Devious as ever, but probably a wee bit easier than yesterday ;-) With xC, mere solving is but one step, the anno is a different ballgame altogether. 8d my COD
Across
7 Hands card with threat (6) MENACE (MEN ACE)
8 Cancelled plenty of shifts (8) OFFLOADS (OFF LOADS)
9 Chap mainly needed on machine breaking down (8) MECHANIC (Chap +MACHINE)* &LIT
10 Puts up with upright son (6) ERECTS (ERECT S)
11 Tough bow? Just the opposite (5) STERN (2) ref to bow of a ship
12 Paid for pleasure, ecstasy missing in the act (6) FUNDED (FUN D
14 Resistance in essence comes to mere stonewalling, one at a time or in parallel (15) CORRESPONDINGLY (R in CORE(=essence) + POND= Mere
17 Revolting act associated with a very old profession (6) AVOWAL (A V O LAW<)
18 Fancy display by an unknown entity (5) SHOWY (SHOW Y)
22 Condition requiring learner to wear scrubs (6) HEALTH (L in HEATH=scrubs)
23 Undecided hands overcome by inertia replaced (2,3,3) IN THE AIR (H in INERTIA*)
24 Inevitably execution has man getting axed (8) PERFORCE (PERFOR
25 Throw a fit to date man about town (6) SEETHE (SEE HE around T)
Mohsin, couldn't help but remember you here ... ;-)
Down
1 School noticed holding record for cheating (9) DECEPTION (NOTICED* holding EP)
2 Marshal revealing gun to man pursued by Rangers (6) GATHER (GAT HE R)
3 Stands for instruments (5) MEANS (2)
4 Away at finish, journalist gets upset (8) OFFENDED (OFF END ED)
5 Model to wear clothes originally intended for a god (8) POSEIDON (POSE DON around I
6 Notice to sit properly in passages for access (5) ADITS (AD SIT*)
8 Formerly used at the start in old novel, ancient poem (4,4,1,4) ONCE UPON A TIME (U
13 Class in boxing with primarily young people in general going through a set of steps (9) FLYWEIGHT (Y
15 Touching upon each and every condition on earth in the practical world (4,4) REAL LIFE (RE ALL(each and every) IF(condition) E
16 Extremely silly to keep mum if suffocating (8) SMOTHERY (MOTHER in S
19 Paid careful attention to hours polling required (6) HEEDED (H
20 Craft beer having distribution cap (5) BERET (BEER* T)
21 Band holds tickets initially in reserve (5) STASH (T
+1 for the tagline
ReplyDelete8D could be a semi & lit ??
ReplyDelete14 Resistance in essence comes to mere stonewalling, one at a time or in parallel (15) CORRESPONDINGLY (R in CORE(=essence) + POND=stonewalling? in SINGLY=one at a time)
ReplyDeletePOND = MERE (lake)
STONEWALLING: holding up
Standing ovation to the queen of annos
DeleteSuperb clue!
Delete+1 to Vasant's comment
DeleteThanks, Sandy
DeleteKnocked out cold. Patted myself for getting 8D & 16D. appreciated the construction of clues after reading the blog.
ReplyDeletePlenty of 1 down today.
ReplyDeleteIsn't that the hallmark of an xCh CW
DeleteThat's true
DeleteWhat's Sunnet cooking up to have missed the turn?
Maybe a Christmas cake?
DeleteNaan intha aattathukku varalai. Ambeal.
ReplyDeleteGentler one today. To me, yesterday was like playing quality fast bowling and today was like playing quality spin. Keep them coming xC
ReplyDelete+1 for the tagline.
ReplyDeleteNeat crossword
While in no way detracting from the merit of this crossword, may I raise a question:
ReplyDeleteTake
10 Puts up with upright son (6)
No prob. with the clue as such.
The WP is perfect.
My question is: should the surface reading of a clue be realistic even as it is plausible?
A father or a mother may put up with an errant son. Of an upright person, I guess they will be proud.
Or is it that the parent here is a con who is sad his/her son is not?!
What do you think?
Maybe the parent is a con :)
DeleteI am of the opinion the surface reading should be realistic and plausible. In the present case your 'or' statement meets both conditions
DeleteI did think about that, but felt that would be nitpicking in an otherwise excellent puzzle. In fact I usually look for that first in a clue rather than the wordplay.
DeleteI was also misled by the 'with' for a long time as it seems to suggest that one bears with the son, whereas the answer is builds, but 'with' as a connector is fair.
Parent may be sad that the son is too upright and not worldly wise
DeletePlausible enough - uprightness might come in the way of personal relationships. Remembering examples from films: the upright father in Shakti and the upright hero in Satyakam did require their families to put up with them.
Delete+1
Delete11 Tough bow? Just the opposite (5) STERN (2) ref to bow of a ship
ReplyDeleteUnable to understand the second half of the clue.
Bow is front of a ship, stern the rear, just the opposite
DeleteI cannot explain how the thought came that bow was the rear part, while knowing that stern is one (and also that bow/ bows is the front. ).
DeleteEnjoyable puzzle. Especially liked 9A, 8D and 16D
ReplyDeleteJust noticed. I thought 17 ac would be A V O CAT* not avowal
ReplyDeleteI too filled in AVOCAT, before I saw the blog. That's not listed in Chambers, which gives avocation.
DeleteAvocat is there in the freeonlinedictionary meaning Advocate
DeleteThough 'avocat consultant' is there in Chambers, avocat itself is not. Hence, I considered Avowal which also means profession, i.e. to profess
DeleteWonder what the setter meant
DeleteWait for BP. Else, the morrow will tell
DeleteThe Kishores have it. Wasn't sure if Suresh was referring to the surface or the answer!
DeleteIf you are talking of avocat, the answer, which I feel is more appropriate.
DeleteI had put in AVOCAT & that too after a long deliberation.
ReplyDeleteAll the best to the finalists of the IXL 2014. Hope all you folks (including the audience) have a wonderful time.
ReplyDelete