I found this puzzle even easier than the previous week’s, mainly thanks to the grid. Although there are several words where the initial letter is unchecked, the overall checking is so generous that it would be churlish to complain. There are two four letter words at 16 and 31 across which are fully checked, and seven letter words at 12 and 35 across with only one unchecked letter. I suspect that there is little in the wording of this week’s clues to cause controversy (unlike some recent puzzles) but we shall see. Solving time : about two hours
| Across | ||
|---|---|---|
| 6 | RACIEST | CRISTAE*, with a slightly wordy definition |
| 12 | NET CORD | COT* in NERD, the reference being to tennis |
| 14 | BLOOD BLISTER | OLD BOB* + LISTER (the famous surgeon) |
| 15 | RADLEY | LD in YEAR (all rev). Radley is a public school south of Oxford, close to Azed’s home |
| 16 | TALE | Hidden in poet a l’epoque |
| 17 | ONDING | The wordplay is PONDING, which could perhaps mean causing a pool, but without the initial letter. ON-DING (the majority of the references in the OED have the hyphen) is a word new to me but still in use in Scotland |
| 18 | NAUNT | The letters of NUT and AN have been alternated to produce an old word for an aunt |
| 19 | COSY | COYS with the last two letters reversed. One of the older meanings of the word coy is to caress |
| 20 | AD LITEM | LAD* + ITEM. A Guardian ad litem is a legal term applying to a person appointed by a court to represent someone in legal proceedings who lacks legal capacity to act for himself, by reason of age or other disability |
| 21 | HEROISM | IS in HOMER*. “Lives” carries two meanings (and two pronunciations). |
| 25 | FUSC | Hidden in “some of us complain”. The essayist Lamb seems to be the first (and only?) person to use this spelling of fusk |
| 28 | LETCH | Double definition |
| 29 | OOMPAH | A in OOMPH |
| 31 | TOPI | I POT (all rev) |
| 33 | GUEBRE | BURGEE*. It’s another word for a Parsee |
| 34 | THUNDERSTONE | UNDER in SHOTTEN*. The reference is to the playwright Robert Bolt, but the use of the obscure word “shotten” makes the anagram easy to spot |
| 35 | SPLORES | RE in SPLOS(h). Both “jabble” and “splores” are Scottish dialect words |
| 36 | IMPASTO | I’M PAST + 0 |
| Down | ||
| 1 | EN BROCHETTE | ROCHET (an old mantle or cloak) in BENT* + E |
| 2 | MELANO | ALME* + No |
| 3 | AT ODDS | TO in ADDS. It took me a long time to see the wordplay here. “Near cracking sums” means a word meaning near (“to”) within a word meaning sums (“adds”) |
| 4 | E COLI | IE (rev) around COL. Note the use of “up” to indicate the reversal of an element of a down clue |
| 5 | RODENTICIDES | D-DISCRETION* + mic(E). I’m not entirely convinced by this clue, as there’s nothing in it to indicate that the answer is a plural word |
| 7 | ADLAND | LADA* + ND (= no date). A lovely term for the fantasy world portrayed in television commercials |
| 8 | CHIVALROUSLY | CHIV (a knife) + RAOUL* + SLY |
| 9 | INST | INST(all). Inst, meaning the current month, is one of those terms now found only in crosswords |
| 10 | EXTANT | s(EXTANT). A sextant is a bronze Roman coin |
| 11 | SVELTE | VESTAL* with the a (“one stripped”) replaced by e (“minimum of effort”) |
| 13 | CREAM CHEESE | AM(erican) in CRECHE + SEE*, referring to the well-known brand |
| 22 | ELOHIM | HOLE (rev) + I’M. It’s a Hebrew name for God |
| 23 | REPULP | PLUPER(fect) (rev). One for students of Latin grammar |
| 24 | SHYEST | H(ot) + YES in ST(reet). Shy can mean secluded |
| 26 | UPBORE | PB (an abbreviation for the metal lead) in ROUE* |
| 27 | SARNEY | RN in SEA* + Y (an unknown factor in algebra). A submarine can mean a sandwich in that shape, hence presumably the chain of shops with that name |
| 30 | ME-TOO | MET + 00. As usual, Azed treats hyphenated words as if they were one word. The reference to “pair” is to cricket scoring |
| 32 | INIA | Hidden in “Rossini aria” |
Thanks fo the post, I managed to fill the grid but was not sure about 15ac.
I enjoyed 13dn creamcheese ! It wasnt ’til my girlfriend quickly spotted philidelpha which made the word play work.
36ac impasto- also made me smile. Some clever work here. I very much enjoyed this puzzle, well worth a bash at if one’s never tried an Azed before.
Thanks for the blog. Messed up the spelling of 8dn (sloppiness) which meant I couldn’t get 33ac, despite nagging voice in the back of my head telling me something was wrong with 8dn. Enjoyable puzzle and good for beginners like me.