ACROSS
1 - Central leader letting the clock tick by futilely – when babus work the fastest? (7,4) - CLOSING TIME {C}{LOSING TIME}
9 - Little of certain poetry absorbed by mother (7) - MODICUM {M{ODIC}UM}
10 - Inscribe: English contention finally (7) - ENGRAVE {ENG}{RAVE}
11 - Impressive show of a director around mid-afternoon (5) - ARRAY {A}{R{R}AY}
12 - Daters I've drafted to do some pitching (9) - ADVERTISE*
13 - Mother doesn't finish tea in Russian villa (5) - DACHA {DAm}{CHA}
15 - Beat on ancient sill (9) - THRESHOLD {THRESH}{OLD} My COD
18 - Nothing about mild condition left unfinished on prosodic line (9) - OCTAMETER {O}{C}{TAME}{TERm}
22 - The sort of sandwiches for Frank? (4-5) - OPEN-FACED [DD]
24 - Barely managing in old Chinese city without capital (5) - EKING pEKING
26 - Herb's nothing about Goan settlement (7) - OREGANO {O}{RE}{GANO*}
27 - English females conclude I collected Turkish title (7) - EFFENDI {E}{FF}{END}{I}
28 - Old woman protestor backs American fellows dispersing regatta (11) - SUFFRAGETTE {SU<-}{FF}{RAGETTE*} An 'A' from Regatta has become an 'E' !
DOWN
1 - As seasons do or as the sun or moon does (4,3,2) - COME AND GO [CD]
2 - Rode out to capital of Rajasthan to give commands (5) - ORDER {ORDE*}{R}
3 - One that might be extended by a bribe-taker (5,4) - ITCHY PALM [CD]
4 - Good many out on street to see Olympic competitor (7) - GYMNAST {G}{YMNA*}{ST}
5 - Core I've pieced is to become frozen (3,4) - ICE OVER*
6 - Fired up to vent rage after advent of enemy (5) - EAGER {E}{AGER*}
7 - Formal retraction in Rajasthan town done after injury (8) - PALINODE {PALI}{NODE*} New word for me
8 - Listen, it's said, at this place (4) - HERE (~hear)
14 - Tube 8, with tact, in circulation (8) - CATHETER {HERE+TACT}*
16 - One might fume if this suggestion is made (5,1,3) - SMOKE A FAG [CG] I didn't when I used to!!
17 - One involved in demoting racket is serving a sentence (5,4) - DOING TIME {DO{I}ING TIME*}
19 - Upset count (4,3) - TICK OFF [DD]
20 - Studied and respected each mentioned animal (3,4) - (~read){RED} {DEER}(~dear)
23 - Shoes for houses? (5) - FLATS [DD]
25 - "___ ___" now, when?” (2,3) - IF NOT [GK]
25 - "___ ___" now, when?” (2,3) - IF NOT [GK]
ReplyDeleteAn extra ' " ' seems to have crept in.
FAG(gots) in 16d reminded of various meaning of this:
Kindling, smokes, homos, serving juniors at (English boarding) schools
I hadn't noticed the e/a exchange in suffragette
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed today's crossword, and took 16D as permission to have a breakfast of nicotine and espresso.
The anagram mistake in 28a is regretted.
ReplyDeleteEscaped at all stages of my checking.
Also, the error arises from circumstances that I cannot mention here.
@kishore
ReplyDeleteYes, "I fancy a fag" can have quite a loaded meaning in English.
;-)
Kishore
ReplyDeleteRe your observation on 25d. It's what papers in serious cases acknowledge as editing mistake.
@DD. Fancy that !
ReplyDeleteAs does multiple meaning of 23d FLATS in its singular form:
I am mad about my flat.
Talking of flat in its meaning of puncture, you might have seen quite a few 'Puncher' shops around, some of them offering 'puncher done here' and some of them going the extra mile, offering 'tubless' too.
A beaut of a headline in front page (which today is page 3 !) of Bang ed:
ReplyDeleteDeclaration of drought does not hold water
CV 857: Unpaired quotation marks (and other tags) raise a flag in many software development tools, but MS Word seems to follow this protocol:
ReplyDeleteNo indication of unpaired.
After the first use (which is treated as opening quotes 66, all subsequent uses are treated as closing quotes 99, unless there is a space intervening. If there is a space, then it treats the next one as 66 again.
In Chennai you can see old tyres with paint-scrawled signs that are pegged to roadside trees. What do they say?
ReplyDeleteFOR PUNCHER CALL (a mobile phone no.)
Sometimes I feel like contacting it.
A regular dialogue in Tamil fims "Unne aal vecchu adippaen" (meaning, I will hire goons to thrash you).
I thought OBELI meant printing symbol.
ReplyDeleteVijay, you are perfectly correct. The symbol which resembles a crucifix also resembles daggers and is hence so called. There is also another symbol, a vertical line with two horizontals crossing it, called double daggers. Both these are usually used to mark foot notes. Obelus can also refer to the symbol used for division, a horizontal line with a dot each above and below it.
ReplyDeleteThis is obelus: †
ReplyDeleteThis is double obelus: ‡
THANKS.
ReplyDelete