Thursday, 15 January 2015

No.11293, Thursday 15 Jan 2015, Scintillator


 HAPPY PONGAL AND SANKRANTI
This pangrammatic entertainer seems to have a literary, internet, cricket, nautical theme in bits, but I am not sure if any of them are the theme

Across
1 Simple machine to echo roar at university (6) PULLEY (YELL UP)<
4 Chronological representation of history, age and occupation (8) TIME LINE (TIME LINE)
9 A piece of fine stroke in cricket (3,3) OFF CUT (OF F CUT)
10 Element seen in two of several lenient, nice umpires (8) SELENIUM (SEveral LEnient NIce UMpires)
12 Impractical person's notion and leaning (8) IDEALIST (IDEA LIST)
13 Social standing of say, crossword enthusiasts picked up (6) STATUS  (~state US)
15 When in recession, consult around ten former partners (4) EXES (SEE< around X)
16 Put out of action by college head, mostly prepare university lecturer to quit (10) DEACTIVATE ( DEAn CulTIVATE)
19 Random lady I hadn't flirted with before (3-3-4) HIT AND MISS ((I HADN'T)*+MISS)
          How can one hit and miss, unless one hits the wrong thing? No reflection on the clue, just the phrase...
20 A part-time programmer's software debuts? (4) APPS (Acrostic)&lit
23 Practical skills, like reviewing scripture (6) SASTRA ((ARTS AS)<)
25 Take notice of beaten criminal using denial as a cover (4,4) NOTA BENE (BEATEN* with NO in front)
27 Time levels around sport equipment of acrobats (8) TRAPEZES (T RAZES around PE)
28 Empty mug filled with liquor? Au contraire (6) VACANT (VAT in CAN, the other way round) Is VAT  a ref. to the liqour container or to VAT as in VAT69? Whither the 69?
29 How will a glutton eat somewhat uncooked idly? — Dejectedly! (8) GREEDILY (GREEn IDLY*)
30 Heart is heavier, but has no place for husband (6) TICKER (ThICKER)  
          IMO, thicker is not necessarilly heavier, though I am thicker than most (both in the literal and idiomatic connotation of thicker) and heavier than most ...

 Down
1 Key details of a professional group of soldiers (7) PROFILE (PRO FILE)
2 Even if let loose, marriage could be called one (4,5) LIFE EVENT (EVEN IF LET)*
3 Measures up to rivals (6) EQUALS (2)
5 Caesar died on one side, betrayed (4) IDES (SIDE)*
          remember the ides of March ...
6 Live in a thrilling manner (8) ELECTRIC (2)
7 Dimwit gets bad grade after going through two books (5) IDIOT (D in II, OT)
8 As a whole, men made fools, in brief (2,5) EN MASSE (MEN*ASSEs)
11 Earl appears to limit model honours (7) ESTEEMS (E SEEMS around T)
14 Cut disc is sore to some extent (7) SCISSOR (T)
17 Seaman, after drinking very soft beer, has brandy (5-4) APPLE-JACK (A(PP)LE JACK) is it a hyphenated word?
18 Following misappropriation in refund, claim to be pals no longer (8) UNFRIEND (IN REFUND)*
19 Leader of House aghast on being ridiculed in Internet identifier (7) HASHTAG (H AGHAST)*
21 Keats' unheard melodies are so pleasant, in comparison (7) SWEETER (CD,DD) Ref to Keats' Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter, .. 
22 Journey of sailors leaving England (6) SAFARI (SeAFARIng) Is sailors=seafaring ...?
24 Stock in retreat has risen evenly (5) SHARE (rEtReAt HaS)<
26 Cricketing nation not fresh with enthusiasm (4) ZEAL (new ZEALand)

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39 comments:

  1. Col_Gopinath15 January 2015 at 08:34

    HAPPY PONGAL to everyone

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 January 2015 at 08:36

    Happy Pongal&Sankranti to one and all. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Col_Gopinath15 January 2015 at 08:37

    VAT by itself is 'a Liquor containing a reduced, colourless, soluble form of insoluble dye in which textiles are soaked' as per Chmabers. Dr DS can amplify on that

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kishore15 January 2015 at 08:41

      My comment may be treated as cancelled. Got so used to seeing VAT69 in old movies, as if there was no other liquor around, ...

      Delete
  4. Col_Gopinath15 January 2015 at 08:38

    Agree bodily with the comment at 30A

    ReplyDelete
  5. SandhyaP15 January 2015 at 08:40

    Happy Pongal/Sankranti/Lohri!

    ReplyDelete
  6. SandhyaP15 January 2015 at 08:42

    23 A - typo: Scripture (definition) to be highlighted.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Raghunath15 January 2015 at 08:46

    Happy Pongal & Sankranti to all!

    ReplyDelete
  8. SandhyaP15 January 2015 at 08:55

    9A A piece of fine stroke in cricket (3,3) OFF CUT (OF F CUT)

    I took A PIECE to be the definition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath15 January 2015 at 09:10

      That's right, CUT comes from a stroke in cricket. Correction done.

      Delete
    2. Kishore15 January 2015 at 10:15

      Cricket is my bugbear ...

      Delete
  9. VMA Nair15 January 2015 at 08:57

    Happy Pongal and Sankranti

    ReplyDelete
  10. C.G. BHARGAV15 January 2015 at 09:11

    Happy Pongal to all.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Suresh15 January 2015 at 10:33

    Happy Pongal/Sankranti

    ReplyDelete
  12. Chaturvasi15 January 2015 at 10:46

    Re the clue

    Encouragement to grow — medicine provided (6) FILLIP

    I think manushya, when the Commenter asked about FI, might have also wondered where the reversal indicator was.

    .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh15 January 2015 at 11:20

      Grow could be the indicator.

      Delete
    2. Abhay15 January 2015 at 11:27

      I agree with Suresh. It works only because it is a down clue.

      Delete
    3. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 January 2015 at 11:44

      I agree with both. :)

      Delete
    4. Chaturvasi15 January 2015 at 12:05

      Suresh
      I was wondering how 'grow' could be a rev ind in itself.
      Grow = raise, which of course is a legit rev ind.
      Some stretching is needed there, right?

      Delete
    5. Suresh15 January 2015 at 14:14

      A little stretching, perhaps. I got it straightaway as I saw grow as raise from bottom to the top. Do not know if I have seen this used anywhere else.

      Delete
  13. Abhay15 January 2015 at 11:25

    Enjoyed the puzzle - thank you, Scintillator! Got stuck for a bit in the NE and SW quadrants, but it all worked out eventually except for 23a...

    ...speaking of which, can ARTS be defined as "practical skills"?

    In 24d, if the "rising evenly" suggests (to my mind) taking even letters from the end of the fodder, whereas it is even letters from the beginning that are then turned back; if one starts from the end, the answer actually comes from the odd letters!

    Thanks to Kishore for the blog!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh15 January 2015 at 14:17

      The art of handling people is a practical skill and cannot be taught in a classroom.

      Delete
  14. RameshJ15 January 2015 at 11:26

    Happy Pongal, Sankranti, Lohri, Bihu to all.Any other names for this festival?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 January 2015 at 11:33

    9 A piece of fine stroke in cricket (3,3) OFF CUT (OF F CUT)

    I feel it's a single word - OFFCUT.

    BTW I've heard of Off Drive, Off Break etc in Cricket but not Off Cut. Under Cut, Upper Cut etc OK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 January 2015 at 11:36

      A piece = Offcut.

      Delete
    2. Col_Gopinath15 January 2015 at 11:42

      Yes it has to be a single word Off'cut meaning "a small piece cut off or left over from a larger piece of some material (eg wood) ".

      In cricket we have off-cutter which is a fast bowler's delivery that moves from off to leg after pitching

      Delete
    3. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 January 2015 at 11:51

      Yes, Sir. I agree with you as far as off-cutter/leg-cutter etc is concerned but terming them as off-cut/leg-cut is sounding a bit weird to me.

      Delete
    4. VMA Nair15 January 2015 at 11:54

      MB,

      Here just cut is stroke in cricket

      Delete
    5. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 January 2015 at 12:01

      Ok, Ajeesh, I'll take it as a late-cut! :)

      Delete
  16. Abhay15 January 2015 at 11:36

    Re. Kishore's comment about 17d: APPLEJACK is written as one word, not as a hyphenated word. Similarly, in 9a, OFFCUT (at least in the sense used here - a piece) is normally written as one word, but the annotation reads (3,3).

    [In both cases, I checked in Collins, Chambers, and M-W to be sure I had it right!]

    ReplyDelete
  17. raju umamaheswar15 January 2015 at 11:46

    Season's Greetings to ye- all-- that that person take that that celebrations relevant to him him / her her !

    No print edition tomorrow. Any alternative online facility?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Mukundala Balasubramanyam15 January 2015 at 12:16

    In Hyderabad too no issue of Hindu tomorrow. What's in store for the morrow, Col Sir?

    ReplyDelete
  19. Padmanabhan15 January 2015 at 12:59

    Offcut is not a cricket stroke, but only cut. of(f) & F are part of the clue.Parsing is OF F CUT, which is a part(def) This is given by Kishore.
    Happy Pongal/ Sankaramthi to all.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Padmanabhan15 January 2015 at 13:01

    No print edotion in Chennai too. I am sure Col. has a CW in stock unless TH comes up with one in on line edition.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Col_Gopinath15 January 2015 at 14:25

    There will be a special only if there is no CW in the epaper/online edition in which case I will post the special at 8 AM

    ReplyDelete
  22. Scintillator15 January 2015 at 15:38

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Scintillator15 January 2015 at 15:43

    Happy Pongal to all... The theme is of words used by a famous site on the Internet, which have become common usage.

    Apologies for the enu problems with OFFCUT and APPLEJACK. Seafaring='of sailors' in SAFARI clue. Re 24D, evenly=regularly, so can't find any issue with that.

    ReplyDelete

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