Solution to 14A 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 Roaming daughter and husband, going missing in Delhi, returned with host (6) MOBILE {dELhI<=}<=>{MOB}
5 Topping of cheese in “Baked Potato Special” wraps (8) TOPCOATS {TOP{Ch...e}OAT*}{S}
9 Once again fire command with charm and energy (8) REIGNITE {REIGN}{IT}{E}
10 A speed merchant from Down Under despatching case of beer and ecstasy for old British skipper (6) ATTLEE {A}{breTT LEE}
11 In addition to new base for a sofa, Avtaar added in latest fashion (3,2,7) NOT TO MENTION Anno pending (Addendum {N}{OTTOM(-a+e)N}{T{I}ON}
14 Midday papers? Boring! Not a soul has time (8) N?O?T?D? (Addendum NOONTIDE {NOON{T}{ID}E} - See commets)
17 Novice in a ranch from Indian district starting to rear ducks (8) JILLAROO {JI{L}LA}{Rear}{00} &lit (Addendum - {JILLA}{Rear}{00} - See comments)
18 Cast iron case for tablets (4) INRO*
23 Man invited by Indian mandarin for grass (6) BAMBOO {BA{M}BOO}
25 Awesome fire trick almost went awry (8) TERRIFIC {FIRE+TRICk}*
26 Members’ terminals? (6) DIGITS [CD]
DOWN
2 At heart, honest people could be this? (4) OPEN {hoNEst+peOPle}* Semi&lit
3 Training uninitiated Algerian men in the main (2,7) IN GENERAL {aLGERIAN+mEN}*
4 Boots out European champions after losing gold (6) EVICTS {E}{VICTorS}
5 Ray made this classic documentary “Of Sushi...” (3,5,2,5) THE SOUND OF MUSIC {THE SOUND OF MUSIC+RAY=DOCUMENTARY OF SUSHI} [CA]
6 Out? Quite the contrary! (6,2) PLAYED ON [CD]
7 Musical ensemble from old college beginning to excel in ping-pong (5) OCTET {O}{C}{T{Ex..l}T}
8 Beth managed food requests in UK’s tourist spots (3,7) THE BORDERS {BETH*}{ORDERS}
12 Each bar in Kerala’s capital deployed safety mechanism in tools for cutting (5,5) CHAIN BRAKE {EACH+BAR+IN+Ke...a}*
15 Stitching trial? Go in circumspectly (9) TAILORING*
16 Waive immediately, say (5,3) WRITE OFF (~ right off)
19 Oldest one decided groups on a trip (6) STONED [T]
22 Can’t split takings (4) LOOT {LOO}{T}
Reference List
Daughter = D, Husband = H, Special = S, Charm = IT, Energy = E, New = N, Base = E, Time = T, Ecstasy = E, Indian District = JILLA, Man = M, Indian mandarin = BABOO, Over = O, European = E, Old = O, College = C, Ping-pong = TT, Name = N, Can = LOO
11a N ottom(-a+e)n t(i)on
ReplyDeleteRight you are.
DeleteOne more of Paraprodsdokians......
ReplyDeleteThe first time I heard about paraprosdokians, I liked them. Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence or phrase is surprising or unexpected and is frequently humorous. (Winston Churchill loved them.)
1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you.... but it's still on my list.
3. Since light travels faster than sound, some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
4. If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong.
5. We never really grow up.... we only learn how to act in public.
6. War does not determine who is right, only who is left.
7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.
9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
10. In filling out an application, where it says, "In case of emergency, notify...." I answered, "a doctor “
12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.
13. I used to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure.
14. To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.
15.
16. You're never too old to learn something stupid.
17. I'm supposed to respect my elders, but it's getting harder and harder for me to find one now.
Good collection. Why is 15 left blank? Are we supposed to find one?
DeleteWhy not? I invite suggestions.
I am not able to readily get one. But here is one of Churchill's quips-
DeleteAn opposition lady MP said,"If you were my husband I would have poisoned you."
Churchill in reply said," ..and if you had been my wife,I would have gladly taken it."
May not strictly qualify,but I thought it was a good one.
Shahjahan built tajmahal, looked at it, looked at it and said
Deleteबाप रे बहूत खर्चा होगया।
I think it is something to do with 16
DeleteGood one.
DeleteSuper Gowri.
DeleteWhen the going gets tough, the tough go for coffee ..I used to like it as u noticed it was so true at all offices 😃
DeleteFirst time heard about this FOS. Excellent collection
DeleteI thought this might be interesting.
ReplyDeleteGood compilation and I enjoyed reading as iam also one among the English language lovers.
ReplyDelete21d think in UK, GRAYLING AND UMBER refer to same fish.
ReplyDeleteSpot on. Umber is also the grayling (Chambers).
Delete17a imu, JILLA is district (atleast in AP). Novice in a ranch is def.
ReplyDeleteSame with Tamil too. Probably in Hindi the call it Jila.
DeleteAbout 11A- where do you get ton from? (t(i)on)
+1
DeleteTON is fashion
DeleteRight Sree Sree. Jilla District in India.
DeleteAnd KKR, too. TON is fashion - one of the definitions
DeleteReally? I did not know that. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteTon is a contraction of tone।
DeleteHaut ton and bon ton are equivalent of jet set in 1820's.
But it's mostly slang.
No wonder. 1820s is too....long ago for us. 😊😊😊
DeleteI also did not know.. & i thought i am so up to date in fashion (knowledge wise) 😆😆😆
ReplyDeleteWhile high fashion was the playground of the bon ton, all social classes gathered aux courses, at the races.
DeleteUsage in a sentence. 👆
DeleteAlways a difficult question to answer in school days!
Delete14 a. NOONTIDE = Midday
ReplyDeleteNO ONE = Not a soul
ID = Papers
T = time
Boring indicates insertion of id
NOON + T + ID + E
Super
DeleteGood solve
DeleteGood parsing
ReplyDeleteSreeniji, in 2D, the anagind is 'could be'? Funnily enough, I had the answer as "Ones" with defn - "People could be this" and took the parsing as "at heart honest" = h(ones)t. I left it like that on paper as change would smudge the filled grid😀..doing crosswords doubles as a handwriting practice and I wanted it to be clean but did have a slap-head moment after coming here...
ReplyDeleteYes, CPC. It is intended as an &lit (specifically a semi &lit since "this" does not have a role in the wordplay). Might have misled you
DeleteEven i try to fill my grid & sudoku neatly - much to my son's amusement.
DeleteMine has scratches there too!
ReplyDeleteI have a doubt about 10A- Can you call a Prime Minister a skipper- of course goes well with Brett Lee. Leader,yes but skipper somehow does not fit,IMO.
ReplyDelete*Ship of a state" has been a metaphor to indicate Governance of a state from Plato's Republic. And famously Munro equated PM to the Captain of the ship of state.
DeleteHence skipper.
Skipper as the captain - he as the captain of the British ship. Somewhat cryptic definition to fit the cricketing surface
DeleteEnjoyably tough puzzle today. I didn't get 10A: ATTLEE; the clue was a bit of a leap. Thanks, Avtaar.
ReplyDeleteThanks Amita. Good that you enjoyed
DeleteI always found it hard to solve Avtaar's crossword puzzles. But could do it today with much perseverance.
ReplyDeleteGreat RNP. Hope you liked it
DeleteNewbie here. Are these annotation conventions explained in any post? Also how is Charm = IT?
ReplyDeleteFor conventions in annotations look up links in www.crosswordunclued.com
DeleteCharm = Sex Appeal = IT
Nice grid, by and large. Nice discussion too, liked that it is focussed on how the clues are to be parsed, including viable justifications by the setter without any personal or gratuitous tangential remarks. This is a nice healthy kind of environment I feel comfortable participating in.
ReplyDeleteHad wanted to post a comment on yesterday’s acrimonious blogpost, but I see that my name has become an “infamous” byword and so hesitated and thought twice about daring to speak out lest it detract from the overwhelming acclaim won by Dreamer. And fortunately or otherwise, by the time I worked up the courage the comments section had been disabled after everyone had their say. So, maybe later.
Just to wonder about 15D, since no solver raised the doubt — ‘circumspectly’ is OK as anagrind? An anagrind needs to connote some sort of doubt, confusion, or dynamic movement, yes? And “Circumspect” means “cautious” means “doubtful”. So, there is a semantic distance/disjunct, as it is. Also yes, agreed, ‘circumspectly’ is an adverb, which automatically suggests dynamism and gives it the semblance of an anagrind. But just wanted to check if solvers are OK with the usage.
You know for yourself why your name has become an 'infamous' byword. If you have the courage then come out with your real name, which I am sure you will not for obvious reasons. So just stick to comments rather than trying to justify who you are not.
DeleteCircumspectly is not a very strong or obvious indicator. In the sense of with nervousness/apprehension or gingerly it could work.
Delete