Another plain puzzle from Azed, with the usual combination of obscure and familiar words.
I tackled this puzzle on the Eurostar from Paris to London, having managed to download it before setting off (see my blog for the previous day’s Guardian prize puzzle for the outward journey) and managed to complete it, thanks to my Chambers app on my iPad. I found it a little easier than the previous week’s puzzle, which I failed to complete. Only one small query, at 27 down, which I am sure someone will quickly answer.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ABSENT-MINDED | Maiden intends stirring within, not yet up, preoccupied (12) |
| *(M(aiden) INTENDS) in ABED. | ||
| 10 | JOCO | DJ cut short disc, making Scots cheerful (4) |
| JOC(key), 0. | ||
| 11 | AMIENS | Shakespearean character (when getting look in) (6) |
| MIEN in AS. A character in As You Like It. | ||
| 13 | ARAPUNGA | Bellbird, far from loud, seen in tangled guaraná (8) |
| P(ianissimo) in *GUARANA. | ||
| 14 | CABIN | Murderer accepts reduced breadth, shut in confined space (5) |
| B in CAIN. | ||
| 15 | TATIE | Jacques (say) having little English, chat’s a poor one (5) |
| (Jacques) TATI, E. A chat is a poor quality potato. | ||
| 17 | LEMMATA | Meal spilt round rug causing arguments (7) |
| MAT in *MEAL. | ||
| 18 | BLEAKY | Once desolate through inhaling crack (6) |
| LEAK in BY. | ||
| 20 | SHIA | Ismailian, he: ‘I am involved with – line’ maybe? (4) |
| Compound anagram; take the letters of “I am” and “line” from “Ismailian, he” and arrange them. As usual, it’s an & lit clue. | ||
| 22 | SUID | Calamari queen rejected for pork (4) |
| S(q)UID. | ||
| 24 | SCAPES | Ship rounding headland makes getaway (6) |
| CAPE in SS. | ||
| 25 | TRASHED | Heart’s given out – died, worn out (7) |
| *HEARTS, D. | ||
| 29 | HIRES | Displaying crisp image, is engaging (5) |
| HI-RES. | ||
| 30 | FIERE | Like a proud ‘dame’ and one-time spouse (5) |
| I think Azed is referring to the fact that this old term for a spouse is also French for proud (of a female). | ||
| 31 | TEIL TREE | Support required with litre drunk inside? Better go for lime! (8, 2 words) |
| *LITRE in TEE. | ||
| 32 | NATURE | Aunt shocked about nakedness (6) |
| *AUNT, RE. | ||
| 33 | CIEL | Line that is penned by form in school ass omitted (4) |
| I.E. in CL(ass). | ||
| 34 | SEASIDE GRAPE | American fruit is aged, wrinkled, wrapped in blanket (12, 2 words) |
| *(IS AGED) in SERAPE. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | BORAK | Aussie balls being bowled on short slope, English lost (5) |
| B(owled), O(n) RAK(e). It’s an Antipodean term for nonsense. | ||
| 3 | SCABIES | Grub dropping off fir trees – it causes severe itching (7) |
| SC(off), ABIES (one of the genera of fir trees). | ||
| 4 | NOUNS | Mild old-fashioned oath, as nothing in convent? (5) |
| 0 in NUNS. | ||
| 5 | TINGLY | Run off for a moment? It’s thrilling (6) |
| (flee)TINGLY. | ||
| 6 | MAGNES | Male accompanying ‘pure’ woman, attractive old thing (6) |
| M, AGNES. Presumably Agnes is “pure” because of the association with agnus dei. | ||
| 7 | NIRAMIAI | I end up under rain, shivering – would-be scary ‘business’ (8) |
| *RAIN, I AIM (rev). The sumo wrestling equivalent of the haka. | ||
| 8 | DELTA | D = dead (late, otherwise) (5) |
| D, *LATE. | ||
| 9 | ENTITLE | Some reinvent it, learning style (7) |
| Hidden in “reinvent it learning”. | ||
| 10 | JACOBETHAN | A round object in black stone, Chinese, showing blend of styles (10) |
| A COB in JET, HAN. | ||
| 12 | SHEAR-STEEL | Material for making tools – hassle with tree chopping (10) |
| *(HASSLE, TREE). | ||
| 16 | NAUSEOUS | Sickening talent – active exercise limited (8) |
| A USE in NOUS. | ||
| 19 | LARIDAE | Gulls left dry before river rises (7) |
| L, ARID, EA(rev). | ||
| 21 | APTERIA | Bare patches more fitting on diner’s fish served up? (7) |
| APTER, AI(rev). | ||
| 23 | DESEED | Empty heads of last in class, dense – what’s to be done about that? (6) |
| (clas)S, (dens)E in DEED. Clever clue, misleading the solver into looking for first or head letters. | ||
| 24 | SDAINE | Coy old maidens, covering head, in a tizzy (6) |
| *(m)AIDENS. I didn’t know that “coy” can be a verb (it’s a Shakespearean usage, hinted at by “old”). | ||
| 26 | ARITA | Is it seen in Imari tableware? Yes and no (strictly speaking) (5) |
| Hidden in Imari tableware. Both Imari and Arita are types of Japanese porcelain. | ||
| 27 | OFLAG | No place for a captured ranker or aged gaolbird (5) |
| OF LAG. An Oflag is a camp for officers, but I don’t see why OF= “or aged”. Any suggestions? | ||
| 28 | CREEP | Fawn mushroom, almost scarlet inside? (5) |
| RE(d) in CEP. | ||
*anagram
27Dn: Chambers gives of = aged, I guess in the sense of e.g. “He looks good for a man of 60”.
15 Ac
Though TATIE was obviously correct, I couldn’t find it spelt that way in Chambers
Norman, tatie is listed at the entry for tater.
Thanks Bob
30 ac FIERE
Putting LA FIÈRE DAME (The Proud Lady) into Google gave me lots of references to a racehorse, but I was expecting to find that it was a French play or fable.
One wrong at 30ac where I had “feere” from the definition. I was unaware of the French feminine word for “proud” so my answer didn’t fit the wordplay. Interestingly, although “feere” is in more online dictionaries than “fiere” it isn’t one of the five spellings of the word in my Chambers, which lists fere, feer, feare, fiere and pheere, together with “in fere” and “yfere” which both mean together or in company.