The Monthly Digest

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,610 ‘Eightsome Reels’

Difficulty rating: (5 / 10)

The Eightsome Reels variation was originally devised by Azed, the first one appearing in November 1972, and this was its twenty-fourth outing. I rather like having normal clues but a different way of entering them in the grid; sometimes with this sort of puzzle the clues are made a little too easy in order to compensate for the extra difficulty of the format, but Azed didn’t make too many concessions in this one. The effect was that instead of steaming towards the finishing line after getting a few interlocking solutions the solve was more about maintaining steady progress right through to the last couple of entries.

When solving an Eightsome Reels puzzle, clearly a single answer cannot be entered in the grid unless the solver possesses the relevant paranormal ability. To get going, one needs first of all to solve the clues to two adjoining squares – let’s assume that they are side by side, and the solutions are MEPHISTO and CURTSIED. The three consecutive shared letters are IST/TSI, so there are only two ways these can be entered:

The fact that the shared letters are reversed in one solution means that the entries will both run clockwise or both anticlockwise (if they were in the same sequence, eg MEPHISTO/BRISTLED, then one will run clockwise and the other anticlockwise). If you can then solve a clue to a ’reel’ above or below either of these two, you can then confidently enter all three solutions into the grid. I got started with 3, 4 and 10, none of which are too difficult – respectively a double definition (the piece of furniture being hyphenated 3-5, the other definition being somewhat whimsical), a 2+6 charade, and a ‘hidden’.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 15, “US warehouse keeper calls about putrefaction all over”. Here we have a five-letter word for ‘calls’ containing (‘about’) a three-letter word for putrefaction, the whole lot (‘all’) being reversed (‘over’). But hold hard! Surely in the grid the solution isn’t ‘over’, it’s ‘going round the wrong way’? This is true, but in puzzles of this type it is accepted that the manipulations in the clue are all applied prior to entry in the grid, so they take place in the same plane as the clue. Hence ‘over’, ‘about’ etc are absolutely fine – when you think about it, even containment indicators would be a bit questionable if they were applied at the time of entry into the grid.

1 Deadhead what overdue bloomers display?
I’m a little surprised that Azed has run the words ‘dead’ and ‘head’ together, particularly as ‘dead-head’ is an alternative form. Anyway, each part leads to a four-letter word and together they produce the solution.

7 Control such as is contained by ultra deploying energy
A two-letter abbreviation for ‘such as’ is contained by an anagram (‘deploying’, =’taking up strategic positions’) of ULTRA plus the usual abbreviation for ‘energy’.

9 Government put forward for discussion what’s likely to collapse?
The ‘Government’ here translates to the plural of a two-letter word meaning ‘a member of the party in office’; this is followed by a verb meaning ‘[to] put forward for discussion’.

13 Group we’ve left involved G. Stein, one for developing master race?
The group we’ve left had more to do with B. Johnson than G. Stein, but its abbreviated name is followed by an anagram (‘involved’) of the latter.

14 Gentle old fellow with fatty stuff on end of nose
A charade of a word for a fellow, a four-letter word for fatty tissue, and the last character (‘end’) of ‘nose’. The ‘old’ indicates that the solution is shown by Chambers as ‘archaic’. This was the word chosen for AZ competition 1593, and resulted in one of those rare instances where first prize was shared between two identical clues.

17 Cow, English, in favour of being kept in appropriate group
The standard abbreviation for ‘English’ and a three-letter word meaning ‘in favour of’ are kept in the sort of group which is very likely to contain cows.

18 Doctor back, on firm ground being completely variable
A reversal (‘back’) of a two-letter abbreviation for a doctor (in the armed forces or other organizations) is followed by an anagram (‘ground’) of ON FIRM.

20 Doctor intervening when cocaine is involved
A seven-letter adjective meaning ‘intervening’, more familiar as a verb, with the usual abbreviation for ‘cocaine’ inside (‘involved’), producing a solution which in the past meant ‘to doctor’, in the sense that one might doctor alcoholic drinks (an example given by the OED talks of ‘wine in the time of the old Romans being *doctored* with pitch and resin’. Should’ve gone to Oddbins…

22 Welsh elite, part of circle that’s brought back dance (not accepted)
A three-letter part of a circle is reversed (‘brought back’) and followed by the name of a dance (which has a nine-letter form as well as the six-letter one here) from which one instance of the standard abbreviation for ‘accepted’ has been removed. The solution is a derogatory term applied to  ‘Welsh people who snobbishly affect English customs, manners and speech.’ Incidentally, mention of the dance in question always brings the tune Wheels (originally recorded by the String-A-Longs, subsequently by Joe Loss and his orchestra) into my head, and once there it’s hard to dislodge.

23 ‘Foul mixture’, reverse of solid, mass Scotsman swallowed
A four-letter word for ‘solid’ is reversed and the usual abbreviation for ‘mass’ plus a three-letter name often applied to a Scotsman are contained therein (‘swallowed’).

28 Symbolic meal came up in talk informally
A four-letter word meaning ‘came up’ is contained by a four-letter word meaning ‘[to] talk informally’. Apologies for the earlier error, caused by me putting in the parsing I first thought of when I looked at the clue rather than the one that actually got me to the solution! My thanks to the correspondent who (very gently) pointed out my lapse.

30 Wire edging, obstruction when bent back
A five-letter word for an edge or brink shown by Chambers as ‘poetic’ and a three-letter word for an obstruction (also a reason why a tennis service would be cancelled out) are put together and reversed (‘bent back’).

31 Trouble following dip in river? Something to deal with extremities on hand
A three-letter word for ‘[to] trouble’ and the standard abbreviation for ‘following’ are contained by (‘dip in’) the name of a major African river. Azed, like Ximenes before him, accepts that a sequence of wordplay elements (here ‘Trouble’ and ‘following’) can govern a plural noun. In my view, unless they’re separated by a comma or a conjunction such as ‘and’ they can’t.

32 Showing brass that’s bust, lacking inner volume
A nine-letter word meaning ‘bust’ (as a company might have gone) loses the usual abbreviation for ‘volume’ from within.

34 Bull may be pulled by this diminutive bird entering drink
The five-letter name of a member of a group of small finches including the canary is put inside a three-letter traditional drink of which the Dutch version is Advocaat, although I believe that the methods of production vary somewhat.

35 Erica, breaking rule? – ‘a thing of shreds and patches’
I’m not sure how well known the ‘Erica’ here is these days – it’s almost fifty years since Fear of Flying was published. Anyway, her surname is followed by an anagram (‘breaking’) of RULE. The ‘shreds and patches’ started out in Hamlet’s description of his usurping uncle Claudius as ‘a king of shreds and patches’, but the reference here is to the famous song from The Mikado which Nanki-Poo starts thuswise:

A wandering minstrel I —
A thing of shreds and patches,
Of ballads, songs and snatches,
And dreamy lullaby!
My catalogue is long,
Through every passion ranging,
And to your humours changing
I tune my supple song!
I tune my supple song!

(definitions are underlined)

The unchecked letters in the corners are: [1] NES, [6] PEE, [31] IFL, and [36] MOS.

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,609 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

Not quite at the level of last week’s puzzle, perhaps, but an enjoyable solve nonetheless. I have recalibrated the Tuffometer® slightly, as I felt that based on the difficulty of the last hundred or so puzzles this one was smack bang in the middle of the spectrum.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 8d, “Brit leader’s abandoned, astray? (6)”. As we expect from Azed, there’s some misdirection going on here, with the ‘Brit’ being not a British person but ‘a young herring, sprat, or other fish’. Note how Azed has ensured that ‘Brit’ is at the beginning of the sentence in order to avoid giving the game away by putting ‘brit’ or by falsely capitalizing the word, a practice which should be avoided as it unfairly misleads the solver. The thing I wanted to highlight here, though, was the question mark. It’s clear from the definition of ‘Brit’ above that its use to indicate ‘herring’ constitutes a definition by example (not all brits are herring), so this needs to be indicated. One option for this would be the inclusion of a word like ‘perhaps’ to qualify the DBE, but if this were put before the word being qualified (ie ‘Perhaps Brit…’) then the capitalization problem rears its head, while it cannot be put after ‘Brit’ without destroying the surface reading (‘Brit perhaps leader…’). The other option is to use a question mark, but I am firmly of the opinion that this is only valid when the DBE comes at the end of the clue; I wouldn’t consider that ‘Brit leader’s abandoned, astray perhaps’ suggested that ‘Brit’ was the DBE, and I don’t see why a question mark should work any differently.

11a Service book, one lying behind e.g. main part of church, from east to west (10)
A four-letter word for ‘[some]one [who is] lying’ follows a reversal (‘from east to west’) of EG (from the clue) and a four-letter word for the main part of a church.

12a Bobby on Thursday beat (5)
Another diminutive form of the name ‘Robert’ is here following (‘on’) an abbreviation for ‘Thursday’.

17a Shut up in prison, one given time (5, 2 words)
A three-letter slang term for prison (invariably, I think, preceded by ‘the’) and the Roman numeral representing one are followed by (‘given’) the usual abbreviation for ‘time’.

24a One of a pair connected in vice, creating frightful noise behind church (5)
A nice oblique definition of the solution (‘involved in’ would perhaps have read even better, but it would be stretching things a bit), and a wordplay that requires a two-letter abbreviation for ‘church’ to have behind (following) it a three-letter interjection which will be familiar to readers of children’s comics of the 1950s to 1980s or thereabouts. Not so much a frightful noise as a frightened noise, it would be emitted (along with the appropriate number of exclamation marks) by softies such as Walter when confronted, say, by a mouse (the presence of which was usually attributable to Dennis). I don’t think I ever stopped to think what it actually sounded like, its appearance on the page said all that needed to be said.

28a Afternoon song by the camp fire? We’ll provide leafy cover (5)
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘afternoon’ is joined by the name of a song, the first verse of which is traditionally sung by Girl Guides and Boy Scouts around the campfire before retiring to their tents. Originally a bugle call used at US military ceremonies, it is also known as Day is Done (for obvious reasons) and (for less obvious ones) Butterfield’s Lullaby.

30a Soldiers in unusually large unit reduced by 50%, like one such (10)
After a little teasing out, the wordplay here reveals itself as a three-letter word for soldiers (the ones that aren’t officers) inside an anagram (‘unusually’) of LARGE plus one half of the word UNIT (ie ‘unit reduced by 50%’), the adjective that results referring to ‘soldiers in…[a] large unit’.

31a Nogs drunk were flowing with daughter welcomed as one of the family (8)
One of those ‘missing comma’ clues, the imaginary mark being between ‘drunk’ and ‘were’, so that an anagram (‘drunk’) of NOGS has a three-letter word meaning ‘was flowing’ and the usual abbreviation for ‘daughter’ taken inside (‘welcomed’).

32a Ball penetrating one side of wicket, turning – I must get even (4)
A single-character, two-dimensional representation of a ball (slightly questionable, but we’ll let it pass) is contained by (‘penetrating’) a reversal (‘turning’) of the three-letter term applied to one side of a cricket field, specifically the side on which a right-handed batter stands when taking guard.

1d One lacking entry permit we support when it’s shortly acquired (7)
I don’t remember coming across this word before, a very expressive term for an illegal immigrant who crossed the Rio Grande from Mexico to the US. The wordplay leads to WE (from the clue) and a four-letter word meaning ‘[to] support’ with a shortened form of ‘it’ inserted (‘acquired’).

2d Police abroad, ideal when following car or lorry up (6)
The solution will be familiar to most solvers, myself included (though not from direct personal experience, I hasten to add), but what was not familiar to me was the slang term for ‘a car, lorry or wagon’ which is here reversed (‘up’) over the usual two-letter representation of a description applied to something (originally a ship) in tip-top condition (‘ideal’).

5d English Pernod I spit out swallowing it – it’s bad for the heart (12)
The usual abbreviation for ‘English’ and the six-letter name of a famous producer of anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs take advantage of another missing comma to be the ‘it’ which is swallowed by an anagram (‘out’) of I SPIT. Having spent a while puzzling over the relevant Wikipedia pages,  I have concluded that the decision on whether ‘Pernod’ is a valid indication of the name here should, as they say, be left to the reader as an exercise.

7d Where cattle are kept warm and dry, gale swirling outside (7)
A three-letter word meaning ‘[to] air and dry’ has an anagram (‘swirling’) of GALE outside.

10d Cornish visitor, one with good vision letting go of rope (5)
I expect that those of an optometric bent will have written in the solution here without delay, but I had to work back from the solution – thankfully the ROPE that needs to be let go comes at the end of the nine-letter word for someone with good vision, so my visit to Chambers was a brief one. Will I now remember the word for future use? Unlikely.

13d Moravian, German gent, Jaeger, name becoming leader (10)
The four-letter German term of address equivalent to ‘Mr’ is followed by a familiar six-letter word exemplified by a jaeger (or by Orion)  wherein the standard abbreviation for ‘name’ has ben moved to the beginning (‘name becoming leader’).

20d Hull? That’s involved with North Sea mostly (7)
The ‘that’ which is ‘involved’ (mixed up) with the standard abbreviation for ‘North’ and the first two letters of SEA (‘sea mostly’) is HULL; the anagram in this neat clue delivers a synonym of ‘hull’ completely unconnected with the context established by the surface reading.

21d Travelling box one’s packed into Jordanian destination? (6)
The ‘Jordanian destination’ into which a single-letter word for ‘one’ has been packed is the subject of a poem by John William Burgon. The place in question was the chosen theme in the 1845 competition for Oxford University’s Newdigate Prize for Poetry. Despite having never visited the city (or even the region), Burgon – at the time a very mature student of 32 – lifted the prize for his submission, best known for its closing couplet:

Match me such marvel save in Eastern clime,
a rose-red city half as old as time.

In doing so, he added his name to a list that includes Oscar Wide, Matthew Arnold and John Buchan. It was to be another 17 years before he eventually got to see the subject of his poem through his own eyes.

23d Object of worship I wrapped in loose gown (6)
Neither the solution nor the five-letter word for a loose gown in which the letter I (from the clue) is wrapped are exactly in common use, although the gown might be more familiar in a seven-letter version with the ending -eau.

24d Tolling sound, a complex tone (5)
A double definition – the first is probably more likely to spring to mind than the latter, a musical term more often spelt with an initial K.

(definitions are underlined)

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,608 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

I thought this was Azed’s finest puzzle for a while in terms of the overall quality of the clues, with the best ones being very good indeed. In terms of difficulty, I felt that it was somewhere just below the middle of the spectrum, although we so rarely have a plain puzzle that falls much beyond that mark that I may have to think about recalibrating the difficulty meter.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 12d, “Made to feel old since one’s put on strange diets (10)”. The first thing that a compiler looks to achieve when writing a clue is soundness, closely followed by fairness to the solver; after that would come a pleasing surface reading, a good dollop of deception, and a well-disguised break between the definition and the wordplay. Here Azed has achieved a nap hand. The use of ‘old since’ to indicate SENS is the key to the construction – on the surface we see ‘Made to feel old’ and only later do we find out that we have been deceived, but in the nicest way possible. This is not a difficult clue, but for any novice setters looking to develop their skills it is one which warrants a close inspection.

13a Dim listener chattering might make such a troubadour die (8)
A neat &lit, where a rearrangement (‘chattering’) of DIM LISTENER could produce the solution (‘such a troubadour’) and DIE. The Chambers definition of ‘chatter’ leaves room for doubt over its suitability as an anagram indicator, but the OED gives ‘to shiver, shake’, so it’s absolutely fine.

15a Grand hostelry providing spirits (often enormous) (4)
Based on the definition alone there are two possibilities for the unchecked first letter, but the wordplay (a single-letter abbreviation of ‘grand’ and a three-letter hostelry) make the correct choice very clear.

16a Fiercest backs avoiding wingers in intense contest (5)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘fiercest’ is reversed (‘backs’) and is stripped of its first and last letters (‘avoiding wingers’), resulting in a hyphenated (3-2) term for an intense contest.

19a Skilful performer, OK for ton? One may get caught at long leg (8, 2 words)
A seven-letter word for a skilful performer gets the letters OK in place of one of its T’s (‘OK for ton’) to produce a (4,4) cricket stroke which could well see the batsman being caught at long leg.

23a Lord accepts opening for what 13 may offer (8)
A four-letter (obsolete) term for a lord or master contains (‘accepts’) a four-letter ‘opening’ (often designed to allow the passage of air). The solution is a verse of satirical or heroic character which the troubadour at 13 would have written and performed.

27a Drams knocked back including starter of Irnbru? What fou fellow may do (5)
A straightforward wordplay has a four-letter word for ‘drams’ being reversed (‘knocked back’) around (‘including’) the first letter (‘starter’) of ‘Irnbru’, but there are a couple of points to note. Firstly, the use of ‘fou’ in the definition: since the solution is given by Chambers as Scots, ‘What drunk fellow may do’ would be insufficient. ‘What drunk Scotsman may do’ would be fine, but Azed has chosen instead to use a Scots word for ‘drunk’ to make the clue more interesting. The second point concerns the use of ‘Irnbru’: it is considered unacceptable to include redundant words in a letter selection element, so ‘No. 1 from Adele’ is a valid indication of A but ‘No. 1 from Sam Smith’ is no good for S. However, a single hyphenated word is perfectly valid, so I don’t know why Azed chose ‘Irnbru’ rather than the correct name of the drink, Irn-Bru. Known as “Scotland’s other national drink” it has been sold under its current name since 1948 and is apparently “Made in Scotland from girders”, although the 0.002% concentration of ammonium ferric citrate suggests that there may not be too many girders to the gallon.

31a Having entered university blue’s required to study (5)
‘Enter’ here is used in the sense of ‘admit’, so the solution is a five-letter term for dark blue or bluish-grey after it has let in the usual single-letter abbreviation for university.

32a Add a couple of ducks to pet uncle exercised (8)
Azed adds some interest to a simple anagram with an inventive definition which effectively requires the solver to pre-process it by translating ‘ducks’ into ‘noughts’.

33a Vehicle I must shift front to back? It has excellent turning circle
A combination of a four-letter vehicle and the letter I (from the clue) has its first letter moved to the end (‘must shift front to back’). The solution is another vehicle, this one having a flexible connection between the front and rear section in order to improve its manoeuvrability; it has been shortened, which I suppose will also have helped to reduce the size of its turning circle.

4d Tooted once like a famous piper welcoming queen? (5)
Azed demonstrates one of his favourite tricks, here using ‘Tooted once’ not to indicate an old word meaning ‘tooted’, but a word in current use which share a meaning with an old (Spenserian) sense of the word ‘tooted’. The queen is a single-character abbreviation used in a monarchical context and the piper shares his epithet with the wagtails which have recently spent a lot of time scouring our lawn for tasty morsels.

5d Monkey should be fed nothing yielding inertia (7)
A six-letter Indian name for certain species of monkey contains (‘should be fed’) the usual single-letter representation of ‘nothing’.

6d Suicide swallowed stuff (7)
A clever clue, and a simple charade of a four-letter word for a subcontinental suicide (often seen in an alternative six-letter form) and a three-letter word meaning ‘swallowed’.

7d Blockhead upset after imbibing supply of tea? (6)
A three-letter word meaning ‘[to] upset’ or ‘overturn’ is seen containing (‘after imbibing’) a three-letter word for a vessel which is very likely to offer a (generous) supply of tea.

18d With little support around misshapen tree was wobbly (8)
Here we have a four-letter word meaning ‘with [a] little support’ outside (‘around’) an anagram (‘misshapen’) of TREE. Again, not a difficult clue but the construction is very satisfying.

20d Like some art related to name on the way up (7)
More deception in the wordplay here, the first element being not ‘related to’ (which one might assume from an initial inspection) but simply ‘related’, producing a three-letter word which is followed by a reversal (‘on the way up’) of a four-letter word meaning ‘[to] name’.

21d Discover bum exchanging cap for heroin (7, 2 words)
An informal term for what was once euphemistically called the BTM (‘bum’) has its first letter (‘cap’) exchanged for the single-character abbreviation for ‘heroin’. The solution is divided (3,4).

24d Sundae, middle of sweet stuff, not going round (6)
The three central letters (‘middle’) of a five-letter word for ‘sweet stuff’ have the letters NOT (from the clue) surrounding (’round’) them to produce a type of sundae, though not the ice-cream sort.

(definitions are underlined)

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,607 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

I felt that this puzzle nudged the needle on the difficulty meter up to the halfway mark, helped by the four long entries around the perimeter. The clues struck me as being generally very good, and I thought the puzzle presented a reasonably stiff but perfectly fair challenge.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 21d, “Historical race held in the past renewed (6)”. Nothing too difficult about the wordplay here, the solution being concealed inside ‘past renewed’ – incidentally, I’m all in favour of a ‘hidden’ or two within this sort of puzzle because they provide a way for the solver to get a toehold, often the trickiest part of the solving process. ‘Anyway’, I hear you are asking, ‘why has he picked out this clue for comment?’ The answer is the little word ‘the’ in the clue. Since it follows ‘held in’ it must be part of the hiding place, but no part of ‘the’ features in the solution, and there is a rule that the hidey-hole in a ‘hidden’ must not contain any words that don’t contribute to the answer. Well, there is, but it is widely accepted that the definite and indefinite articles are excluded from this stricture (as long, of course, as they don’t interfere with the required sequence of letters in the clue). Is there any justification for this exemption? Not to my mind, but that’s the way it is.

1a Being financially extended limits ‘born rolling’ in building method (13)
A nine-letter word meaning ‘financially extended’ (the ‘being’ is de trop) contains (‘limits’) an anagram (‘rolling’) of BORN, producing a (9-4) hyphenated solution.

11a Stop works, finishing early? One rolls out barrels (6)
A two-letter interjection meaning ‘stop!’ (or one third of Santa’s favourite phrase) is followed by a five-letter plural of the Latin word for a work (ie ‘works’), from which the last letter has been omitted (‘finishing early’).

12a Judge dismissed jury after absorbing day with points (4)
The old ‘missing comma’ surfaces here [if it’s missing, how can it surface? – Ed], its absence being felt between ‘dismissed’ and ‘jury’. The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘judge’ is ‘dismissed’ (‘discarded’) by the word JURY that has taken in (‘after absorbing’) the standard abbreviation for ‘day’.

17a Gently, maybe, part of basic education is fed to backward child (4)
Basic education is constituted by the “three R’s”, and one of those R’s is contained by (‘fed to’) a reversal (‘backward’) of a three-letter word for a child. The definition by example will have been latched onto quickly by fans of the late, great Douglas Adams, but may have proved a little trickier for those who think Ford Prefect is a type of car and the Norwegian coastline came about by accident. In the words of the holistic detective himself:

Let’s think the unthinkable, let’s do the undoable. Let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all.

22a Going round the bend, granny has little time for dad’s old sister (5)
Containing (‘going round’) the letter representing a type of bend familiar to plumbers is a three-letter word for ‘granny’, following which we have the usual abbreviation (‘little’) for ‘time’. I suspect Azed may have toyed with ‘older’ rather than ‘old’ to indicate that the solution is given by Chambers as ‘archaic’, which would make for a more satisfying surface reading but really doesn’t work as a qualifier for the definition.

25a Until no longer in use, indefinite number stored, running out (4)
One of the weakest clues in this puzzle, the single-character used to represent an indefinite number is contained (‘stored’) inside an anagram (‘running’) of OUT.

27a Keyhole maker in short is taking on a matter of chance with no opening for Yale (7)
Another comma goes AWOL, here between ‘short’ and ‘is’. A shortened form of ‘is’ is followed by (‘taking on’ used to indicate juxtaposition) a seven-letter word for a matter of chance from which the first letter of (‘opening for’) ‘Yale’ has been removed.

31a What is possibly extracted from pine trees? This is (7)
A nice composite anagram &lit, where the letters of PINE TREES can be rearranged (‘possibly’) to form the solution (‘This’) plus IS. For an &lit, the definition (ie the whole of the clue) here is unusually precise.

32a X act, rather improper within – soft-core, might one assume? (13)
The number represented by the Roman numeral ‘X’ and a four-letter word for an act (or a legal document, usual involving the transfer of property) has an anagram (‘improper’) of RATHER inside (‘within’), the solution being hyphenated (6-7).

2d Second college crew beside river get soaked, upended (6)
A two-letter word meaning (inter alia) ‘beside’ is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘river’ and a reversal (‘upended’) of a word meaning ‘to get [something] soaked [by immersion]’. While I was familiar with the solution in its plural form as the name given to inter-college rowing races at Oxford during Hilary term (Chambers says ‘Lent term’, but we didn’t have such a thing), I don’t remember coming across the meaning seen here. As far as I recall, the leading boat was simply the ‘1st VIII’, the next was the ‘2nd VIII’ and so on, until you got down to the ones crewed by those with rather different ambitions, known by names such as the ‘Inebri VIII’ and the ‘Four Nick VIII’.

3d Scots show falseness of revolutionary dispute (8)
A simple charade of a three-letter term for ‘revolutionary’ (or a revolutionary) and a five-letter word meaning ‘to dispute’. The ‘of’ is part of the definition, ensuring that a transitive verb is indicated by a transitive phrase, but I’m slightly surprised that Azed has used the second wordplay element, given that it forms the root of the solution.

4d Paltry nip mixed in another one? (6)
Another neat clue, here we have anagram (‘mixed’) of NIP inside another (three-letter) term for a ‘nip’. I’ve never been convinced about ‘mixed’ as an anagram indicator when applied to a single word or group of words; I prefer to see ‘x mixed up’ in this situation. Where there are two separate word groups involved, ‘x mixed with y’ is fine.

6d Harsh sound I’d released turning up rackets (5)
A seven-letter word for a harsh sound (the eight-letter adjective ending -ent is probably more often seen) loses the letters ID (“I’d released”) and is reversed (‘turning up’).

7d Marble vessel to deliver (4)
Three definitions for the price of one, the first being the least familiar and the last being a cricketing term.

16d Falcon allowed round queen by king? (8)
Here we have a three-letter word meaning ‘allowed’ containing (‘going round’) the name of an English queen (who most people are aware is no longer with us) and the usual monarchic abbreviation for ‘king’.

23d Bird’s prey rook initially dropped (5)
A six-letter word meaning ‘[to] prey’ (itself an alternative spelling of a word which is also the name of a large black bird) has the usual abbreviation for ‘rook’ removed from the start (‘initially dropped’) to form an adjective applied to something belonging or relating to a bird or birds, ie “Bird’s”.

24d Student producing piece of work financially rewarded on early English (5)
Not hard to work out the answer from the definition and the two-letter abbreviation for ‘early English’ that rounds off the solution, but the ‘piece of work financially rewarded’ is pretty obscure. According to the OED, “Originally in the Cornish tin-mines, now also in Derbyshire lead-mining: in the phrase upon ??? (also by the ???), and attrib. as ???-bargain, ???-man, ???-work (also as vb.), ???-worker, ???-working, ???-workman: denoting a system of payment by measurement or by the piece, adopted in paying for work which brings no immediate returns, as distinct from tribute; hence, work of this character; dead-work.” ‘Tribute’, by the way, is the proportion of the value of the ore raised which is paid to the miners.

(definitions are underlined)

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,606 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

The needle on my difficulty meter seemed to be hovering just below the middle of the scale with this one. There were only a couple of clues that stood out in terms of quality, but taken overall they were a pretty good set.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 9a, “Duffer, one on a bike by the sound of it (7)”. The PEDALLER/PEDDLER homophone has been used by setters, as Nat King Cole might have put it,  ‘many times but not so many ways’. The best cluesmiths will either avoid these hackneyed wordplays entirely or look  to apply a fresh twist to them. Here Azed decides to bring something new to the party (nothing to see here, Sue Gray) by replacing the usual definition of ‘trader’ or the like by ‘duffer’, a word we usually expect to describe an unskilful person but which can also be applied to ‘a peddler of sham jewellery etc’. So far so good. But we have to ask ourselves whether ‘duffer’ is a definition of peddler: a ‘duffer’ is a sort of peddler, but not all peddlers are duffers, in the same way that a corgi is a type of dog, but not all dogs are corgis. So ‘duffer’ is a definition by example, and needs to be indicated as such. When the definition is at the end of the clue, a question mark is usually the ‘cheapest’ way to achieve this. It can also be an option if the definition is at the beginning, but only if the clue lends itself to being divided up. The more general solution is to include an exemplification indicator, such as ‘say’, ‘for instance’,  or ‘maybe’. Two possibilities for fixing this clue would be:

“Duffer? One on a bike by the sound of it” or “Duffer, perhaps one on a bike by the sound of it”

6a What actor hopes to get, dispensing art without hesitation (5)
A (4,4) phrase describing what any actor would hope to be offered is missing (‘dispensing’) the consecutive letters ART in order to produce a word which anyone who used to watch Call My Bluff on a regular basis might well, like myself, associate in perpetuity with the programme.

10a Mythical creatures going ‘Plop’, energy filled, in lake (9)
An anagram (‘going’ – take your pick from the possible meanings of ‘go’ in Chambers, although ‘to break down’ is probably the best) of PLOP containing the usual abbreviation for ‘energy’ (‘energy filled’) is itself contained by a four-letter word for a lake. It is debatable whether this clue constitutes an ‘offshoot &lit’, where part of the clue forms the wordplay and whole clue stands as the definition; I would prefer to classify it as a normal definition+wordplay clue with &lit overtones.

12a Reindeer, young male, galloped in harness (6)
A three-letter (originally and chiefly North American) word for a little lad (or a small amount) with a three-letter word meaning ‘galloped’ inside (‘in harness’) produces a word for a reindeer clearly shown by Chambers as obsolete. I can only think that Azed did not notice this or I’m sure that he would have indicated it, although it must be said that the standard qualifiers such as ‘worn-out’ or ‘ancient’ wouldn’t make any sense in the surface reading.

13a In court he managed suit following extremes of correctitude (6)
A nicely-disguised cæsura between definition and wordplay, the latter being an anagram (‘managed’) of SUIT following the first and last letters (‘extremes’) of ‘correctitude’. 

16a Hairline cracks, not i.e. to do with old gnomon (6)
An anagram (‘cracks’) of HAIRLINE without the letters IE (‘not i.e.’). If you didn’t need to refer to Chambers to check the obsolete (‘old’) jocular sense of ‘gnomon’ to which Azed is referring here then you get a bonus point (it makes sense, but I don’t recall coming across it before).

18a Pudding consumed? In place of second you’ll see I hold forth rarely (10)
A seven-letter word for ‘pudding’ and a three-letter word for ‘consumed’, with the second letter of the result being replaced by ‘I’ (from the clue).

28a Lewd arbitrator switching one character with another (6)
A six-letter term for an arbitrator has two letters swapped over in order to produce the solution. Did Azed intend that ‘characters’ would lead the solver to a particular pair of letters, which might represent specific individuals in, say, a text message? No, he would have been much more explicit if that had been his plan.

33a Transpose headword right to left, a hindrance (7)
A two-letter abbreviation for ‘transpose’ is followed by the reversal (‘right to left’) of a term for a headword, more familiar (to me, at least) when used to describe a mathematical proposition.

1d Nation lost being intrigued in political groups (5)
An eleven-letter word for ‘being intrigued’ (just about, anyway) without the letter sequence NATION (‘Nation lost’) produces an Italian term for groups of men organised politically.

2d You might find one I’d blown mustering herd on plain? Wrong (9)
A composite anagram &lit of the best sort as far as I’m concerned, with very little ‘padding’ being added to the equation. The letters of the solution (‘one’) and ID when rearranged (‘blown’) produce an anagram (‘mustering’) of HERD ON PLAIN. You could argue that the ‘Wrong’, while required by the definition, is superfluous to the wordplay and therefore this isn’t a true &lit. You’d probably be right.

3d I like getting between the sheets, showing predilection (6)
When you see ‘getting between the sheets’ or similar in an Azed puzzle you can be pretty sure that something is going to be inserted in BED, and here it is I (from the clue) and a two-letter word for ‘like’.

5d Rag treated entrails and parts of pelts rendered smooth (not 10 but 10, 2 words)
The wordplay is straightforward, an anagram (‘treated’) of RAG plus a word for ‘entrails’, but finding the solution in Chambers may be less so, particularly given that the solution is two words, (5,5), and not a single word as suggested by the enumeration. It can be found buried deep within the entry for the first word.

7d Act the tyrant loaded with flexed rod in grip (6, 2 words)
One of the many synonyms for ‘drunk’ (ie ‘loaded’) has an anagram (‘flexed’) of ROD in its grip, producing a (4,2) solution.

8d As a student attending university, at the right place (4, 2 words)
This clue strikes me as a bit messy, given that the three words in the middle could be read as the wordplay. It doesn’t help that it’s fallen victim to the old ‘missing comma’, here in the definition between ‘student’ and ‘attending’ (‘Attending as a student’ is the natural order). We then have the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘university’ plus a three-letter word meaning ‘at the right place’ (or time), but the appearance of ‘at’ both in the clue and the answer is unfortunate.

14d Thoroughly cleanse improper chat that’s come into view (9)
An anagram (‘improper’) of CHAT is followed by a five-letter verb meaning ‘[to] come into view’; I’m no fan of ‘has’ being used as a juxtaposition indicator, so I’m not keen on “that’s” (ie ‘that has’) being used to link the two wordplay elements here.

17d Dormitory for Scottish farm hands bird’s turned up in daily (7)
The bird that once famously attacked Michael Parkinson (no, not Grace Jones – that was Russell Harty) is reversed (‘turned up’)inside a four-letter word for a ‘daily’ which is seen more often in crosswords these days than anywhere else.

20d Varsity with delicacy excel in play (6)
An element of indirection in the wordplay here, with first element being not the name of a particular (rather fine) university, but a two-letter abbreviation of its name; the second part is a four-letter word for ‘delicacy’ in the diplomacy sense.

26d Private room set up, not the first, for the promotion of language study (5)
A six-letter word for a private room (or a cupboard off a room) has its first letter removed (‘not the first’) before being reversed (‘set up’), the result being an abbreviation for a specific branch of linguistic study. The way that the wordplay is phrased actually suggests that the word for the room is reversed prior to having its first letter removed; determining which is now the ‘first’ letter is, as they say, left to the reader as an exercise.

(definitions are underlined)

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,605 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

I thought this puzzle was a shade harder than last week’s, but still a little below average difficulty. It had all the hallmarks that one associates with an Azed production, although it perhaps lacked some of the brio of his very best offerings.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 23d, “Gang violence? Name applied to wars covers volumes (6)”. Here we have an example of the accuracy that pervades Azed’s clues. There is a temptation to indicate BOER by ‘war’, but this would be an error; the attributive noun ‘Boer’ is indeed used to identify either of two wars fought between Britain and South Africa, but it cannot be used on its own to represent a particular war any more than ‘First World’ can – no-one would ever be described as having ‘fought in the Boer’. What about ‘battle’ for Trafalgar? Well, you might say that Nelson fought ‘at Trafalgar’, but the ‘at’ here is key – Trafalgar is the site of a battle, not the battle itself. In general, unless the dictionary gives the proper noun as representing the conflict itself, or a particular type of conflict (see the entry for ‘Vietnam’ in Chambers), indications such as ‘war’ or ‘battle’ alone will not do.

The clue prompts another thought: ‘vv’ is given by Chambers as an abbreviation for ‘volumes’, but what if only ‘v’ were given for ‘volume’ – would, say, ‘spans volumes’ then be acceptable for ‘contains VV’? The answer to this is ‘technically, no’, any more than ‘ff’ is (or are) ‘fines’. But crosswords would be boring indeed if setters weren’t allowed a little licence when the result isn’t unfair to the solver, and I wouldn’t have a problem with ‘fines’, ‘goods’ etc. There are certain editors that I believe would be less tolerant; to be on the safe side when setting, say, a Listener puzzle, I would try to find an alternative, for instance ‘one fine after another’.

13a Sport activity? It gives catching practice (5)
I can’t remember coming across this word before – I’m not sure that the definition in Chambers is entirely accurate, but sine I learned everything I know about baseball from Peanuts cartoons there may be an element of ultracrepidation creeping in here. The wordplay is a charade of a three-letter word meaning ”sport’ and a two-letter word for ‘activity’.

14a This writer takes shelter in scrum (5)
I didn’t like this clue very much – the combination of ‘takes’ being used as a throwaway juxtaposition indicator and ‘in’ being there simply to link the wordplay to the definition results in a deception which I think borders on the unfair; the solver could reasonably expect ‘takes…in’ to indicated that the two-letter word for ‘this writer’ was to be put around (rather than before) the three-letter word for ‘shelter’ which is a frequent visitor to crosswords.

17a Annoyed, not having leader in final? (4)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘annoyed’ has a three-letter word meaning ‘having [a] leader’ removed (‘not having leader’) in order to produce the solution. As in 14a there is a deceptive aspect to the wordplay, but here it is absolutely fair.

21a Number of candles within fancy red cake decoration? (6)
A word for something that would be equal (fire regulations permitting) to the number of candles on your birthday cake is contained by (‘within’) an anagram (‘fancy’) of RED. The solution is the name of one of those little silver balls that are used for decorating cakes – though not in California, where their sale is banned.

29a They establish level by means of line and bit of string (5)
A nice clue, the wordplay being a charade of a three-letter word meaning ‘by means of’, the usual abbreviation for ‘line’, and the first letter (‘bit’) of ‘string’.

31a Was wobbly English vicar, retiring, housed in part of college? (8)
The standard abbreviation for English and a three-letter abbreviation of a title prefixed to the name of a member of the clergy are reversed within a four-letter word describing a feature of many Oxbridge colleges around which the main college buildings are arranged.

32a New Englander always clutching behind (9)
Here we have a three-letter contraction (common in poetic and cruciverbal contexts) of a word meaning ‘always’ containing (‘clutching’) a six-letter adverb meaning ‘behind’, the result being a term for an inhabitant of one of the New England states (implied by Chambers but given explicitly by the OED).

34a Hut collapsing in strain, rarely to be relied upon (6)
An anagram (‘collapsing’) of HUT is put inside a three-letter word for ‘strain’ in the ‘put demands on’ sense to produce a word meaning ‘reliable’ which is given by Chambers as ‘rare’, hence the ‘rarely’.

1d Rude name for oldie, bloke coming round about experience (12)
A six-letter word for a fellow outside (‘coming round’) a two-letter word for ‘about’ and a four-letter word meaning ‘[to] experience’ delivers a hyphenated (6-6) term for an elderly person shown by Chambers as ‘offensive slang’.

2d Play girl, very bad person (4)
A double definition clue, a term for a very bad (or very impressive) person or thing is also the name of the heroine (in the central rather than idealized sense, note) of Frank Wedekind’s Earth Spirit (1895) and Pandora’s Box (1904), now usually performed together in a shortened form under the title of the girl herself (this also being the stage name taken by Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie in 1962, after her manager described her as ‘a real ???? of a kid’.

3d Fungus I found inside a huge fish (7)
The letter A (from the clue) is followed by a five-letter word for a large, flat-bodied fish (while a two-word name may be more familiar, the single word is given by Chambers) within which is found the letter I (again from the clue).

4d Trumpet played tenderly (no more) grips other ranks (6)
Azed has been quite kind here both by putting the ‘no more’ in brackets, thus making it clear that the letters MORE should be removed from a two-word phrase meaning ‘played with tenderness’, and by explicitly using the words ‘other ranks’ rather than ‘men’ to indicate the two-letter abbreviation which must be inserted into the result.

9d Joint, OK, in a lido swinging (8)
A three-letter verb meaning ‘[to] OK’ is to be put inside an anagram (‘swinging’) of A LIDO.

18d Address etc adjusted after being taken in by spinner? (7)
An anagram (‘adjusted’) of ETC is ‘taken in’ by a four-letter term for something used by an angler – a spinner is an example of such an item, hence the question mark.

20d Inveigh against pirate taking wife on board (7, 2 words)
A six-letter word for a pirate ‘takes on board’ (ie contains) the usual single-character abbreviation for ‘wife’, the outcome being a (5,2) phrasal verb.

30d Improper desire for winter sports venue (4)
To round things off we have another clue comprising two definitions, the first being found in Chambers and the second in Austria.

(definitions are underlined)

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,604 Plain

Difficulty rating: (1.5 / 5)

After last week’s stern test, something rather more straightforward. Truth be told, something very straightforward indeed by Azed’s standards. 

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 32a, “Changes name of uneasy Dennis (8)”. The wordplay is discussed below, but the point that I want to look at here is the definition. ‘Uneasy Dennis changes name’, apart from being more succinct, would read better – so why didn’t Azed write the clue that way? Because the solution is formed from a transitive-only verb, so it must be defined by another word or phrase which would similarly be followed by an object. Hence ‘changes name of [someone/something]’ works, as would ‘renames’ (although that is uncomfortably close to the solution), but ‘changes name’ alone won’t do, and wouldn’t be seen when Azed is at the helm..

1a Historical dance with swords mostly fitting including adult (8)
An eight-letter word for ‘fitting’ has the last letter removed (‘mostly’) and contains the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘adult’.

13a Cook goose with steamer, being ready for eating? (8)
A charade of a two-letter word for ‘[to] cook’, a four-letter type of goose (of the Hawaiian kind), and a two-letter abbreviation prefixed to the name of a steamship.

16a TV control turning on head? (5)
That familiar two-letter piece of ‘commercial jargon’ meaning ‘on’ or ‘in the matter of’ plus a three-letter informal term for the human head are reversed (‘turning’) to find something that would only be found in physical ‘control’ form (ie a knob) on seriously superannuated TVs.

19a Like leafy growth, star-shaped, I observed on centre of poppy inside (10)
An eight-letter word meaning ‘star-shaped’ (which one could probably guess even if one didn’t know it) has the letter I (from the clue) and the middle letter (‘centre’) of ‘poppy’ inserted (‘inside’).

24a Indian peasant when retiring sheltered by family (5)
A two-letter word meaning ‘when’ is reversed (‘retiring’) inside (‘sheltered by’) a three-letter word for ‘family’.

27a Cat trapped in alarm creating minor set-to once (8)
A three-letter slang term for a cat (more familiar as a five-letter word with -gy on the end) is ‘trapped’ within a five-letter word for an alarm, the answer being an archaic spelling of a word still in regular use.

28a Fine Easter feature in unaccompanied pieces – vocal exercises required (8)
The usual abbreviation for ‘fine’ and an important three-letter feature of Easter as far as I’m concerned are contained by a four-letter word for unaccompanied pieces.

32a Changes name of uneasy Dennis? (8)
A five-letter word for ‘uneasy’ (a seven-letter version is more common, I would say) is followed by the first name used by the former host of Family Fortunes who subsequently had a very tough time in Coronation Street. The solution, if divided (2,6), is the name by which Shirley Macleod, who sadly died last month,  was better known to new wave music fans of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the female vocalist with The Tubes, whose stage act was something to behold; I saw them around 1978 when they were on a tour which subsequently had to be cut short after male singer Fee Waybill fell off the stage while wielding a chainsaw and broke his leg. It could have been worse, not least for those sitting in the front row.

1d Wine I objectively preferred with fish served up (5)
The objective form of the first person singular pronoun is followed by a reversal (‘served up’) of a three-letter fish. The ‘preferred’ is there for the benefit of the surface reading, and should be interpreted in the wordplay along the lines of ‘put first’.

6d Brand’s original source detectable in cribs, endlessly (5)
The Brand in question is an 1865 Norwegian verse tragedy; the name of its author was the inspiration for the stage name taken by James Bateman, who between 1968 and 1971 regularly and famously recited his poems on Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In. Here is The Thumbnail – by Henry Gibson (to be read in a southern drawl):

Did you ever stop to figure
Why the thumbnail is so hard?
Well it hasn’t any choice
With all that skin to guard.
It may look fat and pudgy
But its heart is good and true.
It’s prettier than a toenail
And easier to chew.

8d Old-fashioned helping? I had one after dividing e.g. pork? Not me (6)
A two-letter representation of ‘I had’ and a two-letter word meaning ‘one’ are seen splitting (‘dividing’) a four-letter term exemplified by pork (‘e.g. pork’) from which the letters ME have been omitted (‘not me’).

17d A Greek letter inscribed in container of Mesolithic era (7)
The letter A (from the clue) plus a three-letter Greek letter are contained by (‘inscribed in’) a three-letter container of the baked bean kind.

19d My young had a tough upbringing, showing interest in it? (6)
This clue looked more interesting at first glance than it turned out to be. The wordplay simply involves a four-letter word meaning ‘interest’ (or ‘role’) being put inside those two letters that so often are indicated in crossword land by ‘it’.

21d Uniform, vivid, length made right? (6)
A six-letter word meaning ‘vivid’ has an L (‘length’) replaced by (‘made’) the standard abbreviation for ‘right’.

26d They get driven in smart Lancia with no car mat, all over the place (5)
A nice definition is made possible by a rather clunky wordplay, where the words SMART LANCIA must be rearranged (‘all over the place’) without the letters of CAR MAT (‘no car mat’). In this sort of clue there would often be two anagram indicators, since the letters to be removed are not consecutive in the words from which they are to be taken. If the clue read ‘all over the place with no car mat’ I would have no problem, because the rearrangement could result in ?????CARMAT, from which the ‘car mat’ could then be omitted, but as it stands I think the ‘smart Lancia’ requires its own anagram indicator. I’d favour something along the lines of  ‘Battered car mat removed from otherwise smart Lancia they get driven in’, although it’s still rather cumbersome.

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

While I – of course – believe that the views presented are valid, I realize that (i) I am not infallible, and (ii) in the world of the crossword there are many areas where opinions will differ. I say what I think, but I don’t intend thereby to stifle discussion – I would encourage readers who disagree with the views that I express, whether in the blog posts or in response to comments, to make their feelings known…I shall not be offended!

Azed 2,603 ‘Wrong Number’

Difficulty rating: (6.5 / 10)

The ‘Wrong Number’ puzzle was introduced by Ximenes in the 1950s, and Azed tends to serve one up every two or three years. That’s often enough for me, as I wouldn’t say that it was a favourite of mine. Whilst Printer’s Devilry and Spoonerisms puzzles give Azed the chance to demonstrate his originality, the Wrong Number gimmick almost inevitably results in a lot of anagrams (here 20 in 36 clues!) and letter selection indicators (here 11). They are also extremely difficult for new solvers to get their heads round, and there are invariably several competitors who submit a clue to the wrong word.

This variation is quite a bit trickier than a standard Azed, particularly in the early stages of solving; it also means that a few clues are likely to have a somewhat ‘forced’ word play in order to include the additional definition. Some entries are hard to indicate using just a single word, so don’t expect all the one-word definitions to be of ‘dictionary standard’. I thought this offering was far from simple and any relatively inexperienced solver who completes it without assistance has done very well.

Just to be clear (since Azed’s preamble might not be) – the clues themselves are all normal, the wordplay and the definition leading to a solution of the length given in the clue; what is not normal is that rather than being entered into the grid in the position belonging to this complete clue, the solution is entered at the position belonging to another clue (for a solution of the same length) which contains within it a second, one word definition of the solution (this defining word also playing a normal role in the clue in which it appears). So taking 33a as an example, the wordplay indicates an anagram (‘Crooked’) of RONNIE plus C (‘caught’) and the definition is ‘displaying cruel conduct’, with the length of the solution matching the enumeration ‘(7)’; but NERONIC is not entered at 15a, instead it is entered at 24a, where the clue contains the second definition, ‘Fell’. In the ’normal’ interpretation of 24a, ‘Fell’ serves as the anagram indicator. Another solution will be entered at 33a, its auxiliary definition being one of six words of ‘Crooked Ronnie caught displaying cruel conduct’ (as you might expect, the one that has clearly been accommodated only with some difficulty).

You will find that the solution at 12a is lacking a clue. Those entering the competition will need to provide a clue for this word which also includes a one-word definition of the entry at 1a, ie a clue which could be labelled as ‘1a’ and is of the same form all the other clues in the puzzle. The use of ‘buttocks’ as the extra definition is allowed but not recommended, particularly given the number of alternatives. 

Following the notes I have provided a list of grid positions together with the word which is the definition of the entry at that grid position and the identity of the clue which provides the solution.

5a Like upright text (in short), alias one’s cracked, making Greek dance (7)
A three-letter abbreviation for text of the normal, upright kind (as opposed to italic) is followed by an abbreviation meaning ‘alias’ containing the Roman numeral for one (“one’s cracked”).

13a With start of eulogy I abandoned false praise in gravelly tone (4)
An anagram (‘false’) of PRAISE without the first letter of ‘eulogy’ and the letter I (‘with start of eulogy I abandoned’).

15a Climbing dens a safeguard for last of mice in a row (6)
A five-letter word for ‘dens’ reversed (‘climbing’) around the last letter of ‘mice’.

21a Giggly girl with the group exuding mere whiff of happiness? (9)
A three-letter term for a girl or young woman given by Chambers as ‘derogatory’ is followed by a concatenation of THE (from the clue) with a four-letter letter word for a group, dropping (‘exuding’) the first letter (‘mere whiff’) of ‘happiness’. Not too hard to sniff out the ‘additional definition’ word here.

22a Mother-in-law traditionally displaying silver with application in clothes (9)
The chemical symbol for silver and a two-letter word meaning ‘with application [to]’ are contained by a five-letter term for ‘clothes’.

24a Fell timeless bits of atoll arc – such as are dead (7)
A slightly strained clue, with &lit overtones. The wordplay involves an anagram (‘fell’, ie ‘dire’) of ATOLL ARC from which the abbreviation for ‘time’ has been removed (‘timeless’).

31a Wherein one may find special fruit clusters? (5)
A true &lit (though perhaps not Class 1), being a charade of the usual abbreviation for ‘special’ and a four-letter word for ‘fruit clusters’, specifically those you’d find on a bine.

32a Cherished scripture is keeping translator getting stuck into it (7)
The combination of a three-letter word meaning ‘is keeping’ and the standard (if rarely seen) abbreviation for ‘translator’ is ‘getting stuck into’ the two letters still frequently found in crosswords representing ‘it’ in the Clara Bow sense. I haven’t even underlined ‘cherished’ as being part of the definition, because frankly it is there purely to indicate which solution should be placed in this grid location.

2d Stock explosive in erstwhile spring drill (8)
An anagram (‘explosive’) of STOCK inside an obsolete (‘erstwhile’) three-letter variant of a common four-letter word meaning ‘[to] spring’.

3d Can odd bits of potato rear crookedly? (5)
The definition here is qualified by Chambers as ‘North American slang’.

7d Publication plugs this cup I love – like a sip? (6)
A composite anagram (no, really) where the letters of PUBLICATION can be rearranged (‘plugs’, a strange choice of word) to form the solution (‘this’) plus CUP I O (‘love’). 

8d Left beds in eager broadcast documentary (9)
An example of the wordplay being expanded to satisfy the requirements of this type of puzzle – ‘beds’ is superfluous and can be ignored when solving the clue.

20d Place label in surface for e.g. cleavers (8)
The ‘cleavers’ in the definition by example here can also be spelt ‘clivers’.

23d Pen going round university, touching, for sponsor (6)
A three-letter word for a pen (of the porcine enclosure sort) containing (’round’) the usual abbreviation for ‘university’ plus a two-letter piece of commercial jargon meaning ‘concerning’ (‘touching’).

26d Friends having to climb pass (4)
Not the meaning that one normally would associate with the solution here, it relates to the second instance of the headword in Chambers, with the sense of a hill pass or a gap in a fence.

27d Blow missing boxer’s head, fray’s ending, making one livid (4)
A four-letter word for a blow (or the sort of thing you might have been fined for holding during lockdown) missing the first letter (‘head’) of ‘boxer’ and followed by the last letter (‘ending’) of ‘fray’.

(definitions are underlined)

The list follows, for use if you have completed the puzzle or want a bit of additional assistance.

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

While I – of course – believe that the views presented are valid, I realize that (i) I am not infallible, and (ii) in the world of the crossword there are many areas where opinions will differ. I say what I think, but I don’t intend thereby to stifle discussion – I would encourage readers who disagree with the views that I express, whether in the blog posts or in response to comments, to make their feelings known…I shall not be offended!

Azed 2,602 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

Perhaps slightly more difficult than last week, but still I think a little below the middle of the spectrum. The foreign word at 31d not given by Chambers should have been familiar to most if not all solvers, and the clue to it could hardly have been clearer. I didn’t feel that this was one of Azed’s finest efforts: several of the clues were on the clunky side, and it didn’t seem to have had the final ‘polishing up’ which can add a touch of gloss.

Setters’ Corner: The clues at 8d, 17d and 23d contain the wordplay elements ‘bit of entremets’, ‘bit of plush’ and ‘bit of charcuterie’, in each instance indicating the first letter of the third word in the group. Leaving aside the question of whether ‘bit of’ is an acceptable way of selecting the first letter of a word (arguably any piece of the word is a ‘bit’ of it), my issue is the appearance of the same wordplay device three times in the space of eight clues. Crossword editors will normally allow a term to be used only once in a puzzle for the same purpose (having ‘around’ in one clue to indicate containment and in another clue to represent ‘ca’ would be absolutely fine, and there are a few exceptions, repeated use of ‘in’ to show insertion for example being permitted), and I suspect that like myself most setters keep track in some way of the various abbreviations and indicators that they have used in order to avoid duplication.

In a recent puzzle I seem to remember that Azed used ‘left’ in two clues to indicate L – I didn’t have a big problem with that, not least because it can be hard to find suitable alternatives for a single word that delivers a single letter, but with letter selection indicators there is no excuse. In 8d ‘Finally taking taste of entremets’ would be fine, as would ‘one scrap of plush’, in 17d and ‘first piece of charcuterie’ – and that’s using the same words (entremets etc) to provide the necessary first letter. Letter selection indicators are a boon to the setter (although some editors like their usage to be kept to a minimum), but they allow so much flexibility that I find it disappointing when they are not used artfully.

1a Not in haste? Wrong, and (in short) on time (12, 3 words)
Things get under way with an &lit, albeit not a classic. An anagram (‘wrong’) of NOT IN HASTE is followed by the informal shortening of ‘and’ that often joins fish to chips and the usual abbreviation for ‘time’. The whole clue stands as the definition of the (2,3,7) solution.

10a Like a snort? It’s found in den on once retiring (6)
The “It’s found in” here simply links the definition to the wordplay, which has the combination of a four-letter word for a den and an obsolete (‘once’) two-letter form of ‘on’ being reversed (‘retiring’).

13a Burrower clearly inside blind (8)
A four-letter word meaning ‘clearly’ (and ‘rightly’, ‘skilfully’, ‘thoroughly’ etc) is contained by a verb which originally meant ‘to sew up the eyelids of’ and would have been used with reference to the training of hawks; in a transferred sense it then came to mean ‘to close the eyes of (a person)’, and thence it acquired the meaning of ‘to blind’ or ‘to hoodwink’ (which originally referred to covering the eyes with a hood – have I confused you yet?).

14a Brightly coloured fabric, reverse of worthless in brown (7)
That four-letter biblical word for ‘worthless’ (given by Chambers but not in OED) which often pops up (or back) in barred puzzles is here put inside a familiar three-letter word for ‘brown’ before the whole lot is reversed (‘reverse of’).

15a God embraced by group coming together in prayer (4)
A single-letter abbreviation for ‘God’ (from the Latin) is contained (’embraced’) by the term for a group coming together for a spot of sewing or spelling, producing a word for a prayer. The solution is given by Chambers as obsolete, but rather surprisingly Azed chooses not to indicate this.

19a Before being taken in by dissembler, boss had no knowledge of this (9)
An archaic two-letter word meaning ‘before’ is ‘taken in’ by a seven-letter term for someone making a pretence (not the more obvious six-letter word, note), the result being the sort of job that’s done ‘on the side’.

29a Half getting submerged in Scotch mist (4)
‘Half’ here indicates that we need to take half of an eight-letter word for ‘getting submerged’ in order to get a Scots word for ‘mist’.

34a E.g. Clare lives with boy, name concealed (6)
This ‘Clare’ stands at the entrance to Clew Bay in County Mayo and is (apparently) famous for housing not just the boy in the clue but also the 15th century pirate queen Gráinne O’Malley. The wordplay has a two-letter word for ‘lives’ followed by a three-letter word for a boy into which the usual abbreviation for ‘name’ has been inserted (‘name concealed’).

2d Native American house with a windmill sail inverted on top (6)
One of the few clues in this puzzle (5d is another) where the break between the definition and the wordplay was nicely concealed. The usual abbreviation for ‘house’ has the letter A (from the clue) plus a three-letter word for a windmill sail (or the sort of thing used by Amazon delivery drivers) reversed (‘inverted’) above it (‘on top’).

5d Sick with centre of meal trapped in intestine (5)
The wordplay here involves a three-letter word for ‘sick’ having the central letters of ‘meal’ held inside (‘trapped’); I thought briefly that the ‘in’ was part of the wordplay, and was wondering why Azed hadn’t preferred ‘inside’, but quickly realised that it belonged to the definition.

7d Water rising in gushing upset, precipitous as before (8)
A three-letter word for the sort of water that might be passed is reversed (‘rising’) inside an anagram (‘gushing’) of UPSET, the ‘as before’ indicating that the word is not in current use. In reality, it  seems to be a hapax legomenon, appearing only in Shakespeare’s Sonnet 7, and even then without the E in sixth position:

And having climbed the ??????? heavenly hill,
Resembling strong youth in his middle age,
Yet mortal looks adore his beauty still,
Attending on his golden pilgrimage.

10d Old music maker creating minor misdeed in convent? (10)
I’m not sure why Azed didn’t just write this as “Old music maker’s minor misdeed in convent?”, but anyway the ‘creating’ is a link word and the (4-6) solution (including an apostrophe) describes some slightly dodgy dealing taking place without (one hopes) the mother superior’s knowledge.

17d One bit of plush held by hatter I’m turned off, cosmetic (8, 2 words)
The Roman numeral for ‘one’ and the first letter (‘bit’) of ‘plush’ are contained by an eight-letter word for a hatter from which a reversal (‘turned’) of the letters IM (from the clue) have been removed (‘off’). The solution is (3,5), which reminds me of a very old joke which I shall not include here for a variety of good reasons.

21d Sticker, ad scratched over in Bantu language (6)
A seven-letter word for something which sticks to something else (‘sticker’) with the letters AD (from the clue) omitted (‘scratched’) is followed by the usual (cricketing) abbreviation for ‘over’.

24d Poet penning number that’s lingual in part (6)
The poet whose surname is here containing (‘penning’) the single-character abbreviation for ‘number’ is Kathleen Jessica of that ilk, whose first book of poetry, Stone and Flower, was published in 1943. She wrote many quotable things, but she’s a one-hit wonder when it comes to the ODQ – she said in her autobiography that Gavin Maxwell was the love of her life (though that was never likely to work out well), and her sole entry is this fragment from The Marriage of Psyche:

He has married me with a ring, a ring of bright water
Whose ripples spread from the heart of the sea.

I wanted to add a suitable pun, but I’m otterly stumped. All contributions are welcome.

28d Part of kit that’s beaten, hand held (not half) (5)
A three-letter word for ‘beaten’ (in the ‘bashed’ sense) has HAND (from the clue) without the last two letters (‘not half’) in its grip (‘held’). According to Chambers (2-3) hyphenation of the solution is optional but not mandatory.

(definitions are underlined)