Saturday 23 February 2019

No 12557, Saturday 23 Feb 2019, Vulcan


Across

1. New head of state to continue causing controversy (11) CONTENTIOUS {State+TO+CONTINUE*}
8. Mark of designation (4) SIGN (T)
9. Things about a man shown in a film (10) GOODFELLAS {GOOD{FELLA}S}
10. As a matter of reality, it's not quite fine, shoddy work (2,4) IN FACT {FINe*}{ACT}
11. Asian queen featuring in one article (7) IRANIAN {I}{RANI}{AN}
13. Less cryptic clue in lower case (9) MINUSCULE {MINUS}{CLUE*}
15. Ship's course on river (5) LINER {LINE}[R}
16. Team's in declineloss sinking in (5) SLIDE {S{L}IDE} Defn in the middle?
18. Exotic green site/place in Africa (9) SERENGETI {GREEN+SITE*}
22. Traveller from Michigan gets concession (7) MIGRANT {MI}{GRANT}
23. Teams regularly having troubles with communication systems (1-5) E-MAILS {tEaM}{AILS}
26. 1/2 O? (10) SEMICIRCLE (CD)
27. Article is quite meaningful in part (4) ITEM (T)
28. Right mixture of Tin and Titanium firstly added to this component (11) ENTITLEMENT {E{TIN*}{Titanium}LEMENT}

Down

1. Wine from China, it is awful (7) CHINATI {CHINA+IT*}
2. Person in Japan showing expertise in martial arts, that's his thing (5) NINJA (T)
3. It is about a plant disease and therefore it is taken up with conservationists initially (7) ERGOTIC {ERGO}{IT<=}{Conservationists}
4. So, it's time for a drinking spree (4) TOOT {TOO}{T}
5. Shoe // with cloth (6) OXFORD (DD)
6. Fancy new ceiling fixtures eventually cutting off sound (9) SILENCING {N+CEILING+fixtureS*}
7. This home overwhelms anyone basically (6) PALACE {P{Anyone}LACE} &lit
12. Circular // one in the skies (5) FLIER (DD)
14. Inferior launch drawing criticism (5,4) UNDER FIRE {UNDER}{FIRE}
17. Idle American measure with nothing in it (6) LOITER {L{O}ITER}
19. Biblical scholar, say, residing in English town for the most part (7) EXEGETE {EX{EG}ETEr}
20. Most difficult examination, everybody's consumed by it (7) TALLEST {T{ALL}EST}
21. Recruit some keen listeners (6) ENLIST (T)
24. Accept an offer that's excellent primarily (5) ABIDE {A}{BID}{Excellent}
25. Tail it's small/shortened (4) SCUT {S}{CUT}

Reference List


One=I, Article=An, River=R, Loss=L, Michigan=MI
Time=T, Nothing=O, Small=S

Colour/Font Scheme

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

Bhargav's Talepiece

ABDALBARI

Abdalbari was an IRANIAN and INFACT the TALLEST in the school. He was one of the GOOD FELLAS and never got into any CONTENTIOUS issue.

The SIGNS of one who had studied in OXFORD and an upbringing in a PALACE could easily be seen.

One thing not known to anyone - he was a NINJA, well trained in NINJUTSU.


GRID

19 comments:

  1. 16DN Is it something like composite anagram?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You mean 16A?
      It is I think as annotated a container clue. The def as indicated in the blog is in the middle. This is a rare instance but it does appear and if it is clued as clearly as in this instance, solvers don't have any problem

      Delete
  2. Can it be- since slide is the solution word and not a component part?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Replies
    1. Yes - learnt it today!
      From TFD:
      ox·ford (ŏks′fərd)
      n.
      1. A sturdy, low shoe that laces over the instep.
      2. A cotton cloth of a tight basket weave, used primarily for shirts.

      Delete
    2. "the Oxford shirt is so-called because it is constructed from a fabric using a unique basket weave, originating in Scotland during the 19th century.

      The story goes that a Scottish mill named four fabrics after the four famous institutions: Cambridge, Yale, Harvard and most importantly Oxford (hence the name). Polo players were the first to wear the Oxford during their matches. This could be why it is associated with a preppy and smart-casual style"

      Delete
    3. Thank you Ramki & Prasad. We keep learning new words or new meaning to old words.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. I thought it was a rebus clue. Had long ago read the clue
      O for Circular Letter.

      Delete
  5. 1d requires correction CHI AN TI

    ReplyDelete
  6. 1D is actually (China+it)* giving CHIANTI.
    'is' connector & awful anind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ram was hinting at the typo (chinati, as posted). His autocorrect led to a typo in cryptic language

      Delete
  7. I think so too. Autocorrect could be irritating.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello all,
    I am Samvid, and am learning to solve crosswords. Could anyone explain what the annotation for EXEGETE is? I know the primary is biblical scholar, and that the "most part" of the English town in EXETE(r). Where did the EG come from?

    ReplyDelete

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