Wednesday 26 December 2018

No. 12507, Wednesday 26 Dec 2018, Anon

On the whole an 18ac kind of puzzle. A few new words like ARBLAST, BROLGAS, LOGGIA but easily gettable from the wordplay. Nice stories in ENTRAPMENT, MARC, ENTERPRISE, STOCKPILE. Thanks to Anon.

ACROSS
1 Fully grown Oriental shouts about contaminators (11) ADULTERANTS [ADULT + Eastern + RANTS]
9 Criminal in Indian river signals (7) BEACONS [CON inside BEAS]
10 Tribes, unruly, remotest, missing regular urge (6) TOTEMS [REMOTEST - uRgE]*
11 Start to go from causeway to hill (5) RIDGE [bRIDGE]
12 Oddly awry explosion of trebuchet (7) ARBLAST [AwRy + BLAST]

15 Starts a fashion revolution online with hairstyle (4) AFRO [Acrostic]
16 Luring into committing crime, strange pattern overwhelms men (10) ENTRAPMENT [PATTERN* outside MEN]
18 Undemanding elf fosters discord (10) EFFORTLESS [ELF FOSTERS]*
20 Brandy brand, say (4) MARC [~MARK]
23 Crane sibling, at first, lit with petrol (7) BROLGAS [BRO + Lit + GAS]

24 Initially, the impoverished return as a contingent (5) TROOP [The + POOR <=]
26 Soldier in gaol confused by open gallery (6) LOGGIA [GI inside GAOL*]
27 Broad-minded doctor reliable, lacks empathy initially (7) LIBERAL [RELIABLE - Empathy]*
28 Official to even bench right wingers in dining halls (11) REFECTORIES [REF + bEnCh + TORIES]

DOWN
2 Rode south to gatherings (6) DROVES [DROVE + South]
3 Regularly look for ship’s disappearance (4) LOSS [LoOk + SteamShip]
4 Firm // initiative (10) ENTERPRISE [DD]
5 Insect to run away with animal (8) ANTELOPE [ANT + ELOPE]

6 Wild emu sect to expand abnormally (7) TUMESCE [EMU SECT]*
7 Sailor chastises trapped Republican who varies (9) ABERRATES [Able Bodied + BERATES outside Republican] Extra B in wordplay?
8 Look at // goose (6) GANDER [DD]
13 Nasty peacekeepers almost captivate worker (10) UNPLEASANT [UN + PLEASe + ANT]
14 Reserve goods in large quantity (9) STOCKPILE [STOCK + PILE]
17 Introduction for bizarre endless eulogy (8) PROLOGUE [PRO + EULOGy*]

19 Dispensed with one almost in furnace (7) FORGONE [ONe inside FORGE]
21 On ship, sailor takes crooked road (6) ABOARD [Able Bodied + ROAD*]
22 Injure the French at barn (6) STABLE [STAB + LE]
25 Obscure, cut short endorsement (4) BLUR [BLURb]

11 comments:

  1. Very smooth clues! 6DN is new to me.
    Thanks Bhavan and Anon

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  2. Thank you Bhavan for the nice blog.
    5D- Imagined ant eloping- sounded like 'Dish ran away with the spoon'!
    7D- Rates also means berates. Then we are short of 'e'.

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    Replies
    1. I read 7D the same way - and kept looking for the missing E in the wordplay!

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  3. 17D- There is a variant of 'Androcles & the Lion' story. What did he whisper into the lion's ears which enabled him to escape? He said that if the lion eats him it will have to make an after dinner speech!
    Bhavan's insert reminded me of this.

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  4. 23A - the definition needs to be "Cranes" since the answer - BROLGAS - is the plural of BROLGA.

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  5. Poor attendance- holiday season?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Burnout rather than anything else.. Atleast for me

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    2. Sometimes you need a break from your daily fix.

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  6. Tumescent is a common word. It only means swollen or becoming swollen. We might come across the word in sex books. I don't think abnormality is associated with the word.

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  7. Only with much difficulty I could crack 23a & 26a. Though seemingly difficult things started falling in thanks to apt clues.Thanks Anon.

    ReplyDelete

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