Monday 6 September 2021

No 13345, Monday 06 Sep 2021, Dreamer

Welcome to the new THC setter. Bouquets and brickbats welcome.

Solution to 12A 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   Fellow’s harsh and unresponsive (6) FRIGID {F}{RIGID}
4   Centre for Science developed rare piece of silicon rubber (6) ERASER {sciEnce}{RARE+Si...n}*
8   A dry and largely useless experiment (7) ATTEMPT {A}{TT}{EMPTy}
9   Assume Frenchman killed outside entrance of coaching institute (7) PRECEPT  {PREEmPT} over {Co...g}
11 Perhaps harmonica/tongue — a nice term to describe this? (5,5) MOUTH ORGAN  [CA] {MOUTH ORGAN+A+NICE}* = {HARMONICA+TONGUE} (Correction - Semi&lit {HARMONIC+TONGUE -{A+NICE}* )
12 Deposit money, get returns (4) L?E? (Addendum - LEES {L}{SEE<=} - See comments}
13 Seize Greek viper (5) GRASP {GR}{ASP}
14 Top channel covering Cuba’s environmental problem (4,4) ACID RAIN {A{C}1}{DRAIN}
16 Right kind of shirt to spread bad substance used for colouring (8) DYESTUFF {YES}{T} in {DUFF}
18 One pound for a little rare raw meat (5) FLESH F(-r+l)ESH
20 Announced market price (4) FARE (~fair)
21 Lead-free granular substance, say (10) ARTICULATE  pARTICULATE
23 Youngster wears deteriorated helmet (4,3) SKID LID {S{KID}LID}
24 Doctor originally suggested to discharge one admitted for having depression (7) DIMPLED {Do...r}{IMPLiED}
25 Sibling backs procedure to remove bone for medical condition (6) SEPSIS {SIS}<=>{StEP}
26 Illiterate and slow to act? Not quite! (6) UNREAD UNREADy

DOWN
 Obese person lost after making a comeback (to some extent) (5) FATSO [T<=]
2   After leaving university, I educate cooks to make a cold drink (4,3) ICED TEA {I+EDuCATE}*
3   India’s top politician to skip meeting with trade union leaders being unprepared (9) IMPROMPTU {In..a}{MP}{ROMP}{Tr..e}{Un...n}
5   Show again some insurer/underwriter (5) RERUN [T]
6   Civil clause regulated capital for research (7) SECULAR {CLAUSE*}{Re...h}
7   Provide helpers in resort (9) REPLENISH*
10 Decorated items could be fair gifts (9) SGRAFFITI*
13 Man and woman sharing copies with a famous English conspirator (3,6) GUY FAWKES {GUY}{FA{W}KES}
15 Division by 100 yielding finite number over 25 (9) INFECTION {C+FINITE}*{NO<=} (Correction - {FINITE}* divided by {C} and then {NO<=} )
17 Promote South Indian state without rich backing (5,2) SPEED UP {S}{DEEP<=}{UP}
19 Recurrent energy flow behind Earth’s oval shape (7) ELLIPSE {E}{SPILL}<= behind {E} 
21 Explanation given by the greatest British setter (5) ALIBI {ALI}{B}{I}
22 Time to study. It’s March! (5) TREAD {T}{READ}

Reference List
Fellow = F, Dry = TT, Frenchman = M, Money = L, Cuba = C, Pound = L, Bone = T, University = U, Woman = W, 100 = C, South = S, Energy = E, Earth = E, British = B, Time = T


34 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Also welcome WrdPlougher, who made a debut with the Sunday cryptic yesterday!!!

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  2. Few Bouncers. This pacer made few ' unplayable' deliveries...😃

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  3. What is the def.for 11A?
    24A- Solution to be highlighted.

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  4. Replies
    1. Actually I think it should be "them".

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    2. / = Or .. answer is singular. Harmonica is mouth organ. Tongue is also a mouth organ. Meant as a semi &lit

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    3. This or that, one of them:either.

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    4. I thought it was a CA ( as given by Col. originally) with a Semi & Lit definition

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    5. +1. Perhaps (x-y), term to describe this.

      (this or them is in discussion, grammatically)

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    6. Originally I meant it as Anagram deletion with minus sign - as deletion ind..where term to describe this (harmonica/Tongue) as definition.

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  5. 12Ac. LEES (Defn sediment or deposit). Anno L (money) and reversal of 'see' for 'get'

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  6. Welcome Dreamer!

    Challenging grid - DIMPLED (my COD), SPEED UP, TREAD, UNREAD, IMPROMPTU were my favourites. Did not know this meaning of DUFF and hence could not anno DYESTUFF.

    Keep them coming!

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  7. Col.'s link gives Indian state as UP. as per his anno Deep=Rich. With backing as reversal indicator it gives 'PEED" So, S (PEED) UP

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  8. Deep is rich as is a rich colour=Deep red

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  9. Dear esteemed Dreamer,
    At the outset, a red carpet 'Suswagatam' to you...
    Indeed, I had a sort of 'nightmare' while ATTEMPTing to solve this fantastic brain-teaser CW grid compiled by you. Spent almost an hour and managed to work out on just 20.
    Anyway, thank you for gifting me decorated items while trying to ascertain if graffitis is correctly written by me!!

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  10. BTW,Lakshdweep is UT and not a state.

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  11. Great start Dreamer. Looking forward to more

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  12. hearty welcome to Dreamer & WrdPlougher. good start. nice puzzles.

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  13. I found the top half v v easy & got stuck in the bottom. Could not get INFECTION & DIMPLED. My fav - MOUTH ORGAN, GUY FAWKES.

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