Adversarial effects of sweet

Let’s take the FT clue:
A bit of ecumenical intelligence (6) A CUMEN
Here ‘A’ gives A and ‘bit of ecumenical’ gives CUMEN.
No problem about the clue being charade with a hidden element. The hidden fodder is there (ecumenical), the hidden ind is there (bit of), though there is no def for the hidden component (which is the nonsensical letter string cumen).
Let’s take the other FT clue:
Put some tinsel round the cradle and your name in the book? INS(CRIB)E
Here too in ‘some tinsel’ we have hid ind and hid fodder; INSE goes around CRIB (cradle). There is no def for the hid component (which again is the meaningless letter string INSE) as we generally have in a clue of this type.
Now turning to
Sweet party in call centre DO LCE
I don’t find anything amiss in def and wordplay order.
We have def and then wordplay with a word (DO from party) and then a hidden component.
But there is no ind for the hidden aspect.
I do realise that ‘in’ is not a c/c ind; it may be taken as a connector or a position ind.
Now after DO what do we add in the charade? I feel that with “in call centre” we cannot be expected to pick up LCE, a part of ‘call centre’.
Suppose we rewrite it as
Sweet party for some in the call centre
or
Sweet party for a section of call centre
or
Sweet party tucked away in the call centre
In all the three examples it is clear that after DO we have to add some letters picked from ‘call centre’.
‘some in’ or ‘a section of’ or ‘tucked away’ suggests that you have to take part of the following words.
I do not buy the argument that ‘in’ itself suggests that some letters have to be taken from ‘call centre’.
In a regular hidden clue such as
Language of North India (5) HINDI
such an indication may not be necessary though even here purists might argue that the hid ind is weak.
My considered opinion is that the particular clue in the Neyartha crossword somehow fails to achieve the effect that the clue-writer attempted.

TIB 6 – Sol grid

Chaturvasi's answers

TIB 6 – overall comments

A good puzzle.

Very bright future awaits the clue-writers. Any newspaper can empanel the compiler duo.

Only, newspapers in India are slow in accepting setters. They would rather take a syndicated crossword, scan it and put it in a textbox that is shrunken to the maximum limit.

When they do take in original setters, they don’t apply their minds well.

And when once they apply their minds, it is bonded with Fevicol. And the attitude is ‘Chaltha rahe, chaltha rahe’ (said in an extended, tiresome voice).

So mediocrity prevails!

*** The opinions expressed here are my own. They are made with a full sense of responsibility and the writer will stand by them at all times. They may not be quoted anywhere without express and expressed permission of the writer.

TIB 6 – Down set

1 An order to arrest labourers at the beginning of strike? That’s stupid (6)  OB(TU,S)E – c/c
2 A bit of kink shows up after much of pole dance (5) POL K A, – rev/charade
3 Calms down group as left back gets two points (7) SET .TL< E S – charade with rev
4 Quit as from a dead ball situation he let two shockingly (5,2,3,5) THROW IN THE TOWEL – didn’t work it out fully
5 An ideal street commando is one who is unknown (7,8) – PERFECT ST RANGER – charade The def might give just stranger; should the word totally have been added?
6 They bring up weighty matters (7) LIFTERS – CD
7 Model hugging a model to arouse (9) S(T)IMULATE – c/c
8 Fiery policeman, one far removed from the wicked ( – 7) IGNEOUS – haven’t worked out the wordplay – anyway I don’t think the def is correct or is it?
14 Change opinion regarding appearance (5,4) ABOUT-FACE – charade – should the enu be 5-4? – Can ‘about-face’ be used as a verb? One does an about-face. Can one about-face? I have to check.
16 A player reacts bitterly to sledging at first (7) ACTRES*,S – Could do without the initial indef art
18 Quiet! Take note, gangster is at junction. Move with care (7) S(TE,AL T)H – c/c – Good surface reading - in surface reading “move (with care)’ is a verb but it does a switcheroo as def for word req’d, for the sol STEALTH is a noun. Very carefully written clue.
20 Part of gun not allowed in counter strike (7) LOCK OUT – charade – ‘counter strike’ must be one word or hyphenated – not two words anyway
21 Parliamentarians’ head is hauled over the coals (6) (m)EMBERS – del – Good but I can’t make up my mind whether ‘hauled’ (without away) is good enough as del ind
24 In a dialog, imagination is turned on its head my friend (5) AMIGO – rev hidden – I won’t allow the sudden use of US spelling, though. All clues must use either UK or US spelling. There has to be a comma after ‘head’. Surface reading requires ‘my’ but it plays no role whatever in the def, in fact it’s misleading as the solver might look for a phrase such as ‘mon ami’. I don’t know the word for ‘my’ in Spanish!

Choice clues: 2, 7, 16

TIB 6 – Across set

1  Unlike some Europeans, they attract (8,5) OPPOSITE POLES – charade
9 John not accommodating one for rent (2,3)  TO(i) LET – del – Wordplay will be familiar to anyone who has visited a public convenience in India with graffiti writers having to only scratch a letter in TOILET to make some weird suggestion.
10 Thinning not seen often, resistance not offered to cooking in oil (9) RARE F(r)YING – charade cum del
11 A bird acts up, wild owl (7) SWAL LOW
12 Carry out murder (7) EXECUTE – double def
13 What you might call a bearer for…a tot? (8) BASSINET – I know that a bassinet is a basket for carrying an infant – you come across it in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of being Earnest, I think. The wordplay/classification eludes me. Got it just now. The bassinet is to be carried and so the speaker might call a bearer (one who bears, carries) for that. Tot is a drink; you might call a bearer (waiter) for that. Tot also means a child. Whether someone always has a bearer for their child, I don’t know. Maybe in another period, maybe with the very rich nowadays. But a clue with clever wordplay.  
15 Confusion for all to see when followers are upset (5) SNAF U < – rev
17 Produce small prunes (5) CROP S – charade
19 Innkeeper’s head office starting out of studio (8) H O (-a)TELIER – charade cum del
22 What you may beat when you are beaten (7) RETREAT – cryptic def
23 Give approval for a copyright petition (7) A C CLAIM – charade
25 Rascal caught with partner taking booty around (9) S (C ALLY) WAG – c/c
26 A token of peace and love – wickedness overthrown! (5) O LIVE< – charade with rev
27 Thrills come greeting in strange relaxations (13) EX(HI)LARATIONS* – c/c with anag

An excellent set of clues. Impeccable wordplay. All clues have good surface reading and the grammar is perfect.  There is entertainment value in the clues. Nice variation in rev indications. No ‘hidden’ clue is used. And surprisingly there is no anag clue either except in 27ac where too the anag is part of a c/c.

Choice clues: 11, 22, 26

Thomas Hardy: Incident in Mr Crookhill’s Life

I reread this story in a book of short stories entitled “Country” (ed. James Gibson, John Murray,  1982). It is one in The Short Story Series.

Mr Crookhill, a farmer on way  to the market in a village, comes across another farmer in an impressive dress riding on a good strong horse. He makes friends with him. After proceeding for some more distance, they decide to stay overnight in an inn. Early in the morning Crookhill quietly dresses himself in his recent acquaintance’s dress and departs after getting the latter’s horse saddled for himself.

Thus begins a charade. Is this robber punished? If not, why not?  And what happened to the one who was  robbed?

The initial para strongly reminded me of an incident in Kalki’s classic  ”Sivakamiyin Sabadham” which I am rereading now. It is someone on a slow horse admiring another on a strong horse and drawing level with him and making friends with him and staying overnight in an inn. There the resemblance ends.

Link

http://www.online-literature.com/hardy/lifes-little-ironies/35/

Note: Ignore the last six paras after “…hindrance than aid.” They are irrelevant.

Quote

Before they fell asleep they talked across the room about one thing and another, running from this to that till the conversation turned upon disguises, and changing clothes for particular ends. 

Note to friends: I am taking a break now. Will try to resume the series later.

Mark Twain: A Ghost Story

A man takes up lodgings in a large room in a huge old building where the upper-floor storeys had been unoccupied for years. 

He retires for the night but soon strange things happen as the building is haunted by a ghost. After some sleepless moments the man gets up and lights the gas.

This ghost story has humour like in “The Canterville Ghost”. Here the man even talks with the ghost seated opposite him! 

I read the story in a book titled Tales from Beyond the Grave (Gallery Books, 1982) pulled out from my bookshelf.

Link

http://infomotions.com/alex2/authors/twain-mark/twain-ghost-677/

Quote

… and as I turned a dark angle of the stairway and an invisible cobweb swung its slazy woof in my face and clung there, I shuddered as one who had encountered a phantom.

Saki: The Image of the Lost Soul

I have read and reread many Saki stories but I must admit I have never read this before. After I went through it, I felt the need to check whether it was indeed written by him and whether there was any mistake on the website where I read it (though it is highly unlikely). For there were no domineering aunts  or presumptuous uncles, no mischievous or prodigious children or any similar hallmarks of his writing.

It is a moralistic fable much in the mould of Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince’ or ‘The Selfish Giant’.

A songbird comes flying to the parapets of an imposing cathedral and tries to find a resting place in one of the crevices there. But other birds already nesting there discourage it and so the newcomer is forced to resort to a niche in a particularly grotesque figure among the carvings there.

Link

http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/ImagLost.shtml

or

http://www.americanliterature.com/Munro(SAKI)/SS/TheImageoftheLostSole.html

(ignore mistake in the title in the link above)

Quote

Every day, through the long monotonous hours, the song of his little guest would come up in snatches to the lonely watcher, and at evening, when the vesper-bell was ringing and the great grey bats slid out of their hiding-places in the belfry roof, the brighteyed bird would return, twitter a few sleepy notes, and nestle into the arms that were waiting for him.

Dorothy Parker: A telephone call

I read this story for the second or third time today. Let me assure you that when once you start reading it, you will reach the end in breathless pace.

I am not going to give you any synopsis of the story even in the sketchy manner that I have been rendering in the case of other narratives.

This romantic story takes us back to a bygone era when communications facilities were not in such an advanced stage as they are at present.

Young men and women who fall in love today (I was going to write boys and girls, but even if I do I might be nearer the truth) have a myriad ways of keeping in touch with each other even if their bodies are removed from one another.

It is sickening to find young people using their mobile phones while walking on the roads – even when crossing – even while negotiating dangerous corners with vehicles going pell-mell. (I always wonder whether one should be mobile while talking on a cell phone.)

Yesterday I would not have walked some 100 metres when I came across five young women with their mobile phones glued to their bejewelled ears in this kind of insouciant situation.

With whom would they have been chatting away?

Link:

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/teleycal.html

Quote

If I didn’t think about it, maybe the telephone might ring. Sometimes it does that. If I could think of something else. If I could think of something else.

Alphonse Daudet: The Last Lesson

A short story that I read for the first time today. One that tugs at the reader’s heart. One that makes us understand how strong, powerful and compulsive the love for one’s mother tongue can be. One that lets us see in the right perspective the feelings of Tamil chauvinists when they launched and took part in the anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu in the late 1960s.

Alphonse Daudet  (1840-1897) was a French writer. It is said he was admired by Charles Dickens and Henry James. 

Link

http://www.world-english.org/stories.htm

(Please scroll down to locate the story)

Quote

“Every day we have said to ourselves: ‘Bah! I’ve plenty of time. I’ll learn it tomorrow.’ And now you see where we’ve come to.”