Friday 28 August 2015

No 11485, Friday 28 Aug 2015, Gridman




ACROSS
1  Cuddle up as old canoe jolts (8) CANOODLE*
5  Exile to leave with order for answer (6) DEPORT DEP(-a+o)ORT
9  Daredevil clerks seem half-confused (8) RECKLESS {CLERKS+SEem}*
10 Intricate speed measure to try right away (6) KNOTTY {KNOT}{TrY}
12 Accumulation the Italian found in street (4) SILT {S{IL}T}
13 Abecedarians titled one ant crawling (10) DILETTANTI {TITLED+1+ANT}*
15 Strange withdrawal of quote including domestic animal (6) EXOTIC {E{XO}TIC}<=
17 Once and once again (5) TWICE [CD]
20 Head of school was in tears, having been forced into situation (5) SWEPT {Sc...l}{WEPT}
21 Virtue of Indian pilgrim centre going by the limitations of today (6) PURITY {PURI}{TodaY}
24 Stifling in the car (10) THROTTLING [C&DD] 
27 Be shipshape and get the boat ready to sail (4) TRIM [DD]
29 Almost loftier in training hand doll (6) PUPPET {P{UPPEr}T}
30 Revolutionaries departed before first Sunday (8) LEFTISTS {LEFT}{1ST}{Su...y}
31 Mentions America, in short (6) STATES [DD]
32 Comes to know converts (8) REALISES [DD]

DOWN
1  A gentle stroking of son beset by worries (6) CARESS {CARE{S}S}
2  From Venice, lyre exported in a pleasing manner (6) NICELY [T]
3  One learner is overwhelmed by large paintings  (4) OILS {O{1}{L}S}
4  Girl with Indian drink (5) LASSI {LASS}{I}
6  Man stern in arrangement (5) ERNST*
7  Coming into play by one's own choice (6,2) OPTING IN [CD]
8  Such a one for mini play? (3-5) TOY-RIDER ? Solution and anno left for any solver (Addendum - TOY-SIZED [CD] - See comments)
11 One using foil might be one building a barrier (6) FENCER [DD]
14 Go - you shouldn’t come through it (4) EXIT [C&DD]
16 Tip over best place at the end of line (6) TOPPLE {TOP}{PL}{linE}
17 Adds up little ones (4) TOTS [DD]
18 Poet is so worried these may be radioactive (8) ISOTOPES*
19 Church given half of crop for work with first-class returns from tree (8) CECROPIA {CE}{CRop}{OP}{1A<=}
22 After credit, one's doubly in a big problem (6) CRISIS {CR}{1'S}{1'S}
23 Cheers up morning exercises (6) AMUSES {AM}{USES}
25 Article's on that point (5) THERE {THE}{RE}
26 Consuming drug in French city is a family member (5) NIECE {NI{E}CE}
28 And others recalled after the deadline (2,2) ET AL <=

50 comments:

  1. 8 Such a one for mini play? (3-5) TOY-SIZED?

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  2. Absolutely! Sorry for the rather vague clue.

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  3. I am sure today there will be some discussion on 'cecropia'.
    Compulsions of gridfilling sometimes throw up such words.
    Of course,a setter can fill a whole grid with just familiar words but if he does it regularly over a period there will be repetitions.
    If he eschews basic English and uses a larger dictionary, rare words are bound to crop up on occasions.
    Generally a setter would avoid these botanical/medical/etc words but he cannot always do so.
    Re SPHACELATE of yesterday.
    I think the clue must have had "in a shambles". Is "in shambles" idiomatic?
    If Dr Jaggu had not heard of that, we non-medical, non-forensic folks are unlikely to have done so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had no problem in getting CECROPIA because the clue led to it easily. :)

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    2. Re. CECROPIA - while it is an unfamiliar term, the wordplay left no doubt about the solution, so there's no room for complaint (IMO of course!). The deletion and re-addition of OP was a nice touch!

      Re. shambles - while standard usage is "in a shambles," one increasingly sees "in shambles" being used - I guess the idiom has changed with time!

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    3. While on the topic of unfamiliar words: there is also the phenomenon of unfamiliar words cropping up as definitions - e.g., abecedarians in 13a today. I did know the word but only in the sense of the adjective (alphabetically arranged); the noun form meaning beginner was new to me and required a dictionary check.

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    4. Clarification: this is not a complaint, just an observation.

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    5. Yesterday while revising the crossword I was unhappy with the device of removing OP from CROP and then adding OP but I just couldn't think of an alternative. Also the combination of 'crop', 'return' and 'tree' was too tempting for me to abandon it and try a new tack.

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    6. I think it works very well. It made me pause to check if the dropping of "op" from "crop" was right or not - it makes for a nice distraction!

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    7. To be honest I too didn't like that. I had put in a comment under Abhay's comment but deleted it later. Removing OP 'For" OP seemed strange.

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    8. Many setters seem to be good at Botany, a subject I was very poor at and have little interest in. So the answers are inferred and confirmed from the internet and promptly forgotten.

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    9. ...at the drop of a hat...I believe ;-)

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  4. Happy Onam!

    Are those lassi glasses the ones served in Punjab, judging by the size and the material used,i.e.stainless steel?

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  5. I don't own a smartphone. A comment of mine posted from my desktop got repeated - I deleted it using my admin privileges. Maybe if we press the enter/go button a little hard, the repetition occurs?

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  6. A smooth ride that got derailed at 8d - like Col, I too put down TOY-RIDER. Hats off to Sandhya for guessing the right answer!

    I was a bit surprised by the uneven surface reading of 26d - and realised how much one takes a certain smoothness for granted in Gridman puzzles!

    Thanks to Gridman for a fun crossword, and to Col for the blog.

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  7. "uneven surface reading of 26d"?
    NIECE is an over-used word in crossword grids.
    Having clued it in many ways, I wanted to use the WP, E in NICE.
    In so doing, the present prose order resulted.
    Can anyone use the same word breakup and write a clue with "an even" surface?

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    Replies
    1. Relative finds/ gets drug in French city

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    2. Why not

      Family member found consuming a drug in a French city (5)

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    3. "Family member in French city consuming drug"?

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    4. Will this work

      Relative ecstasy in French city (5)

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  8. Happy Onam to all.
    Alternate spelling of 'dilittante' confused 8D further.
    My take on unknown words is that the wordplay should easily lead to it and it did in this case. So no grouses.
    Settled for lassi in stead of samosa.
    CW enthusiasists also have a keen eye to go to Punjab for the lassi !

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    Replies
    1. never been there but had heard about the tall glasses

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    2. ...and SS tumblers is an indication too.

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    3. They use "pithalai" (brass) too.

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    4. Re DILETTANTI: it is not an alternative spelling of "dilettante", it is the plural form.

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    5. Oh! Thank you for the correction Abhay.

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  9. Top of excellence in excellent leads to a relative.

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  10. I think I didn't try too hard!
    But imagine an elderly relative going to a joint and there among a bunch of young boys and girls finds his niece taking part in a rave party. He might have made this statement. Like Hanuman's "கண்டேன் சீதையை" (Found Sita).

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  11. Lovely xword..had put in toy piano for 8 D & got stuck again & again...got cecropia easily..the wp unerringly led to it..didnt find the surface of niece harsh at all...

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  12. Missed samosas by a whisker! 8Dn had me tied up in all kinds of knots. Could get only TOY and nothing after that. All said and done it was an enjoyable solve. Thanks Gridman for the entertainer.

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  13. Thank you gridman sir for a learning xword... cecropia not an issue just checked if it existed... had it down as dilittante so never got toy sized .. :) but great going..

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  14. Punjab di lassi served after chole kulche..staple diet when I was in Jammu staying in a predominantly Punjabi colony, Nanak Nagar..the poetry of Shiv Kumar Batalvi playing in the back ground..menu tera shabab le beta..rang gora gulab le beta..kinni pe thi te kinni baki ye..menu ye ho hissab le betha

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  15. @CV sir, just now saw your yesterday's comment :)

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    Replies
    1. Good. Was just trying to tease you!

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    2. Lol was busy with pooja preparations :) It seems CGB sir posted a sentence on my behalf ;)
      Anyway I Am not able to come up with a sentence even now :(

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    3. Don't worry! Best wishes to you all ladies on VaraLaksmi puja day!

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  16. A very Happy ONAM to ye-all and a sumptuous sadhya to follow !!
    Here in CBE they are supplying ready to eat full-bloated sadhya from the restaurants for a price as home delivery. The display seems to be what appears here in the blog but I wonder how that could be packed and delivered In that open plan condition? Again, nothing like slurping at the elbow all those pradhamans preceded by olan and kalan and all the rest ! A great soporific fare !! However, I've never tasted one in such a spread on a plantain leaf and survived !!

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  17. Today's Gridman was a good fare for ONAM- I imagined that he'd cme out with a themed one ? Where's Ajeesh ? Busy Kollam eating onam sadhya?

    The compilers can try to include one unusual and rarely used word each day, now that a trend has been set ??

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  18. A late wish - A happy Onam to all.

    A restaurant in Mangaluru with a cute name SimBly South, for the tenth year, served Onam Sadhya as a special fare today.

    My wife and her bitter half, yours truly, joined in out of sheer curiosity. Believe me, until date, we had never tasted Sadhya.

    Finishing the wholesome Sadhya fare was a bit of asdhyam mission. We had a real good fill.

    I have sent pictures of the entrance to the venue to DG, who might publish it somewhere if possible. If he deems it fit, that is.

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    Replies
    1. read the word in italics as asadhyam

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    2. 'Simbly south' is simbly good. You have beaten me to have tasted 'sadhya'.

      I had a Bengali friend and inevitably once the conversation turned to their'O' for all A's.and I desperately asked him what is the first letter of the alphabet and he promptly said O and I gave up!

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  19. That word where the second a is elongated is in Tamil too, meaning extraordinary, wonderful.
    Sometimes speaking in Tamil to Tamilians I use the word 'sadhya', where the second a is short, to find them ask 'what's that?'
    It is a Kannada term meaning 'for the nonce', 'for the time being'. Am I right, Richard?
    Born and brought up in Tamil Nadu, I mix a lot of Tamil in my Kannada.
    This is a rare instance where I mix Kannada in Tamil.
    Padmanabhan, for 'for the time being' what word would you use instead of the literary 'tharpodhaikku'?

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  20. sadya for the time being is used quite freely by us here or may be a slight variant of that- ippo sadhiki. Again it may not be pure Tamil ( or restricted to a particular sect) 'sadhya' has a typical usage in Kannada and I have heard it quite frequently while at Bangalore.

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