Solution to 21A 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 One setting this right slogan for trader (8) MERCHANT {ME}{R}{CHANT}
9 Irritated end users with insolence (8) RUDENESS*
10 Short month that is primarily testing loving woman (6) JULIET {JUL}{IE}{Te...g}
12 New/old coin clipped by unknown caretaker (5) NANNY {N}{ANNa}{Y}
13 Resort he can rent for magician (9) ENCHANTER*
14 Meat allowed in small village (6) HAMLET {HAM}{LET}
16 It’s clear I have returned with depression (7) EVIDENT {I'VE<=}{DENT}
19 Batting perfect perhaps — very extreme (7) INTENSE {IN}{TENSE}
21 Mathematical quantity — it’s beside ones place joining logical operator (6) T?N?O? (Addendum TENSOR {TENS}{OR} - See comments)
23 Heisenberg say, at first identified universal metallic element (9) GERMANIUM {GERMAN}{Id...d}{Un...l}{Me...c}
25 Lift and cut the top, cook slowly (5) RAISE bRAISE
26 Hatred when partly powerful, loses heart (6) ENMITY {whEN}{MIghTY}
27 Last place to board a flight (8) TERMINAL [DD]
28 Losing opener, show anxiety and anger, withdraw from contest (6) RETIRE {iRE}{TIRE} (Addendum {fRET}{IRE} - See comments)
29 Saint — one that may be called with hesitation by vagabond (8) STROLLER {S}{TROLL}{ER}
DOWN
1 Soldier to inflict damage at home with energy (6) MARINE {MAR}{IN}{E}
2 Unnecessary and turned another way (9) REDUNDANT*
3 Unit of layer on empty beam (5) HENRY {HEN}{RaY}
4 Emerging nationalist on an upward trajectory (7) NASCENT {N}{ASCENT}
6 Motorcycle (Ducati) one held for training (9) EDUCATION [T]
7 Figure of speech cut short by leading teacher — one who’s not wise (5) IDIOT {IDIOm}{Te...r}
8 About to break object as a whole (8) ENTIRETY {ENTI{RE}TY}
11 Essentially holy land’s measure (4) ACRE sACREd
15 Ancestral building in English city (9) LANCASTER*
17 Engineering movement, a rookie becomes passionate (9) EMOTIONAL {E}{MOTION}{A}{L}
18 Emperor, sort of real in play (4,4) KING LEAR {KING}{REAL*}
20 Exist around harmful influence (4) EVIL<=
21 Intern established a violent uproar (7) TEMPEST {TEMP}{EST}
22 Primarily trade with vendor cutting second person receiving money (6) TELLER {Tr..e}{sELLER}
25 Legendary lover in capital city by ocean (5) ROMEO {ROME}{O}
Reference List
Right = R, Enrolled nurse = EN, New = N, Old coin = ANNA, Unknown = Y, Batting = IN, Saint = S, At home = IN, Energy = E, Layer = HEN, Nationalist = N, About = RE, Engineering = E, Rookie = L, Second = S, religious education = RE, Ocean = O
THE JOYS OF PARENTING
ReplyDeleteAt our age, one of the factors, that UNIFIES us, is the frequent uncertainties & woes of parenting - that too millennial children. But I am equally sure, that we have all experienced those unexpected joys of parenting which come through sharing of new experiences with our children.
Here I want to write about a particular incident that WARMs my HEART even today.
When my son Suriya was barely 7, we had just got our house WHITE WASHED & painted & everything was looking spiffy. Barely a month later, I was entering our living room with a tray of teacups & wham - he banged into me out of NOWHERE. Needless to say, our main wall got splashed with streaks of tea. All sorts of scrubbing, sponging & OTHER ACTIONS could not make the stains go away. Even though it was an accident, I was so upset - I told him "You NOTE THE DATE! Not even one month since the painters left & I have to call EDWIN (our main painter) again!!"
After thinking through the night, my son came up with a bright idea! Let us draw & paint on this wall. We can use vegetable PIGMENTS & draw figures from our CULTURE. We can even TRANSCRIBE our signatures & some fun messages. Both of us can do it jointly & then we will show Daddy. If he still OPINES that it looks bad, we can call Edwin uncle.
Thus we started on our first wall mural. Suriya was TEEMING with so many ideas, I had to constantly REIN him in. He was DEAD SET on including all his super heroes. After so......many No No s - I had to give in & draw a small face of Jackie Chan, ASIA's equivalent of a super hero. We were finally done after one week.
To my surprise, after an impartial ASSESSMENT, I found the final product to be really good. It was unique, creative, bright & a piece of us!
To the DISCERNING eye, it may have looked amateurish, but all our friends who visited us, admired the wall. A close family friend, who was also a PRESS AGENT, covered the mural in the Sunday issue of their paper.
Thus started a partnership between me & my son that lasted almost 10 years, till he went away to college. Through these years, we painted over 50 wall murals. Many of them were professional assignments & we were paid quite handsomely.
I even got to visit a DISCO, where we painted a backdrop with colourful dancers & a high flying play school, where classroom walls had all sorts of RANIDAE, MILLIPEDES & KIWIS romping side by side. We mostly took the assignments over long weekends or annual holidays.
As my son grew into a strapping teenager, our roles & painting locations on the walls got REASSIGNED. Now he painted the higher walls, while I sat on a small stool & detailed out the lower portions. I still remember redesigning our visiting card to include a new HASHTAG, his mobile no. He was the proud owner of a smart phone purchased with his own money!
Well, time flew by & before I knew it, he was leaving home for college & a new ADDRESS. The RAMPing PARABOLIC curve of our joint venture, came dipping down. I, no longer, wanted to pursue this alone.
I realised, it was the shared experience of creating magical art with my son, that had made this venture so special. Alone it had no charm or meaning. Now, of course, he is a graduate designer; working & living away from home. Our living room wall is plain & filled with his photographs - clicked of him & by him.
The wall is equally precious, but still, on a lonely day, I imagine it in its original colourful avatar & a smile comes to my lips & my fingers tap out a message to him. As he says, there may be more such experiences in store for us. Who knows??
Just lovely!
DeleteBeyond words to describe the feelings.
Lovely story as always, Gowri!
DeleteReally good one Gowri ma'am!
DeleteNicely covered parenting and challenges. It's good to know that he came with an idea to restore the wall by using vegitable pigments. He is one step is ahead .
DeleteBeautiful tale!
Delete21a. TENSOR=Mathematical quantity, it's beside ones place = TENS, logical operator = OR TENS+OR
ReplyDeleteGood solve.
ReplyDeleteExcellent all round clues by Lightning!
You said it. Struggled a lot till I accessed this blog at noon to know the solutions of those I couldn't crack.
DeleteWell, 6-D could be termed as the Crossword of the Day! Fantastic one.
As for 27-A, my late father used to term the IAC office on Central Avenue in Calcutta as the 'terminal' from where the airlines coach picked and dropped the passangers. Dum Dum in his view was the airport and not the terminal.
29 ref to roll-call!
ReplyDelete+1 ST ROLL ER
DeleteIs it (St)(Roll)(Er)?
DeleteThemed on Shakespeare titles
ReplyDeleteMERCHANT, VENICE, HENRY, ROMEO, JULIET, KING LEAR, HAMLET, TEMPEST
+1
Delete28A Show anxiety = fret, losing opener = ret, anger = ire, ret+ire = retire = withdraw from contest.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I parsed the clue.
Looks right
Delete+1
DeleteI too parsed like Sujatha only
Deletesuperb. +2
DeleteWelcome Lightning,welcome Shakespeare!
ReplyDelete+1
Delete+ 2
Delete+ 2
ReplyDeleteExcellent clue about 21A.....Always eager to solve the clues in math version. Thanks to Lightning
ReplyDeleteNice, simple puzzle. Several good clues.
ReplyDeleteRoot issues in Germanium, terminal, King Lear, emotional etc.
Also not a fan of wordplay at definition (5A) and wordplay by definition (29A) forms
Nice grid. Nice theme.
ReplyDeleteI parsed STROLLER as St + Roll (Roll call) + er. Does that also work?