Enjoyed doing the Physic(al)s set by Lightning.
ACROSS
1 Attracts intern with top tier starting salary (6) TEMPTS {TEMP}{T}{S}
4 Betrayer to tell on king (8) SQUEALER {SQUEAL}{ER}
10 Draft, not completely prejudiced towards India, perhaps (9) PENINSULA {PEN}{INSULAr}
11 Compel on behalf of church (5) FORCE {FOR}{CE}
12 Land without a lamp (5) LIGHT aLIGHT
13 Reserve nice, erect building (9) RETICENCE*
14 Importance of the effect of attraction (7) GRAVITY [DD]
16 Lawyer leaves woman admitting one cripple (4) MAIM {MAda{I}M}
19 Signal to let go after losing heart (4) WAVE WAiVE
21 Lazy one with a tendency to remain at rest (7) INERTIA {INERT}{1}{A}
24 One well-organised record is mandatory at first to reveal a new
word (9) NEOLOGISM {ONE*}{LOG}{IS}{M}
25 Lived with daughter, for the most part healthy and fit at last
(5) DWELT {D}{WELl}{T}
26 Salad from Andorra I tasted (5) RAITA [T]
27 Detailed test to primarily mark isotopic chemicals having three
indivisible units per molecule (9) TRIATOMIC {TRIAl}{TO}{M}{I}{C}
28 Mayor Yen assembled a cavalry unit (8) YEOMANRY*
29 Control fee (6) CHARGE [DD]
DOWN
1 Most important record about old, unknown network configuration
(8) TOPOLOGY {TOP}{O}{LOG}{Y}
2 Symbol for single unit of weight (8) MONOGRAM {MONO}{GRAM}
3 Camp embracing oriental belief (5) TENET {TEN{E}T}
5 Queen, with hesitation, describing a book in part (7) QUANTUM {QU}{A}{NT}{UM}
6 Faulty? Remove the top, insert a trace of fuel and it becomes
useful (9) EFFECTIVE {dEF{F}ECTIVE}
7 Novel ruling is enticing (6) LURING*
8 Recommend sheltering European at joint (6) REEFER {RE{E}FER}
9 Ask a king to supplant eastern mine (6) QUARRY {QU(-e+(a)(r)}ARRY}
17 Ship covering royal banner (8) STREAMER {ST{R}EAMER}
18 Separate one oddly culled grain (8) PARTICLE {PART}{1}{CuLlEd}
20 Signalling device secret, time-traveller held back (7) EMITTER [T<=]
21 Characteristic of a stressed foot? (6) IAMBIC [CD]
22 Heartlessly get into the borders of Germany exhibiting
forcefulness (6) ENERGY {ENtER}{GermanY}
23 An effect, perhaps of mood in disarray (6) DOMINO*
25 Abandon trench (5) DITCH [DD]
Is anyone interested in joining the team of contributors to this blog? Remember you will need to meet the 8:30 AM deadline on the day on which you opt to blog, in unforseen eventualities of course someone else will substitute. Please send me an e-mail if interested.
ReplyDeleteQuiet day today.
ReplyDeleteI thought it was Bhavan's turn to blog.
Was never a big fan of physics. Didn't like it when I was in school. Hated it all the more in the first year of my engineering.
Nice crossword BTW
Bhavan is on a self imposed sabbatical
DeleteNice indeed. Typical of Lightning.
ReplyDeleteMy three genuine doubts !
ReplyDelete4A : ER for King ?
24A : What is the indicator for "IS" in Anno ?
5D : QU for Queen ?
ER is short for King Edward (Edward Regina)
DeleteIS is a word in the clue itself.
I have seen qu being used by some setters of queen, but now that you mention it I am not able to find any official confirmation of it being an accepted abbreviation.
ER = Eduardus Rex, the Latin form of King Edward
Delete24A - IS is given gratis in the clue
5D - Yes QU is used for queen in CWs
Thanks, Col. Saheb and Suresh
DeleteVJ wrote: "Didn't like it [physics] when I was in school. Hated it all the more in the first year of my engineering."
ReplyDeleteI have a kindred soul. Let me at the outset say I have nothing against physics and nothing against those who pursue studies in that discipline,
But in college I found myself in B. Sc. Physics class and after one year abandoned it as I was very uncomfortable.
But, be warned, a crossword setter can pose problems in physics as well other subjects without knowing much about it.
This is not to suggest Lightning is an upstart. He might be a genuine physicist.
I am back from a trip to Madurai. Would like to write my impressions. Can I have the Col's permission to post the record here.
ReplyDeletePlease do
DeleteWaitingggggggg.....
Delete+1 PP ma'am :)
DeleteFrom the year 1958 I am a permanent resident of Chennai (that is still Madras for me). Of course I have gone to other places but they have always been by a train leaving Central Station or the airport. Journeys from or to Egmore have been rare.
DeleteI was in Madurai for a couple of days, having gone there to attend a wedding.
No journey by autos was too cumbersome, as long as I and the automan settled on the rate.
Only once did a man take me to a place where I never intended to go at 5-30 a.m. when it was still dark, but ultimately after I made him understand where I had to go, he reached me there. (I think he didn't pay much attention to what I said earlier, for I had even warned him when he took a wrong turn but he had said nonchalantly "ippidiyum polaam"). Finally it was a roundabout journey. I paid him handomely - more than what he had demanded initially - saying "Sandoshamaa ponga".
In another auto we went on the trail of a plot purchased by some ancestor in 1950. No precise colony or street name or door number was with us. The place was some 20 km away. We went round and round and finally we even went to the Collector's office to give a petition for land survey. For all of five or six hours the automan was polite, undemanding and helpful.
The food at the hotel where we were staying was good and tasty. Every time I had satisfaction - something that is elusive in Madras. And it was less costly than in Madras. The waiter boys were courteous and pleasing. Why, even the women who bussed went about their job quietly and efficiently.
At the odd hour when coffee was not available at the restaurant, I went out in search of a coffee shop. Not one decent place could I see. Someone told me I had gone the wrong way: when I did go in the direction that they had mentioned, all that I could see were "coffee bars" - mere stalls open onto the road where you stood and sipped coffee off paper cups.
When I wanted to buy an English paper, everywhere I saw stacks of different Tamil papers resting on candy bottles, with posters strung to a door fluttering in the early morning breeze. I hesitantly approached a news vendor and asked "English paper irukka?" "Hinduvaa?" he asked, bent down and produced a copy from the depths of a counter.
(more later)
4 A - E Rex not E Regina?
ReplyDeleteThat is right. ER stands for King Edward as well as Queen Elizabeth. In one case it is E Rex (Edwardus Rex) and in another E Regina (Elizabeth Regina).
DeleteDidn't see the earlier messages. Sorry for any duplication.
Delete'qu' for 'queen' is in XWD, a dictionary of crossword abbreviations (Chembers).
ReplyDeleteIt is in that dictionary as well.
In the dict. it is given as qu.
A rule to follow (which I do) is if the abbr. has the last letter, there is no need for a full stop at the end. If it does not have the last letter, the full stop is needed. Hence qu.
BTW, now and then there is a mention here of a long lsit of abbrs.
That was inititally based on the list XWD mentioned above. But later in its Internet avatar, the list was augmented by readers/solvers. Obviously there would not have been any supervision/editing so that using some abbrs. from that list is often questioned.
I do look up XWD but even while using it I am judicious for some of them were used only in what are called advanced crosswords for a limited clientele who might tolerate the aberrations because in setting these specialist puzzle there might be other constraints and the setter might be given some licence which the solver knows about. If the same abbrs. are used in popular crosswords there might be murmurs.
Gridman has clues in which for queen you have to sub. QU. (This last full stop serves two purposes!) LOL.
f one were to be persnickety, it would be in 4 AC:
ReplyDelete4 Betrayer to tell on king (8) SQUEALER {SQUEAL}{ER}
To tell, also means to is betray and hence very close to the def.
Not a good clue.
DeleteNice one today. Particularly liked 21D, clues like this bring a smile to your face when the penny drops
ReplyDeleteHere, on seeing the clue, the solution came first from the definition, and then the solution got worked out.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, king is used to clue in GR (George Rex, King George) and queen for ER (Elizabeth Regina, ER). While king can also be used for ER(Eduardus Rex, King Edward), it would have helped the solvers had the setter simply used 'queen' instead.
ER (Elizabeth Regina, Queen Elizabeth)
ReplyDeleteRaghu,
ReplyDeleteIt is not 'to tell' but 'to tell on'. This means to give away information about somebody.
The clue gets broken as {to tell on - SQUEAL} + {king - ER}with Betrayer as the required definition.
Yes, I missed adding 'on' after 'tell'. However,'to tell on' still is very close to the answer.
Delete... by a train leaving Central Station or the airport.
ReplyDeleteConjured up image of a train leaving ... the airport (Anna & Kamaraj Terminals)! May be one day, hopefully in the not so distant future, we will have the airport as a hub with intercity trains leaving Tirusoolam station!
Too much Physics, to day, Lightning!
ReplyDeleteDid not get 'triatomic'.
Musings...
ReplyDeleteA comment en passant on two words used interchangeably by some of us - Say & Tell.
While these are similar in meaning (= to communicate verbally with someone), in usage they differ. While one says something, one tells someone something.
In other words, 'tell' is usually followed with a personal object (the person whom we are speaking to); while we usually use 'say' without a personal object. If required, we can add 'to (the person spoken to)', e.g., he said to me ... .
The other difference is that while 'say' can be used with direct speech, 'tell' can be used with direct speech only when that is an instruction or information.
Reminded me of Sounds Of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel:
DeletePeople talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
Well before 7 a.m. on the second day, I stepped out of the hotel in Madurai to take a walk. Not a constitutional but a leisurely stroll to take in the sights and sounds of a city just coming to life.
ReplyDeleteI had not walked for even a minute when I crossed the road and turned into another. I realised immediately that I must be in one of the earliest parts of the town. For, most of the buildings were old and decrepit. Most of them were next to each other with no space on either side. Some of the old houses had undergone reevelopment recently and rose to three or more levels. It was funny to see a mere tiled house standing short and defiantly in between two tall buildings pressing it from both sides
You can imagine telecommunication companies, jewelries, electronic goods companies or watch companies occupying these new buildings amidst dirt and squalor. There was also the branch of a famous old bookshop - I entered and found books stacked on the floor one upon another to a height of one or 1,5 m. I had to wade through empty cartons, bubble wraps and hard tapes. When I removed a book from the top of a heap, I had to clap my hands to let the dust fly from my person.
The road I had turned into was called Vadam Pokki Street. Frankly I could not guess the import of this name. I know that 'vadam' could be the rope used to draw water from a well or pull chariot. The second word needs elucidation from a Maduraivasi. To my right was Goods Shed Road but I found no trace of any railway or lorry booking office. Now the street was full of hardware and paint shops. Nestled amidst these shops was a 'community college' of a wellknown southern industrial company; it perhaps feeds workers to the various factories. Its compound stretches to the road on the other side - the rear side bearing a prominent signboard.
There was the West Masi Street where one would go to buy timber or steel. The scene was generally dismal with only the recently built municipal office lending some colour and smartness.
I ventured into the Good Shed Street (our painters of signs can shed a letter here and there) and walked. A young girl outside a still-existing house was drawing maakkolam. I turned right and soon came to what is called Meenakshi Bazaar which is like Ritchie Street or Burma bazaar of Chennai. If you enter that street and walk past all those shops on either side, you will reach the service road of a dust-laden, poster-bearing arm of a bridge or flyover (I don't know what to call it) that goes into Krishnadevaroya Tank Street.
I didn't go there but turned into North Veli Street and walked past the Madurai head post office (which still had the board 'Telegraph Office') and Sethupathi Higher Secondary School - which boasts that it was where maha kavi Bharathiar did his work in Tamil. A bust of the poet looks straight at the gate and the passerby. I reached the hotel from where I had started.
The endless stream of traffic was yet to begin. Later, bus after bus going to places like Mattu Thavani (again, what does this mean? madu, I know; dhavani, I know, but the collocation beats me) or Azhagar Koil or some such place would zoom past, heeding no hand sign from the lone traveller trying to stop it so he may save walking to the next bus stop.
I remembered Mrs PP living in Madurai and greeted her silently but made no efforts to contact her. For one thing I was busy and for another I didn't want to disturb her even-paced life.
(ends)
(with thanks to the Col for hosting this space for my Impressions)
Nice pen-picture, CV ! Reminded me of my three visits to that city. Two were when I was doing the audit of the Family Planning Association of India and one when I had to go with my wife to the University for her Viva. I remember staying at a hotel called 'Scholar' or 'Graduate' or something similar. My main area of walking was in the University campus whiling away time when the missus was occupied. The temple too was a small walk away from that hotel.
DeleteGreat narration, CV. Flowing language, picturesque description.
DeleteTime to decide about writing an autobiography. It's going to be a best-seller.
The reference to Krishnadevaroya interested me. This name is of one of the rulers of the Vijayanagar empire, the seat of which was in the present Hampi ( a city of ruins now), located in Bellary district in northern Karnataka. It is being claimed that humourist Tenali Raman was one of his courtiers.
Was Madurai part of the Vijayanagar empire? If so, was it named after him? I was weak in history. Someone proficient in the subject can throw some light on this point.
Another point in passing: Just in case a few members find posts of this kind a bit obtrusive on this forum, the Col can think of opening a sub-blog to record members' memoirs and travelogues.
At the same time, let me make it clear, I don't have any issue with posts of this kind here.
Nayaks of Madurai were viceroys of Vijayanagar empire. Once Vijayanagar empire declined, they stared to rule independently.
DeleteNice one CV Sir!
DeleteAs far as I know Goods shed street got the name because there is railway's goods shed on the other side of the wall across the street perpendicular to goods shed street. Other places like Vadam Pokki Street & mattuthavani I don't have idea.PP ma'am is the best person to explain.
We were residing near Simmakal (hope you have heard this name)which is not far from goods shed street.As a kid i used to play on the streets.(I am talking about 70s). After '95 the whole area became so congested.
@ Richard Sir!Yes Madurai was part of the Vijayanagar empire.It was ruled by Tirumalai nayakar under King Krishnadevaroya.
Thanks LV.
DeleteMy thanks are due to you too, Ramesh.
DeleteEnjoyed reading CV's Madurai days- a la-RKN's Malgudi days. Simple but reminiscent of a bucolic place. MY own memories of having visited there once, eons ago, to meet my sister and B-i-law posted there, are very cobwebby and absolutely dim..I have of course vivid memories of the Meenakshi Temple and its majestic, ageless Gopuras that are a marvel and ode to the mastery of architecture of those days. Wish Cv had mentioned about the mystique shadows of the Gopurams .
ReplyDeleteHave returned to the Big Apple after a whistle stop tour of Augusta,Miami, Boston, Maryland and Washington DC. The Smitsonian Museums, especially the Italian art and aerospace , are awe-inspiring and makes one feel like a pygmy before those great masters of Art & Technology. Yet, one has to take solace from the fact that all things pass;life being so ephemeral, but the footprints remain.
In a way these blogs here are also creating a small chapter in the history of Cryptic crosswords for posterity, ain't it?
CV's interesting narration of his Madurai visit is very endearing and an involuntary smile escapes as I visualise him walking our dear streets and visiting shops. Dust and dirt are omnipresent. Automen are basically good guys. Generally 'mariyaathai' in our place (and all southern region of the state) is a very noticeable feature esp to madras people! I've lived in Madras for many years. The scant respect first shocked me and then amused me. I am born and bred in Madurai(same for hubby), after marriage accompanied my state government servant husband to many places, lived in Trichy for many uears and after retirement have returned to our native place where we find our roots. My maiden years were spent under the shadow of Meenakshi Amman temple, near Pudhu Mandapam. As Cv rightly points out the heart of the city has become a big bazaar unfit for residential existence. We are now cosily settled in a peaceful area on the outer fringe of the fast-spreading city.
ReplyDeleteLakshmi's explanation about Goods shed street is correct. 'thaavani' in maattuthaavani attracting CV is least surprising! But maattuthavani means 'market place'selling bullocks and cows. I'm not very sure about the meaning of 'vadampokki' but feel it has some reference to to the chariot festival during Chithirai on the 2nd day after Meenakshi's wedding(thirukkalyanam).
Lastly, thanks CV for remembering me! As you rightly guessed I enjoy my peace and armchair reveries more than actual meetings of friends.
I lived in Vakil new street,place between north masi street and simmakkal,not too far from pudhumandapam.Now my parents have also moved to outskirts of the city.Two weeks back I went to Madurai :)
DeleteWell, I am very late in this I know. Being a Madurai guy (though living at Chennai now) I cannot resist adding my two cents about the town. PP madam is right on the money about the respect part. Irrespective of the social status, one is always encouraged to respectfully address the other. Actually 'thavani' means 'usance' or credit period. Since it is a place where cattle fair was held, I don't know whether credit was offered there and hence the name.
ReplyDeleteThere are interesting street names at Madurai. Two of them being 'Marret' and 'Perumal Mestri'. These were the names of the Engineer and the Mason who was responsible of demolishing the fort walls of Madurai when the town was expanded.
The city has a 2500 old history and not much of it has been properly recorded yet.