ACROSS
1 Utter nothing in between (8) THOROUGH {TH{O}ROUGH}
5 A frozen piece of water inside clinic I cleared (6) ICICLE [T]
9 Traitor in film, shot at the start (8) TURNCOAT {TURN before COAT}
10 Jurisdiction of Military Police in Ireland (6) EMPIRE {E{MP}IRE}
12 Important subject for children (5) ISSUE [DD]
13 Date twin and experience an illusion (3,6) SEE DOUBLE {SEE} {DOUBLE}
14 Immediately visiting principal tourist attraction (2,5,5) AT FIRST SIGHT [DD]
18 Steal a march on absent staff at work (12) OUTMANOEUVRE
21 Put one's foot down, properly, in plant (9) SPEEDWELL {SPEED}{WELL}
24 Girl has a variety of medals (6) DAMSEL*
25 Knife fight involving till that's short (8) STILETTO {S{TIL
26 Artist going to bank, once in a while (6) RARELY {RA}{RELY}
27 I am a nerd to be distracted, elsewhere (2,1,5) IN A DREAM*
DOWN
1 Bird pecked a dainty morsel (6) TITBIT {TIT}{BIT}
2 Monstrous woman therefore capsized vessel (6) OGRESS {OGRE<=}{SS}
3 Carothers formed a band (9) ORCHESTRA*
4 Unseemly rag with wise words, surprisingly, for a deserted husband (5,7) GRASS WIDOWER {RAG}*{WISE+WORDS}*
6 Search round for a small jazz band (5) COMBO {COMB}{O}
7 Sack England's opener after home game (8) CRIBBAGE {CRIB}{BAG}{E}
11 Short broadcast from all the bridge players round home (4,8) NEWS BULLETIN {N}{E}{W}{S} {BULLET}{IN}
15 Went on and on after spades and clubs mixed up (9) SCRAMBLED {S}{C}{RAMBLED}
16 Think carefully about deception by team close to walkover (8) CONSIDER {CON}{SIDE}{R}
17 Vessel carrying right flag (8) STREAMER {ST{R}EAMER}
19 Relative, free after beginning of April (6) AUNTIE {A}{UNTIE}
20 Popular class can make this tell (6) INFORM {IN}{FORM}
22 Live with daughter in good health (5) DWELL {D}{WELL}
Couldn't get 18A. Laboured at it enough and gave up. Even now Anno is not very clear to me.
ReplyDelete7D-
ReplyDeletesack- bag
England's opener- E
Home- crib (child's home)
Game- Def.- cribbage
Steal a march on absent staff at work (12) OUT MAN OEUVRE
ReplyDeleteSteal a march on - def
absent - OUT as in 'My secretary is absent today" or "Today, my secretary is out."
staff - MAN
at - position indicator
work - oeuvre (all the collected writings of an author, as in 'the oeuvre of Shakespeare')
Thanks CV sir. Didn't know the word 'oeuvre'.
Delete18A-
ReplyDeleteStael a march- Def.- outmanoeuvre
Absent- out
Staff- man
Oeuvre- work (of art/ writing)
Sorry. I posted mine before seeing CV's (after a few days'break?)comment.
ReplyDeleteCol.
ReplyDeleteToday's special?
By Afterdark at 10:30
DeleteNeeded to Dictionary for manoeuvre, mainly to figure out how to put the various vowels in their proper order.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it have been much more straightforward to spell it manoover?
Cross the pond, as they call it.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.
As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".
In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.
The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".
During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.
Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.
Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.
If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl
Hilarious, Suresh! Mind-boggling as well!
DeleteZe ifekt kud be dizastrus!
Ja
DeleteI withdraw my comment! You could have asked me to do it in fewer words!!
ReplyDeleteAlas! Woe upon me! It drives me out of my wits!!!
ReplyDeleteToday I feel elated; simply put on top of spirits.All leading clues.I enjoyed 18a with nice blocks & fitments.4d: I've come across grass widow. First time I'm coming across grass widower. By and large quite nice & enjoyable.
ReplyDelete13a : date- seed; twin- double ok but d straddle two blocks of the clue.
ReplyDeleteDate = see as in go out/ dating ?
DeleteThank u A.P sir,I have my own reservation on this.
ReplyDelete:-)
ReplyDelete