Excellent opener from Arden as solvers have now come to expect of him. Liked SERMON
ACROSS
1 Exhortation during mass: “forgo sin for a day” (6) SERMON (SERVICE with MON for VICE)
4 Study amalgamated at sea (8) CONFUSED (CON + FUSED)
9 A big kill for the bird (6) OSPREY (OS + PREY)
10 Oddly dwells on ….. knowing the state (8) DELAWARE (DwElLs + AWARE)
12 Players are out, discarded (8) CASTAWAY (CAST + AWAY)
13 A man from South Africa went on to propagate it (6) AHIMSA (A + HIM + SA)
15 Frank arrived with the artist for the reality show (6,6) CANDID, CAMERA (CANDID + CAME + RA)
18 Time to say yes for sex (3,2,7) AGE, OF, CONSENT (CD)
21 He is late for a cause (6) MARTYR (CD)
22 Spin out in the centre plot (8) CONSPIRE (SPIN* inside CORE)
24 Learner dropped from height to gain portability (8) APTITUDE (ALTITUDE with P for L)? Devious use of port ability. See comments below
25 One gets into muted, peculiar monotony (6) TEDIUM (I inside MUTED*)
26 Micromanaged any outward animosity (8) ACRIMONY (ANY outside MICRO*)
27 Pothead employed in the least onerous job (6) STONER (T) Put STAPLE (P inside LEAST*) first and was stuck for a while.
DOWN
1 Work could start in the capital to stem the flow (8) STOPCOCK (OP + C inside STOCK)
2 A spongier variety for lying down (8) REPOSING (SPONGIER)*
3 Could be tapestries on gym Windows, for example (9,6) OPERATING, SYSTEM (TAPESTRIES ON GYM)*
5 Warning from some fomenting trouble (4) OMEN (T)
6 Often sent here as replacement to make money illegally (7,4,4) FEATHER, ONES, NEST (OFTEN SENT HERE AS)*
7 Point man to lead the fighters is seen as ingratiating (6) SMARMY (S + M + ARMY)
8 River bird to provide some music (6) DEEJAY (DEE + JAY)
11 Being holy, can become tranquil (7) HALCYON (HOLY CAN)*
14 Character active keeping mum mostly (7) OMICRON (ON outside MICRO) ? MICRO = Micro(-n) = Mu(-m) See comments
16 Second version of a crime (8) SEDITION (S + EDITION)
17 Way a machinist makes a banner (8) STREAMER (ST + REAMER)
19 A drink on the way up for the animal (6) IMPALA (A + LAP + M1)<=
20 God expending energy made a hole in the ground (6) CRATER (CReATER)
24 Learner dropped from height to gain portability (8) APTITUDE (ALTITUDE with P for L)?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the definition in the clue?
I took it as p=port & ability as defn
DeleteIf that is the intention I don't think such a usage is acceptable.
DeleteCharacter active keeping mum mostly (7) OMICRON (ON outside MICRO)?
ReplyDeleteMUM mostly = MU(-m) = Micro(-n)
Thanks Colonel
DeleteThat's right. But, is it stretching it a bit?
DeleteShouldn't Greek have preceded character, to make it less ambiguous?
Seems to work only if mum=micron. If mostly mum = mu = micron. How is the removal of n indicated ?
DeleteWe've all (including the setter?) overlooked your point. Also felt the clue was not fair w/o the Greek ind.
DeleteSince mu is a symbol for the prefix micro, i took it like this
DeleteMum mostly= mu=micro
Active=on
Keeping=insertion indicator
Def= character, though Greek prefix would have made it fairer
The clue makes sense now.
DeleteIt's confusing. Mu: micron. How is mu: micro? Or both have the same symbol?
DeleteAssuming mu: micro, I think it is not fair as the word required is a synonym of mum & then de-tailed & not a syn of detailed mum.I suppose that is the convention.
A micron, better known as a micro-metre us represented by µm, where µ stands for micro and m for metre.
DeleteFrom Chambers: 'mu' is abbr for both MICRON & MICRO- prefix.
DeleteThe usage here is I feel not conventional.
20D God expending energy made a hole in the ground (6) CRATER (CReATER)
ReplyDeleteCREATOR is the regular spelling. Is CREATER accepted?
Good point. Hadn't stopped to think
DeleteSeems to be a slip by Arden
DeleteOff-track, for fun:
ReplyDeleteReceived in e-mail, thought of sharing.
Here are some stupid questions you could face sometimes and what you would feel like answering, but would resist the temptation.
1. At movies: "Hey! What are you doing here?"
Ans: "I sell tickets in black here. Don't you know?"
2. In bus: A fat lady steps on your feet and says: "Sorry, did that hurt?"
Ans: "No not at all. I'm on local anaesthesia. Why don't you try again?"
3. When you get woken up at midnight by a call: "Sorry! Were you sleeping?"
Ans: "Na! I was doing research on whether monkeys in Africa marry or not. You thought I was sleeping, you stupid fool?"
4. When they see you with shorter hair: "Hey, have you had a haircut?"
Ans: "Na! It's autumn. My hair's shedding!"
5. Someone calls you on your landline and asks, "Where are you?"
Ans: "I am in the market with telephone around my neck."
Good ones'. Very entertaining. When i was in small class, there was short story, in which an old lady, out of enthusiasm, asks a kid, fully attired in Scout uniform. Quote - Are you in scout? The boy replies, quote - No i am poached egg on toast. Just remembered, reading above snippets.
DeleteA clarification - 12 A - CAST AWAY - one word or two words?
ReplyDeleteWhen we say to throw away, it is to CAST AWAY as two words whereas, A CASTAWAY is a stowaway in a ship-- one word.
ReplyDelete'Discarded' as def. means there away. So going by what you say it had to be 'cast away' as 2 words.
ReplyDeleteRichard@2.29- how very true answers to silly questions!
Discarded can also be an adjective meaning castaway. Castaway as an adjective is a single word.
Delete