ACROSS
7 Dramatic let-down in grub at hostel (6) BATHOS [T]
8 Shenanigans of child accompanying one wearing medal (6-2) GOINGS-ON {SON}<=>{GO{1}NG}
9 Important points I pass over (4) LOCI {I}{COL}<=
10 Slang term articulated by husband avoiding intimacy (4-6) ARMS-LENGTH {SLANG+TERM}*{H}
11 Hearty greeting from friends? (8) BACKSLAP PALS<= Semi&lit
12 Block offensive parts that article expressed (6) THWART {THa{WAR}T}
14 One who colours may be embarrassed around unknown chaps (4) DYER {RE{Y}D<=}
15 Additional dam failing to open (5) OTHER mOTHER
16 Take-out business for food (4) TUCK [DD]
18 Jolly good when opening pair's denied a stand (6) TRIPOD {TRIP}{goOD}
20 Incredible row, sound being high (8) WONDROUS*
22 Epilogues in honour of minors showing adult's love (10) AFTERWORDS {AFTER}{W(-a+o)ORDS}
25 Best boy among good kids (4,4) GLAD RAGS {LAD} in {G}{RAGS}
26 Australian boors start out changing room fixtures (6) OCKERS lOCKERS
DOWN
1 Tree in a corner circled by masses (8) MAHOGANY {M{A}{HOG}ANY}
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3 Attack when put out (6) ASSAIL {AS}{SAIL}
4 Instrument to right one doing wrong (8) VIOLATOR {VIOLA}{TO}{R}
5 Get old name for French town (4) AGEN {AGE}{N}
6 Price going up concerning street vendor (6) COSTER {COST}{RE<=}
8 Ogre with tusk and hump conditioned to wreck things (3,2,3,5) GUM UP THE WORKS {OGRE+W+TUSK+HUMP}*
13 What may produce tears in the urinary system? (10) WATERWORKS [DD]
15 Veteran breaking law does time (3,5) OLD SWEAT {LAW+DOES}*{T}
17 Opposites make a difference, the essence of diversity (8) COUNTERS {COUNT}{divERSity}
19 Draw away, retreating without energy to run (6) RAFFLE {FAR<=}{FLEe}
21 Present hosts turning very hot for skipper? (2-4) NO-SHOW {NOW} over {SO<=}{H}
23 Move round and round making grand duke nervous (4) EDDY E(D(-g+d)DY
Reference List
Husband = H, Unknown = Y, Adult = A, Good = G, Right = R, Name = N, Concerning = RE, With = W, Time = T, Hot = H, Grand = G, Duke = D
Soon Vladimir was at an ARM'S LENGTH of Olive. Alas! His further advancement was THWARTed by an OLD SWEAT cop.
ReplyDeleteHe was booked as a VIOLATOR of sorts. OTHER than that was summoned to court!
On the day there was NO SHOW.
Soon Vladimir was caught near the emigration COUNTERS of Mumbai air-port.
What happened next?
Difficult grid for me!
ReplyDeleteTypo in 10a Anno - SWEAR for SLANG
yes, on the difficult with some doubts cleared in the blog.
DeleteCrescent (moon)- one sees only partially!
Thanks corrected
DeleteForgettable trip to India for Vladimir?
ReplyDelete14A- Dyer- Is around doing double duty as container indicator as well as reversal of red?
ReplyDeleteNope. Chaps/cracks is the container.
DeleteThank youy Prasad. Chap= Crack is new for me.
DeleteNot heard of chapstick to apply on lips?
DeleteI did, but not connected.
Delete15a- unable to get the deletion indicator. what is the role of mother? couldn't get the connection between dam & mother.
ReplyDeleteDam noun: female parent of an animal.
DeleteThank you Sree Sree sir. Noted and got the anno.
Delete11a does RA work with friends->pals->backslap!!!
ReplyDeleteI think so.
DeleteIn that case, it would be an indirect reverse anagram! As I recall, @Sree Sree is rather against the concept of indirect anagrams.
Delete21d typo in anno.
ReplyDeleteThanks corrected
DeleteIs the clue ok? H is to be contained in So. but indication?
ReplyDeleteVery hot is only SOH and not SHO.
It is SO<= H inside NOW - N(OSH)OW. Turning applies only to very - SO
DeletePaddy, turning only SO<= N[OS<+H]OW
Deleteok, Srikant already said it. I didn't refresh before doing it.
DeleteThanks to both of you.
ReplyDeleteReally hard one for me. I got a handful and ended up reading most of them here. Backslap I sort of get, like I get that pals is in it, and backwards... but these RA's don't feel super tight to me in general.
ReplyDeleteTRIP = Jolly I never would have gotten to, and I'm really not sure what role "COL" plays in 9a. Pass?
Gripping Film => SHRINK-WRAP cluing is really clever. I wish I'd put in the work and solved it myself, same with Skipper => NO SHOW. Very nice misdirection
All in all a nice but humbling puzzle. A lot going on here. Thanks for the answer key, I hope I absorbed at least some new tricks.
Very humbling indeed!
Delete+1
Delete9a- Col. is short for mountain column or pass. We had it a few days ago in Incognito CW.
ReplyDeleteThank you
DeleteOne of the meanings of trip from Free Dict.
ReplyDeleteTo move nimbly with light rapid steps; skip.
"Come and trip it as you go
on a light fantastic toe"
is a quote from...Tennyson,I think (not sure)
Ahh very nice. Thanks again
DeleteNo, it is Milton.
ReplyDeleteThis was a typically difficult grid from Crescent. This setter uses certain techniques to maximally encrypt and obfuscate the intended meaning from the surface reading. Some that I have noted are: 1) use uncommon synonyms for fodder in charades; 2) use "soft" indicators for anagrams, containment, and so on; 3) Make it difficult to identify anagrams by comparing word-lengths and enums.
ReplyDeleteA few obscure words were chosen, such as 7A BATHOS [T], 5D {AGE}{N} and 6D {COST}{ER} and 29A (-l)OCKERS. Some of them required googling, although the cluing was fair in each case. 8D GUM UP THE WORKS was an interesting idiom running down column 8 - solving it was the key to opening up the grid.
Notable in 8A was the use of "medal" = GONG, illustrative of technique 1 noted above. Similarly, "mother" as DAM was used in 15A (-m)OTHER and "jolly" for TRIP in 18A. In 1D, "corner" as HOG was another example, where setters usually use "corner" to denote compass points SE, NE, SW, NW. In 13A WATERWORKS, defined as "what may produce tears" was also illustrative of this technique, which goes beyond cryptic definition to hide the intended words behind the meanings of surface words.
Technique 2 noted above was used in 10A where the word "articulated" was used as the anagram indicator. I originally took it as a homophone indicator. It just about works as anagrind but is rather "soft" and doesn't on the surface indicate reshuffling. The technique was similarly used in 14A {D{Y}ER} (RED<=) where the word "chaps" was given as the containment indicator, and also in 12A {TH(-a){WAR}t}, in which "expressed" was used as the deletion indicator for a ("article"). Was "showing" in 22A a fair indicator for substitution? In any case, it is another example of technique 2 used by the setter to obfuscate meaning and make it harder to identify the clue type for the solver.
11A BACKSLAP (PALS<=) was an indirect reversal type clue which was clever. "Best" as definition for {G}{LAD}{RAGS} in 25A was incredible wordplay. Probably the easiest clue was 20A WONDROUS (row sound*), in which technique 3 was notably not used. Similarly 4D {VIOLA}{TO}{R} was among the easier to solve and was well-clued on the surface. The best clue of the day (surface & wordplay all round) was 2D SHRINK WRAP (warship r, k*) which I was proud of solving without assistance.
In 8A, "shenanigans" was a questionable definition for {GO{I}NG}{SON}, as the dictionary definitions state that they are negative or illicit goings-on. All shenanigans may be goings-on, but not all goings-on may be shenanigans. In 16A TUCK, "take-out" as a definition was similarly questionable, as tucking refers to putting something "in" or "away" but still in a safe place. However, "skipper?" was an excellent and fitting cryptic definition for {N{OS}{H}OW} in 21D.
Probably the clue with the best surface reading was 17D {COUNT}{ERS} ("Opposites make a difference, the essence of diversity).
I'll be relishing the chance to solve another grid by CRESCENT next month. I look forward to Dr. X's turn next Friday.
Couldn't agree more!
DeleteWhere can one view the schedule of upcoming setters?
DeleteThere is no fixed schedule
DeleteAs Col. says, there is no published schedule. However it can be observed that the setters are published roughly in the same order each month. One can review the blog archive to spot the regular pattern. It can change at any time without warning.
Delete11A is an indirect reverse reversal! It is 'indirect' because the wordplay fodder is not directly given in the clue. 'Reversal' because the reversal operation is to be performed on the wordplay fodder. 'Reverse' because the reversal indicator is not given in the clue but can be found in the solution. Exotic.
ReplyDeleteI take it your intended meaning for "one cannot invent an instruction that's not in the clue" also covers the more common reverse anagram clue format. In which case I would agree with you. I have no idea why RA is so popular. I have a similar issue with the CA format.
DeleteThere is nothing wrong with CA. A good CA contains all instructions needed.
DeleteRA is a delicate instrument.
As far as I can recollect they started as simple reverses of fodder. Like PALS to backslap.
Then single word anagrams started appearing with off/out as aninds.
Now it has morphed into reverse anagram with aninds longer than the fodder/multiple words etc.
While the atistic setters still romance with RA, the text book technicians have taken it to "almost" the indirect anagram level.
The worst case for me is when RA is used with cryptc definition. I give up.
Also some setters miss out the multiple aninds possible
For example Rate could be either tearoff or tearout!
But in RA till now, the fodder is visible hinting that something needs to be done to the fodder.
But friends to pals to backslap is mising an instruction.
It's stretch, but for the sake of justification...
ReplyDelete"Hearty greeting from friends?"
Can we take the '?' as reversal indicator?
No. The reversal indicator "BACK" is in the solution itself. Just like in a reverse anagram, the anagrind is in the solution itself. Hence I have said it is an indirect "reverse" reversal. Like a "reverse anagram" but instead of anagram we have a reversal.
DeleteI meant question mark as reverse indicator for the synonym of friends(pals). That's why I called it a stretch. Not to be seen in conjunction with other indirect usages, per se.
DeleteNot 'per se'. At all*.
DeleteVery specific to the clue.
I understand your issues with RA and indirect stuff.
DeleteFriends'? '- spoken can mean opposite. Here is where I am stretching it. Pals? Backslap. Too much ain't it. You yuys are setters. Read more into my words. 😑
I admire your desire to play devil's advocate, but even the devil cannot make this question mark into a reversal indicator!
DeleteI appreciate your desire to argue for the sake of justification, but I'm not sure if anybody could be persuaded to consider the question mark as a reversal indicator!
DeleteI appreciate your desire to argue for the sake of justification, but it would take a lot of convincing to turn a question mark into a reversal indicator.
Delete