Saturday 6 November 2010

Special 1, Saturday 06 Nov 10, Diwali special

NOTE FOR TODAY
1 - EACH COMMENTER IS ALLOWED TO SUBMIT TWO ANSWERS WITH ANNOTATIONS ONLY
2 - GRID HAS BEEN PROVIDED BELOW. 
3 - THE MAIN POST WILL BE CONTINUOUSLY UPDATED IF I AM AT HOME, SHOWING THE ANSWERS GIVEN AND AVAILABLE CROSSINGS FOR THE UNSOLVED CLUES.(Not being done as Grid is provided)
4. NAME OF SETTER WILL BE REVEALED BY THE SETTER AT AN APPROPRIATE TIME TO BE DECIDED BY THE SETTER BASED ON THE RESPONSE.
Happy solving.

ACROSS
6   - Uh, a malpractice is cured by a medicine (14) - PHARMACEUTICAL*
9   - One weasel hesitantly I admit ownership of (6) - {ER}{MINE}
10 - Rich enough duck, to dwell haphazardly (4-2-2) - WELL-T(O)-DO*
11 - In a sci-fi, St.Mêlée has the measure of an archer (8) - FISTMELE [T]
13 - A trial photograph might also be a help during a trial (1,5) - A PROOF [DD]
15 - Leave a horse or 2 may be (3,3) GET OFF [CD]
17 - Nothing thick in this Danish city (6) - {O}{DENSE}
19 - Indian Father's weapon is against the sound of violins? (6) - AHIMSA (~ non violence(~violins))
20 - Rosewater made up of water and Sun (8) - {HYDRO}{SOL}
22 - Christen another thief or a sneak (8) - SNITCHER*
24 - 100 radii spin around for the poet (6) - {C}{IARDI*}
26 - Affected by fear, time lapses deceive headless men (6-8) - {T}{ERROR S}{TRICK}{mEN}
DOWN
1   - A fair opportunity to succeed in the game (8,6) - {SPORTING} {CHANCE}
2   - Thanks to the team for travelling by this (4) - {TA}{XI}
3   - Tie the brat to nameless Eden block.(6) - {IMP}{EDEn}
4   - Scramble out East of Rue deVilla losing energy to see the French artist (8) - VUILLARD(-e-e)*
5   - In a quaint way it isn't so (4) - AINT [T]
7   - Cried loudly swapping the hot head for cold-hooded (6) - (-h+c)COWLED
8   - Sound registration. Hastily aired during arrangement of a muffled coo. (5,9) - AUDIO RECORDING*
12 - Feline swallowing a note is the sign (5) - {TO{TE}M}
14 - The shape of zero is a starr (5) - {RING}{O}
16 - These in a bonnet could denote the achievement of the lady (8) - {FEAT}{HERS}
18 - Craving for xxx to take small drop off the unknown (6) - {THIR{S}Ty}
21 - Remove from chair? To the listener it is a pretence (6) - DECEIT (~deseat)
23 - Decorative strips are made by breaking up the riot (4) - TORI*
25 - Tutankhamen's heart would be an ideal place to sport this (4) - ANKH [T]

SOLUTION

117 comments:

  1. My 2

    6A - PHARMACEUTICAL*
    9A - {ER}{MINE}

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am going out and shall review the restriction of 2PP at 10 AM

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  3. 2d: TAXI - TA (thanks) + XI (side) &Lit

    14d: RINGO - RING (the shape?) + O (zero) charade def: 'starr' should s be capitalised?

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  4. I can make a guess about the setter.
    Can our guesses be put out here?

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  5. 1D {SPORTING} {CHANCE}
    4D VUILLARD (-e e)

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  6. CV,
    No guesses, the setter wants it kept secret.

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  7. 24A CIARDI* c+radii* -John Anthony Ciardi (1916 - 1986), American poet,
    8D {AUDIO RECORDING}* aired+during+coo*

    I too can guess the name of the setter. But Deepak seems to be away from desk to give approval.

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  8. Deepak
    There is a query by Veer under yesterday's post about the planned S&B II.
    I would like to say that as of now I intend to come and I am making travel arrangements later today.
    Two other persons living in Chennai have told me personally that they would also come.
    That makes four, including yourself.

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  9. FYI: Clues to ET & The Telegraph crosswords have been put up on Orkut.

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  10. The setter can keep it secret but why expect us to keep secret our guesses? After all, they are guesses! Anyway, I shall abide by your ruling.

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  11. C'vasi 08:53 Me too at S&B II, Bangalore on Nov 28.

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  12. 16d - FEATHERS

    achievement - feat
    lady - hers

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  13. 26A (T)(ERROR S)(TRICK)([-m]EN)
    3D (IMP)(EDE[-n])

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  14. 5D AINT (T)
    25D ANKH (T)

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  15. I am afraid ANKH is not exactly the 'heart' of the fodder word.

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  16. Will "of the lady" give HERS?
    I thought it would and in fact posted a message approving that, but I am not sure.
    I am reconsidering the issue. Input from anyone else is welcome.

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  17. So we have a setter who knows his/her grammar!

    @CV - "These" also indicate that the clue should be plural.

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  18. hers = of her = of the lady (as 'her' can be = the lady)
    I think 'of the lady' can yield HERS.
    Comments from others welcome.

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  19. Some really nice clues. Liked 13A, 19A, 1D, 12D etc. 21 is a cleverly constructed clue.

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  20. 20 AC: HYDRO{SOL}
    22 AC: SNITCHER*

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  21. CV: 924: I agree it is not exactly at the center.But then neither is the heart at the center of the body. And ANKH fits with the Egyptian period of Tut and the grid. So, I thought I would go with it.

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  22. "I agree it is not exactly at the center.But then neither is the heart at the center of the body."

    Wow! I wish crossword manual writers and those who insist on others following their self-determined rules following their own logic and reason read this.
    We must not see in others what we have in us.

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  23. Accepted cryptic convention (at least based on what I have read in books like the Chambers XWD Manual or Ximenes and the Art of the XWD and other blogs / opinions of setters etc..) does require that the heart of a word implies removing letters equally from both ends - so in that sense, ANKH is not the heart, atleast not completely. Clearly, the setter did intend for ANKH as the contained word in this case. I wonder if the Guardian would find it acceptable as opposed to the Times and hence justifiable.

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  24. Giridhar 08:55 A re-look on 13A required. It is a nice clue.

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  25. What did I miss ? I blame the late logging in on running weekend errands.

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  26. @Bhavan - lots more left to solve..u hvn't missed on anything yet

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  27. http://dailydozen.blogspot.com/2010/11/gridfills-so-far-on-cols-blog.html

    The above link takes you to a grid wherein the solutions so far have been entered.

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  28. AHIMSA is correct.
    Then is CARET admissible?

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  29. Despite Kishore's completely plausible explanation for ANKH, I guess it is simply a lapse as noted correctly by CVasi and Veer.

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  30. 13A The answer is not A CARET. I really liked this clue.

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  31. As noted above, forget the rules.
    Someone has written about 'heart' above and if the setter too followed the same logic, I defend him/her.
    After all, the crossword is not for publicationin any UK outlet or even local publication.
    I did cite the rule but if the setter followed the same logic above and wrote the clue, I respect him.
    We raise objections to so many of published setters. If those persons offer an explanation in defence of their clues, I will certainly listen to them.

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  32. Thanks, Richard.
    I didn't enter the word CARET in the grid on my blog.
    I haven't solved it as I have not considered it.

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  33. Folks
    12 d is yet to be solved.

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  34. Just a moment's consideration and I got it!

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  35. Mathematical terms like bisect, halve etc a precise meaning. But words like heart, middle, amidst, may have fuzzy meaning. Is Gandhinagar in the heart of Bangalore or is MG Road in the heart? Or does Bangalore have cardiomegaly ?

    Why! I will dispute my own first sentence of this post. The mathematical term 'center' while precise center for a circle is known to many, any guesses on the number of possible centers for triangles.

    You would have heard of incentre, circumcentre, orthocentre and centroid in high school geometry. But it would be surprising to many that there are more than 3000 possible centres.

    Please refer ETC for more details

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  36. CV 1018 I got it, but cannot tom-tom it in view of 2pp

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  37. 15a - Leave a horse or 2 may be (3,3) GET OFF
    18d - Craving for xxx to take small drop off the unknown (6) THIR{S}TY

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  38. 6 more to be solved. If nothing more comes in by 10:30 AM everyone is allowed one more
    I am still not at my desk as Richard says.

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  39. 20 - Rosewater made up of water and Sun (8) Hydrosol

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  40. Addendum: Precise number as of today is 3597

    3597

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  41. OK, It is past 10:30

    Round two from me - 13A A PROOF - a trial photograph and a help during a (court) trial.

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  42. No.3

    12d TO(TE)M

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  43. Richard, 10.30 is not past 10.30 :-)

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  44. My PC clock showed 10:30. There seems to be discrepancy of a minute between my clock and the blog.

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  45. I bet nobody in Kishore's house ever asks him for the time, for he would never give them a straight answer. Instead, he'll couch the answer in a math problem and expect them to figure it out. His wife probably shakes her head in utter dismay and laments why she ever asked HIM, in the first place. Ain't that right, Kishore? :-)

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  46. Both TOTEM and DECEIT (the question mark in the middle serving as a red herring!) were nice clues.

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  47. Satya 1034: That's funny, but for a fact, I do not wear a watch, except when I am flying.

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  48. And the riposte to my observation about Richard's timing could have been 10.30.01 is also after 10.30.00, though the display does not show it. :-)

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  49. Bhavan 1042: I thought of Tori as plural of Torus and guess what you get when you Google Tori Strips. ;-)

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  50. Deepak, many deletions in the comments box. If you can remove the stubs, we will know the exact number of comments. Thanks.

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  51. @bhavan - how is it TORI? unable to find an explanation for that...

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  52. Kishore,

    The fact that you don't wear a watch makes perfect sense. Why would you need a watch when you can simply look at the length of a shadow and figure out the azimuth, know the precise location of the sun in the sky, make an adjustment for the time of the year, and go, "huh! It's already 9:27:43, eh?" :-)

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  53. I thank each one of you for taking part enthusiastically.

    @Colonel: it was very gracious of you to agree and run this crossword at my request.

    I take entire responsibility for all mistakes in clueing.

    ANKH was an oversight on my part and I cannot take credit for Kishore's line of thought regarding heart being off-center.

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  54. When he's flying he wears two watches, one on each hand, with the two hands crossed in front of him (so that the faces of the watches are visible) like those model models launching new brands.
    One is IST, the other is time at his destination.
    His pocket watch constantly adjusts itself to to the time in the land/sea over which he flies.

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  55. Wonderful work, Bhavan. From the heart :-)

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  56. Kishore @10.46 : Haven't googled, but can imagine : )

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  57. David John @ 10.47 : A torus is a kind of moulding or decorative strip. The plural form is TORI.

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  58. @Richard, I would love to know your initial guess : )

    @CVasi : Yours too !

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  59. Bhavan, so it is you who set this? Congratulations!
    I had made two guesses. One of them was your name.
    !

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  60. Thanks Bhavan. But loved 21D, t'was the best of the lot!

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  61. So, ... That was Bhavan who set the crossword. Wow! Awesome, my friend.

    NJ must be shaking in her pumps.

    Jokes aside, awesome work. Please accept my congratulations.

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  62. David John : Thank you.

    Even Colonel mentioned in the e-mail we exchanged that he liked 21D.

    Looking at the responses here, I'm glad I changed the initial word I had in mind (DACOIT) at the last minute.

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  63. @Satya : Thank you.

    Having been on the other side of the puzzle for once, I can't even begin to express the manifold respect I now have for setters like Gridman, Neyartha et al.

    It definitely is a tough balance to churn out puzzles while keeping the solvers from complaining.

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  64. CV: 1049 Oh no, I use UTC. Then I don't have to stop flapping.

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  65. Bhavan: Time you de-seat some other setter ...?

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  66. CVasi @ 8.44 - 14d: RINGO - RING (the shape?) + O (zero) charade def: 'starr' should s be capitalised?

    It should be, but I took the license to use it this way as a deflection.

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  67. Richard I need to get home to remove all the deletions, doing it from this iPhone is a pain.
    Now that all the answers are in there is one more thing to detect in the CW.

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  68. Apropos Ring: I quote Roald Dahl regarding telephoning in China:

    The country is so full of Wings and Wongs that every time you wing you get a wong number.

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  69. Kishore @11:04, laughing my ahem off.

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  70. Kishore @ 11.01 : Once was TAXIng enough : )

    At the risk of sounding blasé, I wonder even more about NJ now. She creates them by the dozen and more often than not uses misshapen grids.

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  71. Bhavan, I had Chaturvasi too in mind.

    CV: Speaking of two watches, I was reminded of an Ajit joke. His minions catch a police informer and bring him over him. When asked what punishment could be meted out to him, Ajit says in his trademark style: Usko mAr dAl ne pehle uske dono hAthon par ek ek ghadi bAndh lo. TA ke woh do ghadi ka mehmAn ho jAyegA !

    The flavour may be lost it is translated into English.

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  72. Unfortunately I am not at home to put in all the answers and post the solution grid which would make things clear

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  73. Colonel @ 11.12, at CVasi's blog if the remaining answers are entered, it might make it easy. Or like you mentioned when you return home.

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  74. Deepak 11:12 NINA is IT'S A FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS!

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  75. Sorry Bhavan, I was so thrilled and posted your NINA. Is it OK or did you want to wait until all answers appeared on CV's blog?

    It was easy for me to spot the NINA as I got a printout of the grid and the clues soon after 8-30 this morning.

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  76. That's it Richard.
    Bhavan, thanks for the entertaining CW

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  77. When I prepared 11:29 post, I had not refreshed the page and was not aware of your 11:21 post.

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  78. The TOI cryptic will appear at 4 PM. I will be back at 6 pm only as I am off for Golf

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  79. That's ok Richard, the Nina is meant to be detected

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  80. At 4 pm, tee-time for you and tea-time for us ! :-)

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  81. en-LIGHT-ening, Bhavan, real festival fare when compared to some insipid stuff we get !

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  82. @Richard : Not a problem. Like the Colonel said it was meant to be discovered.

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  83. Bhavan
    The rule is:
    A word/proper noun that deservedly requires an initial capital letter must have it in the clue.
    A word that does not usually require a capital letter may have it in the clue for any 'deflection' as you call it.
    To follow the first rule, setters will place that word in the beginning so it takes the capital letter even as there is some deflection.
    Any aspiring setter must read some manuals. Having set such a good puz, you, if you do that you will go places.

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  84. @CVasi, thanks for the explanation.

    I agree I have a lot to learn before I think of repeating this effort.

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  85. http://dailydozen.blogspot.com/2010/11/gridfills-so-far-on-cols-blog.html

    Go to the above URL to see the Nina.
    The grid shows all the answers, so please see it only if you are ready for it.

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  86. Hi Bhavan,

    A bit late to the party, but let me congratulate you on a very well crafted puzzle. The fact that you managed to insert a nina into the grid without resorting to the use of obscure or esoteric words speaks volume of your talents. WOuld absolutely love to see more such work from you.

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  87. Bhavan
    I know that having a Nina produces some constraints on the setter but we have to avoid entries such as A PROOF with A tagged on to it.
    Any phrase that has A as the initial word may be used in the grid thus.
    But we can't just add an A and put something in the grid.
    For example, there's the phrase A ROOM WITH A VIEW.
    With this title of book/film in mind, you can write a clue for the first two words after putting A ROOM in the grid.
    Just an example out of the top of my head to show how it works.

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  88. @Maddy : Thank you.

    @CVasi : As you rightly suspected, I worked myself into a corner because of the Nina.

    Needing a six letter word of the type A _ _ _ OF (because it was hard to fit any other word for Vuillard too) I couldn't think of too many alternatives.

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  89. David John
    Thank you for pointing out an error in the half-filled grid that I put up on my blog.
    I realised it when I filled up the grid in its entirety.
    The correct solution grid is up now.
    Apologies to anyone who might have been misled by my mistake.

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  90. Thanks Bhavan for this wonderful Crossword

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  91. Col,

    105 comments (and still going strong).
    Must be the new record.
    Beats NJ days.
    Bhavan, Congrats on setting a challenging CW. A bit of honing under the tutelage of CV and you will emerge an ace setter.

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  92. Back to the TORUS, you will know it is a doughnut shape. Which brings me to a machine with that shape (like our MRI etc) mentioned in a delightful short story 'Left to Right' by Isaac Asimov.

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/39496644/Isaac-Asimov-Left-to-Right

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  93. @Suresh : The pleasure is mine.

    @SR : That's an idea !

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  94. Bhavan, Congrats on setting a challenging CW. A bit of honing under the tutelage of CV and you will emerge an ace setter.

    I think he already is an ace setter

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  95. By the way, how do we italicise or make bold letters in the blog?

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  96. Suresh, you can use the < > and < /> with the letters b or i for bold or italics respectively.

    The letter u for underline is however not allowed. Probably because underlined text might be interpreted as links which blogspot is wary of.

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  97. Remember that in Orkut you put square barckets.
    Here the angle brackets that are shown above.
    Before the word you have to bolden, put the letter b within those brackets. Then at the end put slash and the letter b within the same brackets.
    So
    bold
    italic

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  98. Or u can select the word and press control b or control i for getting bo;d or italics.

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  99. Muthaiah,
    Ctrl b or Ctrl i will not work in the comments box

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  100. Bhavan

    Congratulations for setting an excellent crosword puzzle which had all the ingredients that we can wish.

    Came in late and by that time many have answered
    whatever little I could get.

    I did enjoy the discussion on each solved word
    and more so Satya's observation on Kishore's "time".

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  101. Bhavan,

    A good puzzle Congrats.

    Richard re 13 A CARET, yes that's why I had a question mark and could not get back to the puzzle until now.

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  102. @ Dr D Srinivasan : Thank you

    @ Giridhar : Thank you

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