Special, Sunday 04 Mar 2018, Hypatia

Welcome to Hypatia.
Three answers per commenter (Annotations compulsory).
Please provide all your answers in one comment.

Please note that this Crossword was first published on 1Across, so many of you would have already done the CW there. Those of you who have already solved the CW are requested to wait till 12 Noon before commenting here. This is being done to ensure that those who have not seen the puzzle earlier get a headstart in try cracking it.

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

Each solution must be entered in the grid after omitting it's first letter. The Enums referred in brackets is for the number of letters that are to be entered in the grid after taking off the starting letter.  For example if the answer to a clue is SUNDAY only UNDAY is to be entered in the grid ie., without the starting letter S. 

All these starting letters that are dropped need to be jumbled to give you the answer to question asked at the end of the clues.

STARTING OFF

ACROSS
8   Meeting holder's torn attire (6)
9   One's raised to support fashionable women? (3)
10 Law enforcement official regularly seen outside field (4)
11 Handy tips? (10)
12 1 of 11 covered by metal once (4)
13 Distilled wine, say without charge (6)
16 Will examine specialist after morning time (8)
17 Straddle a Harley, according to some? (7)
18 Nothing beats a trip (before Fall) to countries in the West (7)
22 Caught by Spooner, say judge almost splits (8)
25 Free to leave shortly and run around (6)
26 Healthy enamel protects animal (4)
27 She just got married to struggling hero with no money (10)
30 Anyone noble, good & extremely lovable, at the outset (4)
31 Man, perhaps lives by the bounds of life (3)
32 Damage caused prior to registration of old vehicle (3,3)

DOWN
1   Pure at heart, outlaw relates to town (4)
2   Approximately 30g or 20 subdues you, say (4)
3   Without publicity, calm daughter romanced (8)
4   Revolutionary leader is learned (7)
5   Prepare to print final sentence in extremely timely trial (3,3)
6   Say facebook, as I claimed, is fresh -nothing boring (5,5)
7   Reverend's outburst and animation over storm (6)
14 Switches to lowest grades in old school (3)
15 Bun, baker cooked with ale, became hard (10)
19 Her job could be on demand? (8)
20 Working with Church previously (3)
21 That woman lived poorly packing clutter (7)
23 Raised say, on no account for retaliation (6)
24 Advocate's partner found online, say? (6)
28 Fines merchandise? (4)
29 John follows exercise nut (4)

Solve this

- - - - -  ARE BUT  - - - - - - - -  OF OUR  - - - - - - - -  (5,3,3,8,2,3,8)

Across Lite version can be accessed at HYPATIA 1

Enjoy.

Special, Sunday 15 Mar 2015, 1ACross

ONE ACROSS - COMMUNITY GRID FOR HUNDRED GAMES

Only TWO answers per commenter (annotations to be compulsorily provided with answers) till 6 PM.

The two answers should be the paired answers as mentioned in the instruction No 4 below.

Other specific Instructions for this CW

1. This CW was specially prepared to commemorate the 100 games played at One Across and was published at One Across yesterday.

2. Please note that this is a 15 x 15 grid with a total of 38 clues that have been set by 33 setters (names shown below).

3. In addition to a Clue Acrostic (as most of you have guessed), this GRID has two buried Easter Eggs, including a NINA. As you solve the puzzle, please be on the look out for these features. They can be made a mention of, after the last answer comes in.

4. Further to the above, this grid has an extra Twist. The order/location of the clues has been jumbled. In other words, each word is currently referred to by a clue that is out of place.

The Enum of clue exactly matches that of the location in which it has been placed. Also, clues and locations have been mutually interchanged - So, for example, if a clue in 6D refers to a solution in 8D, the vice versa is also true..

As part of the solving process, you would need to work out the correct order/location of each clue as well as its solution.

The Across clues and Down clues have NOT been mixed together. All Across clues will have locations in the Across part and the same is true of the Down clues

The Clue Acrostic would be able to assist in the ordering process,. If you correctly order the clues, you would be able to make words using the first letters of the clues. The NINA in the grid may help as well.

This Crossword is the joint effort of the following setters - 1. Abhai Jawa 2. AFTERDARK 3. Ajeesh VM, 4. Amrita Majumdar 5. Anjali Doney Varghese 6. Atul Jairaj 7. Balaji Agoram 8. Bhargav Gopal 9. Brian Dungate 10. BUZZER 11. David Gracia 12. Debasmita Basu 13. EXA 14. Hari Mannarsamy 15. Heidi Schroeder 16. INCOGNITO 17. Paddy Craven 18. Lakshmi Vaidyanathan 19. Loks Subrahmanyam 20. MAC 21. Martin DeMello 22. Mg Subramanian 23. Narayan Mandyam 24. Ramki Krishnan 25. Shuchismita Upadhyay 26. Sowmya Ramkumar 27. SPINNER 28. SSv Avtaar 29. TEXTROUS 30. Usha Mehta 31. Venkatraghavan Sahasranaman 32. Vinit Wankhede 33. Viresh Ratnakar

ACROSS
1   Chronicles of yearly turnout take time (6)
5   Reside in domain? He refuses! (6)
10 Mass celebration really friendless - almost quiet mass (7)
11 In a state in US, one has sex before one marries (7)
12 Occidental tree accountants axe (6)
15 New core course requires two points to pass (6)
16 Noxious substance can, without delay in the end, kill every second indeed (7)
17 Ola set to acquire TaxiForSure's first Maruti car (4)
18 Checking Guinea-Bissau junta from taking the Eastern boundaries of an island (4)
19 - ......Proud fawn nibbling a bit of Tulsi (5-2)
20 Subject element revealed in announcement (4)
22 Stop fast emerging stores (4)
25 Eccentric seer pursued Spooner, perhaps to come back (7)
27 Yardstick of Spacer, perhaps? (6)
28 The topless dear danced around stick (6)
31 Overthrown at Sind, regiment finally withdrawn (7)
32 A fair bargain heard, say when going out (7)
33 Uphold revolutionary arm of the law till the last (6)
34 Maybe careless "Twist In A Tale"? (6)

DOWN
2   Disabled Indian on panel cut short by reporter (7)
3   A climber just below the summit of rocky gulch (6)
4   Ensnared in uprising, he decided to give up (4)
5   Soft massage brought about rude sound of contentment (4)
6   Good destination houses the strangest (6)
7   Diet balanced after withdrawing seafood is current (3-4)
8   Master Latin and begin intensive English reading to get skill (6)
9   Rough at sea. Caught a little crappy crab (6)
13 Encourage a very soft boy to embrace you, we hear (7)
14 New UPS package containing check for Rob (5-2)
15 Go on a trip around Vietnam's capital (7)
20 Heads of Hungary, Estonia, Romania, England, Iceland & Norway meet at this place (6)
21 U-17 players (of card game bridge) exit after being pulverised (7)
23 Overturned vehicle shelled, frozen terribly in extremely cold temperature (3,4)
24 Force nation to officially choose a leader (6)
25 Reporter is held in charge of running after leads (6)
26 Romeo enters late ending Juliet's apprehensions (6)
29 In what situation hotel's right for a flier? (4)
30 Doped gymnast's bit jittery (4)

Across Lite version can be accessed at ONE ACROSS COMMUNITY CW

Enjoy.

ACROSS
1   O Occidental tree accountants axe (6)
5   N New core course requires two points to pass (6)
10 E Eccentric seer pursued Spooner, perhaps to come back (7)
11 A  A fair bargain heard, say when going out (7)
12 C Chronicles of yearly turnout take time (6)
15 R Reside in domain? He refuses! (6)
16 O Overthrown at Sind, regiment finally withdrawn (7)
17 S Subject element revealed in announcement (4)
18 S Stop fast emerging stores (4)
19 - - ......Proud fawn nibbling a bit of Tulsi (5-2)
20 C Checking Guinea-Bissau junta from taking the Eastern boundaries of an island (4)
22 O  Ola set to acquire TaxiForSure's first Maruti car (4)
25 M Mass celebration really friendless - almost quiet mass (7)
27 M Maybe careless "Twist In A Tale"? (6)
28 U Uphold revolutionary arm of the law till the last (6)
31 N Noxious substance can, without delay in the end, kill every second indeed (7)
32 I In a state in US, one has sex before one marries (7)
33 T The topless dear danced around stick (6)
34 Y Yardstick of Spacer, perhaps? (6)

DOWN
2   G Go on a trip around Vietnam's capital (7)
3   R  Reporter is held in charge of running after leads (6)
4   I In what situation hotel's right for a flier? (4)
5   D Doped gymnast's bit jittery (4)
6   F Force nation to officially choose a leader (6)
7   O Overturned vehicle shelled, frozen terribly in extremely cold temperature (3,4)
8   R Romeo enters late ending Juliet's apprehensions (6)
9   H Heads of Hungary, Estonia, Romania, England, Iceland & Norway meet at this place (6)
13 U U-17 players (of card game bridge) exit after being pulverised (7)
14 N New UPS package containing check for Rob (5-2)
15 D Disabled Indian on panel cut short by reporter (7)
20 R Rough at sea. Caught a little crappy crab (6)
21 E Encourage a very soft boy to embrace you, we hear (7)
23 D Diet balanced after withdrawing seafood is current (3-4)
24 G Good destination houses the strangest (6)
25 A A climber just below the summit of rocky gulch (6)
26 M Master Latin and begin intensive English reading to get skill (6)
29 E Ensnared in uprising, he decided to give up (4)
30 S Soft massage brought about rude sound of contentment (4)

BL Brand crossword 10, Fri, March 28, 2014, Sowmya

First of all, congrats to the setter. It is not easy to set a thematic crossword in a symmetric grid but she has been doing it consistently. In each crossword brand names appear predominantly in gridfills and where they are not in the grid, the clueing takes care. The non-thematic entries are rare or non-existent. Cluewomanship is consistently good and disputations from the solver are negligible. The setter shows competence in writing deletion clues - I think I noticed three in this crossword and they are all done well. Sometimes in the def parts, some words are to be understood. E.g., 9ac. I think there are three or four such clues. I am not objecting to them but am merely giving pointers.

This blog has involved some work, but I did all the typing happily. But please excuse any errors/omissions. You are free to point them out.

As I said, it's not easy to include thematic words in grids.. While for general words we setters have resources with pattern search facility, autofind, etc, thematic words have to fall back on 'word lists'. Whether there is any for brand names, I don't know. So congrats to the setter once again.

Finally, my personal opinion is why should we give publicity to companies and brand names week after week, even if the publisher is a business paper. And does the setter have to resist pressures from  any brandwallahs? Or do any companies bruit about their inclusion?

ACROSS

1. Vitamin equal essentially to Persian medicine - a drop inside that can be cleansing (9)
AQUAGARD  (on edit) AQUAGUARD

A (vitamin) QUA (eQUAl essentially) ... Sorry, I am yet to anno this clue fully - seeking reader help Def: 'that can be cleansing' _ For anno, see Comments

8. Exclaimed strangely losing calm, shocked by battery (5)
EXIDE

Anag of EXCLAIMED after deleting CALM - 'shocked' is anag ind - 'battery' is def
Because the letters to be deleted c a l m are not in the same lorder in the del fodder, the setter has used the anag signal 'strangely'

9. After two quarters loss, Akai gets right man, say for overseas communication (7)
AIRMAIL

A[ka]I R MAIL (~male) -  def: "for overseas communication" OK - but can't we use this stamp for inland communication too?
Surface reading is done carefully

10. First things first, remember to immediately swallow glasses of juice (6)
FROOTI

Good surface reading - Anno needs a little thinking -  OO (glasses - that is spectacles ) inserted in F R T I ( first letters of first ... immediately)
Wordplay handled competently

11. Bushman trails U-Haul, initially to church for a custom (6)
USANCE

I had to think hard for the anno - Def is 'custom' -  CE is from 'church' - SAN 'Bushman' trails (comes after) U (U-Haul initially)

12. Void, once damaged appliances (8)
VIDEOCON

Anag of 'void once'; Anag signal: 'damaged'. Broad def in 'appliances'. I think that the first TV set that I owned was ECTV. This brand entered our home later.

15. Scatters RARE lens and picks up once more (8)
RELEARNS

Anag of 'rare lens' - 'picks up once more' is def.
Good anag fodder, good anag signal and good def.
Brand name in clue.

18. -50!!! Freezing..to live, gets hot stuff (6)
CHILIS

I had to think a little to get the anno - CHIL (deleting L from chill (freezing) - IS (?to live)
I am not sure if  we can really get IS from live; for is it has to be 'lives'.
I like "-50!!! Freezing" for CHILL but the three EMs are rather too many. And for the minus sign, some special effort is needed to get it right but few subs are equal to it.
'Hot stuff' as def is acceptable, though the ans is in plural fform.
Also, as this word has many spelling variants, wordplay leads to the gridfill.

20. Child's play to reverse a car (6)
TOYOTA

Def is car - Word breakup is TOY (?child's play)  TO (to reverse) A
Good surface reding but I am not sure if 'child's play' is OK for TOY. Toy is a plaything, not just 'play'. But I may be too persnickety.
During a visit of mine to the US, my granddaughter as a little child - not even a toddler - used to say TOYOTA whenever a car passed by on the highways (probably by looking at the insignia). When the song Bhagyadha was playing, she used to anticipate 'amma' and utter it.

21. State without English bike (7)
AVENGER

AVER (state) going around ENG (English) Def: bike
Could the State be UP, considering its leaders' aversion to English?!

22. Peak traffic finally to ease (5)
CREST

C (traffic finally) EASE (rest) - def: peak.
Good surface reading

23. Repossess brews, maybe from Starbucks ()
ESPRESSOS

Anag of 'repossess'
Good surface reading, good anag signal, also good def
Enu left out in interactive version

DOWN

2. Witticisms you exchanged last night get into one's ear (1-4)
Q-TIPS

Sub T (last night) for U (you) in QUIPS (witticisms) def: get into one's ears
Good surface reading.
Not sure if the letter sub is indicated correctly.
Some may not accept 'last night' as adequate ind for T
Def part handled well to gel with ther est of the clue..

3. Manic at core, chases power with designs in mind (6)
ARMANI

ANI (Manic at core)  follows ARM (power)
Good surface reading
For def, do you have to reread the clue again? Or will '[one] with designs in mind' do?

4. You hear the Italian has no way around multinational (8)
UNILEVER

Def is multinational.  U is from 'you hear' - The rest of anno is to be given by any reader.

5. A goal for students, to some extent (6)
DEGREE

DD

6. Wind down Cisco or reorganise (7)
SIROCCO

Def is 'wind'. Anag of 'Cisco or'. Brand in the clue.

7. Does cover logo for DKNY and Chanel, perhaps (9)
DESIGNERS

11. Stray hair I extracted in cooked cutlet by ready-mix maker (9)
ULTRATECH

Delete I from 'hair'. Put HRA in CUTLET and  anagram the letters.  Wordplay handled ably. Def is
'ready-mix maker' - that is 'concrete'.

13. Find CD above (8)
DISCOVER

'Find' is def. DISC (CD) OVER (above). Deleting Y from the TV channel name might have brought a brand in, perhaps.


14. Model goes after show with old flame and a bosom buddy (7)
PLAYTEX

PLAY (show) T (model) ex (old flame) - Def? 'bosom buddy'! - If you want, google for images. And quite honestly and really, I did and was caught out by Mrs. from behind. Had to explain!

 Excellent surface reading.

16. Shrewd Tata's upset with a loss, take about-turn and note (6)
ASTUTE

AST (anag of Tatas after deleting a, plus U (?about-turn) TE (note)
Good surface reading.
While a regular setter might exploit 'statue' or 'staute' for wordplay, this brand setter must look for brands. And that is done well!

17. Big apple in cartons belongs to Roger or Stuart, perhaps (6)
BINNYS

NY (big apple) in BINS (cartons) Def: Roger or Stuart, perhaps. Textile/shipping company but defined thus. But then cricketers are now becoming brands!

19. New release from novice, trained at Italian company (5)
IVECO

'Trained' is anag signal. Anag of OVICE after deleting N from 'novice'. Def is Italian company. Good deletion ind. Good surface reading.