ACROSS
1 - The temperament to do battle — as needed for opposing alcohol?
(8,6) - FIGHTING SPIRIT [DD]
8 - A tidy name, unusual, small and pretty (6) - DAINTY {A+TIDY+N}*
9 - Tradesman who can make clothes afresh, say (8) - RETAILER (~re-tailor)
11 - Not having the energy needed in Leh — tragic collapse (9) - LETHARGIC*
12 - Bishop leaves defeated, consumed (5) - EATEN bEATEN
13 - Flexible, exchanging uranium for nothing in plunder (7) - RUBBERY R(-o+u)UBBERY
15 - Flat ground, a tract in which to find nocturnal flier (7) - LOWLAND {L{OWL}AND}
17 - Vague relative, a royal (7) - UNCLEAR {UNCLE}{A}{R}
19 - Chess player, good man, couldn't be purer (7) - WHITEST {WHITE}{ST}
21 - The way a concession is reversed in jobs (5) - POSTS {PO{ST}S<-}
23 - Earl, turned out, is not changed (9) - UNALTERED*
25 - Presiding officer, key person, conceals growth on top (8) - CHAIRMAN {C}{HAIR}{MAN}
26 - Small bar, part of a pub, is trouble-free (6) - BISTRO [T]
27 - Districts where people next door shelter violent youth (14) - NEIGHBOURHOODS {NEIGHBOUR{HOOD}S}
DOWN
1 - Player who got on the roof for a musical (7) - FIDDLER [GK]
2 - Feeling of remorse, we can all see, is covered by glitter (5) - GUILT {G{U}ILT}
3 - Private chat when two French heads get together (4-1-4) - TETE-A-TETE
4 - Design for a gun insurers rejected (7) - STENCIL {STEN}{CIL<-}
5 - Silly to have Indian bread in extremes of indulgence (5) - INANE {Indul{NAN}gencE}
6 - Alas, elite characters turn restless (3,2,4) - ILL AT EASE*
7 - Plum, dry, dead, is cut off (6) - PRUNED {PRUNE}{D}
10 - Repulsive, like a fairytale duckling (4) - UGLY [E&GK]
14 - A key to return to work already done (9) - BACKSPACE {BACK}{SPACE}
16 - Dimension of ‘loftiness' spelt out with a sigh (5-4) - WAIST-HIGH*
17 - Empty the suitcase (6) - UNPACK [CD]
18 - Right, the centre gets support backed up with nonsense (7) - RHUBARB {R}{HUB}{ARB<-} Reminds me of the murmurs in Asterix comics.
19 - Cover for some music heard (4) - WRAP (~rap)
20 - Dull side out-manoeuvred (7) - TEDIOUS*
22 - Gesture by some brash, rugged people (5) - SHRUG [T]
24 - Relationship seen when Arti stumbled on love (5) - RATIO {ARTI*}{O}
Fitness week again
ReplyDelete13a reminded me of Nash's The Wendigo
ReplyDeletehttp://alykatglasscreations.deviantart.com/journal/quot-The-Wendigo-quot-by-Ogden-Nash-226578714
And Sankalak's as smooth as ever.
I agree with Kishore on Sankalak
Delete23 - Earl, turned out, is not changed (9) - UNALTERED*
ReplyDeleteHow the extra 'R' goes off?
Good question, but none of us noticed-obviously.
ReplyDeleteI noticed it. Maybe a typo for tuned out.
DeleteCome Sankalak and the no.of comments drops drastically, simply because of lack of doubts/ disputes/ questions !
ReplyDeleteRightly said, he leaves very little room for doubt.
DeleteSankalak as smooth as ever. Had worried about the extra "r" in unaltered - but am happy to accept it as a typo. I had robbery rather than rubbery (but I quote often get that type of clue front to back!)
ReplyDeleteYou are accepting typos in a crossword? Have you ever seen a typo in, say, The Guardian.
DeleteSuresh, I don't know if that's a facetious question, but one of the nicknames for that publication is The Grauniad, for obvious reasons.
DeleteAs for a specific instance of a typo in their crossword, take a look at this.
For some reason, the direct link doesn't work for me; try copying and pasting the link if it doesn't work for you too.
Deletehttp://telescoper.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/the-inexorable-decline-of-english-culture/
'Unclear' seems to be a word commonly used in recent times in the crossword. That's unclear to me! Just a thought.
ReplyDelete"Unaltered" : My copy says 'tuned out'.
ReplyDeleteSankalak
Came across these beauties in the Hindustan Times of 11th March.
ReplyDeleteForest6 keeper invested in only coreless fruit source(8) ?R???I?N
Fault in deal that's incomplete, say? (4-4) ???T?O?E
Any takers?
Very nice clues, but that is expected from HT cryptic clues which are basically Times standard.
DeleteForest keeper invested in only coreless fruit source(8) ?R???I?N
I think the crossing letters you have might be incorrect. The wordplay leads to O(RANGER)Y from:
Forest keeper = RANGER
invested in = containment indicator
only coreless = O..Y
fruit source = defn = orangery
Fault in deal that's incomplete, say? (4-4) ???T?O?E
KNOT, HOLE (~not whole)
Bhavan: Spot on, on those HT cryptic clues. I happened to get them in Bombay. It was indeed redolent of the Times cryptics, for which I have a lot of respect. No hitting below the belt and absolutely above board-- I call them the most decent and gentlemanly crossowrds.
ReplyDeleteI am yet to pick hordes of them from my collections and start solving for a variety.
Right now, I'm tackling the Daily Telegraph Jumbo ones in a Book of 220 great ones.