1 - Platinum, perhaps, found in a place, moisture-controlled (8,5) - PRECIOUS METAL*
10 - Daily girl (Indian), new, one posing as an expert (9) - {CHAR}{LATA}{N}
11 - Carrying a gun, maybe (5) - ARMED [CD]
12 - Flower, one with a bit of lustre, amidst a hundred thousand (5) - L{I}{L}AC
13 - Sacred, religious song (9) - SPIRITUAL [CD]
14 - “For ye __ fools gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise” (II Corinthians) (6) - SUFFER [E]Googled answer
16 - But this officer is surely not unimportant (5) - PETTY [DD]
19 - Measure by a U.S. state in the south-east (5) - S{CAL}E
20 - Become familiar with present times, almost (6) - {AD}{JUST}
25 - Prolongs professional essays on religion (9) - {PRO}{TRACTS}
26 - Wide open cooker with potential energy (5) - {AGA}{PE}
27 - Material of a uniform colour? (5) - KHAKI [CD]
28 - Sort of military action to raise a protective group (9) - {REAR}{GUARD}
29 - Satan in the press? (8,5) - PRINTERS DEVIL [E]
DOWN
2 - Everyday existence in a practical world (4,4) - REAL LIFE [CD]
3 - A complaint for an officer in charge (5) - {COL}{IC}
4 - Mentally slow but so English, however (6) - OBTUS*{E}
5 - Watchman dispatched home by the Spanish (8) - {SENT}{IN}{EL}
6 - A medic ate foolishly, became extremely thin (9) - EMACIATED*
7 - It gave protection to a dueller (6) - ARMOUR [E]
8 - Racing boats, small, trailed by rejected creatures (6) - {S}{CULLS}
9 - No more a child (5) - ADULT [E]
15 - Pleasure trip for an ex? Right, travelling with cousin (9) - {EX}{CU{R}SION*}
17 - The way to order, picking and choosing from the menu (1,2,5) - A LA CARTE [E]
18 - Gandhiji was one (8) - GUJARATI [E]
21 - Fashionable attempt to accept objective (6) - {TR{END}Y}
22 - In the wheel it could be hindrance (5) - SPOKE [DD]
23 - Fabric designed by Hiram with love (6) - M{O}HAIR*
24 - Writings, like those of Elia (6) - ESSAYS [CD]
26 - It could be 4 or acute or just right (5) - ANGLE [CD]
GRID
Hi all
ReplyDeleteSome nice ones today. A few tricky ones too.
I liked 1A, 10A, 29A, 15D, 26D and others.
The last one to fall was 18D. With crossings of ?U?A?A?I, I was looking for a word ending with ...VADI on the lines of Ahimsavadi to describe Gandhiji. Then GUJARATI dawned on me.
Is Sankalak's quote getting over today? Maybe another two days?
Richard
The last line should read: 'Is Sankalalk quota..'
ReplyDeleteRichard
Hi Richard,
ReplyDeleteAS usual you are first off the blocks in the comments section.
We have one more day with Sankalak before we get off to a Monday start with NJ, a terrible way to begin the week though
13 across is a DD
ReplyDeleteMeaning:
1. Religious
2. A kind of religious song originated by Blacks in the southern United States.(Word Web)
Deepak, you may have hit upon 28A and 3D in a split-second, they being army-related. A link to REARGUARD would have made interesting read.
ReplyDeleteRichard
@Richard: 11A, 16A & 27A are also army/navy related!
ReplyDelete@ Sandhya, you are certainly more alert and agile.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Good morning, got everything today. 18D was a good one.
ReplyDelete@Richard,
ReplyDeleteWell your observation is correct those two came immediately.
As regards a rearguard action, this is something that we don't talk about too much in tha army as it is mostly related to a retreat operation of war, something which no army would want to do
Deepak, sorry to have asked it. I would have avoided shooting the unpleasant query, had I known earlier.
ReplyDeleteRichard
Can someone explain why daily is 'char' in 10A?
ReplyDeleteThanks
@Pip....'
ReplyDeleteChar is the shortform of Charwoman (also daily help) a person who is paid to come regularly and help with the housework .
Thanks, Colonel. This blog has really helped me revive my enthusiasm for THC. Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteThanks,colnel.Second time i successfully solved whole crossword .Also to Richlas,suresh,chaturvasi,sandya,schuchi and others for their fruitful dicussion enable me to reach this stage.
ReplyDelete@Pip..
ReplyDeleteIt's a pleasure to see a lot of people revive their enthusiasm for the THC after the article which appeared in the Metro Plus supplement of The HINDU
@Svemuri,
The day is not far off when you will be able to complete the CW on a daily basis, NJ and Manna notwithdtanding
Col,
ReplyDelete24D :What's the connection with Elia?
Otherwise, writings can be essays ( DD).
@Sadaiyappan,
ReplyDeleteEssays of Elia is a collection of essays written by Charles Lamb; it was first published in book form in 1823, with a second volume, Last Essays of Elia, issued in 1833 by the publisher Edward Moxon.
See details at the following link ESSAYS OF ELIA
Thanks, Colonel.
ReplyDeleteI am unable to appreciate "angle" as a solution to 26 D. Regards Sridhar Chari
ReplyDeletechari.sridhar1948@gmail.com
Sridhar, 4D is obtuse.What is obtuse, acute or right? ANGLE
ReplyDeleteRead about this blog on Hindu Metro plus and got enthused..to start solving the crosswords again..used to do it regularly 4 years back when i was in college..!
ReplyDelete@ suresh- Dint understand 26D still.. how do 4 and angle go together? 4 does not lead us 4D right?
Also, do people on this forum use sites like www.oneacross.com? it allow us to type in a pattern to solve the answer..i usually resort to this website when there are couple of leftovers like SCULLS and COLIC which are not in my vocab!! But I feel using such websites spoils the whole fun...
OMG..was just ruminating..and got it.. 4 tells us to look at the clue 4 down..!
ReplyDeleteGot the funda now..!
@Ravi,
ReplyDeleteI cannot vouch for everyone but I personally do not use word pattern searches, because as you yourself have mentioned it spoils the fun of solving.
What I normally do is based on the crossings I take the best possible fit based on experience and try to find the meaning of the word, generally I find that I am correct, when I can't find anything I leave it blank till someone more experienced and clued up like Chaturvasi or Shuchi come along and provide the answer.
I fully agree with you, Deepak.
ReplyDeleteI wish the name of the pattern-finder site was not revealed here. Now on there will always be this temptation of having a peek into it to look for an answer, much before one's cerebral resources and recourses are exhausted.
However hard you may try to resist the temptation, you know, as they have a saying in most of our languages: 'Mind is a Monkey' - meaning it is difficult to control it. (Do I correctly remember the name of a Malayalam movie 'Manam Oru Korengu' which conveys the same idea? Some Malayali friend can corroborate this.)
Richard
The most web snooping I have done are a dictionary / thesaurus reference and, the ubiquitous google. Helps me get the last few except maybe 3-4 clues at which point the Col. or the other commenters here help out.
ReplyDeleteI have found that as I do these crosswords more and more, I solve one or two in a puzzle based on word play alone and then google the word on the web to see if indeed a word such as the clue threw up even exists - probably the most satisfying way for me to solve a clue.
char may well be short for charwoman. Talking of Indian girls, He could have gone all the way and used 'Charulata' instead of plain ol' Lata :) C was Satyajit Ray's most admired film.
ReplyDelete