Hard! Normally I manage to finish AZED with just a paper copy of Chambers for aid. It may take more than one sitting but I get there in a reasonable amount of time. Not this week. I gave up trying to solve unaided early on and even using electronic aids I really struggled. At times I was basically cheating as I was trawling the web for information and using all sorts of word-search programs to try and make progress. Towards the end things got a little easier as the number of checking letters allowed me to revert to a more straightforward approach. Thank you AZED for a great challenge.
Each across clue has all occurences of a particular letter omitted. Each down clue has a single letter inserted. The letter-counts represent the length of the solution but not the grid entry. In all cases the wordplay gives what is actually entered into the grid, not the solution.
The instructions were clear but even so I found myself struggling to remeber what to do. I think the opposite natures of the across and down clues made it hard to get into a rhythm and I was constantly getting confused as to the number of letters in the definitions and wordplay. Added to that the abundance of obscure words and the uncertainty of the number and position of letters in the solution made even cheating difficult.
The removed and added letters form part of a Wordsworth sonnet The World Is Too Much With Us:
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
GETTING AND SPENDING, WE LAY WASTE TO OUR POWERS;—
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
It is very pleasing to see poetry included in a puzzle again. I remember the late Reverend Graham’s puzzles frequently contained lines from poems.
| Across | ||
| 1 | ILESOME | Producing silly smile about nothing, ’e’ll be this? (10) |
| GIGGLESOME omitting G three times – SMILE* anagram=silly contains (about) O (nothing) and E | ||
| 6 | WTPLAT | A record going round with dry edges – its surface is sensitized (8, 2 words) |
| WET PLATE omitting E twice – A LP (record) reversed (going round) inside (edged by) W (with) and TT (dry) | ||
| 11 | HYSERIA | Frenzy affected Ayrshire, river escaping (8) |
| HYSTERIA omitting T – anagram (affected) of AYrSHIRE missing R (river) | ||
| 13 | WIERY | Palpitating, that is when surrounded by mocking (8) |
| TWITTERY missing T three times – IE (that is) inside (surrounded by) WRY (mocking) | ||
| 14 | AXLLA | Botanist’s angle, very large in a side sepal (6) |
| AXILLA missing I – XL (very large) in ALA (side sepal) | ||
| 15 | AOTATE | Supply commentary on foreign state on account of reverse (8) |
| ANNOTATE missing N twice – ETAT (state, in French, foreign) OA (on account of) all reversed | ||
| 16 | OLEEYED | Hurrah for ecstasy maid recalled, staring wildly? (10) |
| GOGGLE-EYED omitting G three times – OLE (hurrah for) E (ecstasy) and DEY (maid) reversed (recalled) | ||
| 17 | PTIN | Soft metallic sheen (6) |
| PATINA missing A twice – P (soft) and TIN (metallic) | ||
| 18 | PROPESIVE | One against following guys in gym? No longer inclined (10) |
| PROPENSIVE missing N – I (one) V (against) following ROPES (guys) all inside PE (gym) | ||
| 24 | IELPHYIAE | Opossums, phyla i.e. doubly hybridized (12) |
| DIDELPHYIDAE missing D three times – anagram (hybridised) of PHYLA and IE IE (doubly so) | ||
| 25 | CETU | Girdle section in nice tulle (6) |
| CESTUS missing S twice – found inside (section of) niCE TUlle | ||
| 26 | RIMIARA | Queen Empress Maria excited: she’ s about to have her first (9) |
| PRIMIPARA missing P twice – RI (Queen Empress) and MARIA* anagram=excited | ||
| 28 | WLLMAD | Finely constructed lines penned by William (Bill) (8) |
| WELL-MADE missing E twice – LL (line, two of) inside (penned by) WM (William) and AD (bill, poster) | ||
| 30 | SCAER | Rotating aerial broadcast races (7) |
| SCANNER missing N twice – RACES* anagram=broadcast | ||
| 31 | SEATE | Given a shot? Second mostly consumed (7) |
| SEDATED missing D (twice) – |
||
| 32 | EROTETC | Forming questions, and so on, about discourse repetitively (8) |
| EROTETIC omitting I – ETC (and so on) contains (about) ROTE (discourse repetitively) | ||
| 33 | OYSOME | Maiden in love, yes love, awfully hurtful as of old (7) |
| NOYSOME omitting N – M (maiden) inside anagram (awfully) of O (love) YES O (love) | ||
| 34 | LAMOURS | Love in the environs of Limoges is bewitching, as of old (8) |
| GLAMOURS omitting G – AMOUR (love) in LimogeS (the environs of, surrounding letters) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | ITWA | Palm tree? First person introducing a couple in Scotland (3) |
| ITA adding W – I (first person) in front of (introducing) TWA (a couple in Scotland) | ||
| 2 | LEIOTREICHY | German state getting into oil yet oddly creating no waves on top! (10) |
| LEIOTRICHY adding E -REICH (German state) inside anagram (oddly) of OIL YET – having staight hair, no waves | ||
| 3 | EMETICL | Money pocketed old uncle left – it’s sickening (6) |
| EMETIC adding L – TIC (money) inside (pocketing, filling a pocket) EME (old uncle) and L (left) | ||
| 4 | SORAN | To intrude in Scotland like this went about freely (4) |
| SORN adding A – SO (like this) and RAN (went about freely) | ||
| 5 | MYOERA | My circle age – it’s fate (5) |
| MOERA adding Y – MY O (circle) and ERA (age) – any one of the three fates in classical mythology | ||
| 6 | WEEL | Very small lake fish (3) |
| EEL adding W – WEE (very small) and L (lake) | ||
| 7 | TRAEED | Like forest land river craft must be taken up (5) |
| TREED adding A – DEE (river) and ART (craft) reversed (must be taken up) | ||
| 8 | PIXESL | Element of computer image I sex up in programming language (5) |
| PIXEL adding S – I with SEX reversed (up) inside PL (programming language) | ||
| 9 | ALLEVITATOR | One mollifies everyone rolling up (10) |
| ALLEVIATOR adding T – ALL (everyone) and ROTATIVE (rolling) reversed (up) | ||
| 10 | TOADEY | Lackey for a pasha in old Algiers (5) |
| TOADY adding E – TO (for) A DEY (pashia in old Algiers) | ||
| 12 | SPOOLIATE | Climbing vents in castle walls, one devoured plunder (8) |
| SPOLIATE adding O – LOOPS (vents in castle walls) reversed (climbing) than I (one) and ATE (devoured) | ||
| 19 | ICEMANU | Jewel thief came breaking into fashionable uni (6, 2 words ) |
| ICE MAN adding U – anagram (breaking) of CAME in IN (fashionable) U (uni, university) | ||
| 20 | DIRSCO | Dance club I run, namely with party around (5) |
| DISCO adding R – I R (run) SC (namely) inside (with…around) DO (party) | ||
| 21 | HPIERO | Classical tyrant, Greek character imprisoned by demigod (5) |
| HEIRO adding P – PI (Greek character) insdie (imprisoned by) HERO (demigod) | ||
| 22 | CHAROM | Delight daily with order given to few (5) |
| CHARM adding O – CHAR (daily) with OM (Order of Merit, awarded to a few) | ||
| 23 | PAWSTA | Regular trat dish, bits of seafood tossed in a shell(5) |
| PASTA adding W – Seafood Tossed (bits of, first letters of) in PAWA (a shell) | ||
| 25 | CLEIO | Whale’s food, e.g. shells garlanded in company (4) |
| CLIO adding E – LEI (e.g. shells garlanded, Hawaiian necklace) in CO (company) | ||
| 27 | RUTE | Road left by old lorry (3) |
| UTE adding R – RoUTE (road) missing (left by) O (old) | ||
| 29 | DEXS | Extract from Codex Sinaiticus – it’s very stimulating (3) |
| DEX adding S – found inside (extract from) coDEX Sinaiticus – Dexedrine, an amphetamine | ||
*anagram
definitions are underlined
Thanks to PeeDee for the Blog and to Azed for the challenging puzzle.
Having completed the puzzle, I couldn’t find Leiotrichy in Chambers 2014.
Several days later I found it in Chambers 2011, as a greyed-out new entry (at a friend’s house).
I suppose the Rubric should have said 2 appears in an earlier edition, NOT 4 appears in earlier editions.
31a is perhaps better explained as S + EATE[N]
Thank you for 31ac Norman, I was never very happy with the shortening of what was already an abbreviation.
I don’t have Chambers 2014 so it was not an issue for me. I read a number of reviewers claiming it to be not as good as the earlier editions and not many claiming it better, so I didn’t bother to get a copy. Do you think of the 2014 edition as a clear improvement over 2011?
A 2016 edition has been produced which is, I understand, the 2014 edition, with the greyed-out entries that had been inadvertently omitted, now restored.
What are the greyed-out entries? Do some of the printed entries appear in light coloured ink or are we talking about on-line formats of dictionary here?
It’s all about the printed book. Chambers in 2014 left out by mistake some entries from previous editions which had been highlighted as especially interesting words.
This took me about 4-5 times longer than I usually spend on an Azed, but it was well worth the effort. It took a while to get the hang of what was going on with the added / removed letters, but once I did, it became a nice little challenge. Also utilised some on-line help to cross the finish line.
My copy of Chambers is quite out of date now, so the 2016 edition sounds tempting. My birthday’s coming up… 🙂