Monday, February 07, 2005

The Hindu Crossword 8210 Solutions - by Vinod & Rajagopal

Across
1 Prominent part of view (10) FOREGROUND (Direct)
6 Tail-wagging show of affection (4) FAWN (Direct)
9 Swindle you strongly fear somehow (7) DEFRAUD (you=U, strongly=F, fear=DREAD=>you strongly fear somehow = ana. U+F+DREAD -- This is a horrible clue. An anagram of synonyms is pretty lame)
10 He is not highly intellectual or cultured (7) LOWBROW (Direct)
12 Pass away food and clothes free (4,4) HAND OUTS (I have no explanation for this one -- Crappy clue no doubt)
13 Crystal clear and distinct (5) LUCID (Direct)
15 He takes rum to discharge tears (5) RHEUM (ana. HE+RUM)
17 Blow for slow retaliation (3,3,3) TIT FOR TAT (Direct)
19 Structures to hold tool for cutting, taut (3,6) SAW FRAMES (Direct -- whats the 'taut' doing in the clue?)
21 Move along to dance and become brown (5) TANGO (Move along=GO, Brown=TAN => ana. GO+TAN -- this is most awful clue of the lot. The clue defn. i.e. 'dance' is somewhere in the middle of the clue. Again the compiler wants us to think up some vague synonyms and anagrammatize them. And where is the anagram indicator?)
23 State of being most badly evil (5) WORST (Direct -- Is this the best clue the compiler could churn out? Surpise Surprise! It isn't the WORST either. Because even worse clues follow)
24 Storm cooled in a tea cup, maybe (4,4) BREW OVER
27 Special boat to catch fish (7) TRAWLER (Direct -- and I thought this was a cryptic crossword)
28 One bleeds to get things to be eaten (7) EDIBLES (One=I, bleeds=BLEEDS=>One bleeds to get = ana. I+BLEEDS)
29 Tear charge for measure (4) RATE (tear charge = ana. TEAR -- 'charge' as an ana. ind.? shady!)
30 Flagrant mistake (5,5) GROSS ERROR (Direct)

Down
1 Cause to disappear gradually (4) FADE (Direct)
2 Reason for delayed start to increase economic activity (7) REFLATE (Reason for=REF??, delayed=LATE -- bad surface reading)
3 Drag north for the imposing summit (5) GRAND (ana. DRAG+N -- 'imposing' is 'grand'. What's the word 'summit' for?)
4 Something that has been done for years (3,6) OLD CUSTOM (Direct)
5 Invalidates and makes void (5) NULLS (Double Defn.)
7 Fruit to get from Capri (7) APRICOT (to get from Capri = ana. TO+CAPRI -- again, very poor wording, and location of ana. ind.)
8 A refurbished guide for those who want to wine and dine differently (3,7) NEW EDITION (to wine and dine differently = ana. TO+WINE+DINE)
11 Go courting, but jilt the girl (4,3) WALK OUT (Go=WALK, courting=OUT??)
14 New sources clearly tapped not of the sea (5,5) FRESH WATER (New=FRESH, sources clearly tapped=WATER -- horrible horrible horrible)
16 Trail mother regarding wedded bliss (7) MARITAL (ana. TRAIL+MA(mother) - 'regarding' as an ana. ind. - phew, the lesser said the better)
18 Sense a smaller number without flavour (9) TASTELESS (Sense=TASTE, a small number=LESS)
20 Assurance to demand sanction (7) WARRANT (Double Defn.)
22 One who irritates a sewing woman? (7) NEEDLER (Double Defn.)
24 Hesitate to steal to get the insect (5) BORER (Hesitate=ER, steal=BOR?? -- again poor word positioning)
25 Love to live near the evergreen tree (5) OLIVE (Love=O, live=LIVE => O+LIVE)
26 First Russian imprisoned by Bolsheviks's armed forces (4) TSAR (Direct)

A NOTE TO THE COMPILER -
Dear compiler, I, on behalf of the worldwide community of cruciverbalists, implore you not to torture us with clues of such appalling quality. It is an insult not only to us, but to the high standards of crypticism set by Ximenes. May his soul RIP.

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