No 13520, Saturday 02 Apr 2022, KrisKross

Ugadi Greetings by Prasanna

Ugadi Rangoli by Gowri

ACROSS

1   Firm rejected 100 objects having no functional value (8) COSMETIC {CO}{C+ITEMS<=}

5   A knife to pierce, essentially more sharp (6) ACUTER {A}{CUT}{piERce}

9   Parrot flying around party finds a way to escape (8) TRAPDOOR {TRAP{DO}OR*}

10 Wild trees starting to sprout in compounds (6) ESTERS {TREES*}{Sp...t}

12 Unwind the brain with drug and sleep (9) HIBERNATE {THE+BRAIN}*{E}

13 Frequently heading off to relax (5) OFTEN sOFTEN

14 Perhaps chess openings of grandmasters are mostly e4 (4) GAME Acrostic

16 Temperamental artist, interrupted by a bit of noise, becoming cross (7) TRANSIT {TRA{No..e}SIT*}

19 A mostly garbled, unclear subject (7) ALGEBRA {A}{GARBLEd*}

21 Say, bring up fish (4) RAYS (~raise)

24 Right command to perform an action, squashing resistance (5) DROIT {DO IT} over {R}

25 Looks like setter’s about to be captured by military rebels (9) RESEMBLES {RE{ME'S<=}BELS} Why 'Military'? (Addendum - {RE{ME'S<=}BLES*} - See comments)

27 One slicing giant orange (6) TITIAN {TIT{1}AN}

28 Our price adjusted for one who pays better (8) CROUPIER*

29 Holy fire, flaming, killed 1000 (6) SACRED {SACk}{RED}

30 Money deposited in bank, say, yesterday (8) RECENTLY {RE{CENT}LY}

DOWN

1   Like a popular song about yacht at sea (6) CATCHY {C}{YACHT*}

2   Quiet European leaves convent, worn-out (6) SHABBY {SH}{ABBeY}

3   Again end up getting duck (5) EIDER {RE}{DIE}<=

4   India’s very delayed directive in times of Covid (7) ISOLATE {I}{SO LATE}

6   Bird with endless money, extremely careful (9) CASSOWARY {CASh}{SO WARY}

7   A model is returned, wrapped in say, gum paper (8) TREATISE {A}{SIT<=} in {TREE}

8   Some fixtures on a telephone to control echo (8) RESONATE [T]

11 Appropriate answer (4) MEET [DD]

15 Judge speed of network after adding router, primarily (9) ARBITRATE {A}{Ro...r}{BIT RATE} (Addendum - {Ad...g}{Ro...r}{BIT RATE} -  See comments)

17 Orders lot of cut fruits (8) MANDATES {MANy}{DATES}

18 Skeptical of government involved in illegal actions (8) AGNOSTIC {A{G}NOSTIC*}

20 Open farm building with no roof (4) AIRY dAIRY

21 Book of verse translated (7) RESERVE {RE}{VERSE*}

22 Lamentation of KrisKross caught in a fix (6) PLAINT {PLA{I}NT}

23 Very large game bird (6) OSPREY {OS}{PREY}

26 Second application for a computer device (5) MOUSE {MO}{USE}

Reference List

Firm = CO, Hundred = C, Party = DO, Drug = E, Resistance = R, 1000 = K, Fire = SACK, Bank = RELY

About = C, Quiet = SH, European = E, Again = RE, India = I, Model = SIT, Speed of network = BIT RATE, Government = G, Of = RE, Very large = OS, Game = PREY, Second = MO

Colour/Font Scheme

Definition, Solution, Component letters, Embedded links, Theme word,  Reference list word, Anagram Indicator, C/C indicator, Reversal Indicator, Hidden word Indicator, Letter Pick indicator, Deletion Indicator, Homophone Indicator, Movement Indicator, Positional Indicator, Substitution, Indicator, Opposite indicator, Link/Connector, Extraneous

No 13519, Friday 01 Apr 2022, Avtaar

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ACROSS

1   “Sell” call by accountant (4,3) CASH OUT {SHOUT}<=>{CA}

5   Automatic rifle with round movement (7) ROBOTIC {ROB}{O}{TIC}

10 Passed around well under water (4) DEEP<=

11 Scotch blend “Jack Spooner” (6,4) SINGLE MALT (~ mingle salt to single malt)

12 A system of physical and mental discipline reviewed by chief of North Japanese town (6) NAGOYA {A}{YOGA}{North}<=

13 Widely regarded revolutionary comrade meets exiled groups (8) ESTEEMED [T<=]

14 Once again, try on matte-finished, soft shirt (9) REATTEMPT {RE}{MATTE*}{P}{T}

16 Composition by poet against Europe standing-in for America (5) VERSE VERS(-us+e)E

17 Letter about hunger (5) AITCH {A ITCH}

19 Rubens’ ultimate timeless paintings thrown around casually (2,7) IN PASSING {r...nS} in {PAINtINGS}*

23 Blockbuster performance of Miss Hathaway deficient in the second half (5,3) SMASH HIT {MISS+HATHaway}

24 Duck eating head of corn near a bay (6) ALCOVE {L{Corn}OVE}<=>{A}

26 Plant in slime dug up by bear (10) BROOKLIMES {SLIME}*<=>{BROOK}

27 Christie's ork standard (4) NORM {N or M}

28 British model wearing mini for online portal (7) WEBSITE {WE{B}{SIT}E}

29 I could be moving on — he lags after missing exams, finally (7) HALOGEN {ON+HE+LAGs}*

DOWN

2   A museum of art outside church compound (7) ACETATE {A}{CE}{TATE}

3   Animal worship — possibly suffocating? (5) HIPPO [T]

4   Well-known courier company adapted gate for dwarf (7) UPSTAGE {UPS}{GATE*}

6   Future MPs? (6) OWLETS (Parliament of Owls) [CD]

7   Avtaar charges mother’s mobile electrical instruments (9) OHMMETERS {OHM{ME}TERS*}

8   Children avoiding cold and flu, maybe? (7) ILLNESS chILLNESS

9   Catastrophic outbreaks of cholera, TB, encephalitis or pneumonia in the olden days (4,4,1,4) ONCE UPON A TIME {Ch...a+Tb+En...s+Or+PNEUMONIA}*

15 Food stalls push stock aggressively (4,5) TUCK SHOPS*

18 Simmered, shortened, steamed duck (7) IMMERSE SIMMEREd*

20 Oddly disappearing Great Lake in Asia — one wiped out by greed, essentially (4,3) ARAL SEA  {A{gReAt}{L}Si{grEed}A} &lit

21 Queen and legendary, villainous Indian king turned up in Spanish province (7) NAVARRE {ER}{RAVAN}<=

22 The man left inside shot everything (3,3) THE LOT {T{HE}{L}OT}

25 Old self-help entity supporting leader of Central African State (5) CONGO {O}{NGO}<=>{Ce...l}

Reference List

Accountant = CA, On = RE, Soft = P, Shirt = T, Europe = E, Time = T, British = B, Church = CE, Children = CH, Lake = L, Queen = ER, Left = L, Shot = TOT, Old = O