My first Azed blog, and I kinda left it to the last minute to start solving it (ie last night), but I got there in the end. Typical Azed puzzle, full of obscure words and definitions, but all perfectly fair. I solve Azeds by passing over the clues once, and placing the half-a-dozen or so clues I get first time in the grid. Then I go over it a little more slowly, using checked letters to elp me add some more. If I can get half of the answers in before reaching for my Chambers, I am generally happy. I think I achieved more or less that amount while solving this one.
ACROSS
1 TOSSUP – TO-S-SUP – I assume that TO = “before the hour of” ~ until?
6 PATACA – the currency of Macau, and previously of Timor, and the first six letters of “Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake…”
11 WATAP – W-ATAP – ATAP is the nipa palm, and WATAP is a fibre made from pine nuts by North American natives.
12 SOPOR – SOP-OR – OR is an old word for “before” – I wonder whether there should have been some indication of the fact that this is an old use of the word?
14 GLYCERIA – (ricy gale)*
17 BOLUS – BO-LUS(t) – BO = “familiar term in US for a man” and a BOLUS is a quick-acting injection.
21 OFFSORTS – OF(F)SORTS – discarded bits of wool
24 MEATH – MEAT-H – H=”hot”, and MEATH is an alternative spelling of mead.
26 ULEMA – hidden in “rULE-MAkers” – Muslim theologians
27 STITCHED – S(TIT-C)HED – “basted” refers to “tacked” in needlework.
29 NOTONECTA – NOT ONE + (act)* the genus which includes water-boatmen and “swimmingly” is the anagrind and gives an &lit. element to the clue.
31 WINGS – WI(N)GS – an Azed trawl required here – Majors are an obsolete form of wig, and the N = Navy.
32 REDDEN – RE(DD)EN – a reen is a ditch in Somerset (aka rhine)
33 LOCKET – not sure of the wordplay.
DOWN
1 TWIGLOO – TWIG-LOO – like “somewhere to go” = LOO and a twigloo is a tempirary shelter made from branches.
3 STAY – double definition – “tack” = nautical ropes and a bone added to a part of a dress in order to hep it maintain its shape
4 SACCOS – S-ACCOS(t) – an Eastern bishop’s alb.
5 PHERECRATEAN – (preacher)*+TEAN – relating to Pherecrastes, an ancient Greek poet. TEAN refers to another poet, Anacreon, who came from Teos in ancient Ionia.
6 PERIMETRICAL – PER(timecar)*IL
7 TOMPON – TOMP(i)ON – a type of plug, and a tompion was a wtach created by watchmaker Thomas Thompion (1639-1713)
8 APOLLINE – A(POLL-IN)E – Solved this one without knowing how it worked, but have since done a little research, and discovered that AE was the pen-name of Irish poet George William Russell.
16 DEFATTED – (I O defatted)* = (deaf to diet)* a composite anagram and an &lit.clue.
19 DEMERGE – DEM(ERG)E – a deme is a subdivision of ancient Attica and of modern Greece.
20 SEA DUST – SEA(<=sud)T
23 ALCAIC – hidden backwards in DaCIA CLAque and referring to a type of poetic metre.
25 EMOVE – hidden in “seEM OVErcharged” and an archaic word for affect with emotion.
26 HONK – H(ON)K – just after = ON entering Hong Kong (HK)
to = “before the hour of” in 1A: just think of “twenty to eight”!