This appeared on 01 April in the Observer, that's why 12A, 14A and 25A are almost impossible to solve.
ACROSS
1 - Felt for shipmate at sea collared by journalist (10) - EMPATHISED {E{SHIPMATE*}D}
6 - Chief stud (4) - BOSS [DD]
9 - A boost to self-esteem achieved on English horse that's inferior (3,4) - EGO TRIP {E}{GO T}RIP
10 - Anteater chained, maltreated (7) - ECHIDNA*
12 - 14 or 25 (7,6) - POISSON D'AVRIL [CD]
14 - 12 or 25 (5,4) - APRIL FOOL [CD]
15 - Old article penned by that woman novelist (5) - HEYER {HE{YE}R}
16 - Wooden old actor-manager close to Goldwyn (5) - TREEN {TREE}{N}
18 - Wife is at home nursing prisoners of state (9) - WISCONSIN {W}{IS}{CONS}{IN}
21 - Still together (2,3,4,4) - AT THE SAME TIME [DD]
23 - Nearing resort, hittable (2,5) - IN RANGE*
24 - Camping item perhaps missent abroad (4,3) - MESS TIN*
25 - 12 or 14 (4) - GOWK [CD]
26 - Scathing when gang housed in portable shelter (10) - ASTRINGENT {AS}{T{RING}ENT}
DOWN
1 - Still the same (4) - EVEN [DD]
2 - Get on with Miranda's father? Mostly (7) - PROSPER PROSPERo
3 - Made for Hallowe'en, watch number later, outside, at onset of night-time (6,7) - TURNIP LANTERN {TUR{NIP} {LA{N}TER}N}
4 - One meeting member regarding painting technique (7) - IMPASTO {I}{MP}{ASTO}
5 - Unknown number fired from outside, non-stop (7) - ETERNAL ExTERNAL
7 - Neat hospital attendant (7) - ORDERLY [DD]
8 - A trap for the unwary consumer in shopping area in a rush? (5,5) - SMALL PRINT {S{MALL} PRINT}
11 - Cartoonist having hour in the bar, soon worse for wear (5,8) - HEATH ROBINSON {H}{IN+THE+BAR+SOON*}
13 - No longer bothered over looking after people (4,6) - PAST CARING {PAST} {CARING}
17 - Actor we cast - admit we were wrong (3,4) - EAT CROW*
18 - Wife stands seeing small furry creatures (7) - WEASELS {W}{EASELS}
19 - Pilot going about a mile in vessel (7) - STEAMER {STE{A}{M}ER}
20 - Ghost commanding a form of respect (7) - SPECTRE*
22 - Section without lights learner driver avoided (4) - UNIT UNlIT
ACROSS
1 - Felt for shipmate at sea collared by journalist (10) - EMPATHISED {E{SHIPMATE*}D}
6 - Chief stud (4) - BOSS [DD]
9 - A boost to self-esteem achieved on English horse that's inferior (3,4) - EGO TRIP {E}{GO T}RIP
10 - Anteater chained, maltreated (7) - ECHIDNA*
14 - 12 or 25 (5,4) - APRIL FOOL [CD]
15 - Old article penned by that woman novelist (5) - HEYER {HE{YE}R}
16 - Wooden old actor-manager close to Goldwyn (5) - TREEN {TREE}{N}
18 - Wife is at home nursing prisoners of state (9) - WISCONSIN {W}{IS}{CONS}{IN}
21 - Still together (2,3,4,4) - AT THE SAME TIME [DD]
23 - Nearing resort, hittable (2,5) - IN RANGE*
24 - Camping item perhaps missent abroad (4,3) - MESS TIN*
26 - Scathing when gang housed in portable shelter (10) - ASTRINGENT {AS}{T{RING}ENT}
DOWN
1 - Still the same (4) - EVEN [DD]
2 - Get on with Miranda's father? Mostly (7) - PROSPER PROSPER
3 - Made for Hallowe'en, watch number later, outside, at onset of night-time (6,7) - TURNIP LANTERN {TUR{NIP} {LA{N}TER}N}
7 - Neat hospital attendant (7) - ORDERLY [DD]
8 - A trap for the unwary consumer in shopping area in a rush? (5,5) - SMALL PRINT {S{MALL} PRINT}
11 - Cartoonist having hour in the bar, soon worse for wear (5,8) - HEATH ROBINSON {H}{IN+THE+BAR+SOON*}
17 - Actor we cast - admit we were wrong (3,4) - EAT CROW*
20 - Ghost commanding a form of respect (7) - SPECTRE*
22 - Section without lights learner driver avoided (4) - UNIT UN
Managed it at last, except for the French 12A.
ReplyDeleteThose three clues had me stumped. Very hard to get the April Fool connection when solved so far away from the date.
ReplyDeleteBut even if this crossword was published originally on April 1, what is clever/cryptic about the themed clues?
I cold-solved some eight or nine clues very quickly but when I saw those inter-linked clues with mere numbers I threw away the paper.
ReplyDeleteIn none of the clues there is a definition. You have to get one fool before you get other fools.
Even with April 1 in mind, we can only guess the words from available crossings. And the four-letter word is a very rare word which none of us might have come across before.
Local papers using foreign crosswords publish them thoughtlessly. The puzzle is not solved by anyone: it is merely reproduced. The anomaly arising out of time-lag is not noticed at all.
Tirelessly I have written to top editors time and again about this but precious little is done. The editors are too busy to take note of the problems in the crossword feature which is there because it has to be there.
The Echidna is looking quite miserable. Maybe he has been chained and maltreated. Poor chap!
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed the numbering problem of THC Sunday crosswords? I just found two different results for crossword no. 2688 and some digging around revealed a persisting duplication.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that on 6th April 2008, what should have been THC 2748 got misnumbered as THC 2478. The error has persisted over five years!
That's bound to continue till we hit 2749
DeleteAn identity cry, sis?
DeleteThat's bound to continue till we hit 2749
DeleteIt's not too hard to rectify the error pronto and resume from 2748 next week onwards. For one who works with databases, uniqueness violation is like a severity 1 bug!
Of course, given their indifference to the crossword that's probably too much to expect from The Hindu.
They have anagrams in numbers too!
DeleteThe Heath Robinson link took me further to this link about eccentric machines.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg_machine
Wonderful to read and seen in a large number of movies.