A reasonably straightforward plain puzzle this week, but I do have a couple of quibbles about the cluing, and one where I may not have understood the wordplay at all, so suggestions are as always very welcome. Some relatively easy clues, especially towards the bottom of the grid. Thanks to Richard Heald for his corrections.
| Across | ||
| 1 | AGROSTOLOGIST | I got grass tool out – as one interested in such? (13) |
| *(I GOT GRASS TOOL). An obvious anagram, but a pretty obscure word. | ||
| 11 | TREE CALF | Fine binding material, forbidden when it contains reverse of delicate stuff (8, 2 words) |
| LACE(rev) in TREF(non-kosher food forbidden to Orthodox Jews) | ||
| 12 | VOLAR | Like centres of palm, beginning to leaf in spring (5) |
| L in VOAR(a Shetland Island term – it might have been easier had Azed given some indication of this) | ||
| 13 | HOBS | Puck etc, in this sense accepting his master’s opening couplet? (4) |
| OB(eron) in HS (abbreviation of the Latin hoc sensu). |
||
| 14 | PREPOSE | Add linguistic feature at start of record in ordinary words (7) |
| EP in PROSE | ||
| 15 | AGE-OLD | Heart of anthemion coated in a precious metal, ancient (6) |
| E in A GOLD | ||
| 16 | GRAFIN | Countess, fine in character innately (6) |
| F in GRAIN | ||
| 18 | COLLOIDS | E.g. emulsions, colour solid when mixed (7) |
| COL(our) *SOLID. 8 letters, not 7 as indicated in the clue. | ||
| 20 | DI PENATES | They protect the home, forming outgrowth in hollows (9, 2 words) |
| ENATE in DIPS | ||
| 26 | REGRATOR | Middleman in e.g. Truro trashed retro rag (8) |
| *(RETRO RAG) | ||
| 27 | ALMANY | Fellow in lay wandering in Lusatian territory? (8) |
| MAN in LAY. Another enumeration error: 6 letters not 8. | ||
| 29 | GOALIE | Last line of defence to fail, facing a bouncer? (6) |
| GO A LIE. I’m not happy about LIE=BOUNCER, but the question mark may save the clue. | ||
| 30 | REORDER | Make fresh arrangement for flute (not including common time) (7) |
| RE(C)ORDER. | ||
| 31 | BAST | Keep steady after removal of all matting (4) |
| B(ALL)AST. | ||
| 32 | AMOUR | One has to grieve having lost last love (5) |
| A MOUR(N) | ||
| 33 | SINK UNIT | Kitchen feature I put in unknits, falling apart (8, 2 words) |
| *(I UNKNITS) | ||
| 34 | MAN-MANAGEMENT | Two chaps mature alongside others with time, dealing with staff (13) |
| MAN MAN AGE MEN T. An easy charade. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | GROGON | Fearsome female tipping second and third in Aussie booze-up (6) |
| GORGON with the second and third letters transposed. | ||
| 3 | REBELDOM | Where mutiny holds sway mostly more bleed at sea (8) |
| *(MOR(e) BLEED). | ||
| 4 | SCOLOPENDRA | Fabulous fish available? Upbraid catching that – rule one (11) |
| OPEN (available) in SCOLD, R A. | ||
| 5 | TARDIER | Wildly irate about condensed thoroughfare, getting further behind (7) |
| RD in *IRATE | ||
| 6 | OLPE | Characters regularly isolated collapse in jug (4) |
| Even letters (regularly) taken from cOlLaPsE. | ||
| 7 | OVERSTROOKE | Once hit choppingly, bowler’s spell maybe called for energy restricting runs (11) |
| OVERS, R in TOOK, E. It’s a Spenserian usage, indicated by “once”. | ||
| 8 | GOPAK | Republicans lifted spirit as of old in lively dance (5) |
| GOP (popular abbreviation for the Republican Party), KA(rev) | ||
| 9 | SASIN | Antelope, one leaving section of its native continent (5) |
| ASI(a) in S(ectio)N. It’s an Indian antelope, hence the reference to Asia. | ||
| 10 | TREND | Wind? As to this – not trades possibly (5) |
| Compound anagram; take “AS TO” from “NOT TRADES” and juggle what’s left. | ||
| 11 | THACK | Wherein one thleeps there’s part of cosy covering for Jock (5) |
| 17 | FAST LANE | Time in naval base? It’s unsuitable for slowcoaches (8, 2 words) |
| T in FASLANE, which is a naval base on the Clyde. | ||
| 19 | SAGGING | Gee-gee I put among nags wretchedly on the decline (7) |
| GG I in *NAGS | ||
| 21 | HOISIN | Sauce: in oriental city not an offence (6) |
| H(AN)OI, SIN. | ||
| 22 | ARETT | Treat distributed as award in yesteryear (5) |
| *TREAT | ||
| 23 | HARAM | One caught in mischief forbidden by Sharia… (5) |
| A in HARM. Here Azed indicates that this is a Muslim term, equivalent in some ways to TREF in 11 across, where there was no such indication of its being a Jewish term. It does of course enable him to use the ellipsis and connect with the next clue. | ||
| 24 | ULEMA | …As expounded by this (division of Mamelukes had up)? (5) |
| Hidden and reversed (had up) in MAMELUKES | ||
| 25 | SARUM | This use was not widely practised in the old church – it’s odd (5) |
| (W)AS(rev), RUM. This is an & lit clue, but I’m not sure that I’ve parsed it correctly – there doesn’t seem to be a reversal indicator, and W=WIDELY seems a bit of a stretch. Any other suggestions? Richard’s suggestion that it’s SA(sex) RUM seems better, even if it gives us a 10 word definition. | ||
| 28 | ARIA | You might see this end up in an opera (4) |
| Not sure about this one at all; I can’t think of another word which would fit, but it just looks like a weakish cryptic definition, which isn’t Azed’s style. No doubt I’m missing something. It could – at a stretch – be a reference to this opera: C AIRA(rev). I’m kicking myself for missing the reference to Ariadne. | ||
*anagram
11Dn: thleeps is to sleeps as thack is to sack, which is slang for bed.
25Dn is not an & lit. The wordplay part here is simply the last two words of the clue, hence SA (= sex appeal, or ‘it’) + RUM (odd).
28Dn is an & lit., the wordplay being ARIADNE less END (rev.). The full title of Strauss’s opera is ‘Ariadne auf Naxos’.
And I think the wordplay of 9Dn should actually be S(ection) + ASI(a)N.
Thanks to bridgesong for the blog and AZED for another enjoyable Sunday.
I had a lot of trouble with the NE corner but got there in the end.
I agree that bouncer = lie is a bit of a stretch even with the question mark.
28d I found this on another site:
“I think it might refer to the Strauss opera Ariadne auf Naxos”. Ariadne gives you Aria + end up.
Which I’m happy with.
25dn SARUM
Just to complete the explanation, as Richard says, the wordplay is just the last two words of the clue.
The definition starts ‘this use’ referring to ‘Sarum use’ (q.v. in Chambers below the entry for ‘Sarum’).
Old Sarum is the site of the ‘old’ Salisbury on a hill 2 miles north of present-day Salisbury. In Medieval times,they,in effect,moved to a new site and built a ‘new’ cathedral starting about 1220, to replace the old one. I guess ‘Sarum use’ didn’t change much in the transfer.