Sunday, 14 January 2024

Special, Sunday 14 Jan 2024, IXL 23 Onstage Finals 1, Avtaar

Three answers per commenter till 6 PM (Annotations compulsory) 
Please submit all your answers in one comment.  

(COMMENTS ENTERED WITH LESS THAN THREE ANSWERS/ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE, UNLESS THE COMMENTER SPECIFIES THAT IT IS A COMPENSATION FOR A REPEAT)


Enjoy.

49 comments:

  1. 23a ROUGE: red powder used to beautify
    ROU: our* (abandoned)
    GE: empty garage

    ReplyDelete
  2. 25a: TASTING: checking dishes
    TA: volunteers
    STING: cheat

    ReplyDelete
  3. 5a SPYING
    saw = saying
    chief of police (p) in place of associate (a) = spying
    def: surveillance

    4d GENERAL PURPOSE
    (pure green opals)*
    def: useful for many applications

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 12a ELBOW
      england's operner = E
      trapeed in front = LBW
      ball goes in = LB(O)W
      def: Push

      Delete
  4. 3d: GO TO WASTE: become useless
    (two goats)* : GO TO WAST drugged is anind
    E: ecstasy
    GO TO WAST (E)

    ReplyDelete
  5. 1d: MISLED (T<--)
    4D: GENERAL PURPOSE (PURE+GREEN+OPALS)*

    ReplyDelete
  6. Replacement for 4d:
    9D: BREAD AND BUTTER (B(READ) AND B)(UTTER)

    ReplyDelete
  7. My first-
    19D- Burial- BU RIAL- Funeral
    Black Uniform- BU; Money for Yeminis= Rial

    ReplyDelete
  8. Replies
    1. COMMENTS ENTERED WITH LESS THAN THREE ANSWERS/ANNOTATIONS WILL BE DELETED WITHOUT NOTICE, UNLESS THE COMMENTER SPECIFIES THAT IT IS A COMPENSATION FOR A REPEAT

      Delete
    2. Please follow the rules spelt out.

      Delete
  9. My 2nd-
    7D- Infantry- Infant ry
    Toddler= Infant: Railway= Ry

    ReplyDelete
  10. 2D: RHOMBI def: LOZENGES HO house + MB doctor in R...I exhausted Rawalpindi
    21A: IMPROMPTU def: UNSCRIPTED play ROMP in IMP + U
    22D: ODOUR def: smell O D O odd letters from of dior + UR undertaker's piter letters skin

    ReplyDelete
  11. My 3rd and last-
    27A- Wrestler= W Rest L Er=<. Def. is one grappling
    Rest= others
    About withdrawing= Re=<

    ReplyDelete
  12. comments entered separately before reading Prasad's comment.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Replacement for 12d ( my third)
    18a: SNOWED UNDER (NURSE+DOWNED)*

    ReplyDelete
  14. 14A: SU (reverse of US) inside anagram of "fearless" + D (diamonds) = SELF ASSURED = cocky
    17D: SOA (first letters of the first 3 words) + W (Welsh) inside PORT (wine) = SOAPWORT = herb
    11A: PO (piano & ordinary) inside RIFFS (repeated musical pieces) = RIP-OFFS = plagiarized works

    ReplyDelete
  15. 1A: security= mortgage
    Crack is gag
    Metro gets jumbled
    In containment indicator
    Hence, mort(gag)e
    Sathia

    ReplyDelete
  16. 24A Loving(defn) - AMOROUS
    a second - A MO
    start - ROUSE
    after wifE finally - E
    divorced(deletion)
    (A)(MO)(ROUSE - E)

    16D Judge(defn) - ESTIMATE
    in European(E) country(STATE) curbs(cont ind) instant messaging(IM)
    (E)(ST(IM)ATE)

    ReplyDelete
  17. 15D: shocks= surprises
    Power surges is p+ rises
    Safe is sur(-e)earth (e)is removed
    Hence, sur+p+rises
    Sathia

    ReplyDelete
  18. 14a, cocky = self assured
    { ((fea(us<=)rless))* (d)}
    Criminal - anind
    Fencing - container indicator for rejected American
    Diamond = d

    ReplyDelete
  19. 18a, overwhelmed by work = snowed under
    [ nursedowned]*
    Cocktail- anind

    ReplyDelete
  20. My last,
    13A: shift= rearrange
    Raise is rear
    Storm is rage
    Noon is n
    Hence, rear+ra(n)ge
    Sathia

    ReplyDelete
  21. 27a. One grappling = WRESTLER
    with = W
    others= REST
    about = RE
    withdrawing = reversal ind = ER
    after commencement of league = L
    (W+REST)+(L)+(ER)

    ReplyDelete
  22. 21 ac impromptu - unscripted
    India's leading - I
    Parliamentarian - mp
    Play - rom
    Workers' group - tu ( trade union)
    Hosted by - containment indicator

    ReplyDelete
  23. My last
    6d, dog used as decoy = piper
    Harbour = pier
    Quietly = p
    [Pi (p) er]

    ReplyDelete
  24. 26A Bleed from injury = EXTORT (dd)
    my 2nd

    ReplyDelete
  25. My last
    10A Trim(defn) - SHORTEN
    back of dresS with edges of ThE cutting(cont ind) instrument(HORN)
    (S)(HOR(TE)N)

    ReplyDelete
  26. 13 ac rearrange - shift
    Raise - rear
    Storm - rage
    Noon - n
    About- containment indicator

    ReplyDelete
  27. I think 8D is the only clue remaining..

    ReplyDelete
  28. 3/3
    8 dn go steady - maintain a stable relationship
    Government- go
    Explicit dialogue- ted
    (Go+ted+say)*
    New - anagrind

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am not sure the wordplay suggests a single anagram for all the fodder.
      The definition and solution are clear. The annotation is not convincing.

      Delete
  29. Not able to see 16 down and 5 across

    ReplyDelete
  30. 8D anagram of G SAY TO ED(exp.... dial.....)

    ReplyDelete
  31. Got it. New(anind) {G+ED(leads in explicit dialogue) +SAY+TO}*
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Superb crossword. Would have been very tough on stage to solve totally in the mind without even paper and pen. kudos to the winners!

    ReplyDelete
  33. As regards people using multiple messages to post their solutions:
    1. I see most of the regulars try their best to follow the rules.
    2. I pointed earlier how it becomes difficult after a few(like5 as happening to me right now) lines to type on mobiles.
    3. Getting solutions in a certain format like Saturday(or Sunday), novices seldom learn how to break clues and annotate in future.
    4. We get 1-5 solutions in about 5 lines(pretty much) in single comment on some Fridays. Some of our veterans, who break rules for good reasons on other days, call them crisp/perfect. No identifiers for definition, clue type, word play... Very little.
    5. After about half grid is solved, peeps can' t but break rules.

    I think this blog is more about exploring the cryptic crosswords than just giving standardised solutions to THCC.

    It took me, perhaps, ten times. Cause every letter is out of view even right now.

    Admin can take a strict action when it is misused. 😎

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  34. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  35. Financial was, perhaps, Avatar's theme.
    REARRANGE MORTGAGE payments to SHORTEN RIP-OFFS. ELBOW being SNOWED UNDER and GO STEADY.

    BURIAL? Next Avatar👍

    ReplyDelete

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