Sunday, 7 June 2020

Special, THC No 6631, 01 Jan 2000


Thanks to Pradeep Raghunathan, I am posting the THC of 01 Jan 2000, he gave me the Across Lite file for the same. I think those were the days when the setters name was not given in the byline. So let us see who can identify the setter. after all the answers come in.

Three answers per commenter till 6 PM (Annotations compulsory)
Please submit all your answers in one comment. 


(COMMENTS ENTERED WITH LESS THAN THREE ANSWERS WILL BE DELTED WITHOUT NOTICE, UNLESS THE COMMENTER SPECIFIES THAT IT IS A COMPENSATION FOR A REPEAT)


ACROSS
1   Can a regulation bar change of the governor? (13)
10 The fag for the tar conscious (6,3)
11 Member of group of activists has anxiety about daughter (5)
12 Change girl with short point (5)
13 Rich upper-class mate suffering from painful joints (9)
14 Return to hint about English jacket (6)
16 Prison guard with a twist? (5)
19 Graduates in a sheltered area (5)
20 Confused dad, showed the way (6)
25 English officer first to hold record as one who cares about the environment (9)
26 Government seal for old gold coin (5)
27 The fragrance of an Italian city (5)
28 Wandering Beduin, Ali, cannot be heard (9)
29 Strong and in good health but developed a leathery hand (4,3,6)

DOWN
2   The kind of gas for new cars (8)
3   Occurrence prevented in the centre (5)
4   Disposition of attributes (6)
5   Little money one may have no care for (8)
6    Advice with reference to firm measure to finish... (9)
7   .... accounts inspections (6)
8   Happening to be a very loud tune (6)
9   Absence of war reveals rate of progress around the east (5)
15 Trouble over a tape may make one disappear (9)
17 Mediterranean islander, endlessly ailing, meets the Italian and a Scot (8)
18 Set of 26 in English (8)
21 Construction with a gable roof survives even in strong wind or merciless weather (6)
22 Part of flower consumed up in small plate (5)
23 Circle of light around luminous body, cigar maybe (6)
24 Manoeuvre hat and cat to connect (6) 
26 A dime wasted on radio and TV, say (5)

Across Lite version can be accessed at THC 6631

Enjoy.

62 comments:

  1. 26d MEDIA*
    24D ATTACH*
    8D A FF AIR

    ReplyDelete
  2. 3D: EVENT ...embedded
    22D: P(ETA)L
    20A: (ADD)LED...(DAD*)LED

    ReplyDelete
  3. 28A: INAUDIBLE {BEDUIN+ALI}*
    28D: MEDIA {A+DIME}*
    18D: ALPHABET (CD)

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1a- Gubernatorial
    (A regulation bar)*
    Posting only one due to problem accessing actor's life on my phone

    ReplyDelete
  5. 9d {P{E}ACE}
    15d EVAPORATE; {OVER A TEPE}*
    26d MEDIA; {A DIME}*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Setter seems obvious,but let me not jump the gun

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  7. 6d RE CO MM END
    7D AUDITS DD
    11A CA(D)RE

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  8. From the grid I can tell this crossword is set by the compiler who took the pseudonym Sankalak later.

    ReplyDelete
  9. in place of 26d
    29A HALE AND HEARTY; { A LEATHERY HAND}*

    ReplyDelete
  10. Replacing for repeat
    13A: RHEUMATIC {RICH+U+MATE}*

    ReplyDelete
  11. 15dn evaporate (over a tape)*
    29ac hale and healthy (a leathery hand)*
    22dn petal eta(ate) in pl(ate)

    ReplyDelete
  12. 5D DD TUPPENCE (little money / have no care for)
    10A CD FILTER TIP
    8D (A) (FF) (AIR)

    posted again as previous ones did not get published

    ReplyDelete
  13. By "grid" I mean filling-in grid.

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  14. 29ac hale and hearty (a leathery hand)*

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  15. Please submit 3 answers in one comment

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  16. Two answers had no annotation as such I deleted your comment

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  17. 21d Construction with a gable roof survives even in strong wind or merciless weather (6)
    Dormer which means Construction with a gable roof
    Hidden very well inside winD OR MERciless weather
    26a Government seal for old gold coin (5)
    Mohar a double definition; a hindi word meaning both Govt seal and old gold coin
    23d Circle of light around luminous body, cigar maybe (6)
    Corona (oh no! not that word)
    Double definition again

    ReplyDelete
  18. 27A A{ROMA}
    13A {RICH U MATE}* => RHEUMATIC
    2D UNLEADED

    ReplyDelete
  19. 2d; UNLEADED - a blend of petrol of the 2000s. are they still in vogue ?

    10a: FILTER TIP - an innovation of those days for smokers who were afraid of Tar in cigarettes. FAG is the other word for cigarettes
    25 a: ECOLOGIST . E + COL+LOG +IST another word for environmentalist

    ReplyDelete
  20. Deleted again as there are no annotations given

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  21. I am glad to see a compiler without pretensions of aditions, deletions . Good for beginners.

    Col: would you accept unusual crypic crosswords from my collections , even if we have to give the source ? I have also very old THCs.

    CORONA again ? it was such a harmless unpretentious word and today ? It has turned the worls upside down !

    Very refreshing crossword - surely from SANKALAK

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. But just dont send me photographs of the CW. Send me blank grids and typed clue sheets. Doing an OCR from a photograph and then proofing it is a tedious process

      Delete
    2. Corona is a phenomenon occuring in high voltage electrical lines. The term is older than me!

      Look forward to old THC grids

      Delete
    3. @Ramesh:Phenomenon of corono was experienced by me a number of times.. Very recently on 9th March, 2020, when insulators failed due to corono discharge at 115 KV substation in our plant. The blue light around the insulators, the chattering sound, eerie and real.

      Delete
  22. 14A E inside REFER<
    16A SCREW, DD with the second a cryptic one(turn of the screw)
    17D SIC(k) IL IAN

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  23. In place of 13 A
    12A ADAPT = Change = {ADA}+{PT}

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  24. 4D NATURE DD in place of repeat 8D

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  25. ...and very quickly to the Last one 19A

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  26. I identified the setter from the blank grid. No, I cannot do that with any crossword from those days. It so happens I remember this grid that was used by Sankalak. However I can surely say which is mine from those years because I used original set of self-created blank grids with a certain in_built feature. Excuse this thambattam.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I had read somewhere that you had started setting in 2001.
      Of course, we all know your grids inside out. 10 letter to 15 letter grids that we're published cyclically till recently. Now I see that the cycle is missing.

      Delete
    2. Yes. For several years until recently I followed the cyclical order strictly. Now I have lapsed from that.

      Delete
    3. Not lapse. I think you wanted to inject some variety in grid and clues.

      Delete
  27. From this puzzle itself, one can fathom why the setter was so much admired and loved. Simple and elegant Wordplay. We really miss you, Sankalak.

    ReplyDelete
  28. It was an EVENT the world was waiting for with bated breath. Information technology was challenged on the outcome when on 31 Dec 99 the millennium clock turns over chiming 12 midnight hailing the new century. Y2K was the issue. Old programmers had used two digits for the year. Will the computers be ADDLED and go to 1900? Would all data just EVAPORATE? Indeed a tricky AFFAIR.
    MEDIA typically tightened the SCREW on the buzz. A SICILIAN ECOLOGIST warned stopping of plants and systems functioning round the world. It was also a time when concern for preserving NATURE was taking over and the gulf BASIN was asked to increase UNLEADED crude production. Electrical authorities were asked to control CORONA on high voltage lines. Smokers switched to FILTER TIPs
    What was INAUDIBLE soon became a clamour for action. Governments and authorities lost their PEACE of mind got headaches and RHEUMATIC pains. They issued a GUBERNATORIAL fiat to get this sorted out by employing CADRE who will run AUDITS on existing programs and RECOMMEND a fix to ADAPT may be use ALPHABET codes instead of numbers for the year. Their requirement was a programme as strong as a DORMER to withstand many millenniums.
    This had a HALE AND HEARTY effect on programmers who were paid a TUPPENCE till then. They sensed the AROMA and saw a chance to make their MOHAR. Thus began the jackpot for engineers in the IT industry who soon ATTACHed their CVs with photos of themselves smartly dressed in REEFERS. This continues to this day as programmers and IT specialists are the PETALs of the flowers of the industry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. The original date of the grid 1 Jan 2000 provided a story opportunity. Just built it using the words from the grid.

      Delete
    2. Good observation, Ramesh! Story is nice too.

      Delete
    3. Superb! Very well written.
      Brought back old memories and endless discussion on the subject.

      Delete
    4. Excellent Tale. well observation about 2k IT crux. thanks for the special tale.

      Delete
  29. 28A - beduinali - INAUDIBLE
    3d - pr(event)ed - EVENT ....occurrence
    19A - Graduate = BA ; in +a = BASIN*

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  30. Thanks Pradeep Raghunathan for preserving the precious grids. Keep them coming up regularly.

    ReplyDelete
  31. special thanks to Ppradeep Ragunathan and Col. for the retro grid. very interesting clues. esp. 4d, 28a.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Not only the electrical charge for corona but for virus as well is old. This is just a novel variation- hence novel corona virus.

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  33. I was fortunate enough to meet Sankalak in our (1st?) S&B meet at Chennai. Such a simple and unassuming gentleman. Words were filled in the grid by his wife and he used to write the clues only. What a great team!

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  34. Wow! What a pleasant surprise. Thank you Colonel for posting the grid. I see that it was a cruciverbalistalgia for every one :). I had no clue that the setter was Sankalak, though Hypatia did tell me that the setter looks very familiar when she tried the grid :). I was suggesting to Colonel a THIS DAY THAT YEAR series.. where we could have a look at an old grid for example say the grid from 8th Jun 2000/2001/2002 :). Ramesh ji.. what a story.. loved it, and brought back the days of Y2K :).

    Raju Umamaheshwar ji.. would love to see some of the really old grids say from the 90's.. would love to bring back memories of grids that we solved in college during lectures :). How could i get in touch with you? :).

    ReplyDelete

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