Welcome to our new setter Exa.
Three answers per commenter (with annotations) upto 6 PM.
Constructive criticism welcome with comments.
ACROSS
1 Spell of work with neighbours (4)
3 Animal pornos I rate right away as XXX? (10)
9 New wind oboe needs individual capital (7)
11 Messy garbage bags left for girl could be a problem (7)
12 First trip. First tripper (7)
13 With time, gold class act turns hit (7)
14 You won't need a pilot when you take this flight (9)
16 Big limo or convertible shows complication (9)
22 Later, I stripped before Romeo to provide a teaser (7)
25 A representative in Rome could've been this on reflection? (7)
26 Singer's crazy about a new mix (7)
27 Enduring little pain before dumping the chief guest's head aboard (7)
28 What x could be to a coder? (In programming) (2-8)
29 Left without large and small newts (4)
DOWN
1 Present engagement rings to men finally (6)
2 Harsh pupil is ditching one for small mistakes (4-3)
4 Indicator for the purpose of taking a U-turn (7)
5 Etihad air travels in daytime starts flying out of this ancient Alpine province (7)
6 Row about the Grand as there's a yellow layer on it (5)
7 It's more problematic around the start of bridge card game (5)
8 Put a bit of salt in one's stew (6)
10 Craft or mostly sorcery spun by one (7)
15 Film extracts observed in negatives can be obscure (7)
17 Business capital falls after recession for the second time, losing a deal (7)
18 Actor loved cooking old stew out of ham (7)
19 Ground rules of one's individuality (7)
20 It's descriptive of "The Inseparables" (6)
21 Cold breaks at mountain peaks? (6)
23 One's needed by a dumb duo to have a normal conversation (5)
24 Wired LED circuits around home (5)
To attempt the crossword on a separate page follow the link EXA 1
Enjoy.
16.A. IMBROGLIO {BIG LIMO OR}*
ReplyDelete29 A Left without large and small newts (4) EFTS { (L)EFT + S}
ReplyDelete2 D Harsh pupil is ditching one for small mistakes (4-3) SLIP-UPS {(PUPIL (I)S +S}*
ReplyDelete25A : A representative in Rome could've been this on reflection? (7) EMPEROR {EM{PER<--}OR<--}
ReplyDelete26A Singer's crazy about a new mix (7) {MAD}{ON}{NA*}
ReplyDelete28A What x could be to a coder? (In programming) (2-8) CO-ORDINATE*
19D Ground rules of one's individuality (7) OURSELF*
Well-constructed anagrams.
15.D.ECLIPSE. E{CLIPS}E.CLIPS=FILM EXTRACTS. E=NEGATIVES IN LOGIC
ReplyDelete24A- LINED- L(IN)ED
ReplyDeleteSorry. It should be 24D.
ReplyDelete20D : It's descriptive of "The Inseparables" (6) ATOMIC (CD)
ReplyDelete22A : Later, I stripped before Romeo to provide a teaser (7) TRAILER {LATER+I+R}* Def : Teaser
ReplyDeleteCorrection : Anno : {LATER+I}*{R}
Delete6D-TIGER- TI(G)ER
ReplyDeleteRow- Tier. Grand-G
23D- AUDIO
ReplyDeleteDumb duo*- UDO
One-I
Needed for normal conversation- Def.
Animal pornos -- prohibited
ReplyDelete5d - Austria
ReplyDelete@King: You need to explain how you arrived at the answers.
Delete15d -- it can be blurred
ReplyDeleteThe correct answer is ECLIPSE - posted by CA Prasad at 11:24
Delete3A Operations*-R
ReplyDelete5D Rhaetia*-dt
7D OM (b) RE*
Austria is known as alpine province
ReplyDeleteCheck the answer posted by Ajeesh (12:07)
Delete@King
ReplyDeletePlease give the annotations of your answers else I will have to delete the same. Please also indicate the clue numbers. Your answers given for 3A, 5D and 15D are incorrect.
11.A. ALGEBRA. {GARBAgE+L}* DEF: TYPE OF PROBLEM
ReplyDelete8D: Put a bit of salt in one's stew (6) --- SE(A S)ON* , &lit [bit of salt = S, one's stew = SEON*]
ReplyDelete10D: Craft or mostly sorcery spun by one (7) --- OR cIGAM<- I
14A: You won't need a pilot when you take this flight (9) --- STAIRCASE (CD)
Isn't the first "first" in 12A unnecessary?
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, some brilliant constructs. And great surfaces (As I'd expect from Exa)
First trip Meaning (trip/tour comes first in the answer)= TOUR
DeleteFirst = 1ST
tripper = {TOUR}{1ST}
My across lite not working and not able to access even via separate link. But some beautiful clues here, great job
ReplyDeleteBhala
DeleteAs long as you have installed AcrosLite on your machine, you can d/l the .puz file and then open it in AL.
I used that method because I too could not use the file as you have detailed.
Problem with security settings prevents me from opening the installed Acroslite program.
DeleteI too was having the problem. I had to update Java on my machine and then downgrade the security setting
DeleteWith apps elsewhere we had the same problem. While online we could not get them to work. We were advised by fellow-solvers that after Java has been updated, we should downgrade the security setting when the app works online.
DeleteI too had this problem. Whenever I want to open, "Application blocked by Security Setting" pops out ! Luckily I took printout of the puzzle and had no problem in solving.
DeleteThe problem I had is exactly as what others have described. I did try to change my settings, even reinstalled Java, but did not work.
DeleteCol: would be obliged if you could mail me a step-by-step tutorial on how you downgraded the security settings.
CV: Agree with you, but how do I even download the puzzle?
Akash: great stuff, look forward to seeing more
Bhala,
DeleteIn Control Panel open Java, click on Security tab and under that reduce security level to medium
12 across: First trip, first tripper--- trip - TOUR first- ist--- TOURIST-- who is a tripper
ReplyDelete21 down: Cold breaks at mountain peaks?-- Cold-- C breaks-- RESTs-- CRESTS-- mountain peaks
17 down: Bssiness capital falls after recession for the second time losing a deal: BARGAIN
Business capital: B falls- NIAGARA falls- reverse( recession) - losing A-- ARGAIN - BARGAIN
12A TOUR+IST TOURIST
ReplyDelete9A New wind oboe needs individual capital (7) {N}{AIR} {OB} {I}
ReplyDeleteI took Oboe = OB. Not sure if that is right
DeleteIt is right
Delete1D Present engagement rings to men finally (6) {D {O} {N} ATE}
ReplyDelete18D Actor loved cooking old stew out of ham (7) OVERACT { ACTOR LOVED - OLD}*
ReplyDelete'rings' in plural threw me off the track thinking of 2 O's. It took me a while even after seeing your parsing. Good one.
ReplyDeleteI too toyed with balls before I realised that (to change the metaphor) I was up the wrong ....
Delete"Rings" had me running around in circles ! For Anno only !! Got overact alright.
DeleteI agree with Bhala, Mohsin and others that some of the clues here are first-rate. Words such as ORIGAMI, NAIROBI, CRESTS - all that I as a setter have clues many times - have been handled with penache. The word breakup may be the familiar one but the surface reading has been handled in a refreshing manner. This setter has a future, no doubt.
ReplyDelete13A T OR PE DO
ReplyDelete27A AGELESS (Acheless. - Remove ch for chief and put in g for guest head apboar)
4D POINT ER<
Nice solving, Suresh garu !
DeleteThat last one
ReplyDelete1A - {DO}{S}{E} S & E being neighbours on the map similarly in Bridge
Thank you Exa
ReplyDeleteGood cw by exa. Look forward to seeing you more often.
ReplyDeleteIn 13a I think the setter means PE - physical education - which is a 'class' in school.
ReplyDeleteWe are now left with 1a which too, along with the three answers that Suresh has just given, I got minutes before I posted my first message here.
Let someone else take it !!!
EXA with the "Axe" effect? Some very good clues( and some not easy) as everyone has pointed out..
ReplyDeleteAn excellent CW from Exa !
ReplyDeleteI couldn't get the role of XXX in 3 Across and X in 28 Across. Need some help here pl :)
in 3A, X represents multiplication i.e. an "operation". So, XXX = OPERATIONS
Delete28A: In maths, x and y refer to coordinates. (x,y) is a standard coordinate form of representing a point on a 2D grid.
Thank you very much Mohsin ! I have no head for fgures !!
DeleteThose Xs in 3A reminded me of XXX Rum !
DeleteGreat effort by EXA- well-contrived and clever ploys used. As CV says, he should join the panel-- at least for Sunday Specials as a rescue.- reserve-resource. Clue of my day is STAIRCASE. DId'nt like much 1 across and 11across. It was staring at me, where I had lived -- NAIROBI !
ReplyDeleteHow many engagement rings do we give a man? Why two- that's amounting to bigamy !
Deepak-- I had logged in an explanation for Mohsin on first Tripper, as you did. Where did it taker a trek into cyberspace? A very pithy clue formation to my delight.
Many thanks to everyone for the (very) kind comments + feedback and also for taking the burden to solve my offering
ReplyDeletegiven that there were quite a few unknown words..
Also big thanks and sorry to the Colonel for all the trouble I gave him.
I was waiting till everyone had had a go to post my interpretations to a few mild queries (probably they've
been answered already but anyhow, I shall do my duty) :
3A X is intended as multiplication 'into' thingy. err... Nasty reading. yes.
9A I took advantage of the fact that Collins gives oboe=ob. :P Definitely not a standard cwd abbreviation, but my idea
was that if used often it could become one. will try my best not to take such things for granted in future :)
12A First trip is intended to give 'IST TOUR'. the next 'first' is to imply the position of the 'TOUR' going before 'IST'
Just realized that the first 'first' can be seen as an extra as Mohsin pointed out. My only intention was (hopefully) for
a more classy reading.
13A As already pointed out, I'd gone for the same. PE= phys. ed class ref
25A An attempted &lit
23D - This was intended as a semi-lit with whole sentence as def. Hopefully it err... had that effect.
17 D Just to add to the anno... I have also mentioned that it is the second 'A' that is to be left out.
Anyway, I'm sure this was a breeze for the solvers here. Some of you already know me. No reference to 'axe' effect by the way :D
Thanks again everyone.
Hey Aakash nice;-)
DeleteThank you 'Exa' Akash for the thorough point by point (or clue by clue) clarification, not to speak of the excellent CW as expressed by all. We should be seeing you more often. Thank you once again.
ReplyDeleteBhala,
ReplyDeleteIncase you have two browsers on your machine, I think this problem can be circumvented. I usually use Chrome and Acrosslite did not load, but it opened when I used IE.