Azed 2013/Boxing Day

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I missed the boat on this one. Later than I thought with this post. Work?

Anyway, a couple of disappointing wordplays that escape me with a few very good clues with very well-hidden definitions.
Across

1 CAT-CRACKER – act* followed by a firework (CRACKER). Yes, it’s a petrol processing plant
11 HUT,U
12 UNHEROIC – (our niche)* – I resisted recognizing “is hidden” as the anagrind for awhile — I still think it’s a bit dodgy.
13 [f]U(TUB)E[l] – no, not that YouTube.
14 C(R)OST – R[ace] in COST. Alt. crossed=interbred
16 ACK-EMMA – (cake ma, m)* – definition is (the well-hidden in plain sight) “am”=A.M. where ACK-EMMA is WWII-era phonetic abbrev.
17 A,CRE(AG)E
18 VIA,L
19 T(RASH)ERY – RASH in tyre* – truck also means rubbish.
22 COWL,EECH – Obs. cow doctor (I guess if leeching worked for humans, why not try it on cows?) EECH=eche=eke – “discontinued” indicates obsolete (in this case Shak.)
24 STIR – follow-on clue with next
25 TA(MASH)A – (Indian) fuss=disturbance. TA=thanks=cheers
27 TICK(L)ER – &lit I suppose. TICKLER is a “dram of spirits” and a TICKER ticks=a watch=hunter (is an example thereof) and I guess a hunter needs to have a quick drink before embarking on (animal) murder.
29 QUALE – take last letter of equal=uniform and move to front to get a word meaning “property”. The notes below clarify that I inverted the wordplay description: it’s take the last letter of a word meaning property=QUALE and move to front to get a word meaning uniform.
30 SILEN[ce] – (woodland) god
31 PUL(V,ILL)E – it’s powerded tobacco and PULE is the verb “pipe”.
32 NO,NG – (Aus. thus Victorian) fool. Not in love with the wordplay: “turning tangle into narrative”, i.e. a NO-NG “tangle” is ta[ng]le=narrative.
33 EASSELGATE – (sea gale set)* – easterly for a Scotsman.

Down

1 C(H)UP,AT,I – Far too hastily entered chapati here at first. This is an alt. spelling. Plate is also “a cup or other prize for a race or other contest”.
2 AUTOCRITIQUE – (to curia quite)* – a quality many of us fail to exhibit – not limited to politicians.
3 CU,BLESS
4 RUED,A – Cuban street dance
5 AN,LAGE – AN=one followed by (a leg)*. Rudimentary organ.
6 CHIC – tony and chic+hi=chichi=pretentious.
7 KECKS,Y – umbelliferous flower. KECK=feel sick
8 ROOMINESS – Definition: “having lots of space” – but wordplay? “Old men maybe consuming eggs…” Thanks to Bob: this is MINES in ROOS with “old men maybe”=old kangaroos and MINES=eggs (slang).
9 MI,SMATCH,MENT – Definition: “Ill-advised marriage” but don’t see how the wordplay hangs together: “… I’m reversing, taste lost, once coupled”. Reader help? See Andrew’s note below for the denouement.  Thanks!
10 I(C)TAL[ian] – stress (poetic)
15 GRATICULE – (a cute girl)* and it’s a surveying instrument indeed.
20 LEADING – two meanings
21 CHAUNGE – obs. change=variety. CANE=whack interleaved with HUG=embrace
22 CULLIS – strong broth and if you were to add “port” you’d get cullisport=grating
23 WARSLE – walers* – Scots wrestle
24 S([s]TEP)S – “on board” is, by convention, something embedded in SS. Again thanks to Bob, my wordplay interpretation was very lax — ignore what I said! It’s actually ‘T in SEPS=serpent, ref. Snakes & Ladders.  Goodness… I was well wide of the mark here.
26 MOSEL – hidden reverse &lit (and not a bad one).
28 [k]EELS – rev(slee[k])

6 comments on “Azed 2013/Boxing Day”

  2. Two you’re missing are 8 down and 24 down. 8d is MINES in ROOS, In Chambers, ‘old man’ under ‘old’ has a noun def. as ‘an adult male kangaroo’. 24 down is ‘t in seps Ref ‘Snakes & ladders’

  6. Yes, I had CHAPATI as a gut response too.

    22d – cullisport? Portcullis, surely. Though ‘cullisport’ feels like it ought to be some sort of Scottish entertainment, like juggling soup.

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