Friday 31 December 2010

No 10039, Friday 31 Dec 10, M Manna

ACROSS
1   - Feel it's what distinguishes beginners from old hands (10) - EXPERIENCE [DD]
6   - A hat from an Asian country (4) - {THA*}{I}
9   - Fix old boy up with dummy pill (7) - {PLACE}{BO<-}
10 - Book for the big race? (7) - CLASSIC [DD]
12 - His meals arranged by tent dwelling nomad Arabs (8) - ISHMAELS*
13 - Arranged to nail English outsider (5) - {ALI{E}N*}
15 - Problem children! (5) - ISSUE [DD]
17 - Lamenting disorder, the drill sergeant insists on it (9) - ALIGNMENT*
19 - Throwing perhaps, a hundred into the rubbish dump (9) - {S{C}RAPHE{A}P*}
21 - Best explosive assembled by man of enormous strength (5) - TITAN* (ai+tnt)
23 - The top decoration for a woman (5) - TIARA [CD]
24 - Wandering makes wild boar roar (8) - {ABER*}{RANT} Another typo, BOAR for BEAR!!
27 - Decimal point of extreme force (7) - {IN,TENS}{E}
28 - Say if good man can remove the desire for more (7) - SATISFY* (say+if+st)
29 - At fault to grab clothing (4) - GARB*
30 - So camera shy it's almost unbearable? (4,2,4) - HARD TO FACE [DD]
DOWN
1   - Observe English agent collect information (4) - {E}{SPY}
2   - Softly lifts voice in worship (7) - {P}{RAISES}
3   - He in strange surroundings is cold (5) - {R{HE}UM}
4   - Acquit one vexatious pest found in the river (9) - {EX{ONE}{RAT}E}
5   - Sets the gun trigger mechanism ready to fire (5) - COCKS [CD]
7   - Hops around with some cold food at the hostel (7) - {HOSP*}{ICE}
8   - Irregular part of the main Constantinople area (10) - INCONSTANT [T]
11 - A profit on street or counter? (7) - {A}{GAIN}{ST}
14 - The leading article, or when one reads it in the morning? (5,5) - {FIRST} {THING} &lit
16 - Frank, caught in sex scandal to tell all (7) - {EX}{PLAIN} How does 's' get deleted.
18 - Awful mess pride produced, having made its mark (9) - IMPRESSED*
20 - Builder does not start to go round a nuclear device (7) - {eRE{A}CTOR}
22 - Is a unit to be reformed in Africa (7) - TUNISIA*
24 - Region around the north where it all happens (5) - {ARE{N}A}
25 - Proportion of fixed allowance curtailed (5) - RATIOn
26 - Place in Lebanon that may have to be blown up (4) - TYRE [DD]

51 comments:

  1. Hi
    Back into circulation. Bad skies. Erode road signs spied enroute. Nothing more to report.

    FIRST THINGS first. I had first come across HOSPICE in the Portuguese form Hospicio which is the name of a hospital in Margao. INTENSE (~in tens) and TYRE were best enjoyed. EX(ONE)(RAT)E was up to the mark, while it was HARD TO FACE that RATIO(-n) is same as proportion in 25a. I think good proof reading is a ‘bear’ necessity.

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  2. Hi Deepak, Noticed the new format of the Blog Archives. What does the colour coding represent?

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  3. I have no idea what the colour coding represents. I tried to figure it out but could not.

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  4. 16 - Frank, caught in sex scandal to tell all (7) - {EX}{PLAIN} How does 's' get deleted.

    Starting trouble ;-)

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  5. Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year.

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  6. To all crossword aficionados; Best wishes for a very happy and wonderful New Year. Happy solving.

    "The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution" - Stephen Sondheim.

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  7. Wish you all a very Happy New Year.

    About the colour coding: Visited links show in orange in the archives, links you've not visited in grey. @Colonel: This can be changed if you wish, in the template properties.

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  8. Bravo, S. That's it. What I visited from Kodai is still grey in my Bangalore desktop.

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  9. I don't think there's any mystery about 'colour coding' in the links under the Archives.
    If you've clicked on a link and read the post, the link turns red.
    I must add that any discrepancy/crepancy thereafter may have something to do with cookies in your browser and your options.

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  10. I have just learnt that my email friend Peter Biddlecombe has been appointed the crossword editor of The Sunday Times.
    He has said that he will no longer be blogging on crosswords. His website Times for the Times will now be managed by someone else.

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  11. Wishing all the bloggers a very happy,eventful,prosperous New Year.Nice puzzle to end the year with.Let us hope this is an indication of better things to come in future with the new year.
    A request to plan for the next S & B meet,maybe in the first quarter to enable those of us who have missed the earlier meets to catch up.

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  12. Happy to new year to one and all

    Is it MANNA or (GridLak). Many easy picking. Good and understandable on surface reading. Nice to end the year on a happy note on Crossword front.

    Mathu

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  13. Bhavan,

    Your last CW was extremely nice.

    Any possibility of putting up a CW over the New Year Weekend? It will make for a ripping start to 2011.

    As Col Deepak remarked, Sundays are a bit dull on this blog.

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  14. @Bhavan: Great! Didn't know you were setting crosswords. How come I missed them? :(

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  15. Wishing all solvers many more nice puzzles in the new year.

    @Kishore : Good to have you back. The comments section won't be as slowgoing as it was over the past few days.

    @SR : Thanks for the vote of confidence. I will try creating one if everyone else is game and Colonel can put it up here.

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  16. @Sandhya so far its been only one : ) I remember you had participated too. It was around Diwali and Colonel had kindly agreed to post it here.

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  17. Sandhya may have thought that a present crossword setter of THC whose identity is not known as yet is Bhavan using a pseudonym...

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  18. If anyone is thinking of S&B III, it will be a good idea if it's held in Salem or Vizag or Hyderabad - in any case a venue where a meeting has not taken place so far, even if it's Guduvanchery.

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  19. Great CW today. Took my time, but I successfully completed it... best of all, without ANY reference to the dictionary/thesaurus/google!!! :)

    Nice way to end 2010. Looking forward to a great 2011 and wishing everyone here the same, just in case tomorrow happens to be a late getter-upper day! haha :)

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  20. Bhavan @ 10:44, you are welcome. This time I will upload in the Across Lite format so that people can solve it completely on their own without seeing the answers from others and later put in their comments. I had posted a CW from The Daily Telegraph using that format last Sunday.

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  21. Tommorrow at 5 AM I will be publishing a Short Story written by Kishore.
    It will be posted on the THCC Families blog, link to which is available under 'LINKS' on the left hand side panel of this blog.

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  22. I have braced myself to whatever yarn Kishore is spinning about me in the short story that he is writing - which you say will be posted under 'THCC families.'

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  23. Or, for that matter, Granite Bay, CA.

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  24. Welcome back, Kishore. Sorry to hear about the bad skies. :( In case you're planning to come to Chennai between the 3rd and 7th, you may be interested in this.

    -

    PLACEBO in today's grid reminded me of a bit of news I came recently. (Placebos work -- even without deception)

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  25. Mangalore could have Manna pouring in.

    CV, nope, you ain't starring in this one. Some other blogger is.

    For rowing enthusiasts, bad news at Kodai, they have stopped allowing self rowing since the Thekkady tragedy.

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  26. Wishing all of you all the very best for 2011, cant help mentioning that while 2011 is itself a prime it is also the total of 11 consecutive primes.

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  27. People who work out the 11 primes mentioned in 1234 will also notice that the last one is nothing different from ...

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  28. Can some one explain why we get AI in TITAN clue? Why is Best AI?

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  29. Hi ,
    Nice puzzle today as well. Rum(Odd) Quarters (Q1 and Q3) took my time :).

    2011=1-(2*3)+(4*567*8)/9

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  30. Wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year.

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  31. A happy and prosperous 2011 to you all.

    Somehow I had a sixth-sense-ish alert and visited the blog now. Most welcome if some of you decide on Mangalore as the venue for S&B III.

    If planned well, for those interested, a package tour of all temples in the vicinity, Udupi, Kollur, Kadri, Kudupu, Subrahmanya, Dharmasthala, Kateel and others can be thrown in for good measure. It might take two days for these visits.

    There are some nice beaches and heritage spots to visit also. Education city of Manipal, St Mary's isles (where you can see one of the rarest basalt rock formations in the country) are also worth visiting.

    Sringeri and Shakatapura could be added as well.
    Dr Srinivasan could be the first one to say 'Yes'.

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  32. Thanks, Richard.
    I think it will be a good idea to pursue this matter.
    Those interested can take the two-day tour, with expenses (van, food, incidentals) shared by participants.
    Any overnight stay can be in a hotel with each participant taking care of their expenses.
    Those not interested in the tour can merely attend the S&B meet on the first day.
    This might take some organisation but I think Richard would help.

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  33. Richard - 14.38. Count on me. I am game for everything.

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  34. CV,

    Glad to hear of Peter Biddlecombe taking over as the CW Ed of The Sunday Times.

    The Hindu sorely needs one at this juncture, and you would be the best choice. But, would it then mean that you will have to cut yourself off from the mentoring you are doing now?

    That reminds me. Did Col Deepak share with us the news that he said he was privy to in B&S-I meetwhich he said would be revealed in October?

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  35. Richard @14.38
    Yes, but S&B meet will turn into something else.

    So we will leave the sacred places as they are.

    May be Timbuctoo?

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  36. Wishing all our friends here

    A HAPPY and PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

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  37. Getting ready to attend S & B-3,even if it is at Timbactoo,as mentioned by Dr.DS.

    Comments section has once again come to life after a few dull days.

    CV sir,as the CW editor of Hindu? So happy to imagine it,but at the cost of participation here...? Cant think of it.Should feel nice to be in correspondence with the CW editor of Sunday Times,Great!

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  38. DDS 1600: That sounds positively Mali-fide.

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  39. Richard, I agree with DDS. Mebbe we should restrict it to St Mary's Island. People who have not gone to the Giant's Causeway (including me) can see the local version of it.

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  40. @CV 14 57 - Now that u have raised the issue, I am curious to know whether Rasam Party was hosted by (rather sponsered)you and Home Party, by the Editor of the blog.

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  41. @Bhavan & Chaturvasi: I remember now - it was a good puzzle. I somehow seem to have missed the setter's name.
    @Bhavan: Keep them coming :)

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  42. Subramaniam @ 18:49,
    S&B I lunch was hosted by Gita inspire of all our objections. For S&B II we went Dutch for everything except travel and accommodation. In future all S&B's will be shared equally by the participants, less travel and accommodation. I hope that clears your doubt.

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  43. For inspire read inspite in my last post.

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  44. S&B I: We assembled at my flat in Madhurima, Gopalapuram, Chennai, and after drinking CA wine, adjourned to a restaurant for lunch. (The name of the restaurant has since undergone a change for reasons I know not.)

    S&B II: The venue was the private terrace on Col's 'Royal Heritage' flat in Bangalore.

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  45. Ah, Chaturvasi, looks like we stay pretty close by. (The restaurant is just across the road from where I live.)

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  46. Kishore's story is realy verynice and enjoyable too.

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