Saturday, 17 January 2015

No 11294, Saturday 17 Jan 2015, Incognito


Welcome Incognito.

ACROSS
7   Peter's vault is secure and undamaged (4) SAFE [DD] ? Anno not clear [MD] See comments
8,16,15 down Crucial decision concerning capital punishment (1,6,2,4,3,5) A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH [CD]
10 Move fast in a popular mode of transport over the Niagara Falls (6) BARREL [DD]
11 Crumpets strewn across the range (8) SPECTRUM*
12 Fake teetotaller takes alcohol heartily producing unusually high pitched voice (8) FALSETTO {FALSE}{TT}{alcOhol}
14 Managed with some home-made dosa (4,2) MADE DO [T]
16 See 8
18 Eat herb mixture and respire (7) BREATHE*
21 Take a string and change a binary bit to become powerful (6) STRONG STR(-1+0)ONG
23 Train person to become a driver (8) COACHMAN {COACH}{MAN}
25 Convoluted cad clues "Dead end" (3,2,3) CUL DE SAC*
27 Confused and rowed slowly without power (6) ADDLED pADDLED
29 It's a crime to post after dark (9) BLACKMAIL {BLACK}{MAIL}
30 African who follows Yankee (4) ZULU [DD]

DOWN
1   I chased car carrying Tibetan guru and got Italian squids (8) CALAMARI {CA{LAMA}R}{I}
2   Look at an Earl or someone equal (4) PEER [MD]
3   Thing designed to ensure that the pickpocket gets all your stuff in one go (6) WALLET [CD]
4   Graduates, without losing much time, got a woodwind instrument (7) BASSOON {BAS}{SOON}
5   Flag old ship sailing around river (8) STREAMER {ST{R}EAMER}
6   Worry about guitar component (4) FRET [DD]
9   Railway termini were moved away from metal casting plant and re-located (5) FOUND FOUNDry
13 Short short-hand writer arranges notes (5) STENO*
15 See 8 Across
17 Munro followed Indian tribal to Japanese town (8) NAGASAKI {NAGA}{SAKI}
19 The type of body Venus has or is (8) HEAVENLY [C&DD]
20 Accountants return before administrators to thorn trees (7) ACACIAS {ACAC<=}{IAS}
22 This is used to hitch-hike by fairytale general (after releasing cat) (5) THUMB tom_THUMB But this General was not a fairytale one
24 Middle Easterner appears before the French to get land that is useful (6) ARABLE {ARAB}{LE}
26 Sketch doctor at work, initially (4) DRAW {DR}{At}{Work}
28 12 lose nothing at first and nod off (4) DOZE DOZEn

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82 comments:

  1. Deepak Gopinath17 January 2015 at 08:31

    Happy Birthday CV

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore17 January 2015 at 08:34

      A Very Happy Birthday to Mr Rishikesh, CV and Gridman

      Delete
  2. Shrikanth17 January 2015 at 08:33

    Happy Birthday CV Sir.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shrikanth17 January 2015 at 08:35

    I wasn't aware of 29A :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. VMA Nair17 January 2015 at 08:38

    Happy birthday CV Sir

    ReplyDelete
  5. VMA Nair17 January 2015 at 08:39

    Simple and nice puzzle. Zulu was a guess thanks to Klusner. Please explain second part

    ReplyDelete
  6. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 January 2015 at 08:40

    Many, Many Happy Returns of the day, CV Sir.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 08:44

    Thank you Deepak, Kishore, Ajeesh, Mukund for the greetings.

    ReplyDelete
  8. VMA Nair17 January 2015 at 08:46

    7 A is MD

    ReplyDelete
  9. Deepak Gopinath17 January 2015 at 08:49

    Dark in 29A reminded me of one of my all time favourite movies 'Wait until Dark' starring Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 January 2015 at 08:50

    Nice one from Incognito. Stumped by 10Ac. Never thought that a BARREL could be a popular mode of transport to visit or ride on Niagara Falls!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath17 January 2015 at 08:54

      It's not used for a visit or pleasure ride. It's used by daredevils to ride the falls. See the link

      Delete
    2. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 January 2015 at 09:02

      Thanks Sir. Saw the link. Wonder if those daredevils use barrels even today!?

      Delete
    3. Kishore17 January 2015 at 09:36

      Wonder if those daredevils use barrels even today!?

      MB, they probably wouldn't mind if the barrel was full of whiskey ...

      Delete
    4. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 January 2015 at 10:39

      Well said!!

      Delete
  11. Venkatesh17 January 2015 at 08:51

    CV sir,
    Many Happy Returns of the Day.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 January 2015 at 08:54

    17Dn : {NAGA}{SAKI} What's the link btn Munro and Saki pl?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 09:05

    Deepak,

    Did you solve THC 10810, Thu, June 27, 2013?
    Clue 4d was
    Look closely around treasurer’s top safe (5)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 09:10

      In THC 10093 March 4, 2011),Clue 21a was

      Favourite Queen in prison (5)

      It's just that setters do their dictionary work!

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath17 January 2015 at 09:11

      I must have solved it

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath17 January 2015 at 09:14

      I blogged 10810 and against 4D I had written 'Never knew this meaning'!

      Delete
    4. Venkatesh17 January 2015 at 09:22

      Also, by CV in 10471 24.5.2012
      Peter's out of danger (4) - SAFE [DD]
      Posted by Deepak Gopinath

      Delete
    5. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 09:55

      Thus spake Gridman

      1. Setters are in business only because solvers have short memory.

      (Thinking hard for other statements)

      Delete
  14. Rengaswamy17 January 2015 at 09:06

    CV Ji, You have to really be something special! Today, 3,476,829 people have birthday, but I was only thinking of you!

    Many happy returns of the day.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 09:12

      Thank you, Renga!
      Glad to be one in 3,476,829 as far as youa re concerned!
      MGR fans are thinking of him!

      Delete
    2. Kishore17 January 2015 at 09:33

      And CGR fans are thinking of him ...

      Delete
  15. SandhyaP17 January 2015 at 09:12

    Happy Birthday CV! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 09:13

    Thanks to Venkatesh also for b'day greetings.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Raghunath17 January 2015 at 09:19

    Many happy returns of the day CV!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Aakash Sridhar17 January 2015 at 09:20

    Many happy returns CV sir !! Have a gala one !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 09:53

      Thank God, there is no space between gal and a AND the 'a' is not in caps AND the 'one' is not numeral AND there is no hyphen in between.

      Delete
    2. RameshJ17 January 2015 at 11:09

      It might have been better if it was ' Have a gala day'. Of course CVjis wife would then have an Axe out for Axa

      Delete
  19. Rengaswamy17 January 2015 at 09:20

    One liners about India that are completely true!


    1. If you want to know how divided we are, just look at matrimonial page of our newspaper!
    2. India is running the software of tomorrow on the hardware of yesterday!
    3. Sarcasm is like electricity, half of India doesn't get it!
    4. If the mobile gets spoiled blame the child, if child gets spoiled blame the mobile!
    5. If someone asks for dirty cloth to clean something you are in India!
    6. The only country where people fight to be termed 'backward'!
    7. In India, you don't cast your vote, you vote your caste!
    8. An incredible country where actors are playing cricket, cricketers are playing politics, politicians are watching porn and porn stars are becoming actors!- vicious circle indeed!
    9. And the ultimate one:

    Where liking a Facebook post and sending messages on WhatsApp gets you arrested, while raping does not!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Raghunath17 January 2015 at 09:26

    Did the wallet makers have the pickpocket in mind while designing? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore17 January 2015 at 09:34

      They were probably hand (in glove or in pocket?) with Fagin

      Delete
  21. Kishore17 January 2015 at 09:32

    Re 22d, it should have been 'character', not 'General'. Tom Thumb is a folklore character, while, as rightly mentioned by Deepak, General Tom Thumb was a real person and the stage name of an extremely short person, who was no army general. I mixed up the two. Sorry for that.

    BTW, in India, the term dead end is used even for the arm of the T junction which terminates. "Turn right at the dead end". Strictly speaking there is no exit from a dead end, i.e. a cul-de-sac, except the way one came...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 10:04

      Last week in my neighbourhood, which I know very well, I took a turn, a deliberate turn, knowing very well it would take me nowhere. I just wanted to take a peek, having walked by many times. The moment I turned, a boy, playing on the lane, said: 'Uncle, where do you want to go? This is dead end" (all in Tamil except for the first word and the end phrase),
      Mind you, it is rather a poor area. I noted his polite way of addressing a stranger and also the sue of the English phrase.
      Certainly education makes man better. - Is this true or am I uncharitable to the unlettered?

      Delete
  22. Abhay17 January 2015 at 09:38

    Thanks for a fun crossword, Incognito! Especially liked the CD for wallet.

    The LAMA clued in 1d here, following close on the heels of the LLAMA in Arden's crossword three days ago, reminded me of Ogden Nash:

    The one L lama, he's a priest
    The two L llama, he's a beast
    And I will bet my silk pyjama
    There isn't any three L lllama !

    Thanks to DG for the blog.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Raghunath17 January 2015 at 09:52

    Re 7 AC:

    http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2012/10/peter-is-safe.html

    ReplyDelete
  24. Abhay17 January 2015 at 10:00

    The two CDs in today's crossword reminded me of a point made by a blogger on fifteensquared a few days ago. John, blogging that day's Independent puzzle, had this to say:

    "Many [...] have tried to convince me that a CD is a valid form of clue, but they have failed. I know CDs are widespread[.] Why is the usual protocol for clues — two parts, one of them a definition, one of them the wordplay, giving you two ways in to the answer — dropped for the CD and why can’t you have the CD part as a very good definition but also have some wordplay? I prefer to follow Azed, who says “I disapprove of clues which omit any definition of the answer, relying on the ‘Ho-ho’ factor to gloss over this omission …”, and he goes on to say “Clues which consist solely of a punning definition … are equally culpable in this regard, however witty they may be”"

    I find myself in two minds about this. I am keen to hear what the setters and solvers here have to say.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 10:08

      Of course there are good CDs and bad CDs.
      Having said that, CDs must be an arrow in the crossword setter's quiver.
      For CDs the answer must come out of the solver's head. They add variety and also saves the setter from the dreary job of word breakups for 30 plus or minus clues.

      Delete
    2. Bhalchandra Pasupathy17 January 2015 at 10:27

      My view is that a CD is OK provided there are the two components: ie the wordplay and the definition. Either element or both can be cryptic. But the solver then has two routes to the answer as usual.

      Many happy returns of the day CV

      Delete
    3. Kishore17 January 2015 at 11:49

      Bhala, no doubt, refers to what we usually call the CD,DD and has two components. On the other hand several setters here and elsewhere have used CD which do not have two components. This is what Crossword Unclued says:

      "Cryptic definition [CD] clues expect you to think laterally to arrive at the solution. Unlike most other clue types, pure CD clues do not have separate definition and wordplay. The entire clue is one single definition, worded in a misleading way and you need to use some "out-of-the-box" reasoning to solve it."

      http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2008/12/cryptic-definitions.html

      Delete
    4. Kishore17 January 2015 at 12:00

      In fact, once the solver has cracked the lateral thinking logic of it, the answer, for all practical purposes, is like an 'easy' one. Eg:

      Gridman (THC 11284/5.1.15)
      7a High-flown correspondence? (7) AIRMAIL

      Neyartha (THC 11286/7.1.15)
      23a Firing them may be harmless (6) BLANKS

      Arden THC 11290/12.1.15)
      8d Mendicant’s going round and round (7) DERVISH

      Delete
  25. ranger17 January 2015 at 10:30

    Many happy returns of the day CV

    ReplyDelete
  26. Arvind Ramaswamy17 January 2015 at 11:10

    Happy birthday CV sir...

    Nice and enjoyable grid Incognito :-) Especially loved Heavenly, Zulu, Wallet, Blackmail.... Calamari though I guessed from wordplay, had to google...

    ReplyDelete
  27. RameshJ17 January 2015 at 11:12

    Many happy returns of the day CVji

    ReplyDelete
  28. raju umamaheswar17 January 2015 at 11:49

    Many happy snruter of the day CV. May The Good Lord keep you in good health and spirits and may we have many more puzzles from your memory Bank !! God bless you!!!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Padmanabhan17 January 2015 at 11:57

    Is it already 2 years since we cut a Birthday cake for Gridman? Time really flies with the next edition of S&B fat approaching. Wish you a very happy Birthday and many happy returns of the day CV. Looking forward to many many CW's from your pen (or should I say computer?)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Padmanabhan17 January 2015 at 12:00

    Thank you Incognito for loading our already overloaded bellies with free samosas. Enjoyable CW. Though I have read about barreling across Niagara, I had to google it today.Strange I started the day's filling with cul de sac and I am glad it did not end in one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore17 January 2015 at 12:03

      In these samosas, Paddy,

      Fats=0
      Transfats = 0

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan17 January 2015 at 12:17

      You are right at that and if any, we also spend a few calories of thinking time.

      Delete
    3. Kishore17 January 2015 at 12:32

      So that the solver can get off a seat and take up walking, running or other activities that consume calories ...

      Delete
    4. VMA Nair17 January 2015 at 14:12

      But even with S&B, Paddy is thinking about fat (approaching) :-D

      Delete
  31. Suresh17 January 2015 at 12:16

    Many happy returns of the day , Rishiji

    ReplyDelete
  32. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 12:26

    Thank you Venkatesh, Sandhya, Raghunath, Bhala, ARD, Arvind, Ramesh, Raju, Padmanabhan and Suresh for the greetings.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 12:37

    For years I have understood cryptic definition (CD) to be a clue for which the answer comes not from any WP (charade, anag, c/c, etc) but off the top of the head.
    The term that D St. P. Barnard uses for this sort of clue is the parabolic clue.
    For each clue-variety the author in his book Anatomy of the Crossword (1962) bestows a fancy name.
    He writes: "The Parabolic Clue derives its poignancy from the element of surprise; it may require very little thought or long consideration, but whatever it may be, when the solution comes, it comes in a flash; rarely can it be discovered by a process of laborious reasoning - reflection may be necessary, but inspiration is the final touchstone that makes all the pieces fall suddenly into place."

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ramani17 January 2015 at 13:24

    WALLET swallowed the samosas for me.:(
    I seek your blessings CV Sir on your birthday

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chaturvasi17 January 2015 at 14:28

      Ellam nallabadi nadakkum. Sowkkiyama irunga, ram avargalae. Ungalukkum ungal kudumbaththukkum en nal vaazhthukkal uriththaaguga.
      ===
      Whether a person is older than me or younger, I say "namaskaaram" (apart from bringing the palms together in front of my chest). I take it to be equivalent to 'Namaste'.

      Can DS or someone else say whether there is any fine distinction about the use of 'namaskaaram'.

      This reminds me of an incident in MDU during my trip there.

      We were standing outside the gate of the house of an old man. I said: "Namskaaram". There was not any reciprocal greeting. I repeated it. Again it seemed as if he had not heard me. He wanted me to speak. For the third time, I said 'namaskaaram'. The old man now said loudly "Aaseervaadham". In those moments he must have gauged me and realised that though I was old myself, I must be younger to him and 'namskaaram' wasn't the right word.
      In old wedding invitations there used to be a series of dots where the name of the invitee was to be inserted (but it never was).
      It was followed by namaskaaram/aaseervaadham.
      ( This was 'dear reader, take it as applicable'!

      Delete
    2. D.Srinivasan17 January 2015 at 15:27

      Sir,
      NAMASKARAM & Many Happy Returns of the Day. Great to share the DoB with a legend like MGR!

      I agree with you in greeting anyone, irespective of his/her age, with Namaskaram in person or over phone.
      Responding with Aseervaadham or Namaskaram is their choice.

      Only when you have to do Namaskaram by prostrating before another person, the younger one does it to the elder.

      When someone meets a Sage/Seer, even elder one should prostrate to the Sage irrespective of the Sage's age.

      In the wedding invitation of the yeteryears, the name of the Invitee is written "on the series of dots" and either Namaskaram or Aseervaadham is struck off depending on the Invitee's age. This custom no longer exisists although the format remains the same in some places.

      We, in this blog, are always happy and feel blessed to receive your ASEERVAADHAM without age consideration.

      Thanks for your mail. Otherwise I would have missed this discussion today

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan17 January 2015 at 16:19

      Thank you both for some elucidation- of the general rule. We cannot do anything about personalities who go beyond this general etiquette, like the Madurai gentleman.

      Delete
    4. Kishore17 January 2015 at 18:41

      Dr DS, Did I tell you that I was a seer once? I even saw a mutt ...

      Delete
  35. Shuchi17 January 2015 at 13:32

    Happy birthday CV Sir.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Kishore17 January 2015 at 19:51

    Thanks, All. See you on Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  37. Vasant17 January 2015 at 20:48

    Happy Birthday , the maestro. May u continue to regale us with ur puzzles, guide us to the nuances of cryptic xwords, mentor generations of setters.

    ReplyDelete
  38. Sowmya17 January 2015 at 22:28

    Happy Birthday CV Sir. Wish you good health and happiness for years to come.

    ReplyDelete

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