Monday 4 January 2016

No 11591, Monday 04 Jan 2016, Aspartame


They definitely are, so says Nina :-)

ACROSS
9   Certification correctly categorised with ease (9,6) ASSOCIATE DEGREE {CATEGORISED+EASE}*
10 See pious individual heading out excitedly to accept… (7) ESPOUSE {SEE+PiOUS}*
12 … a group of plants from a royal bishop near Utah, America (7) ARBUTUS {A}{R}{B}{UT}{US}
13 Practice moving Lear’s hearse without direction (9) REHEARSAL {LEAR+HEARSe}*
14 Grains stored in Bellandur ransacked (5) DURRA [T]
15 Complained about delayed trade of euro and pound (7) BLEATED {B{e<>l)LEATED}
18 Gate guards a safety device that’s essential for rowing (7) OARLOCK {O{A}R}{LOCK}
21 It's extremely elastic as proclaimed by Research Assistant (5) LYCRA (¬like){LYC}{RA}
23 Ryder’s cleaning appliance? (4,5) SPIN DRYER {RYDER}*
25 Woman returning from lab with small book on plants (7) HERBALS {HER}{BAL<=}{S}
26 Daughter gets to possess weapon that causes a stroke (7) DOWNBOW {D}{OWN}{BOW}
29 A stimulus people get stroking a red cat at a video game centre (9,6) AMUSEMENT ARCADE {A}{MUSE}{MEN}{T ARCADE*}

DOWN
1   Empty coffee packets, lids of Americanos, frappes found here (4) CAFE {CoffeE} around {Am...s}{Fr...s} Intended &lit
2   Request upsets senior vice-president (1,1,1,1) R.S.V.P {SR<=}{VP}
3   Firm returns trophy to worker who lives in a rented house (8) OCCUPANT {CO<=}{CUP}{ANT}
4   Writer speaks without doubt (6) SAYERS {SAY{ER}S}
5   Raise log to build lodging for women (8) SERAGLIO*
6   Stuck online? (6) WEBBED [CD]
7   Speaker starts to intone one musical composition (8) ORATORIO {ORATOR}{In...e}{One}
8   Tree bird (8) REDSHANK [DD]
11 Leaders of south Turkish enterprise establish large-scale production of material (5) STEEL Acrostic
15 Obstinate editor got killed by mud cat (8) BULLHEAD BULLHEADed
16 Before hooligan starts to smack you and me, have a discussion (8) EXCURSUS {EX}{CUR}{Smack}{US}
17 Daughter and a sister maybe? That’s a tragedy (8) DISASTER {D}{A+SISTER}*
19 Angry midget is a star (3,5) RED DWARF {RED} {DWARF}
20 Article of faith found in sacred object (5) CREDO [T]
22 Flower taken from a grassland around borders of Zambia (6) AZALEA {A}{ZambiA}{LEA}
24 Compose music without funding, taking time (6) INDITE {INDI{T}E}
27 Partner said “26 across, not down” (4) BEAU (~ downbow}
28 When husband leaves, get rare bird (4) WREN W(-h+r)REN


13 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Surprising...anyway I have been a late latif recently

      Delete
  2. SAYERS got my samosas; yet happy to have solved the rest and enjoyed

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely puzzle...was stuck forever on 16 D & 21A...until LYCRA fell...some amusing surfaces..some absolutely credible ones...after a week or so did the xword on schedule

    ReplyDelete
  4. Srividya,
    Anno for VOUCH has been shown against your comment in yesterday's special

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks Colonel..will check .. enjoyable xword today by Aspartame ... Sayers took away my samosas.. had it down as wavers .. w + avers.. lotsa new words or versions of words for me - oarlock, durra, arbutus, downbow, bullhead.. Spin Dryer was totally awesome clueing.. i do enjoy these RAs though they are rather tricky.. i could get this one with crossing only

      Delete
  5. Aspartame has come up with some awesome anagrams to form phrases . Some new and unusual words too ! Enjoyed the hour that took to complete this. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shameless to admit my dumbness in not spotting the nina I still am curious to know what it is today!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The top & bottom rows read: CROSSWORDS ARE FUN

      Delete
    2. Which was indicated in the blog's byline

      Delete
  7. Thanks, Vasant! I did read Crosswords are fun. But thought whether I may just pick those words. Glad to keep learning!

    ReplyDelete
  8. An easy and fantastic puzzle! And to realize it's a Nina too. Outstanding feat. Close to being a pangram too.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hmm, I missed several answers today...

    ReplyDelete

deepakgita@gmail.com