I found this mostly a little below average difficulty, but I think there’s an ambiguity in 1ac and a mistake in the wordplay of 13ac. This is the first Azed where the recommended dictionary is the 2008 edition of Chambers.
Key:
dd = double definition
* = anagram
< = reverse
| Across |
| 1. SCRIBE I replaced by O (love) in SCROBE (groove), but I think it could just about work the other way round, giving SCROBE as the answer. As the I/O is unchecked it can’t be confirmed by crossing words. |
| 7. ORBITA BIT in ORA. ORA is the plural of OS, meaning “a mouth or mouth like opening”. ORBITA is a variant of ORBIT, meaning the eye socket. |
| 12. EAU DES CREOLES E in (ROUE DECLASSE)*. Also known as Eau Créole – a liqueur from Martinique |
| 13. GUNCOTTON NCO in GUT NOT< Chambers only seems to give “guts” in the plural as meaning forcefulness. |
| 14. DERN Hidden – an archaic word for “secret” |
| 15. THANKEE TH(is) + (E KEAN)* |
| 16. CLARETS SCARLET* |
| 18. ORGASM Composite anagram: (TO GERMAN SO)* gives ORGASM + TONE, with “Rattle” cleverly used to indicate the anagram |
| 19. PEDLAR LAD* in REP< |
| 22. UPSWELL SPEW in (h)ULL. A howker is a Dutch ship |
| 25. INDUSIA INDUS I A. Scales protecting the spores of a fern. |
| 27. OLEA Hidden |
| 29. TELEMARKETING TELEMARK + TIN in EG |
| 31. INUNDATES ND in AUNTIES* |
| 32. LAOTSE STOA< in (ath)LE(tes). Laotse (also spelt Lao Tse, Laozi and in other ways) was an ancient Chinese philosopher, and Zeno lectured from the Stoa Poikile (painted porch) in Athens. |
| 33. LACHES (tria)L + ACHES |
| Down |
| 1. SEED CAPITAL (A SITE PLACED)* |
| 2. CADELLE A DELL in CE |
| 3. RUGRAT RUG(by) + RAT |
| 4. BEND B(ottle) + END. Interesting that BEND=”drink heavily” is given as a Scots usage, but “bender” is apparently universal. |
| 5. ESCOT TESCO with T moved to the end |
| 6. SCOTS GUARDS (CUSS DOGSTAR)* |
| 7. ORTHOS PORTHOS (of the Three Musketeers) less P |
| 8. RETARDS TAR in RED + S |
| 9. BOONGS NO< in BOGS |
| 10. TEME Hidden. Another spelling of TEAM, which can mean “litter” |
| 11. ASSEMBLAGES MESS< in LAB* + AGES |
| 17. ERASMUS (SUMS ARE)< ERASMUS is a European student exchange programme. This recalls the palindrome “Sums are not set as a test on Erasmus”. |
| 19. SILENCE LICENSE* The use of the American spelling gives away the fact that this has to be an anagram |
| 20. FLUENT FLU + ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) |
| 21. ARIANE ARIAN + E. The French version of “Ariadne”, which may mean “very holy” (see the “Some first names” section of Chambers). Arianism was a 4th century heresy at variance with the standard dogma of the Trinity |
| 22. RELISH R + LIE* + SH, plus the two definitions “enjoy” and “dip”. |
| 25. POKAL OK in LAP<. A pokal is an ornamental drinking vessel. |
| 27. NEVA Hidden in “rhiNE VAlley”. The Neva River is in Russia, so not a tributary of the Rhine. |
| 28. KETA TAKE with its two halves swapped. KETA is a type of salmon. |
Andrew, thanks for the blog. I’d never heard of the Neva river, and of course couldn’t find it in Chambers, so just had to hope for the best. I agree with both of your comments; unfortunately the website hasn’t yet been updated so we don’t know which of SCRIBE or SCROBE is correct.
Does anyone know what happened to the blog for 1911?
My money’s on SCROBE!
SCROBE for me.
I thought 13 Ac might be NCO in (NOT TUG) reversed, although TUG for forcefulness is not obvious from Chambers and the clue seems to put in front of NOT, so maybe your suggestion is better.
Another vote for SCROBE!
Just seen comment 1. I was originally down on the calendar to blog AZ1911 but I withdrew from doing Azeds at the end of 2008 (IQs and EVs take up too much time as it is). I assume that the calendar slot wasn’t assigned to somebody else.
Colin