ACROSS
1 Put a circle around the date to get a promising container for a meat dish (5,7) BLOOD PUDDING {LOO{D}P} in {BUDDING}
8 Check serving as a painful reminder? (7) REALITY [CD]
9 Speaker's rising to provide permission (6) ASSENT (~ascent)
11 Dog breed from a Mexican state (9) CHIHUAHUA [DD]
12 Cover with liquid in a search for underground water (5) DOWSE [DD]
14 Buoyed up with strange delight after ingesting an inert gas (9) LIGHTENED {LIGHTE{NE}D*}
16 Gave one's word after commencement and became frayed (4) WOREsWORE
18 Money offered as a bribe for a cleansing agent (4) SOAP [DD]
19 Green site newly formed in an African national park (9) SERENGETI*
21 Reliable alloy with aluminium in the wrong place (5) LOYAL (-al)LOY(+al)AL
22 Great sage sends back an unskilled actor with a revolutionary male aristocrat to Hawaii (9) MAHARISHI {HAM<=}{A}{SIR<=}{HI}
23 Humorous programme featuring some transit companies (6) SITCOM [T]
25 Neglected son sent out by the king in the evening time (3-4) RUN-DOWN (-s+r)RUNDOWN
26 Gaining height after a blow from the right in a sport involving a glider (12) PARASCENDING {RAP<=}{ASCENDING}
DOWN
2 Dad genially made up with the heroine (7,4) LEADING LADY*
3 Pointless videos cut after morphing parts of a reproductive system (8) OVIDUCTS {VIDeO+CUTS}*
4 One's happy tearing down some coin-operated communication devices (3-6) PAY-PHONES*
5 Queen prone to emotional displays? (5) DRAMA [CD]
6 Finish off the business executive with privileged information behind bars (6) INSIDE INSIDEr
7 Arabian spirit with supernatural powers caught with a strong alcoholic drink (3) GIN[DD] (Addendum - (~jinn) - See comments)
8 Sly clerks at sea trap Edward in a foolhardy manner (10) RECKLESSLY {SLY+CLERKS}* over {E}
10 One counters brief disturbance after a pet doctor goes up to collect the Spanish box with moving pictures (10) TELEVISION {1}{NOISe}<= after {T{EL}EV<=}
13 Obtained an envelope for the op-ed (soon to be rewritten) on a prize for being the last in a race (6,5) WOODEN SPOON {OP-ED+SOON}* in {WON}
15 Sad and barely able to speak without a candidate who might turn out to be a surprise winner (4,5) DARK HORSE {DARK} {HOaRSE}
17 Wrinkled Greek character turns up to press a journalist (8) UNIRONED {NU<=}{IRON}{ED}
20 Cheap lace rolled up to conceal a mineral deposit (6) PLACER [T]
22 Frenchman replacing the soft slip-on shoes gets a viral disease (5) MUMPS (-p+m)MUMPS
24 Mischievous fairy revealed in multiple endings of the Bengali film clip (3) IMP Tail Acrostic
GRID
1 Put a circle around the date to get a promising container for a meat dish (5,7) BLOOD PUDDING {LOO{D}P} in {BUDDING}
8 Check serving as a painful reminder? (7) REALITY [CD]
9 Speaker's rising to provide permission (6) ASSENT (~ascent)
11 Dog breed from a Mexican state (9) CHIHUAHUA [DD]
12 Cover with liquid in a search for underground water (5) DOWSE [DD]
14 Buoyed up with strange delight after ingesting an inert gas (9) LIGHTENED {LIGHTE{NE}D*}
16 Gave one's word after commencement and became frayed (4) WORE
18 Money offered as a bribe for a cleansing agent (4) SOAP [DD]
19 Green site newly formed in an African national park (9) SERENGETI*
21 Reliable alloy with aluminium in the wrong place (5) LOYAL (-al)LOY(+al)AL
22 Great sage sends back an unskilled actor with a revolutionary male aristocrat to Hawaii (9) MAHARISHI {HAM<=}{A}{SIR<=}{HI}
23 Humorous programme featuring some transit companies (6) SITCOM [T]
25 Neglected son sent out by the king in the evening time (3-4) RUN-DOWN (-s+r)RUNDOWN
26 Gaining height after a blow from the right in a sport involving a glider (12) PARASCENDING {RAP<=}{ASCENDING}
DOWN
2 Dad genially made up with the heroine (7,4) LEADING LADY*
3 Pointless videos cut after morphing parts of a reproductive system (8) OVIDUCTS {VID
4 One's happy tearing down some coin-operated communication devices (3-6) PAY-PHONES*
5 Queen prone to emotional displays? (5) DRAMA [CD]
6 Finish off the business executive with privileged information behind bars (6) INSIDE INSIDE
7 Arabian spirit with supernatural powers caught with a strong alcoholic drink (3) GIN
8 Sly clerks at sea trap Edward in a foolhardy manner (10) RECKLESSLY {SLY+CLERKS}* over {E}
10 One counters brief disturbance after a pet doctor goes up to collect the Spanish box with moving pictures (10) TELEVISION {1}{NOIS
13 Obtained an envelope for the op-ed (soon to be rewritten) on a prize for being the last in a race (6,5) WOODEN SPOON {OP-ED+SOON}* in {WON}
15 Sad and barely able to speak without a candidate who might turn out to be a surprise winner (4,5) DARK HORSE {DARK} {HO
17 Wrinkled Greek character turns up to press a journalist (8) UNIRONED {NU<=}{IRON}{ED}
20 Cheap lace rolled up to conceal a mineral deposit (6) PLACER [T]
22 Frenchman replacing the soft slip-on shoes gets a viral disease (5) MUMPS (-p+m)MUMPS
24 Mischievous fairy revealed in multiple endings of the Bengali film clip (3) IMP Tail Acrostic
GRID
Liked this one with looong definitions!
ReplyDelete+1
Delete12a cover:do(does)+w)* liquid anag indicator, IMU.
ReplyDelete"cover with water" is also one definition
Deletecover with water = soak = DOWSE
Agree. To douse is Dowse.
Delete20d: It is not reversal. 'Up' is misleading.
ReplyDeleteRolled-up is a phrase, to conceal is T indicator, any reversal would come after that.
DeleteYes. I meant that reversal indicator is not required in the anno.
DeleteOh. Sorry. Its the typo in anno.
DeleteCorrected
Delete7d is genie = (gin+we)*, imu
ReplyDeleteTypo. Its ee.
Deletethought as much; but cannot relate how we got EE and also cannot locate the anagram indicator;
DeleteIt looks like JINN got from the definition "arabian spirit with supernatural powers"
and is a homophone of "GIN"; caught is the homophone indicator;
however it should have been arabian spirits (in plural) in the clue
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinn
Power(s) EE. Super natural anagram indicator.
DeleteHi 7D is GIN ~Jinn/Djinn. Homophone ind= caught.
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+2; however JINN/DJINN is the plural form of Jinni/Djinni and the clue should have been Arabian spirits
DeleteOh wasn't aware of that! Yes, you are correct Karthikeyan thanks.
DeleteI do not agree,
ReplyDeleteThere is enough dictionary support for jinn or any other sp var of it to be singular and jinns to be plural.
Yes, jinn may be a class of spirits and you might consider it as a plural. That is a different matter.
Thanks Gridman for clarifying my doubt; wasn't aware of this
DeleteChambers differs. https://chambers.co.uk/search/?query=Jinn&title=21st
DeleteIncidentally, some decades ago there used to be a regular letter-writer in Madras papers, esp. The Mail bt also others, who went by the name Jinni Chari.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if Jinni was a diminutive of a word.
malayalam version of jenny?
Delete3D:Coincidence that in the Guardian Cryptic today we have the same word albeit in singular clued as
ReplyDeleteOld half of Victoria line starts to delay users getting Tube (7)
Purely for sake of discussion, wanted an opinion from solvers here about the use of articles(a, an, the) that play no role in the parsing. Consider this clue for example.
ReplyDelete1A Put a circle around the date to get a promising container for a meat dish (5,7)
What do you solvers think?
"PUT A" may be extraneous in this clue
DeleteAnother variation of the clue could be:
DeleteCircle around the date in promising a meat dish
"the" also to be removed
Deletea cryptic cant be too straight too. starting "Circle around" is too direct give away. the second a is (required)part of def because blood pudding isn't the only meat dish. however the before date doesn't synch. any date/day is D. there is no definite/single date as D. i would like "circles date to get promising box for a meat dish"
DeleteBrilliant. First circle implies "loop" and second circle implies it goes around "D";
DeleteMay be a small modification "circles date to get promising box of meat dish"
Happy birthday to Bhala (XChequer) today!
ReplyDelete+3
DeleteMany Happy Returns Of The Day, Bhala
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Bhala! 🎂 💐
ReplyDeleteMany more happy returns Bhala
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMany more happy returns of the day Bhala!
ReplyDelete+8
DeleteHappy Birthday Bhala
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday & Many Happy returns of the day,Bhala.
ReplyDeleteThanks everybody. I wish we could have a separate page for these wishes and messages that doesn’t crowd out the puzzle and setter
ReplyDeleteMany happy snruter of the dat , Bhala. May God bless you with good health and peace of mind in the coming years.
ReplyDeleteWhy not send these good wishes on happy events to the THCC family bloc? make a mention though to inform others to visit that bloc.
I am with you all the way, Raju.
ReplyDelete