Solution to 28A 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.
On completion of 28A someone to identify the theme and the Nina.
ACROSS
1 Side-effects of experiment unexpectedly create more of the same? (2,6) ET CETERA {Ex...nT}{CREATE*}
5 Somehow, er, appropriate without a proper arrangement!? (6) PIRATE {er+approPRIATE}* Semi&lit
9 Mode of arrest backed in economic aid rackets (7) CARDIAC [T<=]
10 Approaches victory, overwhelmed by strange unease (7) AVENUES {A{V}ENUES*}
11 Correct to reject country's leader and god? Critical! (5) ACUTE ACcUraTE
12 Friend has ideas about fence (8) PALISADE {PAL}{IDEAS*}
13 "Colourful Spooner's set!" — setter (6) MOTLEY (~lot me to motley)
14 Reportedly what the pusher might have done before scoring pot (8) CAULDRON (~called run)
18 4 getting 2 out of 1000, 500, 500 (one's dream) (8) DIVISION {D}{I}{VISION}
20 Leading couple swapped alternative medicine (6) POTION {(o<=>p)POTION}
23 Slimy cop played games (8) OLYMPICS*
25 Stop one expressing love in public (5) AVERT {(-o+a)AVERT}
27 Rosé sprinkled over peeled mango fruit (7) ORANGES {OR{mANGo}ES*}
28 Unfortunately, all except leaders believe my powerful vision (4,3) E?I? E?E (Addendum - EVIL EYE bELIEVE+mY - See comments)
29 European has clinched proof, after getting regularly rejected (6) FRENCH {Has+CliNchEd+pRooF}<=
30 Might extremely suspect radius measurement get left out? (8) STRENGTH {Su...cT}{R}{lENGTH}
DOWN
1 Cried from old medical problem (9) EXCLAIMED {EX}{MEDICAL*}
2 Critic's sick around middle of hamburger course (7) CIRCUIT {CIRC{h..bUr..r}IT*}
3 Lack of originality in setter's anagramming (9) TRITENESS*
4 Steps for cooking fried rice properly, essentially (6) RECIPE {RICE*}{proPErly}
6 Features covered up by cosmetics (5) ITEMS [T<=]
7 Short after a second split (7) ASUNDER {UNDER}<=>{A}{S}
8 England is only occasionally laid-back (4) EASY {EnglAnd+iS+onlY}
10 Oscar wears a uniform at sea (6) AFLOAT {A}{FL{O}AT}
15 Copy potty mouth of known gangster and ex-US president (9) LOOK ALIKE {LOO}{Kn..n}{AL}{IKE}
16 Here, Tintin gets placed right away at a rank close to #100 (9) NINETIETH {HErE+TINTIN}*
17 Clowns worldwide making society go down (6) COMICS CO(-s)MIC(+s)S
19 Very quietly off to plunder a rural community (7) VILLAGE (-p+v)VILLAGE
21 Lettuce that can be seen bobbing in the sea (7) ICEBERG [DD]
22 A lock-up state (6) ASSERT {A}{TRESS<=}
24 Soldier checking computer for spelling (5) MAGIC {MA{GI}C}
Reference List
Victory = V, God = RA, Left = L, Second = S, Oscar = O, Potty = LOO, Gangster = AL, ex-US President = IKE, Right = R, Society = S, Very = V, Quietlt = P, Lock = TRESS, Soldier = GI, Wife = W
28ac.. EVIL EYE..(B)ELIEVE (M)Y..combined anag of believe my without their first letters
ReplyDeleteOrthopaul you are promoted to the regulars group
DeleteThank you sir.
Delete28 A solved, let others try
ReplyDelete27A- Fruit= Oranges. Singular/plural?
ReplyDelete" Fruit is usually used as an uncountable noun which means that the plural of fruit is also fruit. We use “fruits” as the plural when we want to emphasize that we are talking about different types of fruit."
DeleteGot it. Thank you.
DeleteWhat we have come to expect from Gussalufz! Neatly done again. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Delete18A typo. second 500 not part of the definition.
ReplyDeleteSathia, i parsed 4 as 4dn (Steps for). Then the surface reading becomes Steps for getting 2 out of 1000, 500 (which is division). of course the second 500, combined with i and vision as you did
DeleteHere's the parsing that I had in mind: D {500} I {one} + {'s = has} VISION {dream}. The definition is formed after substituting "Recipe" (the solution to 4D) for "4": Recipe getting 2 out of 1000, 500.
DeleteThe surface is a bit whimsical, I admit. Hopefully the "... (one's dream)" makes it a passably coherent surface about a numbers-filled nightmare!
Is the theme Asterix comics?
ReplyDeleteCould see theme words like CAULDRON, MAGIC POTION, PIRATE, FRENCH VILLAGE, OLYMPICS, STRENGTH and of course COMICS.
Undoubtedly and you have already given the NINA!
DeleteYou seem to be onto something!
DeleteAll at sea is the one with pirates.
DeleteThat's right, Ramki. Nunc est Bibendum!
DeleteHad to google to get it. Cheers!
DeleteYes it is indeed - could spot the full NINA now :)
ReplyDeleteCan add WOOF also as a theme word (for Dogmatix)!
ReplyDeleteOf course!
DeleteEyes see what they see
ReplyDeleteEsc to Iim-A
in the grid and a reunion in a months time.
The Coincidental Soothsayer takes a bow :-). Enjoy your reunion!
DeleteThanks for the blog, Col., and many thanks to all solvers. Here are my notes for this crossword:
ReplyDeleteNotes
ASTERIX can be found as a nina in this crossword, running across the second row from the top, right to left.
There are quite a few entries connected to the wonderfully punny world of the indomitable Gauls featured in Asterix comics by Goscinny and Uderzo (originally in French, spectacularly translated into English by the late Anthea Bell).
4d. RECIPE. Referring to Getafix's secret recipe for magic potion.
5a. PIRATE. One of the hapless buccaneers that Asterix & co. run into at sea alarmingly frequently (for them!).
12a. PALISADE. The Gaul village has a robust palisade around it.
14a. CAULDRON.
17d. COMICS.
19d. VILLAGE.
20a. POTION.
23a. OLYMPICS. Asterix at the Olympic Games was was also made into a movie in 2008.
24d. MAGIC.
26d. WOOF. A dignified remark from Dogmatix, undoubtedly!
29a. FRENCH.
30a. STRENGTH.
The surface of 16d. refers to Tintin, another star of a wonderful series of comic books. Tintin and Asterix went hand in hand for me while growing up.
This crossword landed at THC #13711, a number that is yet again a palindromic prime!
Personal notes
This time of the year is when my son's high school marching band goes to various band competitions around the bay area, every Saturday. I have been volunteering with them (got my first ride on the huge semi-trailer truck that carries all their equipment, as a result!).
On October 15, 2022, the band performed in Gilroy, California. By the time they got to perform, the weather had turned quite chilly. High school stadiums typically only have metal benches for the audience, and sitting on the ice cold bench seemed quite an uninviting prospect to me. Until ... I remembered that thanks to Douglas Adams, I was carrying a massively useful item in my backpack: a towel!
In the memorable words of Douglas Adams: A towel ... is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value—you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you—daft as a bush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
And you can use it to protect your underside from ice-cold bleachers in high school stadiums on cold autumn evenings!
Yup, I once travelled on top a bus at night from bits pilani to Delhi. I had gone there to attend a cultural festival and of course meet few plus two batchmates. I completely forgot my bus timings. And then I had to take any available one and could get only the last trip one. I had no winter wear xcept for the turkey towel!!!
DeleteIt saved me till I could get inside the bus at rohtak and be wrapped around by human bodies.
Pilani to Rohtak is a long ride- 4 hrs? Almost Delhi. I have done a lot of Delhi Pilani travel when my daughter studied there. Rough rides.
DeleteIn the 90 it was eternal. 5+3
DeleteWow! for the simple and handy towel. My father (who used to wear a dhoti all the time) had just a towel on his otherwise bare top while at home and we used to find it handy many a time. That was always a standard apparel those days. Of course,in tropics, hot weather replaces a cold autumn/winter and it is still useful!
ReplyDeleteMy father used to recite a small poem for the (similar) versatile use of a walking stick. Those days while walking through footpaths, bushy tracks thro forest and while crossing streams.