ACROSS
7 Former skipper takes ill, say press releases (8) MAILINGS {M{AILING}S }
9 Fixes bird’s limb, sewing it haphazardly (4,4) TIES WING*
10 Catch doctor with complaint (6) ENTRAP {ENT}{RAP}
11 Clever trendy sign erected usually in the middle (12) INTELLECTUAL {IN}{TELL}{erECTed}{usUALly}
18 An Italian’s pizza topping, truly spicy, mainly squeezed by secondary instrument — isn’t that grand? (7,5) UPRIGHT PIANO {U}{Pizza}{RIGHT}P{spIcy}ANO Anno beyond me!! (Addendum - {U{Pizza}{RIGHT}{P{spIcy}A}NO} See comments)
21 Spooner to look at nose of French relatives (6) NIECES (~ see nez) 'Nez' is pronounced as 'nay'!!
22 The French dish about bumbling British leaving, enthralled by change in Germany and European Union (3-2-3) POT-AU-FEU {P{AbOUT*}F}{EU}
DOWN
1 Bullies student, leaving Hitmen? (8) WRESTERS WRESTlERS Wrestlers/Hitmen?
2 Lionel, eccentric playwright and Nobel Laureate (6) ONEILL*
6 Those who dispense with titles? (8) ALIENORS [CD]
7 Transports coats of Gucci exclusively (6) MAGICS {MA{GuccI}CS} Is the definition appropriate? What is the containment indicator?
8 Talk about royal putsch (4) GRAB {G{R}AB}
14 After English, Italian, for one, has roots primarily in this ancient civilisation (8) ETRUSCAN {E}{T{Ro..s}USCAN}
16 Like, a lot of money’s flowing freely — finally dispensed with knock-off article (8) C?I?U?S? (Addendum - CLIQUISH {C{LIQUId}aSH} - See comments)
18 Declutter, start to chill in relaxing lounge — essentially disease disappears (6) UNCLOG {Ch..l} in {LOUNGe}*
19 Flooring French friend with advanced body art (6) TATAMI {AMI}<=>{TAT}
20 Complain about cheat (4) LIAR<=
Reference List
Ship = SS, Nose in French = NEZ, British = B, Student = L, Saint = ST, Royal = R, English = E, Friend in French = AMI
18a
ReplyDeleteAn in Italian UNO
Secondary:aide/PA
U (P RIGHT P(i)A) NO
Where did you get 'aide' from? It's not in the clue
DeleteSecondary
Deletenoun, plural sec·ond·ar·ies.
a person or thing that is secondary.
a subordinate, assistant, deputy, or agent.
Far fetched though plausible
Delete16d def: like a lot.
ReplyDeleteMoney:cash
Free flowing:liquid finally dispensed liqui
-a, knocking off article csh
C(liqui)sh
Air is also free flowing.
DeleteWhat is the c/c indicator?
DeleteFor both 18a and 16d
Delete's read as has.
16d Free flowing money is "Cash", "liquid" . Finally dispensed with is "liqui". Cash without article is csh - Cliquish?
ReplyDelete16 D
ReplyDeleteAnswer CLIQUISH
Lot of money = CASH (knock off article C SH)
Freely flowing = LIQUID (finally dispensed, remove D= LIQUI
Insret LIQUI within C SH = CLIQUISH
A fundamental convention (may not be a rule)- which Gridman used to repeat- is that if a solution word is rare or difficult, the wordplay must unmistakably lead to it. Both should not be equally difficult/evasive/confusing.
ReplyDeleteLook at the blank Grid, Paddy. It says it all.
DeleteCorrectly said Paddy sir! Felt this way while doing many clues today.
Delete+1
DeleteWill remember this, Padmanabhan sir. Useful point. It’s probably a matter of striking the right balance. Often, I get carried away with the creative possibilities offered by a gridfill when writing the clue, forgetting that solvers don’t like the compounded difficulty of having to simultaneously sweat over a hard word to recall as well as a tough wordplay to solve.
Delete17DN I thought it was IFTARS in the first look
ReplyDeleteMe too!
Delete+1
DeleteI could get four less than you! 🙂
ReplyDelete3d US trucking language (got to know because of COVID/suez mishap).
ReplyDeleteTruck ordered not used.
After getting a few Across answers, completely stumped by the Downs, despite crossings!
ReplyDeleteMe too. & I am really quite a novice compared to all of u.
Delete'Words Ploughing on with...' seems to be the Nina
ReplyDeleteThat's the reason for all these obscure words. When you the Nina letters first and autofill the grid this is what will happen.
DeleteOh! You have a point there.
DeleteBut,at least,those obscure words could be clued better.
Good one! 😆
ReplyDelete7dn. Magics - Plural for of magic? Somehow didn't feel correct. However assuming the definition is to 'transport' someone to a different state, in plural, I guess the anno could indicate 'Macs' (raincoats) with 'of' as containment indicator (like 'a bag of books') containing GI (Gucci exclusively)?
ReplyDeleteMagic is also given as a noun in which case magics may be plural,though we hardly come across such usage. Meaning of magic from Free dic.-
ReplyDelete10. to transform or produce by or as if by magic
Could transform be extended to mean transport? Not very convincing.
Sorry for the confusion. Magic as verb was the intended part-of-speech. “To magic” (sometimes followed by away or up) = “to move, transport, or conjure using sorcery”.
DeleteGood spotting of Nina.
ReplyDeleteLike Prasad said- when we have a near blank grid,how does one look Nina? Of course,Col. is there to help.
Blank grid is to read the weakest form acceptable (just passing the mark) for cryptic grid,with ref to discussion on standard grid.
DeleteI did not pass today.
ReplyDeleteProbably and in a way I passed- because I passed on to solving ET CW.
ReplyDeleteA good clue there-
ReplyDeleteBiblical story does not start describing farmland (^)
Oft repeated. (A****e)
DeleteMy memory is so bad I don't spot the oft repeated ones. They are still a new clue to me.
DeleteAnyway, you have not given out in full and so let us others have a go.
Arable - fertile description of a farmland - from (P)arable..
Deleteanother one-
ReplyDeleteRefurbish bad one if it's authentic (4,4)
BA federation?
DeleteAnagram of 'badoneif' us Bona Fide..good let's play crossword within crossword blog as current one is an unplayable, well left delivery
Delete+1
ReplyDeleteWRASSE
ReplyDeleteORCHIL
POT-AU-FEU
ORTOLANS
WRESTERS
ONEILL
RITENUTO
ALIENORS
SINN FEIN
ETRUSCAN
CLIQUISH
Have never heard of these words. Just to think about all the feedback given for the previous puzzle.
& i thought my vocab is very good. 😑
DeleteMore like a quiz than crossword. Sour grapes? maybe
DeletePoint taken, sir. I understand. I may also resent being forced to solve tough clues for obscure words. Will use easier gridfills next time.
DeleteExcept for Alienors, none of the words in today's puzzle were new to me. However, the clues were so convoluted that I gave up. Much of the challenge and pleasure in solving crossword puzzles is wrestling with the setter's mind. With WrdPlougher, I can't be bothered.
ReplyDeletePS: What on earth is 9A: ties wing?!
I think Colonel is poised for a long due day off. We can all play CW with Paddy.
ReplyDeleteMessy writer needs this big pot plant cultivated by HM (8,5)
ReplyDeleteAre there no takers for this clue?
DeleteBlotting Paper - olden day messy quill writer needed it - Anagram (cultivated) of BigPotPlant next to (by) Er (Hm... to signify hesitation).
DeleteI have used ink pens but don't remember using one 🤔
DeleteHM her majesty!
Delete@CPC so you
DeleteMade contact as writer!(3,3,2,6)
Did not get hm as ER. I got blotting paper- but could not parse.
DeleteThank you Prasad garu! I was wondering about capitalized HM.
DeleteIt's not common for an academician to read out the notice (4)
DeleteRare - ra + re(ad)
DeletePut pen (ink) to papers?
ReplyDeleteSree_Sree, is the clue:
ReplyDelete"Made contract as writer!"?
and ENU is [3,3,2,5]?
+1
DeletePut pen to paper.
ENU is (3,3,2,5).
DeleteIt's contact
Great crack Gowriji 👍
DeletePaper is better and proper than papers.
ReplyDeleteBlotting papers were given those dzys to doctors by medicall reps with their oroductads orinted on one side- I dont know why. But I used to collect a lot of them znd had one whole drawer stuffed with them during my zchooll days. Harxly very few use ink pen these days.
ReplyDeletePardon my typos
ReplyDeletePrefer to cheer up (6).
DeletePlease- DD
DeleteIt really is height. Since last Wrdplougher puzzle, I thought we would never get another..but lo and behold we have another one..
ReplyDeleteIf he is not the editor, who would publish this trash?
Why would THC
DeleteBe obliged to tip off one editor (4)?
Need (o)ne + ed
DeleteDidn't see who set this at first.. got to the crossword only at night .. when I went through the acrosses and the downs with pen and paper and found that I did not even have to open the pen cap after a full perusal, then looked at the setter.. then put pen and paper down, opened ny mobile phone and came here.. glad to know that I did not waste more than 10 mins on THCW today
ReplyDeleteAfter 3 hrs battling with this I still had 6 to go. After finally looking those up here is my feedback. I am very picky but I am fair.
ReplyDeleteGreat clues: 23a (lot is a stretch but I'd allow it), 24a, 2d, 6d (very difficult but not unfair, probably better to provide wp for such obscure terms), 14d and 19d.
Minor changes: 'takes ill' is unnatural, getting ill is better; 13a, I'd change 'essentially goes' to 'eager to go', too much crossword lingo, clues are hard enough already; 22a: would prefer 'Some/Certain French' or just French. 12d: thrown sounds unnatural in surface, should be a better anagrind out there. 18d, disease sounds unnatural - heart of suffering, maybe.
Bigger surface issues: HADRON, ENTRAP (should be 'catch out'), INTELLECTUAL (middle of what?), RITENUTO - what is TONU? and AGAPES.
Definition problems: WRESTERS: how are wrestlers 'hitmen'? LIAR. Is a 'liar' a cheat? PUTSCH is grab?
Multiple issues in: ORCHIL, it refers to the dye not the colour, 'plucked' is also redundant. DISTAL: surface doesn't make sense and 'allures, no tempts' to get al is very inefficient wp, I don't think any solvers like this - please don't do it. MAGICS: have never seen 'of' or 'exclusively' used like this. I could accept 'of' as a stylistic difference but I can't see any logic to 'exclusively'. CLIQUISH - def doesn't match, surface isn't great.
The biggest issues of all: UPRIGHT PIANO, which I am still unable to anno. UNO outside P RIGHT and somehow 'spicy mainly squeezed by secondary' = PIA (5 words for 3 letters is again very inefficient). Surface is also not great though the definition is clever. TIES WING. Um... That's not a word!!! NIECES: nose in French is pronounced nay.
Summary: you have improved a lot and you are able to write good clues but most of them need fixing before they are ready to be published. Do you have a proofreader? Overall, your clues are too convoluted, you need to think in a simpler way. I know because I had the same issue. Make sure all grid entries are searchable words, check homophones, use a reputable dictionary/thesaurus for all definitions and finally you need to work on fixing surfaces - probably simplifying them would be the first step :)
Hmm. I tried to post but it didn't show. Was it too long a comment?
ReplyDelete