INDEPENDENCE DAY GREETINGS WITH THIS INCOGNITO SPECIAL
ACROSS
1 15-08-1947 00:00 IST? (7,4) FREEDOM TIME [CD]
9 Flower from Haldia decomposed (6) DAHLIA*
10 Hack goes mad in front of Egyptian god found below the Sarnath
lion (6) CHAKRA {HACK*}{RA}
13 See 14
14,29,13 Start of an anthem composed month before a man entered
Ganga after losing second girl (4,4,4) JANA GANA MANA {JAN}{A GANg{A MAN}A*} A of anthem on double duty?
15,36 Assignation with Dame Luck as articulated by Nehru long years
ago at a 23 dn. ceremony (5,4,7) TRYST WITH DESTINY {TRYST} {WITH} {DESTINY}
16 Pursue to catch a thriller writer (5) CHASE [DD]
19 Opposing the thumb, this finger is a pointer (5) INDEX [DD]
21 Standard colour of Kashmiri spice (7) SAFFRON [DD]
25 Summer snake (5) ADDER [DD]
28 Standard colour of a member of a light-skinned race (5) WHITE [DD]
29 See 14
30,35 down Refrain from the anthem proclaiming victory (4,2) JAYA HE [GK]
31 Sudden’s real name refers to a standard colour (5) GREEN [DD]
33 Spain to the Spaniards (6) ESPANA [CD]
34 Previous partner gently touches people who live in another
country (6) EXPATS {EX}{PATS}
36 See 15
DOWN
2 In parliament, the Chair gives these, ruing about the Left side
(7) RULINGS {RU{L}ING}{S}
3 Ejaculation concealed by renegades (4) EGAD [T]
4 Mystic symbol found in 1 ac. (2) OM [T]
6 Profit after Ministry of External Affairs announcement of
subsequent visit by self (2,5) ME AGAIN {ME A}{GAIN}
7 One can exude this for friends even when not having a fever
(6) WARMTH [CD]
8 Make play, re-enact without direction (6) CREATE RE-EnACT*
12 Pacify foe around disbursement section (3,6) PAY OFFICE*
17 To start with, All India Radio made announcements on this
(3) AIR {A}{I}{R}
18 Sibilant letter is found in a military mess (3) ESS (~s)
19 Final camouflage for Netaji’s armed force (1,1,1) I N A fINAl
20 Diminutive father (not pop) runs back and forth (3) DAD <=>
24 Person from the land of 5 flowers (7) PUNJABI [CD]
26 Impassive, when a utensil is placed under the deceased (7) DEADPAN {DEAD}{PAN}
27 Englishman finally pretends and passes bills (6) ENACTS {E}{N}{ACTS}
31 Hags travel making deep incision (4) GASH*
32 Fresh model of salamander (4) NEWT {NEW}{T}
35 See 30 ac.
EGAD! What an innovative crossie for an AUGUST occasion!
ReplyDeleteIf Incognito says 'ME AGAIN?' I would like to reply, 'Yes, most definitely. Come up again and again with such brilliant pieces'.
FREEDOM TIME, CHAKRA, JANA GANA MANA, TRYST WITH DESTINY, SAFFRON, WHITE and GREEN and the like, added with democratic, legislative terms like RULINGS, ENACTS, rare two and three-letter answers like ESS, OM, HE, INA - if there is unity is diversity, this too is an example.
There was WARMTH all over. One of the best crossies I enjoyed solving in recent times, and pretty fast at that.
Encore, Incognito!
Happy Independence Day to one and all. Proud to be an Indian..
ps: 27D - I took this as English (E), maN finally (N) and ACTS (=pretends). I hope the blog agrees with me.
Great job in the colour scheme in the grid, Deepak. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteNot me but Incognito
DeleteOk, thanks. Then he deserves the red paint.
DeleteSpecial mention about having placed the tricolor in the exact order with a chakra in the middle, with a circled 'i'.
DeleteNice effort... Thought 2 letter entries were a little odd
ReplyDeleteSuperb crossword Icognito!
ReplyDeleteGood work from Incognito, filling in many Indian words, including our own indigenous spies. Two letter entries could be over looked because of the occasion
ReplyDeleteGreat job Incognito
ReplyDeleteTwo-letter words are not allowed in THC. This grid is an exception. The setter has not sacrificed grid symmetry.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning!
ReplyDeleteHappy Independence Day
Good News- Today was my personal best effort so far:)
Bad news- No newspaper delivery tomorrow:(
Usha Akka: On a few occasions in the past, even though there was no print edition on the next day of a holiday, the online edition of The Hindu carried the c/w and this blog carried it. Hope the same thing happens tomorrow.
DeleteSo let's be hopeful.
There will be a paper tomorrow as far as I know. I-Day is generally not a holiday
DeleteA free flowing freedom 'crossy' from Incognito !!!
ReplyDeleteDoes Mangalore/other edn of TH carry holiday notice?
ReplyDeleteChennai edn doesn't.
On national public holidays too newspaper staff work (as I have done during my working life). It is possible that the companies with the printing arrangement in specified centres are closed and so the paper cannot come out the next morning.
Where the paper is printed by its own establishment, the edition comes out on Aug 16.
CV 9:41 The Mang edn does not carry any holiday notice.
DeleteI have noticed in the past years that many leading papers do not remain closed on holidays. Maybe they do not want to lose the advertising revenue.
No holiday notice in Bang ed
DeleteDitto in Hydbd ed.
DeleteThe reproduction of the standard colour scheme in today's Google icon/logo is rather poor, I thought.
ReplyDeleteBeats me, why they had to use yellow instead of orange!
DeleteColonol Saheb !
ReplyDeleteThanks for hoisting the Tri Colour on the NINA. We salute you and the Nation.
Thanks go to Incognito who sent me the solution grid.
DeleteWell, we thank Incognito too for befitting Independece Day special depicting 'tri colour' in the NINA !
DeletePleased that a novice like me completed the crossword today
ReplyDeleteNow which Gita is this? Gita Iyer (not a novice by any means), Gita Rishikesh, Gita Kishore, cannot be Gita Gopinath as she does not make an attempt to be a novice also!!
DeleteNot my better half either.
DeleteI swear on the Gita, I have no idea.
Delete...can't swear ! Have no Gita at home !! :)
DeleteGita 10:16 The suspense is building up and is killing. Can you please introduce yourself? We are all like a family here.
DeleteContinued at 12:42 below...
DeleteThanks, folks, for the time and effort spent by you on this crossword and for your appreciation.
ReplyDeleteA few things:
Yes, anthem is on double duty. This has happened due to a slip on my part.
Yes, two letter words are not permitted in THC. However, I had to crave indulgence for this one, which was, to my delight, permitted. The real problem was placing the colours in the right order. For this, if white was put right in the middle of the crossword, I would have non-symmetric slots for the other two colours with enumeration of 7 and 5. So I had to put them off centre. This meant that either I had to have a longer word along the central column or have 3 unchecked letters in the first and last row. So, I thought of using a 2 letter slot, which I thought will be fine for the second part of Jaya He.
As rightly noted by Richard, there are other words which are indirectly connected with the theme, including but not limited to Rulings, Enacts, INA, AIR, Punjabi, etc. And in today’s puzzle there are two pseudonyms, instead of the usual single one.
And I thought Independence Day was the right occasion to free myself from the mask of Incognito. Today is also the day I embark on a new trajectory duly accompanied by a new profile picture.
I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and patient guidance given by Mr Rishikesh in the matter of setting crosswords. I like to keep my crosswords easier than most, so that new setters do not get put off. But I shall, once in a way, spin a googly.
Lastly, pardon me if my colours are not very accurate.
Co-incidentally, this I Day Special is also my 15th.
DeleteYou never cease to surprise!
DeleteYou've certainly kept your ID well under wraps. Sample this:
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
No. 10797, Wednesday, 12 Jun 13, Incognito
"I volunteered to blog today." ... Kishore
Why should you keep your CWs simple and which setter will you put off by this? Did you mean solver?
Raghu,
DeleteCW on 12 Jun 13 was blogged by Chaturvasi
Sorry. Yes it was. Shall I delete that portion in my comment and re-post?
DeleteOf course, I meant solvers. My error. But I seem to have upset the man from Marx too.
DeleteNot required the trailing comments clarify the issue
DeleteAha, Kishore, so you have freed yourself from the shackles of a nom de plume. Happy Independence Day!
DeleteKishore is now 'independent' of Incognito. Man's always conjuring up numbers, being his profession, and has a matching fifteenth puzzle to match the occasion.
DeleteGood to have the confirmation. For quite a few folks on the blog this should not come as a surprise.
DeleteThanks Incognito (Kishore) for the special. Wonderful choice and placement of words in the grid-fill.
DeleteIndependence Day wishes to all.
Then what about the words like AS,AT,BE,IF,IN,IS IT,OF,ON etc.,?of course,coming among a phrase?
DeleteVery enjoyable crossword today
ReplyDeleteSorry if I am out of step with popular opinion here, but today's crossword was a disaster. When THC is easier than the Guardian Quick Crossword in the same paper, there is a problem...
ReplyDeleteC'mon Groucho don't be such a grouch. Kishore has given the reasons in his 10:40 above.
DeleteSince when was a simple CW a disaster?
DeleteYou are right, Colonel. Unfortunately, Kishore's reasons had not yet appeared in the comments when I was typing out my grouch. I withdraw, and suitably grovel... :-)
DeleteSorry, Groucho, of not having come up to your expectations. Full marx to you for going against the current, as I am, in a clutch of tough setters.
DeleteNow that I have read your reasons, I withdraw my earlier comment. Once in a while, something like this makes a nice change -- and today IS Independence Day, after all.
DeleteAs to the full marx kindly given by you, the function of a grouch is to go against the current ... :-)
Tough ones will put off some people just like easy ones will put off some others. There are plenty of tough ones in TH. I don't want the beginners to go away.
DeleteI'd be interested in knowing what are the parameters being used to categorize setters and puzzles as easy or hard.
DeleteMy preference has always been simple ones. As Raghu rightly said in his 10.56 , simple doesn't mean bad or disaster. In fact, this could have been easy for us Indians because the theme helps to guess the words with GK. Looking at the CW as a standalone non-themed one, the clues are crafted brilliantly. And a non-Indian could have solved it with the wordplay itself. That way I would rate this CW very high.
DeleteA one letter answer to that (on behalf of most solvers):
DeleteI
If I can solve it without uprooting my hair, it is easy. If hair damage is there, it is tough. ;-)
Though Afterdark has said 'a non-Indian could have solved it with the wordplay itself.', some gridfills would be meaningless to a non-Indian, as they are not English words and cannot be found in any standard or other dictionary.
DeleteIn fact, I am fairly sure that an Englishman would call it 'disastrous' and rightly so.
DeleteI have a theory to it. Out of a 30 word CW, at least 10 to 12 of them should get cold solved in the first round. About another 12 or so should come out with the help of crossings. Rest with the help of Google Machan should be OK. This according to me is a simple good CW
DeleteA step on the lines of Sankalak and Gridman ! Thanks for encouraging beginners and average solvers !! Wish it should be two istead of just one in a cycle !!!
DeleteKishore @. 11.54 - but that way we also sometimes get foreign words that we don't know offhand. In fact more than words being in the dictionary, sometimes culturally they may be alien to us. We still solve them. So I feel it is fair. It would maybe take some effort for them nonetheless.
DeleteMy comment above is in response to Kishore @ 11:40
DeleteBhavan @ 11:44,
DeleteTough for someone maybe a cakewalk for someone else. I suppose it depends on the degree of skill of the solver. For someone who is juat starting out on CW's even today will be a tough solve. For example when I look at the Cryptic CW which comes in the Guardian or for that matter even some of those which come in the Times and which are reproduced in the HT I find them extremely tough and at times I have not got even one answer in the first round. I am amazed when I look into the 'Times for the Times blog' and find that some solvers have taken only 10 or so minutes to solve some CWs which I would take ages to solve.
And as far as I saw only Jaya He falls in that category .
DeleteAnd Jana ....
DeleteThanks Colonel @ 12.03
DeleteI'm happy to see simple words and simple constructions in a puzzle. Like I mentioned elsewhere, Sankalak and Rufus remain my favourite setters for that reason.
If I was unhappy with today's crossword, it is because of my personal dislike for meaningless or bizarre surfaces and giving away chunks of answers in the clues.Probably those things don't matter to others.
Arbitrarily classifying puzzles/setters as hard or easy without at least saying why is what is difficult to understand. If someone says one or more of these, at least the setter has a chance of seeing if he/she can make adjustments.
- 10 out of 30 answers in the grid were obscure
- the wordplay components are unknown to me
- I don't like referring to a dictionary while solving a crossword but this puzzle made me do that
- I hate thematic puzzles
Hi Bhavan,
DeleteI get your point. Those must be the very reasons for someone classifying a CW tough/easy though they are not specifying so.
Tough/Easy and Good/Poor classification are two different things. Tough or Easy is usually based on a solver's ability to solve a puzzle, provided there is nothing unfair in the clues. Good or Poor may be based on a technical evaluation of a puzzle, which an average solver might not even be aware of. On this count, I concede that surfaces should have been better here, as observed by Bhavan, and I shall work towards that objective.
DeleteOh! The cat is out of the bag! Kishore is incognito!!! How delightful to know it! Thanks for the beautiful puzzle! Simple solvers like me always welcome 'disasters' whichever be the paper that posts them!
ReplyDeleteOne monkey to another: Thanks for the nice words at The Hub.
DeleteMy pleasure! Kishore, elated am I to be of your kindred!lol
DeleteHappy Independence Day!Had always njoyed Kishore's blog's & comments & now, having learnt he is Incognito, thoroughly njoyed this too.Easy puzzles?keep that coming; ask all Sankalak,Gridman & Rufus fans!
ReplyDelete....and now my confusion starts ! Hope this Kishore is not that Kishore(of old) !?
DeleteHow can they be the same? Compare the two thumbnails next to "Kishore": today's and y/day's -:)
DeleteRaghunath @ 12:28
DeleteYes, I knew that they can't be the same. Vasant's comment "Had always enjoyed Kishore's blogs & comments" made me think for a while. May be Vasant is mistaking one for the other. This Kishore's comments were heard only today.
MB
DeleteBoth are the same
Thanks Col. Saheb !
DeleteHi all. Though I am a regular visitor, this is the first time i am commenting here. Took the 'liberty' of doing so on an appropriate day :-) Thoroughly enjoyed an easy CW with the most befitting theme, kudos to Incognito a.k.a Kishore. And thanks to all enlighteners here especially Chaturvasi sir.
ReplyDeleteFurther to my post of 11:24 -
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of multiple Gitas referred to in this blog, there once was an interesting discussion here.
Richard, as an aside ; yday's discussion on Bengali pronunciation and your mail subsequently, I think it should appear here so that everyone gets to see that. :)
DeleteWorried if some would find the pic offensive.
DeleteMay be i am new, but, never come across a grid with 36 no. clues.
ReplyDeleteHere's a tip for those who own iPad.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to be able to do a desired paper crossword on your machine, you can do if you D/L and install a software called Conspire (freeware)
Visit
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/conspire/id591054003?mt=8
After installing it, you can follow the instructions from the Help file.
In step one, you take a photo of the B&W grid.
By pressing on Use, you get the grid.
In step two, you take a photo of the clues. By pressing on Use, you get the Clues alongside that you can pinch up and down.
By reading a clue you enter the answer in the grid. (Doesn't seem to work with THC, as the 'blacks' in our grid are not 'blacks' as RajuU keeps on complaining about.)
I got the thing going with a CWD from NIE, but I did that only to get the hang of it.
I may not want to do it again. On the desktop I can set a grid in no time using my SW and with the clues in another window can solve any puz comfortably, losing no patience.
If you don't use paper, you can import grid and clues from Web. I learnt how to capture screen on my iPad by following tutorials in youtube, but I could not proceed because my mini iPad did not capture the screen successfully. Maybe it can, maybe not. I will want help from a human.
When you have the paper crossword, you can as well put pen to paper and solve it! Why go through all the trouble detailed above? !
ReplyDeleteHurray, Incognito-nee-Kishore! Great to be nostalgic about Independence Day with the Tri colour and the National Anthem and the others. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for opening your mak- officially! You could not have chosen a better day.
Sorry for the typo- read 'mask' in stead of 'mak'.
ReplyDeleteAnd I had thought you were ref to MAK Pataudi !
DeletePlease enlighten MB. See his post at 1244. I was pulling his leg.
DeleteYou naughty ! Col.Saheb has revealed his new "Avatar" !!!
DeleteHappy Independence Day to all blog members and visitors. Incognito is anagram of Cognition which means knowledge and it aptly fits Kishore. {CW clue can be crooked knowledge of a setter?}.
ReplyDeleteIt came as a pleasant surprise when Kishore revealed his identity today. I always felt incognito CWs are easier to solve and today it is the easiest for everyone including learners. But to be frank, I did not feel like attempting the CW today as it was too easy and I was expecting a tough one so that I can spend some time on this holiday. On other weekdays I do not have enough time as I have to go to office.
Incognito and Cognition?
DeleteGreat!
That is noticing excitedly without a trace of obstrusiveness (9)
Nice one CVji. Writing clue is very simple and natural to you.
DeleteI meant 'obtrusiveness'. Thanks for your indulgence.
Delete@Kishore
ReplyDelete16Ac Pursue to catch a thriller writer (5) CHASE [DD]
Pursue and chase are synonyms.
Pursue itself means to follow in an effort to overtake or capture; chase.
There was no need for 'to catch'
'Pursue a thriller writer' would have sufficed.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE TO ALL THE SETTERS AND SOLVERS.
ReplyDeleteA WONDERFUL CROSSWORD TODAY. IF YOU SET ASIDE ALL THE RULES OF FRAMING A CROSSWORD ,THE ATTEMPT TO FILL THE CROSSWORD WITH THE INDEPENDENCE DAY THEME IS GREAT AND CREATIVE. THANKS TO INCOGNITO FOR THE INDEPENCE DAY SPECIAL.
LIKE VIKRAM @12.30 , I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING THIS BLOG FOR QUITE SOME TIME AND HAVE LEARNT A LOT ABOUT CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS, THANKS TO THE ENLIGHTENING COMMENTS OF THE ACE SOLVERS AND SETTERS. THANKS PARTICULARLY TO COLONEL GOPINATH SIR AND CV SIR .
THE FIRST SENTENCE OF MY COMMENT @6.45 SHOULD READ AS "HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY" TO ALL THE SETTERS AND SOLVERS. REGRET THE ERROR.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong in wishing us independence. That's what we much-married men now in retirement (without the means of escaping to the office as Renga does) crave for.
ReplyDelete@Kishore: Good choice of date for unshackling Incognito's real identity.
ReplyDeleteHappy independence day everyone!
Setters need care with singulars and plurals.
ReplyDeleteIn 22Ac,
Devices for faster than light movement? Returning spies have afterthoughts (5) WARPS {WAR<=}{PS}
Afterthought = postscript=PS (okay)
But, the plural afterthoughts? This would lead to postscripts. Does the setter contend that PS covers this also?
PS may contain afterthought or afterthoughts.
DeleteAgain, a blank-out today on Orkut with only a couple of clues for Down partially appearing.! Had to be content with merely sitting back and enjoying my freedom and independence to read all the comments. One more unfilled grave to be exhumed when I'm back to getting access to a printer.
ReplyDeleteSitting here in Augusta in Georgia ,thanking the marvellous technology of the internet which has made the world so all, yet our THCC Family wider and ever-expanding. Coimbatoreans should re-examine their views about their weather being salubrious if they fell the wonderful and nippy air if Augusta !! The drive from NY to this place took all of 12 hours but thoroughly enjoyable , wondering how human endeavour and skills have been combined to lay down the long , unfailingly smooth roads carved ourt of lush greenery maintained all around. As though an artist has gone to town to paint the landscape and planted the whole thing down pat here ! As Omar Khayyam with his Rubaiyat, I could get the pleasure of doing about 32 cryptic crosswords from the Daily Telegraph edition along the way ! Oh ! the wonders of the Mosaic and magic of words !
Bloggers have to pardon me for using this forum as my diary of enjoyable events to be visited later in nostalgia. Thanks Col !
Happy Independence Day to All!.Like Vikram and Sivaram before me, I am a regular visitor to this site but this is my first comment. Thanks Kishore Sir for a wonderful CW- it went a long way to encourage beginners like me. Thanks to all the bloggers for teaching us the nuances of solving CWs.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone.
ReplyDeleteMine is post no. 100!
ReplyDelete