Welcome back Spinner after a long break.
ACROSS
1 Get involved with soldiers trapped in corrupt pleasure (13) ENTERTAINMENT {ENTER}{TAIN{MEN}T}
10 English attack loses leader, short of score by a dozen (5) EIGHT {E}{fIGHT}
11 Former flame criticises Spinner about development (9) EXPANSION {EX}{PANS}{I}{ON}
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15 Silence is a good man's complaint (9) STILLNESS {ST}{ILLNESS}
16 Perform twice for moron (4) DODO {DO}{DO}
20 Letters from boyfriend signalling conclusion, many times over (4) ENDS [T]
21 Comedy arc masquerading as constitutional government (9) DEMOCRACY*
24 Thrilling, unfinished tie - game cut short, interrupted by rains essentially! (8) DRAMATIC {DRAw}{MAT{raIns}TCh}
26 Sympathised with elderly getting irked regularly (6) AGREED {AG{iRkEd}ED}
28 Spinner back on stage, overcoming traces of intense scheduling stress (9) EMPHASISE {ME<=}{PHAS{In...e}{Sc...g}E}
29 Bond protecting tin shield (5) TITLE {TI{TL}E} Anno for TL not clear See comments
30 Spinner trained near ground in Greece or Spain (13) MEDITERRANEAN {ME}{TRAINED+NEAR}*
DOWN
2 Nation's leader, voted in with gusto initially, failed to take care (9) NEGLECTED {Na...s}{E{Gu..o}LECTED}
3 Crazy tennis player, taking no naps, running at 100% (8) ENTIRELY {TEnNIs+pLaYER}*
4 Endless road, one having many branches (4) TREE sTREEt
5 One's broken promises beginning to nurture suspicion (10) IMPRESSION {1}{PROMISES*}{Nu...e}
6 Home saved by quiet baby (6) MINUTE {M{IN}UTE}
7 Fixes distress between partners (5) NAILS {N}{AIL}{S}
8 Chief's a monster (5) BEAST {BE{A}ST}
9 Sadly, he's not getting love in singular window of opportunity (3,4) ONE SHOT {HES+NOT}* over {O}
14 Unpredictably dive since pursuing one blowing hot and cold (10) INDECISIVE {DIVE+SINCE}<=>{1}
17 Captain features in extraordinary star/hero team that plays together (9) ORCHESTRA {C} in {STAR+HERA}*
18 Irritates too much, endlessly (7) NEEDLES NEEDLESs
19 Disturb broken finger while taking hit on the sides (8) FRIGHTEN {FINGER}* over {HiT}
22 Retiring is about a long distance journey! (6) SAFARI {IS<=} over {A}{FAR}
23 Faintly touched ball, caught in a tight space - Wicket gone! (5) EDGED wEDGED
25 When losing head, a little becomes a lot! (5) AMPLE sAMPLE
27 Look after a piece of rare artwork (4) REAR [T]
Reference List
English = E, Former flame = EX, Good man = ST, Home = IN, Partners = N,S(North and South in Bridge card game), Captain = C
Spinner's score (yes, he is a cricketer) is 81 in the panel (left) of setters. And to think he has been away for a long time! Wish he reaches his century soon! What a comeback! We miss him a lot!
ReplyDeleteYes. Indeed!
Deletewarm welcome
DeleteIs there an IPR on setters names!
DeleteIPR?
DeletePrasad, do you mean Intellectual property rights? We have Vulcan here and in the Guardian too.
Delete+1. Within THC!
DeleteThanks Paddy and all for the welcome! It is good to be back!
Delete29A- TL has to come from tin, but how?
ReplyDeleteTI(T)LE
DeleteSo, bond is tile?
Delete'Sn' is the chemical name of Tin. Tin or also called as Stannum in Latin with the atomic number 50
DeleteTL is Turkish lira
ReplyDeleteTL is Thallium, metallic element resembling tin
DeleteWe miss the resembling part?
Deletei feel it's an error. If Thallium was intended then why write Tin?
Delete@Suresh I think you're right! Good call.
DeleteThere's no way it's Thallium. Tin = T is weak, and leaves us with TILE = Bond which is a mega stretch.
TL as Turkish Lira works.
I also agree with Suresh.
DeletePlease allow me an outrageous annotaation.
DeleteBond(definition) - TITLE
shield - TILE
protecting(container)
tin - T
Just rearranged for clarity. The clue stays intact.😁
Interesting to see all the alternative annotations! But Colonel is right, this was an edit that didn't make it to the final version due to my oversight - The clue should have read 'Bond protecting metal shield (5)' - Apologies for the confusion!
DeleteBond protecting metal shield (5)
Deletewill also be tough without crossings.
He starts with entertainment!
ReplyDeleteMediterranean- what an anagram!
Had a good laugh over democracy!
ReplyDeleteYesterday August EIGHT.
ReplyDeleteAt the MEDITERRANEAN restaurant the ORCHESTRA was mellifluous.
And she had made a DRAMATIC entry.
Vladimir sat EDGED in his chair the MINUTE he saw her....
Today August Nine
The STILLNESS in the room made Vladimir uneasy.
He felt NEGLECTED.
"I am to be blamed ENTIRELY. There was AMPLE opportunity...But yet..."
Then he had ONE SHOT of whiskey. And another. And....
What happened next?
Do we go with Vladimir? One shot of whisky, and another.....?!
ReplyDeleteofcourse sir...today is weekend and heared Chennai is too chill due to monsoon. if Vladimir is free we can have mini S&B.
DeleteVladimir (read CGB) has attended S&B meet here in Chennai!
DeleteEnu (4) gives us a clue. End/ ends- we have discussed a lot.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite a simple and well-flowing grid from Spinner, although the words around the edge could have done with an extra checked square each. 1A {ENTER}{TAIN{MEN}T} had good wordplay. 24A {DRA(-w)}{MAT{I}C(-h)} was overall a great clue, including the surface. 28A {EM<=}{PHAS{I(-ntense)S(-cheduling)}E} was enjoyable, as was 22D {S{AFAR}I<=}. The wordplay for 28A (-s)AMPLE was cute. 13A {D}{ENT}{ISTS} was an impressive &lit charade with acrostic elements. 8D BEAST could have used a containment indicator. Apart from the inscrutable annotation for 29A TITLE (discussed at length above), I didn't have any complaints. Thanks Spinner.
ReplyDelete8d indicator is there!
DeleteIs apostrophe enough for signifying containment?
DeleteRead Chief's as Chief has- containment.
DeleteThat feels strange to me, but I can accept it. As it stands, it reads like a double-definition clue, which it is not.
DeleteRe: IXL Round 2. It was a challenging puzzle, and after around 10 minutes I had only 3-4 clues I was 100% sure about. Then they quickly started falling into place, one-after-the-other. As I submitted my entry at 31 minutes, I thought I will, for once, finish before KKR and Sowmya, but they were again ever-so-faster. I will have to try again in the next round to better their times.
ReplyDeleteThere were some tough words like SOPRANI, POLYTONAL and CRAMPON, while QUADRUPLE was interesting for having Q in the crossings. I wonder whether the clue for 25A {PIV}{OT}<= should have read "Turn back to somebody *important* (5)" instead of "Turn back to somebody (5)". Ignoring that clue, if I had to guess based on the grid design and style of writing, I would say that the anonymous setter was a certain physician.
As with a cricket pitch, a word has two ends. In the cryptic sense, "endless" can imply deletion of one or more "ends".
ReplyDelete'Somebody' indicates greatness. It is common to say 'He is somebody'
ReplyDeleteFrom Free Dict.
n. pl. some·bod·ies
A person of importance: "Obviously she was somebody—a real presence in the room" (Oleg Cassini).
Thanks, that explanation makes it work for me.
DeleteAs always, from long ago, fun grid from Spinner. Easy too.
ReplyDeleteLoved MEDITERRANEAN, NEGLECTED, MINUTE.
Btw - baby is minute?
Thanx Srivatsan!
Hope to c u more often!
"Baby" is listed as a synonym for "minute" in Chambers. Both mean "small" as an adjective.
DeleteThanks. Didn't know that.
DeleteTake some Baby steps!!
DeleteWelcome back, Spinner! Enjoyable grid as ever.
ReplyDeleteCan some one help with 22D SAFARI. What indication does "Retiring" give
ReplyDelete