Azed No 2057

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A very enjoyable puzzle this week, which I polished off on Sunday afternoon.  There are two splendid & lit clues,  as well as two hidden answers, both for rather longer words than usual.  I am looking for suggestions at 4 down, where I can’t quite understand part of the clue.  In case you’ve forgotten the puzzle, here’s a link to the pdf.

Across
1 PLANORBIS PLAN, *BIRO’S. It’s a genus of pond snails
11 OLEACEOUS ACE in 0, *OUSEL.
12 PEG-TOP *GOT in PEP.
13 EROSE (tub)EROSE.
14 PIRAGUA A in *(A PUGRI).
15 SADHU *(A HINDU’S) minus IN (= because of).
19 ACID A CID.
21 RETAIL Hidden in “DEBONNAIRE TAILORING”.
22 PECHT P, ECHT. It means a Pict.
23 TANGI TANG, (maor)I. As it means a Maori funeral, it’s also an & lit clue.
24 HEROIC (plat)E(lets) in *ICHOR.
25 GATH Double definition, referring in part to the home of Goliath.
27 HIJAB *BHAJI.
29 CROWDIE CROWD, I.E.
31 ONE-ER REEN, 0 (rev). According to Chambers, one meaning of this word is a big lie.
32 ABEARS EAR in ABS.
33 SESTERTIA Hidden in “CLASSES TERTIARY”. I can’t remember seeing a 9 letter word clued as a hidden word before.
34 UDDERLESS (r)UDDERLESS.
Down
1 PEPPER’S GHOST PEPPERS G HOST. I guessed this immediately from the definition; it’s an old stage illusion.
2 LWEI *LI(long)WE.  I agree that this is not strictly an anagram but rather the letter I being moved.
3 AEGROTAT A compound anagram and an & lit in one clue! Take the letters of “to graduates”, remove US(and D(egree)), and rearrange them to get a word for a degree awarded to a student too ill to take the exam.
4 NOTAL I’m not entirely sure about this clue. One meaning of the word is the plural form of a word used to describe the dorsal (or back) part of the thorax of an insect (“regarding backs”). Its other meaning is the adjectival form of the word “note”, so one way of reading the clue is to say “scores will create no tallies”; a sort of compound anagram.  I’m not entirely convinced.  Any suggestions?  See now comments @1 and @3 below.
5 REPUBLIC PUB in RELIC. Plato’s famous work.
6 BABA As in Ali Baba.
7 ICE SHEET *CHEESE in IT. “It” can mean “an indefinable crowning quality”.
8 FOOD OOF(rev), D(ay).
9 CUSHITIC US HIT in CIC.
10 PSEUDOCYESIS *(SPY CO-ED SUSIE).
16 RETAINER Double definition.
17 HIGH-BRED GHB in HIRED. GHB is a designer drug also known as “fantasy”.
18 EPHORATE *HOPE, RATE.
20 CHORDATE C, *(g)OATHERD.
26 SWEAL W(eight) in SEAL.
28 JESS JES(t)S.
29 CORD C or D. Azed loves to use this device.
30 IRAS SARI (rev). Iras was a handmaiden to Cleopatra.

12 comments on “Azed No 2057”

  3. Thanks Azed for the puzzle – well up to the usual standard – and bridgesong for the blog. I got all but 30dn within my usual solving time, but failed to find IRAS with some web searching, so thanks for filling that gap.

    2dn: I do not think this should be labelled as an anagram. Although Azed has been known to use indirect anagrams very occasionally, in this clue we are given a clear instruction to move the letter I.

    4dn: I had this the same way as George @1: another device that Azed uses well.

  4. Thanks for those comments; I’ve edited the post to reflect them. I wrote the blog in a bit of a rush last Sunday evening and didn’t have an opportunity during the week to revisit it.

  6. Thanks all
    As usual a pleasant challenge. My only problem was, as PB found, I couldn’t justify ‘iras’ although the cryptic was obvious. Perhaps that should be ‘Iras’ which is why I failed.

  7. I am also not sure about 4d and haven’t seen an explanation which convinces.
    My rather dubious parsing was to treat no.as number. Some number tallies would be ‘scores’ which is lies with notal.

  11. RCW @9/10: I had thought that I (@8) was filling in a small gap in the explanation rather than merely repeating it. We shall see how it appears in the offical notes in due course.

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