Tuesday 30 December 2014

No 11279, Tuesday 30 Dec 2014, Mac


This CW, for me today, was like poetry in motion, with brilliant surfaces.

ACROSS
6   Absolute state (5) UTTER [DD]
8   Does this heavy vehicle put bovines to sleep? (9) BULLDOZER {BULL}{DOZER}
10 Small desk is sturdy (6) STABLE {S}{TABLE}
11 Chairman never dealt with leading criminal (8) CONVENER {CON}{NEVER*}
12 Ill-mannered little devil ordered to lie (8) IMPOLITE {IMP}{TO+LIE}*
13 Without salary for a long time (4) AGES wAGES
15 Incorporate central hint clued badly (7) INCLUDE {hINt}{CLUED*}
17 Liquate mixture for distilled liquid (7) TEQUILA*
20 Doctor starts to utilise medical instrument (4) DRUM {DR}{U}{M}
22 Judges take away right from corrupt barrister (8) ARBITERS BARrISTER*
25 Troop deployed with officer to follow set of rules (8) PROTOCOL {TROOP*}{COL}
26 Place in east Asia (6) ORIENT [DD]
27 Annoying pet's let in by mistake (9) PESTILENT*
28 Some had ultimately grown up (5) ADULT [T]

DOWN
1   Proclamation from New Testament (9) STATEMENT*
2   He sells meat, halibut, cherries, sandwiches… (7) BUTCHER [T]
3   Neat lego construction spread out (8) ELONGATE*
4   Sailor to look after father (6) POPEYE {POP}{EYE}
5   Space research reveals a large asteroid (5) CERES [T]
7   Involve Romeo in mobile design (7) EMBROIL {EMB{R}OIL*}
9   Indian state said to be a place for fine foods (4) DELI (~delhi)
14 Naughty gal lying without a bit of remorse, in a painfully obvious manner (9) GLARINGLY {GAL*}{R}{LYING*}
16 Party amplifier that is left in one's home (8) DOMICILE {DO}{MIC}{I{L}E}
18 Criminal intruder denied a right, not taken to court (7) UNTRIED INTRUDEr*
19 Sweetheart's bold and liberal at heart (7) DARLING {DAR{Li...l}NG}
21 Cost to put in upturned wheel (6) ROTATE {R{OT<=}ATE}
23 Kickstart a system (4) BOOT [C&DD]
24 Snooped and overheard a group of lions (5) PRIED (~pride)

GRID

28 comments:

  1. Another crossword aficionado Vaikom Ramachandran Parameswaran (VR Parameswaran) has gone off to the Happy Hunting Grounds. He was a member here and his details are there in the THCC Members page, though he was not seen very often in the comments section, he was a regular at Mrs PP's Hub using the handle Pammechchu.
    RIP Pammechchu

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. RIP Pammechchu.
      I was wondering why he was not posting solutions on the Hub lately.

      Delete
    2. RIP Pammechchu. Remember him from the times when I used to comment in The Hub.

      Delete
    3. RIP Pammechchu.
      I know him from the Hub where he was a regular.
      He was a very occasional commenter here.
      My sympathies are with the family.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Crisp, smooth clues - always a pleasure to solve :).

      Delete
  3. It is often the case that one thinks of a one liner a little too late ..
    Yesterday's Close Up, reminded me of the all too frequent slip between the cup and the lip

    ReplyDelete
  4. Smooth and clear surfaces. Liked BULLDOZER the best, as it's tough to write a good CD.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good crossword Mac.

    A small observation on 9D. The use of the word Indian is unnecessary. Is it reflective of a habit got from doing UK and USA based crosswords?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Strictly speaking, though, Delhi is not a state - it is till a Union Territory, although with special features like its own High Court.

      Delete
    2. I was also wondering if Delhi could be called a State.
      ***
      While casually looking at some set crosswords of mine, I found PREMIE. Remembering PREEMIE from yesterday's crossword, wondered about it. Discovered that both spellings are allowed.
      As for the clue that I have written, well, you must wait for its appearance!

      Delete
  6. Very nice, Mac - straightforward but elegant and smooth! Thanks to setter and blogger.

    I loved the lift-and-separate clue for BOOT. It was refreshing to find the word "sweetheart" used in a clue to indicate something other than the letter E!

    ReplyDelete
  7. POPEYE snatched samosas from me :(. Anyway so happy to solve the rest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did he give you Spinach in exchange?

      Delete
    2. Ram, a question awaits you in yesterday's post in response to your comment...

      Delete
    3. Col.
      I would have preferred a samosa anyway!

      Delete
    4. Kishore,
      You made me look at it too!

      Delete
    5. Regretted already for misreading 11183 as11283

      Delete
    6. Thanks for clarifying. Was a bit confused about the numbers

      Delete
  8. Popeye did not boot for me too.
    9D- 'Indian' helped me to get Deli. So thank you.
    Nice enjoyable fare, not just in deli, but in the whole CW. Everyone found it interesting in their own angles.
    Thank you for bringing our attention to Ceres & thank you Col. for the link. Should be an interesting read.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Lovely Crossword Mac! Too many good clues to mention - liked 13A, 22A and 23D the best!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nicely crafted, Mac. Beautiful anagrams and hidden words. Also loved the play on "look after" in 4d.

    Tiny niggles -

    25a: The missing article before "set of rules". Perhaps using a plural definition (e.g. rules of conduct) could have avoided the surface/cryptic grammar conflict.

    28a: While "grown up" is fine as a phrasal verb, it'd need a hyphen as an adjective/noun to match the definition.

    ReplyDelete

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