Friday 4 December 2020

No 13110, Friday 04 Dec 2020, Dr. X

RULES FOR POSTING COMMENTS ON FRIDAYS ONLY

All those who are not regular commenters but who are rookie commenters or silent followers of the blog are requested to post answers with annotations in the comments section. In your own interest please avoid looking up the answers from the interactive version. Don't hesitate to post your annotations, in case you make a mistake in the annotation someone will correct it with the right annotation.

PLEASE NOTE, SOLUTIONS WITHOUT ATTEMPTING THE ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED

Each commenter is requested to post only 5 answers thereby giving others also a chance to participate. Please provide all your answers in one comment.

Regular solvers/Veterans can post 1 answer each, but after 11 AM only

The regular blog will replace the clues at 4 PM. 

Thanks for the response, here's the regular blog.

ACROSS
1   Proof includes camera rolls featuring a politician’s plan to discredit (5,8) SMEAR CAMPAIGN {SIGN} over {CAMER{A}{MP}A*}
8   Lady’s passionate in the morning (5) MADAM {MAD}{AM}
9   Closest friends crash after consuming Southern punch on retirement (5,4) BOSOM PALS {BO{S}OM}{SLAP<=}
11 Nude lovers jumping up in the air (10) UNRESOLVED*
12 Silly joke by amateur (4) GAGA {GAG}{A}
14 Wine in endless session, more savoury (7) TASTIER {T{ASTI}ERm}
16 One damsel, largely enthralled by peg gives number (7) ITEMISE {1}{TE{MISs}E}
17 Rural boy starting to undergo abdominal pain (7) BUCOLIC {B}{Un...o}{COLIC}
19 Mark keeps fish in motorcycle attachment (7) SIDECAR {S{IDE}CAR}
21 Geek in dinner date (4) NERD [T]
22 Dash to squeal about affair (10) SMATTERING {S{MATTER}ING}
25 Chemical agents more frequently transported by steamer (9) SOFTENERS {S{OFTENER}S}
26 Roll dope, have a little smoke (5) TWIST {TWI{Sm..e}T}
27 Result of bookies shutting shop — anything can happen now (3,4,3,3) ALL BETS ARE OFF [C&DD]

DOWN
2   Contemporary people mostly reserved about Republican nationalist (7) MODERNS {MODE{R}{N}St}
3   Commercial shot around Britain is acceptable (10) ADMISSIBLE {AD}{MISSI{B}LE}
4   Endlessly shout after sailor enters party (5) CABAL {C{AB}ALl}
5   Extremely masterly programme featuring tense whodunits (9) MYSTERIES {Ma...lY}{S{T}ERIES}
6   Soldiers out to lunch, wanting bit of booze (4) ARMY bARMY
7   South American Indian in Nicaragua ran impressively (7) GUARANI [T]
8   Tricksters in gambling game welcoming posh groups (11) MOUNTEBANKS {MO{U}NTE}{BANKS}
10 At firstegg husband to sort out performance anxiety (5,6) STAGE FRIGHT {AT+FIRST+EGG+H}*
13 Exactly in the middle of mortuary (4,6) DEAD CENTRE [DD]
15 Rude bum in novel is lying (9) RECUMBENT {REC{BUM*}ENT}
18 Scrupulous fellow taken in by a cruel rogue (7) CAREFUL {F} in {A+CRUEL}*
20 Despicable person from CIA engineered dispute (7) CAITIFF {CIA*}{TIFF}
23 Analysis by leading attorney in hard case (5) TESTA {TEST}{A}
24 Woman starting to braise culinary plant (4) HERB {HER}{Br...e}

Reference List
Southern = S, Amateur = A, Peg = TEE, Boy = B, Steamer = SS, Republican = R, Nationalist = N, Commercial = AD, Britian = B, Sailor = AB, Tense = T, Posh = U,  Husband = H, Fellow = F


47 comments:

  1. 21a - NERD [T]
    25A - steamer-ship (SS); frequently -OFTEN- S (OFTEN)(ER) S-SOFTENER
    24D- women - HER ; starting to braise - B ; - HERB
    15D - rude-NT ; (novel is)*over NT - (INSOLVE)*NT- insolvent
    22a - affair - Matter ; squeal - high pitch voice s(matter)ing-SMATTERING

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is more than an hour. I expected a large number of solutions by now. Doctor is very soft with his scalpel today. Painless operation.

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    Replies
    1. Dr.X puzzles usually a challenging one. Need more exercises. For me I really enjoyed it solving those puzzles in wee hours.

      Delete
    2. Glad to know it was easy for you.

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  3. 27a DD ALL BETS ARE OFF
    25A More frequent OFTERNER in Steamer SS SOFTENERS chemical agents
    26a dope TWIT bit of (S)moke in twit TWIST Roll
    21a dinNER Date NERD Geek
    22a Squeal SING affair MATTER about sing SMATTERING dash

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  4. 22ac compensation
    16a one I damsel largely MIS-S Peg in TEE ITEMISE gives number

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  5. Good solve. Peg as Tee is refreshingly different.

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  6. Tricksters says 8D.
    Is Doc.one among them?
    Tricky CW and enjoyable. Lot of aha moments.

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  7. 1A- smear campaign- plan to discredit; sign - proof, camera - jumble, politician- mp;S(MEARCA)MPAIGN
    2A-Madam- lady; passionate- mad; morning AM
    3A- bosom pals; crash consumes southern - bo(s)om ; punch- slap on retirement - pals
    11A- unresolved- in the air; nude lovers jumbled
    14A- tastier- more savoury, wine- asti; endless session is ter(m)

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  8. 8.ac.inure - inu United and re from Manchester
    9.ac. on the ball (DD)
    11.ac. synergetic - s from architects and green city rearranging letters
    14.ac.restate - r + estate (property)
    19.ac.section - rearranging letters from notices

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  9. 3dn ADMISSIBLE. {AD}{MISSI{B}LE}
    19ac SIDECAR. {S{IDE}CAR}
    13dn DEAD CENTRE. [DD]
    18ac CAREFUL. {F} in {A CRUEL}*
    2dn MODERNS { MODE{RN}S(-t)}

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  10. 11A UNRESOLVED ( NUDE LOVERS )*
    5D MYSTERIES (extremely MasterlY) MY + SERIES (programme) + T(ense) *
    7D GUARANI ==>T NICAR.....etc

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  11. 17 bucolic - b(oy) u(ndergo) colic - abdominal pain

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  12. 10D STAGE FRIGHT (at first egg), "H" probably comes from husband

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  13. 12A joke = gag, amateur = a, gag+a = gaga = silly.

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  14. 20D CIA engineered = Cai, dispute = tiff, cai+tiff = caitiff = despicable person.

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  15. 23D analysis = test, leading (A)ttorney = A, test+a = testa = hard case, the protective outer covering of a seed; the seed coat.

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  16. 15D rude bum = umb, novel = recent, rec(umb)ent = recumbent = lying.

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  17. 8D gambling game = Monte, posh = u, groups = banks, mo(u)ntebanks = mountebanks = tricksters.

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    Replies
    1. Sujatha please try and provide all your answers in one comment in future

      Delete
  18. 4d
    CABAL: party
    Endlessly shout: CALL -L: CAL
    After sailor (AB) enters it becomes CABAL

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  19. 1a: SMEAR CAMPAIGN {S{CAMERA+A+MP*}IGN}

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  20. 6d ARMY; soldiers; bARMY = out to lunch

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  21. 18D Scrupulous, fellow (F) taken in by "a cruel" rouge: {(CAREUL)+F} = CAREFUL

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  22. 1A Proof (SIGN) includes 'camera' rolls (MEARCA) featuring a politician's (MP A), plan to discredit.
    {S+(MEARCA)+(MPA)+IGN}? = SMEARCAMPAIGN ?

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  23. 1A anno (S (camera+a+mp)* ign)

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  24. Correct annotations for 1A and 10D still to be given. Anyone can try

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  25. 1A {S{MEARC{A}{MP}A*}IGN}
    10D {AT+FIRST+EGG+H}*

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  26. Today's puzzle by Dr.X was very entertaining, to say the least. It was a nice brain exercise in the morning, despite the fact that it was an easy puzzle compared to the usual ones by Dr.X. Enjoyed.

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    Replies
    1. I started solving the puzzles from 4;30am. after a huge try I hardly got the telescopic clues. thanks to Dr. for the entertaining puzzles.

      Delete
    2. Thanks for the feedback. 🙏

      Delete
  27. Classic puzzle with precise wordplay. My favourite All Bets Are Off.

    ReplyDelete

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