Wednesday 21 October 2020

No 13072, Wednesday 21 Oct 2020, Gussalufz

Solution to 1D 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, 14   Use minced, roasted spice (5,4) CUMIN SEED*
4   Politician pockets foreign currency in the middle of your day of fasting and prayers (3,6) YOM KIPPUR {YO{M{KIP}P}UR}
9   A science graduate working hard, ultimately, to escape (7) ABSCOND {A}{BSC}{ON}{harD}
10 Tried some cured spam at deli, shortly after returning (7) SAMPLED {SPAM*}{DELi<=}
11 Volcanic hill implodes, exposing hot stuff (6) CHILLI [T]
12 Moving article about posh woman instrumental in Rome’s transition from a monarchy to a republic (8) LUCRETIA {L{U}CRETIA*}
14 See 1-Across
15 We had story rewritten; we are waiting for your signal (3,3,4) SAY THE WORD*
18 Movie full of song and dance, or no traces of silly songs in riotous movie? Discuss! (5,5) MUSIC VIDEO {MOVIE+DISCUss}*
19 Smooch while cycling in winter gear (4) SKIS (+s)SKIS(-s)
22 Present any dosa with cocktail! (8) NOWADAYS {ANY+DOSA+W}*
24 Prepared for race, perhaps with a shortage of time, and fell down (6) RAINED tRAINED
26 Instrument starts to magnify blotches into large dark spots on the moon (7) MARIMBA {Ma...y}{Bl...s} in {MARIA}
27 This culinary centre caters fried chicken treats (7) KITCHEN  {CHICKEN+TREATS-CATERS} [CA]
28 Infidelity of professor after drinking a bit of rum at the end of party (9) TREACHERY {T{Rum}EACHER}{p..tY}
29 Jaw-dropping activities from one nearing retirement! (5) YAWNS [CD]

DOWN
1   Catches captain essentially dropped clumsily around point are examples of these (7) C?A?C?S (Addendum - CHANCES {CAtCHES}* over {N} Semi&lit - See comments)
2   Chaos inherently welcomes sin, essentially (9) MESSINESS [T]
3   One accidentally gobbles up terribly old piece of pasta (6) NOODLE {NO{OLD*}E*}
4   My good man, regularly seen as a wise guy in some famous movies (4) YODA {mT+gOoD+mAn}
5   A growth of small plants shelters, totally protecting love bugs (10) MOSQUITOES {MOS{QUIT{O}E}S}
6   Soaks up broadcast series about Mumbai matchmaker, primarily (8) IMMERSES {I{Mu...i}{Ma...r}ERSES*}
7   Experimental story: “A Golf Shot” by Spooner (5) PILOT (~ lie putt)
8   Punishment or prize? (When wife leaves for Washington) (3,4) RED CARD {RE(-w+dc}DCARD}
13 Identity of female man may lie about? (6,4) FAMILY NAME {F}{MAN+MAY+LIE}*
16 A snake who ravaged a woodland full of acorns (9) OAKENSHAW* 
17 Scholarly Mike follows a scoundrel online (8) ACADEMIC {MIC}<=>{A}{CAD}{E}
18 Free masks and nationwide, urgent, methodical immunity testing, for starters! (7) MANUMIT Acrostic
20 Front of storm strikes, essentially damages weatherboards (7) SIDINGS {St..m}{strIkes}{DINGS}
21 In a small room, partners swapped a baked treat (6) PASTRY PA(-n+s)STRY
23 In a less satisfactory state, with stallion husband gone (5) WORSE {W}{hORSE}
25 Sure, love a furry animal back (4) OKAY {O}{YAK<=}

Reference List
Posh = U, With = W, Time = T, Point = N, Wife = W, Female = F,  Online = E, Partners = N & S, Husband = H


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45 comments:

  1. Kolluru Koteswara Rao21 October 2020 at 08:34

    Thanks Gussalufz for the treat! I am seeing some snacks in the puzzle!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant21 October 2020 at 10:36

      One made famous by Dr. Gayatri right in the middle!

      Delete
    2. D.Chandrasekhar21 October 2020 at 10:59

      That would be taking 1D

      Delete
    3. Sritri21 October 2020 at 11:57

      Captain essentially - t - dropped from catches. Caches clumsily - jumbled - around point N - Chances

      Delete
    4. Viresh Ratnakar21 October 2020 at 13:09

      Thanks! And yes, there are a couple of snacks to be found, along with a curiously thematic nina that just appeared unintentionally.

      Delete
    5. Viresh Ratnakar21 October 2020 at 13:12

      (The coincidental nina was spotted by Mona Sogal)

      Delete
    6. Kolluru Koteswara Rao21 October 2020 at 13:50

      I see garam [of course backwards]. Was it intended or accidental?

      Delete
    7. Viresh Ratnakar21 October 2020 at 14:01

      Yes, that's the accidental one!

      Delete
    8. Vasant21 October 2020 at 14:43

      I also see R of KKR!

      Delete
    9. Kolluru Koteswara Rao21 October 2020 at 14:48

      Vasant, ha ha!

      Delete
    10. Padmanabhan21 October 2020 at 15:26

      Can we expect to see the full KKR tomorrow?

      Delete
  2. AJ21 October 2020 at 09:10

    An enjoyable puzzle with interesting clues. Loved solving. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Padmanabhan21 October 2020 at 09:14

    Level is slightly high for me. Enjoyed nevertheless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Viresh Ratnakar21 October 2020 at 13:10

      Thanks, Padmanabhan. "Enjoyment" is the overarching metric for me, so am glad you found some of that.

      Delete
    2. Padmanabhan21 October 2020 at 15:14

      Quite a lot of that. Only regret is I could have done better.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous21 October 2020 at 20:59

      You cant be serious. I got all correct today & u r a veteran compared to me.
      Thanx to the blog once again.

      Delete
  4. Orthopaul21 October 2020 at 09:46

    1 ac..CHANCES.. Catches*-T + N ...ortho Paul

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deepak Gopinath21 October 2020 at 09:57

      Please clarify where the T comes from

      Delete
    2. Deepak Gopinath21 October 2020 at 10:20

      You need to also mention what the defintion is?

      Delete
    3. D.Chandrasekhar21 October 2020 at 10:57

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    4. D.Chandrasekhar21 October 2020 at 12:10

      CHANCES ; capTain essentially, point is North , {CATCHES-{T}+(N}}* , are examples of the Catches drooped

      Delete
    5. Padmanabhan21 October 2020 at 12:45

      Nicely done.

      Delete
    6. Jacob Brahmakulam21 October 2020 at 12:58

      Which one fits the def?
      1. the entire clue
      2. catches dropped clumsily around point are examples are these?
      3. catches dropped clumsily are examples of these?

      Delete
    7. sree_sree21 October 2020 at 13:07

      Just catches

      Delete
    8. Viresh Ratnakar21 October 2020 at 13:07

      Yes, "these" appearing at the end of the clue, referring to the surface of the whole clue, is the semi-&lit definition. See https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2011/06/semi-andlit-clues.html for reference.

      Delete
  5. D N M Rao21 October 2020 at 10:14

    4Ac was out of reach for me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Padmanabhan21 October 2020 at 10:23

      It is very common in U.S. due to the number of Jews there. But I did not know about the fasting part.

      Delete
    2. Kolluru Koteswara Rao21 October 2020 at 10:26

      +1. I pressed reveal button, "fast"!
      Although hints [your, mp]are available, never heard of this

      Delete
    3. Prasanna Rao21 October 2020 at 16:16

      wow.great KKR. but this feature for beginners it seems. Anyway its a good start

      Delete
    4. Vasant21 October 2020 at 20:31

      Having read all of Erich Segal novels, this was a erite in for me!

      Delete
    5. Vasant21 October 2020 at 20:31

      *write in

      Delete
    6. Anonymous21 October 2020 at 21:02

      Me too. Thanks to books with jewish characters.

      Delete
  6. Jacob Brahmakulam21 October 2020 at 10:45

    19A I had taken it as KISS*; Anno by Col looks better.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant21 October 2020 at 11:06

      That would make it an indirect anagram (KISS*).
      This type of clue, the cycling clue, has become popular nowadays.

      Delete
  7. Prasanna Rao21 October 2020 at 13:27

    1D....Captain Essentially dropped - (T). Catches (ca(-t)ches . point -N .

    CA(-T)CHES* OVER"N".....CHANCES

    ReplyDelete
  8. Padmanabhan21 October 2020 at 15:28

    KKR had mentioned about hitting in the hint button in interactive version. I was wondering who does that? Is it done by someone at TH or the setters have additional work of giving these as well? Can someone enlighten us?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vasant21 October 2020 at 15:48

      It is done by TH and a feature of the Software.

      Delete
    2. Vasant21 October 2020 at 20:41

      Wish we had Viresh's software, Exolve!

      Delete
  9. Unknown21 October 2020 at 21:36

    Tough.Most solutions appeared contrived.Thomas

    ReplyDelete
  10. ramesh ss22 October 2020 at 06:00

    Very nice grid Viresh. Nearly finished except for 1 A and a couple more in that quadrant. Long clues but systematically drafted falls in place on careful reading. Where do you pick such words to clue? Manumit oakenshaw yoda and 1A too....overall nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ramesh ss22 October 2020 at 06:03

      I meant 4AC (not 1AC)

      Delete
    2. Viresh Ratnakar22 October 2020 at 09:00

      Thanks, novice! Sometimes the words are simply forced by the rest of the grid, but when there are choices, I pick words that I find interesting in some way: interesting sound, look, idea.... anything goes :-)

      BTW, I have developed free open source software for crossword construction that anyone can use from their web browser (desktop/laptop though, not phone/tablet): https://exet.app (user manual at https://github.com/viresh-ratnakar/exet/blob/master/README.md). It lets you do automatic or manual custom grid construction, automatic or assisted or manual grid-fills, etc.

      Delete
  11. ramesh ss22 October 2020 at 06:08

    Just a query to the veterans on 15A - the solution and def in the clue are of different part of speech. I could solve the anagram easily but pondered over it as have read comments on POS conflict before. Appreciate if anyone can clarify. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Viresh Ratnakar22 October 2020 at 08:54

      I think the phrases "we are waiting for your signal" and "say the word" can be synonymously used/interchanged in many places. Perhaps I'm missing something...?

      Delete

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