Tuesday 26 March 2019

No 12583, Tuesday 26 Mar 2019, Vulcan


ACROSS
1   It is unclear, vague and theoretical (11) UNREALISTIC*
8   Mock meat initially served for starters (4) SHAM {HAM}<=>{Se...d}
9   There's no stopping when you have this (5,5) GREEN LIGHT [CD]
10 First to express shock over retrial (6) APPEAL {APPAL} over {Ex...s}
11 Foot pedal's design altered (7) TREADLE*
13 Main breeding place (6,3) OYSTER BED [CD]
15 Play one boring film (5) MOVIE {MOV{1}E}
16 Element of fear gone (5) ARGON [T]
18 Culprit drew old partner in, got stumped (9) PERPLEXED {PERP}{L{EX}ED}
22 Keep complaining about old weapon (7) HARPOON {HARP ON} over {O}
23 Short training at a British university to start with (6) ABRUPT {PT}<=>{A}{BR}{U}
26 Criminal hanged, this deadly one (10) NIGHTSHADE*
27 Standard in Spain or Mexico (4) NORM [T]
28 Uptight, perhaps pure bureaucrat (5-6) PAPER-PUSHER*

DOWN
1   Fun chap starts off poorly, extremely disappointed (7) UNHAPPY {fUN}{cHAP}{Po..lY}
2   Pack that's for herb (5) RAMIE {RAM}{IE}
3   A langur that's kind of bony (7) ANGULAR*
4   Concept not entirely Utopian (4) IDEA IDEAl
5   Plain and light — undramatic content (6) TUNDRA [T]
6   Flower on hair Jessica evenly had around (5,4) CHINA ROSE {ON+HAIR+jEsSiCa}*
7   Bite one and it's hot (6) CHILLI {CHILL}{1}
12 Delay yield (5) DEFER [DD]
14 Stumble outside old shop building to find transport (9) TROOP SHIP {TR{O}{SHOP*}IP}
17 One behind the scenes Radiohead had missed when travelling (6) ROADIE RADIOhEad* New meaning for me. I always thought of one as a traveller only.
19 Plate with gold to make level (7) PLATEAU {PLATE}{AU}
20 English politician's mistake to let go of this excellent leader (7) EMPEROR {E}{MP}{ERrOR} Deletion of R not clear
21 Really good to be back, drink and chat (6) GOSSIP {SO}{G}<={SIP}
24 Farm managed by church (5) RANCH {RAN}{CH}
25 Fine show (4) FAIR {F}{AIR} &lit or is it a [DD]

GRID

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19 comments:

  1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao26 March 2019 at 08:43

    +1 on 20DN

    ReplyDelete
  2. Chaturvasi26 March 2019 at 09:07

    I repeat what I said before: I am unable to accept the bizarre defences sree_sree makes to some compilers' strange devices.

    Could crossword clueing be so abstruse?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath26 March 2019 at 09:31

      +1

      Delete
    2. Kolluru Koteswara Rao26 March 2019 at 09:33

      +2 [no offences meant to Prasad, of course]

      Delete
    3. Deepak Gopinath26 March 2019 at 10:12

      Calling a spade a spade does not mean one is offending someone

      Delete
    4. Kolluru Koteswara Rao26 March 2019 at 13:16

      Col, my endorsement is limited to the second paragraph.

      I felt Prasad has a point.
      I referred to Chambers for the definition of radical. To my surprise, it has the following definition as adjective:
      16 Fine, excellent (slang)
      and R is Radical as per freedictionary.com

      I know it seems very far-fetched but cannot be ruled out.

      Delete
    5. raju umamaheswar26 March 2019 at 13:26

      CV. Cryptic crossswords are abstruse !

      Delete
    6. Col_Gopinath26 March 2019 at 16:03

      KKR, what we need to check in Chambers is whether Excellent leads to Radical, as excellent is what has been used in the clue

      Delete
    7. Kolluru Koteswara Rao26 March 2019 at 16:17

      Agreed.

      Delete
    8. sree_sree26 March 2019 at 16:22

      Chambers thesaurus online does list radical for excellent.
      https://chambers.co.uk/search/?query=Excellent&title=thes

      Delete
    9. Deepak Gopinath26 March 2019 at 17:56

      Ok. Will have to hear from Vulcan if that was the intention.

      Delete
    10. VMA Nair26 March 2019 at 23:05

      How about {E}{MP}{ER(O)R} with O = Of
      ?

      Delete
    11. Deepak Gopinath27 March 2019 at 07:52

      Indicator for insertion of O?

      Delete
  3. raju umamaheswar26 March 2019 at 13:49

    18 across. Can some one explain perp-l-ex- ed ? I got stumped= perplexedbyconnecting words, but I cannot connect culprit to perp & l. I am perplexed by this abstruse cryptic construction !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. sree_sree26 March 2019 at 15:53

      Perp : nounINFORMAL•NORTH AMERICAN
      the perpetrator of a crime.

      Drew:led
      Old partner:ex

      Delete
  4. raju umamaheswar26 March 2019 at 16:59

    Thanks, sreesree.never heard of peep as an a bran of pertertrator. One always learns. Thanks, Vulcan.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Vasant26 March 2019 at 17:32

    One of those days where I couldn't get to solving till late evening. Enjoyed this.

    ReplyDelete

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