Wednesday 6 December 2017

No 12181, Wednesday 06 Dec 2017, Dr. X


ACROSS
1   Wet blanket turning semi-dry with a bit of dampness squeezed out (6) MISERY SEMIdRY*
4   Keyed up Jonty gutted about first slip dropping easy catch (7) JITTERY {JontY} over {sITTER}
8   Heartily gulp in pasta prepared by cooking assistant (7) SPATULA {gULp} in {PASTA}*
9   Ridiculously sneaky to arrest feeble leader of immigrants (7) SILLILY {S{ILL}{Im...s}LY}
11 Person whose fanciful productions lack truth essentially? (4,6) SPIN DOCTOR {PRODuCTIONS}* &lit
12 American nationalist enthralled by Twitter (4) YANK {YA{N}K}
13 Gangster chasing baby? Gross (5) TOTAL {TOT}{AL}
14 Trump’s ultimate deterioration! Crazy to reject international agreement (8) PROTOCOL {t..mP}{ROT}{LOCO<=}
16 Struggle for supremacy with small battleship (3,2,3) TUG OF WAR [DD]
18 Pressure to gently tap the ball to secure run (5) BRUNT {B{R}UNT}
20 Echo around southern part of church (4) APSE {AP{S}E}
21 Without a doubt, skilfully covers note on musical instrument (10) ABSOLUTELY {AB{SO}{LUTE}LY}
23 Rose failed to show up for date (5-2) STOOD-UP [DD]
24 Tight fist perhaps absorbs recoil of firearm (4,3) SNUG FIT {FIST}* over {GUN<=}
25 Danger involved in venture to get cut of beef (7) BRISKET {B{RISK}ET}
26 Throws out old flame in a skilful manner impudently (6) PERTLY exPERTLY

DOWN
1   Deal with sponge (3,2) MOP UP [CD]
2   What to do with chair? Postpone action (3,2,2) SIT ON IT [DD]
3   Lure criminal with love? Mistake but it keeps us civilised (4,2,3) RULE OF LAW {LURE*} {O}{F LAW}
5   More dangerous to be topless, it’s colder (5) ICIER dICIER
6   Hunter’s cry — Partner in hot trouble (5-2) TALLY-HO {ALLY} in {HOT}*
7   Banning university student entering alliance? Unacceptable (6,3) RULING OUT {R{U}{L}ING} {OUT}
10 Late news! Spotlight around a military operation at northern border of Pakistan (4,5) STOP PRESS {ST{OP} {Pa...n}RESS}
13 Mutter softly perhaps with hesitation? Not this chap! (9) TRUMPETER {MUTTER+P}*{ER} &lit
15 Where one weighs stuff, taking everything into consideration (2,7) ON BALANCE [DD]
17 Difficult single to call! Losing energy (7) ONEROUS {ONE}{ROUSe}
19 Ebullient drunk gets edgy (7) UPTIGHT {UP}{TIGHT}
21 Not quite right to be severe (5) ACUTE [DD]
22 Ordinary people from Italy (5) LAITY*

GRID

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28 comments:

  1. Deepak Gopinath6 December 2017 at 08:38

    Ramki met LV at Kochi. See the link below

    Ramki met LV at Kochi

    ReplyDelete
  2. Raghunath6 December 2017 at 08:44

    Nice clues

    ReplyDelete
  3. Padmanabhan6 December 2017 at 09:12

    Thank you Doc. for a nice enjoyable start to the morning.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Vasant6 December 2017 at 09:14

    Delightful puzzle!Dr. X uses the nuances of English language to dish out a sumptuous fare. Thanks Dr.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kolluru Koteswara Rao6 December 2017 at 09:31

    Thanks for the [not-so-easy]entertainment!
    Came across a new doctor today!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Satyen Nabar6 December 2017 at 09:37

      Thanks KKR!

      Delete
    2. Satyen Nabar6 December 2017 at 09:43

      With the onrush of social media and its rampant use by political parties, I think we are living in the age of Spin Doctors!:)

      Delete
    3. Padmanabhan6 December 2017 at 09:46

      Absolutely!

      Delete
  6. Vasant6 December 2017 at 09:33

    What a coincidence!Spatula and tug of war are both there in today's ET Crossword.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Padmanabhan6 December 2017 at 09:37

    Done it already?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant6 December 2017 at 10:01

      No just copy pasted for solving and while doing so cold solved a few. These two were there.

      Delete
  8. sree_sree6 December 2017 at 09:47

    Tug of war was my first solve in 1990. Thanks doc.

    ReplyDelete
  9. vdsprasad49@gmail.com6 December 2017 at 10:31

    9A. In the parsing the L from SLY (for sneaky) is missing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. C.G. BHARGAV6 December 2017 at 11:18

    TUG OF WAR!!
    One seat is vacant. The public is eager to know who is going to SIT ON IT.
    Who is going to MOP UP the maximum votes?
    Meanwhile one candidate was JITTERY. Had he SILLILY mad a mistake or two?
    The EC has he ONEROUS task of checking the nomination papers.
    STOP PRESS!
    The EC has STOOD UP to the RULE OF LAW. Everything is in order.
    Candidate is in TOTAL delight.
    Is the public eagerly looking forward?
    ABSOLUTELY!!!


    ReplyDelete
  11. C.G. BHARGAV6 December 2017 at 11:18

    Thanks for the enjoyable puzzle Doctor.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ramani6 December 2017 at 12:11

    9a - How "SNEAKY" is emptied?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Satyen Nabar6 December 2017 at 12:20

      9A Parsing is Sly around (ill+i).
      sneaky= sly.

      Delete
  13. Ramani6 December 2017 at 16:20

    Thanks Dr.

    ReplyDelete
  14. raju umamaheswar6 December 2017 at 23:16

    Dr. Nabar: you have spun a neat one, like Kabil Sibal ! Enjoyed it !

    ReplyDelete

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