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C. G. Rishikesh

ANAND raised his left hand and with the right hand turned the loose watchstrap so that the dial faced him. He glanced down at the display: 6:15. He and his friends had agreed to meet at the coffee-house, and even fifteen minutes after the appointed time none of the others had turned up.

He was impatient but not bored. He looked distractedly through the glass-front at the traffic snarl outside and then took out from his bag a book and opened it at a half-completed crossword. Usually he put in a couple of easy ones at the breakfast table before he left for college. The others he solved leisurely — during the lunch break or the bus ride back home or such idle moments as these. But before he retired for the day, it would be done.

"Hi Anand!" he heard the familiar voice as he was poring over the clue:

6 and 8dn. Going steady and not selling the business (7,7)

Maya was at his side. "Sorry for being late," she said, and as she saw the black-and-white square she squealed: "Do you solve crosswords? I haven't the foggiest idea how to do them!"

"When once you get the hang of it, you too can crack clues."

"Really?" exclaimed Maya as she took her place. "Though I don't solve crosswords, I don't miss looking at the square in the paper every morning."

"Why on earth would you want to do that?" wondered Anand.

"To see the symmetrical pattern of black squares in the box!"

"They call it `grid'. Or `skeleton'. Or `lattice'."

"Is it?"

Before Anand could say anything, Rohit joined them.

Anand, in an effort to explain to Maya how clues worked, gave an example that he had already solved:

1dn. The whole drink is given to Albert (5)

Anand scanned the menu card and ordered some delicacies and beverages after consulting his friends. As the waiter walked away to the kitchen, he proceeded to annotate the clue. "The answer is TOTAL. `The whole' is the definition for the word required. While `the whole' can suggest several words like `uncut', `entire', `complete' and so on, the clue leads to only one answer. That is derived from the subsidiary indication. `Drink' suggests `tot'. `Al' is short for `Albert'. When `tot' is added to `Al', it becomes TOTAL, which of course is `the whole'."

"Are all clues so easy?" asked Maya.

"No," said Rohit. He then remembered a clue that he had managed to solve that morning.

"Maya, have a go at this not-so-easy clue," he said and recalled:

1ac. Exchanges someone for a shopkeeper? (9)

"For the life of me I can't get it," said Maya.

Anand had already solved it. `"Exchanges' gives `trades', `someone', `man' and when these two words are combined, you get TRADESMAN, who is a `shopkeeper'."

Maya wowed him.

By now the waiter had served the refreshments and the friends began munching and sipping.

Anand, who can never eat just one of those potato chips, picked up another and before tossing it into his mouth, read out:

9dn. Understood — and cashed in (8)

Rohit at once said: "REALISED."

"What did you realise?" asked Maya innocently.

"The answer," said Anand.

"The answer?" asked Maya in bewilderment.

"Yes, `understood' and `cashed in' suggest, together and separately, the required word," replied Anand.

"I see," said Maya.

Now Thenappan joined them. "Sorry, buddies! I was caught in the rains and my scooter stalled on the way," he apologised for the delay.

"Never mind," his friends chorussed and quickly pulled a chair and asked him to sit even as he wiped his head with a handkerchief.

Anand turned to Rohit and asked him if he had cracked 4 and 15dn. Notes that there is not a jingle in it! (5-5)

Rohit threw up his hands and said: "No."

"Can there be music without verse?" queried Maya.

"I think you are too simplistic," said Anand. "Crossword compilers have crooked minds and they will bend words whichever way they like..."

"For a start, what things jingle?" asked Rohit.

"Bells," said Maya as she bent down and touched the silver gholusu peeping from under her jeans.

"Coins," said Thenappan.

"And notes that do not have a jingle?"

"Currency!" The response again came on the redound from Thenappan.

"Money," said Maya as she readjusted the overflowing shopping bags in the chair beside her.

"Maya, I think you've unwittingly solved half the clue!" said Rohit.

Anand noticed Maya puffing up with pride. Then a spark from Heaven fell. "PAPER MONEY," he said in a voice that made heads turn in the restaurant and eyes search for that eminently desirable commodity.

"That's right," agreed Rohit. He didn't notice a crumpled ten-rupee note that slipped from his trouser pocket. "Thank you," he said as the waiter picked it up and handed it to him.

Anand ordered a round of Pepsi and read out the still-unsolved:

6 and 8dn. Going steady and not selling the business (7,7)

"Not selling the business? Not shutting shop? Retaining the trade? Keeping company?" Thenappan made guess after guess.

Maya took the cue. She hazarded: "Going steady? Taking out? Having rendezvous? Dating? Keeping company?"

"KEEPING COMPANY is the solution," said Anand. "The two of you, with many a wild surmise, have converged on it."

"It's another of those double-definition clues," said Rohit.

"Okay. We will meet again next Sunday," said Anand and rose from his chair.

"Sure thing," agreed the others. Rohit glanced at the title of the book that Anand was carrying: 11 by 11 Crosswords. He and Thenappan said "Bye-da" and left.

"Shall I drop you at the hostel, Maya?" Anand volunteered. He then walked out of the cafeteria and started his motorcycle. She picked up the shopping bags and followed him.

Should we reread the first part of that just-solved clue of theirs?

Racy@TheHindu.co.in

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