ACROSS
1 - Robbers consequently surround a man (5) - THU{G}S
4 - Northern Arab has the speed to tell a story (7) - {N}{AR}{RATE}
10 - Short note in sixty seconds (6) - MINUTE [DD]
11 - A dealer, to begin with, will compare it to be sufficient (8) - {A}{D}{EQUATE}
13 - Lazy person’s plan to hold a sailor (8) - LAY{AB}OUT
14 - General Electric has a small sign (6) - GEMINI
16 - Regular Turk is round the year in an ancient city (4) - {T}{R}{O}{Y}
17 - Asian, son alive is roaming around the summit at last in high places (10) - {E}LEVA{T}IONS*
20 - Young one is back at last on Tuesday with her headless nanny (10) - {BABY}{SI<-}{T}{T}{(-h)ER)
21 - Knock-out the saint in United Nations (4) - {ST}{UN}
24 - A beginner has no bad habit (6) - {NO}VICE
26 - Loud student leaves University around Rhode Island (8) - ST(-u+ri)RIDENT
28 - Backbiter angrily leaves out the point of criticism (8) - BRICKBAT(-e)*
29 - Be in the way of husband at home, showing anger in return (6) - {H}{IN}DER<- )
30 - Way in which urban cities may be populated? (7) - DENSELY [CD]
31 - Look in to see the new time (5) - ?E?E?
DOWN
2 - Thoroughly search the house in north-east for an unknown firm on Monday in Britain (9) - {HO}{NE}{Y}{CO}{M}{B} Thoroughly search!!!
3 - Succeeds to purchase the small Belgium toy at last (4,2) - {GET}{S} {B}{Y}
5 - Assistant in Air India is half dead (4) - {AI}{DE}
6 - Asks for the soldiers in search of the head sailor (8) - {RE}{QUEST}S
7 - Initially, take home a light Indian plate (5) - {T}{H}{A}{L}{I}
8 - Object worn on an empty arm, you allowed (6) - A(-r)M{U}{LET}
9 - Intellectual person in general is the first person in America (6) - {GEN}{I}US
12 - Animal set to destroy to shells (7) - {BULL}ETS*
15 - Somehow ventilate out the new side of the flying machine (7) - AVIETTE(-n-l)*
18 - Usually, the ‘jumper’ is in this position! (2,3,4) - ON THE EDGE [CD]
19 - Corn meals for a donkey taking in the hot muffin (8) - AS{H}{CAKE}S
20 - Ape is back at first on an old boy on Ohio (6) - {B}{ON}{OB}{O} Hearing of this ape for the first time, put in BABOON first and wasted a lot of time
22 - Drawing one’s own surroundings! (6) - NATURE [CD]
23 - Split the cut off structure (6) - DIVIDE ?
25 - An expressed opinion (5) - VOICE [E]
27 - Heard the end of a long story (4) - TAIL(~tale) The way the clue is formed should give us TALE but that clashes with 30A
Black squares - 69(30%)
White squares - 156
GRID
23D. Could be DIVIDE(-R)
ReplyDeletePossible
ReplyDeleteRe 20ac
ReplyDeleteWhat a grim picture the clue gives!
How did the young one accept the headless nanny?
Did it come still holding the hand of this horrifying escort?
Did the NAPPY(from the other day) fall to the ground in fright?
30 across - Way in which urban cities may be populated? (7) - DENSELY
ReplyDelete'Urban' cities? Are there rural cities as well? If it is so, we've still got a lot to learn.
5 down - Assistant in Air India is half dead (4) - {AI}{DE}
Will the airlines guys take this kindly?
Added to that is the headless nanny, pointed out by CV.
Richard
[i]5d Assistant in Air India is half dead (4)[/i]
ReplyDeleteRichlas,
You're right in pointing out the bizarre situation.
Leave alone AI but any airline, even the recent private ad-centric airlines, won't have half-dead assistants in their employ.
This kind of clues comes from breaking a word into two or more parts and looking up a long, long abbr. list and/or a word list and putting them together without bothering about the overall meaning of the clue sentence or the senstivities or sensibilities of readers.
If we write a clue and then sit back and look at it there will always be room for improvement.
OTOH, if we write a clue and move on to the next in some record-making event I am afraid the result will be open to this kind of nitpicking even without a fine toothcomb.
Try
[i]Assistant in Air India is half deaf [/i]
The wordplay remains and the situation alludes to a distinct human failing to which I at the age in which I live (2000s and 66) have succumbed.
Similarly, I agree with Deepak that the last clue as written can only lead to TALE.
ReplyDelete27D Interestingly similar clue is there in ET as well with same answer. The wording in ET is different and permits both answers TAIL and TALE
ReplyDeleteIn a subtle way I agree with the surface of 5D, maybe NJ has been treated badly by our infamous AI cabin crew :-), they are not even a patch on the cabin crew of the other airlines that we have.
ReplyDelete20A must be the result of too many horror movies
ReplyDeleteLet's make some wild guesses on 31A and see who wins.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is SEVEN !!
Chaturvasi to use italics here we need to use the lesser than < and greater than > signs instead of the square brackets
Since we are guessing wildly, how about REFER
ReplyDeleteI think 23D is a triple def: split = divide, the cut off (as in making the cut) = divide and a structure could be a room divide
ReplyDeleteSplit the cut off structure (6)
ReplyDeleteI think Suresh's annotation is correct
Split = Definition
the = connector
cut off = deletion indicator
structure = DIVIDER (like road divider etc)
cut off structure = DIVIDE(-r)
Colonel, If cross betting is allowed I'll bet on seven. {SE {V}E}N. How seven can mean time beats me
ReplyDeleteMaybe 7AM or 7PM ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes Colonel but a bit of a distant relationship. NJ again
ReplyDelete