Azed 2011

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I thought I was off to a good start on this one when I got 1ac straight away, but things got a bit tougher after that, and it took me a couple of sessions to finish it off. Perhaps unusually, there are no composite anagrams, and only one hidden; on the other hand there are a few of the “if you add [this] to the answer you get [that]..” type, as in 17ac and 22ac for example. Next stop the Christmas special, which will make 4 “special” competition puzzles in a row, starting with number 2000.

 
 
Across
1. OBSCURANTIST O + CURBS* + ANTI + ST
10. CALLIOPE ALL I in COPE
13. BROOL RO (run out) in reverse of LOB
14. ANONA ON (“gracing the table”) in ANA (“a collection of someone’s table talk”). Anona is a genus of edible fruits
15. CLAPTRAP L APT in CRAP
16. CLITTER C + LITTER
17. ANTE “And this” is ANDANTE, which as a musical term means “moderately slowly” (or, as I was taught, “at walking pace”).
18. COCCO “Cocco vin” sounds like “coq au vin”
20. LEGMAN LEG (on) + MAN (piece, e.g. in chess)
22. HEELED To be “well-heeled” is to be rich
24. REEST Dai REES + T. Scottish word for a fit of stubbornness
26. AUNE Remove BE from the wine BEAUNE – old French measure of length
28. EQUINIA QUINI[NE] in EA (each)
30. NGULTRUM (TURN GLUM)*. This unlikely-looking word is the currency of Bhutan
32. THRAE HEART* – a variant of Scots “frae” = from
33. PARGE G in PARE
34. EYESTALK YES in E TALK
35. UNADMONISHED UN (one) + SHE in DIAMOND*
 
Down
2. BAROLO BAR OLIO less I
3. SLOB ICE OB (died, perished) in SLICE (bad golf stroke)
4. CLOUT C[lubs] + LOUT
5. ROLLER DERBY ROLLER (wave) + DERBY (hat)
6. NEAPS ASPEN* – neap tides are the opposite of spring tides
7. TENTAGE TAG in TENE
8. IVOR IVOR[Y], and a reference to Ivor the Engine
9. SONATA O in SANTA, and reference to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata
11. PEARLY QUEEN P + EARLY + QUEEN (e.g. queen bee or ant, social insects)
12. WAPENTAKE A PENT in WAKE
13. BACCHANTE CAB< + CHANTE[D]. A growler is "a four-wheeled horse-drawn cab"
19. CLELAND N in CALLED. Fanny Hill was written by John Cleland. I wonder if Azed was tempted to clue this with reference to regular competitor C[hris] LEYLAND
21. MENORAH ONE in MARM, all reversed
23. EUGHEN Reverse of GUE (type of viol) + HEN (layer). This is a Spenserian variant of “yewen”, so the definition is “of wood”.
25. SINGLE Chambers says “of ale, weak”; and reference to singles bars
27. STEEM MEETS reversed
29. IKATS Reverse of STAKI[NG]
31. URVA Hidden in oUR VAcation. Urva is “the crab-eating mongoose of SE Asia”. And there was I thinking they only ate snakes.

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