After the complications of the milestone crossword last week Azed returns to something more straightforward. His grids are really outstanding: nearly every time he has words that straddle the grid — in this case four of them — and that must be hard enough before he even starts to fit in the shorter words. And he does it all by hand, which is quite amazing.
Definitions in italics.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CHIANTISHIRE |
Popular place for rich expats? Greek islander hires it out (12)
Chian [an inhabitant of Chios] (hires it)* |
| 10 | RANDA |
African country excluding women in golf club (5, 3 words)
R{w}anda — the Royal & Ancient — is an abbreviation a word? According to Azed it is, because he says ‘(3 words)’ |
| 11 | PESOS |
Foreign money from Peru come to our aid (5)
Pe SOS |
| 13 | VARVE |
Sedimentary deposit helping to make cultivar verdant (5)
Hidden in cultiVAR VErdant |
| 14 | STRAMP |
Clump around the highlands, vagrants bringing up rear (6)
The Scottish word for clump or tramp — tramps with the rear letter moved to the front |
| 15 | DONNERED |
Stupid Glaswegian fellow right in the grip of poverty (8)
don ne(r)ed |
| 17 | INNING |
Harvest in front of field but without leading character (6)
{w}inning — if you are in front of the field you are winning |
| 18 | THAÏS |
Opera, People of Asia (5)
2 defs, Thaïs and the plural of Thai |
| 19 | PRE-STUN |
Distressed punters prepare for slaughter (7)
(punters)* |
| 21 | THANKEE |
Expression of gratitude from Harry, wearing informal top? (7)
t(Hank)ee — Hank is a diminutive of Harry and another name for a tee-shirt is a tee |
| 23 | SECCO |
Unaccompanied pro laid off the fizz (5)
{pro}secco |
| 25 | IT GIRL |
In Rome he dresses oddly girt fashion icon? (6, 2 words)
il round (girt)* — or so it seems, but I don’t see how ‘In Rome he’ = ‘il’, and ‘dresses’ doesn’t quite convince me as a containment indicator, so I suspect I’ve got it all wrong, since if my parsing is correct it should say ‘Paris’ not ‘Rome’ — this clue is given as 24 on the website, which is obviously a mistake |
| 29 | SOLIDARE |
Small bit of Shakespeare like this I’d found in reworking of Lear (8)
so I’d in (Lear)* — the small bit is a small coin |
| 30 | LALANG |
Coarse grass, constant beside meandering nalla (6)
(nalla)* G — G is the constant of gravitation |
| 31 | INDRI |
Malagasy native at home with set of nets, feet concealed (5)
in dri{ft} |
| 32 | EVERT |
Turn out for one respected for her services? (5)
2 defs, one of them referring to Chris Evert the tennis player |
| 33 | GLEET |
Mirth accompanying regiment’s last discharge (5)
glee {regimen}t |
| 34 | SEXTON BEETLE |
Blake e.g. has insect let out – this one buries food (12, 2 words)
Sexton [Blake, the fictional character] bee (let)* |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CREDIT TITLES |
100 reels damaged, including blocked Scottish acknowledgements (12, 2 words)
C (reels)* round dittit |
| 2 | HAVOC |
Chaos – most of it somehow to be seen in gripping volume (5)
(Chao{s})* round v |
| 3 | INANGA |
Small fish, where cooking may be done (number stuffed) (6)
in a(n)ga |
| 4 | NAVEWS |
Rapes, what the papers cover, French lawyer involved in brief (6)
av. [avocat] in news |
| 5 | THE ROPE |
Hanging the lady’s placed in Buddhist shrine (7, 2 words)
t(her)ope — death by hanging |
| 6 | ISSEI |
Immigrant: one follows children leaving university (5)
iss(u)e 1 |
| 7 | HERONSEW |
Young wader rose when disturbed (8)
(rose when)* |
| 8 | ROMAN |
Novel from Andersen (extract only (5)
Hidden in fROM ANdersen |
| 9 | ESPAGNOLETTE |
Window fastener obscured settee French film-maker introduced (12)
(settee)* round Pagnol — probably Marcel rather than Jacqueline |
| 12 | SAMIT |
Lappish friend abroad? Keep quiet about him (5)
s(ami)t — Chambers only gives Sami, which is why Azed adds a bit as a footnote, but the word Samit does seem to exist. Obviously. |
| 16 | MINIMART |
Corner shop? I no longer take in public transport, given a lift (8)
(I nim) in (tram)rev. |
| 20 | RECLIMB |
See record with spur (say) go back up (7)
rec. limb |
| 22 | AGILE |
Acrobatic, I’ll break a leg dancing (5)
I in (a leg)* |
| 23 | SWINGE |
The old chastise sexual profligate getting his end away (6)
swinge{r} |
| 24 | CHARET |
Speedster on the inside caught very old car (6)
c(hare)t |
| 26 | TRAVE |
Shaft for cart in disguise leaving sty (5)
trave{sty} — the second time in this crossword that Azed has used the word ‘leaving’ in the sense ‘omitting’ |
| 27 | LOGAN |
What’s sleep compared to one in a rocker? (5)
What sleep is compared to is a log, an |
| 28 | ARIEL |
Sort of gazelle, I run in pasture seen from below (5)
(le(I r)a)rev.
|
Thanks for the blog, John.
I agree with your parsing of 25a, and think Azed has his French and Italian pronouns confused.
At 12d, SAMIT is in Chambers at the entry for Sami, but is listed as a plural form of the noun, not as an adjective.