Literal walk in the park today mainly because of the many easy clues and the straightforward wordplay
ACROSS
1 - Dial press characters afresh for distribution (9) - DISPERSAL*
5 - Hands ready for fighting? (5) - FISTS [E]
8 - Clergyman is beginning to exercise and make changes (6) - {REV}{IS}{E}
9 - Emery is irritating (8) - ABRASIVE [DD]
11 - Important flower of Africa, blue or white (4) - NILE [E]
12 - Labour on terra firma in preparation (10) - {GROUND}{WORK}
14 - One with no home is negative, crazy (5) - {NO}{MAD}
15 - Separation of pupils dispersed around Thailand (5-2) - SPLI{T}-UP*
16 - Doctrine accepted in Ganim is mainly about the soul (7) - ANIMISM [T]
17 - Chosen spot for a sporting event (5) - VENUE [E]
19 - Military man who may be first or second (10) - LIEUTENANT [E]
20 - Like grapes out of reach? (4) - SOUR [E]
22 - A doubter turns stubbornly persistent (8) - OBDURATE*
23 - Lacking refinement, like ½ perhaps (6) - VULGAR [DD]
24 - Nymph featuring in a boring commercial (5) - {DRY}{AD}
25 - Mild event ruined by mischievous fun (9) - DEVILMENT*
DOWN
1 - Would a prosecutor call for courage? (6) - {DA}{RING}
2 - Time to show love, perhaps anonymously (2,10, 3) - ST VALENTINES DAY [E]
3 - The Born Free girl (4) - ELSA [E]
4 - The kind of device unlikely to be popular with British Conservatives? (6-6) - LABOUR-SAVING [CD]
5 - Intending to deceive, German lady made an advance circumventing Delhi University (10) - {FRAU}{DU}{LENT}
6 - Error in speech, a lapse in language? (4,2,3,6) - SLIP OF THE TONGUE [E]
7 - Don’t mumble if you want to be heard (5,2) - SPEAK UP [E]
10 - The diamond Peter polished was more noticeable (12) - PREDOMINATED*
13 - Leaders in every modern epicurean department, fed beer, were made resentful (10) - {E}{M}{BITTER}{E}{D}
16 - Everyone informed that everything is included (3,4) - ALL-TOLD [DD]
18 - Where the Ark landed, with a painter and deserter (6) - {A}{RA}{RAT}
21 - Creature dear to an investor perhaps (4) - BULL [E]
GRID
23A. Obviously a misprint in the Vizag edition. In place of 1/2 there was some cross or star kind of symbol.The Anno was confusing as a result
ReplyDeleteHi Suresh,
ReplyDeleteAll print editions carried the same symbol instead of 1/2
I was about to write that the crossword page is common to all editions of the paper.
ReplyDeleteOnly certain pages differ from edition to edition and the crossword page is not among them.
I tried looking up the symbol on the internet but could not find any connection between that symbol and 1/2 or a fraction
ReplyDeleteProbably a misprint
ReplyDeleteA misprint. But not exactly a misprint.
ReplyDeleteThe page goes through several stages.
When the sub/typesetter typed it, they may have carefully inserted the symbol using the correct tag (or special character).
When the page goes through the next stage, if the Word doc is not disturbed, everything may go well. But if the operator, who is different from the sub who sent the matter, for some reason opens the page and then saves, the tag may be disturbed and something unintended appear.
Formatting errors won't occur as long as the settings are the same at every stage of production. But they may not be same.
This is not to condone the mistake but to explain that it may have occurred at a stage after it left the sub.
Deepak,
ReplyDeleteIt seems UK (cryptic) crosswords too have occasional straightforward definitions.
What you classify as E.
One commenter on a UK blog, writing on a clue which was universally criticised for having no cryptic element whatsoever, suggested that perhaps such clues should be classified as D.
D for definition!