Tuesday, 26 September 2023

No 13979, Tuesday 26 Sep 2023, Hypatia

Solution to 6D 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   Educated student lost and made money (6) EARNED lEARNED
4   Primarily a round object not fully closed inside (5,3) ABOVE ALL {A}{B{OVEr}ALL}
9   Anointed after king's annoyed (6) ROILED {OILED}<=>{R}
10 Marching band entertains friend (8) RALLYING {R{ALLY}ING}
11 Average inns not prepared for meat eaters (3-11) NON-VEGETARIANS*
13 Totals set to stay intact (4,2,4) MADE TO LAST {TOTALS}* [RA]
14 Starts to feel elated, nursing Indian liquor (4) FENI Acrostic
16 Excavates cracks (4) DIGS [DD]
18 Ordering unfinished bouquet is so servile (10) OBSEQUIOUS {BOUQUEt+IS+SO}*
21 Important directions from bird shows? (8,6) CARDINAL POINTS {CARDINAL}{POINTS}
23 Periodic movement in cattle, eating quietly, leaving hot shelter (4,4) NEAP TIDE {NEA{P}T}{hIDE}
24 Reverend demands two beverages for exercise (6) TAICHI (~ chai tea to taichi)
25 Essay on Arabs protecting Japanese for so long (8) SAYONARA [T]
26 Leaders of countries yield control locally ending some revolutions (6) CYCLES Acrostic

DOWN
1   See 2 
2 / 1 Justification of reader is not wrong (6,5) RAISON D ETRE*
3   Never eat pie or sap (8) ENERVATE*
5   Rest of the day in Miss India's regimen? (6,5) BEAUTY SLEEP [CD]
6   Essentially help to fill defunct device with oil on top - it's sticky (6) V?L?R? (Addendum - VELCRO {V{hELp}CR}{Oil} - See comments)
7   Upset by soldier in American gallery (7) AGITATE {A}{GI}{TATE}
8   Record one with audio tapes in the delivery area (9) LOGISTICS {LOG}{1}{(~sticks)STICS}
12 Organ in ball dancing held in grand scale (4,7) GALL BLADDER {BALL}* in {G}{LADDER}
13 Drugs curing endemics around India (9) MEDICINES {MED{I}CINES*}
15 Busy Rani luckily picks up stuff related to cooking (8) CULINARY  [T<=]
17 Young leader gets close to people ultimately in relevant state (7) GERMANY GERMAN(-e+y)Y
19 Model drops to third position in recent visual (7) OPTICAL (-t)OP(+t)TICAL
20 Adventurer seen in comics with money box (6) TINTIN{TIN}{TIN}
22 Victories in matches starting late (4) WINS tWINS

Reference List
Student = L, King = R, Cattle = NEAT, Quietly = P, Hot = H, Grand = G, Model = T

30 comments:

  1. BOND ARRIVES IN EMIRATES...

    Daniel couldn't believe his luck when he was announced as the next Bond.

    His last movie had BAD REPORTS PLASTERED all over. The IDEAS had looked good on paper. Taking his COWARDICE by the horns, he had performed his own stunts, that too with a CARIBOU, in the CHOPPY MISTRAL winds of France. But as predicted by his UNCLES (also the Producers), the movie sunk without a trace.

    On top of that, his ex wife (of the CRIMSON lipstick fame) had taken him to the cleaners. His last OUNCE of brains must have gone for a walk with his CORGI, when he signed the PRE NUP. His NOTION that she was A CUT ABOVE the rest, was CONFIRMED in her ANSWERS to the Paparazzi.

    Feeling INERT and emotionally drained, he knew his finances needed a firm HANDLE and his life style had to be AUSTERE. He saw maximum MERITS in choosing India for a holiday.

    After visiting the base camp of NANDA DEVI with a group of VEDIC students & having his fill of PARATHAS and FENNEL Dal, he atlast, mustered up the courage to switch on his mobile.

    His WhatsApp was filled with the usual EMOJIs from his children. Then, as he clicked on the News app, he couldn't believe his eyes. Pushing the NOSE PIECE of his spectacles higher, he reread the small print on his screen.

    He was the next Bond. The official announcement had been made 2 days back. With a sudden RAISE of adrenalin, his spirits REVVED UP. All the STALWARTS would be proven wrong. His career would get a 2nd lease.

    With hope and all smiles, he bid adieu to the ACACIA on his window sill, TERMINATED his holiday and booked tickets for the US. 'Here comes the Bond!' was the song on his lips.


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  2. essential help (el) in defunct device (vcr) with oil on top (o) meaning sticky - Velcro.

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  3. 5D. Rest of the Day = SLEEP
    Miss India = BEAUTY
    Could be BEAUTY SLEEP
    but the flaw is no reversal indicator

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  4. Tintin was the pick of the lot. I have read so many of his adventures!

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  5. Vladimir awoke from his BEAUTY SLEEP.
    He had dreamt of having EARNED his position and that it would
    be MADE TO LAST.
    "I will remain ABOVE ALL!"
    Alas!
    His WINS did not last. His view of the LB turned out be an OPTICAL illusion.
    He was ROILED and was about to resign with a SAYONARA...
    Just then he remembered the 'phone a friend' option! OMG!!
    What happened next?

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    Replies
    1. Did you get the call from Vladimir?!

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    2. By the time Vladimir finishes the call, he might hear a sound (that of the leaderboard swooshing past)

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  6. I was able to read the reverend today also!! (Thanks to crossings)
    T's & reverse T's were neatly hidden.
    Scale for ladder was enjoyable.
    Thank you Hypatia- savoring this round.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for all the feedback Paddy. Good to know.

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  7. Superb crossword from Hypatia. Made to work hard. Enjoyed solving. 23A was my COD.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. Can't be too hard for regular solvers such as yourself.

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  8. Col. has a long stay in Coimbatore.

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  9. Got a bit confused with the enu for 1&2D initially ...

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    Replies
    1. I had originally sent it with enum as 6 1'4, but since the apostrophe needed to be dropped, it had to be changed to 6,5 leading to some confusion. Regret any inconvenience caused.

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  10. It was a fine couple of puzzles from Hypatia. They were, overall, quite enjoyable, though not without hiccups. I found the second installment to be easier to solve than the first. There were some Indian words like PARATHA, VEDIC, NANDA DEVI, FENI and mamas. A couple of Reverse Anagrams were easy to spot. The abbreviation GI for "soldier" appeared in both puzzles. Both days featured a telescopic clue in which "up" was slyly used as a reversal indicator to confound the solver. A couple of clues featured the directional "in" using the dodgy grammatical syntax of "[wordplay] in [definition]" - you wouldn't say "the contents of the treasure-chest lie in the treasure"!

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    THC 13978 (yesterday's grid) had a nice cryptic definition of "summit" for 9A NANDA DEVI and another good one in "spectacular bridge" for 12A NOSEPIECE. It was also amusing to imagine Dr. Spooner taking a selfie in the same clue. There were a number of words starting with C - 1A CHOPPY, 4A CARIBOU, 22A COWARDICE, 26A CORGI and 1D CONFIRM. The anno for 15A {NOT{I}ON} ("Off without a thought") was a bit challenging to decipher - it was written like a deletion clue but was actually a containment-type of wordplay. 2D OUNCE as a wildcat was new to me. 24A IDEAS was a tight, tricky clue with a nice surface, as was 4D CRIMSON. The surface of 7D was cute, with "mamas" doubling as both definition for UNCLES and new moms on the surface. The word "imaret" in 18D was perhaps a nod to the setter's middle-eastern environs. 20A ANSWERS was a beautifully written clue and was satisfying to solve. 25D EMOJI as an acrostic &lit was a fine flourish. The setter could get her hair styled at A CUT ABOVE salo in Savera Hotel when she visits Chennai. As a nitpick, 16D could be rephrased for cryptic grammar - perhaps to something like "Bud's little girl takes time to run out."

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    THC 13979. It was nice to see a childhood favourite, 20D TINTIN, in the grid. I own the entire collection. 4A ABOVE ALL was a lovely clue. NEAT as "cattle" in 23A was new to me. The HP thrown into the composite clue 8D LOGISTICS was brilliant in its sneakiness. The usage of "gets" as a substitution indicator in 17D was similarly neat. I liked the wordplay for 19D OPTICAL. The enum of (6,5) for 2D/1D, combined with the non-matching grid lengths of 4 and 7, totally through me for a loop - I had originally marked it as having an erroneous enum but it was the last to fill after all crossings were done. I feel the question mark was unnecessary at the end of 21A. Identifying the clue type for 5D BEAUTY SLEEP was challenging. I ultimately agree with Col's classification of cryptic definition.

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    SAYONARA and see you on the IXL leaderboard.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the detailed feedback Economizer. Missed seeing you yesterday, so you have made up for it today.

      On 16D from yesterday's grid, I deliberately avoided putting "Bud" at an end of the clue - to avoid confusion on which is the fodder and which the definition.

      Wrt today's grid, as correctly identified by Colonel, 5D was intended as CD, since "Rest of the night" is a punny definition for sleep.

      The QM in 21A is to indicate that "bird shows" should not be read literally.

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Thanx Hypatia for another entertaining grid.
    One q - Delivery area is Logistics?
    Reg 1 and 2 d - the enu as available was 7 & 4. So u can say 6,1, 4. Not 6,5. That was confusing, till I got my crossings.
    Loved - TAICHI, NEAP TIDE & CARDINAL POINTS.

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