Posting from the Pink City of Jaipur. 16A beats me, so do some annotations
ACROSS
1 - Refusal of an owner to repair the headless lever at this time only (3,2,5) - {NO}{W OR NE}{(-le)VER}
9 - Quarter of the field covers every other odd plant (6) - {E}LODEA ?
10 - He is the one waiting at the altar! (10) - BRIDEGROOM [E]
11 - Again refusing the Muslim leader to arrive within the country (6) - (-aga)IN{LAND}
12 - Come into conflict with an old king concealing the head gear (7) - COL{LID}E
16 - Supporter hiding a boat on an island in the port city (5) - ??I?A
17 - Visually shocking double character without the black point (4) - LOUD(-b-e)*
18 - Large cars for fifty-one months (5) - {LI}{MOS}
19 - Musical setting in a remote tourist place (5) - MOTET [T]
20 - Courtesy title for a sailor back missing the last bus (4) - {BA<-}BU(-s)
21 - Trying to teach the con man (5) - CHEAT*
22 - Power of the fast car to overtake the fiery horse (7) - PRANCER ?
27 - John returns without Henry for approval to note a serious matter (2,4) - {N(-h)O J<-}{OK}{E}
29 - Shade for a queen in the morning on arrival in Spain (10) - {A}{QU}{AM}{AR}INE
30 - Noisy disturbance of a crowd in America (6) - RUCK{US}
31 - Overtime play to restrict the horse trainer (10) - {TIE}{BREAKER}
DOWN
2 - Work not concluded back for the giant (4) - OGRE ?
3 - An alternative treatment for an ancient trial (6) - {OR}{DEAL}
4 - Meritless almost now for work around the capital of Denmark (2,4) - NO(-w) {GO}{O}{D}
5 - Start a vehicle with the right hand in order to speed by (5) - {V}{R}{OOM}
6 - Send money to an engineer in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5) - {RE}{MIT}
7 - One citadel is constructed in a romantic way (10) - {I}DEALISTIC*
8 - Strip of material on the chief conductor of musicians (10) - {BAND}{MASTER}
12 - Teller can mislead following a head cashier based organisation (4,6) - {C}ALL CENTRE*
13 - Warm jacket for a worker (10) - LUMBERJACK [DD]
14 - Regal character of the composer (5) - ELGAR*
15 - What a bowler needs to gain momentum for his delivery? (3,2) - RUN UP [E]
23 - Overheard the gossipy lodger (6) - ROOMER(~rumour)
24 - Fur in the train somehow camouflages the tube (6) - N{U}TRIA*
25 - Boy in Tanzania captures his animal (5) - BEAS{T} Anno eludes me
26 - Entertain a Greek character in the outskirts of Singapore (5) - {A}{MU}{S}{E}
28 - Ken repairs a point on the joint (4) - KNE*{E}
GRID
16A is Beira
ReplyDeleteLate yesterday evening a light went on in my head and I posted the Anno for Trick. Re K for 20 it is Greek numeral Kappa which stands for 20. Similarly Z (with a superscript) is Zeta and is used in Greek Numerals for 7000.
ReplyDeleteSo with E, Epsilon for Number 5
So NJ is not so inconsistent after all.Maybe we'll find something for IC = 99 too.
For 25d how about (B)(East) East for East Africa.
ReplyDeleteHi Suresh,
ReplyDeleteHow would you annotate BEIRA ?
Re BEIRA
ReplyDeleteI see only the supporter! The contents are eluding me.
Support is Bra E for E boat and I for island
ReplyDeleteWhat is an E boat ? I have heard of U-boat
ReplyDeleteYou will find in on Wikipedia. They say it is a Trailer sailer,I don't know what that means
ReplyDeleteOgre.Erg and O (perhaps last letter of No)(reverse it)
ReplyDeletePrancer. I can figure out P and Racer I dont know how the N fits in
ReplyDeleteRe Elodea OD could be every other odd (1st and 3rd letters. There is a place called Leafield. Maybe Lea comes from there
ReplyDeleteLea means Grassland or meadow in free online dictionary
ReplyDeletetoday's was a tough one...some of the anno's really killed me...as the saying goes..'everythings fair in love, war and crossword'
ReplyDeleteThe word for 'the in Greek looks like N. Maybe NJ is taking Greek lessons
ReplyDeletei think it is
ReplyDeletework = erg
non concluded = open = o
ergo back is ogre
but this is trying to analyse the question after knowing the answer
your explanation for o is correct.
ReplyDeleteMost of the time we guess and answer and then do the annotation
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteKeep the discussions going, shall pop in once in a way when I get a break from the celebrations
Having been away from my desk, with no access to the Net since morning, I appear to have missed all the action and fun here. I carried the newspaper with me and managed to solve a good lot but was stuck with a few.
ReplyDeleteAgree with tpa. Some were tough, leaving me literally 'clueless'
Richard
25 - Boy in Tanzania captures his animal (5) - BEAS{T}
ReplyDeleteBeas is a river in Punjab. The clue could have been set in a different, more interesting way.
Richard