Arden's delightful fourth has long words and phrases beautifully handled. I almost thought this was a themed one: parliaments (how about installing hammocks in parliament?), old official/leader,
Across
1 Disgruntled chaplain, ignoring an Islamic leader (6) CALIPH (CHAPLAIN-AN)*
IS al-Baghdadi an example? Incidentally, the word Caliph contains the name 1 caliph starting from the 2nd letter, with a length of 3 letters, and is the name of the 4th caliph: Ali ! It is also found in the alternative spelling Khalifa
4 Can teach English to you in Germany by correspondence (8) EDUCABLE (E DU CABLE)
9 Nut going away afternoon (6) NOGGIN
10 Metal and Quartz form a grand structure (8) BASILICA (BA(for Barium) SILICA)
12 One can wear something white as an old official (8) PALATINE (A TIN in PALE)
13 Scorched design, perhaps (6) SINGED (DESIGN*)
Reminded me of an anecdote I had heard long back. A comedian (Groucho Marx?) had received a letter from a man requesting him to send a 'singed' photograph of his. Noting the spelling mistake, he gleefully took a photograph and using a cigarette lighter singed the edges and sent it. Promptly, another letter turned up: "Thank you for sending the signed photo, but I had asked for a singed one"
15 Jewish new year (4,8) ROSH HASHANAH (E/GK)
Remembered from Harold Robbins books, where I came across a host of new words like Bar Mitzvah, Yom Kippur, Yarmulke, etc.
18 Smart to acquire processed mineral, making things simple (12) STREAMLINING (MINERAL* in STING)
21 Order a sail with a native Indian (6) OJIBWA (O JIB W A)
22 Hurry to encode (8) SCRAMBLE (2)
24 Destitute and loveless, a characteristic picture (8) PORTRAIT (POOR-O TRAIT)
25 6 — true representation of righteousness (6) VIRTUE (VI TRUE*)
26 Breaking code in bet — it's related (8) ANECDOTE (CODE* in ANTE)
Ref. under 13a
27 Employed by a world body, absolutely new (6) UNUSED (UN USED)
Down
1 Spin off participating in the central scheme (8) CONSPIRE (SPIN* in CORE)
2 Make it binding, say, among various allies (8) LEGALISE (EG in ALLIES*)
3 May be pertinent — what do you do in a wild party? (5,3,4,3) PAINT THE TOWN RED (PERTINENT WHAT DO)*
I wonder which colour the colour-blind paint the town with ...
5 Stretch upward (4) DRAW (WARD<)
I misread the first word as 'Sketch' and the clue still worked !
6 Dealt with antisocial — having an edge in making it illegal (15) CRIMINALISATION (RIM IN in ANTISOCIAL*)
7 Game for one newly married around midnight (6) BRIDGE (BRIDE around G)
This is the word that links two of Arden's favourites: the ship and the card game
8 Garfunkel and Simon — somewhat horny creatures (6) ELANDS (T)
Reverse order of the guys behind 'Silence of Sounds The' surprised me at first ! These guys were prescient - look, they predicted social media (ten thousand people, may be more - people talking without speaking), headphone/mobile usage that makes the user not to you when you talk directly with him/her (people hearing without listening), modern music (people writing songs that voices never share), computers/mobiles (the neon god that they had made) ...
On a different note, a lot of vehicle users in Bangalore are horny creatures too ...
11 Parliament seeks not to drop opposition leader after assembly (7) KNESSET (SEEKS NOT-O)*
14 Just the thing for retired swingers (7) HAMMOCK (CD)
16 Complaint when one perishes without help (8) DIABETES (DIES outside ABET)
17 Fit a tiny device initially in plant (8) AGUEWEED (AGUE WEE D)
19 Too much hype as it goes around a city (6) HOOPLA (HOOP LA)
20 May be Mary will go through it (6) PIERCE (2)
23 The thing that nourishes parliament (4) DIET (2)
GRID
Why Bangalore alone? All Indians are horny creatures ... 'HORN OK TATA'
ReplyDeleteOther places, out of sight - out of mind ... Sound Horn, Awaaz Do ...Hum Do.... Hamare how many?
DeletePehle do the, abhi Ek
DeleteKuch din baad 'Hum do, hamare adopted'
Delete:))
DeleteThey beseech you to horn. You forgot the 'please' after 'Horn'.
DeleteMessage at the back of a truck in Chennai( written in Tamil)
DeleteSelaiai paarkadhe! Salaiai paar!
Translated for those who cannot interpret it properly-
Delete"Don't look at sari (selai),look at the road (salai- a la Anna Salai)" .One of my friends friends from Delhi pronounced it as 'salaai' and it took me a while to understand what he was trying to say!
Paddy,
DeleteThere is a 'Malaai Mandir' (malaai = cream) in New Delhi's RK Puram area.
This is the Swami Malai Temple; the name got corrupted in the local Hindi usage.
@Arden: Love your clues! :)
ReplyDelete@Kishore: Love your comments! :P
Keen competition!
DeleteExample-
DeleteComments on 1A-
Caliph,Alipf,Ali...
Give him a piece of cotton and he will spin miles of yarn (not just a story) a real one.
...making mountains out of a molehill?! :)
DeleteWe can also do that, but he makes them without the molehill !!
DeleteLOL !!!
Delete+1 for Sandhya's comment
DeleteSurely 7's not a game for the one's in 8, that too being newly married?
ReplyDeleteIt bridges them,perhaps.
DeleteMaybe 30 years after :)
DeleteActually I meant 'the horny ones' and not S & G. Their most successful and last recording "A bridge over troubled waters", failed to do what Padmanabhan commented @ 9.44. Not sure whether he connected this song with clue # 7?
DeleteI did not know about the song, but am an ardent follower of the game.
Delete25A- 6 turned out to be a red herring and I got sidetracked looking at criminalisation and wondering. Nice idea.
ReplyDelete13A- singed/ signed. The fan seems to have done the same mistake twice and doubled it too. Reminded me of a churchill special-
ReplyDelete"Half the members of the House are asses (or fools?)"
When asked by the Chair to withdraw, he happily said-"Half the members of the House are NOT asses"-which half?
Nice one, Paddy! :)
DeleteExcellent puzzle - thank you, Arden! Especially loved the clueing for 22, 26, 7, and 14. Learnt two new words - OJIBWA and AGUEWEED - the wordplay was so good that it left the small matter of confirming the words existed.
ReplyDeleteVery nice blog, Kishore - thank you! Incidentally, have our friendly neighbourhood cartoonists retired to the 14s? :)
Aaj tubelight kuch jaldi chamki. Njoyed the puzzle.
ReplyDeleteStick with this starter for the TL.
ReplyDeleteNo one has appreciated the nice placement of CW in TH with easily readable type for the clues and a decent size whites for us to fill, but then I am one of the very few (Where is Raju?) who do it with a pen on paper. Also, everyone seems to have been taken in by the sheer excellence of Arden's offering.I wish TH can continue this. Does Readers' Editor read our blog?
ReplyDeleteInclude me in the list of those solving on the paper. The first thing that pleased me this morning was the puzzle's location and font size!
DeleteA doubt about 9A- Noggin. The link leads us to the meaning of 'Noggin' as head. Is 'Nut' meaning head the def.?
ReplyDeleteThat's right
DeleteRe 9 Nut going away afternoon (6) NOGGIN (GOING* N)
ReplyDeleteKishore,
May I please be permitted to point out an error - I don't know whether to call it major or minor but whatever its scale I deem it an error. The anno that you have given within brackets should be N GOING* if we read the clue aright. I have every reason to believe that indeed is the intention of the reputed setter. I trust that you will amend it suitably.
Your most obedient,
in the service of crossword blog,
CV
Dear CV,
DeleteCorrected on behalf of the blogger.
Thanks,
Blog owner
Thanks, C and D. Was away. Tenor of CV's letter reminds me of letters of yor (even personal ones) where words like 'esteemed', 'obliged', 'instand/inst.' etc. were commonly used.
DeleteBrilliant surfaces and a pleasure to solve. Nice connection between 25A and 6D.
ReplyDeleteManaged to complete all but two. Not having a clue about 21A (well, technically I did) I felt that OTTAWA seemed a good fit -- and guess what, it was my lucky day and there apparently is actually a Native American tribe called Ottawa (corruption of Odawa). That, of course, meant I was stuck with Mary without knowing who she really was. (Incidentally, from the link provided in the blog, it appears that the Ojibwe/a are from the same 'language group' as the Odawa. 'Tis a small world.)