Wednesday, 5 August 2026

No 14864, Wednesday 05 Aug 2026, Vidwan

Solution to 3D 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 answer, if not solved by 1 PM.

ACROSS
8   A purer gent styled in an engrossing novel (4-6) PAGE-TURNER*
9   Missing nothing, only killing by a wild cat (4) LYNX {oNLY}*{X}
10 Harry renounced truth about English criminal (5-3-7) UNDER-THE-COUNTER {RENOUNCED+TRUTH}* over {E}
11 Small side around river or brook (6) STREAM {S}{T{R}EAM}
12 Looks after terms of service for drunkards (8) TOSSPOTS {SPOTS}<=>{TOS}
14 Basic unit in Excel layout! (4) CELL [T]
15 Bleak day's back (5) DREAR {D}{REAR}
16 Time to run with English knight for expedition (4) TREK {T}{R}{E}{K}
17 Drive of the majority wanting small personal sacrifices! Public relations! (8) MOTIVATE {MOsT}{prIVATE}
18 Chinese silk cloth from some sponge extract (6) PONGEE [T]
19 Bury to pass stage one at England, amongst universities (15) INTERCOLLEGIATE {INTER}{COL}{LEG}{1}{AT}{E}
21 Untidiness of officer's eating place (4) MESS [DD]
22 Work during days, more confident about following one who sails on board (10) WINDSURFER {W}{IN}{D}{SUR{F}ER}

DOWN
1   Done with parent shifts! Taking time to have fun in open! (5,3,4,3) PAINT THE TOWN RED  {DONE+WITH+PARENT}* over {T}
2   Seen as a relieved kind of affliction (8,7) VENEREAL DISEASE*
3   Head's cut time to call, left out AV, for example (10) ?U?T?M?D?A (Addendum - MULTIMEDIA {MULl}{TIME}{DIAl} - See comments)
4   Bug checker with nil pretences! Let about! (6,9)  INSECT REPELLENT*
5   So involved in greater good (4) ERGO [T]
6   Ambassador of India, powerful in general (15) PLENIPOTENTIARY {I}{POTENT}{I} in {PLENARY} Second I from?
7   Heard 'Nehru' tweet translated poorly (5,3,7) UNDER THE WEATHER*
13 Demi Moore's movie lines, model for cold naturalness (10) STRIPTEASE {STRIP}{T}{EASE}  (Correction - {S(-c+t)TRIPT}{EASE} - See comments)
20 Intimidate with large hood (4) COWL {COW}{L}

Reference List
By = X, English = E, Small = S, River = R, Day = D, Time = T, Run = R, Knight = K, Public relations = PR, Pass = COL, England = E, Work = W, Following = F, India = I, Model = T, Cold = C, Large = L

14 comments:

  1. Tough one today. Many long ones. If you miss one, you miss a lot of crossings.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did all the long ones easily. Struggled with shorter ones

      Delete
  2. Parsing of a few was near impossible, though the cryptic grammar was perfect.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Replies
    1. Naturalness is ease as given by Col.

      S(+t-c)ript ease

      Delete
    2. Got it. Thank you. Many doubts cleared in the blog today.

      Delete
    3. Col.'s parsing tends to show model as T (second T) in tease
      It is actually, lines= Script and it becomes 'Stript" with model for C followed by Ease

      Delete
  4. 3D MULTIMEDIA-AV; head {MUL}L cut {TIME} to call {DIA}l left out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It took me a while to parse the cryptic solution!!!
      It is spot on, though.

      Delete
  5. 22A- "Work during days....."- Why Days in plural. Not needed and also confusing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Phew!
    I surprised myself solving all the long ones.
    Missed MOTIVATE though.

    Great cluing - but too many long ones.
    My fav
    WIND SURFER. MULTIMEDIA, PAINT THE TOWN RED.

    Thanx!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Could someone explain me why we use "kind" as an anagrind in 2D

    ReplyDelete

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