THCC CC1 - Results, Tuesday 22 Apr 2014

We received the first entry from Ramesh. He is declared the winner of the competition.

His email came to me around 11 a.m. I don't mean to suggest that he took more than two hours to finish the crossword. Given the vagaries of electricity supply in many of our towns, I know that one must be in luck to get past the others. One may have the puzzle under one's belt but may be powerless above and around that accessory.

Others who sent solution (in no particular order):

Shrikanth, Suresh, Bhavan, Bhala, Vasant, Sandhya, Raju, Raghunath, Vijay, Ram, Navneeth, Rengaswamy, Mohsin, Lakshmi, Venkatesh, Sivaram Bhagavat, Vinayak Ekbote, S. Rangarajan.

I thank all clue-writers and entrants for their making this endeavour a success.

The answers:

ACROSS
1 A gap in ridge / leads to only new // port in Panama (5) COLON (COL)(O)(N)
4 Reportedly see / over / leaderless resistance // group (9) COMMUNITY ~see {C}{O}{[-i]MMUNITY}
9 Appear confused before starting to loosen clothes (7) APPAREL (APPARE*)(L)
10 Stiff competition Australian openers raved about (7) CADAVER (C)(A)(DAVER*)
11 Leave Elliot's creature holding side (4) EXIT E(XI)T
12 A girl is caught in mistaken identification (4) ENID (T)
13 Increases lead in competition getting out of difficult situations (5) RISES [-c]RISES
15 Wild boar disappeared in Bangalore // intersection (5) ANGLE ANGLE*-boar
16 East-facing Bangalore (Malleswaram) houses not trendy in comparison (5) LAMER <=T
17 Rugged (spikiest!) / off-piste // type of course (3) SKI* -piste; rugged - AnagrInd
18 Sabira returns concealing a part of the body (3) RIB <=T
20 External // path beginning to end (5) OUTER [-r]OUTE(+R)
23 Corrupt lame / duck led out // in a frenzy (5) AMUCK ([-l]AM[-e])([-d]UCK)
25 Doctor, brainy, / not initially navigating // via sky (2,3) BY AIR*-n
26 Ailing son goes out to model taking a moment (4) TICK [-s](+T)ICK
27 Cayman edges off exercising // supernatural power (4) MAYA [-c]YAMA*[-n] exercising- AnagrInd
30 Reacts emotionally to // rates moving / higher (5,2) TEARS UP {TEARS*} {UP} moving - AnagrInd
31 One carried by IT professional's // driver (7) TAXIMAN TAX(I)MAN  IT (Income Tax) professional - Taxman
32 Woeful sorrows / filling cryptic definitions initially // in this puzzle (9) CROSSWORD C{ROSSWOR*}D
33 What's given to a winner? Lunch, perhaps, including a bit of dal (5) MEDAL ME(D)AL

DOWN
1 Split with king for the French to covet (5) CRAVE C[-le](+R)AVE
2 Running out // of drinks in the middle of get-together (7) LAPSING LAPS IN [get-to]G[ether]
3 Noah's Ark? No wonders, he is a tell-tale (4) NARK (N)(ARK)
4 Pass a greenhorn officer (7) COLONEL (COL)(ONE)(L)
5 An obstruction / under the river? Over // the surface (7) MACADAM {MAC<=}{A/DAM} over - Reversal Indicator
6 Because of competition / one's taken to court (10) UNDERTRIAL UNDER/TRIAL (CD)
7 Envelops in undergarments (7) INVESTS {IN}{VESTS} 
8 Measures of distance receive sign of approval (9) YARDSTICK (YARDS)(TICK)
14 Before sod's turned, everything is hunky-dory (3,2,5) BED OF ROSES*
15 Cricketer / after a century / is run out / by one / at cover point //like an athlete (9) ACROBATIC {A}{C}{RO}{BAT}{I}{C}
19 Support Virginia Act with bluster (7) BRAVADO {BRA}{VA}{DO}
21 What the kid got into // for summer activity perhaps? (3,2,2) TOT UP TO (TOT) (UP TO) summer - one who does addition 
22 Spoke // obtained from citizen breaking musical instrument (7) RECITED RE(CIT)ED
24 Carrying no weapon, heroic leader escaped without getting hurt (7) UNARMED UN[-h]ARMED
28 Every second earn in fuel // to neutralize (5) ANNUL A N N U L
29 Quietly the French left a specimen // for test (4) EXAM EXAM[-p le]

(Ack: Full solution with clue text and annotated answers as received from Venkatesh.)

The solved grid

The following are some of the comments that I received from participants:

Enjoyable crossword.
Last to fall EXIT. Quite devious and nice
Read 6D as UNDERTRIAL.
Isn't the word "Corrupt" unnecessary in 23A.

* * *

10 Across:thought the wordplay was excellent
20 Across: Excellent!
6 Down: quite a good clue.
Also thought the whole crossword was very good in terms of cluing standard. Special thanks to you for putting this together!

* * *

I liked several clues:

10ac, 15ac, 16ac, 17ac, 20ac, 30ac, 33ac, 6dn, 8dn, 15dn.

But if I have to pick two, I'd pick 24dn as second best and 2dn as the best of the lot.

* * *

Liked these clues:

ACROSS
9 Appear confused before starting to loosen clothes (7) (APPARE*) L
10 Stiff competition Australian openers raved about (7)CA(DAVER*)
33 What's given to a winner? Lunch, perhaps, including a bit of dal (5) ME(D)AL

DOWN
4 Pass a greenhorn officer (7)COL ONE L
14 Before sod's turned, everything is hunky-dory (3,2,5) BED OF ROSES*
22 Spoke obtained from citizen breaking musical instrument (7) RE(CIT)ED
24 Carrying no weapon, heroic leader escaped without getting hurt (7)UN h ARMED
29 Quietly the French left a specimen for test (4) EXAM p le

Thought No. 1 is 24 D, followed by 10 A and 9 A.

* * *

My top clues: OUTER, LAPSING, APPAREL, ANGLE, TEARS UP

* * *
This was good fun! Here's the filled grid.

LOI - 2d, and I still can't work out the wordplay, so not sure if it's correct.

Fav clues: 9a, 30a, 31a

The definition in 21d is creative and the surface well-crafted, but the repetition of "to" in the defn & wordplay leaves it just short of the top list.

Another observation (will probably post it on THCC when the answers are published) - due to multiple setters not knowing the adjacent clues, there are similar devices used that a single setter for the puzzle would have avoided. e.g. Bangalore in 15a and 16a.

FINALLY

While I have taken every effort, any omission/error, if notified, will be rectified.