AZED 2,242 – Fifteensquared

The usual educational foray into Chambers and the OED from Azed.

Apart from ABUKIR, every word is to be found in Chambers. The word play, as always, is immaculate and there are some nice surfaces. I was delighted to encounter INK-JERKER and AICHMOPHOBIA.

Across
1	PASCH-EGG	Chocolate treat, often? Chap’s broken mine (8) *CHAPS, EGG (a bomb or mine, presumably from the shape). A pasch-egg is an Easter egg.
11	LICHI	Asian fruit fed to Bengali children (5) Hidden in “Bengali children”. More familiarly spelled as “lychee” perhaps.
12	NONE TOO	Italian chamber piece second tenor replaced as old? Not very (7. 2 words) NONETTO with T(enor) replaced by O(ld).
13	I CHING	Truancy? Head (male) abandoned system for predicting things (6, 2 words) (M)ICHING. A dialect term for truanting.
14	BAROLO	Where to drink three starters of sherry or red wine (6) BAR OLO(roso).
16	LORINER	Supplier of some tack before being put in steamer maybe (7) OR (an archaic form of “before”) in LINER.
17	AMONG	Japanese family crest in silver here and there of old (5) MON in AG. A mon is a Japanese family crest.
18	NAEVE	Beauty spot created between Annapurna and Everest (5) Hidden in Annapurna Everest.
19	SOCKET SET	Useful thing in tool box – thrust hard on end of handle and try turning (9, 2 words) SOCK (handl)E, TEST(rev).
21	JASPEROUS	Like a jeweller’s stone, once rough? Endlessly tilt rings (9) ASPER (an old word for rough) in JOUS(t). “Rings” in the clue shows that the endless word for tilts encircles the word for rough.
24	THREW	Cast connected according to audience? (5) Sounds like “through”.
26	VILLA	Lines penned in what inevitably led to Rome as holiday home? (5) LL in VIA (Latin for road). In the proverb, all roads led to Rome.
28	BOORDES	Whereupon Garrick performed, robed so flamboyantly? (7) *(ROBED SO). An old spelling for “boards”. I can find nothing in the OED to suggest that this spelling was still in use in Garrick’s day, although it does appear in Shakespeare.
30	ABUKIR	Sailor heads for immense renown involving our nation in sea battle (6) AB UK I(mmense) R(enown). This is a reference to the Battle of the Nile, or the Battle of Aboukir (the more usual spelling) Bay.
31	CORRIE	Bowl-shaped recess for soap, popularly (6) A not-very cryptic definition, referring to the long running ITV soap opera, Coronation Street.
32	CINEREA	Filmic power of deduction, half hidden in ‘little grey cells’? (7) CINE REA(son). Although its etymology relates to ashes, this word explicitly means the grey matter of the brain.
33	SHONA	Language that’s precious in South Africa (5) HON in SA; our first & lit clue.
34	VOLSUNGS	Short book celebrated special heroes of legend (8) VOL SUNG S(pecial). The Volsungs were apparently a famous heroic race in old German legend.
Down
1	PLICA	Scalp I treated? ______’s in evidence perhaps (5) Composite anagram, albeit a very simple one; take the letters of “SCALP I” and remove the S; “treat” them to obtain the answer, which replaces the dash.
2	AICHMOPHOBIA	I chop ham messily, a fetish, being scared of e.g. sharp knives (12) *(I CHOP HAM), OBIA.
3	SCHLOCK	School jam, cheap and nasty (7) SCH(ool) LOCK. It is both an adjective and a noun.
4	HINT	Tip that’s not closely packed, top to bottom (4) THIN, with the first (top letter in a down clue) put at the end (or bottom).
5	ENGLUT	Swallow as of old replacing and leaving the country (6) ENGLAND with UT (Latin for as – we had an example of this last week as well) for AND.
6	GOBOES	They exclude unwanted sounds, sounds surrounding outside broadcast (6) OB in GOES.
7	GERIATRIC	Scrambling up crag, I tire, worn-out (9) *(CRAG I TIRE).
8	STONE	Leg breaks set out plum middle? (5) ON (the leg side in cricket) in *SET.
9	POLEVAULTING	Competing in games? Value damaged in beating (12) *VALUE in POLTING. Polt is a dialect word meaning to beat.
10	MOORESS	N. African woman in low topless style of clothing (7) MOO (d)RESS.
15	INK-JERKER	Columnist king, stupid fellow, kept within loose rein (9) K JERK in *REIN. A delightfully acerbic US term for a journalist.
19	SETBACK	In bed, little energy, disease showing relapse (7) E(nergy), TB in SACK.
20	POLARON	Post Office thief avoiding time inside? One’s free but trapped by charges (7) PO LA(t)RON. A latron is an old term meaning a robber, and a polaron is a free electron trapped by polarization charges on surrounding molecules.
22	STEREO	Recording unit maybe soaks up limits of echo (6) RETS(rev) E(ch)O.
23	PASCAL	Philosopher having precedence over spiritual leader (if dismissed) (6) PAS CAL(if). “Over” is appropriate in a down clue.
25	ROUND	Finish off vigorous game of golf? (5) Triple definition, although I only realised that “vigorous” was one meaning when I came to write the blog and checked the dictionary.
27	AREAS	Some near-eastern regions (5) Hidden in “near-eastern”.
29	JOSS	It’s worshipped in China or Japan, detriment if head’s knocked off (4) J(apan) (l)OSS.

*anagram

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