Saturday 10 March 2018

No 12261, Saturday 10 Mar 2018, Spinner

Answer and anno  19D for  left for a rookie commenter till 10 AM.

Across


1. Most secure seats set to accommodate foreigners, chiefly (6) SAFEST {SEATS*} around {Foreigners}
4. Increase stamina by taking up some rowing against the current (8) UPSTREAM {UP}{ST{Rowing}EAM}
10. Earnest hotel reserved empty table someone vacated (7) INTENSE {IN{TablE}N}{SomeonE}
11. Allowed good worker to stand in the way of revolutionary (7) GRANTED {G}{R{ANT}ED}
12. Suspension in a short while to protect ground until rain ultimately disappears (8) SOLUTION {SO{UnTIL*}ON}
13. Composition of hers with my revolutionary verses (6) RHYMES {HERS*} around {MY<=}
15. Message for those who’re late — Everything’s starting to get finished! (4) RIPE {RIP}{Everything}
17. Hopeless Proteas need form that’s missing, no? (9) DESPERATE {PRoTEAS nEED}*
20. Inventors channelise energies to embrace invention, essentially (9) ENGINEERS {ENERGIES*} around {inveNtions}
21. Unemployed one led astray (4) IDLE  {I}{LED*}
24. She presents numbers chastising erroneous content (6) SINGER (T)
25. Gave clown gin mixed with a little bit of energy drink (8) ASSIGNED {ASS}{GIN*}{Energy}{Drink}
28. Encouraged by commercial, entered competition to win money (7) ADVISED {AD}{VI{S}ED}
29. Receive money to guard sculpted set of Asian origin (7) EASTERN {EA{SET*}RN}
30. Tried desperately to hide South Africa’s debacle (8) DISASTER {TRIED*} around {SA'S}
31. Retrospectively assess employee withholding difficulties (6) MESSES (T<=)


Down


1. Basically seam is cross, wobbly for cutters (8) SCISSORS {S}{IS CROSS*}
2. Burly criminal is capable of killing (5) FATAL {FAT}{AL}
3. Knight occupies chair in English parliament (6) SENATE {SE{N}AT}{E}
5. Fixes drinks (4) PEGS (DD)
6. Cheaters frolicking with mistresses (8) TEACHERS {CHEATERS*}
7. Evaluated drug said to overcome infectious mononucleosis, primarily (9) ESTIMATED {E}{ST{Infectious}{Mononucleosis}ATED}
8. Ordinary man’s tribute extremely short (6) MODEST {M}{ODE}{ShorT}
9. Value, down after acquiring firm, took a turn for the better (9) RECOVERED {RE{CO}VERE}{D}
14. Crushed by bowling poor speeds, taking ball away (9) OPPRESSED {PoOR SPEEDS*}
16. They make quills sharp, spreading even ink between papersmargins (9) PENKNIVES {P{EVEN INK*}aperS}
18. Troubles for side playing overseas? (8) DISEASES {SIDE*} around {SEAS}
19. Wife climaxes with husband finally pulling out new ways to come together (8) ?E?D?N?S  See comments WEDDINGS {W}{E(-n+husbanD)DINGS}
22. Country that doesn’t share borders with setter’s country? (6) ISLAND {I}{S}{LAND}
23. Take to court after it’s beaten up in cells, in groups (6)  TISSUE {ITS*}{SUE}
26. Requires massages, reportedly (5) NEEDS {~KNEADS}
27. English degree, oddly, gives advantage (4) EDGE {E}{DeGrEe}

Reference List
Good=G, Worker=Ant, Revolutionary=Red, One=I, Commercial=Ad, Money=S (Shilling), South Africa=SA
Criminal=Al (Capone), Knight=N, Drug=E (Ecstasy), Man=M, Down=D, Firm=Co, Ball=O,  Wife=W, New=N, Setter=I, English=E

Colour/Font Scheme

DefinitionSolutionComponent lettersEmbedded links, Anagram IndicatorC/C indicatorReversal IndicatorHidden word IndicatorLetter Pick indicatorDeletion IndicatorHomophone IndicatorMovement IndicatorPositional IndicatorSubstitution, IndicatorLink/Connector, Extraneous


32 comments:

  1. I think 13A should be {HERS+MY}*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Then there will be two anagram indicators

      Delete
  2. I feel there is no need for 2 aninds. (hers+my)*,revolutionary being anind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or,as you say,there ARE 2 aninds- 'composition' for hers & revolutionary for 'my'.

      Delete
  3. Several adorable clues. Most enjoyable solving. Thank you Spinner, obviously inspired by SA's poor showing.
    Loved pegs,mistresses,modest,weddings to name a few.
    Thank you Ramesh for the nice blog.

    ReplyDelete
  4. English parliament & senate? It had me thinking for a while until the E for English dawned on me late.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The clue would be valid without 'revolutionary', I think.'with' combines the two words into a single anag fodder.
    But with it, it resolves itself as indicated in the aano above. HERS* around MY<=

    ReplyDelete
  6. 12A- Purpose of'Ground' in the clue? Protect is the container indictor,as I understand.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anagram indicator (as indicated)

      Delete
    2. Thank you Ramesh. I was a bit colour blinded there and did not spot the need for anind.

      Delete
  7. Smooth sailing today - thanks Spinner!
    Loved UPSTREAM, DESPERATE, DISASTER, DISEASES to name a few.

    ReplyDelete
  8. By the way, is this the first crossword where Spinner's mudra (spinner) does not appear?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The setter could be any one. Spinner so far has used the word 'spinner' to stand for I/Me in every one of his crosswords in The Hindu (If I remember correctly). So puzzled by the missing spinner this time

      Delete
    2. Spinner becoming self effacive?But there are the customary allusions to cricket. 17A & 30A(both refer to the recent South Africa series), 1D, 14D & 18D

      Delete
  9. 19d: weddings – {w(ife)e(-n(ew)(+husband)dings}

    ReplyDelete
  10. 19D WEDDINGS, W FROM Wife Endings = climaxes - N (new) + D from final of husband

    ( fingers crossed)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correct, no need to keep your fingers crossed.

      Delete
    2. Just wondering what these new ways are. Can't teach new tricks to the old dogs?

      Delete
  11. Nice puzzle!The offies didn't turn a long way. Liked Upstream, Solution, Weddings(raunchy surface!),Assigned among other clues. Thanks Spinner and Ramesh for the blog

    ReplyDelete
  12. 19d: weddings - w(i̷̶̷f̷̶̷e̷̶̷)e(-ne̷̶̷w̷̶̷)(+h̷̶̷u̷̶̷s̷̶̷b̷̶̷a̷̶̷n̷̶̷d)dings

    (just a trial with cross hatched fonts)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Cheaters frolicking with mistresses ! If all teachers were to frolic with mistresses , the actual teachers will become mistresses ! Good and mischievous wording in the usage of mistresses !

    19 down: vasant- Raunchy is too simple way to explain the sentence. The first seven words in the sentence has outclassed Kamasutra in its subtlety in the build up to the climax that is a prerequisite to the solution- a 30 across in all Weddings.! Spinner hasn spun my head today !

    ReplyDelete
  14. Replies
    1. Alas!The tut tut comes very rarely here nowadays!

      Delete
  15. Dr how did you cross hatch the font in the comments section?

    ReplyDelete
  16. I completely missed the comments section this time around, as I was travelling! Thanks for all the comments!

    ReplyDelete

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