A plain competition Azed this week.
I found this harder than most Azeds that I have blogged recently and I enjoyed solving it. I can usually get at least half the clues without reference to Chambers, but this week I had to revert to the Big Red Book earlier than usual.
Clearly 31 across was going to be EAST or WEST but it took a long time before I realised that it had to be WEST.
There was a good mix of general knowledge this week with all aspects of the Arts to Science spectrum represented.
Clues I liked this week included SHAWM (23 down) with it’s use of GENTLY G and SHAW M, SENATE HOUSE (5 down) with it’s very clear allusions in the whole clue and the triple definition for ROGER (16 across). I was less sure about the linked clues at 6 and 7 down which I only understood fully when I came to write the detail of the blog.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Pay is adjusted with mostly modest woman involved in mental affliction (13)
|
(CHASTE [modest] excluding the final letter [mostly] E + HEN [woman]) contained in (involved in) an anagram of (adjusted) PAY IS PSY (CHAST HEN) IA* |
PSYCHASTHENIA (a severe functional mental disorder)
|
|
10
|
Game played on deck with a seal (5)
|
BULL (a deck game in which pads are thrown at an inclined board) + A
|
BULLA (a seal attached to a papal document)
|
|
11
|
Driver best give a wide berth, for whom it’s a game injecting heroin (4)
|
JEU (game) containing (injecting) H (heroin) JE (H) U |
JEHU (any fast and furious coachman or driver; driver best given a wide berth)
|
|
12
|
A Queensland native, it could be said (4)
|
Anagram of (it could be) SAID
|
SIDA (any plant of the Queensland hemp genus Sida; Queensland native it could be said)
|
|
14
|
A country using French currency is making good financially (6)
|
UN (one in French) + PAYS (country in French)
|
UNPAYS (makes good by payment; makes good financially)
|
|
16
|
Bacon, say, OK for goose? (5)
|
ROGER (reference ROGER Bacon [1214 – 1294], English philosopher) ROGER (OK)
|
ROGER (goose [slang]) triple definition
|
|
17
|
Tea-urn’s misused with English wine (8)
|
Anagram of (misused) TEA-URNS + E SAUTERN* E |
SAUTERNE (type of wine)
|
|
18
|
What’s bloated in poetry captured by parodist entertainingly (7)
|
DISTENT (hidden word in [captured by] PARODIST ENTERTAININGLY)
|
DISTENT (Spenserean [poet] word for distended; what’s bloated in poetry)
|
|
20
|
Bone disease ties snooper so in knots (13)
|
Anagram of (in knots) TIES SNOOPER SO
|
OSTEOPETROSIS (a general name for a group of hereditary bone diseases)
|
|
24
|
Musician trapping nurse in lift (7)
|
HOIST (lift) containing (trapping) RN (Registered Nurse) HO (RN) IST |
HORNIST (musician)
|
|
26
|
Ancient ox, last to much oil secreted in juice of poison ivy (8)
|
URUS (extinct [ancient] ox) + H (last letter of [last to] MUCH) + an anagram of (secreted) OIL URUS H IOL* |
URUSHIOL (a poisonous and irritant oily liquid present in poison ivy and the lacquer tree)
|
|
28
|
Porridge from South Africa, doughy at first (5) can mean to seize or steal)
|
SAD (doughy) + ZA (International Vehicle Registration for South Africa)
|
SADZA (a type of porridge made from maize flour, a staple food in southern Africa)
|
|
29
|
Of bone (6)
|
O‘ (of) + STEAL (bone
|
OSTEAL (relating to bone)
|
|
30
|
Former interval Ben’s shrugged off, sickly (4)
|
BETWEEN (Shakespearean [former] word for interval) excluding (shrugged off) BEN
|
TWEE (small and sweet; affectedly or sentimentally pretty or quaint.; sickly)
|
|
*31
|
Cardinal point (4)
|
Competition clue – straight definition, no wordplay
|
WEST (cardinal point [of the compass])
|
|
32
|
Scots aim to annoy, ignoring north at the outset (5)
|
NETTLE (annoy) excluding the first letter [at the outset] N (north)
|
ETTLE (Scottish word for aim)
|
|
33
|
Direness with tummy spreading, not kept in proportion (13)
|
Anagram of (spreading) DIRENESS and TUMMY
|
UNSYMMETRISED (not kept in proportion)
|
| Down | |||
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
2
|
Antelope, one found in part of NZ (4)
|
UN (dialect for one) contained in (found in) SI (South Island, New Zealand) S (UN) I |
SUNI (small S African antelope)
|
|
3
|
Yak cart let out (7)
|
Anagram of (out) CART LET
|
CLATTER (chatter; yak)
|
|
4
|
Mills maybe mostly producing sound for poet of yore (5)
|
HAYLEY (Reference HAYLEY Mills [1946 – ], English actress) excluding the final letter (mostly) Y
|
HAYLE (Spenserean [poet] word for sound of body)
|
|
5
|
The USA’s one reverberates with ultimate in eloquence? (11,2 words)
|
Anagram of (reverberates) THE USA’S ONE + E (final letter of [ultimate in] ELOQUENCE) SENATE HOUS* E |
SENATE HOUSE (In the debating Chamber of the USA SENATE HOUSE we sometimes find examples of the best kind of eloquence)
|
|
6
|
Force? it briefly worsened… (6)
|
T (an abbreviation for ‘it’) + HRUST (anagram of [worsened] HURTS [the entry at 7 down) The clues at 6 and 7 down run together T HRUST* |
THRUST (force)
|
|
7
|
… Such wounds – unit required by the sound of it (5)
|
HURTS (sounds like [by the sound of it] HERTZ [unit of frequency])
|
HURTS (given that clues 6 and 7 down run together, a THRUST [6 down] could increase pressure on a wound so that the wounded person says it HURTS)
|
|
8
|
Drink up wine that’s bottled in very dark colour (9)
|
GIN (drink) reversed (up; down clue) + (ROSÉ [type of wine] containing [that’s bottled] IN) NIG< ROS (IN) E |
NIGROSINE (a blackish coal-tar colour dye)
|
|
9
|
Tell-tale sound sequence – it’s absorbing study (5)
|
IT containing (absorbing) DEN (study) I (DEN) T |
IDENT (short film or sound sequence used in broadcasting to identify the channel or station)
|
|
10
|
Indian settlement British dismantle, insolvent (9)
|
B (British) + UNDO (dismantle) + BUST (insolvent)
|
BUNDOBUST (Indian word for an arrangement or settlement)
|
|
13
|
Colonnade having ruined storey guarded by porter? (9)
|
Anagram of (ruined) STOREY contained in (protected by) ALE (porter) A (REOSTY*) LE |
AREOSTYLE (colonnade with columns four diameters or more apart)
|
|
15
|
Posset drunk, lord bedded – we’ll finish off works (9)
|
LUD (form of Lord when addressing a judge or when used facetiously) contained in (bedded) an anagram of (drunk) POSSET POST (LUD) ES* |
POSTLUDES (musical term referring to concluding movements of works)
|
|
19
|
Chamber pieces? Count me out – that’s about conclusive (7)
|
(NO I [count me out]) containing (about) NETT (of a result, conclusive) NO (NETT) I |
NONETTI (compositions for nine performers; chamber pieces)
|
|
21
|
Brief letter, one from Greece that’s yellow on fading (6)
|
PHI (Greek letter) + (LEMON [yellow] excluding [fading] ON)
|
PHILEM (abbreviation for the biblical Letter to PHILEMON)
|
|
22
|
Rule in e.g. French described (5)
|
R (rule) contained in (in) DAWN (reference DAWN French, comedian and actress) D (R) AWN |
DRAWN (described)
|
|
23
|
Gently (G) – who’s playing that period instrument? (5)
|
SHAW M (reference Martin SHAW who plays the character George GENTLY in the television series Inspector George GENTLY)
|
SHAWM (musical instrument, a predecessor of the oboe; period instrument)
|
|
25
|
End of gutter is on inverted vertical pipe (5)
|
R (last letter of [end of] GUTTER) + IS + (RE [on] reversed [inverted]) R IS ER< |
RISER (vertical pipe)
|
|
27
|
E.g. Christian wretchedness, as of old (4)
|
BALE (reference Christian BALE [1974 – ], English actor)
|
BALE (archaic [as of old] word for woe or wretchedness)
|
Thanks for the blog, Duncan.
Presumably there is a misprint in the clue at 11 across: give for given. I had more of a problem at 4 down, as Chambers gives only one meaning for HAYLE, which is as a noun meaning welfare, not as an alternative spelling of HALE. And why did the puzzle advise solvers to refer to the 2008 edition of Chambers?
bridgesong @ 1
I’ve got copies of Chambers 10th edition (2006), 11th (2008) and 12th (2011) dotted around the house and they all have hayle (Spenser) – see hale superscript 1
Duncan
Yes but if you then go to the entry for hale, hayle only appears in the sense which I mention. The OED does give it in other senses, including the adjectival one in the clue, but if Azed is going to refer us to Chambers, then the clue should reflect that dictionary’s usage.
Thanks, Duncan, I was nowhere near finishing this! But doesn’t 19d work slightly better if parsed as NOT I (count me out) around NET ? A tiny point, but it’s all I have to offer.
Brian-with-an-eye @ 4
I think you’re right – your parsing is better
Bridgesong @ 3
… but hale superscript 1 itself is defined as ‘healthy, robust, sound of body’ I can see the additional hayle that you mention – I think we just have different interpretations of what see hale superscript 1 is referring us to.
@duncanshiell
I think your interpretation of Chambers is correct. Bridgesong has I think been misled by the additional presence of “hayle” with a different meaning in that subordinate paragraph. When a Chambers entry reads simply “see x” it means ” this means the same as x”, as I understand it.