A very straightforward plain Azed this week.
Lots of obscure words, although strangely there are no Scottish terms so we see no references to Jock this week! I’ve had access to the OED when compiling the blog and have added a couple of quotations to illustrate the post.
| Across | ||
| 1 | THUMBSUP | Pub shut for renovation, money invested – encouraging sign (8) |
| M in *(PUB SHUT). A simple anagram and insertion to get us started. As usual, Azed gives no indication of hyphenation. | ||
| 7 | SOUP | Developer provided success (4) |
| SO UP. Apparently it’s a term used to refer to a photographic developer. | ||
| 10 | GRAVAMINA | Grievances against former despot penned in a rag, funny (9) |
| V AMIN (the despot Idi Amin) in *(A RAG). | ||
| 11 | BLAG | Book by one doing time for robbery (4) |
| B(ook), LAG. The etymology of both BLAG and LAG is uncertain or unknown: I wonder if in fact they are connected. | ||
| 12 | ARABIN | Horse entered – it’s included by gum! (6) |
| ARAB (the horse) IN. | ||
| 14 | FAN MAIL | What’ll get one in a film excited? (7, 2 words) |
| AN in *(A FILM). An & lit clue, certainly, although whether film stars really do get excited by fan mail must be open to doubt, hence the question mark. | ||
| 16 | MONITORY | Head’s not pro getting one in for warning (8) |
| I in (PRO)MONTORY. As “warning” can be an adjective as well as a noun, it suffices as a definition of a word that can only be an adjective. | ||
| 17 | SADIST | One deriving perverse pleasure in art making statement about depth (6) |
| D(epth) in SAIST. I think that “art making statement” is a reference to the fact that “saist” is an archaic form of the 2nd person singular present indicative (of the verb to say), as in “thou art” (in the verb to be). | ||
| 18 | BEASTS | Police supplying rhythm maybe surrounding Sting’s No. 1 (6) |
| S in BEATS. Despite many years in the practice of criminal law, I had never come across this particular term of abuse being used to refer to a police officer. Interestingly, none of the usages quoted in the OED give an example of it, although the OED does suggest that it is now used to refer to sex offenders. I wonder where Chambers gets it from? | ||
| 21 | THORIA | Metallic oxide making air hot when scattered (6) |
| *(HOT AIR). | ||
| 23 | SISTRA | Baby with a certain knack bent back rattles (6) |
| SIS, ART(rev). It’s to be found in Chambers under SISTRUM. | ||
| 24 | GRIDLOCK | Jam? Little good with obstacle holding lid tight (8) |
| G, *LID in ROCK. | ||
| 27 | CENTRUM | One of several spine parts found in adolescent ruminants (7) |
| Hidden in “adolescent ruminants”. It’s the main part of a vertebra. | ||
| 28 | RIGOUT | I make progress in routine get-up (6) |
| I GO in RUT. | ||
| 29 | FINI | Down and out in Paris? I’ll need a hand to start with (4) |
| FIN (a hand), I. I was tempted by WINO for a while, but couldn’t parse it. | ||
| 30 | ASYMMETRY | Irregularity, like return of TV trophy put to the test (9) |
| AS EMMY(rev) TRY. An Emmy is the American equivalent of a BAFTA award for television. | ||
| 31 | LAKE | North-country sport, feature of local district? (4) |
| Double definition; I was unfamiliar with the verb “to lake” (or laik), but the OED gives examples going back to the 14th century. | ||
| 32 | ENTREMES | Short course that’s new replacing ten in outermost parts (8) |
| N for X in EXTREMES. It’s an old form of the more familiar entremets, meaning a light dish seved between courses. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TUBFAST | Bust smeared with fat, treatment for old syphilitic? (7) |
| *(BUST FAT). The OED gives the quote from Timon of Athens: Bring downe Rose-cheekt youth to the Tubfast. Confusingly, a later commentator suggested that it was a misprint for FUBFAST! | ||
| 2 | HALAVAH | Foreign sweet, hot one with molten stuff, a bit of honey (7) |
| H A LAVA H. I wasn’t familiar with this variant spelling of what I know as Halvah. | ||
| 3 | UP AND DOING | Having stirred a pudding, no cooking is required (10, 3 words) |
| *(A PUDDING NO). | ||
| 4 | BREAM | Fish from river? Look delighted when catching it (5) |
| R in BEAM. | ||
| 5 | SAMIOT | Greek islander, drunk, receiving foreign friend (6) |
| AMI in SOT. The term relates to the island of Samos, which has in recent months been receiving more than its fair share of foreign friends. | ||
| 6 | PARDIE | To be sure, old diaper should be scrapped (6) |
| * DIAPER. | ||
| 7 | SMARTASS | Clever clogs using cheeky spiel to capture the market (8) |
| MART in SASS. | ||
| 8 | UNIX | E.g. Oxford, second therefrom? I can handle data aplenty (4) |
| UNI X (second letter in Oxford). | ||
| 9 | PANDY | Extremes of penalty for mutineer (5) |
| This is one of those usages that Azed delights in, and which reliably fool me every time. The extremes of penalty are obviously p and y, but what is supposed to go between them? The term itself refers to “an insurgent sepoy in the Indian Mutiny” according to Chambers. | ||
| 13 | BOOSTERISM | Expresses disapproval of merits distorted in product promotion (10) |
| BOOS *MERITS. The term is not limited to products as this delightful quote from 1935 in the OED perhaps illustrates: “He kissed his wife, grabbed his Panama, and went off downtown, feeling the springs of boosterism and ballyhoo renewed within him” (M. M. Atwater Crime in Corn-weather). | ||
| 15 | AIRDROME | Raid damaged capital landing strip etc (8) |
| *RAID, ROME. | ||
| 19 | TROUNCE | Turkey spotted cat to wallop (7) |
| TR (international vehicle registration code), OUNCE. | ||
| 20 | SAMMIES | Noodles getting artery in a mess, needing treatment (7) |
| M1 (artery) in * (A MESS). “Noodles” is used here in the sense of “simpleton”. | ||
| 22 | ILLUME | Light in poetry that is seen round island, soaring (6) |
| MULL (rev) in I E. | ||
| 23 | SCEATT | Tax of old that includes eastern coin (silver or gold) (6) |
| E in SCATT. A sceatt is an Anglo-Saxon coin and scatt is shown as an historical term for a tribute or tax. | ||
| 24 | GORAL | For me, home is around heart of Everest? (5) |
| R in GOAL; it’s a Himalayan goat-antelope, and another & lit clue. | ||
| 25 | KNURR | Cook’s last single coming up, right hard ball (5) |
| (Coo)K RUN (rev) R. | ||
| 26 | DISA | Orchid potted in sand is arid (4) |
| Hidden in “sand is arid”. | ||
*anagram
9D
“The extremes of penalty are obviously p and y, but what is supposed to go between them?”
I’m not quite sure why you said “but what is supposed to go between them” as the answer to your question is obviously the word ‘and’, which I’m sure you realised.
P AND Y
Norman @1: yes, it’s obvious (which is why I didn’t spell it out any further). I was just trying (and failing) to show the thought process I went through before the penny finally dropped.
Azed is obviously setting us up for a fall, as that’s a few straightforward puzzles in a row.
Not looked at today’s then Jon?
Re BEASTS for police, I think this dates to the era of the swift clip round the ear (and worse) school of justice.
My words came back to haunt me this afternoon when I printed out today’s, Sidey. 🙂