Independent on Sunday 1349 with Picture Quiz

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In the main, about the right level of difficulty of an IoS.  Thanks to Kairos.  Definitions are underlined in the clues.

Across

1 Trip announced for groups of eight? (5)

CREWS : Homophone of(… announced) “cruise”(a pleasure trip).

Defn: … oarsmen, usually in boat races.

4 Goddess consumes endless Indian food with energy drink (6,3)

HERBAL TEA : HERA(in Greek mythology, the wife of Zeus) containing(consumes) [ “balti”(a spicy Indian dish) minus its last letter(endless …) plus(with) E(abbrev. for “energy”, in physics) ].

9 Street some drivers cross over on the way back with wagons (7)

OXCARTS : Reversal of(… on the way back) [ ST(abbrev. for “street”) + RAC(abbrev. for the Royal Automobile Club, a UK association of motorists + X(letter representing a cross) + O(abbrev. for “over”, in cricket scores).

10 Kitty pursues sexual excitement in fashionable nightclub? (3,4)

HOT SPOT : POT(the kitty;the prize money, in card games) placed after(pursues) HOTS(sexual excitement, as in “he’s got the hots for her”).

11 Ditches contract to gather French greens (8)

CULVERTS : “cull”(to gather;to collect from, as in “the information was culled from various articles”) minus its last letter(contract …) + VERT(French for the colour green) + …S.

Defn: … crossing under a road, railway, embankment, etc.

12 Small things working in head (6)

BOSONS : ON(working, as with an electrical appliance) contained in(in) BOSS(the head of the organization).

Defn: Sub-atomic particles.

14 Catch sight of a GCHQ worker! (4)

ESPY : E-SPY(or electronic spy, what one might call a worker in GHCQ, the Government Communications Headquarters organization in the UK, that gathers intelligence by monitoring electronic communications).

15 Really lost sheep we hear (8,2)

STRAIGHT UP : Homophone of(… we hear) “stray”(lost;unable to find the correct way or the place to go, especially of sheep) “tup”(a male sheep).

Defn: …, no b.s.!

18 Pre-war Oslo abandoned renewable resource (5,5)

SOLAR POWER : Anagram of(… abandoned) PRE-WAR OSLO.

20 Half destroyed rear part of an animal (4)

SCUT : The last letter of(Half) “scuttled”(destroyed;ruined, eg. one’s plans).

Defn: The short tail of an animal.

23 Instruments teaching graduate found in playgrounds (6)

REBECS : B.E.(post-nominal letters for a Bachelor of Education, a graduate in teaching) contained in(found in) RECS(short for recreational areas;playgrounds).

24 Yale maybe aware of target (4,2,2)

LOCK ON TO : LOCK(a security device, that could have been;maybe made by the Yale company) + [ON TO](aware of;to have information about).

Defn: As a verb.

26 Evil doctor leaves religious probationer corrupt (7)

VITIATE : “No”(the evil doctor in Ian Fleming’s Bond novel, Dr. No) deleted from(leaves) “novitiate”(probationer;novice in a religious order)

27 John‘s small piece of rope swapping hands (7)

LATRINE : “ratline”(any of the small pieces of rope horizontally tied in a ship’s rigging for climbing aloft) with “r”,”l”(abbrevs. for the right and left hands respectively) changing places(swapping …).

Answer: The slang for which is the “John”.

28 Royal dorm converted into office (4,5)

LORD MAYOR : Anagram of(… converted) ROYAL DORM.

29 Area covered by cereal mill (5)

REALM : Hidden in(covered by) “cereal mill “.

Down

1 Notes tenor included in decorative works (9)

CROTCHETS : T(abbrev. for “tenor”) contained in(included in) CROCHETS(decorative works made by looping and intertwining thread).

Defn: … in music.

2 Key metal work in dish (7)

ESCALOP : ESC(the “escape” key on your computer keyboard) + AL(chemical symbol for the element, aluminium) + OP(abbrev. for “opus”, a musical or literary work).

Answer:  Not sure I can explain this, even after an online search.  An escalop is the shellfish also known as a scallop, and “scallop” (but not “escalop”) also stands for its shell or a shell shaped dish used for cooking and serving seafood. Thus “escalop” = “dish” only indirectly.  On the other hand, if dish is mean to be course in a meal, it would have to be “escalope/scallop/a thin piece of meat fried with egg and breadcrumbs”, or “escalop/scallop/a shellfish”.  But can the latter be considered a dish without an accompanying description of how it’s cooked?

3 Show vet a protective device (6)

SCREEN : Triple defn: 1st: … at the cinema or on TV; and 2nd: …, say, incoming phone calls; and 3: … for blocking harmful substances or various types of radiation from coming through.

4 Doubt of struggling atheist one finds acceptable (10)

HESITATION : Anagram of(struggling) ATHEIST + I(Roman numeral for “one”) + ON(acceptable, as in “cheating at cards just isn’t on”).

5 Periodically rougher German region (4)

RUHR : The 1st, 3rd, 5th and 7th letters of(Periodically) “rougher “.

6 However, nearly everyone finished without recipe (8)

ALTHOUGH : “all”(everyone) minus its last letter(nearly …) + “through”(finished, as in “we’re through having to support him”) minus(without) “r”(abbrev. for “recipe”, as in medicine prescriptions).

Answer: As in “he claims to be generous, although I haven’t seen any evidence of it”.

7 Bug and grub in part of plant (7)

TAPROOT : TAP(to bug;to eavesdrop on a telephone communication with a concealed device, that’s also known as a bug) plus(and) ROOT(to grub;to dig in the earth).

Defn: … that grows straight down from the stem into the ground.

8 Sailor ought to drop soprano for other singers (5)

ALTOS : SALT(a sailor, especially an old and experienced one) + O(the letter representing zero, which symbol 0 is called a cipher, an aught or ought) with the “s”(abbrev. for “soprano”) moved to the end(to drop …, in a down clue).

13 Penny has one boudoir accommodating league cricketer (4,6)

PACE BOWLER : P(abbrev. for “penny”, the British currency unit) plus(has) ACE(the playing card with only one pip, or in golf, a hole in one, giving a score of one stroke) + “bower”(a boudoir;a woman’s private chamber, especially in a medieval castle) containing(accommodating) L(abbrev. for “league”).

16 Nothing in organic plum tree produces oil (9)

PETROLEUM : O(the letter representing 0;nothing) contained in(in) anagram of(organic) PLUM TREE.

17 State in favour of plan to assimilate Sri Lanka (8)

PROCLAIM : [ PRO(in favour of, the counterpart of “con”) + AIM(to plan;to intend to, as in “they aim to buy a car”) ] containing(to assimilate) CL(the International Vehicle Registration code for Ceylon, now Sri Lanka).

19 Seafood with a hint of lemon and sorbet cocktail (7)

LOBSTER : The 1st letter of(a hint of) “lemon ” plus(and) anagram of(… cocktail) SORBET.

21 Two containers above a bar (7)

CANTINA : [CAN + TIN](two containers) placed above(above, in a down clue) A.

Defn: … especially in a Spanish-speaking area.

22 Sportsman runs after society princess (6)

SKATER : R(abbrev. for “runs” in cricket scores) placed below(after, in a down clue) [ S(abbrev. for “society”) + KATE(nee Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, a British princess) ].

23 Raise the roof with lifting tool (5)

REVEL : Reversal of(lifting) LEVER(a tool for lifting, or raising a roof even, provided there’s a fulcrum).

Defn: …, figuratively, with noisy merrymaking.

25 Resist wicked Yankee (4)

DEFY : DEF(slang, like “wicked”, for excellent;first class) + Y(letter represented by “Yankee” in the phonetic alphabet).

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The following pictures have unidentified links to the puzzle (answer for pic5 is not 1across).

     

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