Monday 19 September 2011

No 10262, Monday 19 Sep 11, Buzzer

ACROSS
8   - It's a human trait to look within for inspiration (6) - MANTRA [T]
9   - Escape route pronouncedly left intact (4-4) - VENT HOLE (~went whole)
10 - A thief is wavering (8) - AFLICKER {A}{FLICKER}
11 - Struggle to get short lease in a populated area (6) - WARREN {WAR}{RENt}
12 - Two foreign men allowed to get in the way for a deadly stunt (7,8) - RUSSIAN ROULETTE {RUSS}{IAN} {ROU{LET}TE}
14 - A hero to bail out a graduate? (3,4) - ALI BABA {ALI B*}{A}{BA}
16 - South European peninsula is home to tigers (7) - SIBERIA {S}{IBERIA}
19 - Hurt when trotted off party (5,3,4,3) - PAINT THE TOWN RED {PAIN}{T THE TOWN RED*}
22 - Gag is a recreation in itself (6) - STIFLE*
24 - Courtier who lived by the sword? (8) - DAMOCLES [GK]
25 - Short hairstyle, new on crazy lady singer (3,5) - BOB DYLAN {BOB} {DYLA*}{N}

26 - Plucks seaweeds spread across waterfront (6) - TWANGS {T{W}ANGS}
DOWN
1   - Semi-solid glass as seen by an optimist (4-4) - HALF-FULL {HALL]-{FULL}
2   - Scratching itches is acceptable behaviour (6) - ETHICS*
3   - Resident of 11 (one after ten), a priest and head of temple (4,6) - JACK RABBIT {JACK} {RABBI}{T}
4   - Nothing underhanded about this delivery (7) - OVERARM [CD]
5   - Cocaine ingested by cops now-a-days (4) - SNOW [T]
6   - Even half of sixth sense is useful for insights (5,3) - THIRD EYE {THIRD} {EYE}
7   - Though vestment is accompanied by knotted tie … (6) - ALBEIT {ALB}{EIT*}
13 - …it is common to soldiers and school children (10) - UNIFORMITY [CD]
15 - Real oaf in bed improved (4,4) - BONA FIDE*
17 - Cool things in main course (8) - ICEBERGS [CD]
18 - Ornament worker followed what was reportedly written (7) - PENDANT (~penned){PEND}{ANT}
20 - Goldsmith for one, plated thorium with gold on either side (6) - AUTHOR {AU}{TH}{OR}
21 - First of all no earthy cola tastes as refreshing as this (6) - NECTAR {N}{E}{C}{T}{A}{R} semi&lit
23 - Girl from the Spanish city (4) - ELLA {EL}{LA}



34 comments:

  1. Neat crossword and the style was quite similar to Gridman.

    21D: Seeing Col mark 'semi&lit' for the first time.

    24A is good enough to be a CD, I think. It is a play on 'sword of Damocles'.

    Is inspiration=mantra okay in 8A?

    Quite bad to find VENT and WENT grouped as homophones in 9A.

    Not sure if thief=flicker will be present in dictionaries. Given it's a coined usage, it would be good to have some indicator.

    Ellipsis linked clues should make a good surface but I don't think 7D and 13D make one. I would like to be corrected if not.

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  2. Nice smooth puzzle with style, I thought. The pieces kind of slowly fell into place with TWANGS last in but enjoyed the challenge. Buzzer's originality in choice of definitions of a few clues make things interesting.

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  3. Very enjoyable crossword today. No cross words at all

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  4. Liked the CW. 12a is one way to 19a. Success guaranteed in six attempts.

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  5. @Sudalaimani,
    escape route=hole~whole(leftintact)

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  6. Liked today's neat offering with a few challenges thrown in-particularly 20D with gold coming out in 2 forms and Goldsmith placed in front to disguise the capital letter.

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  7. I thought this was really smooth, and it took me a while to get into the style, but was very enjoyable.
    Thought the Goldsmith clue was very clever.
    Bravo Buzzer!

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  8. @Sumitra:

    I think the anno is as Col has stated:
    Escape route - Def. for Vent Hole
    Left: Went
    Intact: Whole
    Pronouncedly: Homophone ind.

    In which case, it does not work, as V and W are not meant to be pronounced in the same way.

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  9. Homophone clues are almost always bound to attract criticism. For what it is worth, I did check online to see if vent and went are listed as acceptable homophones for each other.

    Funny Sudalamani should mention Gridman. He saved me the blushes late on Saturday. Apparently the original clue I had submitted for 14A didn't go down too well with the publishers.

    In normal circumstances it would have been a job for the crossword editor to set it right. Since Hindu doesn't have one, Gridman - although under no obligation to do so,graciously stepped in to alter the clue so that my puzzle could make it to the print today. So special thanks to him.

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  10. Sandhya: You're right on dot. LONDONDERRY- delete London as part of NI city and B replaced by R but why DERBY, Bhavan??

    Did any one notice a vein of Maritime thread in today's clues?

    Poor Gorbachev: PERISTROIKA coined by him was tossed him out!!

    A very nice crossword to look forward to each Sunday.

    Now on to Monday blues to all of you in the rat race. Sure? Kishore ?No PARR for the course?

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  11. Sudalamani @ 11:23,

    VENT and WENT are pronounced the same way so I don't think there is any criticism on that aspect.

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  12. Raju's comments pertain to yesterday's CW.

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  13. Thanks Buzzer. Thanks to Gridman too, not only for changing the clue but for providing an opportunity for enthusiastic people like you!

    If you do not mind, could you let us know the original clue for ALI BABA? My head aches when I think of how to write a dirty/smutty clue for that :P

    The V/W problem is understandable, no Indian language has the pronunciation of W. Meanwhile this article may interest readers.

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  14. Sting Operator @ 12:01

    '...didn't go down too well with the publishers'.

    Do you mean that somebody at The HINDU is actually reading the clues before it gets published?

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  15. When I was in KG I was taught to write 'w' in running hand with two 'u's' and I still write it like that

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  16. somebody at The HINDU is actually reading the clues before it gets published?

    LOL. I also wanted to know that. Perhaps Gridman himself didn't like it?

    I once asked this 'logical' W/double V question to my teacher which she blunted out saying 'You may write as you wish'. :(

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  17. @Sudalamani, sorry to disappoint you but it wasn't that type of clue : )

    He united followers of Muhammad and Sai (3,4)

    They weren't happy about the two religious references (only one according to me, but you can see why it would look like two). Religion being a touchy subject, it was best to err on the side of caution, so the clue was changed.

    @Deepak : I was equally sceptical about it in the past, but this incident changed my opinion.

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  18. sudalaimani@12.17-
    Original clue need not necessarily be smutty.Could be political too,considering Alibaba's well known connections!

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  19. @paddy: Political connection? I know only of the fictional hero. Who is the politico?

    @B: Superb clue surface, but I do not understand the definition part. United followers? For more amusement, you could have had Ramdev instead of Sai ;)

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  20. Followers of

    (Prophet) Muhammad - (Hazrat) Ali - chronological follower
    (One could also think of Cassius Clay - Muhammad Ali)*

    Sai- Baba - literally following word

    Ali Baba united Ali and Baba, again literally.

    As CC (later MA) himself sang:
    He floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee

    * I would say Buzzer probably thought of this option in view of his pseudonym and Sting operator id corresponding to the bee referred above.

    What a cult song that was:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGhXaBLIBso

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  21. DG and Sudalamani:

    I do appreciate that VENT & WENT are homophones. But strictly pronounced V in Vent is vee with the lower lip on the upper teeth whereas Went is pronounced as a rounded went without the teeth coming in the way-- buck teeth excluded-- likwe in OIFE

    I'm reminded of the oiufe of the south Indians. haha No offences to any Indians here

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  22. Ah now I see it. 'Followers' stands for 'last names'. The definition is 'He', i.e., a man's name. Thanks Kishore.

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  23. Regarding V or W, there was a pointer in Saturday's TOI:

    http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIBG/2011/09/17&PageLabel=32&ForceGif=true&EntityId=Ar03213&ViewMode=HTML

    Apropos religion, one would not want to give a fillip to the Mumbai arecanut business (6) or a stout, diminutive Washington edict(5).

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  24. Oh! I thought it had something to do with Hasan Ali. Indian billionaire with the godman to avoid taxing times by catching the thieves.

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  25. A different style. Took nearly an hour to adapt.
    Still couldn't get 19A!

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  26. A good clue needlessly cut off.Is it the case of Caeser's wife?

    I wish TH were as vigilant with ref. to some of the other weird clues!!

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  27. First time I'm doing a 'Buzzer' CW and have to say I quite liked this one. Refreshingly, the surface reading in the clues is really smooth, unlike the random stringing together of words one gets to see elsewhere.

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  28. Good cluing on the whole though I had problems with the first four clues.
    8a - It is quite a stretch to equate Mantra with inspiration
    9a - Vent and Hole are two different words and not a hyphenated word as the clue suggests (4-4)
    10a- flicker does not appear as thief in any regular dictionary
    11a - Warren is not a very popular word for densely populated area. Regular usage is more as a proper noun.

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  29. Another point regarding V and W. Bible in old
    Tamil is referred and written as ViVi Liam, after
    its translator Williams!

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  30. warren |ˈwôrən; ˈwä-|
    noun (also rabbit warren)
    a network of interconnecting rabbit burrows.
    • a densely populated or labyrinthine building or district : a warren of narrow gas-lit streets.
    • Brit., historical an enclosed piece of land set aside for breeding game, esp. rabbits.

    Popular or not, the above abstract from OED will clear all doubts, Vikram

    I dont see a problem with flicker either, just like flower for river. An acceptable CW coinage

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  31. Vikram @ 15:59

    Vent-hole is listed in the BRB (as CV calls it) and the meaning given is
    'a hole for admission or escape of air, fumes, etc, or to admit light' so no problems there.

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  32. But mantra meaning inspiration is not something I can figure out

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  33. I liked the usage of warren - it has connotations of teeming Victorian slums - very Victorian but nevertheless easily understood.
    Flicker too reminded me of Fingersmith, Sarah Water's mock gothic novel of the Victiorian criminal underworld. ( an excellent read by the way - but not sure if it is available in india due to the lesbian sub-plot)

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  34. I had put 9A as PORT[left] HOLE but had to change it to VENT because it did not fit in. On the whole a pleasant crossword for an evening's relaxation.

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