Elementary Watson.
ACROSS
5 Go round a geometric figure (6) CIRCLE [DD]
7 Precious metal was found in Agra after the artists left (6) SILVER {AGra}
11 Anniversary of synthesising bile juice without using iodine and
carbon (7) JUBILEE {BiLE+JUIcE}*
12 Girl is in front of boy. Look for a seductive glance (4,3) GLAD EYE {G}{LAD} {EYE}
13 An iron cast was moulded into flowers (10) CARNATIONS*
17 Spy has nothing at first; only a lucky number (4) BOND Anno pending (Addendum - {0}{O}{7} - See comments)
18 Ban awl (6) OUTLAW {AWL}*
20 Gorge located in Tuscany only (6) CANYON [T]
21 Natural fibre is liked by South Indians like Kannadigas
initially (4) SILK {S}{I}{L}{K}
22 Insincere support for osculation? (3,7) LIP SERVICE [DD]
28 Football club magazine (7) ARSENAL [DD]
29, 4 Dn.Union function where people are committed for life
(7,8) WEDDING CEREMONY [CD]
30 Jolliness of feeling happy around an alien (6) GAIETY {GA{1}{ET}Y}
31 Looked after paramedic directors in the beginning (6) NURSED {NURSE}{D}
DOWN
1 Three pioneers each from Timbuktu and Berlin got some wood
(6) TIMBER {TIMbuktu}{BERlin}
2 Middle-easterner confused enemy before lunchtime (6) YEMENI {ENEMY}*{1}
3 Regular polygon is firstly one geometrical object and its
inversion finally (6) ISOGON {IS}{O}{G}{O}{N}
4 See 29 Ac.
8 See a Knight advance (4) LOAN {LO}{A}{N}
9 This by definition can throw out or accommodate a pilot (7,4) EJECTOR SEAT [E] (Addendum - {EJECT}{OR} {SEAT} - See comments)
10 Heavy metal in Germany has advantage of being at the front
(7,4) LEADING EDGE {LEAD}{IN}{G} {EDGE}
14 Wiping cloth found in Stowe laundries (5) TOWEL [T]
15 Readily available material, mixed with a dash of rum, for the
patron (2,3) ON TAP {ON TAP + R = PATRON}
16 Bolivian capital has a type of sugar without bone content
(5) SUCRE {SUCRosE}
19 Reformed palmist, after losing power, has an amulet (8) TALISMAN {pALMIST}*{AN}
23 Embeds material in Los Angeles on half-days (6) INLAYS {IN}{LA}{daYS}
24 At first, sons of westerners in north Gambia were planting seeds
(6) SOWING {S}{O}{W}{I}{N}{G}
25 Tracking equipment of Aeronautical Development Agency installed
in a posh car (5) RADAR {R{ADA}R}
26 Setter gets up for flowers (6) IRISES {I}{RISES}
27 Formerly on one occasion (4) ONCE [DD]
The Colonel’s opening remark ‘Elementary Watson’ reminds me of the famous quote from Wodehouse : “Elementary, my dear Watson, ....”
ReplyDeleteCopy pasted from Phrase Finder
DeleteMeaning
The supposed explanation that Sherlock Holmes gave to his assistant, Dr. Watson, when explaining deductions he had made.
Origin
In fact the line doesn't appear in the Conan Doyle books, only later in Sherlock Holmes' films.
He does come rather close at a few of points. Holmes says "Elementary" in 'The Crooked Man', and "It was very superficial, my dear Watson, I assure you" in 'The Cardboard Box'. He also says "Exactly, my dear Watson, in three different stories.
The phrase was first used by P. G. Wodehouse, in Psmith Journalist, 1915.
All those Holmes stories mentioned in the post above - and others - I read in the original in Durgapur, WB, while rusticating in a pre-SSLC year.
Delete17 Spy has nothing at first; only a lucky number (4) BOND Anno pending
ReplyDeleteCould this be: BO{N}D
BOD = number = person
I thought this was:
DeleteNothing= 0
at first only= O
a lucky number=7
ie. 007
Good one Kishore
DeleteGraet Kishore! on 2 counts- one is elementary (normally associated with Holmes- thanks to Col. for the relevant quote- and the other of course for "My name is Bond".
ReplyDeleteA nice smooth one from Mover- moving very fast, in deed.
As per CVji in Orkut, today's setter may not be Mover. He may be right as today's crossword is much easier compared to yesterday's.
ReplyDeleteAs per turn it is Incognito's. But would there be such an elementary mistake made by Hindu?
DeleteIt is difficult for them to make complicated mistakes. So they keep making elementary, basic, simple, fundamental mistakes.
DeleteRemembered this anecdote:
DeleteA patient goes to a doctor and complains of an intestinal disorder. The doctor does a check-up, at the end of which the patient asks him as to what exactly was wrong with him. The doctor replies, 'It's alimentary, my dear friend!'
Time to own responsibility.
ReplyDeleteFinally, Incognito is truly incognito, sailing under a false flag as Mover, due to some strange concatenation of circumstances at The Hindu.
My intended anno for
9 This by definition can throw out or accommodate a pilot (7,4) was EJECT OR SEAT
Baffling. So you are what you are ? Or you are not what you are? :))
DeleteGood one Incognito. We all missed the intended anno.
DeleteTodays CW is nice & quite easy. But I could not crack 'bond'.Kishores anno. is brilliant.Nice day.
ReplyDeleteNow that the original setter has owned up, the title for today's blog could perhaps be amended by scratching and rewriting pseudonyms. We needn't wait for the paper's C and C - if that comes at all!
ReplyDeleteGood one from incognito. Especially liked LOAN and EJECTOR SEAT.
ReplyDeleteThe wordplay in 17A leads to 007. But the definition is spy and the answer is bond. Is this considered indirect?
+1 for Ejector seat
DeleteBOND could be called Indirect definition!
Maybe I rationalised it like this:
DeleteIf 'city' as a definition in a clue can mean any city (sometimes further qualified by a continent/country reference), 'spy' can be any spy, which is Bond here. And 007 is an alternative name for Bond. This clue is also the 'pseudonym' type of clue, about which I had mentioned when I started out.
Well, well, well!
DeleteIf BOND is the answer ('spy' being the def), the wordplay must glance at BOND and be broken up as BON-D or N in BOD or BO[-u]ND or whatever.
It can't glance at 007.
What's happening?
The Col gave a nice description - indirect definition.
DeleteBut it is an innovation we could do without.
The printed clue is unconventional.
The problem is not with defining Bond as Spy.
DeleteIt is with the wordplay leading to something else. In a cryptic clue, the definition and the wordplay should lead to the same answer.
Yes, a typical clue has two parts def - wordplay, which is also called SI - subsidiary indication.
DeleteThese two parts lead to the answer.
In the printed clue we have def (spy) and a wordplay that leads not to BOND, which is the answer, but to 007 which is one letter (digit?) short of the four-letter answer word.
How unconventional can unconventional be?
While I absolutely agree with you that this clue is unconventional, I also believe that an unconventional approach may bring new things up. I also leave it to you to consider whether the clue is fair, entertaining or otherwise.
DeleteInteresting debate on this point, but I don't have a problem with it. The def is there and the wordplay leads to a reference which translates to the def.
DeleteIf you look at it, 7A is exactly the same type of clue. The wordplay only leads to AG. You have to 'translate' this to get silver. (Why artists in the plural is used I couldn't figure out)
Other setters have also used this I think, I know that I definitely have a couple like this
7A is not a problem because Ag is given in the clue and the wordplay tells you how to read it.
DeleteIf 17A was something like "Spy residing in 20073" (ignore the nonsensical surface), I wouldn't have had a problem.
Bhavan isn't that the same?
DeleteIn your example you have to get 007 and then relate 007 = Spy = Bond
In 17A also we have {0}{O}{7} = Spy = Bond
Special thanks to CV and the Colonel for making the correction in the setter's name
ReplyDeleteI have always wondered why compilers should adopt pseudonyms? Why shouldn't they take credit for their intellectual creations? Be it Mover or Incognito, the flavour of the compiler's output can easily be detected by the taste buds of a discerning solver. A rose by any name will smell as sweet !
ReplyDeleteDid it all start when crosswords were used in the wars for passing coded messages ?
A creative artiste has every right to cry out to the world from the roof- tops that he has produced a masterpiece. Do they not have their own egos? Anonymity is ok when one wants to hide some thing which he does not want to be known to the public. Benaami dealings are of course understandable to my train of thought-- One learns a lot from the recent railwaygate !
Can someone answer my psycho-baffle?
Take our actresses. I insist on using this gender-specific noun because I am actually referring to the women who play their several skimpy parts in item numbers on the silver screen in the tinsel town of Kollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood or whateverwood.
DeleteWhy do they not use their real names? While their parents may have bestowed on them a devout name, the director always wants them to use a name that will be exotic, heavenly and will sit easily on the lips of countless vidalai pasanga. Besides, one Lakshmi may come after another and if the whole film world has a bevy of Lakshmis you can't tell one from the other. And if a Kathayee in one film falls, she can always rise in another with a different name such as Catherina as directors can always do the rechristening without one uddharini of Ganga water.
So also crossword setters use pseudonyms.
While it may not address why a pseudonym is needed, this article might be of interest to you to find out why a setter chose his/her particular pseudonym.
DeleteIf in crossword setting I were to use my real name, wherever I go I am likely to be mobbed by young adults.
DeleteFame may be a spur but I don't want it to be a crutch.
The pseudonym helps me to travel comfortably even in a three-tier sleeper compartment without anyone querying "You mean you're the setter?" when I say my name is Rishikesh.
And when a PYI on setting down the paper says "Oh, I love Gridman" I, Rishikesh, am able to keep my cool. And my wife doesn't become envious.
Shouldn't that be PYT rather than PYI?
DeleteDeepak, you're right!
Delete("samaalification")
I look at them as individuals and not as things!
I cannot answer for everybody, but personally, I've got one because, if my puzzles turn out to be really really bad, I want them to go unnoticed - like I could be anybody in this whole wide world. Well, nobody can say, "Yea dude, I know this guy. He really does suck" and have a chuckle. Some kind of consolation it is.
DeleteVulcan,
DeleteYou've hit the nail on the head ;-)
17A was the only one left unsolved.
ReplyDeleteBTW, is 'James Bond' really a pseudonym? I haven't read the novels.
You are right in the fact the James Bond is not a pseudonym. What I had mentioned earlier was that I will use an alternative name or reference to a person, place or thing in the clue or in the answer. 007 is an alternative reference to Bond.
DeleteCV: Your'e skirting the issue. My psychobaffle remains nanswered ! Is it because of your modesty or hubris that makes you feel so? Why should your wife feel jealous? How many people have mobbed you?
ReplyDeleteI don't even bother about item numbers . So don't throw red herrings !
My question remains unanswered.
I agree with CV's views at 12:56. Where is the question of skirting the issue? Those are his genuine reasons for using a pseudonym.
Delete+2 for Colonel's comment
DeleteI agree with HIS views, but my question was general and his answer relates to his own case. But my question is: Why ALL compilers seek to remain incognito and anonymous ? My comments were tongue-in-cheek ad not intended to be personal. Besides, his comments on film item numbers in films is beside the point. They can't hold a candle to compliers who use their creativity to keep us entertained. I remember having seen some reasons in one of the blogs of Shuchi about this subject.
ReplyDeleteI'm still baffled.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA setter may be working for a paper. He may be setting crosswords (in his spare time) for another paper. Generally rules of a paper would say that its employees should not contribute to other papers, though Editors may sometimes give special permission. Without the nod, the setter may want to hide his identity.
DeleteA setter may be a Government servant who is perhaps prevented by rules to take part in any creative activity (jus' kidding in use of language), so he may use a pseudonym.
There could be other such reasons.
A crossword setter is not one who has jumped on earth from some heavenly planet. He could be as mundane and not-so-sharp as another person. Because he sets crosswords he is not a walking dictionary. He knows how to do the job and does it. That's all. So we needn't expect that all the world should know who these guys and gals are.
When I drew a parallel from the filmi world, it was merely to show that different persons have different reasons to use aliases.
Do crossword setters who use their own names necessarily become famous?
Thanks. Crossword setters are not always or necessarily moonlighting.You imply that they adopt a pseudonym merely to identity-avoidance as opposed to identity-evasion(on par with tax) ? I have known only Mr Mepham or his daughter Kate of the Telegraph using their own respective names. In fact, 99% of compilers use pseudonyms. That's what's baffling me ! They can use their own names and be celebrities by their own rights. They must come out of their anonymity and claim their right to fame. No other creative artistes ever take cover under anonymity. Be it art, music,dance cricket, films, chess or other sports. So why not crossword compilers? Yes, some authors take on another name for their books. Like Agatha Christie or Earle Stanley Gardner. That's understandable as their outputs or genres are distinctly different.
ReplyDeleteI still seek an answer to my baffle. There's something very unique and esoteric about cryptic crosswords and I'd like this form of art to be more popular.
How would any one have known any compiler but for blogs like these?
Any other comments from any one else?