ACROSS
1 Dull, not married, longed to be in a relationship (8) ATTACHED {
6 Avoid work making bakery product (4) LOAF [DD]
10 Sloping surface around hard new frame (7) CHAMFER {C}{H}{FRAME*}
11 United in support for innovator (7) PIONEER {PI{ONE}ER}
12 Monsieur with set of principles about French wine (5) MEDOC {M}{CODE<=}
13 Start development of giant site (9) INSTIGATE*
14 Still trendy, doctor with edge grew plant yielding essential oil (7,8) EVENING PRIMROSE {EVEN}{IN}{G P}{RIM}{ROSE}
17 Deprived of right to vote since friends had changed (15) DISENFRANCHISED*
20 Gesture brought about by a direct love for sculptor (9) DONATELLO {NOD<=}{A}{TELL}{O}
22 Unacceptable hesitation in proposal (5) OFFER {OFF}{ER}
23 Tale of horror in country around lake and river (7) CHILLER {CHI{L}LE}{R}
24 Opening with some soporific effects (7) ORIFICE [T]
25 Turned back with yen for ascetic discipline (4) YOGA {Y}{AGO<=}
26 Separate revolutionary agents infiltrating different side (8) DISPERSE {REPS<=} in {SIDE}*
DOWN
2 Tourist, initially with bundle, led astray? That's nonsense (7) TWADDLE {T
3 One under influence, just about consumed with love (14) AFFECTIONATELY {AFFECT}{1}{ON{ATE}LY}
4 Herald getting hot and bothered bearing first of reports (9) HARBINGER {H}{BEARING}*{R
5 Cheats held up essential cases (5) DUPES [T]
7 Newspaper covering latest in cuisine with duck and herb (7) OREGANO {OR{
8 Distant church in absurd situation (5) FARCE {FAR}{CE}
9 One going into swirling mud's heroic old salt (6,8) SODIUM CHLORIDE {1} in {MUDS+HEROIC+OLD}*
10 Two thousand in company stop and salute (7) COMMEND {CO}{MM}{END}
15 Bitter artist with wit stifling exclamation of surprise (9) RANCOROUS {RA}{N{COR}OUS}
16 Advocate in conclusion less good, lacking weight (7) ENDORSE {END}{
18 Wrong monarch in decline (7) SINKING {SIN}{KING}
19 Sentimental types thus following obligations (7) SOFTIES {SO}{F}{TIES}
20 Editor coming up with modest enticement (5) DECOY {ED<=}{COY}
21 Sensational club without boundaries, free (5) LURID {
GRID
Leaderboard for the 5th round as well as cumulative position uploaded. 51 cumulative.
ReplyDeleteI think now it is very difficult for those above 30 to come to 20 or less, unless a miracle happens. The top solvers do not allow even the other top solvers between 21-30!!!
DeleteBest of luck folks!
Ram,
ReplyDeleteShort for Ramani?
MB,
Leave the leader board alone- we seem to be having a close race within the race!
Kind of a friendly ding-dong battle!?
DeleteI like it!! :)
I am A. R. SubRAMANIam alias Ramani.
ReplyDelete... and I had marked Ramani as a female on the copy of the leaderboard that I maintain !!
Delete😀
DeleteCol: do you maintain the leaderboard position in a spreadsheet?
DeleteThank you Ram. Did not know earlier. Needed help from leader board.
ReplyDeleteSubramaniam Arunachalam Rajeswaran alias Ram & Ramani. :)
DeleteRam, Ramani, Rajeshwaran
DeleteTara ra um pum pum
(Like John , Johny, Janardhan)
Very musical.
ram was the name given by 'google' when I started commenting here.
DeleteThank you Google. Otherwise.....
DeleteSubramaniam Arunachalam Rajeswaran alias Ram & Ramani. :)
9D: Recently came across this clue for sodium chloride
ReplyDeleteOne found in sea or briefly in barNACLes
Blistering barnacles? Nice one.
ReplyDeleteAs I said yesterday, one comic I am conversant with.
The clue I came across in a delightful book on cryptic crosswords: How to crack cryptic crosswords by Tim Moorey.
DeleteYesterday I went to a book shop(my favourite, Reader's Paradise in Indore). I saw the complete set of in Tintin Books costing Rs. 7800!
ReplyDeleteTough one today; took 54 minutes to submit.
ReplyDeleteMissing black in the corner square in today's IXL grid
ReplyDeleteYes, it is tough today, Vasant. I spent an hour to submit.
DeleteSuresh, this missing black, I feel, may not cause confusion to the regular solvers, who know about the symmetry, right?
IXL 2017 27a ENU is 6 or 7?
DeleteIt's shown as 6! But 7 blanks are seen to be filled in!
It has been corrected since.
DeleteI thought today's cluing was very good with some very good surfaces
6 is correct. The last square was not coloured black by mistake. They have corrected it now.
DeleteThank you, Sir!
DeleteI concur with ye-all, I took a whole two hours to submit ! Toughst yet ever in this series ! Its a shame that in a competition they cause errors ! One doesn't wait for the correction to appear as one is already engrossed . They ought to be more careful in the final editing more so since it is a time-bound competition. Bottom R H corner block was missing and that caused a lot of confusion in my mind in the crossings. I was almost to give up but plodded on ! I have put in a ? in the blank block ! Again, 19 down is an RMDC type in spelling !
ReplyDeleteAll in all, a time-consuming and stressful morning was spent by all ! However since the choice to participate is one's own and since we'all enjoy participating , I defer to the orgnizers for putting up a tough one !
I came on to this blog after completion and SUBMIT and saw that many of us are sharp in our observing flaws like this.
Tough. Had to submit with a couple of blanks. I wasted a lot of time to find the missing black square. Should make it a point to check grid symmetry first. As Raju said, it keeps nagging our minds and not able to concentrate.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't merely tough; it was Blue Whale of a grid with a gremlin to boot !
ReplyDelete