An Azed of mixed difficulty this week — I managed most of it on a train, but needed the help of Chambers for some of the more obscure words.
| Across | |||
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| 1 | CRAB-YAWS | Skin disease the old endure in the throat? More than one ABY = endure (archaic); CRAWS = throats. Yaws on the soles of the feet and palms of the hands |
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| 7 | ELAN | Dash in Morse language Hidden in ‘Morse language’ |
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| 10 | HOWL | Cry that accompanies end of recital HOW = that (one definition in Chambers); L = end of recital |
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| 11 | ARRASENE | Lupin maybe bordering artist’s embroidery material ARSENE = Arsène_Lupin, a fictional character who appears in a series of detective/crime fiction novels by the French writer Maurice Leblanc, as well as a number of non-canonical sequels and numerous film, television (such as Night Hood), stage play and comic book adaptations (no, I’d never heard of him either); RAS = artist’s. An embroidery material, of wool and silk |
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| 12 | LUTETIAN | Lieu tant varié relatif à Paris *(Lieu tant), with ‘varié’ as the anagram indicator. Lutetia Parisiorum was the town from which Paris developed, so the adjective is still used. An easy enough clue for Francophones (of which I am one) but tricky for others. |
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| 13 | KAKA | Kirkpatrick with the sobriquet Polly? Well, the kaka is a New Zealand parrot; and AKA = ‘with the sobriquet’ (also known as); but I’m not sure how ‘Kirkpatrick’ officially gives K. Explained by Chris, below. |
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| 15 | TOPSIDES | Beef cuts I had put in posset, pickled *(I’d possets) |
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| 17 | MBIRA | Star (not always brilliant?) holding bass plucked instrument MIRA, an oscillating variable star; B = bass. A musical instrument |
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| 19 | SCRIPTORIA | Where monks write, dross getting shredded once penned SCORIA = dross or slag from metal-smelting; RIPT = old form of ‘ripped’; ‘penned’ indicates that it’s contained (as well as implying ‘written’ in the surface reading). Scriptoria |
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| 21 | DISINCLOSE | Discs on line, number put out, distributed free of restrictions Anagram of ‘Discs on line’ minus N = number; ‘distributed’ is the anagram indicator; ‘free of restrictions’ (verb) is the definition (though I’d have said the verb would more usually be ‘free from restrictions’) |
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| 25 | DONEE | One possibly fearing ancient Greek worked at English? DONE = worked at; E = English. A reference to Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts, because they might just be offering you a dodgy wooden horse. |
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| 27 | SEMOLINA | It’s used to thicken laminose plastic *(laminose). Semolina |
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| 29 | VAIL | Ski resort making profit as of old Double definition — Ski resort and old spelling of ‘avail’ |
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| 30 | AMUSETTE | Field gun advanced, silent, ready loaded A = advanced; MUTE = silent; SET = ready. A light field gun invented by Marshal Saxe, whoever he was |
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| 31 | ALL IN ALL | Considering everything, overly obsessive about ailing back before 50 ANAL = overly obsessive; ILL, reversed; L = 50 |
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| 32 | SOUS | Get drunk endlessly — very small amounts SOUS[e]. Tiny amounts of money |
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| 33 | PEEN | Part of hammer to go on head of nail PEE = ‘go’; N = head of nail. The end of a hammer head opposite the hammering face |
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| 34 | EXEGESIS | Opener for England smashed e.g. sixes, for which apparatus helps E = Opener for England; *(e.g. sixes). A critical examination of text such as the Bible. Apparatus can mean materials (such as variant readings) for the critical study of a document (in full apparatus criticus). I like the cricket-related surface reading (though when did an England opener last hit a six?). |
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| Down | |||
| 1 | CHLAMYDES | Ancient cloaks in a form of lacy mesh set with diamonds *(lacy mesh D) |
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| 2 | ROUL | Reference library containing leading university register from way back RL = reference library; OU — leading university?? As we should know, Oxford’s a complete dump!. But ‘roul’ is indeed an old form of ‘roll’. |
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| 3 | BLEAR | Hazel, singularly dim? A reference to the (adjectives refrained from on grounds of taste) Labour MP Hazel Blears |
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| 4 | ARIOSI | Part of Lothario’s inducements? Hidden in ‘Lothario’s inducements’. The Chambers entry implies that ‘parts’ is an OK definition, so I will leave any nit-picking to the more musically ept. |
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| 5 | WRAP UP | Can it settle completely? Double definition — this can mean ‘stop talking!’ |
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| 6 | SANSA | Q: Where’s it played? A: In South Africa (and elsewhere to the north thereof) ANS = answer; in SA = South Africa. This takes us back to the Mbira, mentioned above and played in Zimbabwe and other African countries. |
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| 7 | ESKIMOS | No strangers to snow — a few turned up holding something of use to them SOME, reversed; SKI |
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| 8 | LEADERENE | E.g. Mrs T earned wildly when ‘put out to grass’? *(earned); LEE = grass (alternative spelling of lea). A female leader, especially an autocratic one. Origin: 1980s (originally a humorous or ironic name for Margaret Thatcher): from leader + -ene, on the pattern of female given names such as Marlene |
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| 9 | ANKERITE | Worried about drinker’s heart being damaged? Mineral offered ATE = worried; *(inker). Ankerite. I would have thought that ‘drinker’s heart being damaged’ gave *(inke) or *(ink), so maybe I have missed an indication for R or ER. Duh! It’s ATE; *(rinke) — see below. |
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| 14 | DISSIMILE | Girl one sent up, lied dreadfully about in comparison by contrast MISS I reversed (sent up); *(lied) |
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| 16 | STATELESS | Stone put on, dieted maybe without ceremony ST = stone; ATE LESS = dieted |
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| 18 | BRIDE-ALE | What old wedding guests indulged in, board with cheese going round DEAL =board (wood); BRIE = cheese |
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| 20 | CIPOLIN | Policeman’s bust (name roughly hewn) in marble Anagram of POLIC[eman] (minus the letters of ‘name’); IN. A kind of Marble |
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| 22 | CLIMAX | High point 151 tops CLI = 151; MAX = tops |
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| 23 | LUNULE | Lunch rule: cut out filling for small croissant? LU[nchr]ULE. Anything shaped like a small crescent. I am underwhelmed by this clue; but maybe I have missed some brilliantly subtle wordplay. |
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| 24 | SLANE | Section short prescribed course: turf-cutter required S = Section short; LANE = prescribed course. A turf-cutting spade |
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| 26 | OBESE | Is clothing not right? End of range for XXL? [r]OBES; E = end of range |
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| 28 | ETUI | Embroidery case, originally French, housed in the Tuilleries Hidden in ‘the Tuilleries’. One of those words that occurs rather more in crosswords than elsewhere. |
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13. D Scarlatti’s works (like Mozart’s) are catalogued with a prefix K. In Scarlatti’s case (but not Mozart’s) the K stands for Kirkpatrick.
Thanks, Chris.
Jetdoc, thanks for the blog; I have to confess to not understanding ANKERITE either. I found this an easier than usual puzzle, although it was made harder by a typo which gave 19 and 21 across as 9 letter words, whereas in fact they both have 10 letters.
Thanks jetdoc for the blog and Chris for the K explanation. There was also a typo in the enumeration for 14d. Regarding ANKERITE: can one consider RINKE
As I was saying before I rudely interrupted myself: Regarding ANKERITE – can one consider RINKE the heart of drinker and disregard the possessive s? I’m not a setter so I don’t know the conventions.
Cheers…
Yes — hadn’t thought of it like that. Double blogging duty this week coincided with lots of other commitments, so everything was done in a huryy. I didn’t even notice the erroneous enumerations!
Further to grandpuzzler (#5) re ANKERITE:
I took it as
drinker’s heart = heart of drinker = RINKE
This uses the possessive and accounts for the whole of the clue and answer.
The last posted explanation of 9d does not account for ‘about’ in the subsidiary part. Chambers defines ‘eat’ (transitive) as ‘to worry’, not ‘to worry about’. ‘Stop eating me!’ is a common instance of this use. I reluctantly then parsed this clue as: anag. of {re + (dr)ink(er)} in ate. Jetdoc is right to be cautious, as her final words show.
Bob, ‘about’ is simply the containment indicator. The wordplay is: (d)RINKE(r)* in ATE.
It’s all simple when one’s sober, Richard. My notes show ‘anag. in ate’ and not the concoction I dreamed up yesterday. Thanks for putting us all out of our misery. Bah!