Solution to 16A 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 Prince after depression, overwhelmed by cocaine, turning clumsy (8-5) ACCIDENT-PRONE {DENT}{PR} in {COCAINE}*
8 Brute in bachelor party wants female (5) BEAST {B}{fEAST}
9 Concealing hesitation, fake cop affected an impassive expression (5,4) POKER FACE {ER} in {FAKE+COP}*
11 Both men sadly losing money on partnership that’s not working properly (2,3,5) ON THE BLINK {BOTH+mEN}*{LINK}
12 Drug addict killing posh baron, one from the Balkans (4) SERB {uSER}{B}
14 Beguiles everyone by devious ruse (7) ALLURES {ALL}{RUSE*}
16 Stealing dollar, bully abruptly ran (7) O?E?S?W (Addendum - OVERSAW {OVER{S}AWe - See coments)
17 Baby’s malnourishment, essentially shocking (7) ABYSMAL [T]
19 Lout ultimately thrashed by woman there (7) THITHER {louT}{HIT}{HER}
21 Identify face of killer right away (4) KNOW {Ki...r}{NOW}
22 Snake, one on street in desert around evergreen plant (10) ASPIDISTRA {ASP}{1}{DI{ST}RA<=}
26 Fruit beer contains bits of pineapple and plum (5) APPLE {A{Pi...e}{Plum}LE}
27 Have nothing to do with cast consuming ecstasy after smack near a toilet (2,2,1,5,3) BE AT A LOOSE END {SE{E}ND}<=>{BEAT}{A}{LOO}
DOWN
2 Charge to catch a gangster located near a shore (7) COASTAL {CO{A}ST}{AL}
3 Where photograph might be very likely to be chosen (2,3,5) IN THE FRAME [DD]
4 Slippery character steals kiss softly in bar (5) EXPEL {E{X}{P}EL}
5 Killing a leader in market (6,3) TAKING OUT {T{A}{KING}OUT}
8 Lose temper in case, tackling nasty Attorney General (4,1,6) BLOW A GASKET {B{LOW}{AG}ASKET}
10 Crafty bowler traps Gavaskar in front with skilfulness and hard work (5,6) ELBOW GREASE {ELBOW{Ga...r}R*}{EASE}
13 Argument involving one intoxicated sap (10) DEBILITATE {DEB{1}{LIT}ATE}
15 She sells alcoholic drink, massages back in empty stall (5,4) SALES GIRL {ALE}{RIGS<=} in {StalL}
20 Darling possesses sex appeal, excited to discover (3,4) HIT UPON {H{IT}{UP}ON}
24 On the contrary, fashion model is stupid (4) DAFT {FAD<=}{T}
Reference List
Prince = PR, Bachelor = B, Female = F, Money = M, Posh = U, Baron = B, Dollar = S, Street = ST, Wine = TENT, Ecstasy = E, Gangster = AL(Capone), Kiss = X, Softly = P, River = R, Maiden = M, Cocaine = C, Darling = HON, Sex appeal = IT, Model = T
THE MILLENIALS
ReplyDeleteVinod Chopra ran a CANTEEN inside the Campus of one of the reputed Engineering Colleges of the country. Vinod had started the Canteen when he was 25. At that time, all the students were his friends & great fans of his special GARLIC Paranthas. He always kept the place neat & clean with his SHELLAC varnish tables & window sills dotted with ALOEVERA & HENBANE pots.
Vinod also took special care of the students. In the summer months, when they studied all night for their annual exams, he would fill large earthen EWERS with lemonade & place them near the entrance to the Canteen. Students would drink through the day & night & he never charged them for the lemonade. If he ever found out that a student was not well or in AGONY, he DISPATCHED special meals, directly to their room.
Even though Vinod was frequently HARD PRESSED to make ends meet, he was STOICAL about it. He never overcharged the students & always practiced LENITY with them.
With time Vinod got married & now had a teenage son. His son aspired to join the same institute where Vinod ran the Canteen. Somehow with time, Vinod lost his friendly relations with the students. He had a rather poor opinion of the Millenials & felt they were SHOCKERS with their STREAKED Hair, ear studs & TORCS. He found their friendly overtures to be superficial & disapproved, when they turned his canteen into an ARENA for their wrist wrestling matches or into an impromptu Disco, as they TANGOED late into the night.
Although his son Aditya was no SLEEPY HEAD & often wanted to ASSIST Vinod during his school holidays, Vinod wanted to keep Aditya, firmly, out of the sight of the other students. He was of the opinion, that once his son joined the college, he would not be treated properly, if everyone knew he is the Canteen owner's son. Hence he discouraged his son from meeting or interacting with the students who frequented his canteen.
Since the admission to the college was based on a National level Entrance test, Adiyta had been attending coaching classes to prepare for the same. Even though these classes were expensive, Vinod scrounged around & paid for them, since he did not want his son to ever DESERT his dreams.
Aditya also cleared the entrance level exam with high scores & was preparing for the Advance level, when APOCALYPSE struck. After a brief illness, Vinod was diagnosed with PROSTATE cancer. Although the cancer was in its early stages, it seemed a BEHEMOTH task to Aditya to take care of his Dad, the canteen & study for his exam.
For the first time in almost 30 years, the canteen was closed for almost a week. The students, wondering what might have happened, enquired & managed to reach Vinod's house & from there to the hospital where he was admitted.
ReplyDeleteWhen Vinod saw the dozen or so students at the hospital, he was so down in spirits & so IMPALED with pain, that he completely broke down. They took Aditya aside & spoke to him. From that day onwards, for the next entire month, students came in rotation to spend the night with him at the hospital. They held his hand & accompanied him for his Chemotherapy & Radiation sessions. Daily his wife was dropped to the hospital & picked up in the evening. Vinod was overwhelmed.
Unknown to him, the students paid most of his bills, helped Aditya in cooking the food & running the canteen & also coached him at night, so he could clear his Advanced Entrance Test with flying colours.
At the end of 2 months, when Vinod returned to his canteen, he learnt all this. A week later, when Aditya secured admission to the college, the students went into RAPTURE & had an impromptu celebration. They embraced Aditya whole heartedly as one of them.
Watching them all dancing & merry making, Vinod was ashamed of his own short sightedness. Carried away by their external appearance & boisterous behavior, in comparison to their previous generation, Vinod had failed to GLIMPSE the genuine warmth & open hearted goodness in the Millennials. He realised, students are the same all over, no matter which generation they belong to, or where they hail from. He felt blessed & was sure Aditya will be taken care of.
Beautiful tale!
Delete+1
DeleteNice tale piece Gowri!
DeleteVery nice - Gowriji, u take many of us back to our college and hostel days, many a time, with your tales. Uncorrupted by money, the camaraderie enjoyed in those days - always remembered fondly
DeleteGood one and intersting
Delete16A. OVERSAW.. OVER(S)AW
ReplyDelete-e at the end.
DeleteAnno is missing , how do you arrived at the answer ?
DeleteOrthopaul has given and Col. has also uploaded it.
DeleteBully=Overawe. Taking Dollars (S)
Oversawe
Abruptly indicates removal of E at the end.
So,Oversaw
🙏thanks for your anno 🙏
DeleteRAN = Oversaw
Delete(cleared my doubt )
Lovely one doctor! Many delightful clues and had to stretch a bit over a few toughies. 10D awesome my COTD! Had to Google for 18D!look forward to the series....
ReplyDeleteSlightly tougher due to a few obscure African towns. Had to google a few others as well. But that is part of the game. Kudos to Gavaskar clue. Fely happy getting it,though with the help of crossings.
ReplyDeleteHail the millennials. Well written.
ReplyDeleteWe were called as Alumni to a function in our college. When we hunted out old head cook of our mess to wish him,he was so overwhelmed and profusely thank ed us for remembering him. Your story took me back years to recall the incident.
😊😊😊
Delete25A - Could someone explain TENT in this clue?
ReplyDeleteThanks.Had never heard of it
ReplyDeleteWe get to know many such things from the CW's. Otherwise we may never be able to know such things. Wine and cheese have many names which occur fairly regularly here.
ReplyDeleteAfter coming here I got to taste all the crossword wines and cheeses(and fruits as well)! So the chardonneys and Astis, Edams and bries, Avocados and Kiwis, I could partake them for real!
Deleteabsolutely right. That too with picturisation.....got to know western, Italian, african and many......
DeleteAfter coming here & watching Top Chef - I am almost an authority on Western cooking. Who will believe that i eat only sambar, rasam, koottu, kari? 😊😊😊
ReplyDeleteWhere?
DeleteWhere? Into the world of Crosswords & especially the blog.
Delete😊
Delete...esp. with Col. supplementing with inviting pictures.
ReplyDeletewell said sir.....+2
Deletelast week I mentioned about the same.
Tough one today from Doc. 45 minutes. Had to Google to confirm the towns. Could not parse the long ones. Oof!!! Hope Doc goes easy on us tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThis website is very useful and their blogs are very knowledgeable. please keep making these types of blogs.
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