Financial Times 15024 with Picture Quiz

(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow.  To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)   An enjoyable puzzle from a Tuesday regular, thanks to Phssthpok. Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1    Is it true? Trivially, a fantasy world generated by computer (7,7)

VIRTUAL REALITY : Anagram of(… fantasy) TRUE? TRIVIALLY, A.

10    Gather a crowd (5)

AMASS : A + MASS(a crowd of people or things).

11    Wild balls receive an audible sigh (9)

OVERGROWN : OVER(a series of balls bowled in cricket) plus(receive) homophone of(audible) “groan”(a sigh).

12    Crack to produce tears in branch (7)

DECRYPT : CRY(to produce tears) contained in(in) DEPT(abbrev. for “department”;a branch of an organization).

Defn: … a cypher.

13    Cold, small river submerged two fish-heads (7)

SNIFFLE : S(abbrev. for “small”) + NILE(the African river) containing(submerged) two of the 1st letter of(…-heads) “fish “.

Answer:  I think the plural form is used when referring to a cold.

14    South African support for Israeli (5)

SABRA : SA(abbrev. for South Africa) + BRA(support for the feminine chest).

Defn: A native-born Israeli Jew.

16    Blind and bald Roman, 51, arrested (9)

OBLIVIOUS : OBVIOUS(overt;undisguised;bald) containing(…, arrested) LI(Roman numeral for 51).

19    Understands a supplement may show fluctuation (9)

SEESAWING : SEES(understands) + A + WING(an extension;a supplement).

20    Loud animal kept in stall (5)

DEFER : F(abbrev. for “forte”, a musical direction to play loudly) contained in(… kept in) DEER(a hoofed antlered animal).

Defn: To stall or to delay.

22    Suspects play with conkers (7)

RECKONS : Anagram of(play with) CONKERS.

25    What paparazzi did to saint got dropped off (7)

SNAPPED : S(abbrev. for “saint”) plus(got) NAPPED(fell asleep;dropped off)

Defn: … with a camera.

27    A small coterie reinterpreted obscure knowledge (9)

ESOTERICA : Anagram of(… reinterpreted) [A + S(abbrev. for “small”) + COTERIE].

28    They react when detectives are kidnapped (5)

ACIDS : AS(when, as in “as you walk into the room…”) containing(… are kidnapped) CID(abbrev. for the Criminal Investigation Department, consisting of detectives).

Defn: … chemically.

29    Callous urges could appear at breakfast-time (4-6,4)

HARD-BOILED EGGS : HARD-BOILED(callous;unfeeling) + EGGS(urges, as in “behind a successful man, there is a woman who eggs him on”).

Down

2    Trigger-happy terrorists sick in belief only odd characters allowed (9)

IRASCIBLE : IRA(abbrev. for the Irish Republican Army;terrorists) + starting from the 1st, every other letter of(… only odd characters allowed) “sick in belief “.

3    Annoyed by experiment on chromosome (5)

TESTY : TEST(an experiment) placed above(on, in a down clue) Y(together with X, the 2 sex chromosomes).

4    Worth, perhaps, gold in two islands or even more so (1,8)

A FORTIORI : [A FORT](an example of which;perhaps is Fort Worth, a city in Texas, USA) + [ OR(the colour of gold in heraldry) contained in(in) two of I(abbrev. for “island”) ].

Answer: As in “if my boss can’t do it, then, a fortiori, neither can I”.

5    Inflicts noise and offensive odours (5)

REEKS : Homophone of(… noise) “wreaks”(inflicts, eg. damage).

6    Injured by dagger I’ve forged (9)

AGGRIEVED : Anagram of(… forged) DAGGER I’VE.

7    Foul shot home and away (2-3)

IN-OFF : IN(at home) plus(and) OFF(away;gone).

Defn: … in billiards.

8    Root out no old-fashioned uprising of rebellious excolonists (7)

YANKEES : Reversal of(… uprising) [ SEEK(to root out) + NAY(old-fashioned word for “no”) ].

9    It is home for a doctor who travels backwards (6)

TARDIS : ‘TIS(contraction of “it is”) containing(home for) [A + reversal of(… who travels backwards) DR(abbrev. for “doctor”) ].

Answer: The police box that is home for TV’s Doctor Who, who travels backwards (and forwards) in time. A nicely done WIWD (wordplay intertwined with defn.) clue.

15    Down below, a bat is dissected (2,1,3,3)

AT A LOW EBB : Anagram of(… is dissected) BELOW, A BAT.

17    The French soldiers, at the last minute, are put in force (9)

LEGISLATE : LE(French for “the”) + GIS(soldiers in the US Army) + LATE(at the last minute;at an advanced time, as in “late in the evening”).

18    Issue from corrupt source (9)

OFFSPRING : OFF(containing errors;corrupt) + SPRING(a source, that from which something, well, springs out of).

Answer:  As in “Couple who spends much time on mattress sooner or later gets offspring.”

19    Squeal from loose stones on church (7)

SCREECH : SCREE(loose stones covering a slope) placed above(on) CH(abbrev. for “church”).

21    Mostly raw part of meal? (6)

RADISH : The 1st two letters of(Mostly) “raw ” + DISH(a part;a course of a meal).

Answer: …, which is mostly eaten raw as part of a meal. Another WIWD clue.

23    Religious singers lowered one in divine fluid (5)

CHOIR : “i”(Roman numeral for “one”) moved down(lowered …) in “ichor”(the fluid said to flow in the veins of the ancient Greek divinities).

24    For example Frankenstein‘s Shelley could improvise feverishly imaginative openings (3-2)

SCI-FI : The 1st letters, respectively, of(… openings) “Shelley could improvise feverishly imaginative“.

26    Helicopter dodges hospital at high speed (5)

APACE : “Apache”(the military helicopter) minus(dodges) “h”(abbrev. for “hospital”).

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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle.

      

(Please post comments on ONLY the picture quiz hereinbelow. To post comments on the crossword puzzle, please click here.)