ACROSS
1 - He may wait to make enquiries, of course (7) - STEWARD [CD]
5 - Company clear to order a rowing boat (7) - {CO}RACLE*
9 - Permanent coverings of frozen water atop mountain tops (7) - ICECAPS [CD]
10 - Virgin Mary as represented in works of art (7) - MADONNA [E]
11 - Students’ raid devastated Scot landowner (5) - {L}AIRD*
12 - Start to speak about one with spirit (9) - OR{I}{GIN}ATE
13 - Instruments not necessarily out of place in square dancing? (9) - TRIANGLES [CD]
15 - Development cares taken over large areas (5) - ACRES*
16 - Reproved for the improper trade (5) - RATED*
18 - Plan to take you all over the city (6,3) - STREET MAP [CD]
21 - Isn’t playing, which hurts (9) - SCRATCHES [DD]
24 - She crazily nags at English (5) - AGN{E}S
25 - State of Alma embracing an arts graduate (7) - AL{A}{BA}MA*
26 - Broadcast a tirade — quite wrongly (7) - RADIATE*
27 - Beat the man to a curve touching line (7) - {TAN}{GENT}
28 - The longing in a boy to be an operator (7) - S{URGE}ON
DOWN
1 - Stranger has art to produce a small pan (7) - {SKILL}{ET}
2 - Retired titleholders, each initially deserve one (7) - {E}{MERIT}{I}
3 - Finished appearing in a musical group and left (9) - {A}{BAN{DONE}D}
4 - Two circles join for a record dance (5) - {DISC}{O}
5 - Russian official business to harm without fail (9) - {CO}{M{MISS}AR}
6 - More than one spoke (5) - RADII [CD]
7 - A skillful horseman (7) - CENTAUR [CD]
8 - Correction pens used to efface the writing (7) - ERASERS [CD]
14 - See there’s a mess and get discouraged (4,5) - {LO}{SE HEART*}
15 - Aristotelian student writes articles, here and abroad, supporting a Roman law (9) - ALEXANDER Anno pending (Addendum {A}{LEX}{AN}{DER} - Thanks to Chaturvasi, see comments below)
16 - Begin again and relax about the pitch (7) - RES{TAR}T
17 - Reserve soldier about to make a mistake in the ground (7) - {T{ERR}A}{IN}
19 - Sanction individual appointment (7) - {MAN}{DATE}
20 - Pilot officer demanding entrance (7) - {PO}{STERN}
22 - A feudal baron in Scotland (5) - THANE [E]
23 - Reddish brown hawks in their first year (5) - SARDS Couldn't understand the second part of the clue
Good morning
ReplyDeleteThe only ones I could not get were 22D and 23D.
15D I put in ALEXANDER by sheer guess. Anno has eluded me too.
2D and 6D: EMERITI and RADII - Compiler's googlies with irregular plural forms, wherein the word gets shorter by a character. (Other examples - FUNGUS FUNGI, COCCUS COCCI, BACILLUS BACILLI). Clever indeed.
Richard
Aristotelian student - def
ReplyDeletewrites - connector
articles, here (in India) - A AN (indefinite articles)
and - connector
abroad, - DER (in Germany) definite article
supporting - inserticator
a Roman law (9) - LEX, meaning law in Latin
Thus: A(LEX)AN DER
Manna foxed everyone yesterday by spelling HENRIETTA as HENREITTA thereby 11A became OPENER
ReplyDeleteNot that I know Latin!
ReplyDeleteBy familiarity with the back section of the Chambers dictionary that gives a list of foreign words and phrases. From where we can pick up a knowledge of such tags as Lex Inuista Non Est Lex (L): An unjust law is no law at all.
Thanks to my Dad who used to read some phrases and explain what they meant when I and my siblings were young ones.
Why should a skilful horseman be CENTAUR? I can understand the play on "horse-man" but then, why skilful?
ReplyDeleteIntroduction: Colonel, I read about this blog on today's Metro Plus and was immediately compelled to look it up and follow you.
I am not sure about the facts, but up until a few years back, it seems like The Hindu had their own internal compiler for CWs, which have now, lamentably, been "outsourced" to a few. As a long-time CW solver (since I was around 10 yrs old), the change has been quite unsettling!
Hi Aniruddh,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog.
I don't think they ever had their own internal compiler, earlier they never published the compilers name that's why we were not aware of the compiler, you must be aware that the HINDU CW presently has 5 setters of which the present one is second last as far as the standards of clues as concerned, NJ being the last.
Chaturvasi who comments on my blog will be able to give you a better understanding of the issue as he was with THE HINDU for a long time.
Mythical horseman would have been better, or in fact just horseman was good enough.
ReplyDelete@ Chaturvasi
ReplyDeleteHow did you get to DER? I thought DER stands for THE in German?
Came to you blog via Divya Kumar's feature on The Hindu Crossword in today's The Hindu. I am a novice in crossword solving, hope to learn the arts of the trade from perusing your blog. Great work Colonel.
ReplyDeleteHi Colnel,
ReplyDeleteMany congrats on the mention in The Hindu article. Has the traffic seen an increase?
Hi Maddy,
ReplyDeleteI am sure there will be an increase for a few days. Will know when I check the clustrmap tomorrow
Hi Krishnan,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the blog
Read an article on crosswords at Clued up
ReplyDeleteDeepak,
ReplyDeleteAs explained above der = the = article in German.
a, an are indefinite articles and the the definite article.
der is from article, foreign (meaning article in the German language as opposed to Indian English or English.
Hence article could yield, a or an or the.
Congrats Colonel and Chaturvasi on the Hindu feature. Now we know that this blog is being watched by 'The Hindu'. But will that make NJ & Manna set better ??!!!
ReplyDeleteAs Chaturvasi says, wouldn't be great if they also log in and explain or defend as the case maybe.
Thanks Chaturvasi,
ReplyDeleteI get it now. Clued by the Maestro himself it appears
hello sir,
ReplyDeletei am new 2 ur blog, can u plz expln wat does dat {}, signify?
thank u very much
The link for Divya Kumar's write-up in the Hindu Metro Plus on THC:
ReplyDeletehttp://beta.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article104334.ece?homepage=true
Richard
Congrats for reaching the 3-figure follower count, Colonel. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteCame by, thanks to today's metroplus write up.I know where to see the unsolved parts now. Today's was fairly easy though.
ReplyDeleteSmart work, I must tell my brother in law Brig Tyagarajan who also is also a keen solver about this blog.
This is really excellent site, I was looking for such a site for sometime..
ReplyDeleteGreetings Colonel,
ReplyDeleteSuperb Site Sir. Am a novice at crosswords. Hoping to learn more. Keep up the great work Sir,
Srisha
Welcome to all the new visitors to my blog. I must thank Divya of THE HINDU for the sudden spurt in visitors.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shuchi, I didn't realize that the followers list had crossed 100.
@Shibani,
The curly brackets { } indicate the elements of the solution as worked out from the wordplay of the clue, for example
17 - Reserve soldier about to make a mistake in the ground (7) - {T{ERR}A}{IN}
Reserve soldier = TA this comes from Territorial Army
about = indicates that TA is around something
to make a mistake = ERR
in = in
the ground = Definition = {T{ERR}A}{IN}
I hope that clears your doubt
Did the crossword, with mixed feelings, after 25 years. Came to your wonderful site from the article in 'The HINDU'. More strength to you!!!
ReplyDeleteSrini
I salute you Officer for this excellant blog!
ReplyDeleteI hope my clue is correct:
I'M TYRO TO THE SOUND OF CHRIST'S DEATH DEVICE which means "I am a novice to crossword"
Thanks to Divya Kumar I am able to come aCROSS WORlD famous blog.I will be a faithful follower of it!
Keep up the good work !! This is an excellent site for novice's as well as experts. It is well organised, structured and easy to follow.
ReplyDeleteSir,
ReplyDeleteJust for the past few months I am solving THC.Only a novice . Read about this in the online paper while searching for a news item.This supplement, we don`t get in our areas.Has opened new vistas for me.Thanks for the annotations,I can see the answer evolving.Thanks a lot.
Elango.
Sir,
ReplyDeleteI used to dabble at the crossword during school/college days and used to get frustrated about not being able to solve it completely. I hope to get there someday but geniuses like you will def help us understand the clues better.
Great work on the blog and hoping to be a regular here.
The article by Divya led me here and kudos to both of you :)
Sir,
ReplyDeletethank you very much for your explanation..
kudos, to u Sir, for solving and publishing it every single day..
I am really glad that i came across this through the metroplus section of thehindu..
Hi Sir,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on all ur good work
It would be great if you could include a detailed explanation like the one chaturvasi gave for ALEXANDER for all the clues for the benefit of newbies like me...
fantastic job.Neyartha,gridman,manna are all tough. Sankalap is a joy to do.I am a learner and yet to get oriented in finding the tact of solving
ReplyDeleteBrilliant article in the Metro-plus, it was articulate and insightful into something we all take for granted.
ReplyDelete23d your answer was sards but answer in Hindu is sores. Can you please clarify
ReplyDelete