Felt this was slightly easier by Neyartha's standards. Quite a few clues to like here - 1A, 9A, 16A, 2D, 7D,13D, 20D. The theme as far as I can see appears to be family members.
ACROSS
1 Coasters // that may hold bits? (7,5) COMPACT,DISCS (DD)
8 Charwoman’s right to replace the note with something easier to understand (7) CLEARER (CLEANER with R for N)
9 Permit the announced climb (6) ASSENT (~ASCENT)
11 Price put outside the sailor’s box by the gathering of Jewish priests (9) RABBINATE (RATE outside AB+BIN)
12 Wheat found in the undertaker’s lab counter was discarded (5) EMMER (EMbalMER)
14 Confused Oriental king seen aboard the crude carrier (3,6) OIL,TANKER (ORIENTAL K)*
16 Faint // signal (4) FLAG (DD)
18 Ridicule, after losing opener, from a cousin’s parent (4) AUNT (tAUNT)
19 Indian lentil dish on the carpet for Ian’s spotted dog (9) DALMATIAN (DAL + MAT + IAN)
21 Turn the tables to find the concealed Greek letter (5) THETA (T)
22 Like stop signs in most countries, but not India? (9) OCTAGONAL (CD)
23 Allergic reaction of editor fired for misprinted masthead (6) ASTHMA (MASTHeAd)*
25 Become glassy on seeing the six ton tree brought around by the Yankee (7) VITRIFY (VI + T + FIR<= + Y)
26 Destination for sick Londoners? (6,6) HARLEY,STREET (CD)
DOWN
2 Slip on the crumpled oval beer can (11) OVERBALANCE (OVAL BEER CAN)*
3 Fan’s mean lie brought up by a national leader (8) PARTISAN (PAR + SIT<= + A + N)
4 Worried about the sailor with a commandeered vehicle (9) CARJACKED (CARED outside JACK)
5 Hang the curtain (5) DRAPE (DD)
6 About to go back to the very end to oppose the sibling (6) SISTER (RE<= moving to end in reSIST)
7 The boy is a star on the radio (3) SON (~SUN)
8 Seabirds found by the Navy in the damaged motor cars (10) CORMORANTS (N inside MOTOR CARS*)
10 At the outset, get the family to team up (10) ORIGINALLY (ORIGIN + ALLY)
13 Mineral oil I refined for the rich man (11) MILLIONAIRE (MINERAL OIL I)*
15 Dependent’s // kinsfolk (9) RELATIVES (DD)
17 Child troubles thug imprisoned in the study retreat (8) DAUGHTER (THUG* insdie READ<=)
20 Parent is given to understand that the female is coming in for good (6) FATHER (F for G in GATHER)
22 Clear out after loss of demand for the discourse (5) ORATE (expectORATE)
24 Picasso holds the smuggled note (3) SOH (T)
ACROSS
1 Coasters // that may hold bits? (7,5) COMPACT,DISCS (DD)
8 Charwoman’s right to replace the note with something easier to understand (7) CLEARER (CLEANER with R for N)
9 Permit the announced climb (6) ASSENT (~ASCENT)
11 Price put outside the sailor’s box by the gathering of Jewish priests (9) RABBINATE (RATE outside AB+BIN)
12 Wheat found in the undertaker’s lab counter was discarded (5) EMMER (EM
14 Confused Oriental king seen aboard the crude carrier (3,6) OIL,TANKER (ORIENTAL K)*
16 Faint // signal (4) FLAG (DD)
18 Ridicule, after losing opener, from a cousin’s parent (4) AUNT (
19 Indian lentil dish on the carpet for Ian’s spotted dog (9) DALMATIAN (DAL + MAT + IAN)
22 Like stop signs in most countries, but not India? (9) OCTAGONAL (CD)
25 Become glassy on seeing the six ton tree brought around by the Yankee (7) VITRIFY (VI + T + FIR<= + Y)
26 Destination for sick Londoners? (6,6) HARLEY,STREET (CD)
DOWN
2 Slip on the crumpled oval beer can (11) OVERBALANCE (OVAL BEER CAN)*
3 Fan’s mean lie brought up by a national leader (8) PARTISAN (PAR + SIT<= + A + N)
4 Worried about the sailor with a commandeered vehicle (9) CARJACKED (CARED outside JACK)
5 Hang the curtain (5) DRAPE (DD)
6 About to go back to the very end to oppose the sibling (6) SISTER (RE<= moving to end in reSIST)
7 The boy is a star on the radio (3) SON (~SUN)
8 Seabirds found by the Navy in the damaged motor cars (10) CORMORANTS (N inside MOTOR CARS*)
13 Mineral oil I refined for the rich man (11) MILLIONAIRE (MINERAL OIL I)*
15 Dependent’s // kinsfolk (9) RELATIVES (DD)
17 Child troubles thug imprisoned in the study retreat (8) DAUGHTER (THUG* insdie READ<=)
20 Parent is given to understand that the female is coming in for good (6) FATHER (F for G in GATHER)
22 Clear out after loss of demand for the discourse (5) ORATE (
24 Picasso holds the smuggled note (3) SOH (T)
ReplyDeleteHi all
Had to do a bit of head-scratching today. Many guesses, which luckily fitted in.
'Bits' helped to get 1A. CLEANER, ASSENT, OILTANKER, DALMATIAN, THETA, OCTAGONAL, ASTHMA and others were liked.
Had heard of Harley Street the first time as a 'doctored' district about 30 years ago.
Many references to family, with SISTER, DAUGHTER, SON, AUNT, FATHER, RELATIVES and an additional mention in ORIGINALLY.
Liked the 'resist' displacement in 6D. CARJACKED and CORMORANTS took time. OVERBALANCE had a crumpling effect by way of an anagram.
7D - good homophonic use of sun-son by 'radio' communication.
SOH far so good.
I had got this message ready to be posted this morning.
ReplyDeletePaging 'the spice of the blog'...The number of daily posts has gone down. In case the 'pond' has been crossed, pls buzz...
But by then, the spice was back. So are the smiles...
Welcome back, Kishore. Certainly not Aghast, yaar. Wish you a long spell of connectivity in the universal Web.
Researched a little bit on 'aghast' and found that 'amazed' is also one of the meanings. Well, taking that meaning I was not off the mark. I have to be a lot more careful in this forum of experts !
DeleteSorry, sir. I was only pulling Kishore's legs on his mention of Aghastya.
DeleteNo need to feel sorry. Col. also pulled me up yesterday. I did not want to make a blunder, esp. when referring to people.
Delete12a EM[-bal<-]MER
ReplyDeleteFrom undertaker EMBALMER, we have to discard 'lab counter', i.e., LAB<-
Counter is Reversal Indicator
Easier one today. Managed to pick all the substitution clues. Needed the net for a few & looked in here for the annos of orate & emmer.
ReplyDeleteWas today's crossword like this ? Surely not !
Expecting to belong to a group practice ( 2,3,6,3)
no luck, anymore clues ?
DeleteIn the family way
DeleteI did not get CD, though enjoyable after reading the blog. Also, had trouble in the SW corner.
ReplyDeleteSeeing Bhavan today, I think we can expect to have Buzzer tomorrow ! Here today, there tomorrow !
Octagonal took me a while! Also Compact Disks. Still pleased with myself for getting the others. Rabbinate and Emmer needed looking up!
ReplyDeleteI also got into tangle over OCTAGONAL, as i have not visited foreign countries to know about traffic signals.
DeleteAhoy there,
ReplyDeleteI found out that Boston was quite a fishy place at the New England Acquarium where you are allowed to touch rays at a touch tank. A manta ray showed me what Satyajit Ray could have made " Dil hai ke Manta nahin". The fishery has a large circular tank (about 30ft high) with a winding stare-case around it so that you can stair at various levels of the tank. I-maxed off the experience with a 3Dmovie on sharks, in the true Cousteau style (albeit not be Jacques, but by his son Jean-Michel) and not in the Peter Benchley style. Broght* to memory the Senior's deep movies which we used to see on DD.
*many apologies: on US keyboards, the u button does not work when used after o..
In the first line of my post, I did a work arond to type "out" by typing a u first and then inserting an o before it, but in the last time I thought I would illustrate the issue!
ReplyDeleteBTW, though Chrome does have an Incognito mode, I was hoping to see a Klue Klux Klan mode here ;-)
Fare enogh*... Our prayers have been heard.
DeleteOh, Richard, you seem to have got a US English emulator...
ReplyDeleteI hope to keep punning across the US...
I see 1A as a CD.
ReplyDeleteIt is a DD
DeleteCoaster - as a protective disc or mat for glasses or bottles.
Compact Disc - that may hold bits
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteColonel,
DeleteThe way I read it, 'coaster', as per the usual definition (the one in your comment), only forms a part of the surface reading, not the cryptic.
'Coaster' is also slang used to denote an unused or an unusable CD [the reason being that an otherwise useless CD can be used as a coaster instead]. So, while "coasters" holding bits, on the surface, might refer to small table-mats containing morsels of food, we arrive at the answer by thinking of useless compact discs.
As I said, that's how I see it. Perhaps Neyartha can settle this for us. :)
Navneeth, the way I saw the same as Colonel mentioned.
DeleteCoasters are small (compact) discs on your dining table. Took it as a pun/CD and the second one as that holding bits.
It is a CD !! (Compact disc)
ReplyDeleteGood one Paddy :-P
ReplyDeleteBeen seeing a lot of 22a recently. Spent an hour at the Minuteman park, remembering the men and the missile. Was checked out by some well behaved pooches. Somehow I seem to attract them like dognip attracts dogs, and other nips attract other animals. Deepak will probably remember my tete a tete with Cocoa and the laptop cat in Kodai.
ReplyDeleteI always thought the CD capacity was in terms of bytes and not bits! Further octagonal still outside the realms of my understanding despite having been outside india! Expectorate to orate takes the cake! Also though i got harley street, wonder if it is still the place the londoners go! Not trying to nit pick, but then the crossword must be solvable by an average guy, with reasonable effort!
ReplyDelete