Monday, 17 July 2017

No 12061, Monday 17 Jul 2017, Afterdark


ACROSS
1   In leader's absence, ready to take offence (6) RESENT pRESENT
4   Adamant leader hiding in disguise (6) MANTLE [T]
9   Lies spread by man, perhaps (4) ISLE*
10 Reinforce road on New Guinea soon (10) STRENGTHEN {ST}{RE}{NG}{THEN}
11 Stick to company at this place (6) COHERE {CO}{HERE}
12 Day crowd at a club is impressive (8) DRAMATIC {D}{RAM}{AT}{1}{C}
13 Swans tend to swim to booth (9) NEWSSTAND*
15 Macho guys become leaders without advantage (2-3) HE-MEN HEadMEN
16 Producer is from Udma, Kerala (5) MAKER [T]
18 At the beginning, in zest I get worked up to have spirit (9) ZEITGEIST {In+ZEST+I+GET}* 'At the' is superfluous
22 During exercise, have sliced carrot to keep going (8) PROTRACT {CARROT}* in {PT}
23 Out of nothing, playboy manufactured an incidental activity (6) BYPLAY PLAYBoY*
25 Expect the French at the deckhouse, say (10) FORECASTLE {FORECAST}{LE} Why say?
26 Letters from Arul edited as a practice (4) RULE [T]
27 Lawrence gets drunk before rave begins, in confusion (6) LITTER {LIT}{TE}{Rave}
28 Treasurer seen in vehicle, right inside with a Republican (6) BURSAR {BU{R}S}{A}{R} We used to have a 'Bursar' in our school

DOWN
1   Replace trees or perish (7) RESTORE*
2   Situation is said to be watched (5) SCENE (~seen)
3   Developing a new heady perfume (7) NASCENT {A}<=>{N}{SCENT}
5   Yearly, it's heard that you go out to gather energy and strengthen (6) ANNEAL ANN(-u+e)EAL
6   Three railway officials having drink, after removing their caps, in privacy (4-1-4) TETE-A-TETE {TEA} in {tTE}(TEA}{tTE}{tTE}
7   Before joining university engineer was a recluse (7) EREMITE {ERE}{MIT}{E}
8   Agitated teens pointlessly misbehaved across road at a commercial complex (7,6) TRADING ESTATE {AGITATED+TEeNS}* over {R}
14 Second, minute; time one spent to take a sip of tea and cake, perhaps (9) SWEETMEAT {S}{WEE}{TiME}{A}{Tea}
17 Car oil applied in order to reduce heat (3-4) AIR-COOL {O} in {CAR+OIL}*
19 Record; Australia is two down (7) TABLEAU {TABLE}{AU}
20 Instrument is a small drum, used often in allegro (7) STAPLER {S}{TAP}{aLlEgRo}
21 Kelvin had one rupee before, now empty hand in Tokyo (6) KARATE {K}{A}{R}{ATE}
24 Stops at the grounds (5) PARKS [DD]

GRID

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41 comments:

  1. Chaturvasi17 July 2017 at 08:35

    The word 'bursar' I came to know when I joined MCC as a student and had to pay fees.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant17 July 2017 at 09:05

      I have met this guy only in crossword land.

      Delete
  2. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 08:47

    19D- What is 'is two down'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath17 July 2017 at 08:50

      2D is SCENE :-)

      Delete
    2. Vasant17 July 2017 at 09:07

      I thought this was nicely done with the surface hinting at Aus cricket team loosing two early wickets

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 09:13

      Whether Oz lost 2 wkts or not, I was bowled! Good one.

      Delete
  3. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 08:48

    In our school, he used to be called a 'writer'. I heard Bursar in connection with a medical college.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Deepak Gopinath17 July 2017 at 08:54

    Some trivia about my blog

    First CW blogged by me on 04 Feb 2009
    First commenters Bhargav and Chaturvasi on 07 Feb 09

    Sankalak used to provide 6 CWs He Expired 14 Feb 14 and his final CW appeared on 04 Aug 14
    Nita Jaggi used to provide 10 CWs Her final CW appeared on 30 Aug 11
    Gridman used to provide 6 CWs still going strong with 4 CWs
    M Manna used to provide 7 CWs his last CW appeared on 01 Feb 12
    Neyartha 2 CWs still going strong though down to 1 now
    Arden started with 2 CWs later went up to 4 His first appeared CW 07 Jul 11. Still going strong with 4 CWs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant17 July 2017 at 09:02

      Pretty reading this.
      Blog still going strong with millions of followers..special flavour of the blog comes from discussion of particular clues, fun, learning and cameraderie amongst all
      Perhaps this blog has nurtured so many budding setters who are now published setters.

      Delete
    2. Chaturvasi17 July 2017 at 09:11

      I was contributing six crosswords a month when setters were fewer and each of them was submitting multiple puzzles. Later, as more and more setters joined the panel (for which I think I have played no mean part), I voluntarily reduced my quota - the paper didn't ask me to do so.

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 09:17

      It's OUR blog and I am proud to be part of it, to say the least.

      Delete
    4. Mukundala Balasubramanyam17 July 2017 at 09:27

      ...And am happy to be a foot soldier in Colonel Sir's blog! 😊

      Delete
    5. Satyen Nabar17 July 2017 at 10:08

      Really nice to read the trivia about the blog. Thanks for posting Col!

      While it may sound maudlin, I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that Col. Sir's blog, Chaturvasi Sir and interaction with so many brilliant solvers have been defining moments in my crossword life. Moments of pure pleasure! The opportunity that the blog provides to budding setters to showcase their talent is immeasurable! For those of us whose passion is all things cryptic, this place is unquestionably Heaven! :)

      Delete
    6. Deepak Gopinath17 July 2017 at 10:39

      Thanks Doc

      Delete
    7. raju umamaheswar17 July 2017 at 11:11

      Trivia? Ah, no, these are nuggets to preserve-- no GST. For most of us, THCC is a habit , nay addiction. Aren't we unique? I don't think any other crossword blog is as interesting, apart from Crossword Unclued. Highly recommended for Schools all over to introduce a small segment of their leisure time to visit here so that we get more solvers.Watched a few of the shows on Doordarshan and was very impressed with the kids vying with each other to answer the quiz master. Crosswords have indeed been brought out of the private and privileged pantry , which was always my dream. Wherever I have spoken, I have always advocated and propagated the art & science of solving cryptic crosswords.

      Col: May our blog grow by blocks and blanks beyond the 15 by 15 squares. May we be the zeitgeist of all seasons. Congratulations to all of us who were and are here !

      Delete
  5. Chaturvasi17 July 2017 at 09:06

    While I respect the clue-writer's trick in 19d and say the surface is quite apt for the required word, I must also point out that I think the convention is that any numeral that is part of WP must be spelt out (i.e, in words), any throwback to another clue must always be in figures. In other words, solvers will not immediately see 'two down' as a throwback to the answer at 2 dn.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath17 July 2017 at 09:08

      Agreed

      Delete
    2. Vasant17 July 2017 at 09:19

      I had used this trick in the first Springer puzzle
      Father of ten(6)
      I thought I had written a good clue but after feedback from one of the solvers, Ramki, I thought maybe it wasnt that fair

      Delete
    3. Vasant17 July 2017 at 09:21

      Btw 10A was Geometry..

      Delete
    4. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 09:51

      I remember it and I did not have a problem solving it.

      Delete
    5. Shrikanth17 July 2017 at 12:10

      I didn't know that. And I was assuming opposite too. Sorry for faux paus

      Delete
    6. Martin DeMello17 July 2017 at 13:09

      I agree that references to another clue should always be numeric, but as for mandatorily spelling out numbers used in wordplay, check out this gem from Bonxie: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/25978

      Delete
  6. RameshJ17 July 2017 at 11:31

    Nice trivia Col.
    A couple of trivia related questions for CVji, which he may answer if he chooses to.
    1) When was his first CW published in The Hindu?
    2) When was the first CW published under Gridman's byline?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Chaturvasi17 July 2017 at 11:54

    The first THC was published in the paper on Feb 15, 1971. I had been married on Feb 8 and on that day I was in Cochin with my young bride. I, an employee of Indian Express, noticed the new feature in the paper. I don't remember whether I postponed solving it or devoted my attention to it to spark the first quarrel between man and wife.
    The first puzzle of mine published anonymously in TH was 7092 on June 27, 2001.
    The first puzzle to appear under the Gridman byline - I have to delve into my files.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Chaturvasi17 July 2017 at 12:21

    I took out bound volumes of my puzzles in TH. Puzzle 9323 published on Sept 9, 2008 (not mine but carrying the solution to a puzzle of mine) does NOT have a byline.
    But Puzzle 9348 carries the Gridman byline. So that is the FIRST puzzle with Gridman's byline.
    Can't say if any puzzle from 9324 to 9347 carried any byline.
    BUT
    If Nita Jaggi's puzzles were published earlier, they will have certainly used her byline because she came in with the condition that her puzzles should be imprinted with her name.
    After her, ALL others preferred pseudonyms over their real names.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Chaturvasi17 July 2017 at 12:36

    PS I stopped binding my printed puzzles as TH frequently changed positions, sizes, layouts, etc making it impossible for collecting the crosswords and binding them together. (I have loose newspaper cuttings.)
    I have digital versions of all puzzles on my PC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 13:19

      I think yourself & Raju are specialists in collecting printed editions of CW's. I shall certainly make it a point to look at it, next time I meet you. It should be quite interesting. Meanwhile I am going to give it a try if I can dig any of your old puzzles mentioned from TH archives. Thank you for the nostalgia and thanks to Col. & Ramesh for starting all this. Interesting.

      Delete
  10. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 13:25

    One more doubt from my side-
    Were CW softwares available at that time or the grid words had to be manually selected by you?
    Sankalak had once mentioned (during our S&B meet) that his wife used to fill up the grid and he would only write clues, but at that time (since I was a novice) it did not occur to me to ask how. Rather, I had assumed that selection of words had to be done manually.

    ReplyDelete
  11. RameshJ17 July 2017 at 14:08

    Thanks CVji.

    ReplyDelete
  12. RameshJ17 July 2017 at 14:16

    http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/The-Hindu-Crossword-9348/article15318811.ece for those that want to take a crack at solving the first puzzle that used the Gridman byline

    ReplyDelete
  13. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 14:18

    Thank you Ramesh for saving me the trouble of searching for it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. RameshJ17 July 2017 at 14:30

    For those that want to solve what perhaps was the first Hindu CW to carry a byline http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-miscellaneous/The-Hindu-Crossword-9339/article15311882.ece

    That must have been Nita Jaggi's debut puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath17 July 2017 at 19:21

      If anyone needs answers for this ask me, I'll try my best :-)

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan17 July 2017 at 20:12

      Col.'safely' saying, I will try my best. Maybe, better than best may be needed!

      Delete
    3. Vasant17 July 2017 at 22:30

      But the smiley at the end of Col's sentence says it all
      The setter it seems was one one of the most loved/hated setter..so many limericks written for her😀😀😀😀😀

      Delete
    4. Vasant17 July 2017 at 22:40

      What is she doing now? Does she still set/solve cw?does she still sculpt?An enigma still continues to live on

      Delete
    5. Satyen Nabar18 July 2017 at 10:08

      Out of curiosity, after yesterday's remarks on the lady... was going through the archives. Came across what Col. has dubbed "The Mother of all clues" -- Simon kisses the disguised monk (4)... answer being Monk... fell on the floor laughing:)

      Delete
  15. Vasant17 July 2017 at 22:58

    For whatever reason I googled NJ and the first search was her interview in CU...the comments in the post are worth reading

    ReplyDelete
  16. Vasant17 July 2017 at 22:59

    BTW her name is Nitaa Jagi

    ReplyDelete
  17. cdrgani2918 July 2017 at 10:53

    Re. 25A Forecastle is the fore end of a ship and fo"c"sle is its abbreviation- that's why say, I suppose.

    ReplyDelete

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