Aspartame has me flummoxed at 7A and 18D.
ACROSS
6 Metalworker from an American country finally leaving to borders
of Ecuador (7) BRAZIER {BRAZIl}{EcuadoR}
7 Albatross flying briefly beside Republic of Armenia (7) SEABIRD ? (Addendum - {BESIDe+RA}* - See comments)
9 Cross-advertising that is found in a can (3-2) TIE-IN {T{IE}-IN}
10 Cheesiest crackers are found in Antarctica (3,6) ICE SHEETS*
11 Get out or it will throw you out (7) EJECTOR {EJECT}{OR}
13 Cheerful Englishman informally switched sides to join His
Excellency (6) BLITHE {B(-r+l)LIT}{HE}
15 Control rapid growth around dirty red resting place (6,7) MASTER BEDROOM {MASTER} {B{RED*}OOM}
19 He will provide safety for a metal coin (6) COPPER [DD]
20 Hide and ceaselessly observe Mediterranean island (7) SECRETE {SEe}{CRETE}
23 Target man posing as god (9) TERMAGANT*
24 Spear has travelled some distance (5) SHAFT {HAS*}{FT}
26 Extravagant terminal (7) EXTREME [DD]
27 Plastic table is fixed (7) STABILE*
DOWN
1 Creature destroyed heart of African capital (4) HARE HAraRE
2 Plant and animal found in a mine (6) PIGNUT {PI{GNU}T}
3 Arabia (including Turkey) doesn't have a central railway. That’s
not logical! (9) ARBITRARY {ARaBI{TR}A}{RY} Why central?
4 The Spanish composer climbs up a gate as he lacks a partner
(8) BACHELOR {BACH}{EL}{OR}
5 Soup stores need printing toner (10) MINESTRONE {MINES}{TONER*}
6 Mauled boy and ENT doctor around Italy (6) BITTEN {B}{IT}{ENT*}
7 Topless Greek god returns on time to get meat (4) SUET {SUEz<=}{T}
8 Struck swiftly and ran away (6) DASHED [DD]
12 Irritate eastern Texas peer cunningly (10) EXASPERATE {E}{TEXAS+PEER}* Seems to be an error in the fodder
14 Spread the word that Sensei’s lost object was found inside
(9) SENSITISE {SENS{IT}ISE*}
16 Earn returns on purchasing low grade cycling gear from youth
(8) TEENAGER {T{gradE}EN}{GEAR*}
17 Scythian killed Scot with an oriental weapon (6) SCYTHE {SCYTHian}{E}
18 Band cut short sounds of a German motor (6) BEETLE ? Anno pending (Addendum - (~beatles) - See comments)
22 Stare at a wrong page (4) GAPE*
25 Similar characters found in Pak-India borders (4) AKIN [T]
7a SEABIRD is correct. Briefly beside= BESID+RA (Rep. Of Arm), flying=aind
ReplyDelete18d Band-Beatles, cut short Beatle, sounds of ~ def= a German motor
Abba yesterday, Beatles today
Arabia (including Turkey) doesn't have a central railway. That’s not logical! (9) ARBITRARY {ARaBI{TR}A}{RY} Why central?
ReplyDeleteI think the ref is to the central 'a' in Arabia, since it has 3 As
7 Albatross flying briefly beside Republic of Armenia (7) SEABIRD
ReplyDeleteanagram of BESID(-e) + RA
Swatisaid
DeleteThanks Swati ;-)
DeleteSorry, didn't realise you had already given the anno!
DeleteThat's how Ern from the Five findouters books by Enid Blyton says " that is what I said"
DeleteGot it :D
DeleteThanks Sandhya and Kishore
ReplyDeleteWe know the pair of stars Mizar and Alcor well as Vasistha and Arundhati.
ReplyDeleteIn Hindu weddings, we have 'Ammi mithithal and arundhati paarthal'
கல்யாணத்தில் அம்மி மிதிப்பது, அருந்ததி பார்ப்பது
Like 5D. Nice pic and.looks delicious.
ReplyDelete7A, I feel it's as good as an indirect anagram. The abbreviation for Republic of Armenia is not so easily recognizable.
And finally the contest between Anand and Carlsen is heating up. Very nice game yesterday. Thought for a brief moment that Anand had a slight edge, but Carlsen did a pretty good job in the end.
16 Earn returns on purchasing low grade cycling gear from youth (8) TEENAGER {T{gradE}EN}{GEAR*}
ReplyDeleteAnno to be {T{gradE}EN<--}{GEAR*}, as NET returns
Yes, I was following the game keenly. Though Anand had an edge it was minuscule to make a difference. But considering he has Black it was a big morale booster. Glad they have changed gears and are getting into the act. Eagerly looking forward to today's game.
ReplyDeleteI do these crosswords and discover how ignorant I am .... Pignut and Stabile .... Both new words for me! As always, I bow to the Masters!
ReplyDeleteGood morning all.
16 Earn returns on purchasing low grade cycling gear from youth (8) TEENAGER {T{gradE}EN<=}{GEAR*}
ReplyDeleteI took low grade as E (failing grade/very poor). This has gone out of use as a letter grade in the educational systems in USA, UK and India, though it is still used in Pakistan, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, and some provinces in Canada like the Universities of Ottawa, Quebec and New Brunswick.
It is not clear how 'low' has been taken to mean 'tail' or last letter (of gradE).
Because 'low' is at the bottom, clear now?
DeleteHaving taken a brief sABBAtical since yesterday morning, I missed all the scintillating discussion on ABBA yesterday. Rita, Raju and Shrikanth, please enroll me too into the elite club.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I can add some more of my choice to the songs already mentioned by the ABBA connoisseurs here: I have a dream, Take a chance on me, Knowing me knowing you, SOS, Fernando, Thank you for the music, Waterloo, Ring ring, Does your mother know, The name of the game, Honey honey honey, When I kissed the teacher and others.
That the name of the group was an acronym made of the four names - Agnetha Fältskog on vocals, Benny Andersson on synthesizer, keyboards, Björn Ulvaeus on banjo, guitar, vocals and Anni-Frid Lyngstad on vocals - added further glamour and mystique to it.
For a Swedish team to keep dishing out soul-stirring lyrics in English and to remain on top charts in the UK and the US for years together was something out of this world.
I have a large collection of ABBA audio cassettes of German make, brought out 30 years ago by the German firm Polydor - which I had then purchased @ about US$ 10 apiece :-( .
Alas, my dream of having them transferred to CDs or some other more durable storage medium has remained unfulfilled.
Richard all the songs can be downloaded from the net and saved on CD or in an external disc
DeleteThanks Deepak. But I wonder if the hi-fi quality of the original recordings can be replicated.
DeleteYes they can be replicated and it may get enhanced in fact.
DeleteThanks, I may have to ferry the whole cart-load to Bangalore.
DeleteRichard et al, I would like to add RA RA RASPUTIN.....................Oh! those Russians!.
DeleteIn 1979, on Top of the Pops in BBC on Sunday evening, the DJ would announce before playing the ABBA song (not Ra ra)-- If you have a Stereo system ( a novelty those days) listen to the left side speaker... and play the music. And what a sensational start it used to be.
Yes, another ABBA fan of the 80's
There re professional recorders who do the conversion from audio tapes to CD. Aince it is electronic conversion the quality of the recoridng would be maintained. At least, there used to be. But nowadays everyone seems to have forgotten about audio & video tapes. tapes & players have become obsolete stuff.
ReplyDeleteCol.'
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link given to 23A- Termagant. I hesitated before filling in and in fact would not have done so except for the anagram. As told in the link, the generally known meaning is a virago or a quarrelsome woman. We should also thank the setter to lead us to the positive meaning of the word.
I have uploaded a few snaps of my sons wedding at the THCC Families blog. Link is available on the panel on the left and is reproduced below
ReplyDeleteGAURAV WEDS MONIKA
Just in a lighter vein, the maiden name made me think that a blogger from here may have played the match-maker. :-)
DeleteI checked on that about a year back and drew a nought!
DeleteThe latest joke doing rounds on the Net: A senior politician, often referred to as the latter-day Loh Purush enquired of Aryabhata as what his chances of becoming the prime minister of India were.
DeleteThat is when Aryabhata invented the zero.
Are you giving Monika a new moniker, Richard??
ReplyDeleteGood to know of another ABBA fan!
Not a mere fan alone, but a fanatic!
DeleteRichard - :-)) !
ReplyDeleteD. Srinivasan, as far as I remember, Ra Ra Rasputin was by Boney M.
Am I correct?
Of course, Ra Ra Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen, was by BoneyM.
DeleteYes, it is Boney M.. As both Abba and Boney M were popular then, I got it mixed up
Delete