Azed 2205

1

Establishing trade etc across ‘closed’ border?  It took Pils abroad, maybe (10)

Anagram of (abroad, maybe) IT TOOK PILS

OSTPOLITIK (the Wet German policy, initiated in the 1960s, of establishing normal trade and diplomatic relations with the East European communist countries; any similar policy; establishing trade across ‘closed’ borders)

11

Tailless lizard, anything from 33 to 43 inches in length (4)

VARAN (monitor lizard) excluding the final letter (tailless) N

VARA (a Spanish-American linear measure, varying from 33 to 43 inches)

12

Like sweet wine?  I’ll open can (7)

I contained in (will open) (AM ABLE [can])

AM AB (I) LE

AMABILE (of wines, etc, sweet.)

13

Member of secret sect – slogan: ‘See next page’ (6)

CRY (slogan) + PTO (please turn over; see next page)

CRYPTO (a person who is secretly a member of a party, sect, organization, etc)

14

Refuse, old litter, card disposed of (4)

BRANCARD (obsolete [old] word for horse-litter) excluding (disposed of) CARD

BRAN (the coarser part or refuse of anything)

15

Kept circling boundary, partly clad for war (8)

HELD (kept) containing (circling) METE (boundary)

HEL (METE) D

HELMETED (partly clad for war)

16

Jiffy bags I’m given before something for reply – pretty flowers (7)

(MO [moment] containing [bags] I’M) + SAE (stamped addressed envelope; something for reply)

M (IM) O SAE

MIMOSAE (a plant of the sensitive plant genus MIMOSA, especially that having clusters of yellow flowers; pretty flowers)

17

Packed in basket, a pensioner’s rations (5)

ÉTAPE (hidden word in [packed] BASKET A PENSIONER)

ÉTAPE (rations)

19

Deserter, first quitting trench shelter for Belgium (6)

DUGOUT (shelter dug out of a slope or bank or in a trench) with the first letter D excluded (quitting) to be replaced by (for) B (International Vehicle Registration for Belgium)

BUGOUT

BUG-OUT (deserter)

24

Qualified engineer almost entirely in striped cotton (6)

B ENG (Bachelor of Engineering; qualified engineer) + ALL (entirely) excluding the final letter [almost] L

BENGAL (a striped cotton woven in the BENGAL region, or an imitation of it.)

25

Debauchees finding love in Parisian streets (5)

O (zero; love score at tennis) contained in (finding … in) RUES (French [Parisian] for streets)

R (O) UES

ROUÉS (debauchees)

26

Typical of a pope sins tie in knots (7)

Anagram of (in knots) SINS TIE

SISTINE (of Pope Sixtus, esp Sixtus IV [1471-84] or V [1585-90])

28

Undiluted Scotch pros knocked back, holding in drunken ‘hic’ (8)

TARTS (prostitutes; pros) reversed (knocked back) containing (holding) an anagram of (drunken) HIC

STRA (ICH*) T<

STRAICHT (a Scottish form of STRAIGHT [undiluted, especially of alcohol {e.g. Scotch}])

31

Wherein you’d find Columbus giving cries of sorrow and joy? (4)

OH (cry of sorrow) + IO (cry of joy)

OHIO (Columbus is the State Capital of OHIO)

32

Without bandages i.e. yielding pus? (6)

SANS (without) contains (bandages) I.E.

SAN (IE) S

SANIES (a watery, usually foul-smelling discharge from wounds or sores, made up of serum, blood and pus.)

33

Weaselly creatures chewed up amulets (7)

Anagram of (chewed up) AMULETS

MUSTELA (the marten genus, giving name to the family Mustelidae [otters, badgers and weasels] and the subfamily Mustelinae [weasels and martens])

34

Administrator?  There’s ten in ‘our’ community (4)

X (Roman numeral for ten) contained in (in)  EEC (European Economic Community; our community)

E (X) EC

EXEC (Executive Officer; administrator)

35

‘Man’s dirt’ is broadcast – by one such? (10)

Anagram of (broadcast) MAN’S DIRT IS

MISANDRIST (one who hates men)

2

Red stone arid waste in southern States (7)

Anagram of (waste) ARID contained in (in) (S [Southern] + US [United States])

S (ARDI*) US

SARDIUS (a deep-red or brownish variety of chalcedonic silica; red stone)

3

Probe entry point for such a parasite (4)

TRYP (hidden word in [probe] ENTRY POINT)

TRYP (abbreviation for TRYPANOSOME [a flagellate protozoan (genus  TRYPANOSOMA of various species, family Trypanosomatidae) parasitic in the blood of vertebrates)

4

Baby does its business in rag mostly (8)

POOS ([baby] does it business) contained in (in) PAPER [a material made in thin sheets as an aqueous deposit from linen rags] excluding the final letter [mostly] R

PAP (POOS) E

PAPPOOSE (variant spelling of PAPOOSE [a Native American baby or young child; a pouch for carrying an infant on one’s back])

5

They may result when a shot’s miscued (5)

Anagram of (miscued) A SHOT

OATHS (swear words or curses, which I have been known to mutter under my breath when miscuing a shot on the golf course)

6

Devilish thing, law, far from straightforward (6)

IMP (devilish thing) + LEX (law)

7

Label this writer used repeatedly for specific slot in syntax (7)

TAG (label) + ME (this writer) + ME (this writer again to give repeatedly)

TAGMEME (any of the positions in the structure of a sentence into which a certain class of grammatical items can fit.; specific slot in syntax)

8

Religious music giving thanks in harvest home (6)

TA (thanks) contained in (in) KIRN (harvest home)

KIR (TA) N

KIRTAN (a type of Indian religious music in antiphonal form)

9

Special ale brewed as constituent of Jock’s gin? (4)

S (special) + an anagram of (brewed) ALE

S LAE*

SLAE (Scots form of SLOE, a fruit from which gin can be made)

10

Woven negligee dress e.g. I rejected as ‘unisex‘ (10)

Anagram of (woven) NEGLIGEE DRESS excluding (rejected) E.G and I

GENDERLESS (suitable for either sex; unisex)

13*

Awkward

No wordplay as the entry is the word to be used for the Clue competition this month

CUMBERSOME (awkward)

18

There’s money in skin lotion – it’s better for me the longer I live (8)

TIN (money) contained in (in) TONER (skin lotion)

TON (TIN) ER

TONTINER (a member of an annuity scheme in which several subscribers share a common fund, with their individual benefits increasing as members die until only one member is left alive and receives everything or until a specified date at which the proceeds are divided amongst the survivors)

20

Leading team’s on a par (7)

UP (leading) + SIDE’S (team’s)

UPSIDES (on a par with)

21

Basketball team on the up look for yet more (7)

(SEEK [look for] + NAY [yet more]) all reversed (on the up; down clue)

(YAN KEES)<

YANKEES (reference New York YANKEES baseball team)

22

Sabbath in Jewish feast – it means being extra fastidious (6)

S (Sabbath) contained in (in) PURIM (the Feast of Lots held about 1 March, in which the Jews commemorate their deliverance from the plot of Haman, as related in the Bible, Book of Esther)

PURI (S) M

PURISM (fastidious, especially over-fastidious)

23

Suckers on account of being shown round the old school (6)

OA (on account of) containing (being shown round) SCUL (obsolete spelling of [old] school)

O (SCUL) A

OSCULA (suckers on a tapeworm’s head)

27

Sedate and restrained by the sound of it (5)

STAID (sounds like [by the sound of it] STAYED [restrained])

STAID (sedate

29

Concluding bits of airport trash you purchased – it’s often dull (4)

THUD (last letters of each of [concluding bits of] AIRPORT TRASH YOU PURCHASED)

THUD (reference the phrase DULL THUD; a THUD is defined as a dull sound))

30

‘Our gods wrong one’ – how Cicero finished speech? (4)

DI (plural of DEUS [god]) + X (cross; error; wrong) + I (one)

DIXI (I have spoken; possibly a word Cicero used at the end of hi speeches)