Azed has given us a carte blanche this week, the sort of thing he doesn’t often do, leaving his specials for when they are really worthwhile, the first Sunday of the month when there will be more solvers because of the clue-writing competition. I suppose a carte blanche is fairly easy for the setter, since all that is needed is a straightforward puzzle without bar lines or clue numbers; which is not to say that it isn’t enjoyable.
The preamble says ‘The symmetry of the bars in the completed diagram is such that it would look the same if turned upside down but not if given a quarter turn. Clues are in their correct order. Entries submitted should include bars, but numbers are unnecessary.’ In this blog I have given the clue numbers, but they’re not essential to the solving process and I managed it all without them.
To begin with I solved what I could, then tried out my guesses on squared paper. It was a help to get the long 12ac fairly early, as well as one or two of the early down answers, which crossed this, since this gave me something to work with. Once sure that I was on the right track I transferred my answers to the actual grid.
Definitions in italics.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 5 | Single article, issued separately, no longer available? Positive — OFFPRINT — off = no longer available, print = positive |
| 12 | Judging from the way things are, Auntie looks dotty with ra-ra (3 words) — A NATURA REI — (Auntie ra-ra)* |
| 13 | Give fresh handle to product of tinker, enamelled — RENAME — Hidden in tinkeR ENAMElled |
| 14 | Purulent lung part – doctor returning, priest almost coming round — VOMICA — vica{r} round (MO)rev. |
| 15 | Former thief, long-time jailbird, not good, idle — LADRONE — la{g} drone — former in the sense of ‘old word for’ |
| 16 | Weapon from container I ceded to British regiment — BREN — bin with the i replaced by RE |
| 18 | Rule interrupts trying to charge more for arena — BULLRING — bull(r)ing |
| 20 | Container of charts, one sailor turned over — ATLAS — a (salt)rev. |
| 21 | Empty spaces V & A filled with head of Augustus, copper — VACUA — (A{ugustus} cu) in VA |
| 23 | Yesterday’s curry meals, we hear? — TEAZE — “tease” — and another way in which Azed refers to something as being archaic |
| 26 | Whacking of old Master applied to Bunter’s rear, first bending over — ENORM — (M {Bunte}r one)rev. |
| 27 | Train sea waves, using hydrostatic pressure — ARTESIAN — (Train sea)* |
| 29 | Buddy time in late spring? — MATY — Ma(t)y |
| 31 | Girl receives physical therapy without having eaten? — EMPTILY — Em(PT)ily |
| 33 | A trim administered round front of phizog, part often shaved — ARMPIT — (A trim)* round p{hizog} |
| 34 | Girl, Germanic in origin, heading off from Spanish region — ALICIA — {G}Alicia [amended thanks to Chris@4: the ‘Germanic in origin’ is I think almost certainly part of the definition] |
| 35 | Very typical of S. European, not one to celebrate giving a lift — VITALISING — v Itali{an} sing |
| 36 | A very black collar chain for ‘big sisters’? — ABBESSES — a BB esses [chain of esses, see Chambers] |
| Down | |
| 1 | Clay fish in cast — MARL — marl{in} |
| 2 | In the programme as lead, create funny short play — ONE-ACTER — on [= In the programme as lead] (create)* |
| 3 | Measure of luminosity, see, topped Nelson? — CANDELA — C [= see] {M}andela |
| 4 | Cornish speciality, pastry e.g. I, Azed, cut and distributed (2 words) — STARGAZEY PIE — (pastry eg I Aze{d})* |
| 6 | Ligament ref twisted – local man called up — FRENUM — (ref)* (mun)rev. |
| 7 | Hail penetrates most of shallow ramshackle housing area — FAVELA — ave in fla{t} |
| 8 | Hang about with intent, as solemn person following priest — PROWL — pr. owl |
| 9 | Unit of radiation, little temperature in wave, showing chiaroscuro typically? — REMBRANDTISH — rem brand(t)ish |
| 10 | Respectable resort — NICE — 2 defs |
| 11 | Knick-knacks tinkled in caps — TRANGAMS — t(rang)ams |
| 15 | Turtle, one found under riverbank brushwood twice — MATAMATA — (mat a) x2 |
| 19 | Score rises. Bell bags 50, batting unaggressively — NURDLING — (run)rev. d(L)ing |
| 22 | Add-on clue investigators turning up must crack — CODICIL — coil round (CID)rev. [clue = clew] |
| 24 | Church rule book weighed up religious artworks — PIETAS — I put a question mark beside this when I solved the crossword a few days ago, and it now looks very justified: it fits, and pietas are religious artworks, but the rest? Ah, a pie is book of rules for determining the Church office for the day (Chambers) and sit = weigh [yes it really does, if you look far enough down the list] |
| 25 | Item on Mexican menu? Cheers, man — TAMALE — ta male |
| 28 | Matches lit most of tissue — SUITS — (tissu{e})*, with ‘lit’ the anagram indicator |
| 30 | Wheeled carriage lacking a horse? — ARAB — arab{a} |
| 32 | Like special aerial I spotted in some parts going up — YAGI — (I gay)rev. gay = spotted (dialect) |
24d
why does sit = weigh?
That question sits heavily on my mind.
It also weighs heavily on my mind
Thanks for the blog, John. It’s surprising how it’s possible to solve puzzles like this relatively easily, despite not being given word lengths. It goes to show how fairly Azed constructs his clues.
My only query was at 34a, where “Germanic in origin” was not really necessary since “heading off” was clear enough about what was required. Perhaps Azed was trying to make the clue a little easier?
Thanks John. RENAME/VOMICA and the downs CANDELA (easy def) and STARGAZEY PIE (obvious anagram, and I remember seeing photos of the rather gruesome dish) were way into this, but I found it quite hard work to finish off.
The link to this week’s Azed (2246) on the Guardian page is not working (again!) but you can get to the PDF here.
34a: I took “Germanic in origin” to be part of the definition. Chambers’ listing of first names gives the origin of the name Alicia as “(Gmc)“.
No-one commented on the fact that this had the first across clue at 5 across. I cannot remember a Carte Blanche where the coincidence of two first letters had to be sought so far along. Otherwise it was a really enjoyable puzzle- as always.