Monday 19 November 2012

No 10622, Monday 19 Nov 12, Textrous

Unable to access Wiki to provide links. Another excellent CW from Textrous which took me down to the wire.

ACROSS
8   Shock about England’s call for help (6) APPEAL {APP{E}AL}
9   Professor, a lowly man, abused mice (8) ACADEMIC {A}{CAD}{MICE*}
10 Nice bed arranged on time for groom (8) BENEDICT {BENEDIC*}{T}
11 Aprils turbulent wind (6) SPIRAL*
12 Destitute fellow wearing a cap (6) BEREFT {BERE{F}T}
13 Type of alcoholic by-product (8) CONGENER [DD]
14 Fellow not happy about top of raised roof (7) MANSARD {MAN}{SA{R}D}
16 Wandering around hospital for a place to rest your butts? (7) ASHTRAY {AS{H}TRAY}
20 A desperate plea to secure excellent fireproof material (8) ASBESTOS {A}{S{BEST}OS}
23 Knight castled by fast-bowler, a trendsetter in cricket (6) PACKER {PAC{K}ER}
25 Agitation about a low-grade parody (6) SATIRE {SAT}{1}{RE} Not sure if anno is correct (Addendum - {S{A}TIR}{E} - See comments)
26 Concerned with farming a place in U.P. getting erratic rain (8) AGRARIAN {AGRA}{RAIN*}
27 Foolishly dare to breach party ally (8) FEDERATE {FE{DARE*}TE}
28 Devious about engineer taking money for rank (6) SEEMLY {S{EE}{M}LY} (Addendum - {S{ME}{L}LY} - See comments)

DOWN
1   They don’t have long to stitch a border in record time (8) EPHEMERA {EP}{HEM}{ERA}
2   Key to use up no power (6) DELETE DEpLETE
3   Many amble idly around small, secluded place (8) CLOISTER {C}{LOI{S}TER}
4   Pick at model in spoof (7) MATTOCK {M{AT}{T}OCK}
5   One giving up quarter for a church official (6) PARSON P(-e+a)ARSON
6   Obstruction not admitting an architectural structure (8) PEDIMENT imPEDIMENT
7   Face decline in contest (6) VISAGE {VI{SAG}E}
15 Sample mushrooms raised near explosive mine (8) SPECIMEN {SPEC<=}{MINE*}
17 Check the newspapers after drink (8) SUPPRESS {SUP}{PRESS}
18 Willing to allow scholar to turn up at first (8) AMENABLE {AM<=}{ENABLE}
19 Runner paces excitedly, with ease, we hear (7) ESCAPEE {PACES*}{EE}
21 Main base? (6) SEABED [CD]
22 Saw drunk partner run away (6) TREPAN PARTNEr*
24 Escort’s naughty undergarment (6) CORSET*




23 comments:

  1. 25 Agitation about a low-grade parody (6)

    S(A)TIR E

    A (a) in STIR (agitation) + E (a low-grade in exams compared to A, B, etc)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Another excellent CW from Textrous...

    +1

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. +1

      The ashtray reminded me of an oral discussion I had with my 5 year old nephew. He insisted the 'butt' was a 4 letter word whereas I insisted 'but' was a 3 letter word. He explained by lisping that butt was a rear/real word. He then let me into the secret of spelling another word in his dictionary: buttyx ;-)

      Delete
    2. Good to have you back Kishore

      Delete
  3. Kishore seems to have become richer in his vocabulary! Ashtray is my COD,with 'escapee' running a close second.

    Bar seems to have been raised so high that I needed a pole to vault it. Great& most enjoyable CW with some very good words and very neat cluing. I was found wanting in the NW corner and needed to look in here.

    Packer brought back old memories about the start of coloured clothing, night cricket,white balls with the slogan "Big boys play at night"!

    ReplyDelete
  4. 21D- I put in socket and got stuck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Re 28A Devious about engineer taking money for rank (6)

    I had it as SMELLY
    Rank - def --
    Devious - SLY
    Engineer - ME
    Money - L (for pound) (though a bit of a ?)

    ReplyDelete
  6. deepak, col. gopi and bhavan are walking encyclopedias. they have this uncanny ability to crack clues. i personally found it exceptionally difficult today.could not make head or tail of what textrous was trying to convey through clues. i must start working on THC every day,

    ReplyDelete
  7. Doc,

    Deepak & Col Gopinath are one and the same :-) though not in the same league as CV & Bhavan, I do take from the net/dictionary at times, especially when it's a CD like 13A which was a new word for me which I would have never guessed.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Cleverly constructed puzzle, took some doing. 13A in all fairness should not have been just a CD to give solvers a fair chance (but OK, referencing the web is acceptable I guess).

    Bar definitely raised in THC, great setters

    ReplyDelete
  9. sorry, read DD instead of CD, but both the D's not very commonplace was my point

    ReplyDelete
  10. 6D's anno not clear. Could somebody explain?

    In what context is C many?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You mean 3d. C is roman numeral for hundred and so "many".

      Delete
    2. Thanks...

      But not sure how "Obstruction not admitting an" = IMPEDIMENT - IM

      Delete
    3. I'm = IM = an admission by oneself; not admitting, hence IM deleted

      Delete
  11. I quickly glanced at the first few Across clues this morning and thought it was going to be an easy one. But found it very challenging to solve when I actually got to it later in the day. Needed some online help and still did not get 13A and had to look here. Really nice one today.

    ReplyDelete
  12. 19 - D - 'with ease' we hear. I thought it is ES. So i solved as ESCAPES. Can anyone clarify.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good to have you back, Kishore. Just saw your
    email.

    Has the Neelam turned you black and blue? Hope not. Hope also that you are in the pink of health after nearly facing Hurrican Sandy and then Neelam.

    Take us back to your Punny days. BUTT , not on buts and Butts. Iss your nephew also a Punster?

    ReplyDelete

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