ACROSS
1 - Penguins, say, of varying types (6) – DIVERS (~diverse)
4 - Poet, reportedly game, getting no backing (8) – (~tennis){TENNYS}{ON<-} )
10 - Certainly a certainty (4,5) – {SURE} {THING}
11 - Street urchin playing endlessly (5) – GAMIN(-g)
12 - Poke about round small hen house (5) – ROO{S}T
14 - Beautiful girl taking a piece in board game (9) – B{A}{GAT}ELLE A popular childrens game when I was a kid I remember having a couple of the boards
15 - A soft drink, something unattractive after beer? (6,5) – {BITTER} {LEMON}
18 - A number of swans in short biblical book (11) – LAMENTATION Answer based on crossings, Anno pending (Addendum - this is a [DD] see comments section)
21 - Station wagon's condition in anticlockwise race (6,3) – E{STATE} CAR <- )
22 - Els, for example, with one parting eagle (5) – ERN{I}E
23 - Honours European, corpulent (5) – {OBES}{E}
24 - Landlord to save in secret (9) – INN{KEEP}ER
26 - Calamity resulting from Diane's bloomer (8) – {DIS}{ASTER}
27 - Sunny on leaving resort (6) – BRIGHT(-on)
DOWN
1 - Give account of journalist after editor turned up (8) – {DE<-}{SCRIBE}
2 - Drink reverend upset over speaker? (8) – {VER<-}{MOUTH}
3 - Despicable person giving lift to sailor (3) – RAT <- )
5 - Intended to wear this? (10,4) – ENGAGEMENT RING [CD]
6 - Nurse, popular girl after dark (11) – {NIGHT}{IN}{GALE} GALE is the name of a boy, I thought GAIL was the name of a girl. The anno could be {NIGHT}{IN}{GAL}E which leaves E in suspense (Addendum - see comments section)
7 - Drop of sherry, enough to taste (6) – {S}{AMPLE}
8 - Stake in extremely notorious French city (6) – N{ANTE}S
9 - Amusement device nimble chaplain plays (7,7) – PINBALL MACHINE*
13 - Vocal group's threat spelt out (3,8) – THE PLATTERS* Google search result
16 - Clean round pub close to big Canadian city (8) – {W{INN}IPE}{G}
17 - Nice rest spoilt behind closed doors (2,6) – IN SECRET*
19 - Lower back's additional support (6) – SECOND [DD]
20 - Emphasise head of state rests uneasily (6) – {S}{TRESS*}
25 - Peter Rabbit's blunder (3) – ERR [T]
GRID
Lamentation = collective noun for a number of swans
ReplyDeleteSee http://palomaraudubon.org/collective.html
Re NIGHTINGALE.
ReplyDeletePl. see my comment posted in the Orkut community: The Hindu Crossword Solutions before I read your post.
You may, if you wish, reproduce it here.
18a is a DD. "short biblical book" is LAMENTATION(s).
ReplyDeleteChaturvasi's comment on the ORKUT community regarding NIGHTINGALE shown below
ReplyDelete"IMO, though popular gives IN, girl, GAL and dark NIGHT, I think all that is just to tickle our brains.
The clue prob. alludes to the fact that the famous person used to move with a lamp at night.
She was called The lady with the Lamp, right?"
19 - Lower back's additional support (6) SECOND (DD)
ReplyDeleteActually, it is more than a DD, Deepak.
I think it is a multiple definition clue, with lower (adj., as in 'second class' as opposed to 'first class' or A/C), back (v.), additional (as in 'second wife') and support (v., as in "I second the proposition that Chaturvasi made").
I would annotate Roost a little differently.
ReplyDeleteRot means to make fun of or tease (Poke)
Round is O
Small is S
Re Nightingale the last E appears additional with no anno
Think anno for 12 across was correct - to root is to poke around and then the S for small
ReplyDeleteROT IN THE MEANING I HAVE GIVEN IS OLD SLANG AS PER THE OXFORD DICTIONARY. IT ALSO EXPLAINS WHY ROUND IS USED INSTEAD OF AROUND
ReplyDelete6D: NIGHT (dark) IN (popular) GALE (girl). &lit, the whole surface referring to Florence Nightingale.
ReplyDeleteGALE is a unisex name, as listed in Wikipedia. I also did a search on Facebook to confirm :)
THE END RESULT IS THAT A COUPLE OF ANNOS EVERYBODY IS KEEPING A WHOLE LOT OF US BUSY:)
ReplyDelete