Textrous is back with a delightful offering. I'm stumped for 21D.
ACROSS
ACROSS
8 - Pictures an intelligence agency arresting revolutionary chaps
(6) - CINEMA {CI{NEM<-}A}
9 - Checked out an old partner, extraordinary maiden (8) - EXAMINED {EX}{MAIDEN*}
10 - Obvious I had returned to get hundred in assignment (8) - DISTINCT {DI<-}{STIN{C}T}
11 - Stuffed with a lot of money (6) - LOADED [DD]
12 - Mystic greeting daughter at retreat (6) - HIDDEN {HI}{D}{DEN}
14 - Play tennis with energy, with passion (7) - INTENSE {TENNIS*}{E}
16 - That woman’s consumed by a planet’s wet-lands (7) - MARSHES {MAR{SHE}S}
20 - With the capacity to house second semester’s group (8) - ASSEMBLE {A{S}{SEM}BLE}
23 - Stalks one getting off open carriages (6) - CHASES CHAiSES
25 - Guardian’s writer describes a recipe on Time (6) - PARENT {P{A}{R}EN}{T}
26 - Helps exotic tavern aboard ship (8) - SERVANTS {S{TAVERN*}S}
27 - Judge’s statement (8) - SENTENCE [CD]
28 - Caught German chap with new material (6) - COTTON {C}{OTTO}{N}
DOWN
1 - Commoner to catch one little boy from the south (8) - CIVILIAN {CIV}{1}{LIAN}<-
2 - Caught with lace (6) - NETTED [DD]
3 - Alerts flight devices to carry a naval fleet (8) - WARNINGS {W{A}{RN}INGS}
4 - Firm lets out lodges (7) - SETTLES {SET+LETS}*
5 - Everyone’s hesitation to follow model with a height advantage
(6) - TALLER {T}{ALL}{ER}
6 - Six containers to store morning supplements (8) - VITAMINS {VI}{T{AM}INS}
15 - Chooses people to replace hundred components (8) - ELEMENTS {ELE(-c+men)MENTS}
17 - The truth of a conservative position in the church (8) - ACCURACY {A}{C}{CURACY}
18 - Building Republican left for Labour polls (8) - ELECTION {E(-r+l}LECTION}
21 - Many a helping angel’s shown up, then quietly disappeared
(6) - (Addendum - SHARES SERApH'S <- - See comments)
22 - Sharp metal, huge on the outside (6) - BITING {BI{TIN}G}
24 - Gets used to commercials without a point (6) - ADAPTS {AD{A}{PT}S}
ReplyDeleteGood morning everyone.
I could be the 13A one here.
CINEMA, EXAMINED, DISTINCT, LOADED, HIDDEN, EARLIEST, INTENSE, MARSHED, CHASES, SERVANTS, CIVILIAN, WARNINGS (nice one!), NETTED, TALLER, VITAMINS, ELEMENTS (very tricky!), BITING, ERECTION and a few others were liked.
14A - 'play' tennis for jumble, lovely.
Correction: Not Marshed, but MARSHES
DeleteRichard, been seeing your early posts with repeat of the words, but haven't quite figured out why. Am I missing something?
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deletefrom hero to zero... i could solve every thing yesterday. just when i was thinking of inviting u all for chai and samosas, textrous happened...
ReplyDeletedrew a blank all possible ways. thank god, he was not my PG examiner. would have failed miserably. :D
good day
how did u derive 1 D. can u pls explain? how does 'south' help in clue?
ReplyDeleteCatch = nail, a, boy = VIC, short for, say Victor. Read it in reverse. (Since it is a vertical reading, from the south is reading upwards.)
DeleteI hope my explanation makes sense.
1 - Commoner to catch one little boy from the south (8) - CIVILIAN {CIV}{1}{LIAN}<-
ReplyDeletecatch NAIL
one 1
little boy VIC
from the south REVERSAL INDICATOR (in a Down clue)
Defn: civilian (CIV I LIAN)<-
21 - Many a helping angel’s shown up, then quietly disappeared (6) - SHARES SERA(-p)H'S <=
ReplyDeleteMany a helping = def
angel's = SERAPH'S
shown up = reversal
quietly disappearing = delete P
Thanks Bhavan
DeleteAs expected, an excellent puzzle from Textrous
ReplyDelete@ Rengaswamy
ReplyDeleteSalaam Aleikum as you fly to Kuwait. Keep cool as the temperature can go beyond 50 degrees. The time difference apart, keep posting your comments.
Just read the exchange on Orkut. About the baggage arrival, I am reminded of an old joke.
A passenger tells the check-in counter staff: " I want you to send that red bag to Bahrain, the blue suitcase to Buenos Aires and the remaining one to New York..."
The woman at the counter says, " I am sorry, sir. We can't do that. We can send them all to your destination point..."
The man replies, "But you managed to do that so well the last time around...."
@Richard Good Joke. My baggage and me arrived at the same intended destination last evening. When I say intended destination I mean mine and not that of Airlines.
DeleteYes, I have also read it and enjoyed.
ReplyDeleteThough enjoyed today's CW, could not solve a few.
I did not get the 'obvious' though !
ReplyDeleteSpoof on Rahul was excellent. It is obviously the state of today's politics- giving a statement and then denying it saying I was misquoted!
ReplyDeleteAgree the clues were pretty good and challenging, but a small note of criticism. I felt the final answers themselves were a tad dull. Very few new words and things learnt.
ReplyDeleteMohun,
DeleteWhen it's hot you want it cold and when it's cold you want it hot!!!
Mea Culpa :/
DeleteWhere is our Punster ?
ReplyDeleteI would rate this as a quality crossword.
ReplyDeleteThough a much experienced solver myself, I didn't find this a breeze. Maybe age is telling on me with synapses not falling in place all too quickly.
I judge a crossword not from the words that go into the grid (familiar, obscure, old or new?) or the difficulty level (easy, hard?) but the way the clueing is done. Here it's done very well.
Certainly the quality of THC has improved and the paper deserves our thanks and congratulations on keeping up an all-Indian crossword. Contrast this with firstpost crossword that floundered after 77 outings.
Nice. Could finish easily. Had to check blog for 17d anno (curacy)
ReplyDeleteHi, clocking in late. A million things to do before I skedaddle and go west. Came back from the gym at 7am and found that the million had grown by 3, the washing machine, the microwave and the computer UPS had formed a Trade Union and decided to hand in their notice. And my lappy charger had decided to go free, and not charge any more. With this cup of woes that overfloweth, I did not even look at the crossword today. Looks like this erratic-ism will continue till I check out of and check back into India again.
ReplyDeleteSo it's Bon Voyage to you as well? When do you fly out?
DeleteNice one today, but my usual beef over the hired 'helps'
ReplyDeleteI got lost in the entire bottom left corner.
ReplyDeleteLovely one today. I had lazily filled accurate for accuracy , so did not get cotton.
ReplyDeleteToday's crossword was :
Splendid British worker took sick individual back inside (9)
BRILLIANT one!
Delete:)
DeleteReally enjoyed puzzle today. Could not complete the SW corner though.
ReplyDeleteYes, the SW corner was rather difficult and for me too that was the last to fall. Two clues there, 21d and 19d, are not ones can be solved without some thinking.
ReplyDeleteOf these 19d was solved but solved without my understanding of how exactly it is annotated.
I am not sure if the anno given above by the Col works (though I too had it with me initially).
Just before hitting the Publish button I had a brainwave - but even that does not work.
Can anyone help in annotating it accurately?
Food = Meal
DeleteSouthern = S
Spain = es ( internet top level domain for Spain is es )
So annotation is exactly as the Col. has stated
About two years ago, the matter had come up on this blog. I remember having posted that ES was short for ESPANA (Spain in Spanish). That explains the Internet domain extension.
DeleteThank you.
ReplyDeleteI looked up ES in a CWD abbr. dict.
However, I didn't check the Internet domains.
Good Homer!
DeleteIn 25A, the first letters of Recipe and Time are taken. How to identify this clue?
ReplyDeleteI could finish everything except accuracy in 45 mins. started only after waking up at 10.30 am due to serena errani match. Thanks Vinod for not wasting my time :-P
ReplyDeleteSo it appears that THC solvers are okay with indirect anagrams. I've always thought that it was a bit silly to look down upon them when there are indirect other things in cryptic crosswords.
ReplyDeleteI could not spot the indirect anagram. Which clue are you referring to ?
DeleteThe answer to 4D partly relies on an indirect anagram. While solving I assumed 1A involved one, but now I see it's a reversal instead.
Delete4d Seems to be {SET}{LETS*} = SETTLES
DeleteOh, you're right. All clear now.
Delete