A pretty easy Azed for Easter. I didn’t time myself, but I reckon I got through this as quickly as I have ever completed an Azed.
No clue particularly stands out, but I think I’ll go for 14d as this week’s fave.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MORASS | RA = Royal Academician (‘one painting’); in MOSS = a shade of green and a type of rose. Romney, in SE England, is noted for its marsh. | |
| 4 | SUBMISS | ‘bus’ reversed; MISS = girl. An archaic word meaning ‘submissive; subdued, low-toned’. | |
| 11 | OBECHE | Hidden in wardrobe chest. A large W African tree or its whitish wood. | |
| 12 | PRE-ECHO | *(cheer); in PO = chamber [pot]. The unwanted effect of a faint sound anticipating the actual sound on a tape recording, caused by the transfer of material between surfaces of the wound tape. | |
| 13 | CITRONELLA OIL | *(lotion I’ll care). A plant-based insect repellent. | |
| 17 | SANITATE | SATE = stuff; A NIT = an insect’s egg. | |
| 18 | ABORT | ‘Tabor’ with its first letter moved to the end. | |
| 19 | PLUSH | ‘Wit plus H’ becomes ‘with’. Plush is rich material. | |
| 20 | CORSE | CORE = heart; S = a little strangeness. A poetic form of corpse. | |
| 22 | ABLOW | AB = sailor; LOW = humble. A sou’-wester is a wind as well as a form of headgear. | |
| 24 | HOT-BRAIN | H = husband; *(into bar). | |
| 28 | COUNTEROFFERS | *(ortune); in COFFERS. | |
| 29 | ARIETTA | *(a treat I). A little aria or air. | |
| 30 | SATEEN | SA = sex appeal, also known (in some crosswords but no longer by anyone else) as ‘it’; TEEN = teenage. Sateen is a glossy fabric. | |
| 31 | LEGROOM | Franglais companion to ‘la bride’. | |
| 32 | TRALEE | TR = transpose; A LEE = a sheltered place. The Rose of Tralee festival is an international competition which is celebrated among Irish communities all over the world. The festival takes its inspiration from a nineteenth century Irish ballad of the same name about a woman called Mary, who because of her beauty was called ‘The Rose of Tralee’. | |
| Down | |||
| 1 | MOCH | MOCH + A (this + one) is ‘mocha’, a dark brown. Misty and humid weather in Scotland. | |
| 2 | OBITAL | OB = old boy; I = in (presumably, because OB isn’t in anything). I’m not sure how ‘short column (single) written up‘ gives TAL. I can’t find a column beginning with ‘lat’. Thanks to Geoff for enlightening me. | |
| 3 | RETINULA | *(tenurial). A cell playing the part of a retina to an ommatidium (a compound eye). | |
| 4 | SHOG | SOG = soak; H = hydrant. Dialect term. | |
| 5 | SENNACHIE | IE = that is; after SENNAC = Cannes turned up. A Highland or Irish genealogist and transmitter of family lore (also seannachie or seannachy). | |
| 6 | SPECTROGRAM | R = take; *(great comp). | |
| 7 | BELT | Triple definition. | |
| 8 | MEAN-BORN | BO = guy (a familiar term of address for a man in the US); *(manner). | |
| 9 | SHIRR | RR = bishop (Right Reverend); following *(his). A puckering or gathering. | |
| 10 | SOLUTE | SO = provided; LUTE = clay, cement or other material used as a protective covering. | |
| 14 | LIE AT HOST | E = English; ATHOS = musketeer; in LIT = French bed. Shakespearean term. | |
| 15 | DISOWNER | IS in DOWNER. | |
| 16 | MORAY EEL | MOREL = fungus; wrapping AYE = one voting for. Moray eels are large cosmopolitan (?) eels of the family Muraenidae. | |
| 19 | PASCAL | A = one; in *(clasp). A derived SI unit, the unit of pressure (symbol Pa), equal to one newton per square metre. | |
| 21 | SIREE | Hidden backwards in ‘queer risotto’. | |
| 23 | BLORE | BORE = one going on tediously; L = reduced pound (Sterling). A violent gust of wind. | |
| 25 | OTTO | ‘Ottoman’ minus ‘man’. A very fragrant essential oil made in Bulgaria and elsewhere, chiefly from the damask rose (also attar). | |
| 26 | AFAR | Rafael Nadal, to his mates, reversed. | |
| 27 | ESNE | Hidden in ‘buckles new’. A domestic slave in Anglo-Saxon times. | |
A first Azed for me, I managed all but three clues, though I had most of the letters. 8dn, 24ac, and the last letter of 4dn. I think I exercised my brain more on this puzzle that my entire college education.
I also thought these clues were rather normal, so it puzzled me even more when the answers were easy as I was looking for more obscure words. Oh well.
Great fun though.
jetdoc
2d lat – in India, an isolated pillar (Chambers)
Geoff, thanks also for that Indian info Lat, I managed the clue but couldn’t figure it out either.
Jetdoc, sorry for not saying thanks for the blog and explaining the answers.
nice one. Ta.
Great blog – thanks.
20a, I had WORSE, don’t ask me why – it must have made sense at the time (perhaps stiff = ‘to cheat’, confused with worst = ‘get the better of’, but the wordplay doesn’t fit). Oh well, try harder next time (today, that is!).
Thanks for the blog. A confidence-booster for me, as I’ve only just started making real headway with Azed. I didn’t get the last letter of 4dn, or 6ac or 10dn. (I had OOLITE for 10dn.) 31ac made me laugh.
Thanks for the blog.
My only complaint about this puzzle is that the clue for 20a suggests the answer should be an old word rather than a poetic one.
6 Coach recalled girl no longer low-toned (7)
Funny, I solved this as SUB-MISS, i.e. a team coach substituting a player. Though a reversed BUS is better.