Solution to 13A 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
8 Say, colour material has carbon in the front (6) CRAYON {RAYON}<=>{C}
9 Declaration that I've returned to retreat these days (8) EVIDENCE {IVE<=}{DEN}{CE}
10 Skippers hat's brown covering a smooth head (8) CAPTAINS {CAP}{TA{1}N}{Sm...h}
11 Man hesitates to cover institute? Na (6) SODIUM {SOD}{I}{UM}
12 Brutal stab on Penny's foot (6) FIERCE (-p+f)FIERCE
13 That's experienced again all around; glad (8) R?L?E?E? (Addendum - RELIEVED {RELI{IE}VED} - See comments) There's an extra I in the fodder
15 Leading lady/woman one without ego (7) HEROINE {HER}{O{I}NE}
17 Nations with spirit overcome old lies burying one (7) PEOPLES {PE{O}P}{LiES}
20 Say, plexiglass and polyester feature last in images (8) PLASTICS {P{LAST}ICS}
22 Answers on what Nadal does (6) SERVES [DD}
23 State of air in Delhi is irritable primarily (6) HAWAII {HAWA}{Is}{Ir...e}
25 Sportspeople in heats running without permit (8) ATHLETES {ATH{LET}ES*}
26 Freed? Let out again? (8) RELEASED {RE-LEASED}
27 Speak about clubs having sex exercises at the roof (6) RECITE {RE}{C}{IT}{Ex...s}
DOWN
1 Cold and sharp, not cloudy or fertile (8) CREATIVE {C}{REAcTIVE}
2 Your sister met Doctor? Incomprehensible (10) MYSTERIOUS {YOUR+SIS+MET}*
3 Opposed one ex-president arresting lady (6) UNLIKE {UN}{L}{IKE}
4 Freedom for the French, one's certain (7) LEISURE {LE}{1}{SURE}
5 Break up? Treat with contempt as finally love has failed (8) DISSOLVE {DIS}{aS}{LOVE*}
6 In the beginning, evangelical episodes were shown in Doordarshan, no more (4) DEAD {D{EA}D} Wordplay leads to DEED {D{Ev...l}{Ep...s}D}
7 Charge for new cupcakes? Pakistan walks out (6) ACCUSE {CUpCAkES}*
14 Face the advantage by replacing Democrat with Republican (10) EXPERIENCE EXPE(-d+r)RIENCE
16 Is on-site in a mess thus loudest? (8) NOISIEST*
18 Say uranium and plutonium require people wearing steel contraption (8) ELEMENTS {ELE{MEN}TS*}
19 Andaman and Nicobar lads sin badly (7) ISLANDS*
21 Inclined to rule over north and east (6) LEANED {LEA{N}{E}D}
22 Function is without issue at this place (6) SPHERE {SP}{HERE}
24 Half of the rescued were old (4) AGED salvAGED
Reference List
Carbon = C, These days = CE, Institute = I, Penny = P, Foot = F, Old = O, Air in Hindi = HAWA, About = RE, Clubs = C, Sex = IT, Cold = C, Cloudy = C, Lady = L, The in French = LE, Contempt = DIS, Doordarshan = DD, Pakistan = PK, North = N, East = E, Without issue = SP(Sine Prole)
What happened in the ISLANDS of New Zealand?
ReplyDeleteDid Khan introduce Vladimir to the MYSTERIOUS HEROINE who was
enjoying her LEISURE time? What was their SPHERE of interest?
The heroine was later found DEAD. An AGED and FIERCE looking cop
seemed to have the EVIDENCE.
However Vladimir was now in HAWAII!
What happened next?
From NZ to Hawaii. I will not mind travelling with Vladimir!!
ReplyDeleteNot quite happy today. Quite a few doubts and a few guesses. Col. also has questionmarks!
ReplyDeleteWaiting for tha anno left today for L.
DeleteMan= Sod?
ReplyDeleteObnoxious that obnoxious hasnt accompanied the man.
DeleteCan't follow/ Sod/ delft is a piece of turf (golfing term?)
DeleteBrit slang for unpleasant/disagreeable person.
Delete12A- Struggling with Y for Penny's foot until I got 'unlike'ly help (for ending in E)
ReplyDelete3D- 'Un' from one without French ref.?
ReplyDelete19d perhaps missing.
Delete21D- Lead from rule?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeletethat's experienced - relived
Delete13A That's experienced again all around; glad (8)
Deleteglad = Definition
That's experienced again = RELIVED
all around = containment indicator
; = semicolon = E ???? (not sure how)
If "all" = A, then the cryptic grammar is incorrect, because in this case RELIVED is going around E for {RELI{E}VED}. But the wordplay of the clue suggests that E is going around RELIVED.
ReplyDeleteCorrection, "all" = E. Furthermore, "all" -> "each" -> E is indirect in a manner that is unfair to the solver.
ReplyDeleteToday's CW was an exercise in knowing abbreviations - 9 out of 14 Across clues and 9 out of 14 down clues required knowledge of some short-hand. The most obscure case was SP for "without issue" in 22D. "Na" as the definition in 11A was interesting as it was made to sound like colloquial "no" but as a dictionary word it is not applicable (pun intended). In 13A the abbreviation was one step removed from the wordplay ("all" -> "each" -> E; isn't each = EA, not E?). As usual, AD has used the convention "one" = "a" = "i" = 1 in a few places. Yesterday the suite "hearts" (pun intended) was used to indicate H, while today "clubs" = C was used in 27A. There is only so much fun that can be had with such a dry grid that promotes letter-play over wordplay.
ReplyDeleteThe word "that" in 9A was merely a link, as was "thus" in 16D. In 10A the use of "-'s" as a concatenation indicator was suspect. 12A lacked any substitution indicator whatsoever for (-c+P). In 13A the containment indicator did not fit with the word play (E is going inside RELIVED, not around).
The grammar in 15A and 2D was deplorable, while the surface reading of 16A amounted to nonsense by the end of the sentence. The shenanigans continued in 26A with punctuation wantonly used for misdirection. 5D almost had a nice surface but lacked an object for the "deplorable treatment" described in the wordplay. 7D amounted to two disconnected sentences tacked onto one-another.
8A did not require "say" - "crayon" and "colour" are listed as synonyms in Chambers. At least "say" was used correctly in 20A as "plexiglass" and "polyester" served to define PLASTICS by example. However, immediately in the next clue, 22A, where Nadal was used as a proper-noun example of a tennis player who SERVES, such an indicator was warranted but absent. Again, in 19D "Andaman and Nicobar" were used as definitions-by-example for ISLANDS and could have used an indicator such as "say" - one feels the setter's intuition in this area requires bolstering.
HAWA as "air in Delhi" was interesting, but although many in India might make the association, it may have stumped some of the solvers from abroad. While "air in Delhi" from 23A was at least qualified, 3D specified "one" for UN without giving the customary "French" indication. 6D as an acrostic led to DEED, which does not match the provided definition of "no-more" (perhaps the setter meant DEAD).
25A ATHLETES was among the few untarnished clues, having correct surface grammar, correct cryptic grammar, believable surface and fair definition with fair wordplay. 1D CREATIVE and 24D (-salv)AGED also made the cut. The selection indicator "at the roof" in 27A was non-standard but acceptable.
Think deeply and you will get the answers for most of your queries/points.
DeleteI did not catch your drift. Are you advocating for meditative self-reflection?
Delete12A for example
DeletePenny's foot is to be read as Penny is foot or P is F
I was able to understand the intended parse, sir. My point is that without an explicit substitution indicator, the clue could be argued to be unfair to the solver as there is nothing to differentiate it from the garden-variety charade. Adding to the confusion in this clue is the "on", rammed in between the wordplay to make for a salvageable surface reading.
DeleteEven if one accepts that such a clue is valid and fair to the solver, it falls foul of so-called "cryptic grammar" (ref: Gussalufz's article https://viresh-ratnakar.github.io/writings/2023/cryptic-grammar-04-2023.html).
Its an error. Spot it.
ReplyDeleteLook again at 13A, 'that's' error
ReplyDeleteIs it supposed to be "that is" = IE (id est)? But then "experienced all around" would lead to {RELI{IE}VED} with an extra "I". What an error!
DeleteSod as a substitute for man! That way we can go from any word to any other with shoddy explanations.
ReplyDeleteIn THC, Lakhs can become millions Incognito, while men can be sods After Dark!
Delete