Solution to 9A has been deliberately left unsolved and is to be answered only by a non-regular/novice commenter, with proper annotation. Those who have answered earlier in the week, please give others a chance.
ACROSS
1 Dek, spots fixed for computer models (8) DESKTOPS*
5 Round wall inset with line smudged out is not clear (6) OPAQUE {O}{PlAQUE}
9 Flyer has one drink (7)M?R?I?I (Addendum - MARTINI {MARTIN}{1} - See comments)
10 Tavern’s dismissed help (7) SERVANT*
11 Stern enforcement makes expert depressed (9) CRACKDOWN {CRACK}{DOWN}
12 Mistake, which to a T, causes panic (5) ERRORtERROR
13 Foreigner loses a claim (4) LIENaLIEN
14 Elegy lass rewrote is for all time (9) AGELESSLY*
17 Exit so Clare might appear (5,4) CLEAR AWAY {CLARE}* [RA]
19 The chorus includes repeat (4) ECHO [T]
23 Custom makes you and me to develop (5) USAGE {US}{AGE}
24 Drunk to say I left quietly (5,4) SOTTO VOCE {SOT}{TO}{VOiCE}
25 Old man in stripped house is threatening (7) OMINOUS {O}{M}{IN}{hOUSe}
26 Cowardly member of a brood (7) CHICKEN [DD]
27 A month that is grand (6) AUGUST [DD]
28 He keeps an account of instrument (8) RECORDER [DD]
DOWN
1 I am up in calm residence (8) DOMICILE {DO{IM<=}CILE}
2 Engineer wildly tears around to notch (7) SERRATE {S{ER}RATE*}
3 Translation’s distasteful and difficult to understand (6) TRICKY {TR}{ICKY}
4 It helps to have a better vision (4,2,7) PAIR OF GLASSES [CD]
6 Awkward way of paying a poet? Not exactly (8) PERVERSE {PER VERSE}[CD] See comments
7 What a bad workman may have with his tools (7) QUARREL [CD]
8 Blackmail former wife for wrong (6) EXTORT {EX}{TORT}
10 A for one? (6,7) SINGLE ARTICLE [CD]
15 Very hungry Black? (8) RAVENOUS [DD]
16 Regulating device of head of State (8) GOVERNOR [DD]
18 Top court statement not soft (7) LEADINGpLEADING
20 Dishonest Chennai leader swindled (7) CROOKED {Ch...i}{ROOKED}
21 Distinctive look about golden dawn (6) AURORA {AUR{OR}A}
22 Boy wised up about one fish (6) BONITO {B}{ON{1}TO}
Reference List
Line = L, Old = O, Man = M, Engineer = ER, Translation = TR, Soft = P, Gold = OR, Boy = B
1 Dek, spots fixed for computer models (8) DESKTOPS*
5 Round wall inset with line smudged out is not clear (6) OPAQUE {O}{P
9 Flyer has one drink (7)
10 Tavern’s dismissed help (7) SERVANT*
11 Stern enforcement makes expert depressed (9) CRACKDOWN {CRACK}{DOWN}
12 Mistake, which to a T, causes panic (5) ERROR
13 Foreigner loses a claim (4) LIEN
14 Elegy lass rewrote is for all time (9) AGELESSLY*
17 Exit so Clare might appear (5,4) CLEAR AWAY {CLARE}* [RA]
19 The chorus includes repeat (4) ECHO [T]
23 Custom makes you and me to develop (5) USAGE {US}{AGE}
24 Drunk to say I left quietly (5,4) SOTTO VOCE {SOT}{TO}{VO
25 Old man in stripped house is threatening (7) OMINOUS {O}{M}{IN}{
26 Cowardly member of a brood (7) CHICKEN [DD]
27 A month that is grand (6) AUGUST [DD]
28 He keeps an account of instrument (8) RECORDER [DD]
DOWN
1 I am up in calm residence (8) DOMICILE {DO{IM<=}CILE}
2 Engineer wildly tears around to notch (7) SERRATE {S{ER}RATE*}
3 Translation’s distasteful and difficult to understand (6) TRICKY {TR}{ICKY}
4 It helps to have a better vision (4,2,7) PAIR OF GLASSES [CD]
6 Awkward way of paying a poet? Not exactly (8) PERVERSE {PER VERSE}
7 What a bad workman may have with his tools (7) QUARREL [CD]
8 Blackmail former wife for wrong (6) EXTORT {EX}{TORT}
10 A for one? (6,7) SINGLE ARTICLE [CD]
15 Very hungry Black? (8) RAVENOUS [DD]
16 Regulating device of head of State (8) GOVERNOR [DD]
18 Top court statement not soft (7) LEADING
20 Dishonest Chennai leader swindled (7) CROOKED {C
21 Distinctive look about golden dawn (6) AURORA {AUR{OR}A}
22 Boy wised up about one fish (6) BONITO {B}{ON{1}TO}
Reference List
Line = L, Old = O, Man = M, Engineer = ER, Translation = TR, Soft = P, Gold = OR, Boy = B
Dr RKE's TalePiece
We are at The Kirkwall Hotel in Orkney Islands in Northern Scotland. It is the last leg of our Scotland tour and we are here to witness the grandeur of the AURORA borealis. We (Yours truly and a friend) had read up every SINGLE ARTICLE on the Northern Lights, looked at numerous pictures of it on our DESKTOPs back home, in our hunt for the best place and time to catch the heavenly sight. This hotel on the beachfront, is the one LEADING the opinion polls on Tripadvisor for it has an unparalleled view of the skies over the sea. It is AUGUST and may be a tad too early for the Northern Lights, but the skies turn OMINOUSly cloudy in these parts later in the season.
Walking all evening on the beach has made us RAVENOUSly hungry and we order in-room dining. A sweet highland air played on a RECORDER and bagpipes ECHOes through the old-fashioned radiogram in the room. A liveried BEARER comes to CLEAR AWAY the plates after the lavish dinner of baked BONITO, honey-mustard CHICKEN breasts preceded by two rounds of dry MARTINI. I ask him what would be the best time to see the aurora. He says in a Scottish accent, “Guv, 10pm to midnight” and adds SOTTO VOCE, “if the sky is clear”. (‘Guv”, short for GOVERNOR, is in common USAGE as an address to a gentleman by SERVANTs in the UK.)
We go up to the terrace of the hotel by 10pm and my friend is all ooh-aah struck by the magnificent spectacle of the greenish hued aurora. Not all your reading and looking at photographs prepares you for the shimmering real thing. It is an ERROR to assume that the lights are static as the pictures seem to show. They seem to be flowing in a current, sometimes slow and smooth and sometimes rapidly and with SERRATEd or CROOKED margins. After 2 or 3 minutes of watching this matchless atmospheric phenomenon, I carelessly look down from the terrace and alas, my PAIR OF GLASSES falls off my nose and goes crashing down 3 floors. What a catastrophe! My friend has the PERVERSE joy of describing what he beholds while I peer OPAQUEly into the darkness. It is really a case of my missing the spectacle (both the one on my nose and in the skies!)
Walking all evening on the beach has made us RAVENOUSly hungry and we order in-room dining. A sweet highland air played on a RECORDER and bagpipes ECHOes through the old-fashioned radiogram in the room. A liveried BEARER comes to CLEAR AWAY the plates after the lavish dinner of baked BONITO, honey-mustard CHICKEN breasts preceded by two rounds of dry MARTINI. I ask him what would be the best time to see the aurora. He says in a Scottish accent, “Guv, 10pm to midnight” and adds SOTTO VOCE, “if the sky is clear”. (‘Guv”, short for GOVERNOR, is in common USAGE as an address to a gentleman by SERVANTs in the UK.)
We go up to the terrace of the hotel by 10pm and my friend is all ooh-aah struck by the magnificent spectacle of the greenish hued aurora. Not all your reading and looking at photographs prepares you for the shimmering real thing. It is an ERROR to assume that the lights are static as the pictures seem to show. They seem to be flowing in a current, sometimes slow and smooth and sometimes rapidly and with SERRATEd or CROOKED margins. After 2 or 3 minutes of watching this matchless atmospheric phenomenon, I carelessly look down from the terrace and alas, my PAIR OF GLASSES falls off my nose and goes crashing down 3 floors. What a catastrophe! My friend has the PERVERSE joy of describing what he beholds while I peer OPAQUEly into the darkness. It is really a case of my missing the spectacle (both the one on my nose and in the skies!)
9a
ReplyDeleteMARTINI: drink
Martin( Martin Flyer) I(one)
Good start of the week by Gridman- enjoyable as ever.
ReplyDelete+2
Delete+3
Delete+4
DeleteGridman strikes a perfect balance between challenge and skill of most of THC solvers
Delete+1
Delete+2
DeleteGreat! So glad your turn has come. Completed by 8. 45 AM
ReplyDelete6D- Is it a CD? I read it with 'awkward'as Def.and the rest as wp.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, I think.
DeleteHow do you pay a poet? Per Verse
With Awkward as definition.
Not exactly makes it sound like a CD. Great clue
DeleteI guess the Colonel got busy. Blame me for mailing the tale as late as 9 am (woke up late!).
ReplyDeleteSo here it is in the comments.
Added to the main post
DeleteThanks Col
DeleteWhat a 'spectacular'end to the Tale Piece!!
ReplyDelete+1 with a :-) for the pun.
DeleteMaybe later they ordered some sparkling wine!
DeleteChampagne is the sparkler.
ReplyDeleteFriedman gave us a lollipop today. Thomas Phil
ReplyDeleteBreaking news!!
ReplyDeleteAUGUST 17th.
Early morning there was a CRACKDOWN on the Nirvana Island by Interpol Agents.
The teeming crowd was told to CLEAR AWAY. The DESKTOPS were checked. Every SINGLE ARTICLE was turned upside down. Many were questioned while the RECORDER was on.
There was no QUARREL. They could neither extract nor EXTORT anything!!
A phone call - and they said the visit was due to some ERROR.
The RAVENOUS team was given a sumptuous lunch with MARTINI and a special performance by the AGELESSLY favourite Renee.
What happened next?
CGB back in action,continuing from where he left off. Yes,the Nirvana island. We can expect some action soon.
ReplyDelete