I'm grading this between GOOD & AVERAGE as I was not happy with the NE corner of the grid.
ACROSS
1 - Atropine I've retrieved is useless (11) - INOPERATIVE*
9 - Did a favour under compulsion? (7) - OBLIGED [DD]
10 - He's to collect about 500 (7) - {GAR{D}NER}
11 - Duck dis or dat? (5) - EIDER [DD] Deja vu
12 - One is not alive to display this face (5,4) - DEATH MASK [CD]
13 - Look back and pine for veteran (5) - {OL<-}{DIE}
15 - Figure writer's knot (9) - {PEN}{TANGLE}
18 - Rants about pets wandering in church passages (9) - {TRANS*}{EPTS*}
21 - Exploded right into bosom (5) - {BU{R}ST}
22 - Student tucked in albacore cooked for Spanish horseman (9) - {CABA{L}LERO*}
24 - That's understood — one politician leaving is sanctioned (5) -impLICIT
26 - Riddle no small drillmaster (7) -sTRAINER
27 - Get nice changes! It's all in the family! (7) - GENETIC*
28 - Record to retain scratched host (11) - {ENTER}{TAINER*}
DOWN
1 - Too rude in disposition but removed some kinks (6,3) - IRONED OUT*
2 - Laboured hard without capital and made things smooth (5) -tOILED
3 - Yen as each tutor omits love sign (9) - {EA}{G(ov)ERNESS}
4 - Was consistent in being calculative (5,2) - ADDED UP [DD]
5 - One new good shower, basically (2,5) - {I}{N} {G}{RAIN}
6 - A spinner's core, head slipping downwards (5) - (-h)EART(+h)H Earth is a spinner OK, but a little far fetched to imagine.
7 - One swelling to studiously learn German (8) - {ENLAR*}{GER} Not happy with this definition
8 - Tense on king's expedition (4) - {T}{RE}{K} Not sure if this anno is correct. Just 'T' for tense?
14 - Bushed, bushed, bushed (8) - {DEAD}{BEAT}
16 - No ball Aga conducted in Italy (4,5) - ALBA LONGA*
17 - Vehicle for going round in tea plantation? (6,3) - ESTATE CAR [CD]
19 - I go wrong in putting up prize money for pantomime character (7) - {P{I}{ERR}OT}
20 - Big hitter, small lumberjack (7) - {S}{LOGGER}
22 - Fastidious copper's note (4) - {CU}{TE}
23 - Look! No-good weapon (5) -gLANCE
25 - Interpose with copper container (3,2) - {CU}{T-IN}
ACROSS
1 - Atropine I've retrieved is useless (11) - INOPERATIVE*
9 - Did a favour under compulsion? (7) - OBLIGED [DD]
10 - He's to collect about 500 (7) - {GAR{D}NER}
11 - Duck dis or dat? (5) - EIDER [DD] Deja vu
13 - Look back and pine for veteran (5) - {OL<-}{DIE}
15 - Figure writer's knot (9) - {PEN}{TANGLE}
21 - Exploded right into bosom (5) - {BU{R}ST}
22 - Student tucked in albacore cooked for Spanish horseman (9) - {CABA{L}LERO*}
24 - That's understood — one politician leaving is sanctioned (5) -
26 - Riddle no small drillmaster (7) -
27 - Get nice changes! It's all in the family! (7) - GENETIC*
28 - Record to retain scratched host (11) - {ENTER}{TAINER*}
DOWN
1 - Too rude in disposition but removed some kinks (6,3) - IRONED OUT*
2 - Laboured hard without capital and made things smooth (5) -
3 - Yen as each tutor omits love sign (9) - {EA}{G(
4 - Was consistent in being calculative (5,2) - ADDED UP [DD]
5 - One new good shower, basically (2,5) - {I}{N} {G}{RAIN}
6 - A spinner's core, head slipping downwards (5) - (-h)EART(+h)H Earth is a spinner OK, but a little far fetched to imagine.
7 - One swelling to studiously learn German (8) - {ENLAR*}{GER} Not happy with this definition
8 - Tense on king's expedition (4) - {T}{RE}{K} Not sure if this anno is correct. Just 'T' for tense?
14 - Bushed, bushed, bushed (8) - {DEAD}{BEAT}
16 - No ball Aga conducted in Italy (4,5) - ALBA LONGA*
17 - Vehicle for going round in tea plantation? (6,3) - ESTATE CAR [CD]
19 - I go wrong in putting up prize money for pantomime character (7) - {P{I}{ERR}OT}
20 - Big hitter, small lumberjack (7) - {S}{LOGGER}
22 - Fastidious copper's note (4) - {CU}{TE}
23 - Look! No-good weapon (5) -
25 - Interpose with copper container (3,2) - {CU}{T-IN}
11A was discussed when a similar clue appeared in NIE. Gridman mentioned that this was conceived independently and since his clue was already submitted to THC there was no way to call it back.
ReplyDelete8D the anno is correct. T for tense is mentioned in the chamber crossword dictionary.
I'll also go with your rating colonel. I had difficulty in accepting cute for fastidious and deadbeat for bushed.
ReplyDeleteBhavan,
ReplyDeleteI see no problem with the two that you have mentioned.
Bushed and deadbeat are both synonymous with exhausted (as are tired, worn out and done in).
Cute and fastidious are synonymous with dainty.
deadbeat - quite exhausted (Chamb.)
ReplyDeletebushed - tired (inf.) (Chamb.)
'dainty' is listed under 'fastidious' in Chambers thesaurus.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I do concede that some synonyms may not readily occur to our mind and this one is way-out.
CUTE is the only one left to be filled in my grid today, and despite its being the most probable answer, I left it unfinished.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Gridman's anno for the use of the possessive form in 22D?
Late Latif here, but GM has clued in SLOGGER today. BLOGGER to follow?
ReplyDeleteFastidious copper's note (4)
ReplyDeleteHere, in the surface reading 's is possessive.
But in wordplay. 's becomes has; so CU (copper) has TE (note).
Shuchi has discussed this in her blog:
http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2010/04/apostrophe-s-in-cryptic-clues.html
I needn't add that while in wordplay copper is the metal, in the surface reading it means policeman, who may have sent a note to someone in the higher ranks in the force.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chaturvasi. While I knew that it had to be parsed as "Cu has", I did not realise that it could also be used as a connector. As such, I would have written the answer down as CTEU (which doesn't make sense of course, but I mean to equate "has" with "contains").
ReplyDelete