way I can sneak back up into the top 10!
DeleteCongrats Kishore !
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Kishore!
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Kishore!
Delete9D is not very fair. Pyramid refers to ancient Egypt, right but selling has no indication apart from being a part of the definition.
ReplyDeleteShri, if they were selling plots and pyramids, maybe Juvo could have helped
DeleteI see absolutely no problem with the clue as it is. The question mark is an essential element of the cryptic definition
Delete+1 , without any dodgy business practice
DeleteSuresh, I am still not sure whether the question mark completely serves the purpose. Something like 'Dodgy business practice involving ancient monuments from Egypt' , though it doesn't once again refer to selling could still lead one there. Anyway, the term Pyramid Selling was also new to me. I have heard of it as Pyramid Scheme or Ponsi Scheme
DeleteIt works perfectly as far as I can see
DeleteLet me put it differently. On plain reading the answer seems to be a practice in ancient Egypt. It wasn't. Hence the question mark. The words"dodgy business practice" define what it is.
DeleteIt is not a charade as you are trying to make out.
I second Suresh's reading - the clue makes perfect sense to me.
DeleteXL 2014. 19A : Saint escapes spirit incantation near Darjeeling (5) Got stuck on it but submitted with GROOM instead of GHOOM.
ReplyDeleteAm still not getting the Anno. Could somebody help me please? This was the only clue I failed to solve.
{GHO(-st)}{OM}
DeleteGhoom happens to be the highest railway station. Hum wahan ghoomne gayey they!
DeleteIt is a place name.
DeleteProper names, proper nouns, whether it be from films, locations, people, etc, are traps in these puzzles.
There are solvers who don't like "near Darjeeling" or "in India" (and similar expressions) for what is the name of a particular place in a State or the country.
DeleteBTW, is it 'asoka chakra' or 'ashok chakra'?
DeleteThanks Col Sir, CV Sir and Kishore. :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSome consolation there! :) Last time I was let down by Darjeeling clue. This time around, I am scared of Srinagar clue, submitted though with a wild guess. Fingers crossed!
DeleteThanks, MB, DG, LV and Ram
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Kishore. Keep it up all the way.
ReplyDeleteAlso to the blog for sending 9 out of 10. Hurray Col.
CV on Ashoka Chakra-
ReplyDeleteI think this must be the correct way. But Hindi believes in abrupt endings (unlike Sanskrit) and they would have it as 'Ashok Chakr'.
This is what Wicki says-
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashoka_Chakra
When it comes to Indian Military award it cecomes Ashok Chakra (Col. to confirm)
ReplyDeleteSince Chakr is a Hindi word it can be spelt as Chakr or Chakra. The award is spelt as mentioned by you
Delete14D- bandy Words is also not clear to me. Can someone help?
ReplyDeletePaddy, see the links
DeleteI did Col. It has 2 links. The link for 'Bandy words' leads to arguements (Def.) and it is fine. But the link for 'crooked' leads to Bandy with one of the meanings as bent legs (crooked?) Also, does 'undertaking' lead to words?
DeleteUndertakings = promises=words.
DeleteCongrats Kishore
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Kishore :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats Kishore :). All the best to every one for the next round.
ReplyDeleteRamesh, Hyderabad against your name is missing in that IXL 2014 list!
DeleteAdded to profile. Thank you.
DeleteCongrats Kishore!
ReplyDeleteWaiting for IXL again? Late as usual
ReplyDeleteCan' t enter the answers today. What a pain in the neck
ReplyDeleteI am able to. Suresh Garu are you still having issues ?
ReplyDeleteNo. Doe in 15 minutes + 15 minutes to figure out the problem
DeleteTest of patience as you said earlier
DeleteActually I was accidentally logged out and I kept thinking there was another issue. So I could see the puzle but could not enter.
DeleteFinished Round 2 in a few minutes, without much ado, though I'm not sure of one clue !
ReplyDeleteCongrats , Kishore for your fastest finger and all other bloggers here who feature in the list of the last round completed.
Congrats Kishore:) Well done and a great start:)
ReplyDeleteChakra - ka chakar ! Normally, even though such sanskrit or Hindi words end in 'a' in actual pronunciation that is dropped. This is what i hear when AB in KBC pronounces Hindi words written in English. Yudhishthira is pronounced as yudhishtir and of course, our dear Bengalis pronounce it as Judhishtir or Rakshit is pronounced as Rokkit ! Yoga Kshema is pronounced as Joga kema !
ReplyDeleteGoing back to the ICL, what's the basis of the ranking? and why has it ended in the forties?
Fastest finger is 100 next is 99 and so on. I ends in the forties becsuse there were no more correct entries thereafter.
DeleteThanks, Sureshji. That means there were about 50 and odd all correct entries? Not bad, eh?
DeleteI ended up at 83 from the top-
All the best for our bloggers here for the next one !
Nice to see you two figuring in Top Twenty ! :)
DeleteCongrats Kishor, Mohsin and Shuchi for the top 3 spots.
ReplyDeleteA question on IXL...is it whoever sends in complete grid first.. or does it compute based on lofin time and time taken to finish grid.. i mean wat if someone sees it a day late but takes least time to complete it?
ReplyDeleteWhoever sends it in first gets 100 next 99 and so on till the last correct entry
DeleteI and SU had a discussion on this some time back. The problem with turnaround time is that if someone creates and additional id, solves at leisure and notes it, he/she can then login and fill up post haste in the main id, thus defeating the system.
DeleteThe auditor's brain at work
DeleteThat sounds like a clue with a homophone indicator and anind
DeleteK...thanks Kishore. last time since the puzzle was uploaded late...i went off for lunch :) this pretty much means a race :) well i guess its still the best option tho...
ReplyDeleteThere is no prob with Clue 9d (though it may not be a memorable one).
ReplyDeleteI have deleted an earlier Comment of mine which was written carelessly.
Thanks, all
ReplyDelete