Monday, 17 October 2016

No 11827, Monday 17 Oct 2016, xChequer


ACROSS
7   Dull gray clouds appear menacingly (6) GLOOMY {G{LOOM}Y} GY for Gray? See comments
8   Mad pilot compromised officer in mission (8) DIPLOMAT*
9   Fails to pay dues, flat broke (8) DEFAULTS*  &lit
10 Pass on rogue's technique (6) IMPART {IMP}{ART}
11 Satisfied with education administered (5) METED {MET}{ED}
12 Indian puppet, extremely effete (6) PAWNEE {PAWN}{Ef,,tE}
14 Damaging epistle or note in short, writer remaining hidden (6,3,6) POISON PEN LETTER {PEN} in {EPISTLE+OR+NOTe}* &lit
17 Skilled auditors leaving us confused (6) ADROIT AuDITORs*
18 Female seer admitted by holy bishop in retreat (5) SIBYL [T<=]
22 Following bureaucracy, company in complete mess (6) FIASCO {F}{IAS}{CO}
23 Horrible day, fared badly, occasionally ugly (8) DREADFUL {D}{FARED*}{UgLy}
24 Animal long suffering in distress (8) PANGOLIN {PA{LONG*}IN}
25 One who religiously believes in termination of daylight robbery (6) THEIST {d...hT}{HEIST}

DOWN
1   Close friends say nothing during changes (5,4) ALTER EGOS {ALTER {EG}{O}S}
2   Appropriate to include thanks in return gift (6) DONATE {DON{TA<=}E}
3   Policy clearly inspiring revolution (5) CYCLE [T]
4   Old friend breaking into tears? That's not required (8) OPTIONAL {O}{P{INTO*}AL}
5   Gather type to fight before prayer time (3,5) BOX PLEAT {BOX} {PLEA}{T}
6   Keeping nurses close to bed in specialist unit (5) CADRE {CA{beD}RE}
8   Ultimately infested condition indeed arises (7-6) DISEASE-RIDDEN {D}{INDEED+ARISES}*
13 Ultimate chewing gum, energy bar inside — freely help yourself (2,2,5) BE MY GUEST  {EnergY+GUM}* in {BEST}
15 Cancer, for example, finally being discovered in new strains (4,4) STAR SIGN {b..nG} in {STRAINS}*
16 Just run between two lines in any ground (8) NARROWLY {R{R}OW}{L} in {ANY}*
19 Of course I want to hug daughter (6) INDEED {I}{N{D}EED}
20 Competitor, hole up, claiming victory (5) RIVAL {V} in {LAIR<=}
21 They supply favourite bottled stout (5) HEFTY {F} in {THEY}*  F for Favourite? See comments

GRID

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17 comments:

  1. Ramki Krishnan17 October 2016 at 08:35

    21D: I think F for favourite comes from horse racing?
    Enjoyable grid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao17 October 2016 at 08:53

      +1.
      The New Oxford dict. has the affirmation.

      Delete
    2. Raghunath17 October 2016 at 08:58

      F is also shown as Fell/ fall in that terminology?

      Delete
    3. Kolluru Koteswara Rao17 October 2016 at 10:16

      Unfortunately, no

      Delete
    4. Raghunath17 October 2016 at 10:43

      I did not mean in The New Oxford dict.
      Please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racecard

      Delete
    5. Kolluru Koteswara Rao17 October 2016 at 13:33

      Oh, the question mark misled me. I saw the link. It provides more options than provided by Chambers and other dicts.

      Delete
  2. Ramki Krishnan17 October 2016 at 08:38

    From the medical dictionary
    Gy. Gray (measure of dose of irradiation; amount of energy transferred to substance being irradiated)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kolluru Koteswara Rao17 October 2016 at 08:39

    Ha, ha!
    I was wondering about the setter!
    Online addition, shows setter is SUNNET!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant17 October 2016 at 12:12

      Both Xchequer & Sunnet have their unique grids..while XC's always begins with 7A, Sunnet's begins with 1A(I dont know if there is any terminology for classifying these grid types..I call them D4 & E4 respectively)

      Delete
  4. Raghunath17 October 2016 at 08:58

    Pretty good clues all around.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Padmanabhan17 October 2016 at 09:27

    12A- Is an indication for American Indian needed?
    6D- Care from nurses? (Plural)
    8D- Is def. only infested? It also provided 'D'.
    15D- typo- (strains)*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath17 October 2016 at 09:58

      12A - Don't think so
      8D - I feel xCh intended it as an &lit
      15D - Corrected

      Delete
    2. Ramki Krishnan17 October 2016 at 10:39

      Padmanabhan@9:27
      In 6D, I parsed it as CARE = keeping (noun form) and "nurses" = the container ind.

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan17 October 2016 at 11:16

      Thank you Col. & Ramki. It's clear now.
      Thanks to the on line version (print edition late today) I solved it as a Sunnet puzzle. Reason for doing better?!

      Delete
  6. Vasant17 October 2016 at 09:27

    Lovely clues all round..a lot easier & very enjoyable with some super surface stories

    ReplyDelete
  7. Srividya17 October 2016 at 14:15

    Wonderful grid..i enjoyed solving this one.. coincidentally poison pen letter was a clue recently in another grid..so it fell rather quickly :) Hefty was last to fall .. ha ha.. one would assume not in my case ..could not parse Donate.. now i get it.. appropriate as in "done thing"..

    ReplyDelete
  8. Arvind Ramaswamy17 October 2016 at 21:42

    Enjoyed solving today! Loved many clues.. completing an xChequer grid is a special feeling for me... 😊😊

    ReplyDelete

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