ACROSS
1 Separation from insanely dramatic one (11) DEMARCATION*
8 Brand, and what one drives, society is attracted to it basically (4) SCAR {CAR}<=>{S}
9 One term brought about to describe young ones (celebrities) (10) GLITTERATI {1}{TAG}<= over {LITTER}
10 Sneak through a hedge intentionally to hide (4,2) EDGE IN [T]
11 Pardon me, nasty is nasty (7) AMNESTY*
13 Significant distance to one's last stop (9) GRAVEYARD {GRAVE}{YARD}
15 Starting to shiver — wears fur in this European capital (5) MINSK {MIN{S
16 Old physician, one that draws blood (5) LEECH [DD]
18 Honest one got to win (2,3,4) ON THE NOSE*
22 Upper limit, say, for coating (7) SEALING (~ceiling)
23 Large gathering is happy, it's casual inside (6) GALAXY {GA{LAX}Y}
26 Meeting Anne and Meg get prepared for (10) ENGAGEMENT {ANNE+MEG{GET}*
27 Excellent selection of Indian eateries (4) NEAT [T]
28 In addition, heartless drifter is wasteful (11) EXTRAVAGANT {EXTRA}{VAG
DOWN
1 Had energy drink after day's final game (7) DECIDER {E}{CIDER} after {D}
2 Unite and rise without leader (5) MERGE
3 Period in the UK's green city, extremely critical (7) REGENCY {GREEN+C
4 Passionate singer on the up (4) AVID<=
5 Some point I'm expressing eventually (2,4) IN TIME [T]
6 Wearing no designs European (9) NORWEGIAN*
7 Best at especially protecting America (6) STATES [T]
12 Flat or inclined (5) PRONE [DD]
14 Remain doubtful, not well during leave (9) VACILLATE {VAC{ILL}ATE}
17 Ageless, old-fashioned cricketer, never contained (6) ETERNE [T]
19 Meal that's no less (4,3) HIGH TEA [CD]
20 Son's still surviving with this instrument (7) SEXTANT {S}{EXTANT}
21 Remove one employed by firm (6) UNSEAT {UN}{SE{A}T} Not sure about anno
24 Notice nothing's up with her (5) LINDA {AD}{NIL}<=
25 Second one to take a chance with Ace (4) BETA {BET}{A}
Reference List
Society = S, Energy = E, Day = D, Son = S, Notice = AD, Ace = A
Too many telescopic clues today! Enjoyable grid
ReplyDelete21DN +1 Col. [Unless the setter intended one=A/UN in French
ReplyDelete+1 I took (in):one, firm:seat. "Employed by":with as connector.
DeleteTypo. Un:one
DeleteFrom chambers online
Deleteun or 'un pronoun, dialect, colloq one • That's a nice 'un.
Enjoyable Puzzle!Loved Glitterati, Graveyard, Extravagant among other clues. Thanks Vulcan.
ReplyDeleteLoved galaxy and the avid diva.
ReplyDeleteWhile we write clues we may not keep an eye on the type of clues that we write. But once we have finished our clue-writing, if we examine each clue by its type, we can detect that we have written more anagrams T's or HP's (or whatever) than a reasonable number.
ReplyDeleteThere may not be any prescription but the preponderance of a particular clue typein a puzzle invites comments from solvers (as in THCC today)..
But few setters may look at all their clues from the clue-type angle.
Even if someone writes a 'macro'/app for a less cumbersome method of totalling clue-types after some input by us with copy/paste, few of us may be inclined to use it.
As solvers don't like clues of the same type, they also don't like the same clue type next to each other (charades are an exception).
Perhaps we setters should follow certain norms..
There is an easy way to identify clue types.. If one solves in Microsoft Excel, like I used to and write the clue type in one column, then a pivot table immediately gives you clue types in numbers. I used this while analysing clue types and I used to post here.
DeleteSetters are creative persons and have their own moods and brainwaves. We in this blog are very lucky to have an eclectic band of setters. We get a good admixture of clues each day. We can easily identify most f our setters by their creations, like GRIDMAN, FTERDRK,NEYARTHA, ARDEN, etc. They have created and trail-blazed their own unusual styles. This is not the case in the UK, where the setters follow a predictable and hence solvable clues. I ,for one, prefer DC, CC for their magic. Anagrams are only challenging if they are long phrases. Charades are illusory. It is very difficult to compile , much more when we have to keep track of the type of clues, repetition etc
ReplyDeleteToday, Vulcan has given us some very cure wordplay in some of the clues. For example, I love dye wordlplay and construction of GLITTERATI, GRAVEYARD, BETA, SEXTANT, HIGH TEA, VAC-ILL-ATE , GALAXY,etc.
Enjoyable (though easy) puzzle. I liked glitterati, Minsk, vacillate, leech. Thank you, Vulcan. Also grateful to Mr Chaturvasi whose observations illuminate aspects of puzzle-setting that I've wondered about.
ReplyDeleteVacillate is spelt wrongly in the annotation above.
ReplyDeleteCorrected
DeleteEnjoyable grid. Loved 13A and 23A especially. Still not sure about 21D and 19D.
ReplyDeleteAn engaging and absorbing one.I could not crack 15a & 24 d. All nicely clued.8a, 13a & 19 d stand out from the rest. All told a consummate puzzle. Thank you,sir.
ReplyDeleteToo difficult for a novice like me
ReplyDelete