I'm all washed out with Questions, questions, questions?
ACROSS
1 Using permit, find a way around (6) BYPASS {BY}{PASS}
4 Great lake alongside plateau (8) HIGHLAND {HIGH}{L}{AND}
9 Liquid elixir uncorked to yield skin medicine (6) LOTION {L}{
10 Tax collection is a disgusting area (8) CESSPOOL {CESS}{POOL}
12 Facial gesture is, to me, fraudulent trickster's confession (8) EMOTICON {TO+ME}*I{CON} Anno for I not clear? What's the role of confession?
13 Half-dirty spectacles swiped with sponge (6) LOOFAH {HALF}* over {OO}
15 Early bird in sky really flips back often (4) LARK {
19 Logic of gutless, lousy hip-hop dances (10) PHILOSOPHY {LO
20 Having fits? Fit doesn't fit in fitness centres (4) SPAS SPA
23 Allocate work and harass ignorant characters (6) ASSIGN [T]
25 Hot room in order to sun-dry couple of aubergines (8) SUDATORY Anno pending. Seems to be an error in the fodder
27 A tub needs cleaning with new oil for washing (8) ABLUTION {A+TUB+N+OIL}*
28 He decides what's in and what's not (6) UMPIRE [CD]
29 Difficulty using temperature to bond one H and two OH (3,5) HOT WATER H for HOT and Two OH for H2O?
30 Ridiculously simple moves under force (6) IMPELS*
DOWN
1 Skinny labrador upset about bathing (7) BALNEAL {LEAN+LAB}*
2 Prior to you could be originally soft medley (9) POTPOURRI {P}{PRIOR+TO+U}*
3 Get lost, say in a safe bet (4-2) SHOO-IN {SHOO}-{IN}
5 Wrong time for article (4) ITEM*
6 What's notable in samadhis to rich members (8) HISTORIC [T]
7 A madman raised to be unsociable (5) ALOOF {A}{FOOL<=}
8 No D.Phil conferred for one belonging to a school (7) DOLPHIN*
11 Tearful serial on TV platform (7) SOAPBOX {SOAP}{BOX}
14 Wash fixture that Bub broke (7) BATHTUB*
17 Make progress without one's ad-lib (9) IMPROVISE {IMPROV{1'S}E}
18 Husband and gal to go touring site of crucifixion (8) GOLGOTHA {H+GAL+TO+GO}*
19 Tutankhamen could be, some say, handsome nothing (7) PHARAOH (~fair){O}
21 Being timid to throw above head (7) SHYNESS {SHY}{NESS}
22 Amateur mother in sauna (6) HAMMAM {HAM}{MAM} MAM for Mother?
24 Pressure breaks opening division (5) SPLIT {S{P}LIT}
26 A peace-lover took the plunge in the States (4) DOVE [DD]
GRID
12 Facial gesture is, to me, fraudulent trickster's confession (8) EMOTICON {TO+ME}*{I CON}
ReplyDeletetrickster's confession: I con
+1
Delete15 Early bird in sky really flips back often (4) LARK {sKy+ReAlLy}<= What's the role of Early?
ReplyDeleteLark: early bird/morning person
+1
Delete20 AC SPAS (-TIC) I think
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+2
DeleteHow is TIC = FIT?
DeleteNervous tic.
DeleteIn my view a nervous tic can't be classified as a fit
Delete25 Hot room in order to sun-dry couple of aubergines (8) SUDATORY
ReplyDelete{TO+S+DRY+AU}*
22 Amateur mother in sauna (6) HAMMAM {HAM}{MAM} MAM for Mother?
ReplyDeleteMAM [informal or dialect] another word for mother (Freedict)
29 Difficulty using temperature to bond one H and two OH (3,5) HOT WATER
ReplyDelete{H}{O}{T} {WATER}
Temperature: T
29A the way i took HO T H OH -> HOT H2O
ReplyDeleteSeems logical
DeleteI go with lima. H2O giving water- I could not proceed further until I saw his entry.
ReplyDeleteTough one today.
ReplyDeleteA toughie all the way..thanks all for the annos..
ReplyDeleteIt was semi-tough for me!
ReplyDeleteThis Scintillator's crossie was cold- solved half way through by instinct I wonder why it was so ! Why did Paddy find it tough ? Very few participants. I found the HIGHLAND to be conceived ingeniously. so was DOVE
ReplyDeleteWho was washed out with all questions , questions and questions? Deepak? Why and how?
1D seems to be an indirect anagram? Skinny->LEAN*
ReplyDeleteSetter probably didn't mean it to be an indirect anagram. Must have made a mistake in the spelling of the answer
DeleteIs it an anagram or just reversal of Lean & lab?
DeleteSo, that's what you meant by mistake in spelling?
Reversal
DeleteLab for labrador? Why States in 26D?
ReplyDeleteThat's acceptable
DeleteIt's an accepted form.
DeleteDove as is used in U.S.- dived in other places?
ReplyDeleteApologies for the error in 1D. An oversight correctly explained by Raghunath. The other queries are either answered or can be clarified from the standard dictionaries (eg., why L for liquid?).
ReplyDeleteIn my view a nervous tic can't be classified as a fit
That comment was surprising. I do not know of the medical implications of the terms, but the dictionary entries seem close enough for being a crossword definition, and importantly, I believe the usage is fairly regular in UK cryptics:
Financial Times 14,681 by GAFF:
As fit as outside pool features (8) AQUATICS QUA=(As) and TIC(=fit) with AS outside
I also managed to find some examples in THC here.
MAM for mother also has at least one precedent in THC, and seems no question arose back then.
20 and 29 were intended to be tricky, so congrats to Koteswara and a2z_iima for decoding the annos, and of course to Sandhya for the rest.
Thank you Scintillator for taking the trouble of explaining your side of it. It is always a pleasure to hear from the setter in clarification and for future ref. Mam for mother is still rare and tricky.
ReplyDeleteI guess it is rare because words with MAM are much less common than ones with MA. If branding agents for HAMAM are reading this, here is one idea they can look to exploit, to go with the connections they draw between mother and soap.
DeleteDOVE was also intended to be part of the theme, btw.
Thanks for the clarifications Scintillator :)
ReplyDelete