The Monthly Digest

In the absence – once more – of the puzzle on the Guardian website, I have uploaded a copy of the scan to the Clue Clinic.

The notes on the puzzle will be available later. I will remove this post from the front page when the puzzle eventually appears on the Guardian site.

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 2,755 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

An entertaining puzzle which, despite the easy starter at 1a, was quite tricky in places, hence my above-average difficulty rating. Setters will surely have noticed the presence of two unches in the entries at 12a and 31a – this is a breach of Ximenean rules that would see a puzzle rejected by most editors. A regular correspondent suggests that the ‘obsolete nautical’ answer at 19d should have been flagged; I completely agree, and I would suggest that the ‘rare’ word at 32a and the ‘Somerset etc’ one at 9d should similarly have been qualified – Azed seems recently to have become somewhat ambivalent when it comes to indicating such words.

Clue Writers’ Corner: With answers of six or seven or letters, a straight anagram is unlikely to win any prizes, since it will undoubtedly be found by other competitors; and there will surely be plenty of other relatively succinct ways of indicating the answer through wordplay. With longer words, particularly those with a tractable selection of letters, the situation is rather different. There will typically be a wide range of anagrams available, some involving the addition or subtraction of ‘bits and pieces’ to arrive at the desired result, while it may be hard using other constructions (eg container and contents, reversals) to get to the answer without prolixity. When it comes to words that consist of distinct parts, it is usually considered less than ideal to indicate the parts separately (eg ‘bird, one that glides’ for ROLLERCOASTER), which makes things tougher. Although this month’s word doesn’t present the very finest fodder, I expect plenty of anagrams, particularly given the number of synonyms and ‘interesting’ definitions available for the competition word; of course, anagrams can be combined with other elements, which could include definitions, such as of ASTER in ROLLERCOASTER. Incidentally, Azed is happy to allow abbreviations in anagram fodder, so ‘Kylie left devastated’ would be acceptable wordplay for LIKELY.

Across

10a Group creating fuzzy impression from puff book left off (4)
Two definitions for the price of one here, the first harking back to the heyday of Britpop. The wordplay has the usual abbreviation for ‘book’ being ‘left off’ a five-letter term for the sort of puff that is ‘a publisher’s commendatory description of a book’. There’s a bit in the film No Surrender where the character played by Bernard Hill is told “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. “I do.” he replies, “I can’t read.” When judging a book by those commendatory comments on the cover, I tend to be less influenced by what is said than by whether I’ve ever heard of the person that said it (I don’t know about you, but I find the ratio of unknowns to knowns increasing, which probably says more about my age than their status).

11a Jewellers’ stone presented by person that is including marriage portion (8)
A three-letter abbreviation for ‘person’ is followed by the usual two letters representing ‘that is’ containing a word for a marriage portion, or for a very small spot.

12a Playwright even if old-fashioned (5)
The playwright is Edward Franklin of that ilk, probably best known for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, first performed in 1962 and made into a film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton four years later. Martha answers the question at the end of the play, saying “I am, George. I am.”

13a Scotsman’s great, leading ace – some bloke (5)
A four-letter word which can mean ‘cruel’ in England but ‘great’ in Scotland is followed by the usual abbreviation for an ace at the card table.

15a Malay travel that is returning during prohibition (8)
A three-letter word meaning, among many other things, ‘[to] travel’ and those two letters (again) for ‘that is’ are contained by (‘during’) a word for ‘prohibition’. I will never be convinced that ‘during’ is a valid insertion indicator – it appears often enough in puzzles that I’ve become somewhat inured to it, but my relationship with it remains frosty at best.

21a Brother Etonian must forgo outside foursomes for this (6)
The first two words of the clue must be mentally squashed together before the ‘outside foursomes’ are removed. When ‘for this’ appears at the end of a clue, the ‘this’ usually refers to the answer, but here the two words are actually the definition.

22a Heroine, divine lady outwardly, displaying budding protuberances (6)
The ‘heroine’ leads to a four-letter name which has the two-letter incarnation of the goddess of Earth outside (‘outwardly’). I am not sure that ‘heroine’ alone is sufficient to lead solvers to Miss Woodhouse; ‘titular heroine’ would be better, and ‘Austen heroine’ better still.

27a Effect of sun, absorbing ray by reason of this (6)
Something that is liberally produced by the sun (whether it is an ‘effect’ thereof is somewhat questionable) contains the name of the note in sol-fa notation which is anglicized as ‘ray’. The comment about the definition in 21a also applies here, their answers being rather too similar for comfort.

28a Urchin is second caught by wader (8)
The letters IS (from the clue) and the usual abbreviation for ‘second’ are contained (‘caught’) by a familiar wading bird whose dangling feet in flight are a trademark. The answer and ‘urchin’ are essentially the same word, but different.

32a Waving, inappropriate when former reputation’s involved (8)
A five-letter word for ‘inappropriate’ or ‘excessive’ has an obsolete word for reputation or praise (which in its alternative four-letter spelling could be indicated by ‘5 downs’) inside (‘involved’).

Down

1d Black music: mark query/answer dividing Indian city without lore (8)
The usual abbreviation for ‘mark’ is followed by the nine-letter name of an Indian city, missing the consecutive letters LORE (‘without lore’), which has the usual single-letter abbreviations for ‘query’ and ‘answer’ contained by (‘dividing’) it.

3d Short pants, once straight? (4)
A five-letter word for pants, especially those made of tartan cloth, is deprived of its last letter (‘short’).

7d Minor joist needing to settle I instilled (6)
A five-letter word meaning ‘to settle’ has the letter I (from the clue) inserted (‘instilled’). I make no apologies for grousing repeatedly about missing commas, and there should be one (or an equivalent such as ‘with’ or ‘having’) here between ‘settle’ and ‘I’.

9d Dead removed from fortification found in ditch (4)
The usual abbreviation for ‘dead’ is removed from a word for ‘a fieldwork of two faces forming a salient’ to produce a dialect word for a ditch (one of several possible spellings). The words ‘found in’ are there simply to join the wordplay to the definition, but the structure of the former is such that I don’t think the whole thing works grammatically.

17d Bird losing head in lift? (4)
I can’t help feeling that it should be the bird that loses its head to make a word meaning ‘lift’, but in fact it is an informal sense of the verb ‘lift’ which must lose its first letter.

18d Jumpers execute this early – they start with one (4)
An &lit of sorts, where the initial letters of the first four words form the answer, in other words ‘they [those words] start with [the letters that make up] one’, where ‘one’ is an instance of the answer.

26d Dram suggests this dish (5)
Rather like 17d, this seems slightly back to front. The answer when split 3+2 (in line with its hyphenation) and interpreted cryptically produces a word synonymous with ‘dram’.

28d Cry of derision unreservedly follows end of match (4)
Good news for anyone checking that the adverb which follows the last letter (‘end’) of ‘match’ can mean ‘unreservedly’ – it is the fifty-fifth, and final, meaning given by Chambers. Good news, that is, unless you started at the beginning of the list.

(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 2,754 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

I thought this one was very slightly below the middle of the middle of the difficulty spectrum, largely because of the high proportion of anagrams (11 in 36 clues). There were some clues that read very nicely (eg 27a), although one or two did seem a bit weak (7d in particular).

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 19a, “E.g. worker bee buzzing in nut-tree timelessly?”. Seeing ‘nut-tree’ reminds me of one of my favourite Azed definitions, “Reason for infanta’s visit?”, but here it is simply anagram (‘buzzing’) fodder from which the letter T must be removed (‘timelessly’). The point of interest is that there are two Ts in NUT-TREE – should ‘timelessly’ properly indicate that both of them are to be extracted? It seems to me that, in general, if the solver is instructed to remove something from an operand, then just a single instance should be removed – ‘dining lacking in’ surely leads to DING rather than DG. Similarly with ‘setter lacking time’ for SETER, where ‘lacking time’ is shorthand for “having the abbreviation for ‘time’ removed” – there is no indication that the reduction should be repeated. ‘Timeless’ and ‘timelessly’ are a little trickier, not least because they are rather more whimsical and therefore more difficult to ‘translate’, but I am inclined to treat any such indicator as directing the solver to eliminate a single instance of a sequence of one or more letters. If the requirement is for multiple instances to be deleted, then the setter must make this clear, as Azed has done in 6d (‘without doubly active’) or as in, say, ‘idled, wasting every day’ for ILE. Or, indeed, as in the clue I originally wrote for comp 2,313, only to replace it with an absolutely rubbish one (d’oh!), “Face pater with trepidation after repeatedly blotting one’s copybook (7)”.

Across

1a Example of language misuse British university in such a mistaken … (7)
When Azed uses a pair of ellipses to join two consecutive clues, it usually has a purpose beyond simply continuing a surface reading, with the two clues needing to be considered together. Here the second clue can be solved independently of the first, but in this one the ‘such a mistaken …’ indicates an anagram (‘mistaken’) of the answer to the clue that follows (ie ‘such a …’). The usual single-letter abbreviations for ‘British’ and ‘university’ are contained by the resultant jumble. The definition is a bit of a stretch, since I think it refers to a culture rather than a misuse, but since Chambers gives the word without additional definition, it’s probably fair game.

14a Piece of timber, if old, forming rocker (5)
A three-letter word for the sort of timber that might go on the fire is followed by an archaic form of the word ‘if’, the result being a term for a large boulder that is so delicately poised that even a little push will cause it to rock.

17a Some seasoning I included for crust (4)
One of the less satisfactory clues in the puzzle involves a three-letter word for a salt (‘seasoning’) with the letter I (from the clue) inserted, producing the name given to the upper level of the earth’s continental crust. It has three distinct weaknesses: (i) the three-letter word is a term for any salt, not just the sort that goes with pepper; (ii) there really should be a comma between ‘seasoning’ and ‘I’; and (iii) the salt word is also an alternative spelling of the answer. Could ‘some seasoning’ mean SAL(t)? No, I think not.

20a Old townie accepting comb as distinction (6)
A three-letter ‘archaic slang’ term of contempt for a townsman as distinct from a countryman (or a tradesman/shopkeeper rather than a gentleman) contains (‘accepting’) the three-letter form of a ‘chiefly Scottish’ verb, much revered by setters, meaning ‘to make tidy’, ‘to clear up’…or ‘to comb’.

27a Tissues one kept in box (5)
A single-letter word corresponding to ‘one’ is contained by (‘kept in’) an informal term for ‘the box in the corner’, now more often ‘the enormous flat thing on the wall’.

29a Mate about to slip back part of rigging (6)
A three-letter ‘mate’ contains (‘about’) a reversal (‘back’) of a word meaning ‘to slip’ or ‘to go wrong’.

30a Like a very old breastplate ancient poet cut in convulsion (8)
The name given in the English-speaking world to Quintus H Flaccus, responsible for – inter alia – ‘carpe diem‘ and ‘aurea mediocritas‘, is deprived of its last letter (‘cut’) and put into a three-letter word for a convulsion or involuntary spasm, another “setter’s friend”. There’s no doubt that the noun from which the adjective here derives is a term for an Ancient Greek cuirass, but I think it unlikely that the adjective itself has ever been used in the suggested sense, so I feel that a ‘perhaps’ or a question mark would probably have been in order.

32a Transpire when it’s removed from bathroom? (5)
A (2,5) term for a particular kind of bathroom has the consecutive letters IT removed.

Down

1d Course, a slice of ham, lost heat (5)
A four-letter word for a course that is regularly followed (by George Dixon, in days gone by) combines with the first letter (‘a slice’) of ‘ham’ to produce an obsolete (‘lost’) word meaning ‘to heat’, specifically to heat unseasoned wood in order to straighten it (something that a recent purchase from Wickes would have benefited from). Some dictionaries. including Chambers, show the word as Spenserian – it does appear once in The Faerie Queene, although modern editions show it without the ‘e’, making a much more familiar word:

And in his hand a tall young oake he bore,

Whose knottie snags were sharpned all afore,

And ?????’d in fire for steele to be in sted.

2d Soul of ancient Egypt shed chest with ornamentation (5)
A two-letter word for the soul in ancient Egyptian religion, represented as a bird with a human head, is followed by a word for a shed.

5d Drunk, lacking power at heart, and without spirit (4)
There are a great many words in Chambers which can be used to describe people in various states of inebriation, and here a five-letter one classified as ‘old slang’ has the usual abbreviation for ‘power’ removed from its centre (‘lacking power at heart’), the outcome being a word meaning ‘without spirit’ or ‘listless’.

8d Most excellent gambler, German, in major business deal (10)
A two-letter abbreviation for ‘Most Excellent’ is followed by a five-letter word for a gambler (or a devotee of Minecraft, say) and a three-letter abbreviation for ‘Germany’, producing the (4-6) answer.

18d Relax round pasture – while quaffing one? (7)
A three-letter word meaning ‘recline’ and – just about – ‘relax’ contains (’round’) a poetic word for a pasture which may put you in mind of the sleepy village which Miss Marple calls home. Strictly speaking, the definition is just ‘one’, although the preceding words are vital in establishing the context wherein it is to be interpreted.

21d Votes rising amid Parisian art for source of caviar? (6)
A four-letter word for an aggregate of votes is reversed (‘rising’) inside the French second person singular of the verb être, ‘to be’ (ie ‘Parisian art’). A regular correspondent asks whether ‘Parisian art of old’ would be better here. Given that ‘art’ is shown by Chambers as ‘archaic, esp church, formal or poetic’, I think it’s fine; Azed rarely (if ever) flags words classified in Chambers as ‘poetic’, and it’s reasonable for the setter to choose the qualification that best suits their purpose. In the classic wordplay ‘art master?’ for TEA CHEST, though, both sides of the ‘equation’ are pleasingly archaic.

25d One who sought solitude, famous, acting to the end? (5)
A familiar five-letter word for ‘famous’ has the usual abbreviation for ‘acting’ moved to the end. The reference in the definition is to the actress who spoke the line “I want to be alone” in the 1932 film Grand Hotel, echoing a sentiment that she expressed about herself many times before and after; in a 1928 interview, she said “As early as I can remember, I have wanted to be alone. I’ve always been moody. I detest crowds, I don’t like many people.”

28d Timber tree? Right one will reveal venomous snake (4)
When the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘right’ is placed in front of the answer (‘right one, ie ‘right’ plus the timber tree), the result is a word for a type of snake. I can only assume that Azed has suffered at the fangs of one of the ‘mildly venomous’ reptiles of this name on Galapagos, since Chambers and other sources suggest that most of the serpents going under this title are entirely harmless, unless you are a rodent or mammal of modest dimensions.

(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 2,753 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

A real mixture this week – plenty of straightforward clues, but a few pretty tricky ones. Overall, that probably puts it around the middle of the difficulty spectrum, but as always I’d welcome any views that support or challenge that assertion. It was an enjoyable solve, although I did feel that the surfaces in a few of the clues were a tad clunky and could have benefited from a little polishing. Note that, as correspondent Gillhumph has pointed out below, the word ‘deities’ in the clue for 20d should read ‘deity’.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 2d, “A dozen Scotch cakes, say, consumed in west Wales (4)”. The answer, a Scots form of ‘twelve’,  is hidden in the wordplay part of the clue. The point of interest is those cakes, and the question of whether the definition is valid, in other words whether ‘a dozen cakes, say’ would be an acceptable definition for ‘twelve’. Since Chambers defines ‘dozen’ as ‘a set of twelve’ (my italics), I think the answer is surely ‘yes’. The word ‘dozen’ was formerly very much a noun, which would be followed by ‘of’, as in ‘a dozen of pencils’; it is only in the last 200 years or so that, like ‘hundred’, it has become a quasi-adjective (‘a dozen pencils’). Given this modern usage, I don’t think a clue like “A dozen Scots held in west Wales” could be faulted, but neither, given the Chambers definition, can the clue here.

Across

1a Lawyer (briefly) to question, with time, dubiously rebuked (7)
A three-letter abbreviation (‘briefly’) of an ‘especially North American’ term for a lawyer is followed by a three-letter word meaning ‘to question’ and the usual abbreviation for ‘time’.  In King Lear, Act 1 Scene 4, Goneril says:

Though I condemn not, yet, under pardon,
You are much more ??????? for want of wisdom
Than praised for harmful mildness.

…or does she? This is one of those ‘cruxes’ that gets Shakespearean editors excited – the only thing on which most of them seem to agree is that ‘alapt’ in the first folio isn’t what the Bard intended.

8a Old bird served by US restaurateur in his salad? (4)
The answer is both an archaic (‘old’) word for a gull and the surname of the owner of Hollywood’s Brown Derby restaurant in the 1930s, after whom a salad including lettuce, tomato, bacon, chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado and chives, with the ingredients laid out in neat rows, is named. Whether he invented the dish or it was named in his honour is a matter of conjecture. Note that the salad (though not the gull) is a relatively recent addition to Chambers.

15a Clubman Jock’s chatter takes in one with general intelligence (8)
A six-letter Scots word for idle talk contains (‘takes in’) the Roman numeral representing ‘one’ and the single-letter abbreviation for ‘general intelligence’, producing a rare term for someone who bears a club (or a key).

19a Oriental tipple to quench – litre disposed of (4)
A five-letter word meaning ‘to quench’ is deprived of the usual abbreviation for ‘litre’.

21a Fortifying outwork? More than one of them could form salient (6)
Anagramming the plural form of the answer (ie ‘more than one of them’) could produce SALIENT.

23a Valve (obsolete) was trying, with nothing in it (6)
An obsolete spelling of a word meaning ‘was trying’ has the usual single-character representation of ‘nothing’ inserted (‘in it’). I’m not sure why Azed didn’t use something like ‘tested’ in place of ‘was trying’.

32a As of old, willingly in bar polishing last off (4)
A five-letter word for a bar used to impart pressure or motion has its last letter omitted (‘last off’).

35a Which chant suggests a degree of polish? (7)
To parse this one, you need to clearly separate the definition from the wordplay, wherein ‘which’ refers to the answer, and a familiar four-letter word (????) meaning ‘[to] chant’ could, when split into two parts, suggest ‘? AND ???’. The phrasing of the clue is decidedly ‘back to front’, but something like “A degree of polish that suggests chant?” would make very little sense.

Down

3d Major strike, event involving US eccentric (9)
A five-letter word for an event (or a mild obsession) contains (‘involving’) a word for an eccentric in the North American vernacular (or a mate in the Liverpudlian one).

6d Med port, depressed about end of affluence (7)
An archaic English – or a modern French – word for ‘sad’ contains (‘about’) the last letter (‘end’) of ‘affluence’. For seven years from 1947 the port was part of a Free Territory under the direct control of the UN Security Council. It comprised two zones; in 1954, one zone became part of Italy, while the other became part of Yugoslavia.

8d See ending of concerto and of grand opera, maybe (4)
A kind of ‘semi &lit’, where everything apart from the first word forms the definition and everything apart from the last word constitutes the wordplay. The letter of the alphabet represented by ‘see’ is followed by the last letter (‘ending’) of ‘concerto’ and the last letter (‘and [ending] of’) ‘grand’…as well as the last letter of ‘opera’. Of course, ‘endings’ wouldn’t work in the definition, the answer being singular, but I do struggle to see where the solver can legitimately find that final letter. Could the ‘grand opera’ be ‘Aida’, contributing its last two letters? No, I don’t think it could.

9d What includes British flier I’d seen flapping? (8)
A true &lit, where the answer is made up of the single-letter abbreviation for ‘British’ and an anagram (‘seen flapping’) of FLIER ID, and is suggested more than adequately by the entire clue.

10d Somewhat deformed by being guided round mine? … (11)
There is a similar device being used here to the one in 35a. Here the question mark belongs well and truly to the ‘by’, which must be expanded to ‘b and y’ before being followed by a three-letter word meaning ‘being guided’ (Chambers: ‘under leading or control’), this combination containing (’round’) a three-letter slang term for a bomb or mine, which will be familiar to all Azed regulars. I would have liked to see a more explicit whimsical indicator attached directly to the ‘by’.

16d Jewish period that finds Yemeni catching nasty rash (9, 2 words)
A five-letter term for an inhabitant of a famous port in Yemen contains (‘catching’) an anagram of (‘nasty’) RASH, producing a (5,4) answer. The Jewish calendar is lunisolar: while the years follow the sun and the seasons of the year, the months follow the lunar year, which consists of 12 cycles of the moon around Earth, amounting to a little over 354 days. To deal with the lunar year falling behind the solar year by approximately 10 days 21 hours each year, the Jewish leap year occurs every 2-3 years and adds an extra month to the calendar. This thirteenth month is inserted between  ????, the twelfth month of the year, and Nisan, the first month of the year. Since the leap month follows the month of ????, it was decided that the leap month should be called ???? ????? or Second ????.

28d Veteran rowers fell short (4)
A five-letter word meaning ‘fell’ (as in ‘fell deeds’ and ‘fell diseases’) has its last letter deleted (‘short’), the result being a Miltonian spelling of a familiar word.

30d Cook removing stew from cooker, modern (4)
The combination of a five-letter word for a cooker plus a three-letter word meaning ‘modern’ has the letters STEW removed from the outside (two at the start, two at the end) to produce a word which after spending many contented years as a noun has, like ‘podium’ and ‘monster’, recently also been pressed into service as a verb that we probably could have managed without.

(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 2,752 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

I was a little jaded this morning and probably made harder work of this than I needed to, but I would place it pretty close to the middle of the difficulty spectrum. It was a pleasant solve, though perhaps lacking the verve of Azed’s very finest.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 29d, “Failure just after being backed repeatedly (4)”. The wordplay has two instances (‘repeatedly’) of a two-letter word meaning (among many other things) ‘just after’ being reversed (‘backed’), and the answer is hyphenated, 2-2. The point of interest here is the use of ‘backed’ to indicate reversal in a down clue. Some editors don’t like this, and I was very disappointed a few years ago when a down clue of mine, “Arsenal backs drank hard and often (5)”, was rejected for just that reason. It seems entirely reasonable to me that a reversal indicator like ‘rising’ is accepted only in down clues, but since all clues are printed horizontally, I see no reason why the answer cannot be assembled in the same plane before entry in the grid. I am confident that ‘left bit of broccoli’ would be accepted in a down clue for B, although it seems to me to have exactly the same ‘fault’, and I believe that the only limitations on reversal indicators should apply to across clues.

Across

10a Insinuate love in writing (5)
The usual single-letter representation of ‘love’ is contained by an informal term for handwriting (and a term for the hand itself in a particular configuration).

14a Dark blue adroitness to surpass in play? (6)
The wordplay here has to be read in its entirety, leading to a (2,4) phrase which might describe the sort of adroitness that is displayed in Azed’s (academic) neck of the woods. I thought that perhaps the question mark at the end of the clue was to be applied to the wordplay, but the digital versions of Chambers don’t include the answer. I’m away from home at the moment and don’t have access to the Big Red Book itself, but I suspect that it’s not in there either (though I did come across a word the other day which has got ‘lost’ from the digital implementation of Chambers). Please let me know if it does feature in the BRB, but otherwise there really should have been a note along the lines of ’14a is in Collins’.

17a Certain interference in constellation, a watery condition (8)
A three-letter abbreviation for interference of the electromagnetic kind is contained by the name of a large constellation, as well as the lethally halitotic, many-headed monster which Heracles was tasked with seeing to after successfully dispatching the Nemean Lion.

18a Bird limps back to front (4)
The last letter of a word meaning ‘limps’ is moved to the start (‘back to front’), producing an ‘old slang’ term for somewhere also known in certain circles as ‘bird’; based on the rhyming slang which gave rise to the latter, it would logically apply only to time spent in the place, rather than to the place itself, but it’s in Chambers with that meaning, so who are we to argue?

25a Euro we Scots will go after completely gripped by conflict (8)
A two-letter Scots form of ‘we’ follows (‘will go after’) a three-letter word meaning ‘completely’ contained (‘gripped’) by a word for conflict. The ‘euro’ here is less European, more antipodean.

28a Oriental without a name, fellow that’s very hard up (8)
A six-letter word for ‘oriental’ deprived of the letters A and the usual abbreviation for ‘name’ (consecutively) precedes a four-letter ‘fellow’, probably a decent type.

32a Fond couple displaying reverse of prudence mostly (4)
The answer, a familiar term, is formed by reversing a Greek ‘personification of prudence’ without her last letter (‘mostly’). The first wife of Zeus, she provided him with wise counsel, not to mention giving him a hand to release his five siblings from the stomach of his father, Cronus; he’d eaten them all in an attempt to defy the prophecy that he would be overthrown by his own children, but Zeus’s mum had got wise to what was going on and given Cronus a swaddled stone to devour rather than the baby Zeus. Litholologists will be relieved to learn that the stone was also disgorged, apparently unharmed, and placed by Zeus at Delphi.

34a Like a silky old dress? Far away from famous range (6)
A nine-letter obsolete word for a ‘dress of silk with wool or hair’ has the consecutive letters FAR removed (‘far away’) in order to produce the answer, a less common spelling of an adjective relating to a ‘famous range’.

Down

2d Hooligan that is found under gutter, block knocked off? (7)
The usual abbreviation for ‘that is’ follows a six-letter word for a gutter, or a vessel in which water or food is provided for animals, from which the first letter has been deleted (‘block knocked off’).

5d Snobbish but not completely, a matter for regret (4)
A six-letter word meaning ‘snobbish’ is shorn (I’m starting to run out of synonyms for this process) of a two-letter word meaning, inter alia, ‘completely’.

7d Hazel’s bits, tons seized by Leo, causing wailing (11)
A six-letter word for catkins (ie “Hazel’s bits”) and the usual abbreviation for ‘tons’ are contained by a four-letter word equating to ‘Leo’.

8d Second-year student in theological college, missing second half (4)
An eight -letter word which could also describe the sort of place that three little maids unwarily came from surrenders its last four letters (‘missing second half’). The answer is a shortened form of a (4-5) ‘old’ term for a second-year student in Scotland. As James Fowler Fraser wrote about Aberdeen University in his book Dr Jimmy: Some Reminiscences:

First year students were bajans and bajanellas, second year students were ????s and semolinas, third year students were tertians and tertianas, and fourth year honours students were known as magistrands. The only class that had a name at Marischal [College] was the first year medicals, i.e. lambs.

9d Trickster that was displaying range in turn of work (9)
A five-letter word for ‘range’ or ‘extent’ is contained by a term for a turn of work which can also describe a period of military service in a particular location. The ‘that was’ in the definition is there because the answer is shown by Chambers as ‘obsolete’.

11d Internal inflammation: chloride is restricting whistling sound with one (11)
A four-letter word for something of which a chloride is an example (or a term specifically for sodium chloride) and the letters IS (from the clue) are put around (‘restricting’) a four-letter ‘sharp ringing or whistling sound, eg of a bullet’ and the Roman numeral for ‘one’.

19d Wearing royal headgear, acted to contain an ancient township (8)
A three-letter word for ‘acted’ contains the letter A and a word for a Greek township.

23d Trees dad’s planted round another one child removed (7)
A four-letter alternative for “dad’s” is placed (‘planted’) round a five-letter tree (‘another one’, ie another tree) from which the standard abbreviation for ‘child’ has been lost (‘child removed’).

31d Heater turned up? It’s a gamble (4)
A vessel for heating liquids that is named after a famous volcano is reversed (‘turned up’) to produce a word that certainly describes a stake that is placed when gambling, although whether ‘a gamble’ (‘a transaction depending on chance’) is quite the same thing is perhaps a moot point.

(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 2,751 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

We’re back to a simpler formula this week: solve, enter, repeat. That’s not to say that this was a simple puzzle – plenty of obscurities and a few tricky wordplays seemed to elevate it a little above the middle of the difficulty spectrum. One or two repetitions of cryptic elements, and a couple of dodgy definitions, but generally an enjoyable solve.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 11a, “Variable computer program: essential part includes excursion mostly (9)”. A four-letter word for the essential part of something (which could be a CPU) contains a six-letter word for an excursion from which the last letter has been omitted (‘mostly’). The point of interest here is the definition; solvers with experience of computing will be aware that the indication of the (2-7) answer here is somewhat off the mark. From time to time we all see definitions in puzzles which our knowledge tells us are inaccurate. However, if such a definition is found in the standard reference (for Azed, Chambers Dictionary) that is not the setter’s problem. They cannot be expected to check every meaning given by Chambers, but – more importantly – even if they did, and thus came up with an accurate ‘real world’ definition, it would confuse all those solvers without the subject matter expertise who are reliant on the definitions given by Chambers. This instance is a little different, though, because the setter has tried to interpret the Chambers definition but gone astray. When in doubt, it’s best to play safe and stick closely to what is in the dictionary, so here something like ‘element of computer program’ could not be wrong.

Across

1a Female veil Islamic leader surrenders if attending wild party (8)
A five-letter Islamic leader gives up (‘surrenders’) the consecutive letters IF and is followed by (‘attending’) an anagram (‘wild’) of PARTY. If you choose the wrong alternative spelling of the leader (the one that begins with C), you will end up with a word which is in Chambers but doesn’t fit the definition – if you look at its etymology, you will see that derives from the correct answer.

14a Enfold prize in Cape cloth (6)
A charade of a three-letter word for ‘enfold’ (or the sort of thing that Lewis Hamilton might complete every couple of minutes) and an informal term for ‘a welcome luxury, prize, or spoil’ (which might suggest niceness and easiness) leads to a South African (‘Cape’) word for a rag.

16a Old poems to learn taking turn round school (6)
A three-letter word meaning ‘to learn’ or ‘to understand’ is reversed (‘taking turn’) round a word for the sort of school attended by whales or seals.

19a Hanging garland in honour of local prince (6)
A two-letter word for ‘in honour of’ is followed by a word for a prince; the ‘local’ is there because both the garland and the prince are of Indian origin.

20a What groundsmen will look after, object of many examinations (5)
A double definition clue which most of us will get from the second def (although US solvers may feel that it shouldn’t have an ‘S’ on the end, and teachers may feel that it’s a subject rather than an object). A consultation with Chambers may be required to check the first def.

21a Sweet gets half put away? It may call for diet (5)
A clue that might appear at first sight a little trickier than it really is. A three-letter word for a sweet is followed by GETS (from the clue) missing one half (‘half put away’).

30a Suppose problem is in 26, possibly? (6)
A three-letter word for a problem of the sort that might be encountered in one of those exams at 20a is contained by an anagram (‘possibly’) of the second half of the answer to 26a. I can’t help feeling that while the clue is inventive it would have worked better without the word ‘in’, the presence of which means that the answer to 26 as a whole doesn’t quite fit.

31a Trite remark that’s right within apostrophe (6)
I got this from the definition rather than the wordplay, which involves the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘right’ being contained by (‘within’) a word for ‘apostrophe’, ie the ‘sudden turning away from the ordinary course of a speech to address some person or object present or absent’.

32a Score 1,000, returning hard ball (4)
A word for a ‘unit of scoring in cricket’ (ie ‘score’), and the single-letter abbreviation for ‘1,000’ that might be associated with metres or grams, are reversed (‘returning’).

33a Inks start flowing, about to conclude (9)
An anagram (‘flowing’) of START contains (‘about’) a word meaning ‘to conclude’, often indicated in cryptics by ‘last word’.

Down

1d Infant feeding loaf to small horse? (6)
A four-letter word meaning ‘[to] loaf’ is contained by a two-letter abbreviation from the world of chess. I was at school with Tony Miles, and I remember that he used to call the piece in question a ‘horse’. I played him once. You can probably guess the result.

2d A church plate lying around, unexpectedly trouve with welcoming gesture (12, 3 words)
An anagram (‘unexpectedly’) of TROUVE has the letter A (from the clue) and a five-letter word for a memorial plate in a church (from the material from which it is made) outside (‘lying around’), producing a (1,4,7) expression which for some inexplicable reason makes me think of Charli XCX at the Brit Awards.

4d Prescribed dose is lifted out of place (6)
A reversal (lifted’) of the word IS (from the clue) is removed from (‘out of’) an eight-letter word for ‘place’ (noun or verb).

5d King in being ready to drive off, like Charles evading his pursuers? (5)
The monarchical abbreviation for ‘king’ is contained by a word meaning ‘ready to drive off’, as Tommy Fleetwood might be.

9d Box for rappee stirred sense with liquid measure to ponder (12)
An anagram (‘stirred’) of SENSE is followed by a three-letter Hebrew liquid measure and a word meaning ‘to ponder’, usually seen in a compound with ‘over’. The answer is hyphenated, 8-4, and is a Scots word, although this is neither indicated nor implied in the clue (‘rappee’ has nothing to do with Scotland).

10d US oak rising thus, slip planted (6)
A reversal (‘rising’) of a word meaning ‘thus’ (almost invariably seen, like the Irish in 1066 and All That,  living in brackets) has a three-letter word for ‘slip’, in the ‘mistake’ sense, inserted (‘planted’). Quercus laevis, called the ‘turkey oak’ because its leaves resemble turkeys’ feet, is sometimes referred to as the American turkey oak, to differentiate it from the Turkey oak, native to several countries in south-east Europe including…yes, Turkey. The tree here is of the latter type, so the ‘US’ in the definition should be ignored – Azed may have been hoodwinked by the entry in Chambers, which should, I think, read ‘Turkey oak’ rather than ‘turkey oak’.

22d Totty at St Andrew’s getting easy putt, right? (6)
A five-letter word for the sort of putt that you hope that your opponent will concede is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘right’. A regular correspondent asks if a collective noun can be used to describe a single member of the group. The answer is ‘no’, and it seems like a strange choice of word anyway.

24d No longer makes a fool of copper once holding jerk up (6)
A two-letter word for a Roman copper coin contains (‘holding’) a reversal (‘up’) of a word meaning ‘jerk’ or ‘throw lightly and carelessly’.

25d Pigmen denied wine or scraps (6)
A ten-letter archaic word for people who look after pigs is deprived of (‘denied’) the consecutive letters WINE.

27d This old stoop to take food around afternoon (5)
A four-letter word meaning ‘to take food’ (probably not in the afternoon) contains (‘around’) the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘afternoon’. The answer is a Shakespearean form of a familiar word meaning ‘stoop’ or ‘condescend’. What the word ‘This’ is doing at the beginning of the clue I don’t rightly know.

(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 2,750 ‘Mixed Foursomes’

Difficulty rating: (5.5 / 10)

First and foremost, huge congratulations to Azed on reaching yet another extraordinary landmark. A quite remarkable achievement.

To mark the occasion, we have a special, and it is one of those that looks rather more daunting at first blush than it really is. For starters, we can immediately identify all the Letters Latent clues, because the lengths of their grid entries don’t match the letter counts in the clues (I went through the puzzle and marked them as LL1 or LL2 depending on whether they would be losing one letter or two). Secondly, as soon as we can identify the ‘golden’ letter in any clue from a set of four, then we know that the letter for the other two special clues in that set will be the same – so if the DLM provides a superfluous N, then the letter to be omitted from the Letters Latent entry wherever it appears will be N, and the correct letter in the Misprint clue will be an N, eg ‘heat’ in the original definition could become ‘neat’.

I have included hints on selected clues, followed by a checklist of clue types. I’ll be happy to provide hints for other clues on request.

Clue Writers’ Corner: Our challenge is to write a DLM clue for the nine-letter word at 14d with an extra U in the mixture. There is no precedent when it comes to a competition DLM clue for a single word (with or without extra letter). In this puzzle, the DLM s are generally very concise, but as long as the ten-letter sequence starts or ends at the beginning or end of a word in the non-definition part of the clue, it is acceptable to include verbiage which contributes neither to definition or letter mixture (as in 2d and 16d, which look as though they might have started life as ‘wordplay delivers an extra letter’ clues). Ximenes’ DLMs were based on advertising slogans (and involved lots of cryptically redundant words), while the two Azed DLM comps have required multiple words to be clued, as in AZ comp 1810. I would suggest producing a definition which stands out from the crowd (and may consist of several words), keeping redundant words in the letter mixture part to a minimum, and remembering to include that extra letter. Although there was no ‘2,750’ theme to the puzzle, I wouldn’t be surprised to see clues being submitted which make reference of some sort to Azed’s cruciverbal longevity. Theoretically, the extra letter could come at one end of the string, eg in ‘IN VATs’ or TIN VAse’ for VAIN, extra letter T, but having it at the ‘open’ end (as in ‘in vats’) doesn’t strike me as being desirable, and you will note that in Azed’s DLM clues the extra letter is always to be found somewhere inside the mixture. I have never seen an ‘&lit’ DLM clue, although the description of the clue type as given in the preamble doesn’t preclude such a thing (this is an observation rather than an incitement).

Across

1a Islamite, a rake with bronzed skin (9)
The wordplay in this LL2 clue is a charade of A (from the clue), a three-letter garden implement akin to a rake (or a three-letter verb for what you do with such an implement) and a familiar three-letter word for bronzing of the skin.

7a Fronts of shirts pressed, usually dirty – one may end in wash (4)
In puzzles like this it’s easy to overlook a straightforward ‘take the first letters’ construction, here introduced by ‘Fronts of’.

10a Overly refined lady who’s complicated recipe to follow once (9)
An anagram (‘complicated’) of RECIPE is followed by a word with an archaic (‘once’) sense of ‘to follow’ but  a range of current meanings including ‘[to] employ’.

15a Add too much filling in extreme dentistry (5)
A three-letter informal word (all capitals) meaning ‘too much’ is contained by (‘filling’) the first and last letters of (‘extreme’) ‘dentistry’. I am surprised to see the adjective ‘extreme’ used in this way; it seems little different to ‘central’ on its own indicating that the middle letter of a word should be selected, which is very much a no-no. Noun forms  like ‘extreme parts of’ or ‘extremes of’ would be fine.

23a Astronomical unit accompanied by windy blast inspiring warship? (6)
A two-letter abbreviation for ‘astronomical unit’ is followed by a four-letter word for a windy blast.

25a To err yet have a second test (5)
The extra letter in this DLM clue is, technically speaking, ambiguous, but if Azed had wanted it to be an E he would simply have omitted the word ‘To’ from the beginning.

27a Piece of ballet, benefit including ten dancing (8)
A five-letter word meaning ‘[to] benefit’ or ‘[to] be of service’ contains (‘including’) an anagram (‘dancing’) of TEN. The corrected word in the definition describes an item of medieval armour; a regular correspondent tells me that in fact the piece in question didn’t form part of this item, its use being confined to earlier versions, but we won’t begrudge Azed a bit of anniversary licence.

Down

2d A submariner, ahoy, turned around (9)
The word ‘around’ plays no active part in this DLM clue.

3d Rendered slat, i.e. to pad out (7)
An anagram (‘out’) of IE TO PAD produces an adjective which can mean something along the lines of ‘dulled’.

5d Reduction to a fixed sum, deficient, always contained (10)
A term from the world of psychiatry for ‘a person who fails to develop mentally’ (ie [a] deficient) has a three-letter contraction of a four-letter word for ‘always’ inside (‘contained’). The answer is an archaic term which generally refers to the fixing of penalties or fines.

9d Run in wild speeds resulting in crash (7)
The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘run’ is contained by an anagram (‘wild’) of SPEEDS. I had a brief concern that this group contained two normal clues (which would have made the competition interesting)  before I spotted how ‘crash’ could be modified to produce a much better definition of the answer.

17d Nice dish, reek strangely circling rim (8)
An anagram (‘strangely’) of REEK contains (‘circling’) a familiar four-letter word meaning ‘rim’. The word ‘Nice’ at the start of a clue would normally set the ‘French word coming up’ lights flashing, but the presence of misprints in the puzzle opens up another possibility (thankfully not involving lice or mice).

20d Papal officers filling terms with sloth (8)
A five-letter word for ‘terms of life’ or the times of particular events contains (‘filling…with’) the sloth of two letters and three toes with which all solvers should have at least a passing acquaintance.

28d Mist approaching, but not cold at first (4)
A five-letter word for ‘approaching’ or ‘near’ is deprived of the usual abbreviation for ‘cold’ at its beginning (‘not cold at first’).

(definitions are underlined)

Clue Types:

Across

1:Letters Latent, 7:Misprint, 10: Normal, 11: DLM, 12: DLM, 13: LL, 15:M, 17:N, 19:N, 21:LL, 23:M, 25:DLM, 27:M, 29:LL, 30:DLM, 31: N, 32:M, 33:N.

Down

 1:LL, 2:DLM, 3:M, 4:N, 5:LL, 6:DLM, 7:LL, 8:N, 9:M, 14:DLM, 16:DLM, 17:M, 18:N, 20:LL, 22:N, 24:DLM, 26:LL, 28:M.

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 2,749 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

A puzzle that seemed to nudge the needle of the difficulty meter just into the orange zone – not too many ‘gimmes’, but nothing really tough either, the relatively straightforward (5,8) anagram across the top potentially the key to a flying start. I detected signs of cryptic egocentric ubiquity from Azed, with him being found among herrings in 17a and in hollows in 4d, held in the middle in 7d, and (most worrying of all) caught in two bits of ladies’ underwear at 11d and involved in men’s ‘self-administered massages’ at 26d.

I suspect that this is not a grid that Azed has used before, since it breaks his own rules of ‘unching’ – the entries at 16a/29a have two unchecked letters, although no more than one ‘unch’ is normally allowed in a five-letter light.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 27d, “Harrow fern thicket”. This is a triple definition clue, each word in the clue indicating a different meaning of the answer. Here each definition leads to a different headword in Chambers, so the words indicated are entirely separate. This is the ideal situation in multiple definition clues, and is almost certain, even with only two definitions, to eliminate any possible ambiguity, as in “Put up with pain in the neck” for BORE [past tense of ‘bear’; noun].

However, as long as the meanings are different enough to pin down the answer, using senses that appear under the same headword is acceptable. So “Screen cricket match” for TEST [verb; noun = ‘test match’] is fine, as is the triple definition clue “Complete accurate model” for PERFECT [verb; adjective; adjective]. An example of a double definition that would not pass muster would be “Live with bear” for SUFFER [verb; verb], which could equally well be a clue for ENDURE or ACCEPT. 

Multiple definition clues are generally succinct and – in moderation – can enhance a puzzle. That said, it’s a near certainty that if you come up with a combination of single-word definitions that seems particularly appealing, eg ‘China tea’ for MATE [noun; noun], a Google search will confirm that there is indeed nothing new under the sun.

Across

11a Lake-shore mineral artist crated? (5)
Just as ‘having retired’ can indicate that another element of the wordplay is ‘in BED’, so here the ‘crated?’ tells us that the usual abbreviation equating to ‘artist’ is to be put inside a different three-letter word.

15a Devout prankster in Amazonian craft? (7)
A charade of a two-letter ‘informal’ word that always used to be indicated in cryptics by ‘sanctimonious’ and a term for a prankster or a rascal, leading to the French spelling of a word for a South American dugout canoe.

19a Rainy borders of Hungary and elsewhere (6)
The first and last letters (‘borders’) of ‘Hungary’ are followed by a (2,2) abbreviation for two different Latin phrases meaning ‘and elsewhere’ / ‘and others’, neither of which quite works in the surface reading, where something like ‘and other places’ is what’s really needed.

20a Stoup’s content? Namely ‘overflowing’, about to go fast (9, 2 words)
The usual two-letter (Latin) abbreviation meaning ‘namely’ is followed by a three-letter informal term (all capitals) containing (‘about’) a word meaning ‘to go fast’ (often round and round). Azed clearly acknowledges that ‘overflowing’ is a bit of a stretch by putting it in inverted commas – the first thing that it puts me in mind of is still Chris Tarrant’s short-lived (three months) ‘adult’ version of Tiswas, broadcast at 11pm on twelve Saturday nights in early 1982. A look at its Wikipedia entry suggested that the article’s author and I may have been watching different programmes – it does come with the caveat “This article may be written from a fan’s point of view, rather than a neutral point of view”, but I think perhaps ‘a fan’ should read ‘the fan’.

24a Like heavy type whenever included, of two kinds (6)
A four-letter word which could describe a heavy typeface contains a conjunction meaning ‘whenever’ or ‘provided that’ (ie ‘whenever included’). The required sense of the answer is shown by Chambers as ‘Shakespearean’, although Azed has chosen not to indicate this. Troilus says:

O madness of discourse, that cause sets up with and against itself!
?????? authority, where reason can revolt
Without perdition, and loss assume all reason without revolt.

27a Sprinkle all over set scattered in beer? (7)
An anagram (‘scattered’) of SET is contained by the sort of thing that Brummies and yamyams of a certain age will associate with Mitchells & Butlers and their beer ‘for the men of the Midlands’, which went under the name ???? XI (“that’s the beer to hurry for”). I was one of many ‘boys of the Midlands’ who consumed a fair amount of the stuff, largely from the four-pint or seven-pint ‘bumpers’ that were regular attendees at parties back in the day. I think we’d have got drunk quicker on Vimto.

33a Take as a precaution (one might assume) what may run along river? (5)
Rather like the artist being ‘crated’ in 11a, here the position of the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘take’ is cryptically indicated by a (2,4) expression meaning ‘as a precaution’.

34a Abjure former race forever (5)
A variant spelling of a familiar word meaning ‘[to] race’ or ‘[to] go swiftly’, qualified by Chambers as ‘formerly’, is followed by a two-letter word meaning ‘forever’. Since I solved this clue, a Four Tops earworm, involving walking away (or not), has been my constant companion.

Down

2d Shoot on grouse moor? There’s nothing in what’s to cook (4)
The usual representation of ‘nothing’ is contained by the name of a vessel used for cooking. The answer is given by Chambers with the required spelling, although I think that in practice the verb is invariably spelt with a U.

5d Knock to indicate needing lift? Tapping noise (6)
Two three-letters words, one meaning ‘knock’ and the other ‘indicate’, are reversed (‘needing lift’) to produce the answer.

8d Tinware in its material, hot (6)
A four-letter word for painted or lacquered tinware is contained by the chemical symbol for tin (ie ‘its material’). The definition could relate to goods which fell off the back of a 29a.

10d Charm with minor switch, English copy (7)
A six-latter charm having two letters exchanged (‘with minor switch’) is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘English’.

13d Old gold coin to cheer buckaroo, not the first (9)
A four-letter word meaning ‘to urge on by shouting’ is followed by a six-letter ‘buckaroo’ deprived of its first letter (‘not the first’).

18d One travels via Amtrak, arrival affected, velocity becoming constant (7)
The letters of ARRIVAL, with the usual abbreviation for ‘velocity’ being replaced by the abbreviation for ‘constant’, are rearranged (‘affected’) to form the name of something that might travel on a railway line. The word is classified by Chambers as ‘US’, which is implied by the presence of Amtrak in the definition.  

21d Stiff rule in wood (6)
The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘rule’ is contained by a five-letter wood or dense thicket, with the definition putting me in mind of a definition of AUTOPSY on very similar lines which I used in one of my early puzzles (possibly my first blocked crossword).

(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 2,748 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

This struck me as being significantly easier than its immediate antecedents. Not too many obscurities and plenty of anagrams certainly helped the solver’s cause. It was a pleasant solve, though it did seem to lack the élan  of Azed’s very finest.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 5d, “Satellite can when housing volunteers (5)”. A straightforward wordplay, another word for a can containing the letters TA (‘volunteers’). However, there is a potential issue here. Chambers gives TA as an abbreviation for ‘Territorial Army’, so there is no problem at all in using ‘Territorial Army’ to indicate TA in a cryptic wordplay. The issue is that whilst the British Army’s volunteer reserve force was known as the Territorial Army until 2014, since that time it has been called the Army Reserve. For this reason, most editors now insist that if ‘volunteers’ is used to indicate TA it must be accompanied by a ‘not any more’ qualifier, eg ‘volunteers once’. The same applies to ‘teachers’ for NUT, the National Union of Teachers having in 2017 become part of the National Education Union. The Royal Artillery, by contrast, is very much alive and known to all as ‘The Gunners’, so there’s no problem with ‘Gunners’ for RA. I appreciate that there are other ‘Territorial Armies’ around the world, and perhaps other National Unions of Teachers, but I don’t think that has a material bearing on the situation, where I am broadly aligned with the current thinking – when indicating a defunct entity using a description other than the expanded form of its abbreviation, the solver should be made aware that the entity for which the abbreviation was created no longer exists.

Across

7a Mass that’s sticky and avoided by food lover (4)
A seven-letter ‘older form’ of an eight-letter word for a lover of good food is deprived of (‘avoided by’) the consecutive letters AND.

15a Convent I’ll enter to divide out in proportion (8)
The letter I (from the clue) is inserted into (‘[wi]ll enter’) a seven-letter ‘mainly US’ verb meaning ‘to distribute proportionately’, derived from a familiar (3,4) Latin expression describing such a distribution. It occurs to me that Chambers uses both ‘chiefly’ and ‘mainly’ in classifications (eg ‘chiefly US’, ‘mainly US’). I would have thought that they came to the same thing (C gives the first meaning of ‘mainly’ as ‘chiefly’) – does anyone know if there is any significance in the choice of one over the other?

18a Mischievous spirit in river, sacred one, … (5)
The usual abbreviation for ‘river’ is followed by the name of a particular sacred river (ie ‘sacred one’) which will be familiar to all Coleridge aficionados (or those who were ‘encouraged’ to read Kubla Khan at school). The ‘mischievous spirit’ is the imp of mischief in a printing house, usually to be found residing within the offices of The Guardian.

20a … Which with us leaving river may create such a fiasco (6)
The solution to the previous clue (hence the ellipsis), plus the letters US and without (‘leaving’) the abbreviation for ‘river’, can be rearranged to form (‘may create’) a (4-2) slang term for a fiasco. Note that if the preceding clue had not included a comma after the ‘one’, it is the sacred river, not the mischievous spirit, that would have been carried forward, There would then have been no requirement to eliminate the letter R from the anagram fodder, but “… Which with us may create such a fiasco” wouldn’t make any sense. I wonder if Azed started there but couldn’t produce a serviceable surface reading.

24a One exploring cellar, long, second to last (5)
A five-letter word meaning ‘[to] long’, as one might do for nicotine or attention, has its second letter moved to the end (‘second to last’).

26a Scots downfall left to happen (6)
A two-letter word with many meanings is followed by a four-letter verb meaning ‘to happen’ or ‘to arrive’. Is one of those many meanings ‘left’? Only if you are a right-handed batter, I would venture to suggest. A similar issue arose in 2,588 with the clue “Last bit of lunch left for pet (3)” for HON [(lunc)H + ON]. This makes me suspect that Azed has it in his mind that because the right-hand side of a horse or vehicle is termed the ‘off’ side that the left side is ‘on’ rather than ‘near’. Incidentally, the OED confirms that the near/off thing started with horses, which apparently are (or were) “commonly mounted, led, or approached, from the left side, which is consequently the one near to the person dealing with them”.

32a See this roan or bucks in one horse race – Derby maybe? (6)
A composite anagram, where the solution plus ROAN OR undergoes rearrangement (‘bucks’) to form ONE HORSE RACE. The definition is by example, hence the ‘maybe’ (although the question mark alone would have been sufficient).

33a Veteran combatant; club admits dry alien, tottering (10)
A three-letter word for the sort of club that might be wielded contains (‘admits’) the two-letter abbreviation often indicated by ‘dry’ and an anagram (‘tottering’) of ALIEN.

Down

1d Give metal hull to vessel, dry within long beam (12)
A six-letter vessel in which water would have been heated precedes that ‘dry’ abbreviation again (see 33a) contained by (‘within’) a word for a long beam particularly associated with microphones (and Basil Brush).

6d In cheap style, not well cut in Indian mat (7)
A three-letter word meaning ‘not well’ missing its last letter (‘cut’) is contained by a five-letter word for ‘a screen or mat, usually made of the roots of the fragrant cuscus grass, which is placed in a frame so as to fill up the opening of a door or window, and kept wet, in order to cool and freshen the air of a room’. The ads make Febreze sound a simpler option.

10d Falsify king in gambling stake on hand (12)
The usual monarchical abbreviation for ‘king’ is put inside a four-letter word for a stake in gambling (a sense of a word originally meaning ‘outlay’ or ‘expenses’ seemingly known only to the editors of Chambers), the combination being followed by (‘on’) a seven-letter verb meaning ‘[to] hand’.

12d Variety entertainments not following scripts (5)
There is (or perhaps I mean “isn’t”) one of those missing commas between ‘following’ and ‘scripts’, because a six-letter word meaning ‘scripts’ is to be shorn of the single-letter abbreviation for ‘following’ (ie ‘not following’).

16d Water buffalo tucking into Caribbean country palm (8)
There are believed to be less than 4,000  of these water buffaloes in the world, mainly found in Assam and cryptic crosswords. The four-letter term (derived from Hindi) for one of them is contained by the name of a Caribbean country which is famous for its boxers rather than its cricketers. The palm that forms the answer is associated, in my mind at least, with wax.

23d Reckon region must lose railway (5)
A seven-letter word for a region must be deprived of (‘lose’) the two-letter abbreviation for ‘railway’.

25d Typical of flasher, slurped ale in the course of meeting (6)
An anagram (‘slurped’) of ALE is contained by (‘in the course of’) a three-letter abbreviation for a particular sort of meeting. I wondered why I had never seen ‘slurped’ used as an anagram indicator before, and when I looked the word up in Chambers I was unconvinced by its credentials.

27d Some wines can make this islander sit up (5)
An eight-letter plural of a particular sort of wine (ie ‘some wines’) constitutes (‘can make’) the five-letter answer, a word for the inhabitant of a specific island, followed by the letters SIT reversed (‘sit up’).

28d Phenol suiting piggy not having exercise outside (5)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘piggy’ (ie like a pig) has a two-letter abbreviation for ‘exercise’ removed from the outside.

(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 2,747 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

Another plain puzzle that was quite tricky in places, particularly if you were trying to solve the version that first appeared on the Guardian web site. Yes, there were a couple of simple ‘hiddens’ and a ‘take every other letter’, but there were also a couple of clues where the wordplay for an uncommon word itself contained a word which is likely to have been unfamiliar, and neither could readily be deduced – I’m not keen on clues like this, because unless you know one of the words they can only be solved by brute force.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 7d, “Floppy disc I’m featured in (4)”. Nothing too difficult about the wordplay, the letters IM (from the clue) being contained by (‘featured in’) the two-letter abbreviation for a vinyl disc of the album variety, producing a word meaning ‘floppy’. I’m used to seeing clues in other puzzles where the cryptic reading is lacking a necessary pause, eg “I chucked out important chap” for MAN [MAIN – I], where the wordplay requires “I chucked out, important”. Similarly “Fellow general I chucked out” requires either a comma or the word ‘with’ after ‘general’ to indicate that the word MAIN needs to have the letter I ‘chucked out’. Azed has written in the past about the importance of respecting punctuation in clues; recently, though, he seems to have been producing a lot of ‘missing comma’ clues himself – 9d in the current puzzle is one, and this clue is another. For the cryptic reading to work without a comma after ‘disc’, the words following would need to be either “I’m is featured in” or “I’m features in”, neither of which makes sense in the surface reading. I don’t consider that punctuation which misleads the solver in this way constitutes acceptable misdirection, and it is something that I believe should be avoided by setters.

Across

1a Gremlin that diverts English prof’s little (12, 2 words)
The wordplay here tells us that the answer is an anagram of (‘diverts’) a combination of the usual abbreviation for ‘English’ plus PROFS LITTLE, but the answer may not immediately spring to mind. It is divided (6,6), and has come straight off the Eurostar, the first word being the French for ‘spirit’. I gather that it describes a household spirit or goblin in the north of France, which  can be heard but never seen, and cannot be expelled by water, exorcism or Trump. Incidentally, based on the meanings given by Chambers, ‘diverts’ seems a bit of a stretch as an anagram indicator.

10a Spore cases getting to soak mostly when penetrated by start of rain (5)
A five-letter word meaning ‘to soak’ (as one might do when pickling a herring) deprived of its last letter (‘mostly’) contains (‘is penetrated by’) the first letter (‘start’) of ‘rain’.

11a Projecting angle, one in vaulted passage north of the border (5)
Very tricky if you know neither the outward-pointing angle (applied especially to a fortification or a line of defences) or the Scots word for a vaulted passage, into which the Roman numeral for ‘one’ must be inserted. An alternative wordplay would be ‘pastry dish not dated’.

13a Bright green stone filled with luminance dad’s set before mum (6)
The apostrophe-s in the wordplay transfers into the answer, where three letters equating to “dad’s” are ‘filled with’ (ie contain) the single-letter abbreviation for ‘luminance’, and are followed by two letters for ‘mum’. The answer will be familiar, but this particular sense of it may not.

15a Couple formerly exhausted tea (4)
There’s a three-for-two offer on definitions here, the order of their appearance in the clue matching the sequence in which they can be found in Chambers. The answer could also be clued as “China tea”, but the problem with double definitions like that is that they will almost certainly have been used before. I remember reading a piece by Dean Mayer where he neatly summarized the problem facing setters these days, observing that the number of clues published are growing at a much faster rate than the number of words in the dictionary. Increasing repetition of clues, particularly succinct ones, is an inevitable consequence.

19a Directed round old bear bent over (6)
A three-letter word for ‘directed’ or ‘guided’ contains (’round’) a Shakespearean word meaning ‘to give birth to’ (ie ‘old bear’). The answer is a familiar word.

22a Star with jinx goes round unplaced after run here? (10)
This &lit, where the whole clue stands as an indication of the answer,  seems a little bit strained. A three-letter word for a ‘star’ or ‘expert’ is followed by a five-letter jinx, containing (‘goes round’) the single numeral which, in a racehorse’s form figures, indicates a race in which the horse was unplaced (as opposed to 1,2,3,F,U,P etc). It is the ‘here?’ in the clue that points to the answer.

24a It protects driver in the outback, and sounds like rumpus without breadth? (6, 2 words)
One for the antipodean solvers, and a slightly strange one at that. A homophone for a word which is slang for a rumpus (and can also mean ‘nonsense’) gives us the seven-letter name of a green dog that those of a certain age will associate with a pink cat called Custard and the narration of Richard Briers, which is otherwise a non-word. This is deprived of the usual abbreviation for ‘breadth’, the result being a (3,3) expression.

25a Skene-dhu may be stuck in here – and what results when one’s stuck in? (4)
A three-letter word that could describe what results when a skene-dhu is stuck into someone’s ankle (the meaning of the Scots word which forms the answer) itself has the Roman numeral for ‘one’ stuck inside it. I do not have accurate figures from NHS Highland, but I suspect that the number of clansmen who have suffered ankle injuries as a result of carrying a skene-dhu in the top of their sock (where it is normally ‘stuck in’) is on the low side. Although the laws around knives in the UK are strict, wearing a skene-dhu in public is legal as long as it is worn as part of a highland outfit. Those of you who would prefer not to carry a real stainless steel skene-dhu can purchase a plastic bladed variant, thus reducing further the likelihood of ankle trauma.

32a Plunge into trough – baconers do? O, this boar possibly (5)
A composite anagram, where the letters of BACONERS DO can be rearranged (‘possibly’) to form O plus the solution (‘this’) plus BOAR.

Down

2d Foreign cash I added to pay once (5)
The letter I (from the clue) is tacked onto the end of a four-letter Spenserian word for pay, which could also be indicated by ‘exchanged for money’.

3d Justice included in essential life force or understanding of Buddhism (6)
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘justice’ is contained by a five-letter word for the breath of life, producing another word derived from Sanskrit, this one meaning ‘an understanding of the truth achieved directly rather than through reasoning’. The ‘breath of life’ word could itself be indicated by ‘Prince managed answer’.

6d Cabbage climbing in branch? It’s for plucking! (8)
A four-letter cabbage (and an old king) is reversed (‘climbing’) inside the sort of branch that might be found in a road. The appendage that forms the answer can certainly be pulled, touched or tugged, but I think that plucking it would  generally be considered excessively obsequious (and painful).

8d Gets tips around end of dinner (6)
A five-letter word meaning ‘tips’ or ’tilts’ contains (‘around’) the last letter (‘end’) of ‘dinner’.

9d Sons going forward with a bit of learning, incessant (7)
Probably the trickiest wordplay in the puzzle, made harder by the lack of a comma between ‘going’ and ‘forward’. A four-letter word meaning ‘[to] forward’, with the usual abbreviation for ‘son’ (ie one of the ‘sons’) removed (‘going’), is followed by a seven-letter word for ‘portions of instruction’ (ie ‘a bit of learning’) from which the consecutive letters SON (the other ‘son’) have likewise been omitted.

18d Stone erected above US writer possibly, extremely rigorous (8)
The usual two-letter abbreviation for ‘stone’ is put above the first name of one of America’s most famous authors (A Farewell to Arms etc); it could equally well have been placed below the surname of an Irish novelist (Tristram Shandy etc).

26d Not a bad shot, something very impressive but missing wicket (5)
A six-letter word for something which is very impressive is missing the usual abbreviation for ‘wicket’. The answer relates to a pretty good shot in archery, and a very good one at darts (unless you were aiming for treble 20).

27d Part of hop, no good in a drinking session (4)
A five-letter drinking bout has the usual abbreviation for ‘good’ omitted (‘no good’).

(definitions are underlined)