Not my forte. In fact I think this is the first time I’ve tried to solve a PD puzzle (so you really do have to ask yourself, why am I “the official blogger?”). I invoked the rest of our Google Listener solving team (thanks! you know who you are!). My colleague Joseph G had some good advice to bootstrap things: “I suggest ignoring the actual solution word and just look for places the sentence looks forced and just try to fit something in there. You should end up with a real word at the end of the day. Building off existing letters helps. I started with the cruise liner one just because I take walks around the deck, so when I saw the w I tried to fit something starting with ALK in.”
Note that all the clues read significantly better once undevilled.
ACROSS
1 Anyone who’s a waster is making too little of his life (8) ASTERISM
6 Some early Huguenot insurgents were known as camisards (4) AMIS
10 In such, a new development a listed building cannot be modified (9) MENTALIST
11 Did guilt-ridden Paris cry, ‘Please forgive Helen I entreat’? (7?) LENIENT
13 I always enjoy my meal eating heartily (4) EALE
*14 Archaic horse-drawn vehicle (6) CHARET – archaic chariot
15 As soon as the teacher’s gone the lesson is finished (9) NETHELESS
16 Devoted to the cap he wears? His beret in all weathers (6) RETINA
18 A well-known liar is taking? Few for a ride (6) ARISTA
20 He likes to think he is a good saxophonist but he is no Bechet (6) OBECHE – Sidney Bechet is an American jazz saxophonist
22 After a rough voyage there’s many a bosun drinking in the quayside inn! (6) SUNDRI
25 There are many for whom a neat ingle fireplace – really sets off a cosy room (9) MANEATING
28 A skilful drover’s soon coaxed in to run a bleating flock (6) UNABLE
29 Increased taxation, was limiting for businesses eager to grow (4) SLIM
30 ‘I really fancy a soldier,’ she said, ‘It’s no tar I need!’ (7) OTARINE
31 A tribal lad is tested on his ability to survive alone in the jungle! (9) BALLADIST
32 Single scroungers are perhaps forced to beg alone (4) EGAL
33 Venues like this? Place ran top shows for months on end (8) LACERANT
DOWN
1 The new mini model is too small to give my lanky pal leg room (7) ALLEGRO
2 We should make lots in rent on letting our second property (6) TONLET
3 Bare hillsides are not treed enough to prevent soil erosion (6) REEDEN
4 Mums will take drastic action if their kids gain nits at school (5) INNIT
5 The main character in the film as here portrayed differs a lot from the book (6) MASHER
6 Cruise passengers often like to walk a liner’s decks (7) ALKALIN
7 Was your entry permit received in time to ensure access? (5) MITRE
8 Not many points were scored – just a try unconverted (4) STAT
9 Police announcing new anti-crime drive – won’t please bandits? (9) LEASEBAND
12 In the forest raintrees pied wagtails (rarely spotted) (9) RESTRAINT
17 Pearl fishers may be fine for some but I prefer a nice ballet (7) ICEBALL – at first I thought the surface doesn’t ring true but Frank Y pointed out that “Pearl Fishers” (Les pecheurs de perles) is the name of an opera, so the surface is better if you capitalize it.
19 Will the efforts of ACAS prevent the railmen taking action? (7) AILMENT
21 He’s the man, she swears – she shall always love (6) HALLAL
23 Over a dune, a sea holly grows wild (6) UNEASE
24 Despite commendation for my race performance, it wasn’t a medal I landed (6) DALILA
26 Noble bearing ensures a man a blazon (5) NABLA – interesting since derived from nebel=harp and is used as the del symbol in math (inverted delta which is a vector operator since it’s similar in shape to a harp)
27 Basic ticket prices won’t get you into the deluxe areas (5) ICTIC – though if ICMAR were a word, would also fit
28 Park rangers tagging wildlife only aim to stun bears (4) UNBE (though could have been ABBE)
Thanks for the blog, Ilancaron. I think the difficulty withPD puzzles is not so much the solving, although the first time will always be a bit daunting, but writing the clues. It took me an age to come up with anything remotely acceptable for CHARET, so no wonder Azed doesn’t produce them very often. The generous checking helps, once you do get started.
Incidentally, the punctuation in several clues needs adjusting, although it’s a matter of guesswork what the original was.
Finally, could you find ALKALIN in Chambers? I can’t.
This was my first time doing a PD as well and I think possibly the longest I’ve ever spent doing a crossword! I misinterpreted the instructions and expected a definition of the answer in the clue as well, which held me up for quite a while. Enjoyable once you get the hang of it though. One of the last in for me was maneating – I was expecting a single verb and looked for maneate in the dictionary before twigging!
@bridgesong No, Alkalin doesn’t appear in my Chambers (12th edition)
Indeed couldn’t find ALKALIN in Chambers but there’s a reference in the online Collins: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/alkalin
I skipped this one. Any idea how to get today’s puzzle?
Thanks Azed for the puzzle and ilancaron for the blog. Printer’s Devilry has long been a favourite of mine, and Azed seems to have a flair for writing P.D. clues that I can solve. Just recently I was checking through the early Azed slips, and was interested to be reminded that Azed was initially nervous about attempting this type of puzzle.
6dn: I too could not find ALKALIN in Chambers, and that held me up a bit. I am sure there will be a comment on this in the Azed slip when it comes out.
28dn: I originally put ABBE here, but it does not really make sense alongside “tagging wildlife”.
One more from me. I cannot quite make up my mind whether clues like 6ac are the best type of P.D. clues or outside the spirit of them.
Thanks for the blog. Did anyone else check to see if Ankerism was in Chambers, for 1a?
This was the first time I’ve attempted a PD puzzle, and I enjoyed it enormously. Some of the clues are astonishingly clever.
Like others I was held up a bit by not finding ALKALIN in Chambers. And NormanL you are not alone in having looked for ankerism.
Like keriothe, also a first-timer and very much enjoyed it, though I was unable to come up with a clue for CHARET that wasn’t complete gobbledygook. Looking forward to seeing others’ submissions.
An excellent puzzle, but I can confirm that the setter made a mistake with ALKALIN.