ACROSS
1 Suffering blow... after removing clothes, put something cold as dressing (8) POULTICE {bLOw+PUT}*{ICE}
5 English referee dismissed from United Kingdom (6) EMPIRE {E}{uMPIRE}
9 Poor reason to tour American city (8) INFERIOR {INFE{RIO}R}
10 Girl adores clothing accessories (6) GLOVES {G}{LOVES}
12 Charm husband to do some gardening, gathering fresh roses (9) HORSESHOE {H}{ROSES*}{HOE}
13 Island nation's leader executed in a hostile manner (5) ICILY sICILY
14 Don't hit young girl (4) MISS [DD]
16 American about to slurp soup that is left over (7) SURPLUS {US<=}{SLURP}*
19 Wrongly name a plant (7) ANEMONE {NAME}*{ONE}
25 Telephonic survey on safe sporting event (4,5) POLE VAULT {(~poll)POLE}{VAULT}
27 Straight four, perhaps (6) SQUARE [DD]
28 Throbbing, grim ache…head splitting excruciatingly at first (8) MIGRAINE {GRIM*}{pAIN}{Ex...y} &lit
29 Base in rickety chair is causing more pain (6) ACHIER {ACHI{E}R*}
30 Faculty I spot in the auditorium (8) EYESIGHT (~ i sight) (Correction - (~ i site) - See comments)
DOWN
1 Fix player's initial match (6) PLIGHT {Pl...r}{LIGHT}
2 Develop fun, naughty website (6) UNFURL {FUN*}{URL}
3 Prime hotel covered in ash, say (5) THREE {T{Ho..l}REE}
4 & 11 They provide online support for wearables (7,4) CLOTHES PEGS [CD]
6 Fighter aircraft carrying harmful stuff - a small quantity (9) MILLIGRAM {M{ILL}IG}{RAM}
7 Bishop dies, believing devious trick (8) INVEIGLE bELIEVING*
8 Author's novel is set to film, for example (8) ESSAYIST {IS+SET}* over {SAY}
11 See 4
15 One got up disturbed by horrible horn - it's a steam engine (4,5) IRON HORSE {1}{RO{HORN*}SE}
18 Wine is extremely reduced, say (8) VERMOUTH (~ very much) (Correction - {VERy}{MOUTH} - See comments)
20 Show some complex possibilities (4) EXPO [T]
21 UK silly to fight in an unsporting fashion (7) SULKILY*
22 Making a face, missing start in picnic (6) OUTING pOUTING
23 Way of cryptic setter (6) STREET*
26 Primarily very intelligent, resourceful undercover secret agent (5) VIRUS Acrostic
Reference List
English = E, United = U, Girl = G, Husband = H, Over = O, Quietly = P, Base = E, Fighter = MIG, Bishop = B
18dn Mouth=say
ReplyDeleteThanks KKR
Delete3d typo! 3 is the def. Prime hotel:h
ReplyDelete16a typo. US<=(slurp)*
+1
Delete5a the clue reads
ReplyDeleteU(-e)mpire. Def in the middle.
Empire is the solution and kingdom is the def.as shown by Col.
Delete9a is there a Rio in USA!
ReplyDeletePort city is as American city is, well unlike Krisskross.
It is a South American city. But the clue makes the solver think of US.
Delete5A the deletion is confusing.
Delete'Referee dismissed from United' sounds like United - umpire instead of umpire - United
Def in middle clues do create that.
DeleteIncognito's version would be
United Kingdom dismissed english referee.
Definition 'Kingdom' is at the end!
DeleteRight
Delete9A - Defining Rio as "American city" (instead of "South American" which would have been a giveaway) was deliberate.
Delete5A - the clue is flawed :(
Intended wordplay was E (Engish) + UMPIRE (referee) -U (United) => EMPIRE (Kingdom). But the deletion indicator (Referee removed FROM United) is wrong. Apologies for the oversight.
Then I register my objection!
DeleteIt's a very rare usage and normally called Americas.
But those two are far away for a THC reader!!
Is Sicily a nation?
ReplyDeleteNah but the clue was imo still quite solvable so license like this is a ok
DeleteI was tryong to get an island with manner-n.
DeleteI suppose I do see that. Reading "hostile" as anagrind in that case?
DeleteWith crossings I had I?I?? + near certainty it was an adverb def gave me I?ILY, which was an awful lot to work with
Sicily is an independent region of Italy - I agree "nation" is a bit of a stretch. "In a hostile manner" is the def.
DeleteIn his next OUTING Vladimir was found sitting SULKILY in a STREET adjoining Trafalgar SQUARE,
ReplyDeletewith a bottle of Milk of MAGNESIA in his hand, ruing over his PLIGHT...
" A MISS is understandable. But THREE in a row?"
And then the thought struck him.
"Let me get a HORSESHOE and fix it in my front door..."
🤣🤣🤣
DeleteUNFURL and URL seem to be inseparable these days.
ReplyDeleteKrisKross is a treasure. Every puzzle he brings absolutely slaps. What a stud. Truly the champ!
ReplyDeletePOULTICE I've never heard of. PLIGHT was tricky but I think I should have been able to get it. CLOTHES PEGS... I knew it wasn't going to be "online" per se but I needed all the crosses to put it together. Prime as THREE was a fun one I didn't see coming. MAGNESIA was funny. MILLIGRAM and VERMOUTH were both very charmingly clued. The DD for MISS made me smile.
Got the south side pretty quickly, came back and solved north east, but couldn't get POULTICE/PLIGHT without a little help. Really tight puzzle, bigup and respec due ❤️🔥
+1
DeleteThank you! Glad you liked it.
Delete+2. KrisKross enjoyable as ever with his own tricks up his sleeve!
ReplyDeleteVermouth was delightfully clued. One has to be careful about 'say' - it can mean many things.
ReplyDeleteThanks Paddy.
DeleteCol: The anno I had in mind for 30A was HP of I SITE (site = spot) - homophone for both parts of the word and not just EYE.
ReplyDeleteCorrected
DeleteStill shows '~I sight' instead of '~I site'
DeleteEnjoyed this! Clever surfaces and several aha moments. Thank you, KrissKross.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked it Amita.
DeleteIXL question. Do we need to login exactly at 11:00 am. And does the time taken by each solver equal the time elapsed from the time puzzle was published or from individually logged time, meaning only time while logged in?
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure time is calculated from 11:00 am and not individual login time. So, if you don't login by 11:00 am, you simply lose time.
DeleteLOgin time is not relevant. Submission time. First in.
Delete+1 Prasad. One can log in at 11.30 and submit by 11.45 and still can be ranking 3rd or 4th depending upon the difficulty level.
DeleteYes submission time matters most. But when you are unsure of the difficulty level, why would you want to login late if your goal is to be in top 30 ? Even in the above scenario, he could have been ranked 1 had he logged in at 11 am.
DeleteThis makes total sense! Thanks for the discussion, all.
DeleteI was wondering why my ranking seemed a bit random relative to the time I took to complete. Not that I've had time to participate for a few weeks. If there's still another round next week, maybe I'll try to stay up late and see if I can get at least one decent rank this year.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I took my sweet time to solve and submit while running some errands. Made one mistake that could have been avoided with more commitment. Finished 83rd.
ReplyDelete