Azed 2094

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An Azed from the easy end of the spectrum, with almost entirely straightforward clueing, that I finished off in one shortish session. I don’t usually record these kinds of statistics, but I found I’d solved 14 clues after my first pass through, and 21 after the second, all without recourse to the dictionary. After that it was a fairly quick job to finish off the rest, despite an intial duff guess of DUCKE (C in DUKE) for 28ac.

 
 
 
Across
1. It’s for chopping bit of elmwood (say) (4)
FROE FOR* + E[lmwood] & lit. A froe is “a cutting tool … for splitting wood”
4. E.g. trout I coated in nuts, tail to head (8)
SALMONID I in ALMONDS with the S moved to the front. The Salmonids are a family of fish including salmon and trout.
10. Pendant: maybe granny’s left one in untidy reel (8)
LAVALLIERE AVAL + L + I in REEL*
11. For pig, lancer aimed askance (9)
REPLACING (PIG LANCER)*, with a nicely unobtrusive definition
12. Marshy estuary in Perthshire and in Somerset (5)
MERSE Hidden in soMERSEt
14. Drum prompting cheers with roll reverberating (5)
TABOR TA (cheers = thanks) + ROB (Chambers gives rob as as slang meaning of “roll”)
15. Stone set in ring, farthest from centre (6)
DISTAL ST in DIAL
17. Good batch of e.g. turnips are developing (4)
GROW G + ROW
19. Biblical scholars maybe no longer brood about Christ by name (7)
TEXTMEN XT (symbol for Christ, more commonly X, as in Xmas) in TEME (old spelling of “team”, which could be a brood)+ N
20. Rotating cards right and left, love-filled, ending with poem and kiss (7)
ROLODEX O in R+L + ODE + X
23. Mass of high ground in Abergavenny (4)
BERG Hidden in aBERGevenny. Like 12ac, a hidden answer involving place name and not spanning a word boundary.
25. Old crones, kindred rarely secretive in retrospect (6)
SIBYLS SIB + SLY<
27. Bring boat to rest? Shock, this may damage yachts, look (5, 2 words)
LAY TO Composite anagram: (SHOCK LAY TO)* = (YACHTS LOOK). “Lay to” seems to mean the same as the more familiar “heave to”, but perhaps there’s a subtle difference that sailors could explain.
28. Peer’s cold-hearted twin (5)
DUCAL C in DUAL
29. Missionary priest, 51 – I mostly blush when seen backing one (9)
LIGUORIAN ROUG[e]< in LI + I + AN. The Liguorians or Redemptorists are missionaries named after St Alfonso Liguori (1696-1787).
30. Relaxing in Med, i.e. burnt, with no leafy cover? (10)
UNTIMBERED (MED IE BURNT)*
31. Fixes somewhere nice to live, right yielding to money? (8)
DESTINES DES RES (somewhere nice to live in estate agent talk) with R replaced by TIN (money)
32. Poet missing initial date for advance (4)
ANTE [D]ANTE
 
Down
1. Cook trimmed l-lamb leg, fried or done on barbecue? (12)
FLAME-GRILLED Anagram of LLAM[b] LEG FRIED
2. Had a terrific party where one short thoroughfare divides another (5)
RAVED AVE in RD
3. Egg-tube? See one in bird (8)
OVARIOLE V (see) A in ORIOLE. The question mark seems redundant, as an ovariole is an egg-tube.
4. Cold and wet, weather-wise? Take shelter in farmyard building (6)
SLEETY LEE in STY
5. Dislikes being restricted by faulty laptop, missing work – hurdle for new software (9, 2 words)
ALPHA TEST HATES in anagram of LAPT[op]. An alpha test is a stage in software development where a product is tested by (usually) its developers before being released to a wider group in a beta test.
6. US chopper in Middle East, an imposition? (6)
MEAT-AX M.E. A TAX
7. Less important trial? Mine on the fringes excluded killers (5)
ORCAS MINOR CASE less MIN/E at the edges
8. Result of special bonding? Going wrong it could make one moonier (7)
IONOMER I + MOONIER*
9. English-speaking youth in Mexico (say) plunged into river, sinking fast (12)
DEGRINGOLADE GRINGO LAD in DEE. French for a sudden descent.
13. Way out when caught in feminine trap? With this worker has some choice (9)
FLEXITIME EXIT in F LIME (to trap with lime)
16. Cereal: tidied up odd bits from near muesli carton (8)
AMELCORN Anagram of odd letters of NeAr MuEsLi CaRtOn
18. Eggs around great part of US salad (7)
ROMAINE MAIN (great part) in ROE – American name for the cos lettuce.
21. Stuff about Indian privates provoking some loud laughter in the gods? (6)
DHOOTI HOOT in DI (plural of Latin Deus). Dhooti, more familiar to me in the alternative form dhoti, is either a loincloth or the material used to make one, so it’s stuff to cover Indian “privates” = “private parts”.
22. Sailor’s taking fish on board – they’re often screaming (6)
ABDABS DAB in AB’S, with reference to “the screaming abdabs”, meaning a state of extreme agitation
24. Hot-dog? You may find I do this with arm distributing mustard on it (5)
STUNT Another composite anagram: (I DO STUNT ARM)* = (MUSTARD ON IT). Hot-dog (with a hyphen, according to Chambers, unlike the sausage-in-a-bun) means a stunt man, or, as here, to [perform a] stunt.
26. Attic stuff includes front piece of early helmet (5)
SALET E in [Attic] SALT

2 comments on “Azed 2094”

  1. Thanks all
    If I did have any problems I cannot recall them so I guess my response is the same as the blogger.
    Just a warning that today’s (2095) contains two enumeration errors in the down clues.

  2. Thanks Azed for the puzzle and Andrew for the blog.

    I am currently running a bit behind with the Azeds, so apologies for the late comment.

    29ac: I think this has to be LI + (I ROUG[e])< + AN. I cannot see an inclusion indicator. However, it was my last one in and I did not bother parsing it when solving, so thank you for blush = ROUGE.

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