Solving time : about a day (but it was my birthday, so I was distracted). Loads of unfamiliar words this week, and some excellent surface readings (e.g. 19 across). I found the south-west corner particularly difficult, with doubts over 30 and 34 across. Apologies for any formatting oddities: I composed the blog on one computer and then emailed it (in two sections) to my home computer, and something odd appears to have happened en route. I’ll be away and without access to the net when this blog appears, so won’t be able to respond to any comments for a few days but please don’t hesitate to write in with any comments.
| Across |
| 1 |
KHODJA – a simple anagram with which to start |
| 6 |
PELOPID – pole in dip (all rev.), a descendant of Pelops, who was the grandfather of Agamemnon, and Electra was Agamemnon’s daughter |
| 11 |
HOSANNA – an(imals) in Noah* |
| 12 |
BEMIRE – emir in BE; “dirty” is here used as a verb, not an adjective |
| 14 |
ALIT – Alit(alia); this is the past participle of the verb to alight. Although this is an intransitive verb, and the surface reading suggests a transitive use, this is deliberately misleading, and an aircraft can be said (intransitively) to have put down |
| 15 |
ROMAUNT – Rom + aunt; an old word for romance |
| 16 |
DOMANIAL – mania in dol(lar); the word is in Chambers under domain |
| 18 |
ELAN – an eland is a South African antelope |
| 19 |
OSIER – (h)osier(y). More usually found as a noun, it is also an adjective, justifying the clever use of “Twiggy”, although perhaps it might be argued that the words “full range” add nothing to the clue? |
| 20 |
CORONAL SUTURE – na in true colours* |
| 23 |
SIEGE – hidden and reversed in college I see |
| 25 |
TOEA – 0 in tea; a toea is a Papua New Guinea monetary unit, 1/100 of a kina; kina and china are alternative names for quina, and china of course can refer to tea. Very clever |
| 29 |
OPERA HAT – h in PE aorta* |
| 30 |
AQUEOUS – the word play is relatively straightforward: a(dvance) + que (French for that) + ous (sou*). What I have difficulty with is the definition: aqueous can mean “deposited by water” but it seems to me that “let down” is some distance from this as a definition |
| 31 |
LORY – hidden and reversed in captivity rolled |
| 32 |
GUIROS – Rio* in G US; a guiro is a gourd used as a percussion instrument in Latin America |
| 33 |
INTERIM – I in “in term” |
| 34 |
EXTINES – another clue that gave me difficulties. The word is plural, so the definition must be “film covers”; you then have exes round tin, and I suppose that “opening” implies that the word “tin” is within “exes”. Not a usage I remember coming across before, but perfectly fair. |
| 35 |
SERRAE – arres(t) + E; they’re a zoological term for sawlike organs |
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| Down |
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| 1 |
KHADI – a compound anagram. Take the letters of “linge” from “like Gandhi” and you have an anagram of the answer, an Indian word for home-woven linen |
| 2 |
HOLOZOIC – an anagram of zilch and three o’s |
| 3 |
DATA LOGGER – a lot* in dagger; the phrase is in Chambers under its second element only |
| 4 |
JNANA – it’s a Hindu term |
| 5 |
ANGINA – in (which can mean “on the spot”) inside an anagram of a nag |
| 6 |
PARABLEPSIS – psi in parables |
| 7 |
EBOLA – a lobe (rev.); the Ebola virus is well known |
| 8 |
LEME – hidden |
| 9 |
PIUPIU – piu is Italian for more; a piupiu is a Maori skirt |
| 10 |
DETER – (Sovie)t in deer: an axis is a type of Indian deer |
| 13 |
MANSTEALER – ante meal’s* + r |
| 17 |
HERBARIA – the reference is to Herb Alpert |
| 21 |
REQUIT – r + equit(y) |
| 22 |
STEANS – as nest* |
| 23 |
SWAGE – swag + (blad)e; a swag can mean a depression |
| 24 |
TOUSE – to use |
| 26 |
ORATE – O + rate |
| 27 |
STYME – hidden; it’s a Scottish word meaning a glimmer of light |
| 28 |
POON – 0 in pon(d); it’s an Indian tree, funnily enough |
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In 1d what is ‘linge’? I saw the comp. anag. straight away but was troubled by the inclusion of what seemed like the extra five letters just strung together into something that sounded like a word. Maybe it is in the OED?
I don’t have access to this crossword so I don’t know if this comment is in context but ‘linge’ is listed in Wikipedia as:
“Linge is a river in the Betuwe that is over 100 km long, which makes it one of the longest rivers that flow entirely within the Netherlands.”
I should, of course, have posted the clue. So, here it is:
1 Spinning like Gandhi? You could end up with this linge (5)
It’s not being used as the Dutch river!
For a surface reading ‘linge’ would need, perhaps, to be some mental state akin to that attained by Dervishers.
bridgesong has indicated that ‘kdahi’ is ‘linen’, though Chambers merely states cloth.
‘linge’ is the French for ‘linen’ which could give a sensible surface.
Ah, thanks, that makes some sense and provides a slightly different surface to what I was expecting and a better clue. The only thing I’d have expected in this case would’ve been italics for a foreign word. The PDF version of the puzzle didn’t have ‘linge’ in italics.
Re comment on 30a. Aqueous is also defined as ‘watery’ which can be equated with ‘diluted’ or ‘let down’.
30A: I’ve always admired Azed for his fidelity to Chambers for definitions: the required word is always there. So having to interpret and stretch Chambers is unusual; even the entries under ‘let down’ don’t include a satisfactory synonym. Are we missing something?
30a – I hadn’t checked any reference sources prior to my last comment but I have now rectified that error. I have heard the term ‘let down’ meaning dilute (as in thinning paint and in chemistry experiments) for 50+ years but I agree there is no definition for this in Chambers, COD etc.
If fidelity to Chambers is a must, then there must be a typo in the clue and ‘let down’ should read ‘set down’. This would tie in with the ‘deposited by water’ definition for ‘aqueous’ since one of the definitions for ‘deposit’ is ‘set down’.
Geoff: I’ll just about settle for that, but reluctantly! How about ‘wet’ for ‘set’? Hardly.
Could AZED himself perhaps explain?
1 across
Perhaps I was inaccurate to say linen: http://nipun.charityfocus.org/blog/ar/pilgrimvedchi/000663.html
I’m still on holiday and haven’t Chambers to hand, so can’t dispute what Geoff Moss says
Bridgesong
Thanks for the link. It shows that the clue is even more cleverly thought out than it first appeared.
Khadi definitions:
Chambers – (in India) hand-spun, hand-woven cloth
Collins – A cotton cloth of plain weave produced in India
I think it is fair to equate ‘cotton cloth’ to ‘linen’ and hence ‘linge’.