Thursday 20 October 2016

No 11830, Thursday 20 Oct 2016, Afterdark


ACROSS
9   Style is a right, declared European officer (3,4) ART DECO {A}{RT} {D}{E}{CO}
10 Advice to abandon west and get east on return (7) EARNING (-w+e)EARNING
11 Criticizing application received by association (7) RAPPING {R{APP}ING}
12 Batter and a chutney for festival (7) RAMADAN {RAM}{AND+A}*
13 Terribly stupid to light fire inside by the yard (9) DIREFULLY {D{FIRE*}ULL}{Y}
15 Thinks of time to join fight at school (5) TROWS {T}{ROW}{S}
16 Initially, almost certain to stay within limits on stands (7) ENDURES {sURE} in {ENDS} What's the role of initially?
19 Horror outside boat, one lost colour (4,3) DARK RED {DREaD} over {ARK}
20 Dramatist spotted at stock exchange in India (5) IBSEN {I{BSE}N}
21 Paid leave arranged for festival (9) DEEPAVALI*
25 Man! he was shattered by loud laughs (3-4) HEE-HAWS {HE}{HE+WAS}*
26 Rounded by police officer, that woman took a left (7) SPHERAL {SP}{HER}{A}{L}
28 Neat arrangement; admitted ARR–- Report (7) NARRATE {ARR} in {NEAT}*
29 Calories burnt, order issued for pastries (7) ECLAIRS CALoRIES*

DOWN
1   Bird slaughtered without a bit of kindness for festival (6) BAKRID {A}{Ki...s} in {BIRD}*
2   Puts up with old Russian leader in trance (6) STUPOR {PUTS<=}{O}{Ru...n}
3   Half time speech contains upset (4) SEMI [T<=]
4   Friend hosted one girl; primarily eating out on festival (6) PONGAL {P{ONe}{G}AL}
5   Trumpeted about stranger getting deceived (8) BETRAYED {B{ET}RAYED}
6   In my opinion, rat race potentially leads to funeral homes (10) CREMATORIA {IMO+RAT+RACE}*
7   Almost bodily harm in battle for animal (4,4) WILD BOAR {BODILy}* in {WAR}
8   A girl, about one, small, holding teddy's oddly worried (8) AGONISED {A}{G}{ON}{1}{S}{tEdDy}
14 Female collecting money beats one; at a distance by a huge margin (3,3,4) FAR AND AWAY {F}{A}{R AND} {AWAY}
16 Engineer happy in dancing festival (8) EPIPHANY {E}{HAPPY+IN}*
17 Crackers shared outside America for festival (8) DUSSEHRA {SHARED}* around {US}
18 Avoid 15th of March, manoeuvre around (8) SIDESTEP {S{IDES}TEP}
22 Ecstasy on a road, essentially clergy announced a festival (6) EASTER {E}{A}{ST}{clERgy}
23 Scared of a loud rifle (6) AFRAID {A}{F}{RAID}
24 Some overchill establishment makes most sick (6) ILLEST [T]
27 Greeting, hugging old/first lover at festival (4) HOLI {O}{Lo..r} in {HI}

GRID

20 comments:

  1. 16 Initially, almost certain to stay within limits on stands (7) ENDURES {sURE} in {ENDS} What's the role of initially?

    I think 'initially almost' means to remove s from SURE when generally 'almost' means to remove the last letter. 'to stay within' is the container ind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did notice that it is not SURe but sURE.
      But it never occurred to me that it has been taken care of by wording in the clue - as you say.
      Does it work, I wonder.

      Delete
    2. Frankly, reading with 'initially almost' gave me a feeling that the initial letter is definitely there!

      Delete
    3. Cannot think of any other explanation

      Delete
    4. Not initially, certain to stay within limits on stands
      would have been better

      Delete
    5. I too have the same idea. "Initially not certain"

      Delete
    6. almost: not far off. Initially (not far) off.

      Delete
  2. Enjoyed festive solving on paper. Missed out on wild boar & trows. Happy I was able to get all the rest without any outside help. Trows was new to me.
    I too had put a ? for initially. I feel almost can work for removal of either end. 'Initially' is very confusing, though the explanation given is best under the circumstances.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Have a doubt in 13AC:
    Will it not be OK, even without "by the"?

    ReplyDelete
  4. In any case, 'the' has to be there. Probably, he meant it to get the first letter in yard.

    ReplyDelete
  5. 8D: Shouldn't it be 'evenly' instead of 'oddly' or does oddly mean alternate letters?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Others may not agree. But, personally I do not like the use of oddly, when even letters are intended

      Delete
    2. Same here. 'Often' works both ways.

      Delete
    3. +1.
      I was stumped for a while. Agree with 'often', if the setter does not want to reveal odd/ even.

      Delete

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