8 - Tense situations in card games having meaningful recourses (8,7) - {P{RESSURE CO*}OKERS}
10 - Skipper gains nothing leaving out a legend (7) - CAPT
11 - Select a jury and urge to take up article (7) - {IMP{AN}EL}
12 - Country field (4) - AREA [DD]
13 - Blowing up one country containing Florida (9) - {I}{N{FL}ATION}
17 - Left out one dry person in upcoming presentation (7) - {OM{I}{TT}ED<-}
19 - Militants behave in a certain way with one viewpoint, disregarding another at first (9) - {ACT{I}{V}{IST}S}
21 - A fielder's mistake (4) - SLIP [DD]
24 - False alarm: one's contracted a disease (7) - {MALAR*}{I}{A}
25 - Firm calling for a check on worker (7) - {A}{DAM}{ANT}
26 - Do badly at the polls and soothe clientele, fuming (4,3,8) - LOSE THE ELECTION*
1 - He covers the policeman's back for some time (5) - {E{POC}H} <-
2 - Farmer's death (6) - REAPER [DD]
4 - Attires tenants wore; neither here nor there (9,5) - TRANSIENT STATE*
5 - Plug and play endlessly, hand spectacles first (6) - {H}{OO}{PLA
6 - Others stand around broken line to sign up again (8) - {RE{ENLI*}ST}
7 - Deviously plead insane (losing one's name) and walk (9) - ESPLANADE
9 - Prime suspect to stall policeman (5,9) - {CHIEF} {CON}{STABLE}
14 - Equipment for model to learn to walk around (9) - {T}{READ}{MILL}
16 - Accelerator in vehicle from foreign country not right one on road (8) - {CA
18 - Cite popular position (8) - {IN}{STANCE}
20 - To a great extent it is in conformance with the truth (6) - {VER{IT}Y}
22 - Writing with a rightist leaning (6) - ITALIC [CD]
23 - One works for a dictator? (5) - STENO [CD] Was foxed by the Dictator till the end!!
Had to republish the whole thing
ReplyDeleteMessage from Spiffytrix posted late last night is reproduced below.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for the wishes and blessings. It really means a lot to us. Both mother and kiddo are doing great.
Very heartening to know that most of you enjoyed this month's quota. Thanks for the kind words and the effusive praise
Reg 24 A - Lets just say I believe in the policy of 'Hum do hamare do' :)
@Col - Request transmit this message to the bloggers who may have missed the post due to the unearthly hour of posting.Congrats on breaching the landmark of 3 lacs foot prints.
Comments section playing peekaboo, another good puzzle today.
ReplyDeleteThe anno for ACTIVISTS was posted by CV in the orkut blog. ACT(I VIST(-a) S)
wasn't thrilled w/ Crytpo's CW today.
ReplyDelete12A: AREA was too vague for a DD... Country=area? IMHO, DDs should be explicit, especially such short 2 word ones.
13A: I would think that 'Blowing up' should be INFLATING... not TION...
Otherwise, very well constructed, clever clues. I wish there were a handful of simple ones to help kick start the CW... I didn't make it over the hump in the first 20-30 mins, and had to abandon it...
Bhavan,
ReplyDeleteI had to copy-paste intoa new post and republish for the comments link to reappear!!
@Colonel: in the "reactions" section is there a way to see the breakup of selections ?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deepak for the Quick-fix.
ReplyDeleteJust repeating what I posted today morning in yesterdays post:
So what say, carry on here till, things are hunky dory:
Hi
Another nice one from Tony. STENO NOTES*. The REAPER reminded of the short story The Scythe by Bradbury. ACT(I V IST)S was nice. Specific inclination towards REC-LEAN and ITALIC. Bad grammar but I LOVES to SOLVE*.
Sandhya, replied to your post on S&B2 in THCC families.
BTW, a small doubt (this is a favourite line when clients ask doubts, for they fear a big doubt will encourage billing):
ReplyDeleteThere is a Reactions: Outstanding, Satisfactory, Poor, poll just below the comments button. Is this poll on the CW or on the contents of the Col's post or on the blog as a whole ?
DDS, not only you, Spiffy too wants ...
ReplyDeleteOff to office. Late today. Had a night out on the tiles yesterday.
ReplyDeleteBhavan @ 9:30,
ReplyDeleteBreakups cannot be seen. I can add delte the number of reactions. Do you feel there should be different reactions?
Kishore @ 9:44,
The reactions pertain to that day's post, I added it while I was trying to find out what happened to the comments
@Colonel, that is a good addition. I thought one more in "good" between outstanding and satisfactory might provide middle ground.
ReplyDeleteCol
ReplyDeleteThe number of options are insufficient, I believe. In my opinion,
Outstanding
Excellent
Very good
Satisfactory
Poor
Terrible
:D
Shyam,
ReplyDeleteOutstanding and Excellent are the same, so are Poor & Terrible
Thanks Bhavan, I have added Good
ReplyDeleteGood one today. While STENO came straight away, Death the Reaper evaded me for a while. Maybe the third Deathly Hallow or invisibility cloak at work.
ReplyDeleteFor rating purposes I would rat it as excellent
ReplyDeleteHari, The blowing up of a bubble would be the same as saying the inflation of a bubble
ReplyDeleteMy post @10:24. I did not mean to rat an excellent crossword, nor rate it. Only wanted to rate it.
ReplyDelete@Hari, there is no problem with INFLATION meaning blowing up. Suresh's example is apt.
ReplyDeleteWanted to ask this the other day but forgot - how many clues or answers on average are needed to consider a puzzle to be theme based ? At least 50% ?
ReplyDelete50% would be too much. I feel around 25% would be sufficient.
ReplyDeletenice one
ReplyDeletebut foxed on many clues...I am tuned with the term Head constable and got stuck on there for a while..
on the whole a good one.but could have been better if i left with two or three empty grids unlike a more than half a dozen left blank.
as hari said some easy pickings always keep me going.
col: it is a nice addition...
mathu.
Col, on reactions....
ReplyDeleteNice addition!!! Just felt that "Poor" is a bit too harsh. Thought it'd be nicer if it was something less critical or harsh like say "Don't know" or "Meh."
Agree with Deepak. Even 20% is enough to make it a themed puzzle. Taking around 30 clues per crossword this would mean 5 to 8 clues.
ReplyDeletePoor is definitely required for someone special
ReplyDeleteVJ Some Manna and NJ clues certainly can be termed poor or worse. Like in the last Manna session, one of the crosswoods was definitely poor
ReplyDeleteAccording to Deepak, in answer to my question as to who is being rated:
ReplyDeleteThe reactions pertain to that day's post, I added it while I was trying to find out what happened to the comments
I feel that if we are rating Deepak's post, the last option does not arise at all. However, if the setter is being rated, like many seem to be doing and like doing, and if we are chary of using poor or terrible, then we can use a cryptic 'unrich'.
Deepak, above does not mean that I think all the options, other than poor, are applicable. Just keeping the options open for people who want to vote.
ReplyDeleteKishore you are going around in circles. Wonder what you are trying to say
ReplyDeleteLemme make it clear:
ReplyDeleteIf Deepak wants us to rate his performance, I think most of us cannot even think of rating it as good, satisfactory or bad. Even on the days when some clues get left over (we all know the reason for this) his performance is always superlative.
If we are rating the setter, then all the options are open.
I brought this up because his comment at 1003 gives me an impression that 'day's post' is being rated and not the setter, while subsequent posts by others (including Deepak at 1109) were rating setters.
If not absolutely clear above, I do not want to communicate that a bad setter is outstanding when Deepak's post is outstanding and similarly communicate poor for Deepak's post when the setter is poor.
ReplyDeleteKishore @ 9.46
ReplyDeleteAll the best to Spiffy..
Is plural vaild for the answer of 1A?
ReplyDeleteKishore, I agree with you. I think nobody here would feel the need to rate Col's posts. They're always impeccable. Even on days when setters have not been helpful, he brightens things up with his sharp remarks.
ReplyDeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteLet me clarify my incorrectly worded 10:03 post.
The reactions are ratings for the quality of the Crossword of that day and not my post.
Reaction to the crossword is one thing and reaction to the blog is another.
ReplyDeleteIf it's a write-up by the blogger on some topic or the other, 'reaction' would automatically mean reaction to the blogger's post.
However, this blog is on a crossword.
And reaction to the blog will not vary at all: it's good and nothing else.
Deepak, if he can alter 'Reactions' and if the number of characters is admissible, can say 'Reactions to crossword'.
If that is not possible, every day he can add a sentence below the last Down clue/solution (from a clip software) "Reactions below are to the day's crossword"
I believe that the Col's classifications are OK: no further grades need be added.
Another suggestion would be to remove the scores in parantheses. Are they out of 10 or what? The classifications alone would do.
As VJ says, 'poor' may perhaps be removed and the grades stopped with 'Satisfactory'. If it is less than that, we don't mark at all!
All these are only suggestions from a regular reader/follower and the blogger is free to do whatever he wishes.
I have just realised that the figures within brackets are the number of clicks done on any classifications by readers.
ReplyDeleteCan the same person click and click again to boost a particular grade?
CV Yes you refresh the page and click again, it happens
ReplyDeleteSo someone can really muck up the vote if he wants to
ReplyDeleteSo IOW, this poll can easily be rigged!
ReplyDeleteSame person can click on any of the reactions any number of times.
ReplyDeleteI feel the reactions are handy for those who can only make a flying stop at this blog or those who are silent visitors to have their say.
The count in the parenthesis is merely an indicator of the number of people who have voiced an opinion.
Yay for the new Reactions option.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind Poor as rating - not marking at all does not convey the same, it might look like there were fewer visitors to the site that day.
Is there a way to restrict it to only one click per person? I know from past experience that such ratings can get rigged!
@Suresh, @VJ : I may be wrong, but I don't think Colonel's intention was to poll and then debate the relative merits of the votes cast.
ReplyDelete@VJ 1245 - yes..n tony can do really bad at the polls ;-)
ReplyDeleteLiked 9A - CHIEF CONSTABLE the best today.
ReplyDeleteBhavan, I was merely pointing out.....
ReplyDelete@Suresh, @VJ : I may be wrong, but I don't think Colonel's intention was to poll and then debate the relative merits of the votes cast
ReplyDeleteThe intention as I see it is to get a view on how everybody feels about the crossword. If it is rigged it serves no purpose
@Bhavan: I agree but even unintentionally, feedback in hard numbers gives rise to instant comparisons and the possibility of wrong use.
ReplyDeleteIf it gets used fairly by visitors, all's well.
@VJ, @Suresh : agree about the rigging.
ReplyDeleteSince we don't as such "log in" to this blog, it might be hard to do some sort of store and check of the ids to enforce one vote per user.
@Shuchi : I hope that too, that visitors click judiciously.
ReplyDeleteThe reactions section is a predefined widget on the page and the only customizations allowed are changing the label "Reactions" and modifying the number and labels of the actual reaction options.
Liked 16D as well.
ReplyDeleteVehicle = CAR
Foreign country = ITALY
Not right one = remove the R from CAR
Road = ST
Question in mind = How come the I from ITALY is also removed?
On further thought, I saw that "Not right one" could also mean removing R and I.
ACCELERATOR = CATALYST
Cleverely set Tony !
Anyhow, no confusion today: Both CW and Blog are Excellently Extraordinarily Enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deepak, for the clarification. I just wanted to confirm my reading of the situation.
ReplyDeleteI get a lot of problems when I log on the blog with windows (particularly when I come to the comments part)whereas it is absolutely normal with Mozilla Firefox.Is it a problem with my computer or a common phenomenon? Need some expert advise.
ReplyDeleteThe reactions cannot be rigged. Only one vote per IP address is possible. I tried it, initially the number within the parentheses increases but on refreshing the page it goes back to the old number. Just try it out and let me know, cause if someone can put in multple entries then I shall remove the widget.
ReplyDeleteThe reaction widget is only to see the general reaction to the day's crossowrd and not to make any comparisons.
ReplyDeleteLike I have mentioned above please make multiple tries and let me know if the numbers stay increased once you refresh the page.
Deepak
ReplyDeleteIt is unreliable.
The number increases on double clicks but when the page refreshed it becomes one less ignoring the second click. But this does not seem to be consistent.
Also, suppose the same person from the same machine double clicks 'Outstanding' the second click may be ignored. But this person can also click all the other grades one after the other and each of these becomes increased by one.
Does not seem to be quite reliable.
Conclusion:
ReplyDeleteDouble click may not be possible on the same category.
But the same person can click each of the category and up it by one.
After reading the post, I realised my "anno" for 15A was from the definition itself. I was wondering what {RE}{CLEAN} had to do with a list of records. :D
ReplyDeletePadmanabhan@18:37,
Could you please expand upon the problems you're facing?
Colonel,
For people like me who use dynamic IP addresses, all it takes is to turn the modem/router off and then back on to change our public IP address. I'm not suggesting that there is someone out there with an agenda, but simply letting you know of a possibility. :)
I use IE and do not have any prob with the blog/comments. Maybe Pad mentions the peculiar non-appearance of Comments at 8-30 a.m. today when he might have used IE - that was a prob with the Blogger itself and settled afterwards -when Pad might have tried with FF.
ReplyDeleteChaturvasi@20:04
ReplyDeleteBut this person can also click all the other grades one after the other and each of these becomes increased by one.
I actually tried this with a couple of categories. After selecting "Good" and page refresh, I clicked on "Satisfactory." While it instantly went up by one, after another refresh, "Good" had gone down by one. So it knows what I have voted for, allows me to change my vote, but gives me only one vote (as it should).
I tried clicking all, once in R to L and once in L to R sequence. It looked like all clicks were retained. Maybe some one else was also trying. Also, the possibility of multiple log in from same IP may be considered. In the process, I am afraid some of us have probably given some fodder to the counter for 'poor' too.
ReplyDeleteSo Tony, pardon the gang for fiddling with your scores.
I get the problem in the evening too.What happens is when I click comments the page gets locked in one position.I am unable to either scroll down or even close.But this happens only with Internet explorer.No problem with Firefox.
ReplyDelete