Pouched!
ACROSS
1 Mammal's diseased organ found inside rolled-over timber (8) KANGAROO {ORGAN}* in {OAK<=}
5 Mascara, black, helps to conceal a beetle (6) SCARAB [T]
9 Crushes in the large ring for the Utah game (8) OUTPLAYS {O{UT}{PLAY}S}
10 Slips on the auditor's metal spikes (6) GAFFES (~gaffs)
11 Ben's lace Ganesh untied to show inconstancy (14) CHANGEABLENESS*
14 Mammal found with a knight at the wrong place in a tree by the French (5) KOALA {(+k)OA(-k)}{LA}
17 Italian starters with wine spread around North America carries a clue (9) ANTIPASTI {A{N{TIP}A}STI}
19 About to get rid of Austrian grain? It is a question of location (5) WHERE WHE(-at+re)RE
20 Amorphous nylon larcenist put straight (14) NONCRYSTALLINE*
23 Part of a flower found in letters from Murugan, the runner (6) ANTHER [T]
24 Jamaican friend returns with number from the east for American pepper (8) JALAPENO {JA}{LAP<=}{ENO<=}
26 Lexical ambiguity in 25 Ac. and 2 Dn. (8) POLYSEMY [Def by example]
DOWN
1 Turn up to hit a ball hard for a tie (4) KNOT <=
2 Nick's in a narrow pass (5) NOTCH [DD]
3 City in a legendary island is overrun by the Arabian leader (7) ATLANTA ATLANT(-is+a)A
4 Airplane passengers might prefer these to remain unused (6,5) OXYGEN MASKS [CD]
6 Poet Geoffrey ingests drink (not this French recipe) in an impressive country house (7) CHATEAU {CHA{TEA}U
7 I have a note on the British power cord on top that's self-referent (9) REFLEXIVE {RE}{FLEX}{I'VE}
8 One treasured by shop owners? (4,6) BEST SELLER [C&DD]
12 I ask for a bun to be cooked in the country (7,4) BURKINA FASO*
15 Unlimited ridicule attached to a former South African province before birth (9) ANTENATAL {
18 Computer programs using leading algorithms to replace superior ship officers (7) PARSERS P(-u+a)RSERS
19 Strategy to hold party in retreat with a mammal (7) WALLABY {WA{LLAB<=}Y}
22 Large vase abandoned in voyage with the young animal (4) JOEY JO
GRID
Kicked myself for nit getting 7D, after having dealt in power cords for ages and calling them 'flex'es. Probably the British there distracted me. It is now very much Indian.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting CW and enjoyed doing it. Thank you Neyartha.
4D- Put in seats initially( prefer next seat to be vacant to give some leg space) and changed to masks after getting 'Marsupial' and got the much needed oxygen.
ReplyDeleteThe difficuly level of a CW could be known by the presence of number of underlined red letter words! Today we have fourteen! Yet managed to score 70% and enjoyed those I could do! Overall a nice puzzle. Thank you Neyartha.
ReplyDeleteSurprisingly I did better today and I think I was able to concentrate better. Missed out on just 4 words- of course after taking help from dictionary & google. Of late Neyartha is within reach.
ReplyDeleteGood show! Yes, of late he is within our reach!
Delete24A Is JA for Jamaica correct pl? My search yields JM(for two letters)and JAM(for three letter abbreviation.)
ReplyDeleteJA is the vehicle registeration code for Jamaica. Neyartha uses these codes very often. See the link LIST OF VEHICLE REGISTRATION CODES
DeleteCol.,
DeleteFor India it says 'IND'. Where do we have that?! we follow a statewise system. Are others equally misleading?
Thank you Sir! I went after country codes! Didn't think of the one given above!
DeleteDidnt even look up the abbreviation..thought this is standard abbreviation.
DeletePaddy if you see the proposed high definiton number plates which has not come into use the letters IND appear on the left in addition to the state code
DeleteThank you for the info Col. I did not know it.I will be on the lookout for the introduction of the new number plates. But the table gives the year as 1947!
DeleteLike Col. said, I too did not bother about checking for Jamaica once pal & one were found with J.
Refer my 12:49, that should read 'High Security Registration plates'. See the link Vehicle registration plates of India
DeleteThank you Col. for the very informative article, but again the move seems to have been caught up in red tape.
DeleteThought I was the only late comer. Only 5 comments for this humdinger of a puzzle! Well said laconically Col in the by line.
ReplyDeleteLoved this marsupial treat. Needed to google to get the unheard of country Burkina Faso..missed out on polysemy despite all the crossings.
Enjoying vacation at Indore...getting up late & doing the crossword at a leisurely pace..
It's capital is a bigger tongue twister namely OUAGADOUGOU.
DeleteMalawi was formerly Republic of Upper Volta (Courtesy Wikipaedia)
Thanks Col...Neyartha has this habit of teaching us geography(among other subjects)...unheard of places nicely put together in a grid
DeleteHad heard of Burkina Faso, as it was once rated as the poorest country in the world
DeleteSurprisingly I had learned about the African country Burkina Faso and its even more unheard of capital Ougadogou(!) from my grandson. Never expected it to help me in a CW.
ReplyDeleteAnother one from Africa- Cote'D I'voire- formerly Ivory coast (which is familiar) Fortunately we only change names of cities & states!
ReplyDeleteI solved 1d as TONK instead of KNOT and struggled for sometime
ReplyDeleteIs there any hint in the clue TONK alone can be the solution and not knot.
I solved 1d as TONK instead of KNOT and struggled for sometime
ReplyDeleteIs there any hint in the clue TONK alone can be the solution and not knot.
If 'Tonk' is the solution what about def.? Hit? But it is in the middle of the clue.
ReplyDeleteIf'Knot' is the solution- hit the ball will be the wordplay to get 'tonk' & 'turn up' would be the reversal indicator.
Am I right? I think that is waht Col. has indicated.
Without a shadow of a doubt!
DeleteOkay.. this one was fine overall :) .. but just could not parse WHere..thanks to the blog :) never got to wheat - at + re.. I suppose AT = AUstria refers to internet code. In Outplays - If large is OS and game is play, Ut= Utah.. is ring a containment indicator?
ReplyDeleteColonel Your 12.41 comment
ReplyDeleteI thought Malawi was known as Nyasaland before independence, not Upper Volta.
You are right. I don't know why I typed Malawi instead of Burkina Faso. Maybe I was thinking about a schoolmate of mine who is in Malawi
Deleteah.. once spent a few months in Malawi as a volunteer .. :)
Delete