If this state of affairs continues I may have to discontinue this blog. It's 7:22 AM and the online paper is not up nor have I got my print edition, meeting the 8:30 deadline is becoming next to impossible on such days.
ACROSS
1 - Reverse dance, in a way, by a marsupial (7) - WALLABY {WA{LLAB<-}Y}
5 - Desire, not without love, needing immediate attention (6) - URGENT {URGE}{NoT}
11 - Hairdo showing a nameless grievance (5) - PLAIT PLAInT
12 - Music performance made Nino tired somehow (9) - RENDITION*
13 - Get your own back in retail tea distribution (9) - RETALIATE*
14 - Poem in Romania about cowboy display (5) - RODEO {R{ODE}O}
15 - A club spice to deter criminals (4) - MACE [DD]
17 - Baked dish, say, assessed as illegally copied (7) - PIRATED (~pie){PI}{RATED}
21 - Public official with misplaced love for a singer (7) - CROONER {C(-o)R(+o)OONER
22 - Drug-taker making some serious errors (4) - USER [T]
26 - Ducks carry a label in a part of New Zealand (5) - OTAGO {O{TAG}O}
27 - Copy of a fine figure of speech about a catholic (9) - FACSIMILE {F}{A}{C}{SIMILE}
29 - Not wanted but is endured somehow (9) - UNDESIRED*
30 - Unseemly display is part of an act (5) - SCENE [DD]
31 - Quiet stream that becomes high-pitched (6) - SHRILL {SH}{RILL}
32 - Careless writings reveal slow movement on board ship (7) - SCRAWLS {S{CRAWL}S}
DOWN
2 - To get adjusted, a prosecutor is on physical training (5) - ADAPT {A}{DA}{PT}
3 - A telly repaired not long ago (6) - LATELY*
4 - Could a friend polish up this coarse stuff (6) - BURLAP {BUR}{LAP}<-
6 - Criticise the way of the train services (8) - RAILROAD {RAIL}{ROAD}
7 - Wicked people can turn devil sore (4-5) - EVIL-DOERS*
8 - The tissue to extend one’s limb inside (6) - TENDON [T semi &lit]
9 - I don’t want to hear it! (5,2) - SPARE ME [CD]
10 - Restricted in extent, half-size, enclosed all around (7) - ENDEMIC {EN{DEMI}C}
16 - Freshly aired corn, popular in Indian food (9) - CORIANDER*
18 - Business deficit Capone found to be immense (8) - COLOSSAL {CO}{LOSS}{AL}
19 - We are accepting the Left Front in social work for the needy
(7) - WELFARE {WE}{LF}{ARE}
20 - The nature of grass on the other side of the fence (7) - GREENER [GK]
23 - Qualifiers for the gallery at the police station? (6) - ROGUES [CD]
24 - Sharp and sour, like a detective in charge (6) - ACIDIC {A}{CID}{IC}
25 - A festival here personifies taste (6) - FIESTA [T]
28 - One kind of wood that is a perfect thing (5) - IDEAL {I}{DEAL}
I wholly understand your predicament, Deepak. Why don't you revise your time to, say, 0900 hours?
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteI'd also prefer to see the time revised instead of the blog being discontinued.
Can't do that as I need to be in the Association office by 8:30 AM
DeleteMaybe later, when convenient to you. It would be a shame to shut it down.
DeleteYou could also try via the Hindu crossword app on FB. I use it occasionally and find it reasonably good. You can directly fill the grid and also see the clues below. Can also save it while in progress if you need to take a break.
DeleteI think I have tried it once in the wee hours of the morning and it was available
20 - The nature of grass on the other side of the fence (7) - GREENER [GK]
ReplyDeleteThe contrapunto would be when you get to the other side and realize that the original side is now greener than the present side and is now the other side. And the flip-flop continues...
11 - Hairdo showing a nameless grievance (5) - PLAIT PLAInT
ReplyDeleteReminded me of a sage from the days of yore, courtesy WM Thackeray's (no relation of Bal)The Pigtail.
One of the story poems that my Dad read to me and my siblings when we were children.
DeleteAs for the Thackeray equation - the earlier was Bill Makepeace and the current one Bal 'Breakpeace'...
Delete21A Crooner is as good a clue as I've seen from Sankalak.
ReplyDeleteWould be a shame to discontinue the blog Col. Quite apart from the few who comment, I know there are lots of others who visit and read anyway.
ReplyDeleteEasy one today? Quite enjoyable nonetheless
Col,
ReplyDeleteAs already posted here, lot of us who don't comment regularly here, do visit the blog every day. Would be great if you could post any time at your convenience rather than discontinue the blog.
I second VP!
ReplyDeleteColonel, just cannot think of a day without visiting your blog. Hope situation improves.
ReplyDeleteCol. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease !
ReplyDeleteDo anything,but stop the blog. I was out this morning attending a function and when I came back the power was out (we are in TN and power hungry)So,reading the blog only now. But I can't sleep without reading it !!
I do hope people at TH read it and do something about it. THC should be the their unique pride, one to go with their claim on the first page of today's Chennai edition. After all, user friendliness should be their first aim.
Well, Col. i am with friends above. Do not discontinue. I doubt if The Hindu is sponsoring crossword any longer in FB.
ReplyDeletePadmanabhan4:58 PM IST:
ReplyDelete"Do anything,but stop the blog."
Paddu, please be careful with your punctuation. We can judge your sentiment. I am sure you are not advocating what you have typed.
Kishore,
DeleteThanks for correcting me and sorry for the inadvertent error. It is not just the punctuation. I just left out one whole word- "don't" !!
As previously mentioned i am a regular blog visitor but not a commentator.But your anguish forced me to say PLEASE DONT STOP YOUR BLOG
ReplyDeleteCol: Perish the thought ! DO not stop this blog;you do not realize how much we enjoy and value the interactions. Do not break up the THCC family. All that's required is to do a bit of time management. You have also a stand-by Bhavan, who is always ready to step in.
ReplyDeleteDeepak.
ReplyDeleteNot sure whether your comment was one made out of frustration or with more serious intent. We do not mind seeing it up at 10 am also if the comp. is playing up. What is a couple of hours between friends.
As an old chum in college used to say when we wanted to meet up at a certain time. "Ek do ghanta idhar udhar to ho hee jaata hai" (Translated to mean" give or take one or two hours". I was always one-sided of course.
Thanks a lot to everyone for their concern and comments. Like Suresh has said in his 9:17 post my comment was more out of frustration. I really did not have any intentions of winding up the blog.
ReplyDeleteAs Raju has mentioned in his 9:11 I have fixed up with Bhavan who will henceforth be hosting the blog twice a week which will give me time to relax and will give Bhavan an opportunity to pull out his hair if the online paper doesn't come up on time.
Wonder know where Veer has disappeared, he was the only one who had an e-paper subscription and he used to load the clues on the Orkut site whenever the online edition was delayed.
Thanks once again for all the encouraging comments. The blog shall live on.