Tuesday 18 August 2020

No 13017, Tuesday 18 Aug 20, Gridman

Solution to 26A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular/novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.

ACROSS
1   Short-cut, cut vegetable (7) PARSNIP {PARe}{SNIP}
5   Hint the point’s broken (3-3) TIP-OFF [DD] (Correction {TIP}{OFF} - See comments)
9   Talisman loses edge in racing site (5) ASCOT mASCOT
10 Poet has no direction for Indian dish said to be stew (9) POTPOURRI {POeT}{POURRI}(~puri)
11 See old boy’s ill-written verse (7) OBSERVE {OB}{VERSE*}
12 Farmer is hospitable after admitting fifty (7) PEASANT PlEASANT
13 Slow rate is sticking point with learner (5) CRAWL {CRAW}{L}
14 Dismounted — in no position to control (3,6 ) OFF SADDLE [C&DD]
16 Fair goal (9) OBJECTIVE [DD]
19 Brother beginning to appreciate a relative’s foundation (5) BASIS {B}{Ap...e}{SIS}
21 Hardy of the French mob lacks a follower (7) DURABLE{DU}{RABbLE}
23 Was somehow greeting on Long Island in a foreign language (7) SWAHILI {WAS*}{HI}{LI}
24 Being lax, I got a blob for musical accompaniment (9) OBBLIGATO*
25 Continue to play with stick? (5) BATON {BAT ON}
26 Lives once site’s cleaned up by removing a bit of encumbrance (6) ?X?S?S  (Addendum - EXISTS {EX}{SITeS}* - See comments)
27 Real networking goes on forever (7) ETERNAL {REAL+NET}*

DOWN
1   Instrument of a key player with some squeeze (5,9) PIANO ACCORDION [CD]

2   Tricks have ferreted out old transport vehicle (7) RICKSHA [T]
3   Brown’s up on mountain that is unspoiled (7) NATURAL {TAN<=}{URAL}
4   Sausage found to be no peppier (9) PEPPERONI*
5   Infant raised to do a simple sum (3,2) TOT UP {TOT}{UP}
6   Expert sailor’s up with a fair share arrangement (3,4) PRO RATA {PRO}{TAR<=}{A}
7   Presumptuous female or child (7) FORWARD {F}{OR}{WARD}
8   Gesture to the barber to cut one’s hair? Not exactly (8,6) DISTRESS SIGNAL [DD]
15 Releases quality type of fruit (9) FREESTONE {FREES}{TONE}
17 Not one new hurt! Fight in court area (4,3) JURY BOX {inJURY}{BOX}
18 Drivers who get hailed from a pickup line (7) CABBIES [CD]
19 Bush’s beginning on leisurely walk (7) BRAMBLE {Bush}{RAMBLE} Bush in defintion and wordplay
20 Struck by a Pole with a glove (7) SMITTEN {S}{MITTEN}
22 PM’s tests? (5) EXAMS {EX AM's}

Reference List
Direction = E, Old boy = OB, Fifty = L, Brother = B, Of the in French = DU, Follower of A = B, Sailor = TAR, Female = F, New = N, Pole = S


Dr RKE's TalePiece

Chris FREESTONE was in the restaurant of the Royal Berkshire Hotel near ASCOT.  This was a historic country mansion converted to a hotel. The fragrance of the POTPOURRI could just about offset the musty odour from the aging carpets. A lone Negro PIANO ACCORDION player sat in a corner playing a haunting melody. This muscular musician had a clean-shaven face and pate. While he waited for his order of roast PARSNIP and PEPPERONI to be served, he was turning over in his mind the disjointed facts of the case he was investigating.

Chief Inspector Freestone, from the Homicide Squad of the Scotland Yard, had been called by the Berkshire police, after a PEASANT had discovered a young woman’s body by the blueberry BRAMBLE in his farm. Freestone had OBSERVEd that she seemed to have been bludgeoned with a BATON. Murder for gain was not the OBJECTIVE as all her jewellery and wallet were intact. She had not been sexually assaulted. Something did not TOT UP. The only TIP OFF was her phone, from which she had called a number 3 times, in about 10 minutes before being murdered. She had probably wanted to send a DISTRESS SIGNAL but to whom and why? The local police had done a commendable job in tracing her identity from the phone as Elizabeth Hill, 24, a receptionist at the Royal Berkshire Hotel. They had been stumped by the fact that the last called number belonged not to a person but to the local taxi aggregator service. In his enquiry with the cab service, Freestone had learned that the moment a call was placed on that number, the location of the phone would be shown up on their computer system and that every call would get recorded. Freestone had to take the help of the whiz kids in Cybercrime to probe those records. They clearly indicated a change in location from the first call to the third of about 4 miles. Obviously, she could not have been walking and must have been in a car. Why would she call a cab while already in a car? And why didn’t she call the police or a trusted friend if she had felt threatened? This NATURALLY meant that she was riding with someone she knew but did not trust. He wondered if the BASIS of such an unusual act could be to mark the route of her final journey. Freestone then EXAMined the photos on Hill’s phone and one hirsute African was seen with her in many selfies. “I have seen this face somewhere, where, where?” wondered the inspector. In a lightbulb moment the answer came to him as he looked around the restaurant. He made a few more enquiries without attracting attention and then he knew.

The accordion player having finished his performance went over to each table to be tipped by the customers. He came to Inspector Freestone’s table. The Inspector arose unhurriedly and in a gesture of shaking hands with the performer, suddenly handcuffed him. “Mr.John Levine, you are under arrest for the murder of Ms.Elizabeth Hill”.  The man muttered a curse in SWAHILI but caved in without protest.

PS: It was later revealed to those in the JURY BOX that Levine had been SMITTEN with love Ms.Hill. He was incensed when he had caught her in an intimate moment with her new boyfriend. The new boyfriend was the one who operated the computer at the cab service, to whom she had sent her location while on her last journey.    

42 comments:

  1. EXISTS= lives{EX = once, Anagram of sites-E(bit of encumbrance)}

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  2. 19d I took the B as an abbreviation of beginning

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  3. 21A- I don't remember to have come across 'Du' for French of. De is more common. But with def.and crossings,I was able to fill in.
    Completed at express speed-well before the deadline.Thank you Gridman.

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  4. ...and now we have a well written whodunit as Tale Piece. Nice one Dr.RKE and thank you.

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  5. 21A- 'a follower' for B brought a smile. Took a while getting it.

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  6. The crackdown happened on the BASIS of a TIP-OFF. And given up owing to a phone call.

    But they failed to OBSERVE where the call came from!!

    Thus the immediate OBJECTIVE of the caller was met and he could LOOK FORWARD to hiding the stones.

    It was quite NATURAL for one in the team to be put OFF SADDLE with the ETERNAL beauty of Ranee. He was SMITTEN with live and decided to stay back.

    Was that a DISTRESS SIGNAL to the caller?

    What happened next?

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  7. Nice talepiece. Smooth grid Liked 8D , 16D, 19D and 20D

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  8. Are rickshas still plying in Calcutta?

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  9. 16A. Can anyone please explain who is fair related to objective?

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    Replies
    1. Sorry, I meant to ask "how is fair related to objective"?

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    2. Objective:undistorted by emotion or personal bias, fair.

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  10. As we say an objective analysis ( as against a subjective one which can vary according to who is doing it) to judge a matter.

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  11. 2Dn As far as I know Ricksha is spelt with a W as Rickshaw.

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    Replies
    1. Ricksha is in dictionary as an alternate spelling.

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  12. I was also hesitant,but when one tries to write Tamil/ Hindi words in English there could be lot of variations.

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  13. Looked now at the VDO of piano accordion and all the pics posted in the blog. Thank you for doing so much hard work to create this blog.

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    Replies
    1. Not just the hard work but doing it unfailingly for so many years daily, i think is an unparalleled featšŸ‘šŸ‘

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  14. Joining the chorus of appreciation. Hats off!

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  15. If I may add a bit of my own... I started compiling crosswords in 2001. For many years the quota was six per month. Later with many setters joining in, the quota was reduced to four. Since 2001, I have not missed even one turn. Even when I was away in the US on six month visits and when I was recovering from major surgeries and a very recent and present hospitalisation and visits, no turn was missed. it is of course because of time availability owing to retirement but also a certain frame of mind and discipline and work culture. I don't expect everyone to be like that or do like that. I am just saying what has happened. I may myself fall behind. Who knows?

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    Replies
    1. 19 years and still going strong, excellent I must say.

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    2. 19 strong years of creating crosswords. How many more of making a super setter? That I think should be inked in a memoir.. An autobiography should be written!

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  16. Similarly Sankalak did not miss any turn and kept sending puzzles every month. When he passed away, there was a heavy backlog and the puzzles were published posthumously.

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    Replies
    1. What I have read is that, Sankalak used to manually create grids.. And fill them manually.. His wife used to draw the grid, he used to fill it and create clues.. Truly remarkable!

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  17. Also, the early setters starting from Adm. R D Katari and others, whose puzzles were pub'd anon, were very regular. Of course, they were also gentlemen of leisure. It is only the recent crop of setters who nare busy professionals. But even here it is discipline and work colture that bring about regularity.

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  18. I consider it my privilege to be associated with people like you and Col. and it is needless to add I have learned a lot not only about solving CW's but commitment, tendency to share and take others along with you and to top it all the camaraderie. So happy to see so many solvers have become setters in TH in spite of their busy schedule. That is because the culture is imbibed.
    Yes,Sankalak's puzzles were published as 'From Sankalak's files' for a very long time.

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