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 2,683 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

I suppose we’d had a pretty good run of puzzles being published on the Guardian web site in a timely manner, so a glitch was probably due; I am indebted to Roslyn, who provided me with a scan of the puzzle (as of 20/11, finally available on the Guardian site). The number of today’s crossword has a certain significance to me in that our telephone number at home was for many years Redditch 2683 (until it was extended to five digits and became 62683). In the early days it was a party line, something which might sound like fun to those unfamiliar with the term, but actually meant that you would not infrequently pick up the receiver to make a call and find that the Marstons next door were already using the line.

 I did rather rush through it, but I’d probably say that the puzzle was slightly below the middle of the difficulty spectrum, the thirteen anagrams being a big help.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 18d, “Riverside plant? See me cutting bract (7)”. The wordplay has MI inside (‘cutting’) a term for a bract of a grass-flower, which could also have been indicated cryptically by ‘wan time’. I once submitted a clue for a puzzle in which ‘a’ in the clue had to be translated by the solver into AN; I wasn’t entirely happy about it myself, and I was unsurprised when the editor rejected it. Of course, the two words mean the same thing, but it is rather like using ‘raze’ to indicate RASE – they are actually the same word, so one cannot legitimately be used to indicate the other. I feel that ME and MI fall into the same category, since ME is simply an anglicized spelling of MI, and therefore I don’t feel that this clue really works.

Across

1a Does one summon diners? Chorister’s good for starters (8)
An eight-letter word for a chorister (or, in truth, a singer generally) has its first letter replaced by the usual abbreviation for ‘good’ (ie ‘good for starters’). Incidentally, before Azed became, well, Azed he had sixteen Listener crosswords published under the pseudonym Gong, apparently a family nickname.

7a Sounds like murder? Motive, we hear (4)
A homophone for the sort of motive that is on occasion linked with impediment, and just the sort of definition you’d expect from Azed.

10a Company of folk came without morning legume (9)
A seven-letter word for a company of people or something in which to take a holiday (although ever since the one that my parents rented in Borth many years ago was overrun by ants I’m less than keen to do so myself) is followed by the word CAME (from the clue) missing the two-letter abbreviation for ‘[in the] morning]’ (‘without morning’).

12a Pick up fish, exchanging parts (5)
The last three letters of a word meaning ‘[to] fish’ are moved ahead of its first two (‘exchanging parts’).

15a Composer losing yen to compose (4)
The composer is Jean-Baptiste (formerly Giovanni Battista, with a slightly different surname), who was born in Florence in 1632 but came to Paris as a boy. A skilled composer, musician and dancer,  after much scheming he was eventually appointed operatic director by Louis XIV, and provided the scores for almost a score of operas.

20a Wagon in bend roars terribly, about to get stuck reversing (9, 2 words)
A one-letter ‘bend’, of the type often found under a sink or basin, is followed by an anagram (‘terribly’) of ROARS, containing (‘about’) the reversed form of a three-letter word meaning ‘to get stuck’ (or a product often associated with the Women’s Institute). The solution is (4,5) and describes something also seen as a bear or a ladle.

23a Local wanton aforetimes having fun a great deal (6)
A three-letter dialect term for ‘sport’ or ‘fun’ is followed by a familiar word meaning ‘a great deal’. The solution is shown by Chambers as ‘obsolete’, hence the ‘aforetimes’, although I think Azed meant ‘aforetime’, since ‘aforetimes’ isn’t, as far as I can establish, a real word.

29a Shame or pity enveloping what mercy conveyed? (5)
A three-letter informal word for a pity (“Azed not available online? Oh, it’s a ???”) is put around (‘enveloping’) an informal modern equivalent of the obsolete interjection ‘mercy’, expressing thanks (‘what mercy conveyed’).

31a One putting up with canon concerned with a great deal circulating (9)
The wordplay here involves the reversal of a 4+2+3 charade, comprising a canon in the sense of a rondo, that ubiquitous bit of commercial jargon meaning ‘concerned with’, and the same word for ‘a great deal’ that we had in 23a. I try to avoid using phrasal verbs that include a preposition to define agent nouns, and I leave it to the reader to decide whether ‘with’ is part of the definition.

Down

4d Laplanders afflicted with onset of ailment internally (5)
A four-letter ‘obs or poetic‘ past tense of a verb meaning ‘to afflict’ contains (‘with…internally’) the first letter (‘onset’) of AILMENT.

6d Gross sporty type, head down somewhat (6)
A six-letter word for a sporty type (or the singular form of a term once used to address fellow sailors) has it’s first letter moved downwards a few places (‘head down somewhat’).

8d A goose, almost dead, heading straight for vessel at sea (5)
The letter A (from the clue) is followed by another name for the Hawaiian goose, from which the last letter has been omitted (‘almost’), and the usual abbreviation for ‘dead’. The solution is a 2-3 hyphenated nautical term, and I rather like the definition.

17d Clown, one known for his positive philosophy? (7)
The clown is, according to Chambers, one ‘of the white-faced, bungling type’, while the second definition refers to the forename by which Isidore Marie ??????? François Xavier Comte, the originator of the doctrine of positivism, is known.

19d Spotty and miserable, typical of self-absorbed generation, a drag (7)
A two-letter word which, when applied to ‘generation’ describes ‘the generation either of the 1970s, typically self-absorbed, or of the 1980s, typically greedy and materialistic’ precedes the letter A (from the clue);  the ‘drag’ which follows is an overland conveyance without wheels that would be pulled along.

21d Skunk, one left without offspring (6)
It seems a long time since this skunk, a favourite of a former correspondent and sometimes spelt with a C on the end rather than a K, has made an appearance – usually it is the solution, but here it forms part of the wordplay, being followed by a one-letter word for ‘one’ and the usual abbreviation for ‘left’. The answer is an odd sort of word, and I’m not sure whether the Chambers definition is correct; OED gives ‘non-sexual; producing only asexual progeny’, which sounds more likely.

22d I’ll follow Pakistani about to climb palm tree (6)
The letter I (from the clue) comes after (‘[will] follow’) a three-letter word for a member of a people inhabiting NW India and Pakistan, containing (‘about’) a two-letter verb meaning ‘to climb’ (in the sense of ‘rise’).

27d Romanovs primarily as covered in TASS possibly? (5)
I can’t help thinking that this &lit could have been phrased more appealingly, but anyway the first letter (‘primarily’) of ROMANOVS is contained by (‘covered by’) an anagram (‘possibly’) of TASS.  The whole clue serves as an indication of the solution.

(definitions are underlined)

Many thanks to Roslyn, who has kindly provided me with a scan of the puzzle, enabling me to produce the notes, which are now available,

I have uploaded a copy of the scan here.

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 2,682 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

I found the difficulty of this one quite hard to assess – there weren’t too many ‘gimmes’, and a certain amount of general knowledge was required, but there weren’t too many tough clues either. All in all, I’m inclined to place it smack in the middle of the spectrum. The note regarding the verb form at 17a not being in Chambers puzzled me a little, since it’s in my copy of Chambers (2016), as well as being in all of the (several) electronic versions of Chambers which I have.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 22a, “Loop of thread reflected whiff (4)”. In basic reversal clues where a word read forwards is the same as another read backwards, it is important to tell the solver which part of the clue is the wordplay, usually by putting the reversal indicator at one end of the clue so that it can only apply to the word or words next to it. Hence rather than ‘Finish returning receptacles’ for POTS, which could equally well be a clue for STOP, one would write something like ‘Returning to intercept vessels’ [STOP< = POTS]. For STOP, the clue could be ‘Prevent vessels returning’ [POTS< = STOP]. Here the ‘reflected’ could equally well affect the ‘loop of thread’ or the ‘whiff’, and the clue is therefore ambiguous. Although moving the indicator to one end of the clue wouldn’t work well, the alternative approach of using a ‘one-way link’ could have been employed, eg ‘Whiff reflected in loop of thread’. Incidentally, the whiff word is shown by Chambers as a ‘rare variant’, and it really should have been indicated as such.

Across

1a Outhouse deserted in cut-price holiday giving bank protection? (12)
This one took me longer than it should have – I was thinking along the wrong lines for that ‘cut-price holiday’, a seven-letter noun which contains a four-letter word for an outhouse and the usual abbreviation for ‘deserted’. The solution  is hyphenated, 4-8.

13a An Irish girl admits touching former sweetheart (6)
The indefinite article and a three-letter Irish slang term for a girlfriend (who, after three years, presumably gets inspected annually for defects) which contains (‘admits’) that ubiquitous piece of commercial jargon meaning ‘concerning’ (‘touching’).

15a Not exactly a trans, offering list in exchange? (7)
I am much happier to accept ‘offering’ as a link between definition and wordplay than ‘requiring’ in the reverse direction (see 4d). The ‘list’ refers to list² in Chambers, and the four-letter ‘exchange’ within which it is contained involves something being exchanged for money. I wonder if Azed considered other slightly more risqué definitions? Probably best not to think about it.

20a Chinese idol he omitted from jokes (4)
A six-letter word for ‘jokes’ or ‘teases’ has the consecutive letters HE omitted.

24a Wooded vale, gloomy – complain at leaves (6)
A three-letter word meaning ‘gloomy’ is followed by a five-letter word for ‘complain’ missing the consecutive letters AT (‘at leaves’).

30a Part of dog’s home is entertaining – look around (5)
If one reads this clue in the conventional definition plus wordplay way then the definition doesn’t seem right – the word that is formed by putting a three-letter word meaning ‘is entertaining’ inside an interjection meaning ‘look!’ is the full name of the place where a particular breed of dog was originally developed, so “dog’s home” is sufficient as the definition (or perhaps “Part of dog’s name”). It did then strike me that the clue could be read as saying that part of the name of the dog’s home is the three-letter word, and that it is completed by putting the two-letter word around it, ie the definition is indeed just “dog’s home”. This would be an extremely unusual way to phrase a clue, but you never know…

32a Hebridean location wherein you’ll find wood pigeon? No question (4)
When a Scottish (not stated, but loosely implied by the clue) word for a wood pigeon has the single-letter abbreviation for ‘question’ removed (‘no question’) it produces the name given to a group of six islands in the Outer Hebrides.

33a Course eaten, I’ll be puzzled about recipe (7)
An anagram (“‘ll be puzzled”) of EATEN I containing the usual abbreviation for ‘recipe’ produces the the name of a course which becomes a focus of the nation’s attention around the end of March/beginning of April. “Course eaten, I’m puzzled about recipe” would seem much more natural, but this would fail when it came to the wordplay, which would require “Course eaten, I are puzzled about recipe”.

Down

4d Vac being over, most of what follows requiring special case (7)
The wordplay here involves a four-letter informal word for ‘holidays’ (‘vac’) preceding (‘being over’) the word for what comes between one vac and the next, from which the last letter has been removed (‘most of’). Some time ago a correspondent asked if I would provide a list of ‘link words’ that can be used to join the wordplay and definition parts of a clue, eg ‘producing’. Although I very rarely such words (or phrases) in my own clues, I do plan to create such a list at some point. The problem, as this clue demonstrates, is that one setter’s view of what is acceptable will not accord with another’s, and the issue is exacerbated by the fact that Chambers gives so many meanings for prepositions such as ‘of’ that there is almost certainly to be one which can be chosen to justify its use as a link word. Considering the use of ‘requiring’ (‘calling for’, ‘necessitating’), I am prepared to accept that ‘<solution> requiring <wordplay>’ is just about ok, but I can’t see how ‘<wordplay> requiring <solution>’ (as here) can be valid – 4+(4-1) ‘equals’, ‘is’ or ‘produces’ 7, but it doesn’t ‘require’ 7 in any sense that I understand.

8d Youngster? That’s one so run wild, the noo (4)
This would be a very neat composite anagram &lit were it not for the need to indicate that the solution is a Scots word, hence ‘the noo’ being tacked on the end. The letters of the solution (‘one’) and SO RUN can be rearranged (‘wild’) to form YOUNGSTER, and the whole clue serves as an indication of the answer. Another approach would have been to use a Scots word as the anagram indicator – something like “Youngster? That’s one so run red-mad”.

10d What’s in a shambles unless cold and bust, to consume (11, 2 words)
A four-part charade consisting of a three-letter word for ‘unless’, the standard abbreviation for ‘cold’, a four-letter word for a bust in the sculptural sense, and a familiar word meaning ‘to consume’. The solution is (7,4).

19d Glandular substance revealed by study inside senior (7)
If ‘study in a wordplay doesn’t deliver CON it usually leads to the three-letter word which here is contained by a French adjective meaning ‘elder’ or ‘senior’.

21d Drugs? One of them is found in rising sports venues (7)
The single-letter drug of choice for setters and ravers is here contained by a reversal (‘rising’) of a word for sports venues usually seen in a different form which shares the same first four letters.

23d 50% ill on the briny – suffering this? (6)
You may, like me, find yourself working back from the answer to determine what the six-letter word of which 50% forms its first half is. It probably more often appears in its sense (albeit archaic)  of ‘nothing’.

25d Ease like this is showing as tenant (6)
If you replace ‘like this’ in the clue with the solution (split up 4+2) then the wordplay will make more sense.

27d Jock’s mood almost completely rising and falling (5)
The three-letter Scots word for a mood will be more familiar to former Ingres database administrators (ok, that’s just me then) as the abbreviation for a ‘tuple id’. It is followed by a word meaning ‘completely’ from which the last letter has been omitted (‘almost’).

28d Human resources regularly alternating with university independence (5)
Not one, not two, but three ‘universities’ are alternating with the standard abbreviation for ‘human resources’.

29d Old flirt that is expelled from club (4)
The club is not a niblick, nor is it a brassie, although like the latter it contains the usual abbreviation for ‘that is’, and it is this abbreviation which must be ‘expelled’.

(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 2,681 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

When I started on these notes, I realized that the single ‘hidden’ and most of the anagrams were in the down clues, with the across clues being quite a bit trickier (and quite a bit longer as well). I’d say that the acrosses were somewhat above mid-range difficulty and the downs somewhat below, so that overall the difficulty was pretty close to the middle of the spectrum. The clues were generally entertaining, although a couple struck me as slightly unsatisfactory.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 27a, “Group poetical effort created by children gathering (5)”. The answer is concealed within the last two words of the clue, being a Japanese verse form where successive half-tankas (full tankas being too heavy to turn around quickly) are contributed by different poets. The ‘hidden’ is potentially the easiest type of clue to solve, the answer being in plain view, which is why setters are always on the lookout for ways to make them less obvious. One way is to use an indicative verb following the hiding place, as in ‘Giant dog removes sandwiches’ for OGRE, another is to use a less common selection indicator such as ‘quantity of’. A further approach is to separate the two words in the clue, as in ‘Libertine trapped between table and chair’ for LECH. Here Azed has tried something different again, suggesting that placing the words CHILDREN and GATHERING next to each other ‘creates’ the solution. Is that true? Not strictly, perhaps, but I think for this type of clue the setter can be given a fair bit of cruciverbal licence.

Across

12a Grumbles when having to return nosh (5)
The solution (a favourite word of mine, along with ‘snap’) has two alternative spellings, but the word meaning ‘grumbles’ which must be reversed (‘having to return’) has only one. Azed’s occasionally verbose linkage between definition and wordplay would have allowed room for ambiguity had it not been for the inclusion of the word ‘when’, which makes it clear that it is the grumbles rather than the nosh which must return.

13a Grand foreign lady (with no trace of accent) very much withdrawn in Geneva (6)
Azed is a lexicographer by profession, so I’ll take his word for it that an umlaut can be described as an accent. A three-letter word for ‘very much’ is reversed (‘withdrawn’) inside the name of a drink – the last word of the clue has been deceptively capitalized to suit the needs of the surface.

14a Get high round hostelry with wife in light jumper (9)
A three-letter word meaning ‘to hit high into the air’, for which I suppose ‘get high’ is just about ok, is put round a three-letter word for a hostelry, and the combination is followed by a facetious term for a wife, the reference being to the origin of Adam’s good (for a while anyway) lady. The solution is hyphenated, 6-3, and sounds rather American, although the example of its use in the OED taken from the Tucson Daily Citizen is balanced by one from the Milton Keynes Express.

15a Maiden, one responding to appeal, displaying sulk (4)
A cricketing theme runs through the wordplay, the usual abbreviation for ‘[a] maiden [over]’ being followed by an informal shortening of the name given to a person to whom appeals relating to potential dismissals on the cricket field are directed.

16a Intimidating display from African chief once, not his first (4)
The African chief who must lose the first letter of his name (‘not his first’) is ????? Zulu, the most powerful king in southern Africa in the early nineteenth century. Having orchestrated the assassination of his half-brother, he took over from him as leader of the Zulu clan, and proved himself a ruthless leader and skilled tactician as he expanded his kingdom. Demonstrating that what goes round comes round, he was eventually himself assassinated by a couple of other half-brothers.

19a Set of principles Liz admitted, marked with notches? (9)
A five-letter word for a set of principles or a system of belief has a four-letter word inserted (‘admitted’) that is indicated by…well, surely not Liz? Ellen, Helen or Eleanor, yes. Even Gwyn, though ‘famous Eskimo’ might be a step too far in these enlightened times. But I don’t see how ‘Liz’ works.

24a Bantu speaker, last to establish settlement (4)
One of those clues where you either need to know the answer or the name for the Maori settlement which is to be put after the last letter of ESTABLISH. Otherwise, having got the checked letters, you will (like me) need to refer to the dictionary to confirm your suspicions.

26a Put up with wind as unseen nuisance (4)
Two definitions sandwich a wordplay which has the the Greek name for the north wind losing the consecutive letters AS (‘as unseen’).

30a I’ll be involved in 50% of bunkum, being crowned as Pope (6)
The letter I (from the clue) is contained by (‘involved in’) a ten-letter word (also spelt on occasion with eleven letters) for ‘nonsense’ from which the last five letters have been lost (ie ‘50% of bunkum’). The answer contains an apostrophe.

31a Complex organic compound – it’s stupidity disposing of outer elements (5)
A nine-letter word for ‘stupidity’ loses its first two and last two letters (‘disposing of outer elements’) to produce the name given to a particular class of organic compounds. Whilst there is room for debate about precisely what constitutes a member of this class, they are very definitely not complex compounds, the key feature of which is a central metal atom.

32a Was at table in e.g. Oxford and dined, with room for more? (9)
A three-letter word meaning ‘was at table’ is contained by a three-letter informal term for the sort of thing exemplified by the seat of learning at Oxford (where they “know all there is to be knowed”), with a word meaning ‘dined’ bringing up the rear. As Richard III has it:

Tell them, when that my mother went with child
Of that ????????? Edward, noble York

Down

2d Short poem, endless claptrap king penned (5)
A five-letter North American slang word for pretentious rubbish or claptrap without its last letter (‘endless’) has the chess or card player’s abbreviation for ‘king’ inserted (‘penned’).

5d Multiplex, showing such as the Hydra (10)
Unless I’m missing something, this is a strange sort of clue, where the two definitions lead to the same (4-6) word. Incidentally, the 2009 low-budget horror film Hydra gets a rating of 3.1/10 of IMDb, which is impressive, but not in a good way.

8d Dried salt-free meat hung by way of being stuffed with egg-free food (5)
The Latin word meaning ‘by way of’ is put around (‘stuffed with’) FOOD from which the letters shaped like hen’s eggs have been removed. The answer is one of those rather unlikely words brought to us from Shetland.

10d Granted bit of cash in eastern Europe (4)
I don’t immediately associate ‘grant’ with the verb that appears in the past tense here, but it’s there in Chambers and relates to things granted as from a distant place – as Sir Walter wrote: “I‥.appoint thee to be kept in ward in the western tower, till God ???? us relief.” The solution is a former currency unit of Estonia (one hundredth of a kroon), now superseded by the euro cent.

22d Fancy fish tasted for supper (6)
There was a time when this fish, in both its two and three letter guises, appeared more often in crosswords than Alan Titchmarsh appeared on TV. It seems to have suffered a decline in recent times, perhaps as a result of overfishing, but here its longer embodiment is followed by the same three-letter word that popped up in 32a (indicated by ‘tasted for supper’, which probably ought to be followed by a question mark).

25d Treat changes to seat with this cement (5)
Those who recall Azed’s classic “My letters could make lad sad” for LASS (LAD with L AS S being SAD) will not have had much trouble with this rather more explicit variation on the theme.

(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 2,680 Plain

Difficulty rating: (1.5 / 5)

Even with a false start at 1a, I found this a very straightforward solve – plenty of anagrams (twelve) and four ‘hiddens’ helped to ensure steady progress. Another bonus was that most of the obscurities had links to more familiar words.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 33a, “Gains yard, feeling very smooth (7)”. A six-letter slang term meaning ‘gains’ or ‘winnings’ is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘yard’, producing a word meaning ‘soft and smooth’. Just a few days ago, a correspondent (Dr Daniel Price) posted a question on the Feedback page about what he termed the use of ‘divergent definitions’ in a double definition clue, such as in ‘Crash party’ for BASH, where the two meanings are quite different but have evolved from the same root and appear under the same headword in Chambers. Here we have a near relative, the divergent wordplay/definition, the solution appearing under the headword for the six-letter word in the wordplay. I’ve no problem with this sort of thing when the meanings have truly diverged, but here they are quite close and therefore whilst the clue is neither unsound nor unfair it is certainly rather weak.

Across

1a Cup brewed, chat freely to exchange latest news? (7)
I always start a plain puzzle at the beginning, and here I was pleased to be able to quickly and confidently write in CATCHUP. I admit to a a few qualms around the enumeration (I circled the ‘(7)’, thus marking it out for subsequent comment), and would have been happier had the definition been of a noun (which could have been hyphenated) rather than a phrasal verb, but what else could the answer be? However, a C at the start of 1d didn’t feel quite right, and the A at the top of 2d was clearly wrong. I then realized my error, though in my defence the actual answer has nothing to do with exchanging news, relating instead to things being caught up on the wind or suchlike. The definition in Chambers doesn’t make that clear, though, and at least Azed has put a question mark at the end to suggest that the definition could be slightly fanciful. The actual answer served to put me in mind of the short-lived 1970s comedy series The Upchat Line, where John Alderton played Mike Upchat (one of his many pseudonyms), who lived out of a railway station locker and, appropriately, had very much a one-track mind.

11a Rough sound, one stirring in mud? That was river fish (10)
A four-letter ‘rough sound’ (usually applied to utterances, especially ones characteristic of a particular locality) is followed by a single-letter word meaning ‘one’ and an anagram (‘stirring’) of IN MUD.

12a Pastry, its middle roughly left unfinished (7)
The two central letters of PASTRY (ie ‘its middle’) are followed by a six-letter word meaning ‘roughly’ or ‘coarsely’ from which the last letter has been omitted (‘left unfinished’).

13a Ball entering landed back in net (4)
The single letter that resembles a ball in shape is contained by (‘entering’) a reversal (‘back’) of a word meaning ‘landed’, in the sense that a bird might have landed on a branch. In recent times I have only ever seen the word for a net used figuratively and in the plural form, as in ‘I was in the ????? of a particularly tricky Azed and desperately needed another biscuit (or two)’.

18a Stamp collecting – it brought back glimpses of my boyhood somewhere in E.Europe (11)
They say ‘philately will get you nowhere’, and that is true when it comes to this clue – I don’t recall ever coming across the solution here before, and I think I might well have remembered it if I had. It comprises a reversal (‘brought back’) of IT (from the clue), the first letters (‘glimpses’) of MY BOYHOOD, and the name of a country in eastern Europe.

27a Smart thief, one likely to succeed pinching shimmering set (7)
The four-letter word which describes someone who is in line to succeed (eg to an estate) contains an anagram (‘shimmering’) of SET; the ‘smart’ in the definition refers to the Chambers entry for the noun from which is derives, “a particularly clever or spectacular theft”.

Down

1d Verbal jokes, top to bottom, I had not noticed in Milton (6)
A four-letter word for ‘verbal jokes’ has its first letter moved to the end (‘top to bottom’) before the shortened form of ‘I had’ is tacked on the end. The Miltonian word contains an apostrophe, something which Azed tends not to mention in enumerations, particularly if they simply represent the omission of a letter from a single word, as in fo’c’sle.

2d Appoint world leader? Responsibility of No. 9 (5)
An unusual clue, in that the three definitions lead to a two-word phrase, a proper noun, and a hyphenated word. The last of these is defined by Chambers as “the act of throwing the ball into a set scrum”, but from what I saw of the Rugby Union World Cup it seemed to be more about the number 9 (the scrum half) placing the ball at the feet of their own forwards.

5d Part of play (not amateur) including performance pieces moved slowly (5)
A three-letter ‘part of [a] play’ having had the usual abbreviation for ‘amateur’ removed (‘not amateur’) contains the abbreviated term for “a stock of pieces that a person or company is prepared to perform”.

6d Pain when taken in by old dandy, artless crooked politician (6)
A four-letter word for a pain is contained by a five-letter slang meaning of the adjective ‘dandy’, from which the consecutive letters ART have been omitted (‘artless’); I’m not sure why ‘old’ is there, because there is no suggestion in Chambers that the required sense of ‘dandy’ is obsolete. The solution was originally the name given to certain native American chiefs, then (jocularly) to a ‘chief’ of any sort, and then specifically to any one of the twelve high officials in the Tammany Society of New York

9d Reichenbach’s theory, nothing depressingly avoided by ally (5)
The single letter representing ‘nothing’ is followed by an eight-letter word for ‘depressingly’ lacking the consecutive letters ALLY (‘avoided by ally’).

10d He may be seen in Roman units (marching) (5)
The Roman units here are the sort by which their marches were measured, but I suspect that Azed has added the last word to avoid any potential ambiguity with a word sharing the first four letters but ending in an R, and for which ‘running’ would have been appropriate. The defined solution appears in Chambers only in the form of a two-word Latin term for a vainglorious soldier.

19d Layout to do with strong hand makes this difficult (6)
A four-letter word for “the layout of cards” is followed by that familiar piece of commercial jargon for ‘concerning’ or ‘to do with’, the result being a contract in a card game such as solo whist which would be stupid to attempt and well-nigh impossible to fulfil with a strong hand. Incidentally, the ‘layout’ sense seems to be restricted to Chambers – it’s not in OED, and the only reference I can find in the context of card games is to tontine, but there it describes the initial distribution of the ‘chips’, not the cards.

20d Like Sandy’s stubborn mount, no longer sluggish around race’s end (6)
A Shakespearean word meaning ‘sluggish’ containing (‘around’) the last letter of RACE (“race’s end”) produces a Scots adjective (indicated by “Sandy’s”) used to describe a horse which is inclined to stop suddenly and refuse to go on. As the Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopaedia has it:

A horse is ??????? when it stands fast, and will not move for the whip.  

23d What’s confused with goral, emitting e.g. slow roar? (5)
A composite anagram &lit, where the letters of the solution (‘What’) when mixed up (‘confused’) together with GORAL can produce EG SLOW ROAR. The whole clue provides a loose definition of the answer, based on one goat-antelope being very much like another.

25d Bar – not a beautiful place for alcohol moderation (5)
A ten-letter word for alcohol moderation has the name of a valley in Thessaly praised by ancient poets for its extraordinary beauty, and thus a term applied to any rural spot deemed to be of similar charm, omitted in order to produce the solution.

(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 2,679 ‘Right and Left’

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 10)

This week we have a non-competition ‘special’, probably one of the most straightforward of Azed’s variations to deal with (he ‘inherited’ the format from Ximenes, who introduced it in the 1940s). The key is to focus on the twelve-letter entry across the top, as without this you cannot enter any solutions into the grid; bear in mind that it invariably has some connection to the forma of the puzzle – in recent times we’ve had DOUBLE-DEALER, DOUBLE-FORMED and HITHER AND YON – and the definition usually makes reference to that fact, eg “Greetings to those who are excited about how remaining clue answers are distributed?” for the last of these. Having entered that solution, you then have the initial letters of both the solutions for the first five down clues, so if you can solve either half of one of these clues there’s every chance that the answer will only fit in one half of the grid, so you can confidently write it in and move on from there. The second challenge that solvers face is progressing from the top half of the grid to the bottom, as only the four eight-letter entries protrude from one half into the other – I’ve provided hints on the relevant clues.

It’s an interesting variation on the standard puzzle, the only difference being that all but one of the clues are presented as pairs. It made for an enjoyable solve, the clues being generally very friendly, although there were a few mildly jarring repetitions (‘alongside’, ‘the French’). I have provided notes on selected clues, below which I have put a checklist of where the breaks in the clues come.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 13d, “Woman boarding coach for plane parking exactly on the hour may have featured in dance? (6, 6)”. The wordplay for the second part of the clue has the usual abbreviation for ‘parking’ being followed by a (2,3) phrase which one might associate with ITV’s late evening news programme, complete with bongs, but the point of interest is the definition, ‘may have featured in dance?’. This would appear to define the past tense of a verb, but in fact the answer is a noun. This is in line with Azed’s own ‘rules’, made clear in a slip from 1979:

I’ve said before that an adjective is an inaccurate (because unfairly misleading) way of indicating a noun (and vice versa of course). I do accept however that a verb (in the appropriate person) can indicate a noun. ‘Barks and is man’s best friend’ defines DOG far more clearly than, say, ‘Furry and domesticated’.

I’m not entirely convinced, and I think the definition here is a lot less explicit than the example Azed gives above, but had such indications been disallowed we would have been deprived of JPH Hirst’s classic clue for VINEGAR (AZ 27), “Given unconventionally for Jack’s head”.

Across

1a What’s going on here? Low dive put on enterprise (but without ad) (12, 2 words)
As I mentioned, the one normal clue always has a link to the nature of the puzzle, and so it proves here. The wordplay has a five-letter word for a ‘low dive’ being followed by a nine-letter word for an enterprise, from which the consecutive letters AD have been removed (‘but without ad’).

11a Chap to glug sauce, wine from pubs, cases turned over (6, 6)
The three-letter ‘chap’, who might well be a jazz fan (perhaps of the ‘hep’ variety), is followed by a three-letter word meaning ‘to drink’. The second subclue has a word for ‘pubs’ being followed by a reversal (‘turned over’) of the usual abbreviation for ‘cases’.

15a The French backs in control making their (narrow) way, confusion fills crowd, hoarse, round Murrayfield? (6, 6)
In part one, a French word for ‘the’ is reversed (‘backs’) into a word for ‘control’. Then a two-letter word for confusion, a regular visitor to crosswords as well as being a Greek letter, is put inside (‘fills’) a word for a tumultuous crowd or the sort of defeat England’s cricketers suffered at the hands (or should I say bats?) of South Africa. The solution is a Scottish word, hence the ’round Murrayfield?’.

18a Those driving e.g. tumbril for tragic heroine the French held loved, one in business? (6, 6)
In the past Azed has indicated the first answer by ‘RAC?’ or the like; here it is the plural of an archaic (implied by the archaic ‘tumbril’, a military cart) word which provides the name of the ‘heroine’ who was, frankly, a bit of a schemer. The second wordplay needs to be interpreted as ‘the French held by loved’ (ie with a comma between ‘held’ and ‘loved’).

Down

1d Swamp dweller from a bog in Jamaica cowers trembling, put into computer system, encoded (6, 6)
In the first part of this clue, the letter A (from the clue) and a word for a bog in the ‘bogs and basins’ sense are inserted into the IVR code for Jamaica.

2d Very cruel, not old, brandished an iron chopper, with old father on scent (8, 8)
Initially, a two-letter, obsolete form of the word ‘not’ (‘not old’) is followed by an anagram (‘brandished’) of AN IRON. The second part of the clue could be interpreted in two ways – it starts with the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘old’ and a three-letter informal word for ‘father’ (or a fizzy drink) and ends with a two-letter word meaning ‘chopper’. The fifth and sixth letters could either be the indefinite article (so the chopper is AN ??, and has the old father on top) or an obsolete form of ‘on’ (so the chopper is with the ‘old father on’). For the former it really should be ‘a chopper’ (but that wouldn’t work in the surface reading), and for the latter it ought to be ‘once on’ or the like – since Azed could easily have worked this into the clue, I am confident that the intended reading is the first one.

5d Wise maybe at length, having time with high flyers, in part gives selectively for plate (6, 6)
The ‘with’ in the first part of this clue is used (as would be required by 2d-II if the second interpretation is chosen) to indicate that the usual abbreviation for ‘time’ follows the five-letter ‘flyers’ (large birds also known as fish eagles). The ‘at length’ indicates that the answer is the full version of a diminutive name associated with a famous person of like stature.

9d Marsh plant, albeit wild in south-east, churned up with olives in rainy month (8, 8)
A pair of anagrams here – the first (‘wild’) of ALBEIT, contained by the standard abbreviation for ‘south-east’, the second (‘churned’) of UP and OLIVES.

11d One that’s conscientious with car’s dodging fox, wounding part of gate underside (6, 6)
The abbreviated form of ‘conscientious objector’ is followed by an anagram (‘dodging’) of CARS. A three-letter part of a gate (there are often five of them) then precedes a word for an underside or bottom.

12d Treat for budgie, see, almost given fly without limit in large tree or ericaceous shrub (6, 6)
Probably the trickiest clue of the lot. The word SEE (from the clue) without its last letter (‘almost’) is followed by the name of ‘a small but very troublesome Brazilian biting fly’ (a samba-loving version of the midge, I assume), while a three-letter word meaning ‘without limit’ or ‘completely’ is contained by the name of a large northern Indian tree.

(definitions are underlined)

Breaks in clues occur at:

Across

6: river/rock; 7: cabbage/inclined; 8: varied/eggs; 10: innings/can; 11: sauce/wine; 15: way/confusion; 16: Siam/carriage; 17: shifting/artist; 18: heroine/the.

Down

1: Jamaica/cowers; 2: iron/chopper; 3: clip/I; 4: church/free; 5: flyers/in; 9: south-east/churned; 11: fox/wounding; 12: fly/without; 13: plane/parking; 14: US/check.

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 2,678 Plain

Difficulty rating: (1.5 / 5)

I made a slow start to this one (perhaps distracted by the two slices of Toastie posing coquettishly in the toast rack), but once I got going very steady progress was made, helped by the fifteen clues involving anagrams. Overall, I felt that it was below the middle of the difficulty range, perhaps a little further below than I have rated it [update: based on feedback, I have reduced the difficulty rating from 2.0 to 1.5]. Anyway, it was an enjoyable solve.

My thanks to Hazel for pointing out the typo in the clue for 27d – ‘cold’ should read ‘could’ (which is what I assumed that it said when I solved the clue). Should have gone to Specsavers? I did – perhaps that’s the problem.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 32a, “Bony bits cooked in the English manner? (4)”. The wordplay consists of a single element, ‘cooked in the English manner?’, which leads to a (1,2) French expression meaning ‘cooked in the manner of’ plus the usual abbreviation for ‘English’. But this doesn’t actually mean ‘cooked in the English manner’, so in fairness to solvers Azed has added a question mark to indicate that it is somewhat fanciful. Azed wrote a short piece in a slip about the different uses of question marks in clues:

“Apart from clues which are constructed as questions (often as or as part of & lits) to which the answer is the solution, there is the ‘linking’ question mark, as in ‘Wine? Libertine imbibes gallons’ (ROUGE), where what follows it is the cryptic indicator of what precedes it. Here the question mark seems a more appropriate punctuation mark, than, say, a dash or a colon. Then there is the occasion when the clue writer is indicating something rather fanciful or not strictly literal as the cryptic part, e.g. ‘Green paradise? Adam’s description after arrival of Eve maybe’ (ECOSTATE). A further usage (one of the commonest, I’d say) indicates that the clue writer is defining a general term by a specific example of it, as in ‘Pay out from urn excited Murray’ (UNREEL), where ‘Murray’ (more strictly ‘murray’) is an example of, not a synonym for, ‘eel’. Generally, I feel the need to add a question mark wherever I consider that I have used wording that doesn’t pinpoint meaning exactly but is still a rough indication that will be perfectly clear to the solver once the clue is understood and solved.”

I don’t think I can improve upon that.

Across

1a Veteran maybe long after MOD outs possibly, about 50? (12, 2 words)
A four-letter word meaning ‘[to] long’ follows an anagram (‘possibly’) of MOD OUTS containing (‘about’) the Roman numeral representing 50. The answer is split (3,9).

13a Second mowing unrefined, before end of autumn (4)
A three-letter word for ‘unrefined’, as sugar might be, is followed by the last letter (‘end’) of AUTUMN.

14a What’s ground etc I found in mill – it may be good for the heart (9)
An anagram (‘ground’) of ETC I is contained by (‘found in’) a word for a very basic stone mill. As a prime example of how things I learnt years ago remain firmly fixed in my head while far more interesting or important things that I learnt last year have simply vanished, I still remember a sentence from a book I read in junior school about the Middle Ages – “Most villeins kept a quern.” I guess it’s all the stuff like that which has almost filled my non-volatile memory, such that just about everything else gets lost whenever I’m rebooted.

16a Craggy piece: ma has this one for cheese (5)
If you put MA in front of the solution and ONE after it, the name of a cheese will emerge.

20a Evil to terminate when it returns, in deep (7)
A three-letter word meaning ‘to terminate’ is reversed (‘when it returns’) inside a word for ‘deep’, as a voice might be.

23a Islanders from Man welcoming group from the east (7)
A three-letter word often indicated by ‘group’ is reversed (‘from the east’) in a word for a man – this last word has been capitalized in the clue, as required by the surface reading, something which is considered acceptable if not particularly desirable; the removal of an initial capital from a word, eg putting ‘nice’ when you mean ‘Nice’, is strictly verboten.

29a Depression overcoming one farming settlement (5)
A nicely deceptive definition here, where ‘farming’ is a participle rather than a noun. The wordplay is a charade of a three-letter word which appears regularly in cryptics, most often indicated by ‘pass’ but also ‘defile’ or ‘depression’, and a two-letter preposition with many meanings. Whether ‘overcoming’ is one of these is open to question – I think something like ‘settled over’ would be preferable, while ‘concerning’ would be uncontentious.

33a Celebrated dynasty (4)
There are two possible past tenses of the verb meaning ‘celebrate’ to choose from, and two possible spellings for the Chinese dynasty, but only one word that ticks both boxes.

Down

2d Catching upcoming signal, I heal ma suffering cancerous condition (10)
Here we have an anagram (‘suffering’) of I HEAL MA containing (‘catching’) a reversal (‘upcoming’) of the sort of signal which actors react to and snooker players wield.

6d Glutted, I ate away, placed at table (3)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘glutted’ has the consecutive letters I ATE removed (‘away’).

8d Bass dispensed by pub, can I mixed in soothing tincture (6)
The usual abbreviation for ‘bass’ is omitted from (‘dispensed by’) a three-letter word for a pub, which is followed by an anagram (‘mixed’) of CAN I. I’m not convinced by ‘dispensed’ (rather than ‘dispensed with’) to indicate deletion.

9d Solid figure that fool’s enveloped in impressive chest (7)
If you come across a solid figure in a puzzle, it’s a good bet that it’ll be the same sort that breeds rabbit-like at the side of motorways and other main vehicle routes; here one of the usual suspects for a fool is ‘enveloped in’ one.

10d The misguided learn information about zilch to write at greater length about (9, 2 words)
An anagram (‘misguided’) of LEARN is followed by a three-letter slang term for information containing the usual single-character representation of ‘nothing’ (‘zilch’), with the solution dividing (7,2). I’m a tad uneasy about that ‘The’ at the beginning – without it, the clue doesn’t read very well, but it does suggest we should be looking for something specific, when there are many possible rearrangements of LEARN. In effect the clue is saying ‘The anagram of learn…’, when what it means is ‘An anagram of learn…’.

15d Lizzie was champing at the bit for Rev. William in chequer design (10)
The Rev. William is William Archibald Spooner, and the answer is a spoonerism of another diminutive form of ‘Elizabeth’ (often associated with Porgy) and a word meaning ‘champed’, the past tense of a by-form of the word ‘chew’, which which it shares all but one letter.

25d Lout interrupts skill upsetting team of three (6)
A three-letter informal word for a ‘crass-witted, inferior person’ is contained by a reversal (‘upsetting’) of a word for ‘skill’.

(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 2,677 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

This struck me as being the toughest plain puzzle for a while – there were several clues which I felt were quite tricky to parse fully. That said, the straightforward ‘starters’ at 1a and 2d were a big help, so it’s possible that I have overstated the difficulty – all views, as always, welcomed! There were some nice clues in there, and I found it an enjoyable solve – with Azed, when you’ve found the right explanation of the clue you are rarely, if ever, in doubt that you have the right answer; if you can’t explain the answer satisfactorily, then it may well be wrong.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 24a, “Sausage? Individual leaves second tucking into minced pie”. The wordplay here has a six-letter word for an individual losing the usual abbreviation for ‘second’ and going inside (‘tucking into’) an anagram (‘minced’) of PIE, the answer being a type of sausage. I believe that the term ‘minced pie’ is still in use in the US, though originally I mistakenly read ‘mince’ for ‘minced’ (oops!). But would that more familiar ‘mince pie’ work here? It’s certainly possible to use ‘mince’ as an anagram indicator in the imperative form, but that only works at the start of a clause (eg ‘Mince pie with a bit of cream – great’ for EPIC). Otherwise, the word ‘mince’ would have to be a noun, and Azed has an oft-stated intolerance of noun anagram indicators, eg

The most frequent fault, which spoilt many otherwise respectable entries this month, was the old one of indicating an anagram by means of a solitary noun. Thus many clues included the phrase ‘in grave trouble/mess/distress/pickle etc. to suggest an anagram of ‘in grave’. There is no grammatical or syntactical justification for this; ‘a grave pickle’ is not ‘a pickled grave’, toothsome though the idea may seem. The only instances where such a juxtaposition may fairly be said to indicate an anagram are phrases like ‘train crash’ or ‘gin cocktail’ which actually mean ‘a crashing train’ or ‘a mixed gin’ respectively.

I share his view, and given that a mince pie is not a pie which is minced, the noun ‘mince’ is no good as an anagram indicator. So the imperative verb is the only option, which would mean the clue being written as something like “Sausage? Mince pie individual leaving second’s tucked into”.

Across

13a Small swelling turning up in an earlobe (6)
UP is put inside A and a word for an earlobe, and the whole lot is then reversed (‘turning’).

14a Art forgery getting you reverse of short time (7)
A reversal (‘reverse’) of a four-letter word meaning ‘short’ or ‘brusque’ is followed by a word for a period of time.

15a Layer of humus not advantageous for fruit trees (5)
A three-letter Danish word for humus which forms a discrete layer on top of the soil with little or no mineral soil mixed with it is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘unserviceable’ (ie ‘not advantageous’).

17a I shoot from behind piercing one boozy light horseman (8)
I (from the clue) and a four-letter word meaning ‘shoot’ or ‘dash’ are reversed (‘from behind’) inside a word for a drunkard often seen inhabiting cryptics.

18a Bird offering sex behind bit of furniture (5)
A two-letter slang term for sexual activity follows a word for a bit of furniture particularly associated, slightly incongruously in the context of this clue, with churches.

19a Home of large bedroom furniture, finely wrought merchandise (4)
A clue featuring two definitions, the first of which refers to one of the V&A’s greatest treasures, a spectacular four-poster bed which is famously over three metres wide. According to their website,

[It is] the only known example of a bed of this size, and reputedly able to accommodate at least four couples!The gigantic bed carries a reputation which is a little racier than most historic furniture in the museum. Constructed around 1590, it was most likely made as a tourist attraction for an inn in ????, Hertfordshire. ???? was a day’s journey from London and a convenient overnight stop for travellers going to Cambridge University or further north. Guests carved their initials into the wood, or applied red wax seals to mark their night in the bed, still visible on the bedposts and headboard today.

25a Aged hound lost glow (4)
Another double definition, the first word being archaic (and having a similar meaning to a familiar word with a G tacked on to the beginning), and the second being a variant form of an obsolete word for a leash, although I’m doubtful whether this spelling was ever applied to a type of hound.

30a Windows, round, belonging to the kitchen, half blacked out (5)
The letter indicated in crosswords by ’round’ because of its shape is followed by an eight-letter word meaning ‘relating to the kitchen’ from which one half has been lost (‘blacked out’).

31a Solid bit of fat Arab served in mugful (7)
The usual two-letter abbreviation for ‘Arab’ is ‘served’ in a term used to describe a large beer mug, often with a hinged lid, or the amount which such a mug can hold.

33a Tenderfoot, reverse of godsend (4)
The reversal of a word for a godsend produces a word which is only to be found in relatively recent editions of Chambers 

34a Aaron’s converted and no longer bears name as part of old Jewish sect (10)
If you were seeking justification for acquiring one of the electronic forms of Chambers, here it is. Those blessed with the technology will have been able to look up the answer to this clue – an anagram (converted) of AARONS followed by a Shakespearean (‘no longer’) word for ‘bears’ or ‘gives birth to’ – without the need to rearrange the letters of AN ANADEM (I can’t remember Azed ever directing solvers to a headword in this way, but those with only the paper dictionary would otherwise find the word almost impossible to locate). The definition is frankly, well, unconvincing.

Down

5d Dress with pedigree? It could cover embarrassment for many (7, 2 words)
A three-letter word for ‘dress’ only seen these days in the expression ‘in full ???’ is followed by a word for a pedigree or a branching diagram. The definition bears the clear stamp of Azed.

6d Impressionist art? Flimsy, lacking initial power (5)
The impressionist art produced when the abbreviation for ‘power’ is removed from the start of a six-letter word that can mean ‘flimsy’ or ‘thin’ is the sort associated more with Mike Yarwood than Claude Monet.

8d Rising flatus with brownish outside? Its awful smell is misleading (6)
A three-letter word for a light wind is reversed (‘rising’) inside a word normally used to describe horses or cows of a particular greyish brown colour. The fruit which provides the answer apparently has ‘a luscious cream-coloured pulp, of a strong civet odour, but agreeable taste’. I’m not sure I could get past that ‘civet odour’.

9d Treatment with chemical, foul spread in dividing portion (12)
An anagram (‘spread’) of FOUL is followed by IN (from the clue) inserted into (‘dividing’) a word for a portion.

12d Poet’s rubbed out two thirds of scanning lines in set (4)
A six-letter word for the whole group of scanning lines in the sort of set that contains a cathode ray tube (hands up those who remember fruitlessly twiddling the ‘vertical hold’ knob before managing to stop the picture from ‘slipping’ by giving the TV a good thump on the top) is deprived of its last two letters (such that two thirds remain) to produce a Spenserian past tense of a word meaning ‘to rub out’.

16d Horse a sap crazily fed with soft potato (9)
An anagram (‘crazily’) of A SAP contains (‘fed with’) the usual single letter indicated by ‘soft’ and a word for a potato taken from Indian cookery and often paired with ‘sag’.

23d One presiding over golden age was model on vase (6)
A charade of a three-letter word meaning ‘was [a] model’ and a word of the same length for a vase produces the name of the Roman god who, having been deposed as ruler of the Universe, fled to Rome and established the Golden Age. This was

a time of perfect peace and harmony, which lasted as long as he reigned. In memory of the Golden Age, the Feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the winter at the Winter Solstice. During this time no war could be declared, slaves and masters ate at the same table, executions were postponed and it was a season for giving gifts. This was a time of total abandon and merry making. It refreshed the idea of equality, of a time when all men were on the same level. Christians adopted the feast and renamed it Christmas. When the festival ended, the tax collectors appeared and all money owed out to government, landlords, or debtors had to be accounted for.

Which just goes to show that there’s no such thing as a free festival.

26d Ace? It’s enough when one’s despatched for nothing (5)
A Shakespearean interjection meaning ‘enough’ has the A at the end replaced by the usual single-letter representation of ‘nothing’ (“when one’s despatched for nothing”). The answer is the name given to the ace of clubs in the games of quadrille and ombre.

27d Great Scot, filled with love, enterprising (4)
I’m rather doubtful whether ‘Great Scot’ can legitimately indicate a Scots word for ‘great’, but that is exactly what it does here, the resultant three-letter word containing the single letter which, as in the previous clue, represents ‘love’ or nothing.

(definitions are underlined)