Monday 19 March 2012

No 10414, Monday 19 Mar 12, Sankalak

ACROSS
1   - Gland, a spare, can be repaired (8) - PANCREAS*
5   - After a twist, we return for a bird (6) - CURLEW {CURL}{EW<-}
10 - A result racers accept as extremely good (5) - ULTRA [T]
11 - High conservative, small at heart? It is difficult to believe (4,5) - TALL STORY {TALL} {S}{TORY}
12 - Prominent incisor of a deer, a biter (9) - BUCKTOOTH {BUCK}{TOOTH}
13 - Greek character to initiate orchestration? Excellent! (5) - OMEGA {O}{MEGA}
14 - Theologian in 24 hours, father? (5) - DADDY {DA{DD}Y}
16 - Given a job, setter returns for a trick by editor (8) - EMPLOYED {EM<-}{PLOY}{ED}
18 - Wine, good in an African republic with a change at the end (8) - BURGUNDY {BUR{G}UND(-i+y)Y}
20 - Channel causes the beginning of dry, scratchy sensation (5) - DITCH {D}{ITCH}
24 - Equalling the score, a ‘knotty' action (5) - TYING [DD]
25 - Clear to any one including Li, lost to the surroundings (9) - OBLIVIOUS {OB{LI}VIOUS}
27 - Ethelred's upset but protected (9) - SHELTERED*
28 - Like Poles do, drive off (5) - REPEL [DD]
29 - The whole lot of books in Ireland (6) - ENTIRE {E{NT}IRE}
30 - One going up as a dispatcher carrying key (8) - ASCENDER {A}{S{C}ENDER}
DOWN
1   - Went down to test the depth (7) - PLUMBED [CD]
2   - Saw a heavy weight lifted, got chilled (7) - NOTICED {NOT<-}{ICED}
3   - Way to cook a slice of bread — cut the top, apply a trace of raclette and cook in an oven (5) - ROAST (-t+r)ROAST
4   - Creator of “To the French God of Thunder” (6) - AUTHOR {AU}{THOR}
6   - Pure unsold pie recycled (9) - UNSPOILED*
7   - Lacking precision, in a detached way? (7) - LOOSELY [DD]
8   - Path arranged for what an interceptor did (7) - WAYLAID {WAY}{LAID}
9   - Companion in drink confronts my old chemistry (7) - ALCHEMY {AL{CH}E}{MY}
15 - One of tender years gets your name ruined (9) - YOUNGSTER {GETS+YOUR+N}
17 - Go to another place from a Hyderabad journalists' meet (7) - ADJOURN [T]
18 - Material made by engineer to capture artist without right (7) - BATISTE {B{ArTIST}E}
19 - Clothing for gunners: it included soldiers (7) - RAIMENT {RA}{I{MEN}T}
21 - Poor Ted, handicapped, walked in a group (7) - TROOPED*
22 - German dictator, one replaced by us, an unscrupulous man (7) - HUSTLER H(-i+us)USTLER
23 - A girl who had happy years, without a listener (6) - GLADYS {GLAD}{YearS}
26 - Lines written representing victory over Celtic language (5) - VERSE {V}{ERSE}



23 comments:

  1. See link at left to a new post in Crossword Unclued.

    You're in for a treat!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Congratulations to Shuchi on being decorated India's First Lady of Cryptic Crosswords. Good thought, Anax!

      Delete
  2. Youngster and Raiment were really nice.

    Thank you Sankalak for yet another enjoyable run of crosswords.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ditto for both.

    I have 2 doubts-
    1. Is 'roast' correct for cooking in oven?
    2.9D- 'ch' for companion? I still filled in alchemy and liked it too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. roast
      ▶ verb [with obj.]
      Cook (food, especially meat) by prolonged exposure to heat in an oven or over a fire

      CH for companion comes from this:
      Companion of Honour (abbrev.: CH)
      ▶ noun (in the UK) a member of an order of knighthood founded in 1917

      Delete
  4. Cch means cherie ,,It is of French origin, and the meaning of Cherie is "dear, darling".,
    Am I right in my thinking , Colonel??

    ReplyDelete
  5. 3 - Way to cook a slice of bread — cut the top, apply a trace of raclette and cook in an oven (5) - ROAST (-t+r)ROAST

    Can also be R OAST with Way to cook as the def.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was thinking along the same lines initially but then the slice of bread part of the wordplay didn't add up. Colonel's anno is what I finally settled on too.

      Delete
  6. Way to cook a slice of bread = TOAST
    cut = Deletion indicator
    the top = Position indicator
    apply = Replacement indicator
    a trace of raclette = R
    and
    cook in an oven = ROAST

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats to Schuchi for her new Status amongst us as the FIRST LADY OF CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS. She indeed IS the First Lady. Thanks to Anax for his thoughtful contribution.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very nice crossword. I had roast as well with the same annotation.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Enjoyed today's puzzle as well (esp. DADDY. BUCKTOOTH. TALL STORY). Thanks Sankalak! Did not have much of a problem with ROAST. But struggled with ALCHEMY.

    Never imagined DITCH to be a natural channel.Good one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The first Lady of Cryptic Crosswords?

    As far as I know and as far as the Indian scene is concerned, it is one who composed some six crosswords a month for The Hindu for several years in the Eighties.

    She was the only woman composer at that time when there were some four or five setters at work.

    Those were the times when THC was published anonymously so no-one even knew that at times on the other side there was a woman.

    I know the name of the person but nothing more about her. From the name I could make out that she hailed from the Anglo-Indian community. As TH has not published her name, I am not sure if I can publicly disclose it.

    As a solver I used to like her work. Her crosswords had an entertaining quality which few other contemporaries of hers had.

    After her, there was another woman for some years but I had a very poor opinion of her work. I think she dropped out because of advancing years.

    The third lady setter is the one who came to TH with her name, her real recorded name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would look at it this way:

      The First Lady wrt to the wife of the Prez of US is a rolling trophy (may be it can change even during the currency of the same Prez). Bo being the 44th, Mo would be the 44th First Lady, give or take a few, keeping in mind that I have no record of Presidents with wives numbering below or above 1.

      On the same analogy, the AI, as mentioned, might be the First First Lady. But Shuchi undoubtedly is the present India's First Lady of Cryptic Crosswords and I congratulate her on this honour bestowed by Anax and I doff my non existent topper at her.

      Delete
  11. A horror stared me in the face from today's Bang Ed of the ET. Three pages were devoted to an ad. The first two pages had around 20 words each covering less than 1% of the area of the pages while the third probably covered around 4% of the area of the page. The rest of the page was blank. What a waste of paper! And the ad just gave some phone numbers to contact in case you were interested in properties costing over 5 crores. No details of the property was shared, except the distance from The Leela. One of these days, not too far away, I think I shall get a fully blank newspaper with only a teeny weeny ad which I shall have to hunt out with my trusty microscope.

    Well, to be truthful, the paper was not wasted. I have folded it and stapled it to use as a jotting pad. Thank heavens I dont keep up with the times.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Another oddity in the ET:

    Clue 17a quoted here verbatim:

    Initially good at picking an unoccupied space (3) GAP

    Hey chaps, I did not give out the answer. It was printed with the clue. The ultimate revenge of a CW editor!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe the next big thing will be to print the answer grid up front...

      Delete
    2. Can it be more puzzling than that?

      Delete
    3. It can when you get just the clue numbers with no clues!!!

      Delete
    4. The I'd be clueless!

      Delete
  13. Congrats,Suchi!you deserve this for your dedicated work.

    ReplyDelete

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