ACROSS
1 - Private terrace (5) - ?L?S?
4 - Soften the sausage to be served (7) - ASSUAGE*
10 - Jacob's other name (6) - ISRAEL [E]
11 - First person maybe me only (8) - SINGULAR [CD]
13 - Longfellow's Indian hero (8) - HIAWATHA [E]
14 - Level of extreme temperature on earth (6) - {PLANE}{T}
16 - Stratagem for the Palestine Liberation Organisation at the end of the day (4) - {PLO}{Y}
17 - Small arboreal insectivore (10) - FLYCATCHER [E]
24 - Bird in port caught by a shout of encouragement (6) - {O{RIO}LE}
28 - Service offered by a courier company (8) - DELIVERY [CD]
29 - Chief senator is old in Iran (6) - {SEN}{I{O}R}
30 - I am somehow upset with the encouragement (7) - {IM}{PETUS*}
31 - Bet on an investment (5) - STAKE [DD]
DOWN
2 - Play around with a bird in an overturned tub outside the circle (4,5) - {LARK} {A}{B{O}UT*}
3 - The woman has a short dip in this calendar month (6) - ??E?A?(Addendum - {SHE}{BAT
5 - Replica in the small cavity (4) - {S}{PIT}
6 - You try to lunge at the cow (8) - {U}{NGULATE*}
7 - A rocky plateau in south-western Syria (5) - GOLAN [CD]
8 - Chess piece of the Lord (6) - BISHOP [DD]
12 - Tea regularly laid in this French cup (7) - {CHA}{L}{I}{CE}
18 - Pay attention to mostly uncle Dick who is depressed (9) - {HEAR}TS{
19 - Second level collapses the regular dunes in the city (8) - {B}{ELLEV}{U}{E}
20 - Ponders over the young birds (6) - BROODS [DD]
22 - Tolerate (6) - ENDURE [E]
23 - Said of a drug with a strong effect (6) - POTENT [CD]
25 - The religious faith of Muslims (5) - ISLAM [E]
27 - German woman is far out in the University (4) - {FRA*}{U}
3D is SHE BAT(-H)
ReplyDelete1A is probably CLOSE (DD)Close also means
(Law) Law private property, usually enclosed by a fence, hedge, or wall
15 D has to be spelt the American way to fit in?
ReplyDeleteGood morning
ReplyDeleteSuresh is right on 3D. I too took it as SHEBAT which is a Jewish calendar month.
18D The T is probably "to mostly" How S becomes Uncle is unknown. Maybe NJ has an Uncle by that name
ReplyDelete26A - I got the answer DEPORTED correctly, but because of SCEPTRE used the US way, got stuck. Inconsistency of the first order.
ReplyDeleteUncle Dick means Sick in Cockney Rhyming Slang. So that completes the anno for 18D.
ReplyDeleteOn second thoughts the anno for 18D should be {HEAR{T(-o)}S}{(-d)ICK}
ReplyDeleteAnno for 18 D
ReplyDeletePay attention = HEAR
to mostly = T
Uncle Dick = SICK (Cockney Rhyming Slang)
who is = Connector
depressed = def.
20 A BUTTERCUPS - not clear. Can somebody explain please?
ReplyDeletehttp://thesaurus.com/browse/close?page=3&qsrc=121&posFilter=noun
ReplyDeleteAbove link gives Terrace as a meaning for "close", meaning Yard
So my verdict is that 1A is CLOSE (DD)
ReplyDelete8d I had initially put in KNIGHT, as it is a chess piece and a Lord is Knighted. Even remembered: “ ‘night Knight” , said one Knight to another Knight, the other night. Of course, Bishop also matches, being a chess piece and a Lord (of all he ‘See’s !).
ReplyDeleteFIFA: Jester loses nothing to become a goalie (6)
RIP to Lt Col Manohar Malgaonkar
BISHOP and CHALICE, BROODS and HEARTSICK, FLYCATCHER and lark ! Thank God, CHALICE was not clued as 'Tea and insects in a cup'
ReplyDeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteNow, you are giving ideas with your clues!
BUFFON
ReplyDeleteVJ 3:CHRISTIAN(-O)
ReplyDeleteGiri: With this cup of insects, you only have to sit a tree to become 17 - arboreal insectivore (10)
ReplyDelete@VJ 933, Yes, but poor chap is losing everything (not nothing) with his back problem back.
ReplyDeleteKishore, it's CRISTIANO...
ReplyDeleteThe clue says "finally nothing happened." So O's there. Maybe the clue wasn't good enough. I wasn't even sure how the guy's name was pronounced.
He = CRISTIANO
And the 1st one is MARADONA {MAR} {AD} {ON} {A}
VJ, Obrigado !
ReplyDeleteKishore, de nada :)
ReplyDeleteI think Buffon's gotta thank his luck. Imagine what would have happened had he played on and made a Buffoon of himself on the field!! He'd surely have been on Mafia's hit list.
Going by the fewer comments today, it looks like everyone is slowly realizing that it is pointless and futile to exchange acrimony for the sake of one person's follies, faults, failings and foibles.
ReplyDeleteLet's relax and discuss more fruitful things in lieu of sabre-rattling and sword-crossing, until Gridman arrives.
How about some humour and games to end the day with?
Yep, things are pretty quiet around here. Why don't you start something, Richard.
ReplyDeleteMy FIFA clues for the day
ReplyDeleteVase is broken, but it makes defenders happy (4)
A stadium in this independent nation (4,5)
SAVE
ReplyDeleteFREE STATE
ReplyDeleteNice Giridhar
ReplyDeleteGiridhar (8:58), I wasn't clear about 20A's anno either. Out of curiosity, I did some googling to see if I can find any link between "cow" and "buttercup." Finally, I stumbled upon a wikipedia page on 1950s children's television series The Woodentops. In it, there happen to be a character by name Buttercup the cow. I'm not sure if this is what the compiler had in mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks VJ :-)
ReplyDeleteOn reading Col's annotation once more, I figured
Cow = butter (something/someone that butts, I know, I know, could apply to goats, sheep etc.) and 'chews finally' giving 's'- hence the "cup floweth over". There's a 'wild' in the clue - not sure whether that was meant to be a part of the definition.
Of course, there could be an entirely different annotation like you have pointed. One would never know I guess.
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ReplyDelete