Wednesday, 25 September 2013

No 10887, Wednesday 25 Sep 2013, Scintillator

Stumped in the midriff by Scintillator.

ACROSS
1   Hit back government blocks in discredit (6) MALIGN {MAL<=}{I{G}N}
4   Tend to get caught on boundary (8) CONVERGE {C}{ON}{VERGE}
9   A string of devotees (6) ROSARY [CD]
10 Closet support to lead BCCI, say (8) CUPBOARD {CUP}{BOARD}
12 Spiny one has to be shifty to take control (8) HEDGEHOG {HEDGE}{HOG}
13 Pathan’s pathos-personified (6) PASHTO*
15 Former or current? (4) LATE [DD]
16 “Sunny, possibly, inside moon-core,” observes theorist (10) STRATEGIST ? (Addendum - IDEOLOGIST -{I{DEOL}O}{GIST} - See comments)
19 Husband rejects my eleventh hour make-up emphatically (10) VEHEMENTLY {MY+ELEVENTh+H}*
20 It is ideal to remain by the side of road (4) BEST {BE}{ST}
23 Tempers to weep with tears on no show of gratitude (6) SOBERS {SOB}{tEaRS}
25 Nuisance of radiation — bothersome trait embodying pain in the backside (8) IRRITANT Anno pending (Addendum - {IR}{RITA{paiN}T*}
27 Relax freely in this interrogation about communist leader’s arresting (4,4) ORAL EXAM {O{RAL EX}AM<=} Definition in the middle??
28 Excitement is one part of this channel (6) THRILL {THis}{RILL}
29 Lady accepts to propose informally and make calm (8) SMOOTHEN {S{MOOT}HE}{N} 'N' for 'and'
30 One sees one down when one’s out (6) OPENER [CD]

DOWN
1   Air-officer damages old airport in Bengaluru (7) MARSHAL {MARS}{HAL}
2   Desperate to survive; dead with thirst (4-5) LAST-DITCH {LAST}-{D}{ITCH}
3   Store in Mali that’s empty in the interior (6) GARNER GARdeNER Chambers defines a Mali as ' A member of the gardener caste in India, etc.'
5   Removing albumens at the centres in an egg (4) OVUM Anno pending (Addendum - remOVing albUMens - See comments)
6   Silent mobile starting to ring following a shaky effect (8) VIBRATES [CD] (Addendum - VIBRATOR - {VIBRATO}{R} - See comments)
7   Insect bird drops for fish (5) ROACH cockROACH
8   Last cook? Maiden doesn’t … (7) ENDMOST {M+DOESN'T}
11 … having left hot dog, nuts, sandwiches at home (7) (Addendum - HOLDING {HOLD{IN}G*} - See comments)
14 Bald and upset to disown everyone at heart (7) (Addendum - POLLARD {PO{LLA}RD} <= - See comments)
17 Item mostly got with allowance for cycle (9) ITERATION {ITEm}{RATION}
18 Small, fair and estimated to be most chic (8) SMARTEST {S}{MART}{EST}
19 Adhesive force cohering on ultra smooth surfaces (7) VISCOUS {VIS}{C}{O}{U}{S}
21 Nominal ritual conducted after tsar’s crowning (7) TITULAR {Tsar}{RITUAL*}
22 Priest is taking part in bachelor party (6) BISHOP {B}{IS}{HOP}
24 Excellent gun-man (5) BRAVO [DD]
26 Outburst amongst legal executives (4) GALE [T]


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30 comments:

  1. Kishore25 September 2013 at 08:33

    25a Nuisance is def
    Pain in backside = paIN
    Bothersome trait embodying = (TRAIT outside IN)*
    Radiation =r, no indication for picking first letter, did he want to say ‘source of radiation’ ?


    5D remOVing albUMens

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Shuchi25 September 2013 at 08:35

      I think 25a is IR (radiation - infra-red) + (TRAIT)* embodying i.e. around [pai]N

      Delete
    2. Kishore25 September 2013 at 08:39

      You are an excellent gunman !

      Delete
    3. Anonymous25 September 2013 at 08:52

      24a

      Delete
  2. SandhyaP25 September 2013 at 08:33

    5 Removing albumens at the centres in an egg (4) OVUM (remOVing}{albUMens}

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kishore25 September 2013 at 08:39

    11 … having left hot dog, nuts, sandwiches at home (7)

    HOLDING, HAVING=DEF
    L H DOG
    nuts=a ind
    sandwiches =includes
    at home=in
    HOLD(IN)G*

    ReplyDelete
  4. Bhavan25 September 2013 at 08:43

    16 “Sunny, possibly, inside moon-core,” observes theorist (10) STRATEGIST ? I(DEOL)O GIST
    Sunny possibly = DEOL
    Moon = IO
    core = GIST

    6 Silent mobile starting to ring following a shaky effect (8) VIBRATES [CD] VIBRATOR?
    Took this as VIBRATO (a pulsating effect in music) + R (starting of ring)


    14 Bald and upset to disown everyone at heart (7) POLLARD (DROP outside ALL)<=

    Seems to be a theme of West Indian players? I counted 9 - Best, Sobers, Marshal, Garner, Roach, Holding, Pollard, Bishop and Bravo. 10 if you include the homophone of Gayle

    ReplyDelete
  5. Venkatesh25 September 2013 at 08:44

    16A IDE O(L)O GIST

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Venkatesh25 September 2013 at 08:47

      {I(DEOL)O}{GIST} is the right anno. as suggested by Bhavan.

      Delete
  6. Raghunath25 September 2013 at 09:37

    Malcolm 'Marshall' is the correct spelling and like Gale is without a Y, maybe fine in the sense it's a proper noun?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mukundala Balasubramanyam25 September 2013 at 09:59

    I always thought Neyartha was the hardest nut to crack, but today, Scintillator has proved me wrong !!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Suresh25 September 2013 at 10:17

    Good one today, but got stuck on a few annos like ideologist and garner.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Raghunath25 September 2013 at 10:31

    13 Pathan’s pathos-personified (6) PASHTO*. What's the def here? Pashto is a language. Does it also denote the race?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh25 September 2013 at 10:53

      Yes. It does denote a speaker of the language or a pathan

      Delete
    2. Raghunath25 September 2013 at 11:01

      Something like Gujrati, Bengali, Punjabi etc.

      Delete
  10. Shrikanth25 September 2013 at 12:07

    Too many bouncers hurled at me today.. Ducked and weaved. No avail ... A battery of pace bowlers can do that to you. Actually I should say stumps were uprooted ...

    ReplyDelete
  11. VMA Nair25 September 2013 at 15:11

    Good puzzle.
    AD @ 12:07 yes even Gayle's middle stump gone:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Mukundala Balasubramanyam25 September 2013 at 16:25

    Bhavan @ 8:43 16A : I don't get how MOON = IO

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Suresh25 September 2013 at 16:52

      IO is one of the moons of Jupiter, or is it Saturn

      Delete
  13. Rengaswamy25 September 2013 at 16:53

    IO is moon of Jupiter

    ReplyDelete
  14. VMA Nair25 September 2013 at 16:53

    MB,
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Io_(moon)
    Io (/ˈaɪ.oʊ/[6]) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of 3,642 kilometres (2,263 mi), the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System (From Wiki)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mukundala Balasubramanyam25 September 2013 at 17:15

    Thanking Suresh,Renga and Ajeesh :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. raju umamaheswar26 September 2013 at 00:57

    Scintillator: The moment I opened the crossie, I got this scintilla of a feeling that there is a change of guard among the compilers !! As I ploughed along, got quite a few but missed many, like GARNER (good decoy!) ORAL EXAM ( I gnashed my teeth alright ! ) LAST DITCH-- I put in LAST STRAW) HEDGEHOG, etc. A successful 25 across that was, this crossie.

    Aren't MALI and Sunny DEOL strictly for the birds?


    Can we have crosswords only for pleasure ? As I had mentioned earlier here, Abetment to suicide is a crime in India. So those sadist compilers , beware !!

    ReplyDelete

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