Scintillator in tune with the NE monsoon. Missing the lightning though :-)
ACROSS
1 Potter possibly is no wizard, in retrospect (6) ORPHAN {ORP}{HAN}<=
4 Relative’s about to get married in the States (5,3) UNCLE SAM {UNCLE S}{A}{M}
10 Managed with excessive drama, say (8) OVERSEEN {OVER}{SEEN}(~scene)
12 Hour of need, not just for drought-hit areas (5,3) RAINY DAY [C&DD]
13 Man with specs getting a kind of penguin (6) GENTOO {GENT}{OO}
16 Chaotically disperse with no feeling of sadness (10) DEPRESSION*
19 Persistent rain to let river to gush out (10) TORRENTIAL {RAIN+TO+LET+R}*
20 Stupid mum (4) DUMB [DD]
23 Indescribable bet not originally placed on antique (6) UNTOLD {pUNT}{OLD}
25 I do price ridiculously once in a while (8) PERIODIC*
27 Breakdown of fine hair fine with everyone (8) DOWNFALL {DOWN}{F}{ALL}
28 Small with modified lid; i-pad has one on top (6) LITTLE Anno pending (Addendum - TITTLE (-l+t)TITTLE - See comments)
29 Worried: in France, the insane stress is overwhelming (8) RESTLESS {REST{LE}SS*}
30 Second home for the dead ghosts (6) SHADES {S}{HADES}
DOWN
1 ‘Smelly’ is equated to 'gloomy' in dictionary (7) ODOURED {O{DOUR}ED}
2 Page with rhetoric composed for the scent of rain (9) PETRICHOR {P}{RHETORIC*} I love this smell after the first rainfall
3 Like to embrace liberal lifestyle forever (6) ALWAYS {A{L}{WAY}S}
5 Blue vehicle parked over edge of gateway (4) NAVY {NAV<=}{Y}
6 Present gearless scooters (8) LARGESSE*
7 Ambassador determined to go out for cover (5) SHEET {S{HE}ET}
8 Workweek starting with early rains (7) MONSOON {MON}{SOON}
11 Mom and dad cut expenditure on housing costs (7) PARENTS {PARE}NTS Anno not clear (Addendum - {PAy}{RENTS} - See comments)
14 Scottish mountain overlies highway stretch (7) BROADEN {B{ROAD}EN}
17 Swamped in incessant … (9) INUNDATED [CD] (Addendum - {IN}{UNDATED} - See comments)
18 … degree, fully-focussed to comprehend Latin? That’s too much!
(8) BELLYFUL {BE}{L}{LYFUL*}
19 The hedging capitals inferior to boom (7) THUNDER {T}{H}{UNDER}
21 Unexpectedly be stuck in rains (7) BUCKETS* Specially at night in Bangalore.
22 Perfect ending (6) FINISH [DD]
24 Small cities won battles in the banks of Tigris (5) TOWNS {Tig{WON*}riS}
26 Question’s out: misgivings or givings? (4) ALMS quALMS
28 Small with modified lid; i-pad has one on top (6) LITTLE Anno pending
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if this is what Scintillator intended, but I took it as TITTLE
small=little
with modified lid, with the top changed=little changes to tittle= which means an iota
or i, which is what is there on top of an i-pad
11 Mom and dad cut expenditure on housing costs (7) PARENTS {PARE}NTS Anno not clear
ReplyDeleteThough no indicator seems to be there, I thought this might be PARE RENTS pronounced fast ...
Or it could be PA -y + RENTS
DeleteRight VJ
Delete21 Unexpectedly be stuck in rains (7) BUCKETS* Specially at night in Bangalore.
ReplyDeleteYes, we use buckets in Bangalore. In Mangalore, however, we use muckets !
Loved the OED in 1D,though I did not get it.
ReplyDelete29A- It should only be (le) for the French. The S is part of the stress.
Thanks, corrected
DeleteLoved reading books of Roald Dahl- along with my grandson !
ReplyDeleteDon't let him read Dahl's nursery rhymes till he is over 10.
DeleteKishore,
ReplyDeleteYou have given 2 more lives to the proverbial cat!
That's why I say he shows no signs of flagging !
DeleteSo who's afraid of Scintinallator, now?! Started with apprehension, but then the solutions just came raining down, in torrents!!
ReplyDelete2D was a new word for me.
Good morning all.
Yes, there was thunder, but no lightning...
ReplyDeleteTricky crossword.
ReplyDeleteHave a doubt re:
11 Mom and dad cut expenditure on housing costs (7) PARENTS
Whether, Pay; Expenditure. Pay is reward, reimbursement, compensation, emoluments.
Payment is expenditure.
That's why I thought of the other option, but could not jump the chasm there too.
DeletePay out: expenditure
DeleteBang Ed of TH carries a Deepavali holiday notice today saying no paper on Sunday, 3 Nov.
ReplyDeleteFor the first time I enjoyed Scintillator's puzzle. Probably because it had a theme RAIN. Not that I was wholly successful, but it gave me satisfaction. Thanks Scintillator.
ReplyDelete4 Relative’s about to get married in the States (5,3) {UNCLE S}{A}{M}
ReplyDeleteNew abbrv for 'about' = a?
The other day we had C for about- an abbreviation of an abbreviation(CA) Now A has its turn!
ReplyDeleteFrom Chambers
Deletea abbrev: about; absent; acceleration; accepted; acre; acreage; acting; active; adjective; advance; advanced; afternoon; alto anno(L), in the year; annus(L), year; anonymous; answer; ante(L), before; anterior; are (metric measure); atto-
agreed....as well :-)
DeleteThanks, Col. Was too lazy to pick up the Chambers's hard copy. In any case I was sure 'a' was not an abbr. for 'about'. Useful information for future use.
Delete@Padmanabhan,
Delete'C', 'ca' and 're' are more commonly used. I've come across 'a' for the first time.
Understood. I was just pointing out in a lighter vain. Col.'s list closes it.
DeleteVisiting this blog after many days ! I was beside myself due to a visitor and guest who had to be taken around in two days to various places. After a long time, could not get to do0 more than two r three crossies per day !
ReplyDeleteToday's crossie could have been by Lightning, presumably, as the theme was of rains. Mu ch light and and more thunder ! Enjoyed , though .
11 down: Mom and dad cut expenditure on housing costs (7) If one annotated this as PA cut housing expenses, it should be : Pa Cut(s) -rents- expenses on housing costs. Then Pa-rents fit in. If parsed, Payment cut - pa(Y)ment - rents
-- where does the plural suffix 's ' go? a bit unsmooth?
Again, I have always been wary of using OVERLOOK for OVERSEE-- since, overlook can mean omitting to observe or see ! as ambiguous as IN & OUT side used in context.
RAINY DAY was an imaginatively constructed clue and hence my Clue of the day.
PETRICHOR ( sounds like a hindi word for a glass thief?) and GENTOO are words rarely seen !!
RU: I too remembered words like chitchor, kaamchor and the like. :-)
DeleteOne more non-samosa day for me :-(
ReplyDeleteScintillator in tune with the NE monsoon. Missing the lightning though
ReplyDeleteLaws of physics broken!
Thunder and rain today and Lightning on Tuesday!
To add on to my comments above, I meant to refer to the ambiguity in the expression ,when they use the words ''within and without the country''. More appropriate is'' within and outside the country ''
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice words, all. A few clarifications:
ReplyDelete1) 28A: TITTLE is the dot on top of letters like 'i' and 'j'. So the word 'i-pad' has one tittle on top.
2) 17D: It's a charade, IN + UNDATED
3) 11D: I guess 'pay' is also a synonym for 'payment', as in 'money expended for a task'. A borderline case, but I went ahead because of the convincing surface.
4) The original clue I had for 13A: Man with specs reading Hindu (6)
Hi Scintillator,
ReplyDeleteDid enjoy today's CW.
Re: Pay. I think 'Payment' is synonymous with 'pay out', rather than 'pay'.
Re 17 D. Did you mean Undated: Incessant? Unsure of this, though.
Raghu, I took it as a charade, based on this def from freedict.
DeleteUndated: 2. Being such as to have long-lasting appeal without ever going out of style & incessant being synonymous with eternal.
Nice one from Scintillator, enjoyed it.
Hi Raghu, this is the Chambers entry for UNDATED:
ReplyDeleteadjective
1) With no date marked or assigned
2) Unending