ACROSS
1 - House to make adjustment (11) -
9 - I am back with foreign currency for a girl (7) - {M'I<-}{RAND}{A}
10 - Kind of family to which one Parisian is back completely (7) - {NU}{CLEAR}
11 - One in need of a fence, perhaps (5) - THIEF [CD]
12 - False representation of Dennis not starting with Eric in the running (9) - INSINCERE(-d)*
13 - Idol's false note in tune from the past (5) - {OLDI*}{E}
15 - A testing place's bloomer producing gypsum (9) - {A}{LAB}{ASTER}
18 - Big hit winning everything (5,4) - {GRAND} {SLAM}
21 - Prize for a prison division (5) - {A}{WARD}
22 - Name a pill at last after Florentine family that's famous for healing (9) - {MEDICI}{N}{A}{L}
24 - Something growing — good, rambling rose (5) - {G}{ORSE*}
27 - Daughter is taking wine to have fun (7) - {D}{IS}{PORT} New word for me
28 - Lobby for a new kind of school with caution signal (11) - {A}{N}{TECH}{AMBER}
DOWN
1 - Rob switches parts for moon man (9) - ARMSTRONG (from strongarm)
2 - One key or another I found in the kennel (5) - {C}{OR}{G}{I}
3 - Dime feline blasted in a dangerous situation (9) - MINEFIELD* Where did one E go? Should have been 'Dim feline'
4 - Instrument in a car damaged by none (7) - {O}{CARINA*} No damage seen here!
6 - One who has done some stretches (2-3) - EX-CON [CD]
7 - Deem it an awkward psychiatric problem afflicting old people (8) - DEMENTIA*
8 - Release without charge (4) - FREE [E]
14 - Late? O, it has no chance of success! (4,4) - {DEAD} {DUCK}
16 - Progress of wandering angel through a continent in painlessness (9) - {A{NALGE*}SIA}
17 - The sort of day for a communication from a Communist? (3-6) - {RED}-{LETTER}
19 - Easygoing Ellen I enticed partially (7) - LENIENT [T]
20 - Pleasant to listen to, MC introduces extremely nice and upcoming idol (7) - {M{E}{LODI<-}C}
22 - Agent leaves criminal city (4) - MALE
25 - Memory about hot, black figure (5) - {R{H}OM}{B}
Hi
ReplyDeleteIt was a RED LETTER day and I had just won a GRAND SLAM. Then I got DEMENTIA, then AMNESIA and walked through a MINEFIELD( not NUCLEAR) near LUCERNE and GORSE for DISPORT. Was ACCOMODATEd in A WARD with ANALGESIA. Over to you AVA, I am retiring from this line !
MEDICI-N-A-L, DEAD DUCK, CIRCA(-r), RHOMB and A-N-TECH-AMBER were cool. MELODIC OCARINA had to be Googled for confirmation. Thank God, the RED LETTER wasn’t French ! People in the US get the MIRANDA read to them when in trouble. Reminded of course of Bill’s Tempest and our own Mario (remember Ms Fonseca in her polka dot dress , and Ms Nimbupani in the strip (pun intended)?).
Fonseca
Fence with THIEF in 11a and EXCON reminded of John Creasey’s Baron series, though Mannering was never convicted and he was always FREE.
Neil is pushing 80, but is still alive, so Shuchi, was this kosher ? Of course, it ain’t The Times, and Rob Armstrong is no more. Incidentally , among Indians settled in western countries who want their kids’ names to straddle the culture of both the country of origin and domicile, prefer short names like these: Neil (~Neel), Tara (Gone with the Wind), Maya (or Maia as in Chiburdanidze, look her up VJ, chess creeps in again !), Anita, Nita (Jaggi??)...
Suprabhatam
ReplyDeleteWhat do we say about today's puzzle - a cakewalk, or a greasewalk (not slippery, though)? We are a hard-to-please lot out here, aren't we? If the puzzle is easy to solve, we resent. If it is tough, we crib. Phew!
ACCOMMODATE, MIRANDA, NUCLEAR, THIEF, INSINCERE, OLDIE, ALABASTER, GRAND SLAM, AWARD, MEDICINAL, GORSE, LUCERNE, DISPORT, A+N+TECH+AMBER (nice one), ARMSTRONG, CORGI, MINEFIELD (obviously a typo here), OCARINA (sounds like Oh! Karina Kapoor), AMNESIA, EX-CON (good one; btw, Kishore and AVA can continue to STRETCH their imagination and form a SENTENCE each every day, and it would be double delight for us), DEMENTIA, FREE, DEAD DUCK (very clever), ANALGESIA, RED-LETTER, LENIENT, MELODIC, MOLE (? - anno not clear, will check the blog now), CIRCA (did not know SARKAR can also be spelt as CIRCAR - could be a remnant of the Raj days), R{H}OM{B} - all fell smoothly.
22D - I took MOLE for an agent and fumbled for anno.
ReplyDeleteI had tried posting a link to a Ms Fonseca cartoon and it backfired because it was too long. Here it is:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2616/images/20090814261607302.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2616/stories/20090814261607300.htm&usg=__VErhN_4PhIsK0cv-rY0F7X1-3l0=&h=355&w=600&sz=58&hl=en&start=0&sig2=yy-NixNFmvpsz8bByQOrzQ&zoom=1&tbnid=DjR1rigYD0xdzM:&tbnh=114&tbnw=192&ei=cmSATJhQhYS8A639jL4E&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmario%2Bmiranda%2Bcartoons%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26hs%3Dr9M%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1296%26bih%3D647%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=432&vpy=284&dur=121&hovh=173&hovw=292&tx=131&ty=87&oei=3mOATOfFKYmEvgPqvdmOBA&esq=27&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:8,s:0
Col
ReplyDelete1 - House to make adjustment (11) - ACCOMODATE [DD]
It should be ACCOMMODATE with double M
Kishore, you may not have missed the omnipresent crow in Mario's cartoons.
ReplyDeleteThanks Venkatesh
ReplyDeleteOh it seems have worked after all !
ReplyDeleteRichard, you have a topic to write on, right on ! Ref CV2048 and my 2050 yesterday.
ReplyDeleteBurgio astana kavlyaka kityako poLoche, Patraõ ?
Kishore
ReplyDeleteThat link looks too intimidating and I am not using it. But is Miss Fonseca that office secretary in Mario cartoon, she wearing a polka dot skirt, with some of those dots curvy in certain places?
And Richard, I thought I could take the Golden Handshake and retire !
ReplyDeleteKishore 08:43 that will be later on, when the dust settles down...
ReplyDeleteCV: The very same, luscious, delectable one. BTW the link is active in my first post, so you just have to click to arouse old memories.
ReplyDeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to Mario's cartoons.
Richard: If I have to take the position for life, it would be pretty long sentence.
ReplyDeleteI really loved the Loutolim Sardessai's loutish cartoons.
ReplyDeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteAfter you mentioned John Creasey I opened his book A Kind of Prisoner and the very first sentence read: "Judy Ryall heard the ring at the front door bell..."
Which touched a raw nerve.
Recently I had used the words "front door bell" in a letter to the editor of the paper. They published it but the sub had struck off the word 'front'.
Friends (esp. Richard), aren't we miffed sometimes when the subs delete certain words which we use thoughtfully but they think they are redundant?
Chaturvasi, ex-copy editor
Deletion of 'front' will depend on the context of the sentence. In the above example if front is deleted the sentence becomes nonsensical however, if written as 'Judy Ryall heard the ring of the door bell...' it's ok to me.
ReplyDeleteDo we have something like a 'rear door bell'?
Ah! Deepak, Just as I was writing that note, the same thought struck me: Is there something like a 'rear door bell' or 'inner door bell'.
ReplyDeleteYet, I could not accept the sub's deletion of 'front' from my sentence.
Is it because of the writer's pride? I don't know!
It is always context. At my home, we have two door bells, as any visitor can verify. One is next to the front door and rings in the ground floor. The other is near the garage door and rings upstairs (it also has a two switch near the ground floor internal staircase). The inner switch of the upper bell is used to call anybody lurking upstairs for lunch etc. The outer switch of the same bell is used by us when there is no response to 'front door bell', i.e. there is no one on the ground floor, to alter persons on the first floor that there is somebody at the front door.
ReplyDeleteSo I would not fault CV or JC, if there is context. Also, sometimes writer's quirks bring in some extra verbiage, which subs should understand as part of the background colour and spice.
What complicated lives we lead !
Please read second instead of two in above.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of complication in our lives, for those who like that sort of thing:
ReplyDeleteAfter the new freeway was built, I could no longer use the gravel road that ran due north from my house to get to my favourite lake. Instead, I now either have to go due east to Underville to use the underpass there, and then straight on to the lake, or else due west to Overtown, over the overpass there and then straight on to the lake. Driving to the lake via Underville is twice as far as it was on the old gravel road. The other way, via Overtown, is three times as far as it was going straight north. The distance between Underville and Overtown is 39 km longer than it was from my house to the lake on the old gravel road.
How far was it from my house straight north to the lake?
This is from a monthly puzzle sent by Canadian Mensa..
http://www.canada.mensa.org/puzzleen.php
I got DISPORT and had to refer to the Dictionary. I only remember disport as being used by our shipping guys for discharge port
ReplyDeleteCV
ReplyDeleteThe link given by Kishore is perfectly safe.
We just have to copy and paste it in address. He has also provided it in his earlier post.
But, you might have already seen those cartoons which appeared in the Frontline.
CV
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of redundant words in medical books - like in Anatomy while describing structures, it is said 'ascend up', 'descend down'.
Working in The Hindu and its sister publication Frontline, you might have come across Shri BS Padmanabhan and Shri CV Gopalakrishnan. The former's sons Dr P Narasimhan (Consultant Intensivist in US) and P Sundararajan (Science Correspondent with The Hindu) were schoolmates and the latter's son G. Mohan was my classmate.
Shri BSP was very active even after retirement. He used to write an occasional column in The Hindu on economic issues. He took active interest in health subject and co-founded the Health Media Centre as a forum for interaction between Health Reporters and Medical experts. He porganised a number of training sessions on health subjects for reporters for more informed reporting on health matters. The Forum also provided access to health reporters (many of whom are Arts graduates) to crosscheck their facts before filing reports.
Once in the eighties, when I visited The Hindu office in Chennai, it was a pleasure to meet Shri CVG who dropped in to pick up some books for review.
Richard@8.31
ReplyDeleteIf I remember right, there was a CIRCAR EXPRESS which was spelt this way in the railway time-table. Venkatesh can confirm this.
Dr.Srinivasan. There is a Circar express, Chennai to Kakinada
ReplyDeleteDr Srinivasan
ReplyDeleteYou are right. 7643/7644 Circar Express runs between Chennai Central and Kakinada Port Railway Station.
7D,
ReplyDeleteMembers of this forum can take heart in the news scroll on BBC World here last evening that those who solve crosswords and puzzles are not easily afflicted by DEMENTIA...
Suresh,
ReplyDeleteThanks for was to is.
My next comment therefore takes a beating!
Read NORTHERN CIRCARS which should be the origin for the name Circar Express
ReplyDeleteThough Deepak has rightly pointed out the source of the name of the train, Northern Circars as the link notes, is again based on the word Sarkar, so we are back to square one. Of course, we had Upper and Central Province which morphed into UP and MP..
ReplyDelete25D
ReplyDeleteCol:
I didn't get the anno for ROM in Rhomb.
Can you explain?
Venkatesh
ReplyDeleteI have not met BSP, though I am quite familiar with his writings. CVG I knew and have talked to him as he had moved to Madras just at the time I joined the paper. Even before I joined TH, I used to run into him at the British Council library. Sundararajan I knew after I joined the paper, though he was Delhi-based.
Dr DS,
ReplyDeleteROM comes from computer technology ROM from 'Read Only Memory' and RAM from 'Random Access Memory'
Kishore 1044: Is the answer 26?
ReplyDelete3 Dn - In the nuclear blast some mass(E) is lost in the form of energy.
Thanks Col,
ReplyDeleteI didn't think on this angle for memory
Dear all
ReplyDeleteI felt a lot better today...Even some of my guess works met with considerable success. If it a cake walk for others i atleast completed the distance by 3/4th. Thanks to CV sirs' hint i started arriving answers before fill up the grids later scratch my head at the crossing. I was worried about the missing E in minefield and though i strongly believe arm i could not place how it fits. same goes for medicinal and could not match it with florentine family...all said and done a good puzzle and my morning was made...i filled antechamber and disport but by pure guesswork but good heavens i dont about ocarina.
Mathu
Kishore, from yesterday's post...
ReplyDeleteI'm still clueless on Baroque chess. I think will have to play at least a couple of games to get a hang of it. We'll surely play it when you're here. It's been ages since I played even the regular version of the game. I think I'd be happy if I last 20 moves :)
Wikied Chiburdanidze. Wow!!! I think it'd be tougher to spell her name than to beat her in a game of chess LOL. When I was following the game (that was in the 90s), the only female player I knew was Judith Polgar. And I wanted her to win every game she played :)
A dark puzzle today. We got thieves, ex-cons, criminals, dementia, amnesia, dead duck, minefield, a damaged car and so on... Even AWARD had to come with a prison division. hmmmm
ReplyDeleteholy crap! I didn't look at the answers all day, thinking i was going thro' a dark phase... and that finally, I'd see the light! I was still short 8-9 clues at the end... and looking at the answers now, I'm gonna say the unthinkable... I actually prefer NJ to today's grid! :)
ReplyDeleteLot's of good clues, but some complete stumpers spoiled it... not to mention a glaring error in 3D..
Anyway, hoping for better fare tomorrow! :)
VJ 1556: Baroque got further varied. What I play is called Ultima. Chib. was the youngest female GM in her times, I don't know if she still holds that position.
ReplyDeleteAfter all that talk of Miranda, I find in today's Bangalore ET 23a One who draws the laughts (10)
ReplyDeleteKishore @18.56
ReplyDeleteCARTOONIST ?
Hari @ 18:25,
ReplyDeleteIf NJ is reading this she must be in the 7th heaven!!Would you really prefer NJ to today's grid!!
Except for the error in 3D, which I am sure is a typo and not an error on Gridman's part, I don't feel that there is nothing else which is wrong in the CW as far as the annotations go.
Kishore
ReplyDeleteRef your missive to Richard:
Burgio astana kavlyaka kityako poLoche, Patraõ ?
Which language is this in? For all one knows, it may be in Haitian Creole.
Col
I don't feel that there is nothing else...
Your choice of double negatives is a surprise. Either don't has to be deleted or nothing becomes anything, if this sentence is to convey the intended meaning.
Muthaiah 1352: You are slightly wrong, one digit is correct and that is 6. The correct answer is 36. Further details (H=Home etc)
ReplyDeleteHL 36
UO 36+39=75
HU 27
UL =(27^2+36^2)^0.5=45
HUL = 27+45=72 ie 2HL
HO=UO-75=48
OL=(48^2+36^2)^0.5=60
HOL = 48+60=108 ie 3HL
Thanks for trying.
Contd: While I agree getting it right isn't everything, I would like to know your Modus operandi.
ReplyDeleteVenkatesh @19:16,
ReplyDeleteIn my post for 'nothing' read 'anything'
Venkatesh 1923: It is one of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian constitution
ReplyDeleteKishore
ReplyDeleteI know it is Konkani. But, can you tell us the meaning?
It is going to be four weeks this Sunday since the S&B met in Chennai. Immediately after the meet, Col said he had some good information (from a little bird) to share. Apparently none else present at the Meet knows this. It excited curiosity and many were the inspired guesses (and wishes).
ReplyDeleteHe has chosen not to share it. Let us leave him to incubate his precious news and wait for the appropriate delivery person.
Apropos Richard's mention of the ubiquitous crow in Mario's cartoons, I remarked : 'Why look at crows when there are girls, Sir' with ref to Fonseca and Nimbupani.
ReplyDeleteVenkatesh @ 22:07
ReplyDeleteFew hints were dropped about it however the much awaited titbit given by the little birdie has not fructified as yet. Shall let it dawn on everyone as and when it happens.
On little birdie thingy....
ReplyDeleteIf it were to happen, October 2, 2010 would be remembered for two reasons. I hope I got my math right.
Col @ 19:16
ReplyDeleteI suppose ur right Col. I guess I'm still unable to transition from one style to another as quickly as u guys! :-) Also, this is the first time I'm seeing usage of Hindi - circar?! :) I'm sure it's not uncommon, except for newbies like me. Hoping to do better today! Rah Rah! :)