ACROSS
1 - A fake doctor caught out by journalist was trembling (6) - QUAKED {QUAcK}{ED}
5 - Convent people like carrying several books (6) - ABBOTS {A{B}{B}{OT}S}
10 - With capital, back commercial galaxy of stars (9) - ANDROMEDA {AND}{ROME}{DA<-}
11 - Doctor Frail is stranded (5) - FILAR*
12 - Sailor returning to deck (5) - TAROT {TAR}{OT<-}
13 - In pursuit of Bible's epilogue (9) - AFTERWORD {AFTER}{WORD}
14 - Avoids letters from Schereschewsky (7) - ESCHEWS [T]
16 - Wild zebroids lose head and take off (7) - DISROBE zEBROIDS*
20 - Tease the old style Romeo chasing girl with love (7) - ANNOYER {ANN}{O}{YE}{R}
21 - Collapsible bomb dropped once on island mass (9) - IMPLOSIVE [CD]
23 - Process of concealing retrograde fortification (5) - FOSSE [T<-]
25 - Precise old statute (5) - EXACT {EX}{ACT}
26 - Brew the large cocoa drink (9) - CHOCOLATE [CD?](Addendum - {THE+L+COCOA}* - See comments)
27 - Retiring round with German in a workplace (6) - SMITHY {S{MIT}HY}
28 - Unfinished: without start or finish (6) - ENDING pENDING
DOWN
2 - Complede milk dispenser? … (5) - UDDER {U(-tt+dd)DDER)
3 - … superlatively complex and most improper by the sound of it (9) - KNOTTIEST (~naughtiest)
4 - Modern record players (7) - DEEJAYS [CD]
5 - Expected answer, reportedly loaded (7) - AWAITED {A}(~weighted)
6 - To a great extent near and not near (2,3) - BY FAR
7 - Purposefulness comes from ransacking enemy loot (9) - TELEONOMY*
8 - Big fighter, one hurting livestock, swapped heads (6-7) - BATTLE CRUISER (-c+b}BATTLE (-b+c)CRUISER
9 - Single unit giving twice the chills (6-7) - FRIDGE-FREEZER [CD] Not a word used in India
15 - Cop smartly (without right) rearranged part of a cell (9) - CYTOPLASM {COP+SMArTLY}*
19 - Nervous like a magician breaking the limits of trickery (7) - TWITCHY {T{WITCH}Y}
20 - One grew in the form of pine leaf (7) - ACEROSE {ACE}{ROSE}
22 - Group of musicians regularly boycotted training at first (5) - OCTET {O}{C}{T}{E}{T}
24 - Issue with small one of sixteen men on board (5) - SPAWN {S}{PAWN}
| GRID |
21 - Collapsible bomb dropped once on island mass (9) - IMPLOSIVE [CD]
ReplyDeleteI wondered if there was something more to it.
26 - Brew the large cocoa drink (9) - CHOCOLATE [CD?]
ReplyDeletethe+L+cocoa*
Actually 26a was my clue of the day. I have stopped using COD since learning a new meaning of the word, as used in codpiece !
ReplyDeleteDeepak, it is exactly one year since I met Cocoa and a reminder here in 26a
ReplyDeleteIt seems that of the two submissions from this composer, one that ought to have been used this time was skipped. This should have actually appeared towards the end of December.
ReplyDelete(Wink, wink; nudge, nudge) Look for a Nina.
21 - Collapsible bomb dropped once on island mass (9) - IMPLOSIVE [CD]
ReplyDeleteCollapsible = IMPLOSIVE
bomb EXPLOSIVE dropped once )-EX) on Island Mass
(-ex)(+IM)PLOSIVE
XMAS AND NEW YEAR BEST WISHES !
ReplyDeleteReciprocating same to auric seashore !
ReplyDeleteToday's CW is also a pangram !
ReplyDeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteI was getting confused with Pangram & Nina. Now thanks to Buzzer who put both in one, my confusion is solved ! Is that a first?
What a welcome change! Required a different mindset I would say.
ReplyDeleteWhile there were quite a few nice clues, I didn't quite like the ambiguity in 16A. Parsing it as {Wild zebroids} {lose head}, it would mean the first letter of an anagram is to be removed, but which one? Of course, in this case it was simple enough given that not many synonyms of 'take off', if any, have the letter Z in them, but it might cause confusion in other cases.
ReplyDeleteI solved about only a third today, given the many new words and the fact that I wasn't in my 'best form'; still, I'm looking forward to tomorrow's instalment. (Buzzer gets two days, right?)
Thanks Buzzer, for keeping our grey cells buzzing.
ReplyDeleteBATTLE CRUISER AND FRIDGE FREEZER got me stumped. 3down ever seen by me. Very 21 across. Aced the solvers with ACEROSE. 5down the best in recent times and good for a stsrter week.
TELL YOU TELL NO ONE about TELEONOMY.