A fairly standard Azed, I think. Lots of words of which I’d never heard, fairly predictable and verified in Chambers, and as usual a very well-constructed grid, with words of many lengths (except that Azed has never in my experience sunk to using three-letter words).
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | BUSS HELTER{-skelter} |
| 12 | A LO(E)VER A |
| 13 | N(IRL)IE |
| 14 | runS CUTting |
| 15 | SCUDDLE — (secluded – e)* |
| 16 | PRASE — (spar e{merald})* |
| 17 | TO BE (or not to be) |
| 19 | FOSTER — quite hard, this — I think it’s 2 defs and then wordplay: encourage, old woodman (Spenserian form of ‘forester’), then (of)rev. ster{e} |
| 21 | SKEESICKS — “skis” (sick)* |
| 23 | PEATSTACK — (taste)* in pack |
| 26 | P{urchase} AT {m}ACA{u} |
| 28 | WILI{ness} |
| 30 | AB OVO — v{alue} in (a boo), a boo being the opposite of a cheer |
| 31 | PAR AD(E)D |
| 33 | puB IN Kilbride |
| 34 | OCTANE I think — (to acne)* — but according to Chambers an octane is any of a group of eighteen hydrocarbons, so how does this make an octane one of eighteen hydrocarbons? |
| 35 | LECANORA — (near coal)* |
| 36 | EASTERMOST — (as term O) in (set)* |
| Down | |
| 2 | U NICODE{mus} — I just can’t see the significance of the exclam in this clue, which seems straightforward and fairly clever, but … |
| 3 | SCRUB — 2 defs |
| 4 | SI(L)D |
| 5 | HA(I)D UK |
| 6 | LOVE F({patienc}E)AT |
| 7 | TEMPOS — (so p met)rev. |
| 8 | RECATCH — (arch etc)* |
| 9 | CRUSE — “crews” |
| 10 | WATER SPIDER — (repast)* in wider |
| 11 | UNSTOPPABLE — (pop)* in unstable |
| 18 | MET A PLOT |
| 20 | PA(TON)CE |
| 22 | KALENDS — d in (ankle’s)* |
| 24 | SCORNS — seats with eat replaced by corn |
| 25 | CIRCA R{aj} |
| 27 | {b}ABIES |
| 29 | ID(AH)O |
| 32 | euphoriA TO Mate — stripped atom, free atom |
Thanks for the blog, John. Not entirely sure I understand your comment about 34 ac.
Is it just me, or have the Guardian failed entirely to post today’s Azed (in any format)?
Bridgesong – the PDF version of the Christmas Azed is available now.
Andrew
Thanks, but I’ve gone and bought the paper now!
Bridgesong: You’re right to be not entirely sure about my comment about 34ac. Even though I quoted Chambers correctly, I was reading it as ‘any group of 18 hydrocarbons’. Crazy.