Buzzer going the Neyartha way with starred clues. The 'thought' had me confused for a while, but has made me really hungry now.
*Starred clues are undefined food for thought
ACROSS
1 - Place with oddly bright aura (5) - BIHAR {Br}{Ig}{Ht}{Au}{Ra}
4 - *Like a soldier facing a blow shortly (9) - ASPARAGUS {AS}{PARA}{GUSt}
9 - Festival date always means time off (7) - HOLIDAY [CD] (Addendum - {HOLI}{DAY} - See comments)
10 - In France the sea is surrounded by areas of public walk (7) - ALAMEDA {A{LA}{MED}A}
11 - *Only a woman is welcome? (9) - MANGETOUT {MAN GET OUT} In French this means 'Eat All' !!
13 - They are seen on a cricket ground in defeats (6) - STUMPS [DD]
15 - Fancy epithets for a business advisory (3,5) - TIP SHEET*
18 - *Mother spent hours inside (8) - MUSHROOM {M{HOURS*}OM}
19 - Against backing trinity of suspect reverends (6) - VERSUS {sdnereVER}{tcepSUS}<-
24 - Converted friar to love one with stronger reason (1,8) - A FORTIORI {FRIAR+TO+O+1}*
26 - *For example a Bishop returning by taxi (7) - CABBAGE {CAB}{B}{A}{GE}
27 - One without claim entered Jamaica’s island (3,4) - IWO JIMA {1}{WO} JIMA Anno not clear (Addendum - {1}{WO} {J{I'M}A} - See comments)
28 - Minutes you spend tackling Gridman perhaps (9) - PSEUDONYM {M+YOU+SPEND}*
29 - Man in the moon partly appearing before 10 (5) - NINTH [T]
DOWN
1 - Country sheep sounds ring round half the village (7) - BAHAMAS {BA{HAMlet}AS}
2 - Parisian girl, a noted dancer of yore (5) - HELEN [DD]
3 - *Communist vigour has upset agent (3,6) - RED PEPPER {RED} {PEP}{PER}
4 - No matter what or who (6) - ANYHOW [E]
5 - *Worker seen in a grassland (8) - PLANTAIN {PL{ANT}AIN}
6 - Section of a lariat aka noose (5) - RIATA [T]
7 - *Fresh state of ceasefire so to speak (5,4) - GREEN PEAS {GREEN} {PEAS}(~peace)
8 - *Film scene captured in its entirety (7) - SHALLOT {SH{ALL}OT}
14 - Hard to deal with winding bus lane around Los Angeles (9) - UNSALABLE {UNSA{LA}BLE*}
20 - *Wild panic breaks silence (7) - SPINACH {S{PANIC*}H}
21 - Positive dislike for a stage (6) - PODIUM {P}{ODIUM}
25 - *Irrational to abandon belief (5) - ONION OpiNION
Henceforth on every Sunday I shall publish special CWs (whenever I have some in stock, the present stock is 3) at 10:30 AM, which have been sent to me by commenters of the blog.
ReplyDeleteI am doing so because, on Sundays, the attendance is thin most probably because most of us have already done the CW on the Guardian site.
The rules for giving solutions will be as we normally have for all specials that is, 3 answers per commenter, with annotations of course.
Got all the starred clues except MILK CAP.
ReplyDelete9 - Festival date always means time off (7) - HOLIDAY [CD]
ReplyDeleteI took this as {HOLI}{DAY}
Now, Really!!
ReplyDeletesetters must understand, there are many average joe's like yours truly and try to play a notch or two down. after going through solutions,i am wondering if the answers were xyz language or plain simple greek. ( magentout? cabbage and bishop?? come on! whom are we kidding)
**gloom**
a fortiori, helen, iwo jima, riata... whoa!!
DeleteDoc,
DeleteBut you have Gridman, Arden, Mover and Sankalak who contribute more than 50% of CW's during a month. You have to take the tough with the easy, I'm sure the same applies to your profession as well. If all 30 were easy it would take the Zip out of the entertainment.
Helen of Mumbai. Was reminded of Piya Tu Ab To Aaja
ReplyDeleteAnd Richard will refer to Monica...
ReplyDeletei wonder if Richard will come up with a nice ( hindi song) lyric for Helen.
DeleteMehbooba, Mehbooba, still I think her best.
DeleteHowrah Bridge - Helen & Gita Dutta combination
DeleteMera naam chin-chin-chu
Chin-chin-chu baaba chin-chin-chu
Raat chaandni main aur tu
Hello, mister, how do you do?
Baaba..baaba
Baabuji main chin se aayi chini jaisa dil laayi
Singaapur ka yauvan mera shanghaai ki angdaayi
Dil par rakh le haath zara, ho jaaye na paagal tu
Mera naam chin-chin-chu
Oh baabuji main aur aap, kitna achchha huwa milaap
Tujhko dekh tabeeyat bhadki, alaadin ki main hu ladki
Phunk du mantar chhu chu chu, sindbaad the sailor tu
Mera naam chin-chin-chu
27 - One without claim entered Jamaica’s island (3,4) - IWO JIMA {1}{WO} JIMA Anno not clear
ReplyDelete{I}{WO} {J{I'M}A}
Sandhya,
DeleteThanks for HOLIDAY and IWO JIMA annos
Oh, the other favourite, of course was Man Get Out. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteSecond Gayathri's comments! Suddenly the CW has quizzed off into the stratosphere, and mere mortals like yours truly are left on this planet! Could not get beyond solving just about half of this one. : ( ...
ReplyDeleteRead quizzed as whizzed! That's spellcheck being extra smart!
ReplyDeleteRegards and Good Morning all.
Good morning.
ReplyDeleteLong time since i am here but regular visitor though.
Initially when food for thought i thought of proverbial phrases. after some time common sense prevailed. but i still go with rita mathur and dr gayatri..tough a bit..my working DAY is unmade.
Mathu.
Plain Lousy
ReplyDeleteClean bowled, lock, stock and barrel.
ReplyDeleteTough one today. Managed to get quite a few of star clues. Needed the net quite a bit and just about managed to complete the grid.
ReplyDeleteDid Buzzer remind us of this ?
Youth talks about Left meeting place (5,4)
It should be did Buzzer remind some you of of this ? ;)
DeleteYouth talks about Left meeting place in Kolkata perhaps (5,4)
DeleteNot surprised that many found today's offering 14D. I felt the same when rereading the clues on Monday : )
ReplyDeleteNo matter what or who--ANYHOW... perhaps reverse engineered('any' as anag. indicator)?
ReplyDeleteThat is what I had in mind mohsin.
DeleteNo matter what = def
who = any how*
tough to crack but prevailed. interesting.
ReplyDeleteSee quite a few comments that it should be made easier. I think if too easy it would take the fun out. Some balance required. I know many a Sudoku enthusiast who would not attempt a puzzle without 3 stars or more
Richard seems to be on leave today, as will I be for the next few days as I go to inspect the waterwords at the US Canada border and to throw a grain around some falls.
ReplyDeleteSorry, that should have been waterworks...
DeleteKishore. Now, that you have passed Salem you must be near Erode
ReplyDeleteEnjoyable offering, Bhavan. Made easier by your giving the theme away in your note.
ReplyDeleteJust figured out the DD aspect of Helen. Paris being the son of Priam who eloped with Helen of t
ReplyDeleteTroy.
Sorry for the s stammer
ReplyDeleteMissed all the fun in the blog since we had no power the whole day.
ReplyDeleteTough, could not complete but enjoyable all the same. Suresh is right- without the note we would have been all at sea ! (Jamaica?)
Once in a way it is good to be grounded- to know our limitations or the heights to which setters can go.
Hi all. Logging in late. I am camping 85 kms away from my city overnight. So sweet of you guys for having thought of me. No wonder I kept yawning as I drove through the harrowing roads. Did not know why at that point.
ReplyDeleteThat I was remembered at the mention of Helen is not a comforting thought, though. But she was indeed my favourite too.
Her dancing movements were graceful. Today's item bombs passing off for heroines are no patch on her. Remember her dance to the tune of Hum kaale hain to kya huwa dilwale hain from Gumnaam, picturized on her and Mahmood?
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ReplyDelete9 - Festival date always means time off (7) - HOLIDAY [CD] (Addendum - {HOLI}{DAY}
ReplyDeleteThis should have been: HOLI D AY, where AY: Always.
26 - *For example a Bishop returning by taxi (7) - CABBAGE {CAB}{B}{A}{GE}
Thought the position for CAB was ambiguous, as it could lead to B A GE CAB. Could have written the clue as:
*For example a Bishop returning by taxi in front/ahead (7)
Good puzzle today! Took all the free time in the day to solve 50%.Still, thank you Bhavan for the variety.
ReplyDelete