Saturday 23 July 2016

No 11759, Saturday 23 Jul 2016, Gridman

ACROSS

1 Adorns with ornaments Israelite getting into ponds in Bangladesh (8)  BEJEWELS {BE{JEW}ELS}
5 American cat from old church property (6) OCELOT {O}{CE}{LOT}
9 Wager Ma can knit what one would like to wear in winter (4,4) WARM GEAR {WAGER+MA+R}* R from?
10 Without warning, nudes burst out. Around 500! (6) SUDDEN {NUDES*} around D
11 Old boy's old English instrument (4) OBOE {OB}{O}{E}
12 When something is fixed firmly, it stands there thus (10)  UNSHAKABLY (CD)
15 Problem? Mother's on call (6) SUMMON {SUM}{M}{ON}
17 Distant church's mockery (5) FARCE {FAR}{CE}
19 Skim happily around new capital (5) MINSK {SKIM}* around N
20 Take apart intros of unimpressive witticism (6) UNYOKE {UNimpressive}{YOKE}
23 Persons of mixed racial descent bared flesh awkwardly (4-6) HALF BREEDS {BARED+FLESH}*
26 Whiz by menagerie near Maharashtra's capital (4) ZOOM {ZOO}{Maharashtra}
27 Bird let fall a bit (6) TITTLE {TIT}{LET}*
28 Let it dawn: holiday comes after 24 hours (8) DAYBREAK {DAY}{BREAK}
30 Displays tapestry featuring head of Yudhishthira (6) ARRAYS {ARRA{Yudishthira}S}
31 Setter's beginning to finish next set's sentence (4,4) SEND DOWN {Setter}{END} {DOWN}

DOWN
1 Fellow of old finds support gathering around injured cow (7) BAWCOCK {COW*} in {BACK}
2 Jack's far gone, without limits, in the “in” talk (6) JARGON {J}{fAR GONe}
3 Leaders of world athletic group move back and forth (3) WAG Acrostic
4 King's new master (5) LEARN {LEAR}{N}
6 Throw out friend dismissing male cook (5) CHUCK {CHUm}{CK}
7 Badly travelling on one road is an insect (8) LADYBIRD {BADLY}*{I}{RD}
8 Can identify and slot old photograph (7) TINTYPE {TIN}{TYPE}
13 Hold over rising desire, sweetheart! (5) HONEY {H}{O}{NEY<=}
14 Dip the French nobleman's keen starter (4) DUCK {DUC}{Keen}
16 Doctor to take advantage of cursor controller (5) MOUSE {MO}{USE}
17 Bogus fact kept outside court exercises (4) FAKE {FAct}{KEpt}
18 Where city dweller may live, cherub heartily is one who gives the boost (8) INFLATER {IN}{FLAT}{chERub}
19 Big, soulful title lets a couple of mothers take cover (7) MAHATMA {MA}{HAT}{MA}
21 Little creature is the French doctor's relative (7) LAMBKIN {LA}{MB}{KIN}
22 Give up on behalf of self? (6) FOREGO {FOR}{EGO}
24 Browbeat youth going after animal (5) BULLY {BULL}{Y}
25 Padre drops cover (5) DRAPE{PADRE*}
29 Blossom-to-be boy extremely unsound (3) BUD {B}{UnsounD}

Old=O, Church=CE, 500=D, Old boy=OB, English=E, Mother=M, New=N
Jack=J, Male=M, Cook=Ck, One=I, Road=Rd, Hold=H, Over=O, Doctor=MO, Court=Ct, Exercises=PT, Mother=Ma, Youth=Y, Boy-B

Color/Font Scheme

DefinitionSolutionComponent lettersEmbedded links, Anagram IndicatorC/C indicatorReversal IndicatorHidden word IndicatorLetter Pick indicatorDeletion IndicatorHomophone IndicatorMovement IndicatorPositional IndicatorSubstitution, IndicatorLink/Connector, Extraneous

16 comments:

  1. The 10 letter grid was a bit different from the usual grid..had to rework the grid..had an enjoyable solve..

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  2. 9AC noticed the missing R.
    8DN took time to solve

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    Replies
    1. Apols. I had checked this crossword repeatedly. That very exercise by the same mind is the reason for the anag slip to get through. Am squirming.
      Vasant, yes, grid 1 was modified slightly.
      There is a ghost theme in this puzzle.
      See if some words belong to one category, though the the definitions given to all those clues may not be helpful in identifying the theme readily.
      A little knowledge of Shakespeare may be needed.
      Originally I had starred these clues and omitted the defs. But as the interactive version does not allow the special note, I rewrote the clues and introduced individual defs before submission.

      Delete
    2. Another victim of the interactive starred puzzle. Theme ...
      Gridman is a lambkin ...like ...
      Bud, mouse, bawcock, chuck, honey, duck, ladybird, bully, wag, ...

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    3. A baa lamb, in fact, ... Though old Billy wouldn't have minded being called any of these terms on endearment... Bully for him

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    4. Thanks Kishore.
      Those interested may check the following:
      http://www.dictionary.com/slideshows/shakespearean-pet-names#lambkin
      I remembered many if not all of these from my study of S in college.

      Delete
    5. Thanks Col. for marking the theme words. I did not spot the theme at all, though I figured that lambkin & honey were related. The other were new to me

      Delete
  3. Found this one tougher than yesterday's offering, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

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  4. FAirly straight forward one today .. Bawcock new term .. Not sure about chuck clue .. Ck for cook ??. In send down does next set refer to across vs down clues? Also fake clue removal of ce and pt a bit contrived it seems

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  5. WAGs (or Wags) is an acronym used to refer to Wives And Girlfriends of high-profile professional athletes. Its singular form, "WAG" refers to a specific female partner / life partner.

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  6. Really very sad to find Forum Hub url blocked by BSNL. Very strange! What could be matter? Once upon a time Hub was buzzing with activity in all sections-literary, cinema, political, and all miscellaneous sections. And there were fierce fights in the cinema section among fans of different matinee idols and occassionally one or two miscreants in politics topics. The admins were quick to block the members and they reentered under different names!!! But lately I dont follow as many sections there as I used to years ago. So I am clueless about this BSNL intervention. (:

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    Replies
    1. PP Madam, I have seen the blocking message yesterday morning itself. I was confused initially and thought that I pressed some unwanted links there and tried again and was successful. The reasons really are unknown. I am using Beam Telecom.

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    2. I am also able to open the URL if I log in through a different network other than BSNL.

      Delete
  7. Nice theme...couldnt spot at all

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  8. Very straight forward this time. These are getting easier day by day.

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