Monday, 20 January 2025

No 14386, Monday 20 Jan 2025, Vidwan

Solution to 5D 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 solve, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS
6   Appreciate 5A, not the first clue! (5) VALUE {V}{A}{cLUE}
7   Apostle had good people with bit of theological understanding (9) JUDGEMENT {JUD{G}E}{MEN}{Th...l}
10 Oracular and keen on exercises involving crosswords mainly! (7) CRYPTIC {CRY}{PT}{In...g}{Cr...s}
11 Domestic broadcast carries trivia every now and then (7) SERVANT {SE{tRiViA}NT}
12 Check what Ram mellowingly bears (7) TRAMMEL [T]
13 When jury is not able to reach a conclusion, one is thrown to the wind! (7) MISTRAL MISTRiAL {MISTR{1}AL}
14 It is used to tie basic dental fitting (7,4) ELASTIC BAND*
19 Book our boxes, prepare one for bedroom (7) BOUDOIR {B}{OU{DO}{1}R}
21 Our land's rough and rugged (7) NODULAR*
23 Spot over large empty cloth (7) SPLOTCH {SP{L}OT}{ClotH} Spot on double duty?
25 Keeps an eye on alien thought process (7) MINDSET {MINDS}{ET}
26 Bend for victory! Rally in response! (9) REFLEXIVE {RE(+flex-v)FLEXVIVE}
27 Five things like basil, not hard to cultivate, chew and digest, say (5) VERBS {V}{hERBS}

DOWN
1   Parents liaise, afterwards youngsters delightfully assemble to enjoy basically (4,4) PLAY DATE Acrostic Semi&lit
2   Upset about men's partitioning of body (6) SEPTUM {UPSET*}{M}
3   One who comes for an animal husbandry tool (10) EJACULATOR [DD]
4   Does sad ballads (4) ODES*
5   Darn! A lost harvest just after killing of farmers' leader! (6) ?E?A?R (Addendum - REPAIR {REaP}{fAIR} - See comments)
6   Empty Lift (6) VACATE [DD]
8   Aura is energy in motion, covers large part of our world! (7) EURASIA {AURA+IS+E}*
9   Gossip or anecdote about Rechabite (6) TATTLE {TA{TT}LE}
13 Take time, test one, say for measure of speed (4,6) MACH NUMBER {MAtCH}{NUMBER}
15 John, our ancestor preserved lost works (7) APOSTLE {AP{LOST*}E}
16 Refused a contract with American state? Yes! Unreal! (8) DELUSORY {DELeted}{US}{OR}{Y} (Correction - {DEaL}{US}{OR}{Y} - See comments)
17 One who ill-treats a black client? (6) ABUSER {A}{B}{USER}
18 Free time? One stuffs marijuana mostly! (6) GRATIS {GRA{T}{1}Ss}
20 Better cultivate tulip with minimum fertilisers (6) UPLIFT {UPLI{Fe...s}T*}
22 Study southern part of a state carved out of Serbia from the beginning (2,4) DE NOVO {DEN}{kosOVO}
24 Sounds like healthy praise (4) HAIL (~hale)

Reference List
Good = G, Exercises = PT, Book = B, Large = L, Alien = ET, Victory = V, Men = M, Energy = E, Time = T, yes = Y, Black = B

24 comments:

  1. 6d DD?
    Both are synonyms of same def (evacuate). No?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Spot over L is Sp(l)ot. I see no double duty there.

      Delete
    2. What's the role of 'empty' if it's an &lit

      Delete
    3. As given by you in the main post.

      Delete
    4. I was talking of it's role in an &lit

      Delete
    5. Agree with Col. Splotch is a spot on cloth, regardless of whether the cloth is large or small, empty or otherwise.

      Delete
    6. Doc, we have discussed many time that in cryptics
      Its sufficient to be "sufficient and not necessary".
      A splotch can be spot on an empty (blank) cloth!

      But splotch is probably derived from spot and blotch! Should have been avoided.

      Delete
  3. 14a semi&lit (dental elastics)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since there is an Anagram, should it not be [A & Lit]?

      Delete
  4. 15D- I liked ape, " Our ancestor"!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. 5D: darn= repair
    Harvest is reap
    Just is fair
    Re(-a)p+(-f)(air)
    Sathia

    ReplyDelete
  6. 5 D Repair - darn
    A lost harvest - re (-a) p
    Just - Fair
    Killing of farmers’ leader- (-f)
    Re(-a)p (-f)air

    ReplyDelete
  7. 5D:repair=darn-a lost harvest(reap)(-a)=(rep)
    Just=fair(-farmers' leader((f) becomes (air)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lot of harvesting- seasonal for Pongal !!

    ReplyDelete
  9. A little difficult but some nice clues.
    Liked - APOSTLE, CRYPTIC, REPAIR.
    Thank u Vidwan!

    ReplyDelete

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