Solution to 23D 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 Ruffled policeman seizes heroin, possibly from tips (6) CHOPPY {C{H}OP}{Po...lY}
11 Strangely, winter's not starting still (5) INERT wINTER*
12 Spooner's selfie stance with relative in spectacular bridge? (9) NOSEPIECE (~ pose niece to nosepiece)
15 Off without a thought (6) NOTION {NOT ON} over {1}
17 Henry (with the French name) (6) HANDLE {H}{AND}{LE}
24 Fancies Hypatia would like to tour Spain (5) IDEAS {I'D}{E}{AS}
26 Soldier chasing my dog (5) CORGI {GI}<=>{COR}
28 Spartan eater wandering around America (7) AUSTERE {A{US}TERE*}
29 Satisfied society, embracing marriage essentially for values (6) MERITS {ME{marRIage}T}{S}
DOWN
1 Support company backing study (7) CONFIRM {FIRM}<=>{CON}
2 Lightweight predator (5) OUNCE [DD]
3 Covered with make-up and drunk (9) PLASTERED [DD]
4 Red lips caressed by criminal (7) CRIMSON {C{RIMS}ON}
5 Stimulate Spooner, say shortly awake (3,2) REV UP {REV}{UP}
6 Porter's negative feedback (3,6) BAD REPORT {PORTER}* [RA]
8 Herb held up by Allen nefariously (6) FENNEL [T<=]
16 Takes time for bud's little girl to run out (9) TERMINATE {T}{gERMINATE}
18 Country builds imaret close to mosque (7) EMIRATE {IMARET*}{m...uE}
19 Supply upper range essentially in agreement before union? (3-3) PRE-NUP {UPPER+raNge}*
20 Responses of readers disheartened after a news broadcast (7) ANSWERS {Re...rS}<=>{A+NEWS}*
21 Plant spies to follow American accountant (6) ACACIA {CIA}<=>{A}{CA}
25 Expressive motifs or jolly images, basically! (5) EMOJI Acrostic &lit
Reference List
Heroin = H, Individual = I, Henry = H, The in french = LE, Hot = H, Like = AS, Spain = E, My = COR, Society = S, Study = CON, New = N, Tense = T, Time = T, Accountant = CA
Thank you Hypatia for the nice time you gave us. Nanda devi & Paratha were a cut above the rest. What a nice bridge on our face!!
ReplyDeleteA bridge we can't see- without the aid of a mirror.
DeleteNice pun: Spectacular bridge.
DeleteOh! I missed that- Aha!!
DeletePre-nup to keep up with the times.
ReplyDeleteI am glad I was able to get into the Spooner's selfie. ( Normally I won't the Spooner clue)
ReplyDeleteYes sir. Spoonerism is a sort of a no no for me-)
DeleteWhat's Spooner doing in 5D ?
ReplyDeleteSpooner is a reverend. In short rev.
DeleteHe is confusing you!
DeleteSree sree. New word learnt. Spooner is Rev ...Tx.
DeleteSpoonerisms are named after the Reverend William Archibald Spooner (1844–1930)
DeleteThank you.
DeleteInteresting Grid . Nice to see morning e-breakfast.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the warm response Paddy, Vasant, Prasanna Rao. Missed the interaction last month since I had been travelling.
ReplyDeleteHere's a fun graphic that I made a few days ago and had shared on Twitter. I am sharing it here as well since it may be of interest to regular solvers.
It is a wordcloud created from my clues (`3000 plus) in the Hindu crossword grids. I cleaned the data a bit to combine different forms of the same word and removed some stock words like "say"/"perhaps" which do appear frequently.
Hypatia Wordcloud
23d RAISE = Boost
ReplyDeleteLevel = Raze. Homophone Raise, indicator Reports
Good solve
DeleteThank you
Deleteš
ReplyDeleteVladimir was of the opinion that an OUNCE of practice is worth a thousand words.
ReplyDeleteSoon he was confident that he was A CUT ABOVE the rest.
"Let me REV UP!"
He went to the nearby super market and bought ten different spoons...
Had many other such IDEAS too!
Seeing the word aloo he remembered the aloo PARATHA he ate in Mumbai.
"So easy. I can HANDLE all other clues in no time! Soon I will be counted among the STALWARTS! I excel! Let me CONFIRM my ticket to Bengaluru..."
Poor Vladimir was not aware of the BAD REPORT awaiting him...
What happened next?
Will we see Vladimir on the Leader Board.. Will know only on Saturday:)
DeleteThank u Hypatia! Nice grid.
ReplyDeleteNOSEPIECE was an aha moment - for the spectacular spectacle wearing me.
Also loved STALWART and A CUT ABOVE.
Thanks Gowri. Thanks for sharing about the clues you liked - especially the spectacular one:) After all..Good girls = G LASSES
DeleteNice one.
ReplyDeleteParatha, Mistral, and Talwar were all new words for me
CORGI's cluing was fittingly cute, and NOSEPIECE came with a nice eureka moment.
Great to have you solve these puzzles which have an Indian flavour Michael. Now that you have heard of "Paratha" - you should check out some Aloo Parathas the next time you visit an Indian restaurant to make the learning complete:) Thanks for sharing about the clues that you liked. I always enjoy hearing about what worked and learning from what didnt.
Delete