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 2,761 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

There were several very straightforward clues in this one, but also a few tricky wordplays, so overall I felt it was probably around the middle of the difficulty range. Some of the surface readings did feel a little ‘clunky’, and would perhaps have benefited from a little extra polishing.

Setters’ Corner: It struck me a little while ago that it might be worth taking some of the topics that I’ve covered in Setters’ Corner over the last few years and working them into some sort of structure. The result is a new area called The Setting Room. This can be accessed directly from the top menu, or via the post on the home page. I’ve tried to include as many topics as possible, but there will inevitably be gaps, and some errors as well! I’d really appreciate feedback so that I can improve the facility, whether that’s covering additional topics, expanding on particular points, addressing specific questions, including content submitted by readers, correcting errors…or anything else.  It is definitely not meant to be a set of hard and fast rules – the solvers of different puzzles have very different expectations, so a clue that would be instantly rejected by the Listener editors might very well be published in any UK back page puzzle, and vice versa. It is more of an attempt to present a set of broadly Ximenean principles as they relate to the crosswords of today. It’s very much a work in progress, and input of any kind will be gratefully received.

Across

1a Useless male welcoming lives being a fop? (6)
A 3-letter word meaning ‘useless’ (often applied in ‘the old days’ to cheques which bounced) and the usual abbreviation for ‘male’ are set around (‘welcoming’) a word meaning ‘lives’. The ‘being’ in the definition is a gerund, so ‘being a fop’ indicates a noun, in the way that ‘being reserved’ could lead to ‘modesty’ (‘Being reserved could be considered an appealing trait’/’Modesty could be considered an appealing trait’).

11a Unfit, I note? Then one has something to deal with that (5)
The rather strained wordplay here has I (from the clue) being followed by the single-letter abbreviation for ‘note’, a single-letter word for ‘one’, and the abbreviation for ‘physical training’, the last being ‘something to deal with that’, ie something to deal with a lack of fitness.

15a She pursues would-be partner of herself, plaited hair trailing (8)
A 3-letter word meaning ‘of herself’ (or himself etc) is followed by a word for ‘a plait or braid of the hair of the head’. The answer is classified by Chambers as ‘rare’, so something along the lines of ‘She rarely pursues…’ would have been preferable.

19a To make romantic love (in Rome) I’ll get caught in entwining of legs (9)
The Latin (‘in Rome’) word for ‘love’ and the letter I (from the clue) are contained by (‘caught in’) an anagram (‘entwining’) of LEGS.

23a Old angler having roll round depth (7)
A 6-letter word for a roll of names or a list of employees with assigned duties is put round the usual abbreviation for ‘depth’, the result being an archaic term which might also be how the singer Mr Stewart is known to his friends.

26a Gutter for Jock, first to last? That’s wallop for you (4)
One of the alternative spellings of the Scots word for a roof-gutter has its first letter moved to the end (‘first to last’), producing a term for a heavy blow (ie “That’s [a] wallop for you”).

28a Dry measure in set? It protects against chromosomal deterioration (8)
A 4-letter Hebrew dry measure equivalent to just over 5 imperial pints is contained by an informal term for the sort of set that used to stand in the corner of the living room, on occasion hiding rather incongruously behind the doors of a fine wooden cabinet, but now more often takes up most of one wall (despite weighing a lot less!)

30a I count beads as transferred in junior church offices (13)
I’m far from convinced about ‘transferred’ as an anagram indicator – it doesn’t seem to carry any sense of rearrangement. The answer (in the singular) appears in Chambers without explicit definition – the Chambers entry for the word without the prefix confirms the required meaning, but does raise the question of whether it could ever be used in the plural.

32a Feature of spore, section thrice stripped from libido (5)
The usual abbreviation for ‘section’ is removed (‘stripped’) three times from an 8-letter word which I think has a meaning closer to ‘sensuality’ than ‘libido’, and was a quality which Mr Stewart (see 23a) asked us in 1978 whether we thought that he possessed.

33a Heading for the deep drainage channel in green turf (7)
A 2-letter dialect word for a drainage channel in the Fens is contained by a word for green turf almost always seen in a poetic 10-letter compound starting with ‘green’.

Down

1d Annoyed with rejection of excuse treated with contempt (6)
A 10-letter word meaning ‘annoyed’ is deprived (‘with rejection’) of a word for an excuse or a defendant’s answer to a charge.

2d Straighten end off hook right and left (6)
A 5-letter word for a hook, missing its last letter (‘end off’), is followed by the single-letter abbreviations for ‘right’ and ‘left’. I don’t think the cryptic reading quite works as the clue is written – there needs to be a comma either between ‘off’ and ‘hook’ or, conceivably, between ‘hook’ and ‘right’.

3d A clique involved in reverse of occasional bravado (8)
The letter A (from the clue) and a 4-letter word for a clique are contained by a reversal (‘reverse’) of a word meaning ‘occasional’, as in ‘I make the occasional mistake in these blogs’.

21d Bad fall in the night? Catch one deprived of oxygen (6)
If you managed to solve this one ‘blind’, kudos! A 4-letter alternative spelling of a word for the catch ‘which engages with the notches of the tumbler in order to keep the hammer at full or half cock, and which is released (at full cock) by pressure upon the trigger’ is followed by the word ONE (from the clue) from which the chemical symbol for oxygen has been removed (‘deprived of oxygen’). The answer is an interesting word (the obsoleteness of which Azed has chosen to ignore), describing a light fall of moisture or fine rain after sunset in hot countries, formerly regarded as a noxious dew or mist. John Bullokar in An English Expositor: Teaching the Interpretation of the Hardest Words Used in our Language explained it thus:

A foggy mist or dampish vapour falling in Italie about sunne set, at which time it is vnwholesome to be abroad especially bareheaded

25d Wee Catherine, Gaelic style, centre of cortege trailing (5)
The central letter (‘centre’) of a 5-letter word for a cortege is moved to the end (‘trailing’), producing a diminutive (‘wee’) version of the Gaelic form of the name ‘Catherine’.

27d Old cow? Pat mounts under one (4)
A 3-letter word for a ‘pat’ in the sense of a small, soft mass (but more often associated with the sort of thing that Harry Enfield’s plasterer Loadsamoney was wont to wave proudly about) is reversed (‘mounts’) after a single-letter word for ‘one’. The verb which forms the answer is obsolete, hence the ‘old’; like a number of such words, it is given by Chambers as Spenserian, although Spenser was neither the first nor last person to use it.

29d Mild expletive to render en clair, without extremes (4)
A 6-letter word meaning ‘to render en clair’ or ‘to turn into readable text’ is shorn of its first and last letters (‘without extremes’). The answer sounds like some sort of robotic fish.

(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 2,760 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

Overall, I felt this one was somewhere in the middle of the difficulty spectrum – not too many ‘gimmes’, but several long anagrams (albeit not of familiar words) that helped to balance out a few tricky wordplays. I felt that Azed had enjoyed setting the puzzle, which had some original ideas (eg 29a) and some neat definitions (eg 10d).

A correspondent asked if I would comment on the anagram indicators in this puzzle, at least one of which is not in the lists on this site. The number of potential anagram indicators is very large, and I tend to add new ones to the list only if they are clearly sound and they either are obvious omissions or seem to offer something different for the setter when it comes to surface readings. One in this puzzle that I don’t have in the list is ‘bolting’ – I think it’s just about ok, although the most relevant definition of ‘bolt’, ‘to run out of control’, is qualified by ‘(of a horse)’, which concerns me slightly. I do have ‘flourished’ in the list, probably because it has appeared in successful competition clues, but while ‘flourishes’ and ‘flourishing’ have impeccable credentials (‘flourish’ vi = ‘to move in fantastic patterns’), I think the definitions of the transitive verb as ‘to adorn with fantastic patterns or ornaments’ and ‘to brandish in show, triumph, or exuberance of spirits’ leave a little to be desired when it comes to suggesting rearrangement of letters.

Setters’ Corner: A speaker at the Azed 2,750 lunch mentioned Azed’s stated view that while ‘form of’ is a valid anagram indicator, ‘sort of’ is not. As Azed wrote in the slip for competition 508 (POSTURE-MAKER),

“Whereas ‘(a) form of’ (rum pose taker, or whatever) is quite accurate and acceptable as a way of telling the solver to rearrange the relevant letters, ‘(a) sort of…’ isn’t, any more than ‘kind’, ‘class’, ‘type’ would be. ‘Sort’ as a noun doesn’t mean ‘assortment’ so no proper instruction to form an anagram is given to the solver.”

The speaker posed the question of whether Azed would need to reconsider his opinion, given that Chambers now includes a definition of the noun ‘sort’ in the computer sense of an arrangement of data. I would have said ‘absolutely not, a sort is an instance of sorting, not the result of it’, but then I looked the word up in Chambers, and saw “The arranging of data or the product of this (computing)”. In my (many) years in IT I have never seen the word used to describe the product of a sort, and neither Collins (“the act or an instance of sorting”) or OED (“The action of arranging items of data in a prescribed sequence*) support this usage. I certainly won’t be using ‘sort of’ as an anagram indicator any time soon, but one could argue that the Chambers definition would make it legitimate.

Across

11a I may be curly, or crinkly, stateside (4)
A double definition, where something with a variety which has the epithet ‘curly’ is also a US slang term for money (ie ‘crinkly, stateside’). According to Chambers, there are two possible spellings of the word, but the one required here is the one that I suspect every solver would know.

12a Place psaltery somehow as play with this quill perhaps? (7)
A composite anagram, where the letters of PLACE PSALTERY can be rearranged (‘somehow’) to produce AS PLAY and the answer.

13a Lesson in most of yield made as profit (7)
A 4-letter word for a lesson, rather surprisingly not shown by Chambers as archaic, is contained by all but the last letter (‘most’) of a 4-letter word meaning ‘[to] yield’.

14a Ornamental shell displayed by dad, studded with gold (4)
A 2-letter word for ‘dad’ contains the chemical symbol for gold. I’m not convinced by ‘studded with’ as a ‘straight’ insertion indicator – the meaning ‘set at intervals’ strongly suggests that the bits to be included are not contiguous, which would make trying to ‘stud’ one pair of letters with another pair a decidedly tough assignment.

21a Exam in era before English, dealing with period long ago (6)
A 2-letter abbreviation for ‘an entrance examination for public school, usually taken at the age of thirteen’ is contained by a 3-letter word for an era and the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘English’, the answer relating to an era that came  right after the Kerosene and just before the Plasticine.

24a Before food is put on board, it must be fit for cast (7)
A 2-letter abbreviation for the Latin phrase meaning ‘before food’, typically used on medical prescriptions but also applied to a pre-prandial grace at certain Oxbridge colleges, is followed by a word for a slab or board, which can also be used metonymically to describe a supply of food and entertainment.

27a Part of eye I’ll have drop on? (4)
Be careful with this one – based on the three checked letters, it would be easy to simply bung an S into the last cell. But the wordplay tells us that the letter I must have a word meaning ‘drop’ attached to it (“I’ll have drop on”), which leads us to a 3-letter word which can have the sense of ‘expel’ – it might not be synonymous with ‘drop’, but it’s close enough.

28a Tonsure to cheer devout fellow cuts (7)
A 5-letter word meaning ‘to cheer’ or ‘to exhilarate’ has an informal word for a sanctimonious person popular only with crossword setters inserted (ie ‘devout fellow cuts’). In the cryptic reading, ‘tonsure’ is a verb.

29a Man’s No. 7 as duty (7)
If Man’s No. 1 is “the infant, mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms”, then here we are looking for the (4,3) scene “that ends this strange eventful history”. Second childishness? Sans teeth? Stop looking at me like that…

Down

2d Sickness, with endless ulcerous ooze annoyance of old (7)
A 3-letter word for sickness (grand or petit) of the sort one might experience when crossing La Manche is followed by a word for the ethereal juice in the veins of the gods, or, rather more prosaically, colourless matter oozing from an ulcer or wound, deprived of its last letter (‘endless’). The answer is a word found in the early printings of Hamlet, but subsequently emended.

3d Ooze without density or colour (4)
The repeated use of ‘ooze’ makes me wonder if Azed was originally thinking about a pair of clues joined by ellipses, with the word being shared by 2d and 3d. Here the ‘ooze’ leads to a familiar 5-letter verb from which the usual abbreviation for ‘density’ is to be removed (‘without density’).

4d One from the piggery in sheltered local meadow (7)
A (1,3) expression that might describe ‘one from the piggery’ is contained by a word meaning ‘sheltered’. The answer is shown by Chambers as being a dialect word, hence the ‘local’ in the definition.

9d It’s no good forsaking US trash for Scottish shudder (4)
The usual abbreviation for ‘no good’ is omitted from (‘forsaking’) a 6-letter ‘orig US’ word for trash, or the sort of music you might associate with Kurt Cobain, the result being a Scots word for a thin coating of newly-formed ice on water. I remember my mother reading a book by Geoffrey Jenkins called A ???? of Ice, and the word has always stayed with me, though I had no idea what one was (I imagined something considerably more imposing). The title doesn’t actually make much sense, because the ‘of ice’ is superfluous.

13d Fancy collar giving girl sex appeal in SA country (10)
A 3-letter girl associated with Christmas and New Year, and the usual abbreviation for ‘sex appeal’, are contained by the name of a South American country, producing a very French-looking word for an ornamental collar on a coat.

17d Metaphysical system that has a therapy replacing hearts in breach (7)
A 6-letter word for a breach, of the sort which litters the history of the Christian church, has the abbreviation for ‘occupational therapy’ (‘a therapy’) replacing the card player’s abbreviation for ‘hearts’. The editors of Chambers clearly wanted to make it very clear where the originator of the resulting metaphysical system had his roots and where he did not.

22d Dry up having to retain clear old names (6)
A reversal (‘up’) of a 3-letter term applied specifically to dry wines contains (‘having’) a 3-letter dialect form of a familiar 4-letter word meaning ‘to spring upward’ or ‘to bound over’.

25d Stomach, verminous (not cod fish) (4)
An 8-letter word meaning ‘lousy’ or ‘verminous’ is shorn of (‘not’) a group of four letters which setters often indicate simply by ‘heather’ or ‘fish’, the latter being a member of the cod family, hence ‘cod fish’.

26d Stone crock? (4)
A concise double definition clue to finish, the stone being one which I associate with oriental carvings, and the crock being one of the equine variety.

(definitions are underlined)

On May 3^rd I attended the lunch in Oxford to celebrate the publication of Azed 2,750, a most extraordinary landmark. The event, superbly organized by Richard Heald and Will Drever, started off with a drinks reception in the grounds of Wolfson College, where I met Azed for the very first time and was able to thank him on behalf of myself and solvers old and new for the pleasure that he has given us. Those who haven’t had the chance to meet him will not be surprised to hear that he is a true gentleman, with just a hint of the absent-minded professor.

The assembled throng then moved inside the college for lunch, an excellent meal which I found difficult to eat because it meant that I had to stop talking for whole seconds on end. After the strawberry pavlova (for which I was happy to stop talking!), we were treated to some Azed-themed poetry (including a ‘Clerihaiku’) from two of the guests, followed by a wonderfully diverse collection of speakers. The first of these was Azed’s young grandson, whose short address went down well with the  audience. He told us that Azed was known to him as ‘Gongy’ [a childhood nickname of JC’s] and something that sounded like ‘Dumper’, although I’m going to wait for the transcript before I risk addressing Azed by that name myself. He was followed by Martyn Sloman, a long-time Azed solver, who described his 40 years of clue-writing competition entries in terms that spoke volumes for his pertinacity, which has sadly not so far been matched by his results. A four-time candidate for election to Parliament, he told us how the only thing that stopped him becoming an MP ‘was the electorate’.

Then came the Times/Sunday Times puzzles editor, and multiple Azed cup winner, Mick Hodgkin, reminiscing about his copy of The Azed Book of Crosswords (“Fiendish puzzles for the crossword fiend”), and Alan Connor, among other things Guardian crossword editor, current setter of the Everyman puzzle, and ‘puzzle consultant’ for the TV show Ludwig. Next up was the lady whose job it is to get the Azed puzzle into the Observer every week, Caitlin O’Kane, decked out for the occasion in a most striking crossword-themed dress, with fingernails to match. Finally it was time for the great man to say a few words, which he duly did to considerable acclaim, before he was presented with a huge bunch of flowers to give to his wife, Alison.

We were then invited to Azed’s home, within easy walking distance. Instructions were given regarding a short cut, which involved passing through what appeared to be someone’s garage, but several of the party went seriously off-piste, having understandably ‘refused’ at the entrance to the garage, and were seen striding purposefully through a neighbour’s garden, something which tends to be viewed unfavourably in North Oxford. The Crowther family (with help from the Manleys) provided a sumptuous spread, to which I tried heroically to do justice, despite having on my smartest trousers, which have strictly limited expansion room.

It was great to meet many Azed aficionados, some veterans and some more recent converts. The conversation throughout the day was hugely entertaining, and the setter Leo’s description of his near miss with Listener puzzle 2,566 (Lip Service, the last one to receive no correct entries), and his subsequent attempt to validate the solution (the inscription on the Blarney Stone) in the face of adverse weather conditions, was nothing short of hilarious. The whole event was joyous from start to finish.

I would very much welcome any corrections, objections, additions, anecdotes or thoughts. Please add comments to this post, or email me.

The pictures below are reproduced by kind permission of Dave Carter and the organizers

Azed and Don Manley

Azed and Alan Connor

The youngest speaker, pictured with co-organizer Will Drever

Martyn Sloman, the epitome of persistence in the face of cruciverbal adversity

Mick Hodgkin reveals next month’s competition word, to Azed’s obvious surprise

Caitlin, with wonderfully apposite dress…and nails

Flowers for Mrs Azed

Chez the Azeds

The team responsible for getting Azed into the Observer every week – Caitlin O’Kane, Azed, Alan Connor and John Grimshaw

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 2,759 Plain

Difficulty rating: (1.5 / 5)

Before I get on to this week’s puzzle, I wanted to say a very big ‘thank you’ to the organizers of Saturday’s Azed lunch, which was a wonderfully enjoyable affair from start to finish. Great job, gentlemen! I also wanted to say how touched I was by the kind comments that several people made to me about this site – that sort of thing makes it all seem worthwhile.

The Tortoise was slow to come out of its shell today, but the correct results for competition puzzle 2,755 did at least appear; as I surmised, the results printed last week were for the ‘drawn at random’ 2,756. This puzzle struck me as being at the lower end of the difficulty spectrum, although it did contain quite a high proportion of relatively obscure words. In the clue for 17d, the repetition of ‘with’ should be ignored.

Although the competition clue word includes an accented vowel and has very specific geographic origins, it should (as confirmed by the unqualified definition provided by Azed) be treated as a word that has been absorbed into the English language and is still in current (if not regular) use, albeit in reference to the past. There is therefore no need to indicate its origins, but I would strongly recommend avoiding the use of the present tense in any definition (as this would suggest that such a person could be found today), just as one would steer clear of, say, ‘he sells liquor to soldiers’ for SUTLER, although ‘seller of liquor to soldiers’ or ‘he sold liquor to soldiers’ would both be fine.

Clue Writers’ Corner: Having just spent a few hours in the company of some of the very finest competition clue writers, it seems appropriate to make a couple of general points about writing competition clues. Firstly, even the most successful entrants will happily admit that they didn’t strike gold straight away; don’t be disheartened if your first few entries fail to find favour with the judge, but look in the slip at the clues which have been well received by him and keep going. And secondly, remember that soundness is of fundamental importance: look at the surface reading of your clue and ‘polish’ it by all means, but then forget about that, break the clue down into its cryptic elements, and view it not as a piece of prose but as an equation in crossword language. Does the wordplay really equal the answer required by the definition? If you’ve got ‘X holds Y back’, that can mean that X contains a reversal of Y, but it can’t mean that X-containing-Y should be reversed – that would need ‘X holding Y back’. ‘Engineers turn’ looks superficially valid for RE reversed, but first translate ‘engineers’ into RE, and ‘RE turn’ doesn’t look so good. ‘Engineers turning’ would be fine. If in doubt, sort it out! Submitting a sound clue won’t guarantee success, but it will ensure that the first hurdle of the judging process is cleared.

Across

11a Against boarding train last again (10)
A 3-letter word for ‘against’ is contained by (‘boarding’) a 7-letter word for a train or body of attendants, the result being one of that large group of verbs using a particular prefix which appear in Chambers without definition, the safe option for setters being to define them as the uncompounded form followed by ‘again’ or ‘once more’, which is just what Azed has done here.

12a Office once close, one’s unhinged (5)
A 3-letter word for a facility euphemistically known as ‘the office’ (and less likely to lead to unfortunate consequences when directing guests inside a house where there is indeed an office), is followed by an obsolete 2-letter spelling of a more familiar (if only in literature) 4-letter word meaning ‘close’ or ‘near’.

16a Around Rex, Basil and ‘Arry there’s some nerve (8)
Around the single-letter abbreviation for ‘Rex’ (in the monarchical cipher context) are to be placed a three-letter diminutive form of the name ‘Basil’ (or for ‘Barrie’, the middle name of Brendon McCullum, known for his particular style of cricket) together with the 5-letter name which in medieval England had the spoken form ‘Harry’ (and belonged to several kings), similarly deprived of its initial H.

24a Fully convinced by marriage, one makes regular deliveries (6)
A three-letter slang word, a shortened form of an 8-letter adjective meaning ‘fully convinced’ or ‘certain’, and a 3-letter word for marriage combine to produce a term which Chambers shows as ‘Scot and Aust informal’, but could be defined where we live in England as ‘habitual wearer of shorts even in the face of grave climatic contraindications’

28a Anger once with upper-class being crammed in carriage (5)
A 4-letter archaic word for injury or anger has the usual single-letter representation of ‘upper-class’ inserted (‘crammed in’).

30a The old practice round lane almost damaged bone (6)
An obsolete (‘old’) 3-letter word for ‘practice’ which will be familiar to regular barred puzzle solvers (and which differs by only its central letter from a common word with a similar meaning) contains (’round’) an anagram (‘damaged’) of LANE missing its last letter (‘almost’).

32a One leaves Rome inspired? (5)
A nice little clue, where  a 2-letter word for ‘one’ is removed from (‘leaves’) a 7-letter word for ‘Rome’ in the sense of ‘the papal authority’.

34a Herring of a kind? Chaps took a measure (8)
A 3+3+2 charade of words for ‘chaps’, ‘took’ and ‘a measure’, the last named being used specifically in the printing trade.

Down

1d What may accompany rape? Crooked idol judge imprisoned (7)
An anagram (‘crooked’) of IDOL has a word meaning (among many other things) ‘[to] judge’ contained within (‘imprisoned’). The definition is along the lines of ‘What might accompany Vera’ for ALOE.

4d Woman, note, wearing medieval-style hat (6)
A charade that starts with a 3-letter (facetious, disrespectful or endearing, according to Chambers, which covers pretty much all eventualities) term for woman or girl, although readers north of the border may also be put in mind of the lanky son of Maw and Paw Broon of Auchenshoogle. The usual abbreviation for ‘note’ and 2-letter word for ‘wearing’ follow on.

10d Poet’s slight one lying in meadow (5)
A 2-letter word for ‘one’ (also featuring at 32a) is contained by (‘lying in’) one spelling of a word for a meadow much treasured by crossword setters. The poet, as so often, is Mr Edmund Spenser.

21d Like a philosopher, even in the course of scrutiny (7)
One spelling of the poetic contraction for ‘even’ is contained by (good to see Azed using ‘in the course of’ rather than ‘during’ – I’m pretty sure he shares my view about the latter as an insertion indicator) a word for ‘scrutiny’ or ‘examination’. The philosopher in question was a Stoic (he needed to be, as things turned out) who was responsible for writing Phaedra, covered almost 2,000 years later by Tangerine Dream (remember them?)

23d Scottish person, that is one who was paid to grieve (6)
A semi-&lit clue, where the whole clue ‘defines’ the answer, but only the first four words constitute the wordplay, a 4-letter Scots spelling of a familiar word for a person (often preceded by ‘poor old’ or similar) and the two letters that frequently answer to ‘that is’.

25d Musical piece, one penned by German singer (not good) (6)
The 6-letter surname which must be shorn of the usual abbreviation for ‘good’ might be associated by some with the American author Susan rather than the 19th century German operatic soprano Henriette, born Gertrude Walpurgis of that ilk, and, after her marriage, styled Henriette, Countess Rossi. A single-letter word meaning ‘one’ is contained (‘penned’) within.

27d Poet, nameless, about due for rediscovery (5)
The two-letter abbreviation for ‘anonymous’ (ie ‘nameless’) contains (‘about’) an anagram of DUE, the result being the name of a well-known British-born poet. Does ‘for rediscovery’ suggest rearrangement? In the words of Doris Day, ‘perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…’

29d King, captivated by love for wee dwarf (4)
The monarchical abbreviation for ‘king’ is contained (‘captivated’) by a word for love in the sense of ‘no score’. I remember the Lancashire cricketer Harry Pilling being described by a radio commentator as ‘the tiny diminutive little Harry Pilling’; at five foot three he was the shortest professional cricketer of modern times, but he’d still have looked out of place among Snow White’s crew. Here, the ‘wee’ is probably de trop, but it does serve to indicate that the answer is a Scots word.

(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 2,758 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

Azed enters his testudinal phase with a puzzle that definitely had the needle on the difficulty meter heading for the red. Note that when I make my assessment of a puzzle, it isn’t just the toughness of filling the grid that I am considering, but of both filling the grid and of satisfactorily parsing all the clues – I never consider a puzzle solved until both boxes have been ticked. There weren’t too many really straightforward clues in this one, and there were several where the answer came first and a full understanding of the wordplay second.

Setters’ Corner: Prompted by a question from a correspondent, I tackled the Guardian Easter special earlier this week. I was prepared for a libertarian approach to the clueing, although not for a blatantly faulty clue which had somehow got past the editor. That aside, I know that the expectations of Guardian back-page solvers are different from those of Azed regulars, but a few of the clues did grate. The gimmick involved the wordplays omitting a pair of letters, at least one of which was an ‘A’, and this was the clue for ULNA – “Centre of the bull is bone (4)”. The missing letters are NA, and the wordplay delivers UL, the middle letters of BULL. But how can ‘centre of the bull’ be UL? In my view, it can’t: ‘centre of the’ could certainly be H, and centre of ‘the bull’ could, at a pinch, be B. I don’t think “the bull’s centre” is significantly better – it isn’t the same thing as ‘the centre of bull’, which would be absolutely fine. But why couldn’t the setter just have written “Centre of bull is bone”? To my mind, the inclusion of the definite article in a situation like this is not deceptive, it’s unfair to the solver, and it should be avoided.

Across

13a Small change in Bangladesh I spotted entering expensive area (6)
The letter I (from the clue) is contained by (‘spotted entering’) a word which means ‘smart’ or ‘stylish’, and, by association, ‘expensive’, together with the usual abbreviation for ‘area’.

16a Pink after kiss mostly? Show interruption of blood supply? (7)
The 4-letter word for the colour ‘pink or light crimson’ follows a somewhat old-fashioned word meaning ‘[to] kiss’ in a snoggy sort of way, from which the last letter has been omitted (‘mostly’).

20a Simple game in US? Lacking tact for Central American (4)
A (3-3-2) spelling of the American name for the game known in Britain as ‘noughts and crosses’ (I was only familiar with the 4-4-3 and 3-3-3 versions) is deprived of the consecutive letters TACT (‘lacking tact’) to provide the ‘US and Central American’ term for a person from Costa Rica.

22a Trained pacer, etc – one that’s sure to run (8)
A straightforward anagram (‘trained’) of PACER ETC produces the modern agent noun of a familiar verb. However, the old form (ending in -or) has been retained in certain specific senses, one of these referring to a horse whose entry in a race has been confirmed at a particular declaration stage. Strictly speaking, ‘likely to run’ would be better than ‘sure to run’, but the spelling of the answer is more of an issue than the precision of the definition.

24a Number one bell I turned? It often requires a key (8)
A reversal (‘turned’) of a 2-letter abbreviation for ‘number’, the Roman numeral representing ‘one’, a 4-letter verb meaning ‘[to] bell’, and the letter I (from the clue). A key is normally required for the thing in question, with its mere proximity often being sufficient unto the process these days.

25a An occupant of the pulpit rerunning tape recorder? (4)
A (1,3) expression describing (informally) a person who might habitually occupy the pulpit is reversed (‘rerunning’) to give the answer, an acronym which was applied to Britain’s first video recorder. It was invented by the BBC and unveiled by Richard Dimbleby during a live edition of Panorama on 14 April 1958. After he had described the purpose of the technology, its effectiveness was demonstrated with a playback of the first few minutes of the programme, seemingly rewinding time (no, really). It had taken six years to develop, and the recordings were made on half-inch tape running as fast as 200 inches per second. Sadly, its moment of triumph was no more or less than that, as the delivery later that year of a machine from American manufacturer Ampex – which was demonstrably superior – consigned it to history. Incidentally, I don’t believe that ‘rerunning’ indicates reversal, but rather the sort of thing that Dimbleby demonstrated,  a second appearance but with the same internal sequence as before.

30a Quantity of drugs fit to be nicked, not stable, in Parisian rumpus (7)
A 3-letter word for ‘a quantity of drugs, esp heroin’, being the name of a familiar sort of container, is followed by a 10-letter word meaning ‘fit to be nicked’ (in the sense of being caught by the fuzz, and now usually applied to offences rather than persons) from which the consecutive letters STABLE have been removed (‘not stable’).

31a Bitter banned for Muslims? Send it back (5)
A word meaning ‘forbidden under Islamic religious law’, a relatively recent addition to Chambers (earlier editions give it only as an alternative spelling of the word for the women’s quarters in a Muslim house), is reversed (‘send it back’). The answer relates to the passage in Ruth 1:20 where Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth, both widowed, travel back to Naomi’s home town of Bethlehem. The women of the village say something along the lines of ‘Can this be Naomi?’ to which she replies, ‘Don’t call me Naomi [meaning ‘pleasant’]. Call me ???? [meaning ‘bitter’], for the Almighty has made me very bitter.’

33a Bury ma you’ll find thus in the forest swamp (5)
If you break the answer down into words of 2 letters (XX) and 3 letters (YYY), then in a 5-letter word for a swampy pine forest you will indeed find that the letters MA are XX YYY.

34a Salad veg displaying strong smell inspired frenzy (6)
After being told to give the exact opposite of the truth when asked about Homer Simpson’s qualities, an engineer at the nuclear power plant describes him thus: “Um, Homer Simpson is a… brilliant man with lots of well thought-out, practical, ideas. He is ensuring the financial security of this company for years to come. Oh yes, and his personal hygiene is above reproach.” The sort of 2-letter ‘strong smell’ that this last commendation (if true) would surely rule out is followed by a word which can mean ‘inspired frenzy’.

35a Measures strength of obligations limiting eaterie (8)
A 4-letter word for ‘obligations’ contains (‘limiting’) the sort of Italian eaterie that always makes me think of the one (“Tony’s ?????????”) that featured from time to time in Hi-de-Hi!, and into the name of which Gladys Pugh always inserted an an extra ‘-att-‘.

Down

2d Strand, the same after its centre is out of reach (5)
Not the best of the bunch, this clue has a 3-letter word meaning ‘the same’ or ‘single’ following the word REACH from which the central letters have been removed (ie ‘its centre is out of reach’). The definition refers to strand³ in Chambers.

4d Large fish, not useful, stored in hold (4)
The 2-letter abbreviation for ‘unserviceable’ (ie ‘not useful’) is contained by a 2-letter interjection meaning ‘hold!’ or ‘stop!’, a command often issued in triplicate by Santa to his team of reindeer.

6d German/Italian deploying some French in supermarket (7)
The 2-letter French word for ‘some’ or ‘of’ is contained by the name of a large UK-based retailer of groceries and general merchandise. As Azed notes, the answer is not in Chambers, neither is it  in Collins, but the OED gives it as “The Italian word for German; esp. used to express Teutonic influence as shown in some spheres of Italian art.”

8d Sea fish, salty when not left inside (5)
A 7-letter word for ‘salty’ has the 2-letter abbreviation for ‘verso’ (the left-hand page of an open book) removed (‘not left inside’).

10d E.g. cat toyed with bit of breakfast, sort of interloper (11)
An anagram (‘toyed’) of EG CAT is followed by a 6-letter word for a bit of breakfast that is an essential part of a good fry-up, with an absolute minimum of two being de rigueur.

11d Part of flower below earth to penetrate mineral (11)
A 6-letter part of a flower follows (‘below’) the usual abbreviation for ‘earth’, this combination preceding a 4-letter word meaning ‘to cut or penetrate’.

19d Floor grabbing attraction in government as of old (8)
A 5-letter word for ‘floor’, as in ‘he had the floor’ or ‘she took the floor’, contains (‘grabbing’) a word which is regularly indicated in cryptics by ‘attention’, surely misprinted here as ‘attraction’, since the latter works in neither the cryptic nor the surface reading.

26d Flowery tree in bed, not mature (5)
An 8-letter word, which loosely corresponds to one of the senses of ‘bed’ given by Chambers, has a three-letter word meaning ‘[to] mature’ deleted (‘not mature’).

27d Shrubby plant, name for hard old wood (5)
This is not, as it might first appear, a replacement clue, but rather a charade of a 4-letter shrub (named after the goddess of youth and spring) and the usual abbreviation for ‘name’.

32d Like some woollies, in parts they came undone (4)
A single-letter dialect word meaning ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ or ‘they’ (ie ‘in parts they’) is followed by a word meaning, among many other things, ‘came undone’, in the way that Lady Madonna‘s stockings did on Thursday.

(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 2,757 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

This was Azed’s last puzzle for the Guardian before the Tortoise takes the Observer under its shell, and perhaps not one of his very best. I felt that it lacked the élan of his finest creations, and some of the surface readings were, at least by Azed’s high standards, a little on the clunky side. At first I thought it might prove quite tricky, but by the end I felt that it was below the halfway mark for difficulty, with a relatively low obscurity count and wordplays which in general were straightforward to unpick. Note that the enumeration for 31a, shown as ‘(7)’, should be ‘(6)’.  The file available on the Guardian site at the time of writing is a JPEG; for anyone having problems printing it, I have uploaded a PDF version to this site.

I must say a word or two of congratulation to regular correspondent Tim C, whose clue in the latest Round Robin puzzle on the Crossword Centre site was (rightly) voted best by solvers. I write this with gritted teeth, since my own clue failed to trouble the scorers, but I blame the word I was given rather than my skills…funny how that always seems to happen! Well done, Tim. For anyone who enjoys themed crosswords, I recommend the monthly puzzles on the CC site (http://www.crossword.org.uk/) – plenty of variety, and available free of charge.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clues 1d, 2d and 12a, specifically their use of ‘woman’, ‘female’ and ‘female’ to indicate SHE, SHE and…SHE. Individually, these clues are all perfectly sound and entirely acceptable. However, two general rules for the clues in a puzzle taken as a whole are (i) that the same word should not be used with the same cryptic meaning in more than one clue, and (ii) that the same wordplay element should not appear in more than one clue with the same sense. The first of these means that if, for instance, ‘about’ has been used in one clue as an anagram indicator, it should not appear again in the puzzle for that purpose; it can, though legitimately feature in different clues indicating containment, reversal, C/CA, A or RE (once only for each interpretation), although most setters and editors would aim to keep the number of such repetitions within reasonable bounds. As far as the second rule goes, if (say) ‘cape’ were used to provide NESS as part of a wordplay, ‘head’ should not be used in another clue to similarly give NESS; it could potentially be indicated elsewhere in the puzzle by ‘name of Scottish loch’, although even that would be less than ideal. Solvers tend to pick up on such duplications, and while editors are normally very diligent in removing them before publication, the best course for setters is to eliminate them before submission.

Across

9a I rest relaxing, having smuggled in means of clearing customs (8)
An anagram (‘relaxing’) of I REST contains (‘having…in’) a three-letter word meaning ‘smuggled’, as one might have done with rum in times past. Think “Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by”, or substitute ‘Bedstead-Men’ for ‘Gentlemen’ if you prefer the Flanders and Swann version to Mr Kipling’s original.

12a Head of government’s aid, female assistant given run in (6)
A three-letter word for a female and a two-letter abbreviation for an assistant, such as might be employed by a senior executive, contain the usual abbreviation for ‘run’ (‘given run in’). 

13a French wine the local tax has backed (5)
The combination of a French word for ‘the’ (‘the local’, referencing ‘French’ earlier in the clue) and a three-letter ‘colloquial acronym’ for a tax that is ubiquitous within the UK is reversed (‘has backed’).

14a Mock title for woman from Belfast area immersed in cooking ingredients (7, 2 words)
Would we accept ‘London area’ for ENGLAND? I don’t think I would, but here a two-letter abbreviation for the country wherein Belfast is located is contained by (‘immersed in’) a word for a group of aromatic plants used in cookery.

18a Henry tucking into beer that’s favoured draw (6)
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘henry’, the SI unit of inductance, is contained by (‘tucking into’) a (2,3) phrase which could perhaps describe beer that’s favoured or in fashion.

19a Company having left as a pair, given guidance towards the summit? (5)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘[joined together] as a pair’ is deprived of the usual abbreviation for ‘company’ (‘company having left’) to produce the past tense of one of those compound verbs  which Chambers ‘defines’ simply by reversing the order of the two parts. Well, duh! The good news for setters is that it gives them some latitude in terms of their own definitions, and the one that Azed has provided here seems as good as any.

25a Once scattered a short time, not cooked in tin (6)
The usual abbreviation for ‘time’ (‘a short time’) and a three-letter word meaning ‘not cooked’ are contained by  the chemical symbol for tin.

31a Brighten shortly, that is round island from the east (6)
The two-letter abbreviation (‘shortly’) of the Latin phrase meaning ‘that is’ is put round the reversed (‘from the east’) name of a Scottish island whose main town is named after a Womble. It has been suggested to me that the ‘shortly’ is part of the definition rather than the wordplay, since Chambers shows the answer as a shortened poetic form of another verb. I wrote the notes by necessity somewhat hastily this week, and didn’t check the answer in Chambers – had I done so, I would probably have favoured that interpretation.

Down

4d One’s horny on becoming split up in vineyard (5)
The letters of the word ON (from the clue) are separately (‘becoming split up’) inserted into a word taken directly from the French language for a vineyard or a vintage.

5d Bill overcome by dejection with matrimony leading to bad temper (11)
Probably the hardest wordplay in the puzzle to resolve, a four-letter word for a bill or headland follows (‘is overcome by’) a four-letter word meaning ‘dejection’ (and a cause thereof for rowers) and a three-letter term for ‘matrimony’ which Chambers barely supports, the closest being a somewhat metonymic sense of ‘matrimonial rights and duties’. The answer immediately makes me think of Lucy van Pelt.

8d The old assemble providing endless comfort for the poor? (5)
A six-letter word for ‘assistance to the poor’ loses its last letter (‘endless’) to produce an obsolete word meaning ‘to assemble’ or ‘to collect together’.

11d Perfume container, long, held by mum (6)
When you see ‘mum’ in a wordplay, it is probably going to lead either to MA or to one of a pair of two-letter interjections meaning ‘be quiet!’. One of them is ‘sh!’, but it is the other one wherein a four-letter word meaning ‘[to] long’ is held here.

17d I dispensed with trick in lesson, unlikely to be scratchy (8)
One of those ‘virtual commas’ is required between ‘with’ and ‘trick’, since the letter I is discarded (‘dispensed with’) by a four-letter word for a trick or ruse before it is put inside a term for a lesson or a group of students.

22d Queen, female sovereign, lacking in millions to subjugate (7)
The single-letter abbreviation for Queen in the monarchical sense is followed by a word for a female ruler missing (‘lacking in’) the standard abbreviation for ‘millions’.

29d Game making a row with second dropping (4)
A four-letter word meaning ‘noisy’ (ie ‘making a row’) has its second letter moved to the end (‘with second dropping’).

(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 2,756 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

Having landed on the Guardian website rather tardily, this proved to be pretty tricky for a plain puzzle – no hiddens, and just two anagram-only clues, a very low number by Azed standards. There were some nice, ‘tight’ clues, which seemed as though they’d had a bit more polishing than a few that have appeared in recent times. The number of clues which I had marked out as being worthy of comment far exceeded my normal ‘quota’ (I generally aim to cover around sixteen), so I have omitted several strong candidates. If there are any other clues on which you would like me to comment, just let me know.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 29d, “Old time tart lowering her head somewhat (5)”. A word for a tart or poule de luxe has its first letter (‘head’) moved down a couple of places  (ie lowered somewhat), the result being an obsolete form of a common word for ‘time’ (or a unit thereof). The point of interest is the word ‘her’ in the wordplay; the clue would have worked without it, so Azed has included it specifically to enhance the surface reading. But is it valid? The general principle in cryptic wordplays is that once we have translated an element, the result is treated as a string of letters rather than something with residual meaning. So the wordplay ‘chaps are in advertisement’ for AMEND [MEN in AD] is not allowable – first ‘chaps’ is translated to MEN and ‘advertisement’ to AD, which gives us ‘the string MEN are in the string AD’, which is clearly ungrammatical. Let’s say that in the current clue ‘tart’ gave us TRAMP; the wordplay would then be pre-processed to ‘the string TRAMP lowering her head somewhat’, which doesn’t make any sense. If ‘tart’ provided FLAN, the situation would be the neither better nor worse. If ‘her head’ were intended to indicate T, that would be very different, because, in this instance, at the point that we identify her ‘head’, the tart is still a tart, so ‘her head’ could perhaps reasonably be the first letter of ‘tart’.

I don’t think that many solvers, if any at all, would have a problem with a clue like this, but it does highlight an inconsistency in terms of how the grammar of cryptic wordplays is assessed.

Across

2a What supports springs? Pole holding belt in – right, possibly (11, 2 words)
A four-letter pole (which I tend to associate with boats) contains (‘holding’) an anagram (‘possibly’) of BELT IN and the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘right’.

10a Suicide? Not right – give ear, lilting air about one (8)
If you think that the ‘Not right’ is part of the wordplay, things are likely to get a bit sticky. A four-letter word meaning ‘give ear’ and an anagram (‘lilting’) of AIR are put about the Roman numeral representing ‘one’ to produce a 4-4 answer which Azed has qualified as being ‘not right’ because Chambers shows it as ‘an incorrect form’ of the anglicized version of a colloquial term from another language, the correct spelling of which has two letters swapped.

13a Hooded cape, capital when held by dancing girl (6)
The ‘capital’ which must be contained (‘held’) by a less familiar spelling of a word for an Egyptian dancing-girl is the two-letter abbreviation for ‘upper-case’.

15a Large part of inner hunger, not significant (5)
The answer constitutes all but one letter of the inner part (ie the middle six letters) of a familiar eight-letter word for ‘hunger’.

16a Tasteless water swallowed? It’s certainly not bitter (8, 2 words)
One of those ‘missing pause’ wordplays, where there needs to be either a comma or a word such as ‘with’ between the ‘Tasteless’ and the ‘water’. A five-letter word meaning ‘tasteless from age’ has a word for the sort of water that might be made by children contained within (‘swallowed’). “Your son’s been making water in the swimming baths.” “So what? Lots of children do that.” “Yes, but not from the top diving board.”

24a Crush middle of stomach in fine wool (5)
The middle letter of ‘stomach’ follows the sort of crush that some of her ‘special girls’ had for Miss Jean Brodie.

27a Sandal one’s in pained mostly, twice (8)
A single-letter word for ‘one’ is contained by a four-letter word meaning ‘pained’, deprived of its last letter…and a five-letter word meaning ‘pained’, deprived of its last letter.

30a School basics about over after English clanger (5)
The three letters representing the basics taught at school are put outside (‘about’) the usual abbreviation from the cricket scorebook for ‘over’, the whole lot following the standard abbreviation for ‘English’.

‘I couldn’t afford to learn it.’ said the Mock Turtle with a sigh. ‘I only took the regular course.’

‘What was that?’ inquired Alice.

‘Reeling and Writhing, of course, to begin with,’ the Mock Turtle replied; ‘and then the different branches of Arithmetic — Ambition, Distraction, Uglification, and Derision.’

31a/32a Middle of round includes damaged gut and defeat in shooting, … (6)/ … Precluding need for one awkward ordeal? (6)
In Azed’s clues linked by ellipses there is usually a cryptic connection between them, rather than just a link between the surface readings. Here the first clue can be solved without reference to the second, the middle letters of ’round’ containing an anagram of GUT (with that ‘and’ joining wordplay and definition, I would have preferred ‘including’ to ‘includes’), but the second, an anagram (‘awkward’) of ORDEAL, needs to be read in a context where the shooting has been successfully completed.

33a Religious novice from part of the capital (not south-east) (5)
Solvers outside England may take issue with this one, where a seven-letter part of London (‘the capital’), famed for flowers and footy, is deprived of the usual abbreviation for ‘south-east’.

Down

1d Source of solar light, ardent in pop’s unwrapped present (11)
A three-letter word for ‘ardent’ is contained by an anagram (‘unwrapped’) of POPS, the combination being followed by a word meaning ‘present’. I’m not entirely convinced by ‘unwrapped’ as an anagrind, although I suppose that the sense of ‘unwound’ goes some way towards justifying it.

2d Showing taste, copy warm blanket (6)
A charade of a three-letter (Scots, but not flagged as such) form of the word ‘savour’ (‘taste’) and a word meaning ‘[to] copy’. The linking word ‘Showing’ sits a little uncomfortably at the start of the clue, particularly without any pause being indicated between the end of the wordplay and the beginning of the definition.

4d US footballers from eastern state clothed in e.g. cotton (7)
The two-letter abbreviation for the US state that I associate with Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote (not much help if you never watched it, I appreciate) is contained by a term which in modern usage is applied to articles which were originally made from a specific fabric, but may now be made from cotton or even artificial materials. The answer put me in mind of a Glen Campbell song, even though the person he was singing about had nothing to do with American football.

5d Wild root vegetable our lot shovel up (5)
A two-letter word for ‘our lot’ and a three-letter shovel, either for testing ore or for winnowing, are reversed (‘up’), the result being a name given to certain brassicas. The shovel could also be indicated by ‘commercial vehicle’.

9d Might one find Rome concealed with this, one miracle possibly (6)
A composite anagram &lit, where the letters of ROME and the solution (‘this’) could be rearranged (‘possibly’) to form ONE MIRACLE. The whole clue stands as an indication of the answer, the name for the small oval shield, curved inwards on either side, which was said to have fallen from heaven in the reign of Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome. In light of a prophecy that the stability of Rome was bound up with it, Numa had the workman Mamurius Veturius make eleven identical copies, to make it difficult for would-be thieves to nick the original (the assumption, presumably, being that they would only have brought a swag bag sufficient to hold a single shield, two tops). The care of the collection was entrusted to the twelve priests known as Salii, who paraded the shields (sacred to Mars) through the city during March every year.  They had a special song for the occasion (the Carmen Saliare), and they would beat with staves on a hide (or possibly on the shields themselves, though that would surely have invalidated the insurance) in imitation of a smith’s hammering, thus honouring Mamurius (who was, in fact, probably Mars himself).

11d Fixed engagement taking in East End, fashionable (11)
A four-letter engagement contains (‘taking in’) the usual abbreviation for ‘East’, a four-letter word for an end (now usually a portion of time having definite limits), and a two-letter word meaning ‘fashionable’.

20d Make round article of clay (7)
A nice compact clue, where a four-letter word meaning ‘make’ (or ‘bring in’) contains (’round’) an article in the grammatical sense.

23d Distinctive rabbit causing row with leaping mate (6)
A three-letter word meaning ‘[to] row’ (or the thing you would do it with) is followed by a reversal (‘leaping’) of a word for a mate.

(definitions are underlined)