Appropriately enough, very much a tale of two halves for me. But in my case the top and the bottom: 1A came quickly enough and thus the top half. I stared at the bottom half for a long time before I saw SYREN and TAGGEE. And typing swails for SWEALS held me up forever. Not the hardest Azed ever — though I’m still wondering about the wordplay for YSHEND.
Across
| 1 | DOUBLE W,HAM,MY – describes the puzzle. And rather subtle wordplay (at least for me): (would be)*,HAM=botched,MY=of me |
Across left-hand side
| 6 | AVALON – two meanings: ref. Frankie AVALON who’s not in Chambers. Yet. Clue split at: “shows/legendary”. |
| 7 | MERIN,O’ – miner*. Clue split at: “on/an”. |
| 8 | PRUN,ES – (RN up)*,E[ccentric],S[teering]. Clue split at: “steering/force”. |
| 10 | SWEALS – hidden: roasts. For some reason, I wrote swails in the grid and this held me up for ages until I finally noticed I really couldn’t solve 9D and 3D. Clue split at: “also/cooked”. |
| 12 | P,ERR,ON – a platform. Clue split at: “once/penny”. |
| 15 | S(‘T)IEVE=steeve – Scots sturdy. And “it” is “‘t”. Clue split at: “in/that”. |
| 16 | TAGGEE – (get e.g. a)*. Clue split at: “tracking/part”. |
| 17 | [t]INTERN – resident (as in doctor). Ref. Tintern Abbey. Split at: “abbey/summon”. |
| 18 | TE(ENS)Y – ENS in rev(yet). Split at: “retrograde/introduction”. |
Across right-hand side
| 6 | REV(U)ES – U in verse* |
| 7 | AN,ARCH – obs. anarchist |
| 8 | POL(I,C)E |
| 10 | DI(ETE)D – cooked=did as in “I did the books…” |
| 12 | SCRI(M)P – definition is “keep limited” and SCRIP is (also) an archaic small bag. Hard clue because scrip is also money. |
| 15 | PAN,TRY |
| 16 | TRICAR – hidden |
| 17 | ACCIT,E – hard clue – rev(ticca=Hindi hired) and means “summon”. |
| 18 | LEAD,IN’ – introduction and “leadin[g]”. Split at: “introduction/vertical”. |
Down left-hand side
| 1 | DA(MP)Y – split at: “engrossed/parliamentarian”. | |
| 2 | OVERAWE — the other competition word. | |
| 3 | B(LINK)ARD – archaic short-sighted person (thus “old fellow” and LINK is (also) torch. Split at: “”fellow/right”. | |
| 4 | L,ONER – ONER is a heavy blow. Split at: “person/without”. | |
| 5 | ENOSIS – ones*,IS. Split at: “historically/is”. | |
| 9 | VE(RLIG)TE[ran] – (Afrik.) enlightened. girl* in VETE[ran]. My last clue. Split at: “enlightened/girl”. Two unrelated girls in this clue. | |
| 11 | LO(U)VERS – alt. spelling of louvres=shutters. Split at: “international/amours” (thanks Bob for reminding me…) | |
| 12 | POS(T)IT – ref. those ubiquitous yellow stickies on your screen. Split at: “tons/of”. | |
| 13 | STANE – Scots stone. N=noon in rev(eats). Split at: “noon/food”. Two unrelated foods in this clue. | |
| 14 | WEENY – two meanings: wimp and tiny. |
Down right-hand side
| 1 | W,RAPT=part* – alt. rapt=engrossed. | |
| 2 | HENOTIC – “unifying” — one of the competition words. | |
| 3 | MURIATIC – briny. (r,i’) in Actium* | |
| 4 | MECCA[no] – I liked “No no” indicating removal. Lucky I grew up in England and kind of vaguely remember Meccano sets. | |
| 5 | YSHEND – shend=archaic disgrace so definition is “disgrace historically” but I’m having trouble with the “Asian land of yore” – is the wordplay SHE in YND or HEN in YSD? Help! Complete clue is: “Female entering Asian land of yore: disgrace historically / is compounded with one’s foreign union” (sidey notes that for Edmund Spenser YND=India, thus wordplay is Y(SHE)ND) | |
| 9 | VERONICA – (in a cover)* – extremely well-hidden anagrind: “girl disguised in a cover” | |
| 11 | EMI(RA)T,I – rev(ar=Arab) in rev(time). | |
| 12 | SEPTAL – plates* – definition is: “of dividing structures”. | |
| 13 | FAR(C)E – also means “stuff”. | |
| 14 | SYREN – hidden. Alt. siren. Split at: “rendered/US”. |
Agreed, not the hardest Azed, although the amount of scribbling on my copy makes a lie of that. Meccano is still going, it’s French now.
Ynd is an Edmund for Ind which is poetic for India. So SHE in YND.
You’ve transposed the 2 downs.
I disagree with a couple of ‘splits’. Mine are: 15A that/store, 4D many / a, and (omitted) 11D international / amours. I agree with your praise of 9A.
@bob: I wondered about the 15A split… I suppose I agree with you that: STIEVE=”Sturdy Scots trainer? it’s found in that” is better. Likewise agree with 4D: MECCA=”place attracting many” is better. Yes I forgot to indicate the 11D split.
thanks!
Thanks ilancaron. I think you’ve transposed the two 14dn clues?
ah thanks Liz! another transposition in 14D indeed.