A routine plain Azed this week, made a little harder if you were using the online version.
There were a couple of instances where the letter count failed to show that more than one word was involved, a bizarre misprint in one clue, and another clue omitted entirely. The moral is always to use the pdf if you don’t have access to the version printed in the newspaper.
| Across | ||
| 1 | COBBY | Local’s lively, and evasive about books |
| BB in COY. | ||
| 5 | MAMMOCK | Mother has to ridicule old-fashioned mangle |
| MAM, MOCK. I originally entered the alternative spelling MUMMOCK, but that didn’t work with 6 down. | ||
| 10 | OLEAGINOUS | Like a toady, using love deviously behind e.g. privets |
| OLEA, *(O USING). | ||
| 12 | CLEGS | Clubs introducing entertainment, not how they’ll sting you |
| C LEGS(how). | ||
| 13 | DRAIN | What’ll fill it after start of downpour? |
| D RAIN. | ||
| 14 | PROCINCT | Nothing replaces energy in US copshop, being prepared as of old |
| O for E in PRECINCT. | ||
| 15 | SEELY | Good old foxy gobbling bits of eviscerated eirack |
| E E in SLY. As “foxy” is only given in Chambers as an adjective, I thought that the surface reading made little sense. | ||
| 16 | HAKAM | A king embraced by patriarch’s son, a Hebrew sage |
| A K in HAM (one of Noah’s sons). | ||
| 18 | HARD AT IT | Art I’d worked on in e.g. Leghorn, very busy |
| *(ART ID) in HAT. It’s a kind of straw hat. The online version of this clue lacked the information that the answer has three words, as mentioned by Sidey last week. | ||
| 22 | COLLEGER | Pass Latin, English and German as assisted pupil at Eton |
| COL L E GER. | ||
| 24 | TRUSS | Selection of citrus slices to skewer for cooking, say |
| Hidden in “citrus slices”. | ||
| 25 | KVASS | What’ll get Slovaks drunk – this, with none left? |
| Compound anagram: take O and L from Slovaks and rearrange what’s left. As usual, it’s also an & lit. | ||
| 28 | STICKIES | Adhesive labels to mark off, i.e. when put in steamer |
| TICK IE in SS. | ||
| 29 | LARUS | Seabirds gone astray in Urals |
| *URALS. | ||
| 30 | RIGEL | Shackle that’s released on backing for big star |
| LEG-IR(on) (rev). | ||
| 31 | TRIATHLETE | Versatile competitor, worn-out, ‘ealth broken internally |
| *EALTH in TRITE. | ||
| 32 | MICELLE | Group of chains one found in front of dungeon in Middle East |
| 1 CELL in ME. | ||
| 33 | KASHA | Porridge as served in nameless eastern inn |
| AS in KHA(n). This meaning of “khan” is one which Azed has used before. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | COCKSHOT | Aunt Sally with a high temperature after piles |
| COCKS HOT. A smooth surface reading. | ||
| 2 | OLLIE | Winter sport manoeuvre? Flipped badly in what involved gambling |
| ILL in E O (all rev). E O is a mid-18th century gambling game; I speculate that the letters stood for even and odd. | ||
| 3 | BEEZER | Piece of cake, second to last? A cracker for Jock |
| BREEZE with the second letter moved to the end. | ||
| 4 | BAGEL | Roll keeping a long time in barrel |
| AGE in BL. | ||
| 5 | MICROTOMICAL | What’s funny about joke after I’m upended preparing for a slide? |
| IM(rev), ROT in COMICAL. | ||
| 6 | ANDOUILLETTE | Sausage, ‘netted’, all in bits? Certainly French will tuck into that |
| OUI in *(NETTED ALL). It’s a semi-& lit clue, in that andouillettes are a particularly French speciality sausage, even if they aren’t ususally sold in nets. | ||
| 7 | MURIATE | Without speaking about it, look up ‘archaic chlorine compound’ |
| AIR (rev) in MUTE. The online version omitted the final inverted comma. | ||
| 8 | CHICANE | Church accepts this Roman article as a bit of trickery |
| HIC AN in CE. | ||
| 9 | KANT | Turn on edge one knight captured by another |
| A N in KT. N stands for “knight” in chess notation. | ||
| 11 | SANKO | Guitar went low – nothing lower |
| SANK 0. Bizarrely, 2013 was inserted in the middle of the text in the online version of the clue. | ||
| 17 | MARSILEA | Water ferns, strain that SA rodent devours |
| SILE in MARA. | ||
| 19 | AIR TAXI | Nine main apartments put up offering chopper for hire? |
| IX ATRIA (all rev). The fact that a chopper (ax) appears in the answer seems to be a coincidence. | ||
| 20 | DISCURE | Cruised at sea to learn old-style? |
| *CRUISED. | ||
| 21 | QUIRT | Whip Bunter’s rear, cutting leave |
| R in QUIT. | ||
| 23 | GANGES | River crews rounding end of course |
| E in GANGS. | ||
| 26 | VOILA | Palm-fringed island, look |
| I in VOLA. | ||
| 27 | SIETA | In time it’s the end of the noose for this old bushwhacker? |
| E in SITH. | ||
| 28 | SLIM | Rarely crafty general reduced line in feigned situation |
| L in SIM. Unusually, Azed has provided two definitions, one referring to the famous World War II general. This clue was entirely missing from the online version. | ||
*anagram
Thanks to Bridgesong for the blog and Azed for the puzzle.
10 across, OLEAGINOUS OLEA, *(O USING).
Here, OLEA is clued by ‘e.g. privets’, but this is technically wrong.
The OLEACEAE contain Ligustrum (Privets), Olea (The Olive) and Fraxinus (Ash)
but OLEA itself does not contain privets.
The entry in [my old] Chambers creates confusion by mixing comments on OLEA and OLEACEAE in a single sentence.
So I blame Chambers, not AZED.