Azed 2298 ‘Dry Soldier’

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I have a vague feeling that Azed has done a special of this kind before, but I could be wrong. (In case anyone hasn’t spotted it, the title “Dry Soldier” is an anagram of the appropriate “disorderly”) In any case, one has to marvel at the ingenuity required to fill the grid with words that all have (with one exception) one-word anagrams. This is the kind of puzzle where you have to keep the instructions very much in your mind all the time (“this is an across, so the entry is the result of the wordplay…” etc).

It seems to me that Azed hasn’t done this at 3d, which appears to be a normal clue. I wondered why the preamble told us that there were four proper nouns, and then separately that the anagram for 12d (GREENMANTLE) was one, but I suppose it’s because the other three (CHARON, SOGAT and ANSTEY) appear in the grid. Most of the clues are (in retrospect) reasonably straightforward, but the anagram gimmick made the puzzle rather less so, especially early on, so thanks to Azed for an enjoyable challenge.

In the explanations below I’ve shown the grid entry first, followed by its anagram in brackets.

 
Across
2. ROMANTICISE (MISCREATION) Caper is, in the Catholic Church, a deformity (11)
ANTIC IS in ROME
10. HEPAR (RAPHE) Seam-like join: it covers gap in the partition (5)
Hidden in tHE PARtition
11. THROE (OTHER) Old poet’s probably left Romania – article written about it (5)
RO in THE
13. IMPRESSE (PREMISES) The writer’s in a hurry, not quite finishing propositions (8)
I’M PRESSE[D]
14. AMIS (SIMA) An error – take off part of crust (4)
A MIS[TAKE]
15. ETERNAL (ALTERNE) Wild tree, new one, left plant community different from its neighbour (7)
TREE* + N A + L
16. LIRAS (RAILS) Bit of reggae in rock period tracks (5)
R in LIAS
18. COSTA (COATS) Company sat after changing outdoor wear? (5)
CO + SAT* I confidently entered COAST here, resulting in some problems with several of the Downs later. With the same parsing the clue could work as a normal one for COATS
19. CAPONIER (PROCAINE) Small horses docked inside vehicle – local anaesthetic required (8)
PONIE[S] in CAR
21. ASPERGER (PRESAGER) One making forecast by means of German (8)
AS PER GER. I thought this might be one of the proper nouns, but it’s in Chambers as a normal word (a person who asperges..)
25. TROGS (GROTS) Caves, kind giving good accommodation? Reverse of that (5)
G in SORT, reversed
28. SPENE (NEEPS) Something for Burns Night writer included in bits of Scots elegy (5)
PEN in S[cots] E[legy]. As the preamble says, SPENE isn’t in Chambers: the OED lists it as a noun of unknown meaning, and a verb meaning to spend (in various senses)
29. HAIRNET (INEARTH) Bury, no longer warm and dry, in the north, stormy (7)
AIR (to warm and dry) in (THE N)*
30. EIKS (SIKE) Ditch near Aviemore winter sportsman almost flipped over (4)
Reverse of SKIE[R]
31. ANALCITE (LAITANCE) Tea I arranged includes family that’s knocked back milky stuff (8)
CLAN< in (TEA I)*
32. RITTS (TRIST) Dismal old posh hotel, by the sound of it (5)
Homophone of “Ritz” (Hotel)
33. BASEN (BEANS) Veg portion from club as entremets (5)
Hidden in cluB AS ENtremets
34. SESSIONALLY (SILLY SEASON) Time for trivia, jaunt including funny noises (11)
NOISES* in SALLY
Down
1. WHITLEATHER (THEREWITHAL) Affected by being clothed in the genuine dressed hide (11)
WITH (affected by – e.g. a disease) in THE REAL
2. REMAIN (MARINE) Rule introduced into US state to stay (6)
R in MAINE. A nod to the referendum? If only more people were Azed solvers..
3. MARIAN (?) Related to old queen, chap surrenders his heart to song (6)
This seems to be a normal clue: MAN with the A replaced by ARIA: possible anagrams are MARINA and AIRMAN, neither of which fits the wordplay
4. ARES (SEAR) Measures of land, seemingly limitless expanse, right? (4)
SEA + R
5. NOSE RAG (ORANGES) Hanky, rank, stuffed into mouth (7, 2 words)
RANGE in OS
6. TASTE (STATE) Fine discernment, special, as introduction to gallery (5)
S + TATE
7. CHARON (ANCHOR) One supervising terminal crossing, an endless task (6)
AN CHOR[E] – Charon was the ferryman who carried the dead across the River Styx to Hades
8. IRONSIDE (DERISION) Puritan judgement, right to supplant Charles’s head (8)
DECISION with C replaced by R
9. SOGAT (GOATS) Union to make vigorous attack on leader of Socialists (5)
GO AT S – SOGAT was a UK trade union in the printing and newspaper industry. This is the “familar proper name” that is an acronym – perhaps not so familiar to younger solvers
12. ENLARGEMENT (GREENMANTLE) Wretched lament following fresh increase in size (11)
GREEN (fresh) + LAMENT*
17. REPOINTS (PERONIST) Gives fresh look to senior crumbling in part (8)
SENIOR* in PT
20. PERTAIN (PAINTER) To be effective at a specific time, playwright must pen one (7)
A in [Harold] PINTER
22. EGRETS (GREETS) It’s grand to guide returning birds (6)
G + STEER<
23. EPICAL (PLAICE) I’ll occupy position on an impressive scale (6)
I in PLAICE
24. ANSTEY (STANEY) Reside on fringes of Nailstone, Leicestershire village (6)
N[ailston]E in STAY
26. RAMIE (MAIRE) Plant fibre I fed to dam? (5)
I in MARE
27. GENRO (GONER) Distinguished Japanese statesman, feature of bygone regimes (5)
Hidden in byGONE Regimes
30. ELBA (BALE) Live, having a little latitude within place of exile (4)
A L in BE. This clue was incorrectly shown as 28, at least in the PDF version that I used.

10 comments on “Azed 2298 ‘Dry Soldier’”

  1. Andrew, I agree that we’ve seen this device before, which didn’t make it any less challenging. One of its weaknesses is that it’s possible to determine the grid entry without ever working out the anagram. I never did succeed in discovering that GREENMANTLE was an anagram of ENLARGEMENT, but the definition and the crossers left me in no doubt. I agree about MARIAN.

    I had doubts about PERTAIN, although the wordplay was easy to see, the definition doesn’t really accord with Chambers.

    But I’m in no doubt about the political significance of 2 down, after reading Azed’s slip on this month’s competition.

  2. Despite Hugh’s claim that the website problems with loading puzzle had been sorted out, there’s still no sign of today’s puzzle (2299)

  3. A great pleasure to solve. I also spotted MARIAN as a normal clue, and had trouble over the definition of pertain. My Shorter Oxford gives as its first example of usage: C. Barker: ‘Scenes which pertain to an age happily passed away.’ Bitter-sweet, that, this bright new dawning. I have a scanned image (not brilliant) of today’s puzzle.

  4. Indeed this was a worthy challenge and a joy to solve. I also concluded that 3 down was a normal clue. As Andrew says, you had to keep the instructions in your mind all the time, and several times I found myself approaching the clue the wrong way round. Setting this must have therefore been very hard, and a small slip like this is absolutely forgivable.

    It’s rather more easy for an international website to upload a puzzle every Sunday, so the lack of today’s puzzle is rather less forgivable!

  7. Setting this must have therefore been very hard, and a small slip like this is absolutely forgivable.

    I can not imagine how Azed approaches this sort of puzzle. I think it’s a great shame that more people don’t attempt them.

    As Andrew said in his introduction you need to be mindful of the instructions.

    I see nothing wrong with using the likes of http://www.onelook.com/ or the BRB app to find anagrams. No worse than trawling reference books.

  8. Azed must have a masochistic streak. The fact that it is possible to complete the puzzle without working out the “shadow cabinet” makes one wonder how many do that. It certainly left me frustrated that there were a couple of blanks in my list. Nonetheless a delight.

  9. Azed must have a masochistic streak.

    Well, he sets an esoteric puzzle in a fairly obscure Sunday paper, it must be love.

    I am still vaguely cross that the huge number of Graun solvers ignore him.

  10. AMIS @ 14A is the fourth proper name ( ref Martin Amis ).

    Despite googling it, I still have no idea what Green Mantle is @ 12D.

    A great puzzle however, but the bottom third defeated me.

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