Water, water everywhere.
ACROSS
7 Wasp-like insect to pass over in the air behind Henry (8) HOVERFLY {H}{OVERFLY}
10 Cooked your lemons exceptionally (10) ENORMOUSLY*
11 Speaker's recorded a learning technique (4) ROTE (~wrote)
12 The rivet in the office has been cut short (4) STUD STUD
13 Son interfering in dismantling harness shows audacity (8) RASHNESS {RA{S}HNESS*}
16 Take off as Sid comes over with a bore in disguise (7) DISROBE {DIS<=}{BORE*}
18 Ministers' cupboard (7) CABINET [DD]
20 The French rap about the Yankee quarter brings shock (8) PARALYSE {PAR}{AL}<={Y}{SE}
21 Frank gets the minor office-worker's ring to the front (4) OPEN (+o)OPE(-o)N
23 Part of the restaurant ambience (4) AURA [T]
24 Roger obeys awkwardly to get a fruit (10) GOOSEBERRY* Too sour for me, never liked them.
26 Without hesitation, worship the arrangement of veins in a leaf (8) VENATION VEN
DOWN
1 Bite that can be quoted? (5) SOUND [CD]
2 Single gangster with a weapon hides in the district with the volunteers (11,4) TERRITORIAL ARMY {TERRITOR{1}{AL} {ARM}Y}
3 Rose up to interrupt view of a blot on the landscape (7) EYESORE {EY{ESOR<=}E}
4 Letters from Randall yielded to a supporter (4) ALLY [T]
5 Acts of increasing scope making sad man resent gig at sea (15) AGGRANDISEMENTS*
6 Operettas composed by a writer of inferior rhymes (9) POETASTER* Thanks to Google
8 Jack enters shallow river area for crossing to the inlet formed by glacial erosion (5) FJORD {F{J}ORD}
14 Main picture for the audience (3) SEA (~see)
15 Pompous Inuit, half drunk (9) HIFALUTIN*
17 Infant with the bishop goes missing in a body of water (3) BAY BA
19 Decide to get the upset loser to the outskirts of Vellore (7) RESOLVE {LOSER*}{V
21 A drop in it might be insignificant (5) OCEAN [CD]
22 Squadron march (5) TROOP [DD]
24 Split in game ball replaced by the union leader (4) GULF G(-o+u)ULF
GRID
Seems to be a samosa day! But nobody turned up so far.
ReplyDeleteNot for me! Missed out on 7Ac & 1Dn. :-( Nice puzzle though.
ReplyDeleteAnd I missed 15 Dn.
DeleteI too would have missed it but for NET help! Also 6Dn & 5Dn.
DeleteAn easier Neyartha or should I say, within reach.
ReplyDeleteI was able to get 'Poetaster' since it was an anagram and I knew the word. But forgot the meaning and had to check. I still have a doubt about the pronunciation- Is it 'Poet aster' or "poe taster'? Not clear from notations.
Your first one is correct as per America, the British one is totally different. Check it at the following link POETASTER
DeleteThank you Col.
DeleteA note on the rules/format of the IIT Chennai Crossword Open. The format tried to eliminate 'the element of luck' as much as possible. Documenting this so that it can be of use to any who wishes to conduct CW events in the future. Please feel free to add anything that I may have missed out or got got wrong
ReplyDeletePrelims : Pen & Paper round. Jumbo 21 squared grid with 50 clues.
Qualification required the team to complete 48 clues within 1 hr.
Top 8 teams qualified.
If no team got 48, then team with the highest number of answers qualified, with tie being broken by sudden death starting from 1across & iterating through the across clues before going to the down clues.
You could ask for verification, where one of the volunteers looked at the clues that you have aleardy solved & pointed out the ones that you got wrong
Finals :
Teams got to chose their positions, with the first qualifying team getting the first choice at the positions & so on.
First round: Mini grid
Each team was given the empty mini grid
Each team starting from Team1 could ask for one of the "Across clues" to be opened.
Once the clue was read out, All teams were given 15 seconds to pounce.
Multiple teams could pounce on the same question & were allowed to write down their answer.
+10 for right answer & -10 for wrong answer on pounce.
After the pounce answers were evaluated, the team that originally open the clue were asked for the solution,
+10 if they got it right, no negative if they did not answer/got it wrong
Once all eight teams had one shot at opening the across clues,
All the other across clues & down clues were opened up for solving on the grid.
10 Secs were given for each clue & it was cycled twice ( i.e each clue was displayed twice) +5 for getting it right, No negative.
If you had already got points for the clue ( either direct or pounce) or the answer had been announced , no further points were given.
Second Round : Cold solving, Words derived from place names ( Ex Bedlam which is derived from Bethlehem).
Same scoring(+10/-10) & pouncing rules as for the "Across clues" in Mini grid round. No negative if is a direct to your tam.
If no pounce & team whose direct it is did not answer it passed to the audience
Third Round : Cold solving, Reverse round ( Clues from Team8 to Team1 ).
Based on words of Persian origin.
Same scoring & pounce rules as Round 2
Thanks Ramesh for giving the details which I was about to ask in the blog. How many teams participated in the first round? Was it more than 8? I could not make it to the competition as I had to go to Mumbai on official duty.
DeleteAbout 20 teams I think. The organizers would have the exact number
DeleteNirmal told that 24 teams participated .
DeleteTraditionally, in addition to the usual abovementioned format, the pounce rounds have a bounce element, by which the clue, if unsolved by the team that opened it, goes around, with half the points for correct answer. This aspect was probably eliminated to avoid the luck factor, but that is usually taken care of by reversing directions. Though it might favour a strong team, I felt most teams were equal and it would've made it a little more exciting. But even otherwise the rounds were very well balanced.
DeleteTraditionally, in addition to the usual abovementioned format, the pounce rounds have a bounce element, by which the clue, if unsolved by the team that opened it, goes around, with half the points for correct answer. This aspect was probably eliminated to avoid the luck factor, but that is usually taken care of by reversing directions. Though it might favour a strong team, I felt most teams were equal and it would've made it a little more exciting. But even otherwise the rounds were very well balanced.
Delete1Dm got me today. Never heard of the term 'sound bite' before
ReplyDeleteIs it an alt. spelling of 'Byte'?
ReplyDeleteNo. Look it up on Wiki
DeleteJust added the link in the main post
Delete1Dn : Bite that can be quoted? (5) SOUND [CD]
ReplyDeleteWas about to raise a doubt reg SOUND being shown as a themed word for water. A little bit of googling helped me know/learn that it also means 'A long, wide ocean inlet'.
But the SOUND given as answer for the above clue, when taken as Sound Bite means - A short, catchy statement resembling those quoted or replayed by reporters.
Source : Free Dic.
Thank you all. That fully clears it. I had missed it.
ReplyDeleteCV Sir's post yesterday @ 7:23 pm in response to my dilemma over usage of BAR = EXCEPT in clue 21D, had mentioned an idiom - "Everything is over bar the shouting". Thanks Sir,now I know what it means.
ReplyDeleteSome googling (Wordreference.com) reveals, unlike Britishers, the Americans say : It's all over "except" the shouting.
Americans simplify things, for people like me. ;-)
But CW's want to complicate, but not simplify things. Anyway, that is one way for us to learn newer usages. More sound bites!
ReplyDeleteRead yesterday's comment and it reminded me of this joke-
ReplyDeleteA school teacher was explaining a difficult point and thought that the students were not up to it. So he asked them in Tamil-"Ellam mandaiyile eeritha?" (Did you understand what all I said?)
One student who was keenly observing a rat trying to get into a hole in the ceiling replied-"Innum vaal mattum bakki"! (only the tail is left out. All over bar the tail.
Note- It was a very common sight in elementary schools those days in the dilapidated buildings.
Ah! Nice joke and nice usage of 'bar' in a sentence!
DeleteMB,
ReplyDeleteAbout sound being an ocean inlet,
I think you as well as many others might have heard about "Puget Sound' in Washington state of U.S. Here is the link-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puget_Sound
Just remembered it.
Gone through the link. Tks. )
DeleteWhere ever I go there is a crossword man :-) Met Renga sir in bus and visited his house :-D
ReplyDeleteA pleasant xword ... didnt get 1D tho..had sound down as wound tho i knew it didnt fit :)
ReplyDeleteI parsed 1D and 21D as easy type [E]..
ReplyDeleteDoes not seem to be anything cryptic about the two