Not that I am complaining but I found today's wordplay to be a little roundabout at places. Off early to collect some medicines. Leaving some question marks for the bloggers to answer.
ACROSS
1 Secret identity criminal duo possessed (10) CONFIDENCE {CON}{F{ID}ENCE}
6 Always tough to cut corners (4) EVER
10 In Germany, I, laze around being most wealthy (7) RICHEST {R{ICH}EST}
11 Confronts firms involved in shams (7) ACCOSTS {AC{COS}TS}
12 Decreasing species of codfish around English cape coming back (9) LESSENING {L{E}{SSEN<=}ING}
13 Adoration found in relationship? On the contrary (5) RATIO [T]
14 Wound left for bit of time in bandage (5)
15 Concluded, ruptured duct seeps (9) SUSPECTED*
17 North Africans built pigsty near extinct river (9) EGYPTIANS {PIGSTY+NEA
21 Directors' listless report (5) BOARD (~bored)
22 Shot suspect in the stomach, having stolen ring (5) PHOTO {
24 Unlimited liras owned by noblewoman (9) COUNTLESS {COUNT{L}ESS}
26 Back agent involved in search for caretakers (7) KEEPERS {KEE{PER}S}<=
27 Permitted rock band featuring Lee to play (7) ENABLED {BAND+LEE}*
28 Sister’s descriptive words are out of love (4) NUNS N
29 A reused vent, without base gives rise to risks (10) ADVENTURES {A+REUSED+V
DOWN
1 Caught gangster pinching gold and gemstone (5) CORAL {C}{OR}{AL}
2 Need to raise money in Japan; to cover tax on computers (9)
3 Bird — canary heading to India over frozen mass of water (7) ICEBERG {I}{
4 Watchmen heading off to gates (7) ENTRIES
5 Cleaner, edgy, often revolts against Sunday duties (7) CHARGES {CHAR}{
7 Is one in tube north bound for excursion? (5) VISIT {V{IS}{1}T<=}
8 Selfless person died, reincarnated and came back! (9) RESPONDED {PERSON+D
9 Collect wine bottled by expert (6) ACCRUE {AC{CRU}E}
14 Lustre surrounding kip’s woolly fleece for example (9) SHEEPSKIN {SHEE{KIPS*}N}
16 Bank employee hosted party that finished early, for tourist (9) TRAVELLER {T{RAV
18 Lift restriction about clamour for gardening tool (6) TROWEL {T{ROW}EL<=}
19 “Service department head’s pilfered”, copper’s alleged (7) ACCUSED
20 They use hash for sleep (7) SHUTEYE*
21 Model, below average, after scrap gets insignificant role (3,4) BIT PART {BIT} {PAR}{T}
23 Nothing can control energy in the deep (5) OCEAN {O}{C{E}AN}
25 Very sorry to decline carbonated drinks (5) SODAS {SO}{DAS<=}
GRID
2 Need to raise money in Japan; to cover tax on computers (9) {NE{CESS}{IT}Y<-}
ReplyDelete14 Wound left for bit of time in bandage (5) S(-t){+L}ING
ReplyDelete19 “Service department head’s pilfered”, copper’s alleged (7) {AC{CU'S}E}{D}
ReplyDeleteACE: Service
D: department head
CU'S: copper's
Gr8 Mam!
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteQuite an enjoyable puzzle from Phantom. I pat myself for having scored a Centum of a Phantom crossy! Liked clues 17A, 8D and 22D. Thank you, Phantom. :-)))
ReplyDeletehad a doubt about 14A- Sting with wound as def. or sling with bandage as def.?
ReplyDeleteLooking unsuccessfully for the name of a rock band for 27A!
Happy to have got all except the above. A little tough but doable.
ReplyDeleteI can confidently say that the surface reading of clues in THC in recent years has improved tremendously.
ReplyDeleteI remember a time when many clues in a single crossword used to be rather contrived with no attention paid to overall meaning of the group of words.
Today, almost all setters seem to pay careful attention to surface reading. E.g., in this crossword the first two clues - without my going any further - are very good.
Five or six decades ago we setters had little exposure to UK crosswords. Only the assiduous would go seek them in foreign periodicals/mags or collections of books. For this one has to betake himself from the secure confines of his home. Today the information technology has grown so much that the whole world is at one's feet and many crosswords are available on the Net for us to keep abreast of current developments; there are many manuals/crossword websites that set out the beauties and intricacies of the wordgame. Thus the scenario has changed.
I may have written about this once or twice before so please excuse me if you think this is a repeat.
Would old-time solvers agree with me on the point that I am making?
The publishers themselves may be hardly aware of the vast improvement in the feature that is unique to the paper.
"E.g., in this crossword the first two clues - without my going any further - are very good."
DeleteWell, what could you possibly expect from somebody who reads between the letters (not just the lines) in each clue of every crossword? ;)
No doubt that clueing quality has improved significantly
DeleteI guessed 1A and got it right. Criminal = con, identity = id, where does fence come from?
ReplyDeleteFor 22A, suspect in the stomach = p, stolen ring = o, where does hot come from? Could someone explain the annotation please?
Also, I dithered a lot between sling (bandage) and sting (wound)? Which is the correct answer?
Thanks.
1a criminal duo refs to 2 criminals, con and fence. A fence is a dealer in ' hot' , ie stolen goods
Delete22a stomach refs to centre of susPect. Stolen is hot as in above sentence, ring=o
I'd say sling, as clue says left for bit of time ie L is sibstituted for T
"They use hash for sleep"
ReplyDeleteQ: What do you use?
For me the soporific is TV news debates from 8 p.m. to 10-30 p.m. After the day is done, I watch them by lying on a mat on the floor in the drawing room. At the end of the channel surfing, all the shouting benumbs me. I have to only change the setting and my head has to hit a different pillow before I am in the embrace of Nithra Devi.
No such vices for me. I just lie down and wooosh I'm off to the land of nod.
Delete< 5 mins at 9pm
DeleteAny time of the day for me!
DeleteSame pinch, K
DeleteSometimes, the debate gets so vociferous that it can rouse a sleeping person!
DeleteOne more common factor for CW lovers- no insomniacs?!
Any other time and place works too. But the biggest plus is I get to miss AG.
DeleteYou make the 'plus' seem like a "minus", so 'the nation want's to know why?'
DeleteHow do you say I make it a minus? I am sure the nation has better things to do than worry about my eardrums
DeleteNoe I'm not willing to take a position.
DeleteVery enjoyable puzzle. As pointed out by CV Sir, excellent surfaces too. CESS & IT usage was awesome. I was thinking about IT as tax and then CESS was also there. Took a few more seconds to unravel.
ReplyDelete+2 (Both hands!)
Delete
ReplyDeleteIn response to CV's comments on quality of the crossies in THCC: I'm sure, none of you saw my late night posting on Exchequer's crossie;
The last two days of Exchequer's crossies is simby whorled class !! I enjoyed them immensely !! On first sight, they looked almost impossible but as one went along, the jig fitted into the saw perfectly, though the NW corner gave a bit of acute cerebral thrombosis ! !
Maybe, if i had concentrated well away from the TV and its shenanigans in Bangalore, I could have cracked it sooner !
Well done, Exchequer !!
Best wishes of the day to MB and other birds of his feather
ReplyDelete??
ReplyDeleteI care for *
DeleteIs it Airforce day today?
DeleteYes it is.
DeleteBest wishes to MB and his ilk
I was reminded of it yesterday while watching news, but totally forgotten today and that's why I could not make head or tail out of Kishore's wishes. So I now I join others in conveying my Best Wishes to MB & others. Once an Air Force man, always an AF man. Bravo!
DeleteThanks folks. :)
DeleteBest wishes MB!
DeleteThanks, guys, and coming from VJ, that's high praise (hope that's what his post conveys, as his wont these days ;).
ReplyDeleteWas not sure what Col meant in his opening remark; whether he referred to the clues for which he sought annos or some other clues. Without sounding immodest I think the clues today seem plausible and probably no word is out of place and redundant. I take pains to see that wordplay is proper and that it makes sense when read as a whole, which what I look for in crosswords generally.
But not happy with the 20d Shuteye clue. I'm not sure whether the clue reads like a translation from an Indian language in the usage of "for". I had "to" till yesterday, but changed it as "to" would have meant "shuteye" being a verb , whereas it's a noun. Probably 'and' would have been better.
Raghu. I didnt mean they were not plausible, what I meamt is that some of the sentences though plausible could be shortened to convey the same meaning but then they would not work as a clue. That's why I prefixed it with 'I'm not complaining'.
DeleteI got hang of why you why you said you weren't complaining, but at the same time was curious which clues you felt could have been shortened on first look.
DeleteFor example
Delete16D could have been
Bank employee held short party for tourist
In 12A I felt just 'fish' would do rather than 'species of codfish'
21D could be
Scrap average model with insignificant role
Mind you, above are solely my views and I may be wrong
16d: I had 'brief party' till the day before yesterday and changed it to what appeared in the puzzle.
Delete12 a I had also toyed with just 'fish', but because it started with Dwindling/ decreasing just 'fish' would not have been correct w/o mentioning 'numbers' or 'catch' or something like that. Had also thought of codfish, but was troubled by the number not appearing.
21D : Scrap average model with insignificant role. (21 Model, below average, after scrap gets insignificant role )
But the meaning I had was 'scrap' in the sense of 'tiff' or 'fight', resulting in he/ she getting a small role. Maybe 'below average model' might have been alright.
Col, thanks any way, suggestions are always welcome for improvement,
"coming from VJ," well, why you making me sound like a villain? Well I just call things as I see 'em, pal. Nice work and well done!!
Delete27A While not answering for the Col., I would like to point out that 'rock' in 27A seems a bit confusing (in the cryptic reading). For a while I wasn't sure about the setter's intention (am I to think of the name of an actual rock band?, is rock an anind of band, and if so what is 'to play' doing there? With seemingly two aninds on either side of the fodder, the possibilities did not match the crossings -- i.e. E_A_L_D didn't fit {BAND}*{LEE}*.
ReplyDelete[And unrelated to the above comment...]
Thank you, Kishore, for alerting us to the significance of 8 Oct. I managed to catch a few minutes of the live telescast of the flypasts (from I-don't-know-which-airfield) this morning.
I think Phantom's intention is to have a full plausible surface story and this led to 2 Aninds (Rock & 'To Play') maybe, he could have dispensed with one of them but at the cost of making the surface story incomplete. He has clearly stated his intentions earlier.
DeleteRemoving 'rock' wouldn't affect the surface, IMHO.
DeleteI had thought of "Permitted band featuring Lee to rock and roll/ play", but left it out. Could have been used like you said.
DeleteNormally it's at Hindon, Ghaziabad.
ReplyDeleteWebcast available at http://indianairforce.nic.in/
Thank you.
DeleteI learnt swimming there in '70
DeleteTalking bout Air Force, there is a nice article in the Metroplus by Pankaja Sreenivasan on the workings of their cooks and etiquettes in their Mess.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to all the men who took to the air ( and those on the ground too ! ) on Air Force day !!
Amongst the IAF men I have had close contacts with and fondly remember, is Wg Cdr 'Jit' Dhawan the younger brother of ex ISRO chief Prof Satish Dhawan. Jit had designed a bookshelf for me around 10-12 years back.
ReplyDeleteNice one today... great surfaces. My COD 8D.
ReplyDeleteThought I had finally finished one but found out the answer was SLING not STING... oh, well... another day...
Greetings to MB and his colleagues. We owe it to them for guarding our skies.
ReplyDeleteSpecial mention needs be made of Air Commodore B. Balachandran, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station, Srinagar and his team for working almost round the clock during the rescue operations following floods in Srinagar last month.
I have witnessed their tireless work in the initial two weeks - they operated helicopters for flying the stranded people from rooftops as well as flights to move people to other places.
One special attribute I found in air officers - they drive their own vehicles (even AOC) unlike the other wings of our armed forces.
Venkatesh,
DeletePlease do not make uncalled for inferences without full knowledge about the armed forces.
I wonder if you are aware that no military person can drive an armed forces vehicle purely based on a civil driving licence. One also needs to have a military driving licence and is supposed to have a valid reason for driving the vehicle in the absence of a driver.
My observation, not an inference, is about the jeeps/cars they use for moving about the station - not 'military' vehicles. I have not yet seen a Brigadier driving himself around on work.
DeleteYou are sadly mistaken
DeleteThanks, Venkatesh. :)
DeleteVJ,
ReplyDeleteI meant that you are a hard guy to satisfy.
And thanks!
Delete