Tuesday 20 June 2017

No 12038, Tuesday 20 Jun 2017, KrisKross


ACROSS
1   It may end explosively (8) DYNAMITE &lit
5   Muscle aches regularly during dance (6) TRICEP {TRI{aChEs}P}
9   Dirty bachelor dressed like hippie initially (8) UNWASHED {UNW{AS}{Hi...e}ED}
10 Air cover (6) SCREEN [DD]
12 Train to fly high (5) LOFTY*
13 Maybe daughter or son failed course, mostly about tax (9) SUCCESSOR {COURSe}* over {CESS}
14 Character from Athens starting to run, chased by American bull (6) TAURUS {TAU}{Run}{US}
16 Lab animals injected with appropriate virus (7) MICROBE {MIC{ROB}E}
19 They say a stupid criminal is honest (7) ETHICAL (~a thick){ETHIC}{AL}
21 Ancient city is #1? Not quite (6) THEBES {THE BESt}
23 When it's bedtime finally, you brew tea that's dilute (9) ATTENUATE {AT TEN}{yoU}{TEA*}
25 Begins to sweat, cry aloud...about to panic (5) SCARE {Sw..t}{Cry}{Al..d}{RE}
26 Calling nurse near emergency room (6) CAREER {CARE}{ER}
27 Notaries working for a young lady (8) SENORITA*
28 Wrong to open reserved drink (6) SHERRY {SH{ERR}Y}
29 In this month, a new clue — "Drained out", for example (8) INSTANCE {INST}{A}{N}{CluE}

DOWN
1   Understudy turned blue after act (6) DOUBLE {DO}{BLUE*}
2   Important announcement from witness: "In the middle, saw flesh being cooked" (9) NEWSFLASH {witNess}{SAW+FLESH}*
3   Part of Stockholm is typically wet (5) MISTY [T]
4   Locks extremely suspicious characters wearing ashes perhaps (7) TRESSES {Su...oS} in {TREES}
6   Exotic day-care centre’s leader off to welcome singer (9) RECHERCHE {cRE{CHER}CHE}
7   Game where men could jump overboard (5) CHESS [CD]
8   Old man attempts to control new stores (8) PANTRIES {PA}{N}{TRIES}
11 Rogue's short trick (4) SCAM SCAMp
15 Storyteller almost managed to deceive, with true cunning (9) RACONTEUR {RAn}{CON}{TRUE*}
17 Speech about exercise, exercise (9) OPERATION {O{PE}RATION}
18 Acts of expiation in prison can possibly ease suffering, for starters (8) PENANCES {PEN}{CAN*}{Ease}{Su...g}
20 Page from "Performing Flea" (4) LEAF*
21 Moneybags present in that place (7) THEREIN {T{HERE}IN}
22 Got worker to pinch security device (6) BECAME {BE{CAM}E}
24 Trees irregularly clipped (5) TERSE*
25 Boy left running, say (5) SPORT {S}{PORT} S for son for boy?

GRID

32 comments:

  1. I thought Triceps is a three headed muscle.I have never heard it called Tricep(without s)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for stepping in unusually early in the morning,
      We may talk of 'tricep exercise' where the word is an adj. But the clue does not seem to refer to that POS.

      Delete
    2. REPRODUCING WHAT OXFORD DICTIONARY HAS GOT TO SAY ON:

      tricep
      • noun informal a triceps muscle. Although tricep is becoming more common in informal use, triceps remains standard as the singular noun.

      Delete
  2. http://www.thefreedictionary.com is excellent when used for writing for homophone clues. The speaker icons give the US and UK pronunciations alongwith the phonetic symbols to guide us. Checking with this online dic removes any doubts about how the word sounds

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice clues. The CD clue on chess was amusing

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes, but I had my doubt about 'jump' as against 'move'. Jump is more appropriate for draughts. Am I right?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lovely puzzle! Begins with a beautiful & Lit & is filled with gems..clues that make you smile & brighten your day. An equally instructive blog which helped me get the annos of Recherche & ethical e.g. the former I got from crossing & latter just BIFD it
    Thanks KrisKross and Col

    ReplyDelete
  6. Many Happy Returns Of The Day, KKR.
    Have a great day and enjoy the bash in Dallas

    ReplyDelete
  7. Many happy snruter of the day KKR . God bless you with good health & cheer.

    I second Vasant's comments. Very elegantly compiled crossie by Kriss Kross. Nothing to get cross about. TAURUS' clue is a beautiful wordplay. So was CHESS. Has anyone compiled a crossword with chess as the theme? As many permutations and combinations can come into play as in the game itself.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the feedback everyone.
    1) 25D was a slip-up. It should have been "son" and not "boy". Boy->Son->S is too indirect.
    2) 5A: I went by the def in TFD and Oxford, where tricep is defined as "a muscle in the triceps" (as pointed out by KKR above).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Ramki for the nice enjoyable CW.

      Delete
  9. Happy Birthday (in the west) and many happy returns of the day KKR. Nice way to celebrate.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Exotic puzzle as ever from KrissKross. Missed out on 22d & 25d.
    My favourites....UNWASHED, CAREER & THEREIN. Thanks Ramki. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks to Col Deepak for the mention of DD National telecast of the CBSE Cryptic Crossword Competition finals.
    I missed it yesterday by 15 minutes.
    Today I managed to catch it.
    The schoolchildren were quite prompt in answering and it was a joy to observe their gestures.
    No credit was given to the setter but I could guess who it was.
    The crossword was in English and the quiz master spoke in English but the compere used Hindi, it being DD National.
    But the setter had sneaked Chennai into one of the clues.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the vivid description. I am quite unlucky not to see episodes as they are aired on week days & time too clashes with office timing

      Delete
    2. The compere is Kushagra's wife Anjali. Presently they are honeymooning in Paris 😎

      Delete
  12. Nice and easy.25A I think it should be starts and not begins. 6D Daycare centre - creche leader off-> reche

    ReplyDelete
  13. Thank you all for your birthday wishes! The day began for me now.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Dr. X has provided a write up about himself and a photograph which has been uploaded under the THC Setters link above. Quite a multi-faceted personality.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Wow! Just 3 months since getting hooked to cryptic CW and he is already noted setter in TH. Great going- while still doing so many things. Does he also have only 24 hours a day?!
    How come cryptic CW & PGW have so many combined admirers. I also think Bridge is not far behind. Is it the logic part?

    ReplyDelete

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