Thursday, 12 March 2015

No 11340, Thursday 12 Mar 2015, Anitya


Crisp, short and sweet, as is usual from Anitya.

ACROSS
7   Race track requires fast manner (8) SPEEDWAY {SPEED}{WAY}
9   A French lady's 'no' is rough (6) UNEVEN {UN}{EVE}{N}
10 Record old corporate symbol (4) LOGO {LOG}{O}
11 Infuriate former wife with a small repeat turn-out (10) EXASPARATE EXASPERATE {EX}{A}{S}{REPEAT*}
12 Old boy to pine for shape (6) OBLONG {OB}{LONG}
14 Lyre Brit played in a dreadful style (8) TERRIBLY*
15 Cared about a covered passage (6) ARCADE {ARC{A}DE*}
16 Fish is surrounded by fish liberally (6) FREELY {FR{EEL}Y}
19 The fellow stretched out as clergyman (8) CHAPLAIN {CHAP}{LAIN}
21 Lifts get trendy — that's the result (6) UPSHOT {UPS}{HOT}
23 Be sociable, organise free trains (10) FRATERNISE*
24 Sounds like a drink for the dead (4) BIER (~beer)
25 Shivering Goan artist's wool (6) ANGORA {GOAN*}{RA}
26 A lot in an array for the countryman (8) NATIONAL*

DOWN
1   Father returns to see doctor in calm self-assurance (6) APLOMB {AP<=}{LO}{MB}
2   Hope someone will ferret out Mexican coin (4) PESO [T]
3   Such a sword will cut both ways (3-5) TWO-EDGED [CD]
4   Knitwear for bounder (6) JUMPER [DD]
5   Hardy character outside home? Listen first in sincerity (10) HEARTINESS {HEAR}{T{IN}ESS}
6   People agree in an intellectual way (8) MENTALLY {MEN}{TALLY}
8   The old stay out for causing fermentation (6) YEASTY {YE}{STAY*}
13 Business takeover (10) OCCUPATION [DD]
15 Disciple to stick with New Testament (8) ADHERENT {ADHERE}{NT}
17 Rake gets permission to time casino game (8) ROULETTE {ROU{LET}{T}E}
18 Flag officer (6) ENSIGN [DD]
20 A woman in a foreign country (6) ABROAD {A}{BROAD}
22 The sort of traffic that is uni-directional (3-3) ONE-WAY [CD]
24 Reserve something to read (4) BOOK [DD]

GRID

23 comments:

  1. Nice puzzle. Samosas served liberally today as well ! Thank you Anitya. Enjoyed solving it

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  2. What are the terms we use for any puzzle that is tough and any that is too tough?
    If there are none, let's coin. Chip in with your bits.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But, going by its medicinal properties, it must be for a crossword in which the answers come too fast, too furious, unstoppable, all in a heap.

      Delete
    2. Yes, CW answers will come fast and furious only if you take it and if you don't they will take ages and that too after a lot of stress and strain

      Delete
  3. Right now I'm eating crisp dosas, with my thinking cap on

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  4. Aplomb, Crosswords and P.G.W.
    Bertie Wooster was in the study when his butler,Jeeves, coughed discreetly. "May I ask you a question Sir ?"
    "By all means, Jeeves," said Bertie.
    "I am doing the crossword in The Times and I have found a word with which I am unfamiliar."
    "What word is that?" said his lordship.
    "Aplomb, Sir. "
    "Now that's a difficult one to explain I would say it is self-assurance or complete composure."
    "Thank you, Sir, but I'm still a little confused."
    "Let me give you an example to make it clearer. Do you remember a few months ago the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived to spend a weekend with us at Aunt Agatha's place?"
    "I remember the occasion very well, Sir. It gave the staff and myself much pleasure to look after them."
    "Also", continued Bertie Wooster, "do you remember when the Duke plucked a bloom for the Duchess in the rose garden?"
    "I was present on that occasion, Sir, ministering to their needs."
    "While plucking the rose, a thorn embedded itself in his thumb very deeply."
    Jeeves replied, "I witnessed the incident and saw the Duchess herself remove the thorn and wrap a bandage on his thumb using her own dainty handkerchief, after sucking the thumb gently to stop the bleeding. Yes Sir, I did see everything that transpired that evening."
    Bertie Wooster: "Jeeves, the next morning while you were pouring tea for Her Ladyship, the Duchess asked the Duke in a loud voice, 'Darling is your prick still throbbing?'
    "And you, Jeeves, did not spill one drop of tea! Now that is aplomb!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Does not seem to be from the master. Some one doing a bad job of ghostwriting for PGW ?

      Delete
    2. I laughed out loud.
      CGB, if you typed this out/copy-pasted this from a book, it will be useful if you mention the title and also the author's name.
      Any passage that is cited must have attribution.
      If this is a figment from your viagara-assisted fertile imagination, own it up!

      Delete
  5. Saw this some days back in Fans of P G Wodehouse (FB group). Until someone mentions the book, I am afraid we may have to go with RameshJ's thought. Just thought of putting it up here since it is about the word, crosswords and ofcourse the PGW sttyle...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a fake, CGB. I too saw it there. For a real story involving crosswords, pl read The Truth about George, the first story in this book:
      https://archive.org/details/meetmrmulliner00wodeuoft

      Delete
  6. I too laughed out loud- but I am not sure which produced a louder laughter, the (mis)quote or Cv's nicely worded comment.
    This takes us way off track from a nice CW.

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  7. A doubt about 2oD-
    The use of 'Woman' to mean 'Broad'. To my knowledge Broad has a negative connotation and am not too happy about using it this way. I may be pardoned if I am wrong, but would like clarification.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agree with Paddy.. It is a demeaning term. It might mean a woman, I am not sure.. But when there is a widely-known negative connotation as well, such synonymic reference could be avoided.

      Delete
    2. Agree. 'Broad' in that sense shouldn't find a place in a published crossword, imo.

      Delete
  8. 11A could be a typo. I guess it should be EXASPERATE.

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  9. DEEPAK & ISABGOL : Brings back fond memories of Sapna's father who used to partake of this stuff whenever needed ! Incidentally , does Isabgol help in easing up our SILOBAG ? Or is it aisa hi, BLOG ais to get rid of mental gas for crossword addicts ?

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  10. CV: We already have a phrase for toughies ! Bheja Fry ! easiest: Samosa ? Somewhay tough? Bhoorji !!

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  11. Broad used in the context of a woman is indeed derogatory and as the Americans say Inappropriate? -- Isn't it a slang term used by James Hadley Chase and Peter Cheyney? Essentially an American expression ?

    ReplyDelete

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