Engaging one from Arden. The capital in 26 has me foxed.
ACROSS
6 His evil designs gone awry with millions invested... (5) GNOME {GNO{M}E*}
7 ... reckon the property's about one million (8) ESTIMATE {EST{1}{M}ATE}
10 & 11 ac. WI bowler Hall’s coming, hide bats (7,7) MICHAEL HOLDING*
12 I berate upon hearing it's frozen (3-4) ICE-COLD {I}(~ scold)
13 Swimwear? You get plenty by post (7) MAILLOT {MAIL}{LOT} New word for me
By Rishi
14 Can he with ten men make improvement? (11) ENHANCEMENT {CAN+HE+TEN+MEN}*
Cartoon by Rishi
19 A tropical storm washes away sides exposing powdered root (7) TAPIOCA {A+T21 A shirt could be worn over it (7) SINGLET
23 Admitted topic at a language school, perhaps (7) CATALAN [T] &lit
25 Booth capturing? A politician may be the one caught (7) HALIBUT {H{A}{LIB}UT}
27 Sailor — Yankee on board 'The Netherlands' (5) ABYSS {AB}{Y}{SS}
DOWN
1 It's hard to study an island (8) CONCRETE {CON}{CRETE} Only after it is set!
2 Maybe elongated, but endlessly smooth (6) LEGATO
3 Ring a girl about party drug (10) BELLADONNA {BELL}{A{DO}NNA}
4 Date abandoned with abandon, it's an irritation (4) ITCH
5 Whenever one pleases, gets a material (2,4) AT WILL {A}{T WILL}
6 Ploy by doctor during walk (6) GAMBIT {GA{MB}IT}
8 Indonesia laments presence of a growing sense of discomfort (7) MALAISE [T<=]
9 A portal of stone (5) AGATE {A}{GATE}
13 Pipe made flexible each summer (10) MEERSCHAUM*
16 Furniture model, no girls (8) TALLBOYS {T}{ALL}{BOYS}
17 Bond with staff (5) STICK [DD]
18 Complaint comes up, therefore swallows it twice (6) OTITIS {O{TI}{TI}S}<=
20 He is on the way to central bank in Kabul, say (6) PATHAN {PATH}{
22 Old raider took everyone over the ravine (6) NULLAH {NU{LLA}H}<=
24 Nobody found a short verse (4) NONE NONE
GRID
26a
ReplyDeleteTAKe< MAN DU
KATMANDU the wiki spelling has a H after t
I could not find any ref using this spelling
DeletePlease see: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/313253/Kathmandu
DeleteThanks, Ranger.
DeleteALL these clues or lights have ALL in them, in some form or the other, reverse, disjointed ...:
ReplyDeleteA: 10&11,13 D: 3,5,16,22
While 24d has NONE
19a Maybe powdered root is the def
ReplyDeleteAfter removing R L from A TROPICAL, don't we anagram the letters to get the solution? So 'powdered' is the anag signal.
ReplyDeleteThen why "storm"?
DeleteThe definition is 'powdered root'. Tapioca is the starch extracted from the Casava root and powdered to be used as a thickener or cooked and made into pearls[ commonly used in some sweets] . 'Storm' is the Anagrind.
DeleteThanks. That's it. I had not looked at the clue as carefully as I should have.
DeleteThe del ind 'endlessly' seems OK. Note that the letters to be deleted E N D are in the same order in the fodder.
ReplyDeleteThat you have to reject the idea of having to remove the last letter or the first and last letters of del fodder is quite another thing.
26A KATMANDU
ReplyDelete21
ReplyDeleteA = SINGLE
SHIRT= T
Semi &lit ?
DeleteA singlet is "a piece of clothing with no sleeves that a man wears under a shirt" - something like our sleeveless banian.
DeleteSo a shirt is worn over it.
The clue appears to be a simple, straightforward one.
No &lit, semi&lit or even quarter &lit.
So is it a CD?
DeleteIn Bangalore (and may be in other places too), a 'quarter' has a special meaning
DeleteA shirt could be worn over it = Can't it be definition for singlet ?
DeleteAlso half of the clue is wordplay too (charade )
Sorry it's a charade as Col's written.
DeleteSo what is the definition here ? Just it ? Isn't it the entire clue leads to definition as well ?
DeleteI wrote the clue as Ajeesh had interpreted it in which case it could be classified as a Semi & lit...but, then what's in a name?
DeleteAjeesh seems to have done his homework well, as far as Semi & Lit. clues are concerned! :)
DeleteRanger @ 10:27 : "'...but then what's in a name"?
DeleteA rose by any other name would smell as sweet, so was the clue 21Ac !
Liked 16 d. Nice and smooth.
ReplyDeleteThe surface in 15d seems unconvincing.
6 His evil designs gone awry with millions invested... (5) GNOME {GNO{M}E*}
What is the definition here? I'm not sure wheher GNOME is the def.
Is it GNOME'S?
DeleteThank you for an enjoyable morning, Arden! Very nice clueing - especially loved the clues for TAPIOCA and CATALAN.
ReplyDeleteThree-quarters of the puzzle went quite smoothly but the SE corner left me flummoxed for a long time (the sting the tail, I guess!). It took a long time for the penny to drop about the lift-and-separate trick in "nether lands" - once that fell into place, though, that corner came together very neatly.
I have some doubts about two clues:
- In 8d, what is the reversal indicator?
- In 10-11a, shouldn't there be some indication to ignore that superfluous 's' in the middle of the anagram fodder? (If the s with apostrophe comes at the end of the fodder one could ignore it, but this is in the middle.)
Thanks to the blogger and cartoonists.
In 8d growing is the revind, in a down clue, imo
DeleteAbhay, to put it in black on white or white on black, like the two cartoons, there is only one cartoonist today
DeleteThank you, Kishore - 8d should indeed have been clear given that it is a down clue...
Delete...and apologies to Rishi for turning him into a plural! :)
Not that I am always singular!
Delete-8 D 'growing' meaning increasing or something which is coming up[ in a down clue] is the reversal indicator.
ReplyDelete-10 A I would not call the s after the apostrophe in 'Hall's' superfluous. I am not aware of any rule which says the 's' could be ignored only when the word in question is at the end. I could be wrong.
I too think the S is superfluous coming in the middle of the fodder. But, it's a very nice clue.
DeleteThank you for the response. Am clear on 8d now. Still not sure about 10A, but the clue is so good overall that this is nothing more than nitpicking!
Delete20 He is on the way to central bank in Kabul, say (6) PATHAN {PATH}{bANk}
ReplyDeleteIs this OK having the def spread over the answer? Maybe:
Man in Kabul's on the way to central bank.
I think it is & lit. The whole clue is the definition. You normally think of pathans as money lenders
DeleteHow about "money lender say on way to central bank in Kabul?
DeleteYour clue is also fine, but so is Arden's
DeleteLast two days literally have seen discussions about &lit, Semi&lit, Quarter&lit :)
ReplyDeleteI fish-kebabed my singers yesterday ;-)
DeleteTime to open a quarter and light a kings ;-)
DeleteCheers! ;-)
DeleteSorry, Spooner got in the way. That was
DeleteI seesh-kebabed my fingers yesterday ;-)
With respect to quarters, Richard has this to share:
ReplyDeleteWhen some bachelor had boasted in Muscat that he had good quarters, I told him the married men have better halves
Ranger, I loved the way there was endless mutation from yesterday to today
ReplyDeleteYes..as long as a quarter&lit is not written by a quarter wit
DeleteAnd here is a 'quarter' wit :
DeleteOne day in class the teacher brought a bag full of fruit. "Now class, I'm going to reach into the bag and describe a piece of fruit, and you tell what fruit I'm talking about. Okay, first: it's round, plump and red."
Of course, Johnny raised his hand high, but the teacher, wisely ignored him and picked Deborah, who promptly answered "An apple." The teacher replied, "No Deborah, it's a beet, but I like your thinking." Now for the second. It's soft, fuzzy, and colored red and brownish."
Well, Johnny is hopping up and down in his seat trying to get the teacher to call on him. But she skips him again and calls on Billy."Is it a peach?"Billy asks."No, Billy, I'm afraid it's a potato. But I like your thinking,"the teacher replies. Here's another: it's long, yellow, and fairly hard."
By now Johnny is about to explode as he waves his hand frantically. The teacher skips him again and calls on Sally. "A banana," she says. "No," the teacher replies, "it's a squash, but I like your thinking."
Johnny is kind of irritated now, so he speaks up loudly. "Hey, I've got one for you teacher; let me put my hand in my pocket. Okay, I've got it: it's round, hard, and it's got a head on it." "Johnny!" she cries. "That's disgusting!" "Nope," answers Johnny, "it's a quarter, but I like your thinking!"
ReplyDeleteDeepak's late posting yesterday :
Raju,
I will be in CBE from 24 Sep till 4 Oct, so we can have you long desired S&B meet at CBE. Let's see who all are willing to make it to CBE during that period. Dr DS is close and he may come as he had mentioned once earlier, besides him I don't think there is anyone else in the vicinity.
I don't know whether any of the bloggers noticed it ? Hence I 'm reposting it.
MY REPLY:
I'll be delighted to host one, Deepak. Since , as you say only Dr. Sreenivasan is from nearby Salem, I hope he has read this and responds. If he can make it , we can be threesome wholesome. Let him respond and you can tell me when you will be free so that he can join us.
As he has to travel, would it not be ok if we had a dinner get-together, with appropriate aperitifs tossed in before it ? Sapna will be delighted to play the hostess from the kitchen, before, during and after the blog. Any Andy Capp event after the event can be taken care of as there is a guest room to ''pass out''
Any one else wishing to join in will be of course welcome.
Nice one MB! Joining in late.
ReplyDeleteCV at 11.55-
"Not always". Sometimes you are singular- when you write your CW's!
Kishore,
ReplyDeleteSpooner dropped in intentionally or otherwise?
Every sentence is intentional, Paddy. I do not play dice ...
Delete