ACROSS
1 Wrongly steers and takes it back to the origin (6) RESETS*
4 Civil telegram followed a note (8) AMICABLE {A}{MI}{CABLE}
10 Wizards' staff and policeman split tarts (9) PRODIGIES {P{ROD}{IG}IES}
11 Alarm a web (5) AMAZE {A}{MAZE}
12 Runs and cuts off East inside (5) LOPES {LOP{E}S}
13 Coarsest granite is relaid (9) GRAINIEST*
14 Most of beach is near 10's dock (7) SHORTEN {SHORe}{TEN}
16 State has time for animal (4) GOAT {GOA}{T}
19 Cast of 'Adolf' is heterogenous (4) FISH [T]
21 Remnant poise (7) BALANCE [DD]
24 Reduction of religious education by church without resident minister (9) REMISSION {RE}{MISSION}
25 Show a terrapin's wet (5) WATER [T]
26 Pilgrim ate at Jamia Islamia initially (5) HADJI {HAD}{Ja..a}{Is...a}
27 Most heroic lot have one in pain (9) PLUCKIEST {P{LUCK}{1}EST}
28 Modest about wearing (8) RETIRING (RE}{TIRING}
29 Carelessly use any tense (6) UNEASY*
DOWNT
1 Shine once more on European (8) REPOLISH {RE}{POLISH}
2 Stinger from company in Mumbai neighbourhood (8) SCORPION {S{CORP}ION}
3 Sometimes succeeds in doubles (5) TWINS {Ti..s}{WINS}
5 Fool holds half-normal horse (7) MUSTANG {MU{STANdard}G}
6 Moor has to dispatch armour (5,4) CHAIN MAIL {CHAIN} {MAIL}
7 Caught simpler owner (6) BEARER (~barer)
8 Employs former brewster (6) EXERTS {EX}{STER*} 'Brew' being the Anagram indicator
9 Roman man to trap a maiden (6) VIRGINAnno pending (Addendum - {VIR}{GIN} - See comments)
15 More eager to rank new shirt on top (9) THIRSTIER {SHIRT*}{TIER}
17 Aversion to article by 'Dream Girl' (8) ANATHEMA {AN}{AT}{HEMA}
18 Behind closed doors Crete assembly stopped scheming (8) SECRETLY {S{CRETE*}LY}
20 Edge of bureau — This can be used to secure locks (7) HAIRPINb...aU is a 'Hairpin bend'
21 Play 'Ghost' in bar near Queen's Circle (6) BANQUO {BAN}{QU}{O}
22 Perhaps Tell and bow to the lady (6) ARCHER {ARC }{HER}
23 Surrounded by a central road (6) AMIDST {A}{MID}{ST}
25 Roused by Pan's measure (5) WOKEN {WOK}{EN}
GRID
1 Wrongly steers and takes it back to the origin (6) RESETS*
4 Civil telegram followed a note (8) AMICABLE {A}{MI}{CABLE}
10 Wizards' staff and policeman split tarts (9) PRODIGIES {P{ROD}{IG}IES}
11 Alarm a web (5) AMAZE {A}{MAZE}
12 Runs and cuts off East inside (5) LOPES {LOP{E}S}
13 Coarsest granite is relaid (9) GRAINIEST*
14 Most of beach is near 10's dock (7) SHORTEN {SHOR
16 State has time for animal (4) GOAT {GOA}{T}
19 Cast of 'Adolf' is heterogenous (4) FISH [T]
21 Remnant poise (7) BALANCE [DD]
24 Reduction of religious education by church without resident minister (9) REMISSION {RE}{MISSION}
25 Show a terrapin's wet (5) WATER [T]
26 Pilgrim ate at Jamia Islamia initially (5) HADJI {HAD}{J
27 Most heroic lot have one in pain (9) PLUCKIEST {P{LUCK}{1}EST}
28 Modest about wearing (8) RETIRING (RE}{TIRING}
29 Carelessly use any tense (6) UNEASY*
DOWNT
1 Shine once more on European (8) REPOLISH {RE}{POLISH}
2 Stinger from company in Mumbai neighbourhood (8) SCORPION {S{CORP}ION}
5 Fool holds half-normal horse (7) MUSTANG {MU{STAN
6 Moor has to dispatch armour (5,4) CHAIN MAIL {CHAIN} {MAIL}
7 Caught simpler owner (6) BEARER (~barer)
8 Employs former brewster (6) EXERTS {EX}{STER*} 'Brew' being the Anagram indicator
9 Roman man to trap a maiden (6) VIRGIN
15 More eager to rank new shirt on top (9) THIRSTIER {SHIRT*}{TIER}
17 Aversion to article by 'Dream Girl' (8) ANATHEMA {AN}{AT}{HEMA}
18 Behind closed doors Crete assembly stopped scheming (8) SECRETLY {S{CRETE*}LY}
20 Edge of bureau — This can be used to secure locks (7) HAIRPIN
21 Play 'Ghost' in bar near Queen's Circle (6) BANQUO {BAN}{QU}{O}
22 Perhaps Tell and bow to the lady (6) ARCHER {ARC }{HER}
23 Surrounded by a central road (6) AMIDST {A}{MID}{ST}
25 Roused by Pan's measure (5) WOKEN {WOK}{EN}
GRID
Bhargav's Talepiece
The bouncer and the dancer - Part 85
Marudhu LOPES away like a MUSTANG!
Clement, the bouncer, was UNEASY when he was WOKEN up to the fact that Marudhu, CHAINMAIL apart was trying to bring EXERTS upon him from some quarters to sell his portion of Shangri-la.
Marudhu must be made to know that he is out to FISH in troubled WATERS. Clement had two PRODIGIES in his side, Uncle Sam and Gombu. He swung into action.
The three SECRETLY hatched a simple plan. They took the help of Kayal who went to the Police Officer and foisted a case on Pandi who was taken into custody. This spelled further trouble to Marudhu.
Marudhu was AMIDST his own problems in Tamil Nadu and he realized that buying some business in another country and trying to control it remotely was not his cup of tea. He sent his deputy to reach an AMICABLE settlement.
By a strange turn of events Clement came to be the owner of Apollo instead of Marudhu becoming the owner of Shangri-la!!
What happened next?
Trivia:
1. There was a music band who went by the name MUSTANGS some 40+ years back in Madras.
Their most famous number ESCAPE has been uploaded in youtube.
9d vir, roman title. Gin trap is a machine to separate cotton seeds
ReplyDeleteGood one Prasad
Delete+1
DeleteVir is akin to Hindi Veer[hero] possibly
Deleteshort for virtous
DeleteActually, Chambers describes it as Victoria Imperatrix Regina (Latin), Victoria, Empress and Queen
DeleteHi! Vir is Man in Latin (language of the Roman empire)
DeleteThanks Doc, I didn't bother to google for the Ro"man"!!
DeleteKKR :)
Delete22d typo. arc her
ReplyDeleteCorrected
DeleteTheme: Zodiac Signs
ReplyDeleteGoat, Fish, Balance, Water, Twins, Bearer, Archer, Scorpio(n)...any more?
DeleteVirgin/maiden
DeleteHorse if you take Chinese zodiac
DeleteWATER BEARER is the Zodiac sign for Aquarius
DeleteMB in today's logo
ReplyDeleteI got a kick out of seeing my logo! :)
DeleteCGB Sir, is the logo Count Dracula?
ReplyDeleteI was trying hard to remember the logo. Bacardi!
DeleteThe one given in the illustration is the BATMAN logo...Bacardi logo too is that of a bat.
DeleteWhy have we missed second edition of Xchequer this time? Are we not supposed to have two by him?
ReplyDeleteThe Hindu's vagaries. Sometimes the setter also requests. Perhaps this time the Setter was outside country and may have submitted only one.
DeleteFound many surfaces weird.. ac11/12/16 down 5,7, etc. Too many charades.
ReplyDeleteHave seen this theme before in Hindu.. do themes get repeated?
Cancer/leo/capricorn/taurus missing
DeleteAgree with you. Some surface stories are not so great. Clues are simple though.
DeleteWhat is Cryptic Academy?Is at an Academy?
DeleteI remember to have heard from a friend that it is someone who teaches others how to do crosswords here in Chennai. Over some weeks for a fee (if I remember correctly). No details are available with me. How many students, what progress they made, whether there is any test, whether diploma is awarded. Don't know about the Professors there and whether they studied and researched in the UK or the US.
DeleteThanks for the feedback.The point on charades is valid. 13 out of 32 is on the higher side. Keeping it down to 11-12 would have been better (following the 1/3 rd rule).
DeleteWhile zodiac themes have appeared before in THC (including one by me), I do not think the zodiac signs as given by their english meanings have appeared. Themes will repeat. If the same theme appears very often then there may be some valid objection.
For the rest here is my defence
11 Alarm a web (5) AMAZE {A}{MAZE}
Hackers were careful not to ALARM A WEB portal's administrator
12 Runs and cuts off East inside (5) LOPES {LOP{E}S}
Goalkeeper RUNS AND CUTS OFF (Ron) EAST INSIDE the penalty area
16 State has time for animal (4) GOAT {GOA}{T}
John STATE HAS TIME FOR ANIMAL. He also has time for his girlfriend, but has no time to take his ancestral property in Cheshire
5 Fool holds half-normal horse (7) MUSTANG {MU{STANdard}G}
Not sure what the objection is? Can't horses be half normal?
7 Caught simpler owner (6) BEARER (~barer)
Simpler is one who gathers medicines. Can't he have become a slave? And can't that slave owner be caught doing something?
It is to be mentioned that crosswords appearing in The Hindu are 15 x 15 cryptic crosswords. They are not intentionally "themed". Happens sometimes...
ReplyDeleteVIRGIN: Man= vir-ile ? This is an unusual usage . An excellent virgin clue.
ReplyDeleteCHAIN MAIL: another simple clue, using MOOR= CHAIN.
I have no complaints about SUNNET, whose style is simple and clever.
With HEMA the Dream Girl (Basanti) around, one has to look for Veeru!!
Delete😀😀
DeleteThere is no question of listing some words as missing in a thematic crossword. The setter chooses some theme words that fit into the grid. Of course, a theme crossword must have a sizable number of theme words. Three or four won't do. There is no db of theme crosswords (the Col tags them) and different setters are involved. So themes may be repeated. (Does anyone remember?) Some themes may be obvious, some may not. Has theme in any THC gone unnoticed?
ReplyDeleteI agree with CV. As it is , it is an arduous task to compile per-se and on top of it, creating pangrams and themes, Nina etc built in is additonal work, especially when the grid restricts you in terms of blocks and symmetry etc. Repetition of answers or themes are quite likely to occur due to the multifarious factors of permutations and combinations. Which compiler can claim that he has not borrowed ideas , if not the clues themselves from previously done crosswords ? I will not go into the theory of plagiarism since we can never claim to be all original . Creative adaptation cannot be called plagiarism !
DeleteI agree with you and CV Sir.
DeleteIt is my personal experience too when I set an alphabet jigsaw and one on insects. It takes longer time in creating thematic ones.
It is really difficult to say whether a clue is lifted from another source, after all the rules for framing clues are same. Two minds can always look at a word in the same way and use similar wordplay while breaking the word.