Azed 2042

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The usual good crossword from Azed. It took me much the same time as I always take, which suggests that it wasn’t particularly difficult, but with all the endless thumbing of Chambers so that everything was OK for this blog, I was less than fast.

Across
1 SCOTCH PEBBLE — scotch = stop, then bb in pele, which is a Spenserian spelling of peal
10 SOPH — shop with its second letter moved to the last position — short for sophomore
11 LOUP — a triple definition/indication: loup is the French for wolf, a howler; Latin publishers is L OUP; and a Scottish word for jump is loup
13 CRURA — RU in (arc)rev. — crura is the plural of crus
14 rosSER INformation — a serin is any of various small finches of the family Serinus, including the canary
15 REDEMPTORIST — (sported mitre)* — a Redemptorist is a missionary priest of a congregation founded by Alfonso Liguori in 1732
17 LEGIBLE — I don’t understand this (What’s this may be read on comprehensive volume (front missing)): presumably the first five words comprise the definition; then comprehensive = leg (and this is the bit I don’t get); then {B}ible — help please!
19 TROOPERS — op in (roster)*
21 PARTER RE — a parterre is amongst other things the pit of a theatre, someone who leaves is a parter (yes really, and it’s in Chambers), and re = on — semi &lit.
24 HA’PENCE — hence around a p, which is a Chambers abbreviation of peseta
27 PRESSED GLASS — pressed = clasped, g lass
29 A(I’ S)LE
30 MANTO — this is a manteau, and when you put worn around manto you get woman torn, which is lady ripped
31 MANI{fold}
32 NURR — (r r un)rev.
33 PREDILECTION — l in (porcine diet)*
 
Down
2 COREY — one of Azed’s rude clues I think: both corey and roger are, as Chambers politely puts it, vulgar slang words for penis, but what Monty has to do with all this I can’t see (Monty’s less successful oppo Roger?)
3 THRENODE — (done)rev. in thre{w}
4 CLAMP — p on clam, although some would say that since it’s a down clue the ‘on’ indicates that it’s on top
5 HO(PP)LE — to hopple is to restrain by tying the feet together
6 PUTTER — a putter is someone who puts, and a putter is a golf club
7 BEER — if ‘fall’ is removed from ‘free ball’ you get ‘reeb’, and this goes skyward
8 BERIBERI — I’m not sure about this: it seems to be 1 in Berberi, but I can find no evidence that Berberi is a N. African island, nor that there is something else and the ‘caught’ is something like ‘be’ and the island is something like Berri … (Tropical disease, one caught in N. African island)
9 LEISLER — I think it’s Leslie, the first name of the cricketer Ames and it’s an anagram of Leslie followed by r, but this may be wrong: surely we don’t have to deduce Leslie and only then make an anagram of it? (Bat that has got runs, with Ames’s name scrawled on it?)
10 SCRATCH PAD — scratch = cash and pad = ped, a dialect word for a pannier or hamper — but in Chambers this is two words and here it says ‘(10)’
12 ANTECESSOR — a rare word and (a rose scent)*
16 COMPESCE — (poems C)* in CE
18 ICE PLANT — (pectinal)*
20 ROARIER — ER following roi about (Ra)rev. — Ra, which appears often in crosswords, is the ancient Egyptian sun-god
22 pLATE CAme — hidden rev. — acetal is a liquid formed by oxidation of alcohol etc.
23 REDON E — Odilon Redon
25 {l}OG(M)IC
26 ESTRO — a comp. anag., where it’s [Ariostos pen’s] … [estro passion] — estro is an Italian word meaning enthusiasm or the height of poetic inspiration
28 S LID — fielders in cricket slide around keenly when stopping the ball, but are the last five words of the clue really the definition? (Square cover took keen measure as fielder?)

5 comments on “Azed 2042”

  1. Morninng John. Thanks for the blog. I suffered the same problems as you.

    A Berber is a N African I think.

    17 On = leg, comprehensive volume BIBLE (-b) and a bit &lit

    I managed to justify CORER at one point, but I have a suspicion that the clue actually leads to coVer, cove = oppo + [R]oger, but that doesn’t really work either.

    I am willing to bet we are not alone. Azed has set more than a few of these ‘challenging’ clues of late.

  2. After a bit of Googling, I managed to unearth the fact that the 2010 Ryder Cup captains were Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin, and Monty won for Europe.

    Tempting to suggest that golf is just not cricket…

  4. Thanks Azed for the puzzle and John for the blog.

    I agree with sidey’s interpretation of 17ac, “on” = “leg” being sides of the field at cricket.

    Re 9 dn: I agree with your interpretation. As a cricket buff, I had no trouble with this clue, but I still think it is unfair.

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