Some considerable subtlety on display this week, some of which may have eluded me. There are of course all the usual Azed features of obscure words, and ingenious clues, this week displayed in a 13 by 11 grid.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHAFT | Child facing stern jaw (that of dominie?) (5) |
| CH(ild), AFT. A Scottish term for the jaw or cheek, the Scottish reference coming from the word “dominie”. | ||
| 7 | ESPADA | Matador from Spain, notice, welcomed by that country but not at home (6) |
| E (country code for Spain), AD in SPA(in). | ||
| 12 | HORSE-MILLINER | Decorator of old mounts, Jack maybe frames one left border in reverse (13) |
| 1 L LIMES(all rev) in HORNER. See also 25 down. | ||
| 13 | MALAGA | Mum holds festive occasion back for wine (sweet) (6) |
| GALA(rev) in MA. | ||
| 14 | LUNT | Have a fag? Och aye, not easily cutting b– leaves! (4) |
| It’s a Scottish term meaning to smoke, which explains the beginning of the clue, but although “blunt” is obviously implied in what follows, I can’t really explain the wordplay. Suggestions please. | ||
| 15 | MILT | Spleen on being spurned by poet (4) |
| MILT(on). | ||
| 16 | HIP-GOUT | Sciatica: after hospital I set about activity (7) |
| H, GO in I PUT. | ||
| 17 | PEELINGS | Pig seen excitedly gobbling last of swill – these included? (8) |
| (swil)L in * (PIG SEEN). | ||
| 18 | PUKEY | Nauseous on horseback, turning back essential (5) |
| UP(rev), KEY. | ||
| 23 | RUPIA | Note this ulcer, new, getting worse? An eruption possibly (5) |
| Compound anagram: take the letters of “note, n(ew)” from “an eruption” and rearrange what’s left. | ||
| 24 | ROCCELLA | Lichens, endless danger on part of Parthenon? (8) |
| ROC(k), CELLA. The use of “rock” to mean danger is described as figurative in Chambers; it was new to me. | ||
| 26 | MONTERO | Huntsman reset net in wild moor (7) |
| *NET in *MOOR. | ||
| 29 | WEIR | Scots guard – or Welsh, English and Irish (4) |
| W(elsh) E(nglish) IR(ish). | ||
| 30 | OKRA | Chef alienating company with almost uncooked slimy veg (4) |
| (co)OK, RA(w). I don’t understand what “slimy” is doing here; it doesn’t fairly describe the vegetable, whether raw or cooked, does it? | ||
| 31 | PARURE | Arab wearing unadulterated set of ornaments (6) |
| AR in PURE. | ||
| 32 | UILLEANN PIPES | Pile-ups with ‘Annie L’ being played, whereon chanter’s deployed (13, 2 words) |
| *(PILE-UPS, ANNIE L). | ||
| 33 | SNEERY | Contemptuous, as always featured in channel that’s not main one (6) |
| E’ER in SNY. A sny or snye is a side channel of a river. | ||
| 34 | SISSY | Crybaby? Only part of class is sympathetic (5) |
| Hidden in “class is sympathetic”. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHAMPERTOUS | Cut so arranged round picnic basket, good for outside party! (11) |
| HAMPER in *CUT SO. I don’t agree with the definition, as champerty (the secret funding by another of a legal action in return for a cut of any proceeds) cannot be described as good. | ||
| 2 | HOMIE | Gang member in murder overlooked by CID? (5) |
| HOMI(cid)E. | ||
| 3 | ARMLET | Bangle craft entered by man (not amateur (6) |
| M(a)LE in ART. | ||
| 4 | TELLIMA | A variety of corn coming up in hardy perennials (7) |
| A MILLET (rev). | ||
| 5 | AMAH | Nurse, adult one going into health ministry for love (4) |
| A(dult), M(inistry) O(f) H(ealth) with A (one) replacing O (love). | ||
| 6 | PIG-IGNORANT | Musical coming up, played non-part in the wings, totally dumb (11) |
| GIGI(rev) in *NON-PART. I liked “in the wings” as an envelope indicator, and the fact that even the hyphen was included in the anagram fodder. | ||
| 7 | ELAPSE | Passing middle of week with… (6) |
| LAPS (a reference to 8 down) in w(EE)k. | ||
| 8 | SLUG | …Intake of drinks, half slothful (4) |
| SLUG(gish). I don’t really see how this equates with LAPS in the previous clue. | ||
| 9 | PILOUS | Pressure on oil disrupted the States – hairy (6) |
| P(ressure) *OIL, US. | ||
| 10 | DENTEX | Entrails for student examining Mediterranean fish (6) |
| Hidden in “student examining”. | ||
| 11 | ARTSY-FARTSY | Pair of strays wandering round France, showing off creativity? (11) |
| F in*STRAY (twice). | ||
| 18 | PICK-UPS | …Ayseed surrounded by litter? Improvements called for (7) |
| ‘ICK in PUPS. In the version as printed in the newspaper, there was no ellipse at the beginning of the clue, just an inverted comma to denote the dropped “h”. | ||
| 19 | RUMKIN | Tailless chicken, odd family (6) |
| RUM KIN. | ||
| 20 | FINALE | One comes up in line for closing number (6) |
| AN(rev) in FILE. | ||
| 21 | PRE-PAY | Fidgety yapper you need to settle in advance (6) |
| *YAPPER. | ||
| 22 | BLEEPS | Pages from book disturbed sleep (6) |
| B(ook) *SLEEP. “Pages” here is used as a verb. | ||
| 25 | LIMES | …Is situated round edge of imperium? (5) |
| M in LIES. This took me a long time to work out, mainly because I was unfamiliar with the use of the word “limes” to mean not fruits but a Roman term for a boundary. It was only when it cropped up in 12 across that the penny dropped. I still don’t understand the ellipsis, though. As it stands the clue is a good example of an & lit. | ||
| 27 | TIER | What’ll protect clothing in rumpus room row? (4) |
| Double definition: the child’s apron usage was new to me, its US origins signified by the use of the American term “rumpus room”. | ||
| 28 | ORNE | See me going through Calvados, a drink with a bit of richness in (4) |
| R(ichness) in ONE (which can mean a drink). It’s the name of a river, so not in Chambers. | ||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, bridgesong.
14a – “not easily cutting” is BLUNT, and if B leaves you have LUNT.
30a – I’m not an expert on OKRA, but some googling suggests that it has a tendency to be slimy when cooked.
A tough one, and defeated by LIMES, and ORNE ( which I should have got, having been to Normandy and seen the Orne). Thank you for the explanation. I can confirm that Okra looks disgustingly slimy if overcooked.
Thanks Azed for the usual enjoyment and bridgesong for the blog.
25dn: I think the ellipsis is doing the job of a blank. The answer must be entered in that space to make the definition complete, the question mark at the end indicating a valid definition by example. Azed could not start the clue with “This” without spoiling the complete “& lit” nature of the clue, because the cryptic interpretation is a noun phrase, so there is no verb of which “This” could be the subject.