ACROSS
9 Eggs on star hugging a dying star (9) SUPERNOVA {OVA}<=>{SU{PER}N}
10 Answer only around five (5) SOLVE {SOL{V}E}
11 Regular coverage in greater detail? That's not gonna happen (3,4) GET REAL {GrEaTeR+dEtAiL}
12 Dispute over extremely radioactive consignment (7) FREIGHT {F{Ra...vE}IGHT}
13 Some dope went after the head of state (5) SPEED {PEED}<=>{St..e}
14 Guys, a fancy phone first, or spectacles? (9) PHENOMENA {MEN}{A}<=>{PHONE*}
16 Needing fixes, man to book clinic providing safe access (11,4) COMBINATION LOCK*
19 Uncontrollable jobs mess? Give pink slips to leaders! (9) OBSESSIVE {jOBS+mESS+gIVE}
22 One going around in circles or lost — a scared dog, perhaps (5) BITER orBITER
24 Uneasy truce involving toilet style (4,3) CREW CUT {CRE{WC}UT*}
26 Squeals about diamonds (7) LASQUES*
27 Measures and marinates, half-heartedly (5) STEPS STEePS
28 Texted, "are you lousy in cooking?" with terrible consequences (9) RUINOUSLY {(~are you)RU}{LOUSY+IN}*
DOWN
1 Release gas unapologetically, somewhat up-ending conventions (6) USAGES [T<=]
2 Against the flow, northern state's rail transport saves energy (8) UPSTREAM {UP`S}{TR{E}AM}
3 Non-competitive games in France: one-goal stories (10) FRIENDLIES {FR}{1}{END}{LIES}
4 Helping Barbie say two opening bits from Oppenheimer (6) DOLLOP {DOLL}{OPp...r}
5 JAR file getting built? Eating a bit of zafrani curry (8) JALFREZI {JAR+FILE}* over {Za...i}
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7 Society under pressure to eradicate drug epidemic (6) PLAGUE {LeAGUE}<=>{P}
8 Occasionally kick at butt feebly, when upset with defender (4,4) LEFT BACK {KiCk+At+BuTt+FeEbLt}<=
16 Extremely fine cocaine and methamphetamine smuggled by anchor (8) CHOICEST {C}{HO{ICE}ST}
18 Fit from muscular cycling, welcoming back rub (8) OUTBURST {(-st)OUT(+st)ST} over {RUB<=}
20 Ridicule king inhabiting filthy place (6) SKEWER {S{K}EWER}
21 Sweet nothings rejected — essentially preferred comfortable AC output (6) ECLAIR {prefErred}{CooL}{AIR}
23 Controversy, as Erdogan shows up, echoes statement (6) RESAYS [T<=]
25 Suit jacket (4) CASE [DD]
Reference List
Went = PEED, Toilet = WC, Energy = E, France = FR, Drug = E, Pressure = P, Cocaine = C, Methamphetamine = ICE, King = K
very nice grid. yet to solve vertical few. again we got the same Doll in Barbie version.
ReplyDeletePaddy sir.....Methaphetamine commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder attributed to CNS - Central Nervous System. Couldn't find ICE for this word.
Noun 1. methamphetamine - an amphetamine derivative (trade name Methedrine) used in the form of a crystalline hydrochloride; used as a stimulant to the nervous system and as an appetite suppressant
Deletedeoxyephedrine, meth, methamphetamine hydrochloride, Methedrine, shabu, chicken feed, crank, chalk, trash, glass, ice
Thank you col.sir, second para I got the answer. Deoxyephedrine is substitue which I have not cross checked it. Good lesson learned from this word. Thanks once again.
DeleteI learned about meth and its slang names from Breaking Bad (a brilliant TV show).
DeleteMe too.
Delete21D (-pref)E(-rred) + C(-o o)L AIR
ReplyDeleteSweet= defn
nothings=oo
rejected= del ind
essentially preferred= central letter sel ind
comfortable AC output= cool air
Yes, thanks, Satyen!
DeleteThanks Satyen
DeleteSpotted Nina: Erno Rubik's Cube
ReplyDeleteIndeed! The puzzle title (shown in the online version) is "A Puzzle With Layers," and that refers to the cube. There are 3 entries with slight connections to the cube, and a few more that are vaguely connected. I'll post my notes soon.
DeleteIt's a Pangram!
ReplyDeleteYes! Also noted by the Col. above :-)
DeleteMany thanks to all the solvers and to the Col. for blogging! Here are my notes for this crossword. (I'll post the "Personal Notes" as a separate comment as they are longish, this time :-).
ReplyDelete-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes
ERNO RUBIK'S CUBE can be seen as a nina going across the fifth row from the top and continuing over the fifth row from the bottom.
The brilliant cube puzzle invented by Hungarian Ernő Rubik has three rotating layers along each of the three axes. It draws one in instantly, once one has spent even a few minutes with it.
Three solution entries are themed around solving a Rubik's cube: SOLVE (10A), SPEED (13A), STEPS (27A).
In addition, there are a few other tangential connections to the theme. A COMBINATION LOCK (16A) is also a puzzle of sorts, with lots of possible states. The two words LEFT and BACK (8D) are the common names of two of a cube's faces in the Singmaster notation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubik%27s_Cube#Singmaster_notation) for cube moves. Coincidentally, four steps from a sequence of moves written in the Singmaster notation can be seen in the very top row (UUFD).
This puzzle is a pangram.
**Personal notes**
ReplyDeleteThe Rubik's Cube holds a special place in my heart. I was around 13, in the early eighties, and I had read about the cube and wanted it really badly. We lived in Bhopal, and nothing "imported" like that ever made it there in those days. And yet, a few cubes showed up in a shop, and my late mother bought one for me on her way back from her school. It was certainly a luxury item for our tight family budget back then.
*Science Today*, a fantastic magazine from that era, published a long article that described a solution technique for the cube, around the time I got mine. It was not the typical layer-wise algorithm that's commonly used. It just described a very small number of sequences (two for "edges" and two for "corners," if I remember correctly), and that general mechanism where you come up with a prefix of moves that will get the pieces in the right positions, then you apply your set sequence, and then you undo the prefix by reversing it. I can still remember the thrill of solving the puzzle for the first time, using the simple *Science Today* recipe!
Fast-forward a few years. 1990. On my first flight ever, on my way to the U.S., Airport Security decided to go through my handbag at London. They found my cube, which was still a bit of a novelty. They said, can you solve it? I said, I can do it in under a minute. They said, do it now! A crowd gathered (yes, crowds could gather even at airport security, back in the day!). And there was a big round of applause, once I did solve it within a minute.
Fast-forward some more, and even today, that very Rubik's cube still works just fine. It sits on the window ledge, right across from where I sit for work every day in my home office.
Really nice anecdotes
DeleteI used to buy SCIENCE TODAY regularly...
Delete+1
DeleteI normally wait for them.
11a&8d Forward letter picking and in reverse resply are my favs
ReplyDelete25A- I was trying to fit in coat
ReplyDelete25Dn
DeleteSorry. You see right
Deleteyou are
ReplyDeleteIt's been a decent week of crosswords from THC - Hypatia's double (though the first seemed less tired than the second), Lightning's grid (barring some minor errors) and Avtaar from yesterday. I have yet to attempt this one from Gussalufz and have saved it as my pre-IXL warmup puzzle for Sunday.
ReplyDelete---
Re: IXL round 6. Alas, my perfect run has ended. After 1 practice round and 5 rounds, finally in the 6th round I made a mistake. That mistake was unfortunately in a checked box, meaning that the error propagated to 2 clues. Zero points from the round...when I do perfectly, maybe I can gain 1 or 2 spots on the leaderboard. But if I make a mistake, the cost is 9 places! It is truly only the most precise solvers who make it all the way to the end.
I presume the round 6 setter was Arden, given that 9D was the word ARDENT and his trademark device was used in 19A Strange story, really shattered (9) DESTROYED, where really = "in deed" = {containment indicator}{containment fodder}.
I thought the following clue wording was incorrect (though I got the solution right and it did not affect my score).
21D Drink withdrawn as she enters (6) SHERRY
If Drink = Definition and withdrawn = SHY, then where does ERR come from?
yeah, even I had the same doubt for sherry. That was the last clue I solved and just had to guess it because drink = sherry fits the clue.
DeleteIt would have started out as
Delete"Miss enters"....
Sounds like another one of those things.
DeleteShe=miss=err
It could also, er... be an ERR on the part of the setter, who may have intended she = HER, leaving H accounted for twice in the wordplay and only one R accounted for.
DeleteDoubtful. Not in IXL. People check & recheck their puzzles.
DeleteShe = Miss = err is the most plausible parsing.
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ReplyDeleteNice puzzle. AGISTERS & LASQUES are new words for me. Did not get CREW CUT either.
ReplyDeleteSo, as always, couldn't ace the Ratnakar puzzle.
Reg the cube - v v similar experience. Costly cube, science Today, Thrill of solving. Only I've outgrown the cube now. It lies in a corner of my cupboard.
Thanks! Nice to find another Science Today + Rubik's Cube parallel story!
Delete