Tuesday 31 December 2013

No 10970, Tuesday 31 Dec 2013, Gridman

Advice from Gridman for the next 4 days "1D and 8D"

ACROSS
1   Marrying monarch entertains criticism (8) KNITTING {K{NITT}ING} There's an extra T in the criticism?
5   Uh-uh! SP ordered to be silent (4,2) HUSH UP*
10 Completely absorb from English doctor (7) ENGROSS {EN}{GROSS} (Correction - {ENG}{ROSS} - See comments)
11 Anyhow clear it for performance (7) RECITAL*
12 Work with other ranks to reach Portuguese city (6) OPORTO {OP}{OR}{TO}
13 I met one GP agitatedly — beginning of old skin problem (8) IMPETIGO {I+MET+1+GP}*{O}
15 Discover special insight may be found by July-end (4) ESPY {ESP}{Y}
16 Does it make one knotty in matrimonial state? (7,3) NUPTIAL TIE [CD]
18 Is in prison — works for the enemy (6,4) SERVES TIME [DD]
20 Love to drink on return from work (4) OPUS {O}{PUS<=}
23 A venture to follow one attractive woman endlessly in excessive adoration (8) IDOLATRY {1}{DOLl}{A}{TRY}
24 Gridman’s near-ploy consisting of verses (6) METRIC {ME}{TRICk}
26 Bleat about Australian pageant (7) TABLEAU {BLEAT*}{AU}
27 Instruments from coach — not of the French sailors (7) GUITARS {GUIde}{TARS}
28 Prying is no violation? Good! (6) NOSING {NO}{SIN}{G}
29 With this virtue one doesn’t look to others for assistance (4-4) SELF-HELP [CD]

DOWN
1   Remain calm, don’t take off the upper garment (4,4,4,2) KEEP ONE'S SHIRT ON [C&DD] Error in enumeration it should be (4,4,5,2)
2   Clique not out to aggregate (2-5) IN-GROUP {IN}-{GROUP}
3   Advocates holding river fish (6) TROUTS {T{R}OUTS}
4   Abode where one is happy as a lark? (4) NEST [CD]
6   Somehow muscle an American (5,3) UNCLE SAM*
7   Strikers’ rota? (3,4) HIT LIST [CD]
8   Make a determined effort, draw those darned things (4,4,5,2) PULL ONE'S SOCKS UP [CD]
9   Peak period when people are before the idiot box (5,4) PRIME TIME [CD]
14 Ram about to lift flower (9) BUTTERCUP {BUTTER}{C}{UP}
Reminded me of the Dean Martin song 'Buttercup a Golden Hair' hear it below.


17 Encouraged a desire to capture Orient guerrillas (8) FEDAYEEN {FED}{A}{YE{E}N}
19 Figure hours are wasted in nabbing doctor (7) RHOMBUS {RHO{MB}US*}
21 Study carefully cost indicator for transportation (7) PORTAGE {POR{TAG}E} No containment indicator? (See comments)
22 Exist readily with a canon (6) BELIEF {BE}{LIEF}
25 Give an eye with exclamation and endless jollity (4) OGLE {O!}{GLEe}

40 comments:

  1. 1A - When you say very loud, it is double F in crosswords. Maybe when criticism is very harsh, it can have double T.

    Just kidding. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. !D and 8D - bugbear time. ;-)

      Delete
    2. De-bugging done succesfully :-)

      Delete
    3. IMO, in both places, since it is the possessive case of socks or shirts belonging to one, the usage should be "one's"

      Delete
    4. I meant what Kishore has said. It should be ONE'S in both places. That is what I meant. No offence pls.

      Delete
    5. De-bugging now successful !

      Delete
  2. 21 Study carefully cost indicator for transportation (7) PORTAGE {POR{TAG}E} No containment indicator?
    Study carefully - PORE over

    ReplyDelete
  3. 16A - Wasn't the cartoonist '~knotty' ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Venkatesh is right. That was my intention but when I read the comment above I, for a moment, thought that I had probably erred. It might have taken some moments for me to recall the anno. I was relieved when I saw V's explanation
    As for the missing T, that is a mistake,
    These crosswords are checked and double-checked - the last a day before publication - but occasional slips do occur. My apologies.
    Only excuse is it is not for want of conscience or attention. Yesterday I had indeed made some slight corrections elsewhere in the clues. I must thank the chief subeditor in charge for co-operating with me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It will be a good idea if one of us writes an article on the special/thematic crosswords that THC has published in 2013.
    I would do it provided some help is offered to me by indicating which were the special/thematic puzzles.
    In this perhaps solvers/bloggers/ the setters around here can help by mentioning them here and also by sending an email to
    chaturvasi{at}yahoo{dot}com
    The write-up, once done, may be posted here.
    Note that pangram puzzles won't be included. Those with themes, Ninas - whether in the perimeter or in unchecked rows/columns - clue acrostics and other such puzzles will qualify.

    ReplyDelete
  6. One more enjoyable CW from Gridman. In all his six offerings, my score never fell below 80%, average being 90% ! Thanks, Gridman.

    It's ages since I heard a Dean Martin song ! A lovely song ! Thanks, Col Sir, for sharing it with us. I'll download this song :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. How the BUTTER & C come in 14D?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ram = butter
      about = c Circa

      Delete
    2. For Laxman's sake :)

      About = Approximately = Circa. Circa abbreviated as C or CA

      Delete
    3. Thanks Bhala & AVM.
      I couldn't relate BUTTER with RAM. Now I found it here in Times for the Times Blog.
      RAM = 'butter' as an agent noun, i.e. something that butts
      http://times-xwd-times.livejournal.com/681699.html

      Delete
    4. In fact, I should thank, you, Laxman ! Your explanation of Ram = Butter is quite clear to me now. Never went deep into its real meaning !

      BTW I am known to many bloggers here as MB. There is one more setter-cum-blogger known as Bhala (Bhala Chandra Pasupathy) aka xChequer !

      Delete
  8. Not sure if this works..
    1AC a synonym of tint is taint.
    taint meaning moral defect evokes criticism

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In which case, should it work, the Anno becomes {K{NITT*}ING} :)

      Delete
    2. ...and the missing "T" is taken care of in the above Anno !! The doubt was raised when Nit is taken for 'criticism' and not Tint as Thiru mentions.

      Delete
    3. Correction : Read extra "T" in place of missing "T"

      Delete
  9. Its an indirect anagram then. As setter mentioned its a mistake not an IA

    ReplyDelete
  10. MB at 12:52
    For Laxman's sake :)

    Laxman is asking about Ram:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mere Man main hai Ram, mere tan main hai Ram. kan kan main Ram
      Thanks to you AVM & Bhala, I dicovered this Bhajan by Mohd Rafi
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCEe3X4rVzM

      Delete
  11. From Sunday special xword
    Market Egyptian soul with mindless Zamindar (6) BAZAAR - BA - how ?

    ReplyDelete
  12. The ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul was made up of five parts: the Ren, the Ba, the Ka, the Sheut, and the Ib.

    ReplyDelete
  13. LV,
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ba_(Egyptian_soul)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I was just going through some of the older posts, in search of a song Jambo Bwana and came across late posts of Kishore and Richard, in response to my query regarding intial J of Ramesh posted on 28 Dec. My apologies to them for not noticing their impeccable Telugu posts on that day ! I am an "early to bed, early to rise" type personality ! :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Balu-garu, breaking into Swahili or Kishwahili again, 'Hakuna matata' ('no problem')...

    Incidentally, Swahili words, unless bisyllabic, have a set pattern of being pronounced with the first syllable being short and the second longer. The above is pronounced hakoona MaTaaTa.

    ReplyDelete
  16. No 10970, Tuesday 31 Dec 2013, Gridman - The English doctor is Ronald Ross. Not Heinrich Gross.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Having read Chaturvasi's 1103, I would like to suggest that the bloggers start tagging thematic puzzles from now on. (It may even have to start from tomorrow. :)) I think it would serve as a useful reference in the future. Also, as and when we come across thematic crosswords from the past, we can inform the Col. and his team to add the necessary tags.

    ReplyDelete

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