Solution to 22A 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.
Open for anyone to answer, if not solved by 1 PM.
ACROSS
1 Auditor's father at say, Chennai office (8) CAPACITY {CA}{PA}{CITY}
5 Publicity is working for cooler, perhaps (6) PRISON {PR}{IS}{ON}
10 A rope trick leading to drama (5) OPERA*
11 Latest dispute involving Peru seen in publication (9) NEWSPAPER {NEW}{SPA{PE}R}
12 In the absence of leader, new revelation on promotion (9) ELEVATION rEVELATION*
13 Finally wife and husband secured painting of ground (5) EARTH {wifE}{ART}{H}
14 Geared to drop daughter and take last son to get a baby cat (6) KITTEN KITTE(-d+n)N
15 Say, cleaner's wife is replaced by lady agent, perhaps (7) SLEEPER S(-w+l)LEEPER
18 Reckons a tree's sure to be misspelt (7) FIGURES {FIG}{SURE*}
20 Drink is No 1, top from the east (6) POTION <=
22 Presses for one run on the onside, stops midway (5) I?O?S (Addendum - IRONS {1}{R}{ONSide} - See comments)
24 Someone admitted no new males will be taken, making it tense (9) IMPATIENT I(-n+m)MPATIENT
25 Finally some action to catch criminal who is hot-headed (9) EMOTIONAL {somE}{MOTION}{AL}
26 Elvis itching to stop excursion (5) VISIT [T]
27 Insist princess should be put out of misery (6) STRESS diSTRESS
28 Almost urge first lady to block republican in pickle (8) PRESERVE {PRESs}{E{R}VE}
DOWN
3 Factors leads to say, President avoiding one function having sex being sent back in terrible crises (15) CHARACTERISTICS {CHAiR}{ACT}{ERIS{IT<=}CS*}
4 27 = 10? Yes, in Spain! No, the other way round (7) TENSION {TEN}{SI}{NO<=}
6 Somehow rest, spies for the most part and veteran agents (15) REPRESENTATIVES {REST+SPIEs+VETERAN}*
7 Great meal, but wanting some pasta (5) SUPER SUPpER
8 Direction to get new golden article at Rouen on vacation (8) NORTHERN {N}{OR}{THE}{RoueN}
9 Arranges small groups... (6) SWINGS {S}{WINGS}
16 ...chairs for females with fresh roses (9) PROFESSOR {PRO}{F}{ROSES*}
17 Agents are bad at ICE, collecting rupees (8) OFFICERS {OFF}{ICE}{RS}
19 Sweden's monarch touring Italy for a recreational activity (6) SKIING {S}{KI{I}NG}
20 Priest's work's dull & dry essentially, overwhelms one in general (7) POPULAR {P}{OP}{dULl}{dRy} over {A}
21 Bust at once; requests Centre (6) STATUE {STAT}{reqUEsts}
23 Essentially blood had hard stench (5) ODOUR {blOod}{DOUR}
Reference List
Publicity = PR, Husband = H, Daughter = D, Wife = W, Lady = L, Run = R, New = N, Males = M, Criminal = AL(Capone), Princess = DI, Republican = R, Pastor = P, Sex = IT, Yes in Spanish = SI, Small = S, Female = F, Sweden = S, Italy = I, Priest = P
Col.sir., Thanks for posting my artwork on 15-Aug-23. Glad to see you in military Attire .
ReplyDelete@ Gowri - Beautiful Rangoli. Thanks to All for your wishes.
16D- Why 'Chairs' for Professor? Should it not be in singular?
ReplyDeleteI think the ellipsis(...) is where the definition is.
Delete+1 paddy.
Delete...(professor) chairs...
DeleteChair in the clue is used as verb, not noun.
+1 Paddy and Sathia
DeleteVladimir was full of STRESS. TENSION writ large on his face. He was IMPATIENT.
ReplyDeleteWhat is Olive going to say?
Will the dinner meet in the POPULAR restaurant with the SUPER STATUE
of Venus in the dining hall happen or not?
All of a sudden Vladimir becomes EMOTIONAL. On the NORTHERN side of the street he sees somes FIGURES following PROFESSOR Doolittle. And Ms. Jasmine...
What happened next?
22a, Presses = Irons
ReplyDeleteOne Run = I R
onside stops midway = ONS
One run on the onside, stops midway,
= (I R ONS)
Good solve........
DeleteI am posting this for sake of annotation.......
ReplyDelete22A – {I}{R}{ONS- - -}
One – I
Run – R
ONS-IDE – stops midway.
Def. Presses / apply pressure and smooth with a heated iron
16D is cleverly clued to make it look like chairs is the definition. Chairs actually describes the definition hidden in the ellipsis(dot dot dot(...)) . So the surface reading is cool.
ReplyDeleteThe solution should perhaps document
...
as the definition.
In that case it should be Professor offers chair. Professor chairs means he presides.
DeleteThat's where the setter succeeded with hiding the definition in ellipsis. On the surface it sounds like, chairs for females.🙂
DeleteI think that's the nitty gritty of the clue. If we have to break it down to fine detail, let me attempt it with your permission.
Delete...chairs for females with fresh roses
'...' standing for 'the one who'
The ellipsis ... (/əˈlɪpsɪs/; also known informally as dot dot dot) is a series of dots that indicates an intentional omission of a word, sentence, or whole section from a text without altering its original meaning.
"..."
ReplyDeleteIf my argument is accepted
ReplyDelete"... chairs" has to be the definition.
Very interesting. 16D is more cryptic than the cited examples. It stayed in the clue. All I can say is, well done setter👍
DeleteRelatively easy too.
DeleteMixed bag from AD today, with many nice clues but also some confusing surface readings and a couple of redundant link words here and there.
ReplyDelete1A {CA}{PA}{CITY} had a nice wordplay and surface, mentioning Chennai as an example of "city". 22A {I}{R}{ONS(-ide)} had a cricket-themed surface which was also nice. "Agents" were spotted in three clues: 17D OFFICERS, 6D REPRESENTATIVES and 15A SLEEPER. "Cooler, perhaps" for PRISON was well done in 2A. "Honey" as LOVE in 1D was also a fine touch. "to stop" as the Telescopic indicator was interesting in 26A.
The setter again used one = A, this time in 20D {P}{OP}{UL}{A}{R}, and also used numeral 1 = letter I in 20A in POT1ON [T]. The abbreviation DI appeared once again in in 27A after it's recent use by setter Lightning in THC No 13943 on Monday.
The setter frequently uses country names to be shortened for the solution. Yesterday we saw Romania = RO and Thailand = T. Today there was Peru = PE, Sweden = S and Italy = I. However the setter sometimes intends 1 letter to be taken from the country and at other times two letters.
Many of the clues had good wordplay but nonsensical surface readings. For example:
14A Geared to drop daughter and take last son to get a cat {KITTE(-d)}{(-so)N}
3D Factors leads to say, President avoiding one function having sex being sent back in terrible crises...(I had to get all 8 crossings before being able to parse this word salad)
8D Direction to get new golden article at Rouen on vacation
I expected... (🙂) to profess something on 16D. But it looks like he is going with plural chairs.
ReplyDeleteIt will be nice, if the setter can throw some light! Thanks.
Took lot of time to crack this grid from Afterdark today. Probably the toughest one to come from him. Phew..
ReplyDeleteI think Ro for Rpmania etc. are country codes used in mail domain- (eg) .In for India.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the RO stand for in Romania?
ReplyDeleteCountry Code RO Country code according to ISO-3166 Alpha-2
RO is the two-letter country abbreviation for Romania.
These are being regularly used in CW's.
I found AD easy today. Inspite of the chairs controversy.
ReplyDeleteMy fav - PRISON, NORTHERN, CAPACITY.
Thanx AD.
There is no word from the setter on 16D regrading plural chairs or ellipsis.
ReplyDelete"...chairs for females with fresh roses"
The definition is the issue. Answer's part of the anno is clear.
The ellipsis preceding chairs is part of the definition. Whether it be 'the one who' or any text that works with chairs to mean professor.
One thing that is unquestionable is that 'chairs' is a verb in simple present tense.