HAPPY GANESH CHATHURTHI
Solution to 2D 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.
Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.
ACROSS
1 Flushed on ecstasy, go astray cuddling German model again (8) REDESIGN {RED}{E}{SI{G}N}
5 Read quickly about boy at university, devotee of a winter sport (3,3) SKI BUM {SKI{B}{U}M}
10 It's easy Doctor Watson, elementary to begin with (2,5) NO SWEAT {WATSON+El...y}*
11 Observes insect jumping over ball (7) NOTICES {N{O}TICES*}
12 Uproar about getting stumped in defeat (5) WORST {ROW<=}{ST}
13 Most irascible cry of pain by one during examination (9) TOUCHIEST {T{OUCH}{1}EST}
14 Dominate husband, utter loser fighting over nothing (4,3,5) RULE THE ROOST {H+UTTER+LOSER}* over {0}
18 Bond in a heliport, leaping to catch head of Spectre (12) RELATIONSHIP {IN+A+HELIPORT}* over {Sp...e}
21 Panther roaming over Greek landmark (9) PARTHENON {PANTHER*}{ON}
25 One helping to leak stuff at Centre rather craftily (7) URETHRA {stUff}{RATHER*}
26 Shelter outside cement plant (6) LEGUME {LE{GUM}E}
27 Isolate in cabin with first signs of another wave in state (4,4) SHUT AWAY {HUT}{An...r}{Wave} in {SAY}
DOWN
1 Compere now nicely introduces celebrity (6) RENOWN [T]
2 See key in flat (6) D?S?R? (Addendum - DESCRY {D{ESC}RY} - See comments)
3 Wife in house getting fit in exercise outfit (9) SWEATSUIT {S{W}EAT}{SUIT}
4 Visit rural area and call for general election (2,2,3,7) GO TO THE COUNTRY [DD]
6 Sailing vessel in Phuket, cheap (5) KETCH [T]
7 Cheat around, picking up smart liberal unmarried man (8) BACHELOR {ROB<=} over {ACHE}{L}
8 Pervert in art gallery following young lady (8) MISSTATE {TATE}<=>{MISS}
9 Retired individual crushed by huge housing crash! No more will be tolerated (6,2,6) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH {ONE<=}{HUGE+HOUSING}*
15 Vet again checks domestic animal having cold (9) REINSPECT {REINS}{PE{C}T}
16 Hot and popular, captivates girls at centre (8) TROPICAL {T{giRls}OPICAL}
17 Warning in beer bar inside arena (8) ALERTING {ALE}{R{T}ING}
22 Utter nonsense and croon, drinking Old Monk in the end (5) HOKUM {H{O}{monK}UM}
Reference List
Ecstasy = E, German = G, Boy = B, University = U, Stumped = ST, Husband = H, Key = ESC, Wife = W, Liberal = L, Cold = C, Bar = T, Hot = H, Woman = W, Unionist = U, Old = O
Happy Vinayaka Chaturhi to all.
ReplyDeleteThank you Prasann, Bardhan & Gowri for brightening up the blog.
Paddy, who is Bardhan?
DeleteThank you Paddy sir....
Delete@Bhargav 'sir..well done.
@ Rangoli was too good.
Blog decorated with colors of Ganesha.
My sincere thanks to Col. sir for posting Artworks.
Thanks to the trio for making this day bright and joyful.
DeleteCol., unpardonable typo in Bhargav's name. My bad.
DeleteGood leg pulling!
Partly due to my typing on cell phone in place of laptop.
Delete'No Paper' notice in print edition for tomorrow. I am sure we will have a special.
ReplyDeleteVladimir bribed some officials and avoided the court NOTICES.
ReplyDeleteThus the WORST part was over.
"HOKUM. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I shall no longer try for any
permanent RELATIONSHIP. I shall SHUT AWAY from the public and
GO TO THE COUNTRY in SPAIN.
Let me remain a BACHELOR for ever."
What happened next?
CGB sir well drawn. Blog lighting with colors.
DeleteThank you
DeleteCGB, good decision on Vinayaka Chaturthi- to remain bachelor forever!
DeleteThe MISSTATE of Vladimir's URETHRA, ALERTING to his CLINKER, made him REINSPECT the CASHEWs in his SWEATSUIT. In TOUCHIEST of moods he set off to visit the PARTHENON in a KETCH, UNWARY of the TROPICAL heat. 😁
DeleteHoliday special at 7 AM tomorrow by Veeyares
ReplyDeletenoted sir
DeleteThank you Col.
Delete🎊
DeleteThank you Colonel
DeleteFelt good to have Dr.X on a holiday-more time to savour, though I missed a couple.
ReplyDeleteEnough is enough stood out.
One helping to leak!! Dr.at it again- so common for him, though we have to work at it. Good one.
ReplyDeleteDr. X's puzzle is like a morning tablet for morale.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks Paddy, Viswanathan :)
Delete😊😊
DeleteGreetings to you all on Vinayaka Chathurthi! Thanks to CGB, Gowri and Prasanna for the great art works.
ReplyDeleteThanks KKR garu
DeleteHappy Ganesh chaturthi to all! Thanks to Prasanna for a lovely artwork, CGB for beautiful drawing and Gowri for her nice Rangoli.
ReplyDeleteLovely artworks by Prasanna, CGB and Gowri. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi to all!
ReplyDelete2D - DESCRY - [DD]
ReplyDeleteDef. is see - descry /sight / espy - perceive with eyes.
2D See key in flat (6)
DeleteI didn't get the anno.
2Dn DESCRY - {D{ESC}RY}
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteHi. Mr D N M Rao, your annotation is spot-on.
DeleteThank you Doctor
Delete'Esc' is the key!
DeleteJust noticed your comment. key is inside ....Esc. is the computer key and Dry is flat. so
Delete{D{ESC}RY}. Tricky one.
This grid is a Dr. X classic, giving the solver a fair challenge, entertaining journey to the solutions and hardly anything to grumble about. A couple of tough charades (1D and 2D) were rewarding and last to fall in my case.
ReplyDeleteGRID DESIGN. This is one of the very standard grid designs used in Guardian, etc., featuring 28 clues. It gets divided into 4 quarters that are connected by 4 long clues in a + formation across and down the middle. Given that the Doc frequently repeats grid patterns, we can expect to see more of the same later in the week. Another of the doc's designs has 4 long clues going along the outer edges.
WORD SELECTION. The 4 longer clues tend to be mostly idioms that are fun to solve, and are probably also fun to set the wordplay for. 5A SKI BUM, 21A PARTHENON, 25A URETHRA, 14A RULE THE ROOST and 9D ENOUGH IS ENOUGH were memorable for being unusual words but satisfying to discover, one or two with a tinge of toilet humour. Some "re-" words appeared in the grid - 1A REDESIGN, 1D RENOWN, 18A RELATIONSHIP and 15D REINSPECT.
CLUE SURFACES. The setter takes pains to write highly interesting surfaces that are delightful to read, grammatically inoffensive, thematically convincing and having a certain provocativeness or X-factor to them. There is usually some excitement felt when perusing sentences like 1A (involving ecstasy and cuddling German model), 10A (a sentence that could have been uttered by Sherlock Holmes), 13A (which could have described the actions of one of the Doc's patients), 16A (007-themed), 27A (in which someone is afraid of an infectious wave - or is it a tsunami?) and 20D (which could be a New York Times headline). The Doctor's trademark raunchiness appears in 14A, 3D, 7D, 8D, 16D, 19D and 22D. With such interesting clues, it is easy to forgive small grammatical issues as they reward the solver on both surface and cryptic levels. Even short and simple clues like 23A and 24A are worth mentioning as elegant examples.
DOUBLE ENTENDRES. Dr. X is a master of changing the meaning of words change between the surface and cryptic readings. In 10A, "Doctor Watson" becomes anagrind and anagram fodder. In 12A, the definition "defeat" goes from being a noun to a verb, "smart" in 7D alternates between adjective and verb duties, while the same holds for "fit" in 3D. in 27A, "state" switches from noun on the surface to verb in the cryptic charade.
SOME BLOOPERS. I had filled 24A as "crinkle" and had a hard time understanding how 4D GO TO THE BOONIES had anything to do with elections. Another error I had made was in the anno of 15D, in which I had identified "again" as RE, "checks" as link word, INSECT as "domestic animal" and was left thinking about how P = "cold".
DIRECTIONAL "IN" LINK-WORD. Last month, the Doc responded that he does not see the use of the link-word "in" to be a problem in the case of clues that read "[wordplay] in [solution]". I beg to differ. I think it is a case of confusing subject and object in grammar. In my estimation, clues that read "[solution] in [wordplay]" are fine. They are like saying "the treasure lies in the contents of the chest". But "[wordplay] in [solution]" is like saying "the contents of the chest lie in the treasure", which may or may not be accurate, depending on the (unknown) contents of the chest. Ref: 3D SWEATSUIT ("Wife in house getting fit in exercise outfit (9)"). In the general case, the solution is always in the wordplay (by construction). But the wordplay may or may not be contained "in" the solution. As "in" is also a containment indicator, in such cases it can semantically misdirect the solver who is parsing the clue.
I am wondering if there is a "settérs" Enclave somewhere.
DeleteThis "in" Wasnt that visible (ig ever used) 2 years or so back.
Hi Sree, I understand you have a pet peeve and you are welcome to stick to your point of view but factual inaccuracy will not do. Your statement 'This "in" Wasnt that visible (ig ever used) 2 years or so back.' is factually incorrect. This was visible 9 years back in 2014 with Sankalak Sir and 4 years back in 2019 with Gridman Sir. I am not going further back because what I see in 5 minutes of search should be enough to prove the point that it is not some 'new' thing.
DeleteSANKALAK 2013, 2014
https://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2014/01/no-10994-wednesday-29-jan-2014-sankalak.html
1 Belligerent chap goes after cache of money in a landmark place in aviation (5,4) KITTY HAWK {KITTY} {HAWK}
https://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2013/11/no10933-monday-18-nov-2013-sankalak.html
29 Workers affected in penal colony (6,4) LABOUR CAMP
https://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2013/11/no-10932-saturday-16-nov-2013-sankalak.html
13 First of dogs as well as English cat in plant (9) DANDELION {D}{AND}{E}{LION}
27 Indian story by goddess in a dance (9) KATHAKALI {KATHA}{KALI}
GRIDMAN 2019
https://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2019/09/no-12727-wednesday-11-sep-2019-gridman.html
10 Went over a sailor, ill-mannered, in soldiers' training area (7,6) ASSAULT COURSE (~ a salt coarse)
https://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2019/08/no-12697-tuesday-06-aug-2019-gridman.html
19 Scent model left in bar (4) RAIL tRAIL
28 Priest beginning to secure changes in church books (8) PSALTERS {Pr...t}{Se...e}{ALTERS}
15 Rare art I found used in green houses (8) TERRARIA*
https://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2019/08/no-12696-monday-05-aug-2019-gridman.html
9 Upset, I'm leaving the other woman in tension (6) STRESS miSTRESS
https://thehinducrosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2019/06/no-12664-friday-28-jun-2019-gridman.html
11 Heart of cricket team is in art film (5) INDIE {wINDIEs}
Thanks for the detailed write-up, Mr Viswanathan! Glad indeed to hear your enthusiastic views and opinions about crosswords in general.
DeleteHappy Vinayaka Chaturthi all. Thanks Gowri Prasanna and CGB for the lovely artwork, and Dr X for the enjoyable grid.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ramki.
DeleteThanks to AJ mam, sree_sree, RR, Sathia & Ramki for liked trio's artwork. Hope will decorate the blog in the near future. Thank you Dr.X for the enjoyable grid.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr. Rao
DeleteThank u Doc for a lovely puzzle! After a hard days work (Puja & all) it was such fun to solve ur grid.
ReplyDeleteAs u correctly predicted long back - once the setter & solver are in sync - solutions come naturally & thrilled to have aced.
Wish everybody here a very happy Ganesh Chathurthi.
Thank you colonel for giving me a platform to display my art.,
Thanks Gowri! :)
Delete