Monday 2 March 2015

Holi ki Paheli: Hal Karein

What an experience! Putting together Holi ki Paheli (puzzle for Holi) has been exhilarating to say the least - exchanging over a hundred emails with the creative setters who wrote clues for the puzzle, bouncing ideas off each other, discovering untried techniques that work in Hindi clue-writing and learning new lessons along the way.

Presenting for you to solve Holi ki Paheli, set by 18 of us. It is an open puzzle: post two answers in the comments section, with an explanation of how the answer is derived. To type in Hindi, you can use quillpad. We would love to hear your feedback too – which clues you enjoyed the most, which you struggled with, was the crossword hard/easy, anything else you'd like to say.
Holi 2015 Cryptic Crossword

आर - पार

6 आज-कल मनुष्य के पास लिखने का साधन है (3)
7 हिम्मत है तो नाचते हुए गिरजा से बाहर आ (3)
8 इस के भाव बिकना कौन अनाड़ी दिलफेंक चाहेगा (2)
9 "किताबों के अंदर छुपा है" - उल्टा बोल (2)
10 फ़िल्मों के देव की सर्वप्रथम रचना - "मेरी शपथ" (3)
12 घर में कमान इधर-उधर है (3)
16 मध्य पूर्वी लोग अब रुपये अपने कब्ज़े में रखते हैं (3)
18 जीत के जश्न में दिया हार? (4)
21 बैंगनी - 20 में मिला ये रंग (2)
22 चिंतन का साथी मन लगाकर पहली नसीहत को अपनाता है (3)
24 मुश्किल हरकतों में ही बसी है तरंग (3)
26 "लीडर" का अभिनेता अभी नहीं है (2)
27 हिन्दी क्रॉसवर्ड में एक क्लू बनाने के लिए कितना _______ पड़ता है न, मटर खाते हैं (4)
30 सीधा हो तो बने शुल्क, उलट-फेर से अपना मुल्क (3)
32 सहरसा ने पलटी मारकर दिखाई आखिरकार बिहार से विभाजित होने की दिलेरी (3)
34 बर्दाश्त कर, एकाध लात खा ले - यही हिदायत है (3) 
36 एकटक ताक रकम को, मिलेगी थोड़ी सी रिश्वत (2) 
37 लेकिन उड़ने के लिए इनकी ज़रुरत है (2) 
38 असल में अजित साहा मिदनापुर में है (3)
39 बेकसूर मार्वेल सूपरहीरोज़ के प्रधानों के साथ गेम का दूसरा भाग (3)

नीचे की ओर

1 निर्माता का साथ होना (3)
2 डटकर काम करना है तो इसे कसो (3)
3 रंग जिस शब आधे दिखेंगे, बस शिकायत रह जाएगी! (3)
4 क्रोधी मगर चलता है (3)
5 लोकप्रिय फ़िल्म मध्यांतर के बाद - सवाल परिचय का? (1,2)
11 कैसे भी हमें दी लगाए शादी का रंग (3)
13 कलाकार, ना कर गिरा हुआ ऐसा धंधा? (2)
14 प्रेमचंद की रचना में घोटाला? (3)
15 बौद्ध सन्यासी, माला को ऊपर फेंकिए (2)
17 अँग्रेज़ी शराब और थोड़ी ताड़ी का आनंद उठाता (3)
19 नीचे इसके ऊँट आये तो टूटे अकड़, राई का बने तो हो बात का बतंगड़ (3)
20 छोटे शाहिद अफ़रीदी शर्म से ऐसे हो जाते हैं (2)
21 कमल-रजनी की रचना (3)
23 पहले नहीं, मगर अंत में है आदमी (2)
25 ए! लगे तो प्रभु की पुकार, नमक डालो तो बने गद्दार (3)
28 गणेश तिवारी की पहली रफ़्तार (2)
29 स्वामी, थोड़ा ऊन लेकर आइए निजी तरीके से, भारत-चीन सरहद पर इस जगह (2,1)
31 हूर? भटकती आत्मा! (2)
32 हिसार, सरिस्का के भीतरी क्षेत्रों में दिखता है यह लंबी टाँगों वाला पक्षी (3)
33 आसरे सहित पराजित हुए? (3)
34 संसद मेले में मिलने वाले झटके (3)
35 मेरे नवाबी पैंतरे? हे राम! (3)
36 दूसरें स्थानों में रितेश और ममता (ज़रा घूँघट लिए!) गड़बड़ करते फिरते (3)

Crossword by: Abhay Phadnis (Pluralist), Anish Madhavan (Spiffytrix), Chaturvasi, Deepak Gopinath (Doppelganger), Kishore Rao (Incognito), Lakshmi Vaidyanathan, M.V.Narayan, Mohsin Ahmed (Mac), Raju Umamaheswar, Richard Lasrado, Sanjay Prakash, Shachii and Pratima Manik, Shuchi, Vasant Srinivasan, Vidyadhar Gadgil, Vinayak Rao Ekbote, Vinod Raman (Textrous)

Big thanks and compliments for the puzzle contributors. It was amazing to see the range of ideas and devices used, especially since this was a debut attempt at Hindi clue-writing for most of the setters. And a shout-out to my partner in cruciverbal crime - Kishore Rao - who made the whole project possible, right from creating the grid to vetting every clue.

Get solving! Post two answers/feedback in the comments section (unmoderated on this post).
Puzzle contributors: you can post answers too, for clues other than your own :-)

PDF/Print version available here: Holi ki Paheli (PDF).
Update (5th March 2015): Solution grid and annotations available here: Holi ki Paheli Solutons (PDF)

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109 comments

Sowmya said...

6A क़लम Telescopic

Sowmya said...

39 A मासूम Acrostic of मा (rvel) सू perheroes + म( गेम second part) - बेक़सूर - Def

Sowmya said...

Congrats Shuchi on the anniversary of the blog. Great job by yourself, Kishore and all the setters for a very creditable (and even unthinkable) task of setting a crossword in Hindi with such gusto. I never expected I would be able to solve any. clue (given my poor knowledge of the language) but surprised myself :):) Now, for the rest of the crossword..

Ramki Krishnan said...

4D: garam (anagram of magar)

Sorry unable to get Hindi fonts :(

Ramki.

Ramki Krishnan said...

12A: Makaan (anagram of kamaan with idhar-udhar as the anagrind) def = ghar

Ramki.

Kishore said...

"vetting every clue"

I am rather wet behind the ears myself... SU did most of the vetting, with me shoving in my oar now and then just to rock the boat

Good beginning, SR and RK

Viresh Ratnakar said...

37 A. पर

Viresh Ratnakar said...

37 A. Anno: lekin = par = wings (needed for flying)

Viresh Ratnakar said...

32 D. सारस (telescopic)

Laxman said...

14D ग़बन

Laxman said...

15D लामा

Arvind Ramaswamy said...

31D रूह (anagram of हूर) ?

Arvind Ramaswamy said...

21D - नीरज (Anagram of रजनी)

Manju said...

3D ranjish (def: shikayat. Indicator shabd aadhe)

Manju said...

Sorry not able to use hindi keypad

Shuchi said...

@Arvind: Great going! But max two answers per person only :-)

Manju said...

28 D gati

Shuchi said...

@Ramki, @Manju: For typing in Hindi, you can write the answer in English font in quillpad and it would automatically convert to Hindi.

Arvind Ramaswamy said...

Oops Shuchi.. sorry... got too carried away i guess!! :-D Its always fun to solve cryptic crosswords in other languages... Awesome effort by all of you guys... Highly Enjoyable :-D Lovely clues...

Arvind Ramaswamy said...

Once the grid is completed will share my list of wonderful clues

Shuchi said...

Thank you Arvind. Will wait for your feedback :-)

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

24 A लहर (t) def : तरंग
2 D कमर (e)

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Hi Shuchi & Kishore ,
Thanks for giving me a chance . It was fun setting in Hindi ( made me think in other than my mother tongue .;) )

Unknown said...

16A. अरब़
34D. सदमे

Restricted to only 2 answers. Except for one or two, all others have been solved.

Sanjay

Shuchi said...

@LV: Our pleasure to have you contribute! Enjoy solving.

@Sowmya: Thanks! Hope you are making good progress with the rest of the crossword. It isn't the blog's anniversary, by the way ;-)

Shuchi said...

Hi everyone, Remember to post the annotation/explanation of how the answer is derived.

Sowmya said...

Oops:) Thought it was a special blog commemoration as well. Happy Holi:)

Kishore said...

Like दूरबीनी (literal) or छुपा रुस्तम (idiomatic) or telescopic (English)

Vinayak Ekbote said...

11 D: मेहंदी ; Anagram of हमें दी
34 A: सलाह ; बर्दाश्त कर = सह , insert
एकाध लात = ला inside सह

Vasant said...

17D: रमता = rum(angreji sharab)+ ta(thodi tadi)
18A: दीप माला: CD

Vasant said...

Fantastic puzzles; extremely good clues; my favourites: 25D & 30 A : seems both clues are by the same person

Vasant said...

बहुत बढिया वर्ग पहेली धंयवाद Shuchi & Kishor & all the contributors. Happy holi!

Kishore said...

Vasantbhai ne mera poonch kaaT diya ... eeee

Shuchi said...

Happy Holi Vasant!

Kishore don't make me laugh out loud in office. And editor saab shouldn't it be "meri poonchh kaaT dee...eeee" - better for the grammar, also for the rhyme.

Arvind Ramaswamy said...

Phew! I managed to fill all except 3 clues.. and 1 doubtful... Whoa!

Thanks a lot Shuchi, Kishore, LV, Abhay, CV, DG et.al... Had lot of fun trying to solve this grid... Enjoyable..! My first ever Cryptic "HINDI" crossword.. Wow !!

SandhyaP said...

25D हराम
(हराम + ए = हे राम) (हराम + नमक = नमक हराम)
30D राजस्व (स्वराज<-)

Thanks for an entertaining crossword Shuchi, Kishore and all the other setters! :)

Kishore said...

KaTe poonch meri, aur aap grammar ki baat pooch rahi hai. Aaapne gramma ki baat hi, aur mujhe naani yaad aa gayi.

Now you folks know how bad I am at Hindi grammar (not that my English is any better)

Kishore said...

Happy Holi, Vasant. Have a great time. After all another name for Holi is B/Vasantotsav ...

Kishore said...

The biggest peril of LOL at office is that your boss/colleagues find out that you are playing truant with work ...How many others here plead guilty to that charge?

Arvind Ramaswamy said...

Me! Me! Me! Despicable Me!! :-) :-)

Kishore said...

At last a minion pleads guilty ;-)

Groucho said...

38A असल में अजित साहा मिदनापुर में है (3) हामिद. Telescopic and Hindi film villian Ajit's real name.

30A सीधा हो तो बने शुल्क, उलट-फेर से अपना मुल्क (3) राजस्व. Revenue, and it is स्वराज when reversed.

Groucho said...

Interesting that most of the setters appear to be non-native Hindi speakers ... Hindi finally becomes a truly pan-Indian language! Now we may get a Tamil crossword from all those offended by the preceding sentence. :-)

SandhyaP said...

@Groucho: I've posted the answer for 30A. You can post another one.

Groucho said...

Thanks, Sandhya. Here goes: 8A इस के भाव बिकना कौन अनाड़ी दिलफेंक चाहेगा (2) कौड़ी. Throw away the heart from कौन अनाड़ी

Kishore said...

Groucho said..(..ouch.)... Hindi finally becomes a truly pan-Indian language! Now we may get a Tamil crossword from all those offended by the preceding sentence.

Par paan to TN mein bhi popular haina? With Moideen po(g)ile and seeval. To jhagDa kis baat ka ...

And because of being non-native speakers we require the masterni ....

Groucho said...

Yes, masterni made sure that the clues by all us non-Hindi types weren't clunky, and that our grammar was in order.

Happily Vegetarian said...

22A -Manan (chintan-manan)
23D -Nar (male)

Shuchi said...

@Kishore, @Groucho: Why am I reminded of the botany professor's line from Chupke Chupke - "Ghaas phoos ka doctor nahi kaka, kam se kam phool patti hi keh do."

Kishore said...

@Shuchi ... Reminded me of Basu da (though it is a Hrishikesh Mukherji film)and Jaya Bhaduri playing Vasudha (vachan se, Bachhan seems to call her Basuda). but the cake goes to the conversation between Dharmendra and Om Prakash/Usha Kiran with Sharmila Tagore lurking behind a curtain

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Very hilarious movie .I watch this whenever it is on TV :)

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Nice enjoyable CW , thanks to all the setters :)
I liked 30 A & 25 D !

Vasant said...

Thanks. Apologies for poonch cutting...didnt know holi was called that...another festival is Basant panchami...which heralds spring...

Kishore said...

Vasant, pl see http://forumforhinduawakening.org/dharma/blog/holi-spiritual-significance/

In Konkan it is called Shimga, whereas in Goa we call it Shigmo
http://www.goanobserver.com/archive/2-4-2005/festival.html

Vasant said...

& the shudh hindi(loh path gamani vishram sthal); a classic ....

Vasant said...

Kishore no need to see anything ur word is good enough...

Kishore said...

If only Suresh had insisted on that usage a few days back, Vasant, it would probably have been panned by previous railway ministers

maddy said...

Congrats Shuchi and all the clue writers for the amazing effort. Special compliments to Kishore for wetting, oops vetting the clues. I hope it did not put too much strain on your (b)(shower) and/or your (b)(run)

The clues seem to have flown off the shelf like the mobiles in a Flipkart sale, so I am not sure if there are any left unsolved. So let me contribute my two cents on the crossword.

The thing that impressed me the most was how seamless and natural sounding the surfaces of all the clues were and kudos to all involved for that. One interesting point is the scarcity of charade based clues, the mainstay of english cryptics. I guess the language is just not amenable for the same. Also I thought the telescopic/Acrostic/letter picking devices were more prevalent...not a criticism, just an observation :)

There were many good clues, but my top three in descending order were

1. 7 A( Jigar) - Just loved the mental picture it creates..that of a hero in a bollywood movie ( Dharmendra or Mithun most probably) warning a villian, with 'Kutte' prefixed ofcourse

2. 34 A (salah)- for the great word play as well as a smashing surface which read like an extract from a guidebook for a fresher at a boarding school..

3. 37 A (Par)- for the sheer simplicity and the only double defn, if I am not mistaken

To sum it up a bonus clue ( in English though), with apologies in advance to Kishore, but I just couldn't resist -

What some kids do in bed orally is what Kishore did for Holi ki Paheli (7)

P.S - special Thanks Shuchi for giving me the chance to be a part of this amazing team effort.

Shuchi said...

Hi Maddy, Thanks for contributing - even in Hindi, the Spiffytrix signature style shines through!

You are right that the clue type distribution is very different in Hindi - in fact, some types of wordplay (e.g. homophones, false capitalization) are ruled out entirely. I touched upon this in "Different Beasts, Different Handling" under Why Hindi and cryptic crosswords do not mix - this was written months before we started setting Hindi cryptics.

It's always a joy to read your feedback on clues - thank you!

Arvind Ramaswamy said...

Though i love many of the clues, here are some of my favourite ones:

21 कमल-रजनी की रचना (3) This was the very first one i cracked..

13 कलाकार, ना कर गिरा हुआ ऐसा धंधा? (2)

32 हिसार, सरिस्का के भीतरी क्षेत्रों में दिखता है यह लंबी टाँगों वाला पक्षी (3)

39 बेकसूर मार्वेल सूपरहीरोज़ के प्रधानों के साथ गेम का दूसरा भाग (3)

25 ए! लगे तो प्रभु की पुकार, नमक डालो तो बने गद्दार (3)

hmmm... list is getting longer... chalo... all the clues were great :-D thats my feedback... had loads of fun doing it

raju umamaheswar said...

Wonderful clue-venture, Shuchi !!
Also my compliments to all those other contributors ! Teamwork pays only with good team leader(s) Thanks for letting me take sahas and touch the foot of the pahad !!

It would have been easier had this been interactive. I simply cannot flip up and down for the clues as I have no access t a printer at home here in New york.

Isn't Mehdi pronounced Mehndi? I got at first go, kalam and menhdi but was already pipped at the post !!

Kishore said...

Maddy, aapka clue dekhkar main sharam se paani paani ho gaya, haalaki main bistar geela nahin karta hoon.

BTW, probably, neither does Atif Aslam in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qju5MTF_-No - otherwise the lyrics would have been woh bheegi bheegi ratein ...

Kishore said...

Status update at T+24 hours

Out of 43 clues, 27 are solved. The following are still open:

आर-पार: 9,10,21,26,27,32,36
नीचे की ओर: 1,5,13,19,20,29,33,35,36

Please post if you have not yet posted your quota of 2. SU might declare open season sometime in the future, when you can ignore the quota ...

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

@Shuchi & Kishore
Theme is colours :)
लाल , नीला, काला , मेहंदी :)

Kishore said...

Good job, LV. One more to add to the list.

Mehandi was not planned as a theme entry when I made the grid. But yes, it is colourful...

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Ummm let me check the grid & try to find out :)

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

हरा :D - from namak haram ;)

Kishore said...

You are right, LV. They poke out in different directions from the same black square in the grid, though hara is a part of haraam ...

RameshJ said...

It was fun doing this crossword. Thanks to all the setters.

Interesting that in anagram clues the vowels sounds are treated as independent of the consonant.

1D: एकता (Double Defn)
13D : काला ( कलाकार - कर)*

Open Clues
आर-पार: 9,10,21,26,27,32,36
नीचे की ओर: 5,19,20,29,33,35,36

Kishore said...

Yes, Ramesh, that treatment of anagram clues was earlier explained by SU in CU, I think. Since Devanagari is not an alphabet based, but abujida scriot, this treatment is possible.

Kishore said...

Also, in picking 'leaders' of words the first character can be picked up, with or without the maatra

Chaturvasi said...

26a "लीडर" का अभिनेता अभी नहीं है (2) नेता after deleting it from अभिनेता, def. being "लीडर" (leader). In surface reading, it is the title of a Hindi film.

Kishore said...

Correct, CV. By a curious coincidence, yesterday WhatsApp was all atwitter with rumours of the demise of Dilip Kumar, the hero of that movie. Luckily though the clue was written some time back, it can mean that 'he is not there now' in the sense, 'he is absent'. Using rahe instead of hai would have gone along with the sense of the rumour

Chaturvasi said...

I meant "after deleting अभी".

Chaturvasi said...

My second answer
9 "किताबों के अंदर छुपा है" - उल्टा बोल (2) - बता reverse hidden in किताबों, looking at ब and ता individually and separately. Def is बोल

Shuchi said...

Open Clues:
आर-पार: 10,21,27,32,36
नीचे की ओर: 5,19,20,29,33,35,36

After midnight IST, there is no max 2 per person rule - post as many as you like.

mohsin said...

35D. हमारे [anagram of हे राम (anagrind = पैंतरे); Def = मेरे नवाबी (akin to 'royal We') ]

36D. घूमते [anagram of first bit of घूँघट with second letters of रितेश and ममता (ते + म + घू)*, with anagrind = गड़बड़; Def = फिरते ]

Lovely clues all round.



Vasant said...

Well solved!as can be expected of u!

Unknown said...

10(a). रमेश (देव) सह अभिनेता एवं रचना मेरी शपथ तीनों शब्दों का पहला अक्षर र मे श
20(d) लाल (रंग) छोटे शाहिद यानि बच्चा यानि लाल तथा शर्म से लाल होना

Vasant said...

21A: Neela=DD
27A:ragadna=DD+CD
32A:Sahas={sahrsa(-r)}*
36A:Ghoos=Ghoo(-r+s)
5D: Hain Kaun=(-Hum aapke) hain kaun,lokpriya film after madyantar
19D= pahad: DD(Part of famous hindi proverbs; remember gabbar in Sholay)
29D: Nath+La
sahare=sa+hare
couldnt type in hindi:apologies

Vasant said...

33D=Sahare

Vasant said...

Prabhji bahut khoob; I parsed 20 D as: Shahid Afridi=Lala; chota Shahid Afridi=Lal(-a)

Vasant said...

मंदिर मस्जिद बेर बढ़ाते मेल कराती शब्दोँ की पहली
Kishore , Shuchi ओर आप सभी को मुबारक इस वर्ष की होली

Vasant said...

Typed the last message from my mobile using google hindi.....the first line of the above poem thanks to harvansh rai bacchan's madhushala

Vasant said...

Prabhaji: apologies. Kishore will again jump on me for detailing

Vasant said...

Prabhaji: apologies. Kishore will again jump on me for detailing

Kishore said...

Good morning, All!
Great solving, everyone! (Including someone who claims that absence of incentive to solve a crossword can be a sticking point). As they say in Asterix comics, all the crosswords clues are fully solved!

All? Not really ...

A component is missing in the annotation of 27a

A answer to 29d is a bit wrong. In addition to missing a component of the parsing.

Fresh bids invited for the same.

On a slightly different note,though the theme, of course, is Holi as the colourful words indicate, there is something else lurking here. Solvers who have completely or substantially solved the puzzle may wade into deeper waters ...

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

@Kishore yes got it :)

Kishore said...

Good, LV! I am not going to guide solvers on this one.

I obviously did not give any solutions since I was privy to them. But I can still nominate my favourites.

Shalaam shaab!
Beshaq, shaandaar shaayari shown in shome shignature clues is bemishaal. Shurely shomeone can guesh the shaayir's shubhnaam! Bhesh and kudosh!

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

Oh shaab ! bhesh bhesh ! ;)
Colourful CW :)

mohsin said...

29D: नाथू ला (नाथ + ऊ + ला)

27A: रगड़ना (न inside रगड़ा). Is रगड़ा for 'peas' ok?

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

@Mac
Was waiting for the annos for these clues . Thanks :)

Shuchi said...

@mohsin: Not ragda for 'peas' but ragda for मटर, which also stands for the cooked form of peas (as in, matar kulcha). [Same as dal, chhole or rajma, which mean the raw legume as well as the dish.]

Unknown said...

Thanks a lot Vasantji----with your permission
मन्दिर मस्जिद वैर बढ़ाते ,मित्र बनाती वर्णों की यह माला!

Kishore said...

Prabhaji, aap ka naam sun kar mujhe ek ChoTi Si Baat yaad aayi - Us film me Vidya Sinha Prabha ke naam se jaani jaati hai, aur Ashok Kumar Saheb ne Col.Julius Nagendranath Wilfred Singh ka kirdaar bakhoobi se nibhaya tha.

Aur aap mandir-masjid ki baat kar rahi theen, jab paheli ke 7 across me Girija ka bhi zikr hai ...

Vasant said...

And Amol Palekar as the diffident Romeo & Asrani as the aggresive kabab ki haddi..Salil da s superb music....indeed a memorable fare...thanks Kishore for this..

Vasant said...

And Amol Palekar as the diffident Romeo & Asrani as the aggresive kabab ki haddi..Salil da s superb music....indeed a memorable fare...thanks Kishore for this..

Shuchi said...

Solutions link added to the main post. If you finished the puzzle but missed spotting something "extra" in the filled grid, see it now: Holi ki Paheli Solutions.

Lakshmi Vaidyanathan said...

@Shuchi Happy Holi !

Happy Holi to all !

Chaturvasi said...

With my minimal knowledge of Hindi, writing or solving a couple of clues was none-too-difficult. (I used to see Hindi films during the Choti si baat era.) But solving an entire puzzle is a herculean task for me as it requires a lot of patience.
From the solution grid that is published I see what the grid-filler was up to.
Congrats.

Kishore said...

A special thanks to Shuchi for hosting this. She sure knows how difficult I can be ....

Happy drenching, everyone!

Shuchi said...

Modest as ever, Kishore :-) I thoroughly enjoyed the process of building the crossword.

Happy Holi everyone!

raju umamaheswar said...

Got through 90% on my own after getting a printed copy. Easier to solve that way .

When is the next one coming? A larger grid maybe? Setters, gird up your loins !
Can do with less of two and three letter words and more of phrases ? Tougher to do? Deepmala( Clue of my day !) to Shuchi and Kishore and all the other setters and solvers. Holi ke rang me rang milaa deee !!

Kishore said...

Rajuji, dheere chalnaa ...

Yep, it will be very difficult given Devnagari is a abujida. Preparing a grid is very time consuming given that a lot of characters with specific maatras may not turn up at the beginning/end of a word. There is no software to search word patterns. Everything is to be done from one's own vocabulary. A dictionary confirmation of the word is required, given that there are colloquial spellings that may not appear in a dictionary eg. Baingan or Began or Buy-gun. Dictionary may help to locate some words beginning with a specific character but not ending with that. Further, given the abugida structure, words over 4 slots long are rare (Umamaheshwar being a rare exception). Further, given that we have a small audience/cluing volunteers, obscure words should be avoided as much as possible. And I should have at least one word play idea for the word being put in.For further details please refer Why Hindi and cryptic crosswords do not mix

BTW, it was amusing to see you use the girdle up your loins, given the fact that the gent whom the whole town knows by the name "Loin" figured in 38a here.

Nadathur Rajan said...

29D स्वामी, थोड़ा ऊन लेकर आइए निजी तरीके से, भारत-चीन सरहद पर इस जगह (2,1) (nath)(u) (laa) नाथु ला
21A बैंगनी - 20 में मिला ये रंग (2) neelaa
नीला (T) बैंगनी - लाल

Nadathur Rajan said...

29 D नाथू ला (नाथ + ऊ + ला)

raju umamaheswar said...

Kishore-JI !! ji Ji , I'll go pole pole !! Devnagari is a abujida.

This itself is Greek & Latin to me !! By the by, what's the etym for Devnagari & abujida? I thought, Hindi's roots lie with Sanskrit? or as Maharashtrians would say: Saunskrut?

Kishore said...

Lakini, I don't have to explain. Mzee Google to the rescue ...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abugida

Also, Sanskrit, Saunskrit or Samskrita. What's in a name? As Bacon said, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet ...

Nadathur Rajan said...

tere mere sapne ab ek rang hai
(reading from bottom right clockwise to top right)
Apt nina!