Azed 2027

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After a few minutes in which simply nothing occurred to me, the puzzle suddenly yielded and I was able to complete it reasonably rapidly, although only with the help of Chambers.  As always, there are some excellent clues, and some very obscure words, with a wide variety of cluing methods used.

Across
1 APART A part. A simple charade, but the use of the word “audition” in the clue misled me into looking for a homophone
5 STRATOSE * (TO A TRESS)
12 EARTHCHESTNUT TH(at) in EAR, CHEST, NUT. I have a feeling that Azed has used this word recently, as the entry seemed familiar when I looked it up in Chambers but I couldn’t find any reference on the &lit site
13 SPICIER (a)SPIC, IE, R(ecipe)
16 MEMORISE ROME reversed in MISE
17 PREEVE P, REEVE. Easy to guess from the French word “preuve”, meaning proof
18 SCOTER * CREST, including O.  It’s a type of duck
19 SCELERATE S, CELE(b)RATE. The use of the supposed stutter at the start is a common Azed device, and can also be found at 8 down. I’m not entirely convinced by CELEBRATE as a synonym for sing.  SCELERATE itself is an obsolete term for a villain
21 NECTAR C(innamon), T(hrown), in NEAR
23 INCAVO INCA, VO. I’m don’t know why Inca should denote a king, as well as a member of the people of the same name, but Chambers confirms that it does.  VO is an abbreviation for verso, meaning the reverse side.  However INCAVO itself is a term meaning the incised part of (usually) a stone or gem; I’m not entirely persuaded that “what signet ring has” is an adequate definition
24 DIARCHIC RAID reversed, CHIC.  Although I know no Greek, it didn’t take much to recognise that this comes from two Greek roots
28 COSTREL COST, REL(ay)
29 RHADAMANTHINE H, ADAMANT in RHINE.  From Rhadamanthus
30 ATREMBLE * (win)TER in AMBLE
31 YENTA N in YET, A.  It’s originally a Yiddish term meaning a gossip
Down
1 AESC ACES with the second letter going to the end. The word means a rune or symbol representing the letters a and e joined together
2 PAPERWEIGHT Another straightforward charade, although the surface reading is not particularly brilliant
3 ARID Sounds like (h)arried
4 THIEVE H, IE in * VET. A good misleading surface reading here; this uses a meaning of “snaffle” that has nothing to do with horses
6 THRENETICAL The competition word
7 REIMS Hidden in “literature I’m sure”.  I’m afraid that I don’t know who Jack is
8 ASBO A, S, BO. As someone who will have to respond to the recent consultation paper on reform of this remedy, I should perhaps pedantically point out that an ASBO is not in fact (or in law) a punishment but a preventative order
9 ONSITE * STONE, including I
10 SUBSERVIENT * (TURNS, VIBES) including E
11 ETAERIO * (A TREE), IO. The word means an aggregate fruit like a strawberry
14 CROTCH RO(ad) in C(a)TCH
15 DECTRA * TRACED.  This is the technical detail
17 PANDURA PAN, DURA(tion).  An alternative spelling of pandora
19 SCALAR A L in SCAR
20 ANGSTY AN (pi)GSTY.  Pi or pie or even pye can all mean a state of confusion
22 RHOMB R(ight) H(and) O(f) MB
25 CHAM CHAM(pers).  Cham is a form of Khan
26 TRIN (bee)R in TIN.  A trin is a triplet
27 FLEA Hidden in “of lead”. I liked “hopper” as a definition

*anagram  Hold mouse over clue number to see clue.

3 comments on “Azed 2027”

  1. I was a little dubious about 7d myself, as it seems to rely on first spotting jack = jackdaw, and then recalling ‘The Jackdaw of Rheims’ (sic), one of the Ingoldsby Legends, which are not as well-known as they used to be (sadly, as some of them are quite entertaining)

  2. I finished this relatively quickly, but alas, having all week to clue ‘threnetical’ I was beat and couldn’t come up with anything sensible – the first competition I haven’t entered for a couple of years (even after getting a VHC last month).

    Nick

  3. Nick, that gives the rest of us a chance. I thought the word had loads of anagram potential, and hope that nobody else found my combination.

    Phi, thanks for explaining Jack; I’m afraid I’ve never read the Ingoldsby legends.

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