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 2,564 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

A puzzle which seemed to me to sit slightly beyond the mid-point of the difficulty range, containing just one ‘hidden’ and a relatively low (for Azed) proportion of anagrams.

I have been producing these notes in their current form for a while, and I would appreciate any feedback that readers can offer on the format and content. One area of particular interest to me is the level of explicitness which you would like to see; I am conscious of the fact that “a two-letter word for a cow” and “the usual abbreviation for ‘latitude’” don’t improve the readability of the parsings. Would you prefer to see “OX (‘cow’)” and “L (latitude)”? Or would you rather that I stuck with the ‘n-letter words’ but explicitly showed the single letters? All views on this and any other aspect which might be improved will be very welcome.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at 22a, “Search in e.g. Chambers for describing table for distinguishing variables (6)”. Nothing too special about this double-definition clue, and the Chambers definition of ‘lookup’, which should surely read ‘denoting a table giving a set of possible values for a variable’, has done Azed no favours, but the interest lies in the first definition, that of ‘look up’ (two words). Of the grammatical errors which I see in clues a significant number are the result of setters ignoring (or not understanding) the difference between a transitive (object) and an intransitive (no-object) verb, with a verb of one type being used to indicate a verb of the other type either in the definition or as part of the wordplay. It is a particular issue with compound verbs, eg ‘look up’. In the clue here we have the verb ‘search’, which does have a transitive form, but its object is the place searched, not the thing sought; so ‘Search in e.g. Chambers’ will not do for ‘look up’ (try making up a sentence that uses one and then swap it for the other), and hence Azed has added the word ‘for’. Since ‘search for’ and ‘look up’ are synonymous only in a specific sense of the latter, Azed has flagged this by qualifying ‘search for’ with ‘in e.g. Chambers’. The result: an accurate indication of the solution.

12a Cuddly toy? Baby’s first, what one finds mother’s in front of (5)
The first letter of ‘Baby’, followed by a four-letter word which, when it has “mother’s” in front of it, indicates the sort of alcoholic beverage found at 5d. The way that Azed has constructed the last part of the clue is an object lesson in coming up with a combination of words that is grammatically sound both in the surface reading and the wordplay.

14a/15a Argument to add when dividing… (7) / …Side falling out including amateur plans (5)
The ellipsis here requires the first three words of the second clue to be shared with the first, ie the latter becomes “Argument to add when dividing side falling out”, instructing the solver to insert  a three-letter word meaning ‘to add’ into an anagram (‘falling out’) of SIDE. The second clue is ‘as seen’, another anagram of SIDE, this one including the usual abbreviation of ‘amateur’. Some editors are happy with ‘over’ as a containment indicator; personally, I would never use it and it looks as though Azed won’t either, because it would have worked very nicely here in place of ‘including’ in the  second clue.

24a Rare melody, contralto’s resort (6)
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘contralto’ is followed by a word for a resort or den; the whole is a rare spelling of a familiar word.

25a Requiring more scratchings, I ordered thrice (7)
A lovely definition. I think that ‘ordered’ is probably acceptable to most solvers as an indication of an anagram, but I don’t like it myself – the letters of any word are already in the order that produces that word, and I don’t think that ‘ordered’ suggests that the existing order should be changed, though I realize that I am probably in a small minority on this. I would have preferred “…I reordered thrice”, which I think reads equally well. I would also be happy with ‘…I strangely ordered thrice’ or something of that ilk.

Incidentally, when ‘scratchings’ started being sold in pubs I was surprised to find that they were a pork product; to me, scratchings were what our local chip shop in Redditch would sell you (in generous measure) inside a cone of paper for a penny, they being the bits of cooked batter from the bottom of the fryer. Probably somewhere south of a deep-fried Mars bar in the healthy food ratings, but absolutely delicious…I can still remember the taste – mmmmm. Thinking of pork scratchings, and the discussions which I recall taking place on occasion regarding the likely origin of ones with particularly interesting shapes, I am reminded of what must be the archest advertising slogan of all time, Peperami’s brilliant “It’s a bit of an animal”.

33a Old refrain from Italian city about a snake (9)
A five-letter Italian city is set around NAGA (a snake, especially the cobra) to produce an archaic term for a refrain.

4d Regular speed merchant – or not, one assumes (5)
NOT could be indicated in a down clue by ‘ton up’.

5d Kitty would do for this traditional gin regaining popularity (6, 2 words)
‘Kitty’ could (just about) serve as an indication of the solution, which is the name of a kind of sweetened gin popular in the nineteenth century and now enjoying a resurgence, I understand, associated with the ‘Craft Cocktail’ movement.

7d Junkie, how one might describe Cressida? (8)
Dame Cressida Dick leads Metropolitan Police Service, so she might be described (inter alia) as ‘a CID head’.

8d Star of Oliver!, say? I’ll give way to musical’s No. 2 in dance (4)
A four-letter dance (a version of which can be done with the hands) has its I ‘giving way to’ (replaced by) the second letter of ‘musical’. The solution describes the sort of performer who would be playing Oliver.

16d Clapper of course interrupting music coming up is thrown out (8)
A five-letter adjective meaning ‘of [a] course’ or ‘of a cycle of duty’ going inside (‘interrupting’) a reversal (‘coming up’) of MUSIC, from which the IS is removed (‘is thrown out’); the clue makes it clear that the ‘coming up’ precedes the ‘throwing out’.

23d Dumpling, triangular piece turning up in pastry dish (not English) (6)
The triangular piece which must be inverted (‘turning up’)  within a three-letter word for a pastry dish from which the E has been removed (‘not English’) is GORE, a triangular piece let into a garment to widen it (I have every confidence that regular commenter Orange will have been familiar with the word; I’m afraid that gussets and darts represent the limit of my knowledge in this area).

24d This, on being processed, produces colorant (6)
A composite anagram &lit where the letters of the solution (‘This’) and ON can be rearranged (‘processed’) to produce COLORANT. I think there are a couple of problems related to the punctuation here. The second comma, whilst required by the surface reading, makes the wordplay decidedly iffy; worse, the first comma divides up the anagram material into two elements which means that the verb ‘produce’ should be in a plural form. I think the clue would be fine without the commas.

28d Vintage table wine, half disposed of (4)
An eight-letter French claret loses its last four letters (‘half disposed of’), resulting in an obsolete (‘Vintage’) version of a word that is invariably spelt with five letters these days.

30d It’s pouched – in more ways than one (4)
A kind of double definition, exploiting the fact that the solution is not just a unit of currency but also a species of large kangaroo. When embarking on a trip to Europe, it is important to acquire the correct 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 2,563 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

The ratio of tricky clues to straightforward ones seemed quite high, so I’ve rated it somewhere above average difficulty, even though none of the solutions was particularly tough to parse once you’d got the answer. I felt that Azed had pushed the envelope more times than an indecisive sorting office worker, resulting in considerably more quibbles than usual.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 29d, “Cry of pain let loose by nithing? (4)”. This clue is parsed in the notes below, but what interested me was Azed’s choice for the final word, prompting me to consider the alternatives. Having decided that OW was to be removed from YELLOW, with the whole clue providing a definition of YELL, the question would be how to indicate ‘yellow’. ‘Wimp’, say, would work in the surface, but while ‘yellow’ means ‘wimpish’, it doesn’t mean ‘[a] wimp’, so we need a word which can function as an adjective in the wordplay and a noun in the clue when read as a whole. ‘Chicken’ seems like an excellent option until we review the &lit definition – a cry of pain let loose by a chicken would never be described as a ‘yell’. ‘Craven’ fits the bill, but these days it is almost exclusively used as an adjective, and ‘…let loose by craven’ looks very unconvincing.  The obvious choice would be ‘coward’, which is normally seen as a noun but is also an adjective, however Azed has decided instead to use the historical term ‘nithing’, which would have more appeal if ‘yell’ had itself been an obsolete or archaic word. The presence of the letters OW in ‘coward’ (such that ‘letting loose’ OW would produce CARD) is an unwelcome distraction, but knowing Azed’s propensity towards less common words, I suspect he would have preferred ‘nithing’ to ‘coward’ in any event.

1a Scottish bum, placed askew – he drank heavily (9)
If, like me, you were unfamiliar with the Scottish bum or the (6-3) solution, you may have needed a checker or two to get this one, which involves FUD (‘Scottish bum’) being followed by an anagram (‘askew’) of PLACED.

7a Old master having something to get barbecue going? Not quite (3)
An eight-letter word for a North American wood used as a fuel in barbecuing has the letters QUITE removed (from the end) to produce the answer.

12a Very drunk, ultimately blotto as usual (6)
A charade of a two-letter word meaning ‘very’, a three-letter word for ‘drunk’ and the last letter (‘ultimately’) of ‘blotto’, the result being a musical term taken directly from the Italian language.

16a Salad ingredient, great with eggs around (7)
A four-letter word for ‘great’, in the sense of ‘important’, has the usual three-letter word for ‘eggs’ outside (‘around’).

19a Hot stuff disowned by band, not pro (6)
Here a ten-letter word for stuff which is (loosely) ‘hot’ has the consecutive letters BAND removed (‘disowned by band’) to produce a preposition (and adverb) that is the opposite of ‘pro’. A rather weak clue by Azed’s standards, given that the solution is the stem of the wordplay element from which it is extracted.

23a Male interrupting girl playfully is offensive (6)
A two-letter word for a male being contained by (‘interrupting’) a ‘playfully pejorative name for a child or a girl’ (or a familiar name for a cat). I was a bit dubious about the definition here, but Chambers gives ‘offensive’ as ‘making the first attack’, so I think it’s just about ok. Just about.

31a Wife on reflection to long for 2, 3 or 4? (4)
A three-letter, jocular word for a wife (referring to the genesis of Eve) reversed (‘on reflection’) is followed by a setter’s favourite for ‘to long’. The definition exploits the fact that ‘par’ for holes on a normal golf course can be 3, 4 or 5.

32a Little old coin, Sun King’s No. 2 on face (8)
A three-letter word for the Sun personified, the second letter of ‘King’ (“King’s No. 2”) and a four-letter word that means ‘to face’ in the sense of ‘defy’.

34a Silt swirling with rains near on our roads (9)
I feel that Azed could have omitted the ‘on our roads’ given the Chambers definition of the solution; as it stands, if the solver lives in a country where one drives on the right hand side of the road the qualification may be more confusing than helpful.

2d Sheep roaming wild catches cow up in the manner of a mate (7)
A five-letter word for a Himalayan wild sheep contains a reversal (‘up’) of two-letter word for a cow. I’m not happy about the definition here: ‘of a mate’ would be absolutely fine, but ‘in the manner of a mate’ surely defines an adverb (eg ‘uxorially’) rather than an adjective.

5d For best effect it requires keeping one’s hand in? Blimey, I think not (5)
A three-letter interjection meaning ‘Blimey!’ is followed by a two-letter word for ‘I think not’. I bow to Azed’s musical knowledge when accepting that the solution describes the sort of French horn that is played using a hand-stopping technique.

9d Marine creature, live when caught by tail (8, 2 words)
Two-letter words for ‘live’ and ‘when’ are contained (‘caught’) by a four-letter word for ‘tail’ in the sense of [the] posterior.

15d Old philosopher, form of stoic absorbing what’s current in Cambridge (8)
It is CAM which here is ‘absorbed’ by an anagram of (‘form of’) STOIC. Whether the river that flows through Cambridge can legitimately be described as “what’s current in Cambridge” is a moot point; based on the Chambers definition, ‘current’ here must be a noun – the meaning ‘a stream’ might just about make it legit.

21d Copy page in antique, its first (7)
The usual abbreviation for ‘page’ inside a five-letter word for [an] antique, with the first letter of ‘antique’ (‘its first’) bringing up the rear.

26d Wild flower, green and pale (5)
The wordplay here requires that ‘green means go’, which I suppose you could argue that it does for road users. The three-letter word for ‘pale’ which follows is a favourite of setters.

27d A bit like Jaques’s schoolboy, beginning to lick inside cone (4)
The ‘cone’ which contains the first letter of ‘lick’ (‘beginning to lick’) is PUY, a small volcanic cone, specifically one in Auvergne. The reference is to Jaques’ “All the world’s a stage” speech from As You Like It, which includes the following:

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.

29d Cry of pain let loose by nithing? (4)
An &lit to finish off, with OW (the cry of pain in the wordplay) being ‘let loose’ by YELLOW (‘nithing’ as an adjective), to produce a word which could be indicated by the clue as a whole (where ‘nithing’ functions as a noun).

(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 2,562 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

A 13×11 puzzle which seemed to be pretty close to the middle of the difficulty spectrum. I had a couple of minor quibbles, but nothing to get too het up about.

Setters’ Corner: This week I take my prompt from 9d, which (apart from the use of ‘produce’ rather than ‘provide’) is Norah Jarman’s brilliant first prize winner from Ximenes competition 743 (April 1963). A superb wordsmith, she won thirty-seven prizes in Ximenes and Azed comps between 1945 and 1983; when cryptic definition clues without supporting wordplay were allowed in barred puzzles she wrote some of the best (eg ‘Naughty type of Limerick’ for SPALPEEN, X202), but she was equally good at conventional definition/wordplay clues, such as the one reproduced here by Azed and

Surprisingly, she only achieved one VHC or better in Printer’s Devilry competitions, but the one in question was this extraordinary effort from AZ57 (April 1973):

Finally my personal favourite, Norah’s winning entry for Ximenes comp 1140 (November 1970):

1a Resinous stuff to polish from behind with spraying device on fashioned diptych (13, 2 words)
A three-letter word meaning ‘to polish’ is reversed, the sort of spraying device you might use when repainting a car comes next, and an anagram (‘fashioned’) of DIPTYCH brings up the rear, ccompleting a solution of the form (8,5).

10a Upset a bath with last of water in (7)
Using ‘a’ to indicate PER is a device often used by setters (myself included!) – here it is followed by a three-letter word for a bath with the last letter of ‘water’ inserted.

15a Mixture of strong beers packed quite a punch (6)
The second indication of the solution may not be familiar to younger solvers, but in the 1960s Henry Cooper was perhaps the most famous sportsman in England. Born in Lambeth in 1934, he started boxing in 1949 and in 1954 (together with his twin brother George) he turned professional. His first fight with Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) was the stuff of legend, Cooper felling Clay in the fourth round with a left hook to the jaw, a punch known as “‘Enry’s ‘Ammer”. The first person to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award twice, he was undefeated in British heavyweight title fights from 1959 until his final (highly controversial) defeat at the hands of Joe Bugner in 1971; it is unlikely that the gulf in public affection between the two fighters has been matched by two British boxers before or since. Following his retirement from the sport, he became one of the initial team captains on A Question of Sport, and he was much in demand for public appearances for the remainder of his life . He was awarded a knighthood in 2000, the only boxer ever to have received that honour.

17a Plunge in like active boxers? That’s invigorating (8)
ENEW (‘Plunge in’) is seen inside [the] RING (‘like active boxers’). Strictly speaking, ‘enew’ means to plunge into the water, but I think that ‘the water’ can reasonably be inferred,

19a Hanging of old, something that stops lives (5)
A three-letter word for a stopper (‘something that stops) plus a two-letter word meaning ‘lives’ make up an obsolete word for a hanging or tapestry taken directly from the French language.

28a Dramatic heroine given latitude in court bench introducing explosive stuff (7)
The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘latitude’ is contained by a four-letter word for the judges’ bench (Français, encore) and a two-letter abbreviation for High Explosive. The solution is the first name of Mrs Grey, née DuBois, in Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. The part was written for Tallulah Bankhead, but was originally played on Broadway by Jessica Tandy; Vivien Leigh took the role in the original West End production, and reprised it in the film with Kim Hunter, Karl Malden, and the little-known (at that time) Marlon Brando. Bankhead finally got the chance to have a crack at it in 1956 – the critics were divided over her performance, but Williams was impressed. Bankhead was something of a ‘character’ – her penchant for eschewing underwear caused so may complaints from audience members when she appeared in Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of our Teeth that Equity was forced to intervene, and when she appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat the director famously deliberated over whether he should refer the issue to the make-up or hairdressing department.

35a Imagines being found singly caught in pincers, feet damaged, tense (13)
Even in noisy surroundings this clue could plainly be heard shouting out ‘Azed’. ‘Imagines’ is one of the plural forms of ‘imago’, and therefore with ‘Imagines being found singly’ Azed is telling us that the definition is ‘imago’; the wordplay requires the standard abbreviation for caught to be placed inside an anagram (‘damaged’) of PINCERS FEET, with the abbreviation for tense at the end. Whether ‘X being found singly’ is the same as ‘the singular form of X’ I leave you to decide for yourselves.

1d The old scrawl on version of Serb bible inscribed by Catholic (10)
An anagram of (‘version of’) SERB BIBLE, containing a C for Catholic, but I don’t think that ‘inscribed by’ is legitimate to indicate insertion of what follows – it introduces the agent of the inscription, not the thing inscribed, for which ‘inscribed with’ would be required. The Claret Jug at Royal St George’s will today be inscribed with the name of the winner of the Open Championship, not by it.

3d Lacking a tin, dividing up fruit (6)
A ten-letter word meaning ‘dividing’ has the letters A TIN removed (‘Lacking a tin) before being reversed (‘up’).

7d Ride around this meadowland will get place affording best views? (4)
If the letters of RIDE were set around the solution, the result would be a place to get close-up views of action such as ‘Enry at 15 and the protagonists at 17 might have produced.

8d Part of Africa supplying dress, old, for taking away (4)
Two definitions sandwiching the wordplay, a three-letter word meaning [to] dress and the usual abbreviation for old. Arguably the second ‘definition’ is a second wordplay, since its enumeration is (2,2) rather than (4).

9d I produce something you can rattle up and down in a box (7)
A very slight variation on Norah Jarman’s classic clue from 1963, a two-letter designation of something that you might ‘rattle up and down’ in a motor vehicle is contained by a five-letter word for a box, the whole clue serving as a lovely indication of the solution.

22d Palm tree: excrescence on it is reduced by half (6)
A three-letter word for an excrescence (on a tree) more often seen with its last letter repeated is followed by (‘on’) IT and the letter I (‘is reduced by half’).

27d Cadenzas, maybe strong except for the end (4)
A five-letter word for ‘strong’ or ‘substantial’ has its final letter removed (‘except for the end’) to produce the Italian plural form of a word which could describe, inter alia, a cadenza (‘Cadenzas, maybe’).

29d State touching US state to the north (4)
The two-letter word which Chambers describes as ‘commercial jargon’ for ‘concerning’ or ‘touching’ together with the two-letter abbreviation for a particular (southeastern) US state, the combination being reversed (‘to the north’).

30d Pud that was iced initially found in napkin holder (4)
The first letter of ‘iced’ (‘iced initially’) is contained by (‘found in’) a three-letter word for an ornamental holder for a knife, fork or table napkin, often in the form of a ship (hence the name, the French word for a nave, derived from the Latin ‘navis’, a ship). A ‘pud’ is a word for a fist, as is the solution, but the latter is shown by Chambers as ‘archaic, hence the ‘Pud that was’, ie ‘Pud in the past’.

(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 2,561 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

Following last week’s ‘hiddenfest’, Azed throws in just two lurkers this week, one to kick things off and another in the final clue. A reasonably entertaining puzzle which I felt was slightly past the half-way line of difficulty, with the NE corner being tricky, though I was on the ball when I tackled it this morning and it didn’t require much extra time. At least one clue (30a) would have had solvers crying ‘foul’, if not actually making them cross, and a couple of others I’ve flagged below as somewhat iffy. No trophy is on offer, so when you’ve completed the puzzle don’t bother sending it off…

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 29a, “It portrayed a novelist’s life whiskey cut short” (4). This is a good example of where the spelling of a word in a clue can provide implicitly the extra information needed by solvers; ‘whiskey’ sticks out here, being the Irish/US spelling of ‘whisky’, and most obviously represents Irish whiskey, often known simply as ‘Irish’. The opportunities to use this device are relatively infrequent, but I do recall a clue of mine along the lines of

it can make a pleasant change from the rather trite explicit indicators of context, such as ‘American’ or ‘US’ which could have been used instead of the ‘honor’ above.

5a RC congregation is involved in branch of learning after mass (7)
The word IS is contained by a four-letter word for a branch of learning which can be qualified by ‘fine’ or ‘dark’, and an M (mass) is added to the front to produce the plural form of a term for a member of a particular evangelical RC sect.

13a Fashionable style has abandoned orangey dyes (4)
The more clues I write, the more I take against wordplays which strain the English language beyond breaking point. Here HAS must be removed from a seven-letter word for ‘orangey dyes’ to produce the answer, but I cannot accept that ‘x abandoned y’ can mean ‘y without x’, and I know that several crossword editors feel the same way. Whilst I’ve no issue at all with ‘x abandons/abandoning/has abandoned y’, where x is the subject of the clause, with the participle ‘abandoned’ the subject is y and in order to mean ‘y with x abandoned’ the clause must include a comma, ie ‘x abandoned, y’. The wordplay of this clue therefore requires a comma between ‘abandoned’ and ‘orangey’, which would spoil the surface reading. ‘Fashionable style has passed by orangey dyes’, where HAS has been ‘passed’ or disregarded ‘by CHICHAS’ might not read quite as well (‘passed orangey dyes by’ would be more natural) but is grammatically sound.

17a Bank involved with brief transactions in market (4)
A composite anagram  with a whiff of indirection, the letters of the solution (‘bank’) and a two-letter abbreviation for ‘transactions’ can be rearranged (‘involved’) to produce MARKET.

19a Showy bird supplied by one seeing to pets on a small scale? (7)
The fanciful indication of the solution  given by the wordplay resolves as a four-letter word for ‘small-scale’ and a three-letter word for someone who might see to pets. This clue didn’t really do it for me.

25a Place for tools, second in garden opening presto? Far from it (6)
The second letter of the word ‘garden’ is contained by (‘opening’) a musical indication of tempo which is a long way from ‘presto’ (‘presto? Far from it’) to  produce a hyphenated (4-2) solution.

29a It portrayed a novelist’s life whiskey cut short (4)
The ‘whiskey’ is Irish, and it must be ‘cut short’ to produce the title of the 2001 film based on John Bayley’s 1998 memoir.

30a Opposition‘s tricks, unnatural but not strained (4)
As Bobfos observes below (and I hadn’t spotted), the wordplay here doesn’t work: CONSTRAINED (‘unnatural’) without STRAINED (‘but not strained’) produces CON rather than CONS. If ‘strained’ had been ‘trained’ the wordplay would be ok, and perhaps since ‘unnatural’ and ‘strained’ are synonymous this may have been Azed’s intention. There are also two definitions for the price of one here, with that awkward “‘s” in between them which seems out of place when there is not only a second definition following but also a wordplay.

I did idly wonder whether “Opposition’s trick, unnatural but not strained” would be valid, featuring a single definition (‘Opposition’) and two elements of wordplay separated by a comma, each leading to CON and together therefore representing CONs. I would want to see a question mark at the end of such a clue, but it doesn’t strike me as blatantly unfair.

33a Market contains delicate cut woodland plant (7)
A four-letter word for [a] market contains a four-letter word meaning ‘delicate’ with the last letter omitted (‘cut’).

3d Trumpeter maybe interrupts cheers for African race (6)
A four-letter word for a species of bird exemplified by the trumpeter (‘Trumpeter maybe’) goes inside (‘interrupts’) every setter’s favourite two-letter word for ‘cheers’ to produce the name of an African people or their language.

4d The No. 1 cleric revised what’s typical of Galilean ideas? (12)
Nothing complex about the wordplay, but the ‘Galilean’ refers not to a Roman division of Palestine but to a great mathematician from a Queen song.

6d Just like Pooh CR found in pot upended (7)
A neat clue, where the letters CR are to be place inside the word DIOTA (an ancient case, ie a ‘pot’) and the whole lot reversed (‘upended’).

9d Apostrophe: abbreviation of ‘has’ follows one in middle (5)
A single-letter abbreviation of ‘has’ follows a single-letter representation of the number ‘one’, the pair being put into a three-letter word which roughly equates to ‘middle’ and is often indicated in crosswords by ‘corporation’.

18d Russians historically raising temperature a long way for Irish stew! (7)
A seven-letter word for citizens of the former USSR has the T in position six moved up to position two (‘raising temperature a long way’), the result being Irish stew.

19d People in Scotland suffer endlessly – this is used to ease pain (7)
The wordplay here is deceptive, breaking down as ‘People’ (three letters) and ‘in Scotland suffer endlessly’ (a five-letter Scottish word meaning to endure or suffer). The outcome is something used as both a topical analgesic and a decongestant, the key element of a joke about a Smartie and a gang of Lockets which it would be inappropriate to reproduce here.

22d Dark spot round square heraldic bearing (6)
Unless you are familiar with the lozenge-shaped, perforated bearing which constitutes the solution, you will need to know that a MACLE is a term for a dark spot within a mineral.

(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 2,560 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

A 1970s ad for Crawfords Cheddars maintained that “If you like cheese, you’ll love these”, and similarly if you like a ‘hidden’ you’ll have loved this ‘un. Five of the little fellows, and not even a reversal among them! But there were enough tricky clues to go with them, particularly in the NW corner (where there were no ‘gimmes’),  that I have placed the puzzle right in the middle of the difficulty spectrum. 

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 11a, “Large fish I netted – it involves vigorous hand movements” (5, 1 or 2 words). Nothing too interesting about the wordplay, although we have to infer the word ‘with’ between ‘fish’ and ‘I’ in order to work out that ‘I’ has been ‘netted’ by the TUNA to produce TUI NA. The problem, though, which has confronted the setter here, regarding the enumeration is one that I have never come across before. Where a clue leads to two separate ‘answers’ with different punctuation, eg ‘Endure stupid person’ for GO ON/GOON, conventionally the ‘simpler’ one is chosen as the solution, so in this example GO ON would be treated as the wordplay, GOON as the solution, and the clue would be shown as ‘Endure stupid person (4)’. Here, however, we have just a single answer, but while Chambers gives TUI NA as the principal form it inconveniently adds ‘also TUINA’. I don’t think it would be wrong to go with ‘(5)’ or (5, 2 words), but Azed has covered both bases with a highly unusual choice of enumeration – I do wonder if it is more confusing than helpful.

1a Sage I’d omitted separately from formal food item, stuffing weighed (6)
The letters I and D must be omitted separately from VIAND (Chambers: “(formal) an article of food”), which is then put inside (‘stuffing’) a word meaning ‘weighed’ (as well as ‘settled’). The comma, required by the surface reading, adversely affects the grammar of the wordplay – as the clue stands, it is the ID which ought to be doing the ‘stuffing’.

13a It helps in fighting the flab – enrol in varying rota (8)
The word for ‘enrol’ which must be inserted into an anagram (‘varying’) of ROTA is more familiar in this sense when similarly prefixed with ‘en’.

14a Measure ring behind second of stirrups (9)
A neatly constructed clue disguising the definition of the sort of adjective which can be very tricky to clue. A four-letter word for [a] measure plus a four-letter word meaning [to] ring are placed behind the usual abbreviation for ‘second’.

15a E.g. dal creating trouble for Indian village (4)
This clue uses three of the four entries for the solution in Chambers (in the same order in which they are listed there, which may not be coincidence), but omits the first and most familiar, a unit of weight. I don’t much like multiple definition clues where there are superfluous words between the individual definitions – particularly, as here, where the clue suggests that one produces another (‘creating’, ‘for’). I’ve no problem with a wordplay producing a solution, but here the answers are the same, so any linking words must surely indicate equivalence rather than constitution (so ‘E.g. dal is trouble’ would be acceptable). I once produced a clue for the Sunday Times clue writing contest consisting of just five definitions (with no linking words), but frankly that’s all it was memorable for.

29a Tiny piece of cell, piece cut by a slop untidily (8)
A three-letter word for a piece containing (‘cut by’) an anagram (‘untidily’) of A SLOP.

1d Tenor interrupting part of his programme once annoyed (5)
The standard abbreviation for ‘tenor’ is put inside (‘interrupting’) a four-letter word for something that would be one of many in his (ie a tenor’s) repertoire.

2d Some change in Iceland, air beginning to resonate (5)
A four-letter word for ‘air’ or ‘distinctive character’ is followed by the first letter of (‘beginning to’) resonate, producing the plural form of a small Icelandic currency unit.

3d Cowardly fellow of yore opposed to Trojan, old (7)
A charade clue made up of a one-letter abbreviation for ‘opposed to’, a five-letter word for ‘Trojan’, and the usual abbreviation for ‘old’.

6d He deserves death penalty, to wit something that facilitates hanging permits (12)
The wordplay here involves a two-letter abbreviation of a Latin word for ‘to wit’ or ‘specifically’, a (1,3) description of something that facilitates hanging (of eg a coat), and a six-letter word meaning ‘permits’. 

8d It helps to stimulate growth that all can view when fed to cuttin’ (5)
The old designation for a film ‘that all can view’ is placed inside a five-letter word for ‘cutting’ (of train services, say) which has been contracted in the same way as “cuttin’”.

19d Sunken passage round US building, 100 sq m off (7)
A three-letter metric land measure (100 sq m) is here followed by a four-letter word meaning ‘off’.

20d Tailed car I abandoned nabbed by a tec in disguise (7)
The ‘car’ is the name of a German car manufacturer; its closing ‘I’ is abandoned and it is contained (‘nabbed’) by an anagram (‘in disguise’) of A TEC.

23d Line given to one ‘of infinite jest’ not OK in song (5)
The standard one-letter abbreviation for ‘line’ is followed by the name of a ‘fellow of infinite jest’, from which the letters O and K have been separately removed (‘not OK’). This puts me in mind of one of the great TV adverts, the Carling Black Label ‘Hamlet’ one (to paraphrase a comment on youtube, ‘Great ad, rubbish beer’). Definitely in my top ten, though not quite as good as the wonderful Dulux plasticine men or Specsavers vet. But that’s just my opinion.

(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 2,559 Plain

Difficulty rating: (4 / 5)

I got the feeling that Azed enjoyed setting this one, and I think that it would have proved quite a tester for someone unused to his ‘little ways’. I thought that the clues at 1a, 12d and 28d were particularly good, but there were many to admire, more than in any recent puzzle that I can recall.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at the clue for 31a, “I’ll be captivated by s-spiffy little bird on the river” (8). This features a device which is quite often seen in Azed puzzles but rarely occurs elsewhere, and involves a word in the clue being modified in order to tell the solver that an analogous modification must be made to the word indicated. Like the ‘Cockney’ device, where for instance ‘ammer might indicate ‘it, here the modification suggests a stammer which must be similarly applied to the word derived (the result will not be a real word, but will form an element of the solution), so ‘remain b-blue’ could indicate ‘be l-low’ , and here ‘I’ is contained by ‘d-dapper’ to produce ‘didapper’. It is not a device that I’m particularly fond of, and one of the few in the Azed portfolio that I would not use in my own puzzles.

1a Greedy one studies food supply – his targets were sounder, but loose? (12)
A three-letter word for a greedy person (‘Greedy one’), a four-letter word meaning ‘studies’ (which Chambers shows as archaic), and a five-letter word for a supply of food (based on where it might be arrayed) combine to give a (3-9) hyphenated solution. The clever definition exploits the fact that a ‘sounder’ is a herd of pigs.

13a Join climbers in Cairngorms? Retreating deer whines (8)
A three-letter word for a deer closely related to the moose combines with a five-letter word meaning ‘whines’ or ‘complains’, the whole lot being reversed (‘retreating’). The result is a Scots word (‘in Cairngorms’) meaning ‘to clamber’.

17a Old peasant troubled shrink, admitting start of eccentricity (7)
An anagram (‘troubled’) of SHRINK containing (‘admitting’) the first letter of ‘eccentricity’; ‘old peasant’ might at first glance seem inappropriate to indicate an obsolete adjective, but in the cryptic reading ‘peasant’ is also an adjective (‘of or relating to peasants’). Since Chambers gives ‘e’ as an abbreviation for ‘eccentricity’ (of a conic section), the words ‘start of’ are superfluous.

18a Cheeky minx, woman replacing husband, mimsy one (5)
A five-letter ‘minx’ (often brazen) has her (initial) H for husband replaced by a W for…well, for ‘women’ or ‘wife’, but not according to Chambers for ‘woman’ (I’m pretty sure Azed did the same thing a few weeks ago). The solution can be an adjective or, as here, a noun, defined (rather loosely, it seems to me) as ‘mimsy one’.

19a Coarse Scots when going after Mrs Grundy, firing off extremes (5)
The usual two-letter word for ‘when’ follows a five-letter word for a person of extreme propriety (‘Mrs Grundy’) from which the first and last letters have been removed (‘firing off extremes’). Mrs Grundy ‘appears’ in Thomas Morton’s 1798 play Speed the Plough, although at no point does she actually take the stage; that she is the personification of all that is proper, however, is witnessed by the  sensitive Dame Ashfield’s frequent references to her, often in the phrase “What will Mrs Grundy say?” This became something of a catchphrase in the early nineteenth century, and the 1810 pantomime The Bold Serjeant included the song “What’ll Mrs Grundy Say?”

23a Is this player, shiner, exciting in orchestra? (5)
The first of two composite anagrams, here the letters of the solution (‘this player’) plus SHINER can be rearranged (‘exciting’) to form IN ORCHESTRA.

25a Disciple of theological pioneer admitting 50% of errors (7)
A very neat wordplay which involves a three-letter poetic contraction of a six-letter word meaning ‘admitting’ or ‘even if’ followed by the first four letters of an eight-letter word meaning ‘errors’ (ie ‘50% of errors’).

30a Militant supporting what’s left of spread (5)
A three-letter word meaning ‘supporting’ or ‘in favour of’, plus a two-letter abbreviation of a word for the left-hand page of an open book. I’m not entirely happy about the two-step process required to convert “what’s left of spread” into the required form; I would have preferred something along the lines of “what’s left of spread, in short”.

32a Place giving Aussie bad feeling? Leaving capital optional (5)
This is a double definition clue with a twist: the ‘Place’ is known by two names, the longer form including the prefix ‘London’ – this can be omitted while referring to the same place, so ‘leaving [out the name of the English] capital’ is optional (though mandatory for some).

2d Staffage appalling at Balmoral in queen being put up therein (7)
A four-letter Scots (‘at Balmoral’) word for ‘appalling’ has the letters IN R (‘in queen’) reversed inside (‘put up therein’). ‘Staffage’ refers to ‘decorative accessories in a picture, or subordinate additions in any work of art’, ie decoration or embellishment 

5d Some turning up seeking famed Louvre piece head off (4)
A simple ‘hidden reversed’, but a neat definition which forms part of an appealing surface reading. The ‘famed Louvre piece’ is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, which – perhaps unsurprisingly, given that it is over 2,000 years old and was buried in pieces – is missing a few minor elements, most obviously the head. Her right hand was found as recently as 1950, so there still hope…

8d Heap of refuse, last to be cast from furnace’s function? (4)
The eight-letter function of a certain type of furnace has the letters LAST removed in order to produce the solution, possibly Microsoft’s biggest ‘heap of refuse’ since Vista.

9d Iron tenon: some instruction required with one installed (8)
Here we have a six-letter word for a ‘prescribed portion of instruction’ containing W I (‘with one installed’).

13d Product of teashop creator…OAP’s thrilled with it! (11)
The second composite anagram, this time of the &lit variety. The letters (‘Product’) of TEASHOP CREATOR are the same as those of OAP when mixed up (‘thrilled’) with the solution (‘it’). As something of a cake aficionado, I was expecting great things when I picked up a slice of the ‘Original’ (made to the original recipe, I think, not part of first batch from 1832) cake from the Vienna confiserie. It was a very hot day, which probably didn’t do the cake any great favours, but I’m afraid that I was sadly disappointed. The local apple strudel with a generous blob of ice cream, though, was a horse of a very different colour.

17d Render in rough stone old-style wharf, possibly first installed (8)
A three-letter ‘earlier’ (ie ‘old-style’) spelling of a word for a wharf that is more familiar in four-letter form contains an anagram of FIRST (‘possibly first installed’), resulting in one of those words that make you wonder why anyone felt the need to create them – in fact, this one isn’t given by the OED, so perhaps the editors of Chambers invented it just to fill an empty space.

20d Nurse comes round opening up premed alkaline (7)
A three-letter word for a nurse (an alternative spelling of ‘ayah’, and one that is very useful to setters) contains (‘comes round’) a four-letter word for an opening that has been reversed (‘up’).

22d Prophet’s descendants rising proudly to the surface, last rising about halfway (6)
The wordplay here is focused on a six-letter word  which (in botanical circles, describing leaves) means ‘rising above the surface of water’. The ‘proudly’ is used in the sense of ‘in a way that stands out from the surface’, and the ‘last rising about halfway’ tells the solver that the last letter of the word must be moved up to either of the central positions.

28d What kept Pyramus from Thisbe – or Ida from mice! (4)
Very nice – a Shakespearean word for the thing that kept Pyramus and Thisbe apart, they being able only to whisper their love through a crack in it, which is produced by removing the letters IDA from a seven-letter word for the mouse family.

(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 2,558 ‘Right and Left’

Difficulty rating: (4.5 / 10)

I thought that we were due a non-competition ‘special’, and was half-expecting an ‘Eightsome Reels’, but instead we have a ‘Right and Left’. An entertaining variation, where the best place to start is the entry across the top; if you can get that and then move on to the first five down clues, then you can really get a foothold into the puzzle. There were several easy clues (or half-clues), but a few others that would have proved quite tricky even in a plain puzzle. The somewhat ungrammatical note telling solvers that the Chambers Dictionary ‘does not give proper name’ should read ‘It does not give one proper name’ (this absentee is to be found at 14dL).

Setters’ Corner: Writing ‘double’ clues takes a bit of getting used to. The fundamental rules are that the two individual clues must not overlap, and there should be no redundant words between them. Azed pushes the limits of the latter rule in a couple of clues – in 15a the words ‘in it’ are superfluous, and have to be read as meaning that the solution is ‘in’ the wordplay, and in 14d similarly the solution is ‘displaying’ the result of the wordplay. The first key attribute of a good double clue is that the break should be well-disguised, not appearing at a natural break in the surface reading; 7a and 8a are good examples of this. The other thing is that the whole clue should read well as a single entity, which ideally means having a single theme – this can be very hard to achieve when (say) the solutions are two unrelated nouns such as those in 6a, and sometimes the setter just needs to do the best they can. Note that there is no requirement for the separated clues to make any sense when read individually, and any attempt to make them do so is likely to weaken the overall clue.

After the notes on some of the clues (in some instances only one part) I have included a checklist showing where the break occurs in each clue and whether the solution to the first half of the clue belongs in the left or right of the grid. Since no-one commented last week to the effect that they didn’t like me underlining the definitions I will keep on doing it until I’m asked to stop!

1a Limbs flailing about right and left, i.e. at a modified feature of this puzzle? (12)
Here we have an anagram (‘flailing’) of LIMBS containing (‘about’) an anagram of R, L, IE AT A; the result is a feature of this particular puzzle.

7a Middy too far into side channel / to disturb fens steered with it (6,6)
‘Middy’ is an informal term for a midshipman, and the solution is perhaps a slightly less respectful name for one. The wordplay involves a three-letter abbreviation of a term meaning ‘too far’ (although in the abbreviated form, ‘going too far’ might be preferable) being contained by a three-letter Canadian word for a side channel (which can also be spelt with an ‘e’ on the end) that immediately makes me think of the Beatles song I Am The Walrus, but that will only make sense to you if you know the (somewhat arcane, it must be said) lyrics.

8a Bulging trunk mostly containing what’s central for your / use, lot untidily loose (6,6)
A five-letter word for a trunk (in the human body sense) with its last letter removed (‘mostly’) is ‘containing’ the middle letters of the word ‘your’ (“what’s central for your”)..

10a Buccaneer from rear artist included / to expose in bed, showing him a debauchee (6,6)
Here we start with a word for a buccaneer coming ‘from’ a four-letter word for ‘[a] rear’, in which the usual two-letter representation of ‘artist’ is included. Then we have a two-letter dialectal form of ‘him’ (or ‘one’), followed by a four-letter debauchee; the bed is the sort that might be occupied by flowers, fruit or vegetables.

15a Account, one to draw on, returning currency unit in it / universal in palaver with a revenue subdivision (6,6)
The first wordplay involves a reversal (‘returning’) of the usual two-letter abbreviation for ‘account’, A (‘one’) and a three-letter word meaning ‘to draw on’; as mentioned above, the ‘in it’ is somewhat de trop. The second wordplay has an abbreviation of ‘universal’ inside a synonym for palaver in the sense of a discussion.

17a Egoist flourishing weedy regalia / turning brown in senescence as related (6,6)
The wordplay in part one is straightforward (an anagram of EGOIST), but the ‘regalia’ (as confirmed by the use of ‘weedy’) relates to regalia² in Chambers, not a word I knew. Part two has a three-letter word for ‘brown’ reversing (‘turning’) inside a three-letter word which on a good day might just about mean ‘senescence’ (although more accurately it’s the result of senescence).

1d Not quite front-rankers waved for old poet / renewing art as of religious movement (5,5)
The first of the two definitions (this one leading to a hyphenated solution) refers to that group of celebrities who are well known but have not achieved the absolute pinnacle of fame.

2d Plant extract, not one consumed by two units, / number besieged in a fortified mound – it plays abnormal role among parts of speech (6,6)
If you didn’t know that the fortified mound which has a two-letter abbreviation for ‘number’ contained within is A DUN then you’ll probably have needed a few checkers to get this one.

3d Copy super daubed almost Monet-style / top coat applied in swirling action (8,8)
The solution here consists of three words (including a couple of accents), and the ‘Monet-style’ is there to indicate its Frenchness.

5d Spenser’s teacher, one cloaked in endless enigma, / understanding little new, infatuated about it (7,7)
The ‘endless enigma’ could refer to a work by Salvador Dali, or one by Emerson, Lake and Palmer, but it doesn’t. It’s a seven-letter word for an enigma missing the last letter (‘endless’) wherein A (‘one’) is contained (‘cloaked’). ‘Infatuated’ translates to a six-letter French loanword into which the usual abbreviation for ‘new’ (‘little new’) is inserted to produce another word donated by the French.

9d South African shipping company? Head may be wrapped up in this / triangular structure redesigned for twelve housing first of them (8,8)
To start with we have two four-letter words which when put together might describe a South African shipping company; the second wordplay involves an anagram of FOR (‘redesigned for’) followed by a four-letter word for ‘twelve’ in a temporal sense containing (‘housing’) the first letter of ‘them’.

12d Light bathrobe that looks disgusting on a fatty’s middle before a / rare reception in woven calico (6,6)
A three-letter interjection meaning ‘That looks disgusting!’ is followed by (‘on’) A and the central letter of ‘fatty’ (“fatty’s middle”) before another A.

13d Start of indulgence after period denying it – numbering days / get plastered as fair amount of fine grappa’s upended (5,5)
This is a ‘reverse hidden’, but the interest is in the definition – in order to make the surface reading work, Azed uses ‘get plastered’ instead of ‘plaster’. I wouldn’t like to see this sort of thing too often, but ‘I want to plaster that wall’ and ‘I want to get that wall plastered’ can mean pretty much the same thing.

14d High achiever on board, we hear, regularly / displaying energy opening cask, porter serving Scotch of old (5,5)
The first part of the clue leads to the one ‘non-Chambers’ proper name in the puzzle, a homophone for a word meaning ‘regularly’. The second part has the usual abbreviation for ‘energy’ being inserted into (‘opening’) a four-letter word for a  barrel or cask, producing one spelling of a word for an ’18th century messenger or errand porter in some large Scottish towns’; an alternative spelling is more familiar to golfers.

Division of Clues

In 6a the division is between ‘entered’ and ‘in’, and the first half of clue relates to an entry in the left hand side of the grid; 7a: channel/to, R; 8a: your/use, R; 10a: included/to, L; 11a: leader/changing, L; 15a: it/universal, R; 16a: sight/is, L; 17a: regalia/turning, R; 18a: fear/frisson, L; 1d: poet/renewing, L; 2d: units/number, L; 3d: Monet-style/top, L; 4d: below/cross, R; 5d: enigma/understanding, R; 9d: this/triangular, L; 10d: isles/hitting, R; 12d: a/rare, L; 13d: days/get, R; 14d: regularly/displaying, L.

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 2,557 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

This was decidedly tricky for a plain puzzle, and there were too many liberties taken in the wordplays for my liking. It all felt a little bit strained and I didn’t find it a particularly enjoyable solve when judged against Azed’s exceptionally high standards.

As an experiment, I have underlined the definition parts of the clues which I have picked out for comment; I know that this convention is used in other crossword blogs. Let me know whether this is something that you would like me to continue with.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 21d, “Very old coat? Half of it covers more than half of terrier (6)”. The second part of the wordplay requires ‘terrier’ to represent ‘Aberdeen’. There is a very clear rule which determines whether this is acceptable, the deciding factor being whether the entry for the first word in Chambers includes a reference to the second. The entry for ‘Aberdeen’ has “(in full Aberdeen terrier) a coarse-haired kind of Scottish terrier”, so an Aberdeen is indeed a terrier. Similarly, Chambers gives ‘cairn’ as “a small variety of Scottish terrier”, but conversely although it has a separate entry for ‘Border terrier’ there is no mention of it under the entry for ‘border’. Hence ‘terrier’ is fine for ‘Aberdeen’ or ‘cairn’, but not for ‘Border’; likewise ‘couch’ can legitimately indicate ‘grass’ (couch == couch grass), but ‘Vera’, or even ‘Vera, say’, cannot indicate ‘aloe’. If one were determined to involve Vera in a clue for ‘aloe’, it would have to be through the use of ‘name given to type of aloe’ or something along those lines – Vera is not an aloe.

7a Baby’s mum wiping bottom – not something one could get out of! (5)
There is nothing in the wordplay to indicate it, but the three-letter word for bottom must be ‘wiped’ from the outside of “Baby’s mum”.

12a Higher organism turning ‘tail’ pursued by a peasant farmer with energy (9)
A three-letter word for a tail, in the sense of a long twist of hair at the back of the head is reversed (‘turning’) and followed (‘pursued’) by A, a four-letter word from the Indian subcontinent for a peasant farmer, and the usual abbreviation for ‘energy’.

14a Wherein political gossip circulates, ‘ideous in endless run (9)
A six-letter word for ‘hideous’ with the first letter removed (by analogy with ‘ideous) is contained by a five-letter word of Italian origin for a race or run with the last letter removed (‘endless’).

16a Super character I found in Vergil (5)
Maro is the cognomen of the Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro, usually known as Virgil; although the spelling ‘Vergil’ is technically correct the two-i’d misspelling seemingly dates back to late antiquity and is now dominant in several languages, including English. The ‘super character’ is a portly, mustachioed plumber who in 1985  teamed up with his brother Luigi to rescue Princess Toadstool from the wicked Bowser. A series of successful enterprises followed, and at some point he abandoned the world of compression fittings and U-bends, Nintendo having updated his profile in 2017 to describe him as “All around sporty, whether it’s tennis or baseball, soccer or car racing, he does everything cool. As a matter of fact, he also seems to have worked as a plumber a long time ago…”

17a Old Scottish ship capsized – 100 on it overturned inside (7)
The Roman numeral for one hundred is followed by IT reversed (‘overturned’), and the combination is put inside an anagram (‘capsized’, a very iffy anagram indicator) of ‘ship’. The result is the name of a language which could loosely be described as ‘Old Scottish’.

18a Cape for woman or unaccompanied man, might one conclude? (6)
The solution breaks down as x ON y (ie ‘x beside y’) and when x is placed beside y a four-letter word meaning “a man who goes to dances, etc unaccompanied by a woman” (or the term for a male deer) is produced.

22a Cutters in sound? They may be looking out for shoals (5)
The solution sounds like ‘hewers’ (ie ‘cutters in sound’), and the people in question are looking out for pilchards (should have gone to Sainsbury’s).

25a In retrospect rue being taken in by flyer for poisonous apple (6)
The Latin name for the rue genus is ‘taken in’ by a two-letter abbreviation for a ‘flyer’ or ‘advertisement’, and the whole lot is reversed (‘In retrospect’).

31a Just like mater, accepting recipe for cereal (5)
A rather unsatisfactory clue has DURA (‘dura mater’ being “the exterior membrane of the brain and spinal column distinguished from the other two, the arachnoid and the pia mater”) containing (‘accepting’) R (recipe) to produce the name of a type of food-grain. However, ‘Just like mater’ doesn’t in my view indicate DURA, and the grain can also be spelt DURA, which would certainly have caused me to reject the clue.

32a What’s enjoyed in Kenyan tavern? British ale, without hesitation (5)
A three-letter word for ‘British’ common in the antipodes is followed by a four-letter word for ale missing one of the two standard two-letter interjections expressing hesitation (‘without hesitation’).

33a Indulged girls fed with old English trotters (9)
A three-letter adjective meaning ‘indulged’ plus a four-letter derogatory word for girls or young women containing (‘fed with’) the usual abbreviations for old and English.

36a Drops backward booby, say – why don’t we? (8)
The definition here is ‘Drops’, and the wordplay involves a four-letter generic term for a member of the large class of vertebrates of which the booby is an example (‘say’) being reversed (‘backward’) and followed by a four-letter informal expression meaning “why don’t we”.

1d Eye sweet: fool (11)
Chambers gives ‘jack’ as a slang term for a detective (though more commonly a member of a police force), and later editions extend the definition of ‘eye’ to include “A private eye (informal)”. The former is followed by a seven-letter word for a sweet or dessert to produce a hyphenated (4-7) solution.

3d Mites one removed from above and around fruit trees (6)
A five-letter term for ‘mites’ has the ‘a’ at its start deleted (‘one removed from above’), being followed by the usual two-letter abbreviation of ‘circa’.

5d Traitor while following Trump (not one Democrat)? (5)
I don’t recall Azed ever demonstrating his snooker knowledge before, but here we have the first name of the 2019 world champion (‘Trump’) without one of the D’s (‘not one Democrat’) plus a two-letter word for ‘while’. I don’t need much excuse to reproduce my favourite sporting quote: when the former world champion John Spencer was nearing the end of his career he suffered from myasthenia gravis, which resulted intermittently in double vision. When asked what he would do if on getting down to play a shot he was confronted with the sight of two yellow balls, he replied “I pot the easier one.’

13d Like barley sugar, say, or chocolate, one of Easter’s pair replacing egg? (9)
A weird clue this – an E (“one of Easter’s pair”) replaces one of the O’s (‘egg’) in CHOCOLATE, and the resultant letters are then slightly rearranged, but there is no discernible anagram indicator and the whole thing is a bit, well, tortuous.

21d Very old coat? Half of it covers more than half of terrier (6)
The (second) half of the word IT (‘Half of it’) on top of (‘covers’) five-eighths of the name of a type of terrier (‘more than half of terrier’).

27d This sec last? It’s confused with claret maybe (5)
A composite anagram, where the letters of LAST plus the solution (‘This sec’) are a rearrangement (‘confused’) of IT’S together with CLARET

29d Tangle of brushwood ideal for conifer (5)
A three-letter word for a tangle of brushwood (or hair) is followed by a two-letter adjective meaning ‘first-class’ or ‘excellent’…or here, although it’s a slight stretch, ‘ideal’.

30d What scavenger’s retrieved – one left little amount (5)
A three-letter word describing what a scavenger would retrieve from dustbins or rubbish tips followed by A (‘one’) and the usual abbreviation for ‘left’ (‘left little’). I’ve no idea why Azed chose ‘little’ to indicate the contraction of ‘left’ rather than ‘small’ or ‘reduced’, either of which would have worked better in the surface reading.

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 2,556 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

I thought that this puzzle was of above-average difficulty and slightly below-average entertainment, with some of the clues seeming to me a little unsatisfactory, although Azed’s sense of fun still shone through clearly. I must admit that my views regarding the quality may have been affected by tetchiness at having to delay my breakfast by a quarter of an hour or so, the result of the late appearance of the puzzle on the Guardian website.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to take a look at clue 14a, “Site that is missing a prisoner? Not one for that kind” (6). The wordplay – analysed in the notes below – makes up the first sentence (no pun intended) of this clue for STALAG. The second part (‘Not one for that kind’) plays no part in the cryptic indication of the solution, and cannot on its own define it, but when combined with ‘Site that is missing a prisoner’ the whole serves as a definition of the solution. So what type of clue is this? It is what Ximenes termed an ‘offshoot &lit’, where the entire clue provides a definition of the solution, while part of the clue (always a group of consecutive words at one end of the clue or the other) doubles up as the wordplay. The example which Ximenes gave was “What a bishop may have had before getting a crook” for PREBEND, where the cryptic element is ‘before getting a crook’. Whilst not as satisfying as a true &lit, where all the words in the clue contribute to both wordplay and definition, this construction is used by Azed on occasion and can facilitate some inventive clues. This appealing clue from AZ 2,200 could be considered as having a simple definition/wordplay construction, but works as an offshoot &lit:

3a In pash being thwarted by female, showing cunning about that aid to better sex (10, 2 words)
An anagram (‘thwarted’) of IN PASH followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘female’, the whole lot being inserted into a three-letter word meaning ‘cunning’ or ‘crafty’ to produce a (7,3) solution.

13a Fellow managed prison (all names withheld) – it maintains a lively rhythm (6)
Three-letter words for ‘Fellow’, ‘managed’ and ‘prison’, each of them missing their (closing) N (‘all names withheld’), the result being something that could be used to maintain a lively rhythm.

14a Site that is missing a prisoner? Not one for that kind (6)
Here we have SITE without IE (‘that is missing’) plus A and a three-letter word for a prisoner. The prisoner in the wordplay is specifically a convict, and the second part of the clue indicates that the camp in question would have held prisoners of a different kind.

17a Slating material, furious in being written out (4)
A six-letter word for ‘furious’ has the letters IN removed (‘in being written out’), the result being a large rough slate. 

20a Former disgrace, portent (not the first) – goodness me! (6)
A four-letter word for a portent (not the one in 21d) missing its first letter (‘not the first’) and a (1,2) expression meaning ‘goodness me!’ combine to produce a Shakespearean spelling (hence the ‘Former’) of a word meaning ‘disgrace’.

22a Aids this barge being refitted – lakeside possibly (4)
A composite anagram, where AIDS plus the solution (‘this barge’) when rearranged (‘being refitted’) can form LAKESIDE (‘lakeside possibly’).

26a Can’t stand to let off e.g. MOT? (6)
I think that it is stretching the bounds of fancifulness to suggest that to ‘de-test’ could mean ‘to let off a test’.

29a Former PM in charge of ideal state (before fall) (6)
The four-letter surname of the British Prime Minister undone by the Suez crisis is followed by the normal abbreviation for ‘in charge’, the whole being an adjective referring to a biblical paradise. If the words in parentheses had been ‘before the fall’ then the word ‘fall’ would have required an initial capital; since a fall is ‘a lapse into sin’, then I think ‘before fall’ is ok. Just.

31a Ex-president (English not American) has installed Chinese interpreters (8)
The six-letter surname of the 33rd US president of the US must have its A replaced by an E (‘English not American’) and the standard abbreviation for ‘Chinese’ inserted (‘has installed Chinese’). The resulting word is shown by Chambers as obsolete, and I am surprised that Azed did not indicate this – ‘Chinese interpreters in the past’ would arguably enhance the surface reading.

32a Permit (one assumes) required before start of excavating Turkish borate (10)
‘Permit (‘one assumes’)’ tells us, as it turns out, that the letters making up the word PERMIT are to be divided, with a suitable conjunction placed between the two parts. The first letter of ‘excavating’ (‘start of excavating’) completes the wordplay.

3d Never stood for spicy meat en brochette (5)
One could certainly argue that ‘never stood’ and ‘remained seated for ever’ (here expressed as two words) are not the same thing, but it makes for quite a nice clue.

4d Bit of immature creature, part replacing one in farm animal (6)
A three-letter farm animal has its central I replaced by a four-letter word meaning a ‘part’ of the type that might be played (‘part replacing one’).

6d Water running into shore’s rotten – could be ‘dead’ hippo (8)
A two-letter word for ‘water’, much loved by barred puzzle setters, is contained by an anagram (‘rotten’) of SHORE’S to produce an obsolete (‘dead’) word for a hippopotamus.

11d Falconer’s bird? Deal in the latest cracking experience mostly (11)
The wordplay requires a four-letter word for ‘deal in’ and a three-letter word for ‘the latest [information]’ (or ‘the lowdown’) to be inserted into (‘cracking’) a five-letter word for ‘experience’ (or ‘sample’) missing its last letter (‘mostly’). The result is a Spenserian (not indicated in any way by Azed) term, hyphenated 7-4, for a male peregrine falcon.

18d Isotope: it’s discovered in notable achievement, independent of pH (7)
Here the word IT is ‘discovered’ in a seven-letter word for a notable achievement from which the (closing) letters PH have been removed (‘independent of pH’).

19d Beneficiary set up a limit for trust maybe (7)
The usual cruciverbal synonym for ‘[to] set’ reversed (‘up’), the letter A, and the name of the letter found at either end of ‘trust’ (‘limit for trust’). The ‘maybe’ on the end seems a tad de trop.

22d King set out for audience, one resisting conquerors from abroad (6)
Ugh! – a partial homophone, this one for ‘left’ (‘set out for audience’), follows the abbreviation for king that appears in chess notation.

25d Jock’s stall – is this his den ransacked for merchandise? (5)
Another composite anagram, wherein an anagram (‘ransacked’) of the solution (‘this’) plus HIS DEN can produce MERCHANDISE.

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 2,555 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

This wasn’t an especially hard puzzle, but it wasn’t an especially easy one either, so I have given it a rating right in the middle of the difficulty spectrum. My breakfast-time solving was interrupted by the discovery of an insect floating on the surface of my mug of tea, as a result of which I decided to brew up a replacement. Although Azed notes that ‘the plural form at 33 may be considered questionable’, I think it’s absolutely fine, as the singular describes one of a family of compounds, not a specific compound (similarly ‘alcohols’ would be ok, while ‘ethanols’ would not). My thanks to Steve (see comments) for pointing out the misplaced apostrophe in the clue for 15a.

Setters’ Corner: This week, rather than using one of Azed’s clues I’m going to look at a clue from the recent Spoonerisms competition, Richard Heald’s second-placed entry for SPAVIN: “What might Hubble track? Scattered outer parts from supernova, it having exploded”. I’ve made no secret of my admiration for Richard’s clues – their originality, crispness, and complete soundness (this last attribute being absent surprisingly often in successful clues from other competitors) set him above all the other Azed comp entrants  – including even myself in my rare sorties!! Here he delivers an object lesson in writing  a successful Spoonerisms clue, where the key is catching Azed’s eye with the spoonerism itself. I’m sure that many competitors considered the words ‘trouble’ and ‘hack’, but I doubt whether too many put them together and those that did might have got no further than “It hubbles track”. Often some manipulation is required in order to make the inflections work, and here the addition of an auxiliary verb does the trick – “What might trouble hack?” / “What might Hubble track?”. The wordplay answers the question, and the clever use of ‘parts from’ in the sense of ‘leaves’ is the icing on the cake. I would strongly advise anyone looking to improve their clue-writing skills to have a look through Richard’s portfolio in the excellent Azed Slip Archive. There are some cracking clues in there, but if pushed to choose a favourite it would probably be (click on the ‘+’ to reveal the solution) :

Moving on to the clues in puzzle 2,555:

14a Former king gets patriotic composer in for stock of poems (6)
Where would setters be without the composer of “Rule, Britannia!”, or at least his surname? Here it is surrounded by the two letters representing King George, producing a poetic word for a stock or store of anything (ie ‘stock of poems’).

18a These pictures may show recess he adorned with such cherubs (5)
A composite anagram, where THESE PICTURES could be represented as (‘may show’) RECESS HE mixed up with (‘adorned with’) the solution (‘such cherubs’).

25a Bruce’s hiding place beside loch, providing his chance (5)
There is little evidence that Robert Bruce actually hid in a CAVE following his defeat at the battle of Methven (1306), let alone that he received inspiration there from a pertinacious spider; the legend seems to date from the early 19th century, when Walter Scott included it in his series of books on Scottish history, Tales of a Grandfather.

27a Make fun of Old Tom having little energy (4)
Anyone guessing the unchecked letter based solely on the definition is likely to get this one wrong. GIB is an old word for a cat, especially a male one, in later usage one that has been castrated. 

31a Animate foot-warmer by the sound of it (6)
The solution (meaning ‘[to] animate’) is a homophone for a piece ‘of some material placed inside a shoe for warmth, dryness or comfort.’

34a Ice sliver for Scotch? Mixed us jigger (half each) (4)
The answer, a Scots word a ‘pellicle of ice’ (a thin film, it appears), is an anagram (‘mixed’) of the first half of ‘us’ and the second half of ‘jigger’. I have learnt something here (two things if you include ‘pellicle’), as my mother had a copy of A Grue of Ice by Geoffrey Jenkins on a bookcase in our living room for many years without me ever knowing what one was.

35a What’s evident in guest’s last letter, see, penned by a correspondent? (8)
The wordplay here has the single letter C (‘see’) contained (‘penned’) by A plus a word for the sort of correspondent that Elvis Presley’s letters kept coming back to. The solution is a feature of certain lower-case letters (such as the ‘t’ in ‘guest’) which extend above the mean line of the font. It is these bits, together with their chums that go below the baseline, which help us to quickly recognise words; studies carried out at the start of the construction of the British motorway network concluded that words with mixed-case letters were much easier to read than ‘all-caps’, resulting in a font being specially designed for motorway signs.

3d Good Friday: dad, as RC, prepared the day before (9)
Here we have the usual two-letter word for ‘dad’, followed by an anagram (‘prepared’) of AS RC, and finished off with a three-letter word for ‘the day before’. I don’t recall ever having come across the solution before.

4d Menu extra: mushroom rolled in crust partly (7)
A three-letter mushroom particularly enjoyed by crossword setters is reversed (‘rolled’) inside a four-letter word for the lighter upper part of the earth’s continental crust, the term reflecting the fact that the rocks therein are rich in silicon and aluminium oxides.

9d Regarding desire for intake, commander’s retaining muscles (7)
The abbreviation for Officer Commanding is seen containing (‘retaining’) the plural of ‘rectus’, the name of ‘various muscles, esp. of the abdomen, thigh, neck, and eye, so called from the straightness of their fibres.’

10d Pig (by name) imbibing steins, drunk for duration (11)
The pig who is ‘imbibing’ an anagram (‘drunk’) of STEINS is one who has made a lot of money for M&S, and shares his name with the pigeon who moved into our back garden a couple of years ago. At one point he was extremely protective of his new territory, doing sterling work by chasing other pigeons away, but since we added a pond to the garden he has started inviting friends round to enjoy the facilities on offer, a wholly inappropriate way of showing his gratitude.

16d Aid to measuring distance? A journal mostly filling tiny amounts up (9, 2 words)
The wordplay here has A plus a five-letter word for a journal deprived of its last letter (‘mostly’) inside (‘filling’) a four-letter word meaning ‘tiny amounts’ or ‘specks’ reversed (‘up’); the solution is divided (6,3).

21d Damaging charge received, a long time coming up? One may be on list (7)
A three-letter word for a long time is reversed (‘coming up’), with a ‘damaging charge’ (in an explosive, depth charge sort of way) inside (‘received’).

23d Aim to miss goose, catching wing (6)
Here we have a four-letter word for a goose or fool containing (‘catching’) a two-letter American term for a wing on a building (reflecting the resultant shape of the building as a whole).

24d Purposes for Scotch, topping stingers? (6)
I misread ‘stingers’ as ‘stringers’, which didn’t make solving the clue any easier. The solution, a Scots word for ‘purposes’, is obtained by ‘topping’ (removing the first letter from) a seven-letter word for ‘stingers’.