Friday 9 April 2010

Limericks for NJ

The comments on the Hindu Crossword Corner turned to discussing limericks today.

Here are some from me dedicated to the setter whom all Hindu crossword solvers love to hate.

  She scatters prepositions pell-mell
Her anagrinds seldom fit well
She uses "large" and "user",
Calls a "runner-up" a "loser" -
And is much too fond of the measure ELL.

Why is her Y always 'end of the day'?
Can't she revamp her stock of wordplay?
Our latest beef
Is MAPLE LEAF
Defined as "symbols" - not okay!

List of dubious abbreviations we scan
Wishing on it we could issue a ban.
Ten days in a row
We bristle and bellow
And sigh with relief when returns Gridman.

The setter who inspires these rhymes
Regularly commits crossword crimes.
With clues full of flaws
She's given us cause
To turn for good to the Hindustan Times.

Related Posts:

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

29 comments

Kirti said...

I'm a long time reader. First comment on CrosswordUnclued. Thanks for giving me a morning laugh.

Nitin said...

Awesome! The last line is brilliant. Are the powers that be at The Hindu listening?

Anonymous said...

Wonderful ! And today we have Chetumal & Corbiestep!

Anonymous said...

And Decidua. Chirala was much better!

Shuchi said...

Kirti, Nitin, Kishore: Thanks. We also have "pray" as anagrind today!

Blogger is acting funny this morning - comment approvals aren't working. I've disabled moderation for now. If you wrote something and it didn't show up, apologies. Please feel free to post it again.

Anonymous said...

That's why I personally like ET more. Not that I like Hindu less, but that I like ET more.

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed reading this! thanks

Chaturvasi said...

This is one of those comments that didn't make it.
Having kept no copy, I am writing it all over again.
There's a blogger from Bangalore
Whose writings bring to the fore
Good and bad that we see
In the setters of THC;
From her may we have more and more!

Richard said...

That was a very picturesque tribute
Although despair's unpleasant offshoot
Coming from another 'she'
There was nothing fishy
Every word of it is true, without dispute.

maddy said...

No malice intended.Just a pun for fun when stuck in a boring meeting.

There's a girl called Shuchi
xwords make her mushy
on seeing pretty clues
she forgets all her blues
and in a flash she rids
all unfilled grids

Nothing makes her groan
or gets her face to frown
but someone we all loathe
gets her bloody goat
so just to get a kick
she once wrote a limerick

A request to this setter
it's high time you got better
go and get some help
or stick to paper pulp
us solvers can't be fooled
'coz we read crossword unclued.

Vinod Raman said...

Exceptional post, and amusing comments. Had a lot of fun reading both.

tpa said...

Very Creative...loved the limericks.

SandhyaP said...

Everyone seems to have turned poetic today!! :D

D.Srinivasan said...

Enjoyed your limerick on NJ though it is not all that enjoyable to decipher her clues. She makes solving her crosswords an ordeal instead of a pleasure pastime. Thanks to THCC, I am able to get some idea of NJ's setting.
Dr.D.Srinivasan

Deepak Gopinath said...

My tribute to NJ

There is a lady named NJ,
Who I feel resides in Bombay,
Her CWs are "large" and "regular",
And make us nurse forever,
A Patiala at the end of the day.

Sumitra said...

All these lovely limericks,
Have kindled our creative juices
Thank u Shuchi,
For making us happy,
And may NJ inspire more positive pieces!

pavalamani pragasam said...

Oh my dear
What I hear
Is only jeer
Ready to tear
Happy to smear
Notorious here
She has no peer
None comes near
To being so drear
An ordeal we bear

C.G. BHARGAV said...

Some clues may be suspect
A few others with some defect
Maybe the paper's in a fix
And looking for setter # six
Till then our lot we'll have to accept.

Shuchi said...

She spreads further despondence
By calling "dead letters" CORRESPONDENCE.
And on 14A
Indicates anagram with - "pray"!
Not solving anymore, it's easier climbing mountains.

Shuchi said...

Ms. Jaggi's cryptic messes
Call for less logic more guesses
Forcing me and you
To rather turn into
Poets and poetesses.

maddy said...

It's not fair. Someone's gotta stand up for her. so here I am. I know I may sound like aya ram gaya ram, still.. -

Dear arm chair critics
spare me the rhetorics
think you can do better?
just become a setter
your clues will look like PJ's
when compared to NJ's

Give the poor soul a break
you all go take a hike
she's not half that bad
then why are we raving mad
she even deserve smileys
for "soft material in cabs or Bentleys"*

NJ bashing's passe
the baton's gotta pass
so, why not taunt and chide
our very own jekyll and hyde
I am sure you all wanna
pick on poor dear Manna.


* Refer 08 Apr THC

NB - Just wondering how many got the paper pulp reference in my earlier nonsense :) Shuchi - did you?

Shuchi said...

I did, maddy, I did.
When NJ's not creating a grid
She does a smooth sashay
To moulding papier-mache,
In which (I hope) she isn't as insipid.

Shuchi said...

OK I'll cut her some slack
ABSORBENT I too will back.
Am also with her
On her clue for ETHER,
That's it: return to mode of attack.

Rajani said...

Amazing post and comments....Very enjoyable reading :)

Sumitra said...

Oh!Where would we be if Ms.Jaggi
Decided to chuck it and flee,
We'd miss her like mad,
Our own punching bag
And wish we'd been more kindly.
So, really I'd like to thank her,
For being a fun generator
No other setter
Has been able to muster
Comments and rhymes in such a cluster!

pavalamani pragasam said...

Of course, give the devil his due: improved our lateral thinking skills, kept our grey cells kicking alive in adventures through alarming mazes of preposterous blunders!

Anonymous said...

Nice reading all these hilarious limericks!
Here's a limerick related to wordplay. I read it one of the books, and it's still in my memory:

A boy said to a teacher one day
"Ma'am, Wright did not write write right, I say!"
The teacher replied,
as the blunder she eyed,
"Wright! Write write right, right away!

Shuchi said...

Lovely one, sreelakshmi. You chose a good day to post it - World Poetry Day.

Anonymous said...

Wow! that's amazing! I will keep that in mind.