ACROSS
1 - A festival when a steer is cooked (6) - EASTER*
4 - Drugs have made him dotty (8) - {CRACK}{POT}
10 - The action will involve police, that’s for certain (7) - DE{CID}ED
11 - Settle down though you don’t like other people’s music (7) - COMPOSE Anno pending
12 - A plant stags retreat from (4) - REED <- )
13 - Suffering for having no looks (10) - DISTRESSED [DD]
16 - Go round the lane that’s where you will find her (6) - {E}LA{I}NE Emotioanl Intelligence for Go
17 - Lace, it’s made to be flexible (7) - ELASTIC*
20 - Talks one into becoming robbers (7) - P{I}RATES
21 - I am at the harbour to receive goods from foreign source (6) - {IM}{PORT}
24 - Single maid turns out deceitful (10) - MISLEADING*
25 - Graduate quarter made the starting point for action (4) - {BA}{SE}
27 - Going up the pole at first, as it’s starting to develop (7) - {N}{ASCENT}
29 - Prepared, now, to have one with a grass border (7) - RE{AD}{I}ED
30 - Ghostly lines of prismatic light (8) - SPECTRAL [DD]
31 - Annoyed the fellow going through, who made the search (6) - RI{F}LED
DOWN
1 - Signed at the bottom “Rose D Wheeler” (8) - {END}{ORSED*}
2 - Undisclosed sign employed by executives (11) - {SECRET}{ARIES} Can secretaries be classified as Executives
3 - Aims and finishes off (4) - ENDS [DD]
5 - Public exhibitions of dances by performers (8) - RECITALS [CD]
6 - Obstruct a few being unwieldy (10) - {CUMBER}{SOME}
7 - In favour of professional (3) - PRO [DD]
8 - Current preferences is to follow a general course (6) - TRENDS [CD]
9 - I really must concede right of entry, dam it! (5) - ADMIT*
14 - Young lady’s petticoat (4,2,1,4) - SLIP OF A GIRL [DD]
15 - A passage of arms for a linking of arms (10) - ENGAGEMENT [DD]
18 - Dave with team leader and ten retaliate with hostile acts (8) - VENDETTA*
19 - Was there a couple of hours before twelve as per the French note (8) - {AT}{TEN}{DE}{D}
22 - Changes ends round about half time (6) - E{(-ti)ME}NDS
23 - Typical measure to attempt to gain access (5) - {EN}{TRY}
26 - For transport I charge in advance (4) - TAX{I}
28 - Examine the Bishop’s authority (3) - SEE [DD]
GRID
With a very few exceptions, managed to run through today's CW comfortably in an hour's time.
ReplyDeleteAs someone commented here lately, this blog has made me lazy too. Just cannot resist the temptation of 'sneaking' in at 8-30 am. In the past, the efforts to complete would continue over the day.
Just a few observations:
13 across - Suffering for having no looks (10) - DISTRESSED
As a wild guess, I put 'distressed' down into the grid. Eager to know how this word can imply 'having no looks'. Perhaps not because of dis+tressed, being deprived of one's lovely tresses.
9 down - I really must concede right of entry, dam it! (5) - ADMIT
The anagram is all right. But the correct expression is 'damn it', right? The setter can be allowed a bit of poetic licence here.
2 down - Undisclosed sign employed by executives (11) - {SECRET}{ARIES} Can secretaries be classified as executives?
I agree with Col. Maybe the clue could have been executives' aides. That apart, the clue was cleverly set. Secret + a zodiac sign, Aries
I liked the following two as well.
15 down - A passage of arms for a linking of arms (10) - ENGAGEMENT
19 down - Was there a couple of hours before twelve as per the French note (8) - {AT}{TEN}{DE}{D}
There could be disagreement on the above points. Tastes differ, after all.
Richard
A Secretary in Government or a company Secretary could certainly be classified as executives
ReplyDelete13A Seems to be a misprint and should have read 'Suffering for having no locks' as observed by Sridhar at the Orkut group.
ReplyDelete2d: Can secretaries be classified as executives?
ReplyDeleteI think they can. In most countries, a secretary of state is a senior executive of the government. In India, the designation of the top bureaucrat in a ministry is that of secretary.
A nice clue, ditto for ENGAGEMENT and ATTENDED.
9 - I really must concede right of entry, dam it! (5) - ADMIT*
ReplyDeleteEven if we take the generous view for "dam it" as richlas suggests, we still have these questions: Where is the anagram indicator? What is "I really must" doing in the clue?
A secretary is basically an Administrative Assistant.
ReplyDeleteAn administrative assistant to the Goverment is called a Secretary.
A Company secretary is what the name suggests, so also Private secretary, Club Secretary etc.
In countries where they are called Secretary of State they do not use the term Minister as we do.
So in my opinion using the term Secretary to mean an Executive is slightly flawed.
2d. I read it as meaning someone employed by an executive, a secretary would work for an executive and therefore the clue would be fine. Have really been struggling with Mr Manna though and was really quite sad when there was no Sunday paper as that is the one i can normally sail through!
ReplyDeleteCol,
ReplyDeleteWhen's Neyartha's CW scheduled?