As always Azed provides a masterclass in clueing: not always the most riveting surfaces or constructions, but everything utterly sound.
Definitions underlined and in maroon.
| Across | ||
| 1 | MAHUA | Flowery alcohol? Amateur knocked back two parts of quart running (5) |
| (ham)rev. qUArt — a sort of combination of a charade and a hidden, not something I’ve seen before but it seems perfectly fair | ||
| 7 | COACH | Sleeper maybe in aft cabin on board (5) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 11 | ORANGE ROUGHY | Hungry? Ergo cooked, with love, a tasty exotic fish (12, 2 words) |
| (Hungry Ergo 0 a)* | ||
| 12 | PINATA | Cask one cheers? I’ll get smashed at Christmas (6) |
| pin a ta | ||
| 13 | UNTRIM | After fancy turn, I am free of ornamental extras (6) |
| (turn)* I’m | ||
| 15 | MERE | Feature of lake district – nothing better (4) |
| 2 defs | ||
| 16 | STATUETTE | The law imprisons characters at extremes of unacceptable deportment, such as Oscar? (9) |
| statu({unacceptabl}e {deportmen}t)te | ||
| 17 | FORRIT | Well advanced in certain areas, rook I kept in defensive position (6) |
| for(r I)t — the certain areas indicate that it is a dialect word | ||
| 18 | ARGENT | Representative having to guard king’s silver (6) |
| a(R)gent | ||
| 19 | OLDMAN | Captain Gary? (6) |
| 2 defs, one of them of ‘old man’, the other referring to Gary Oldman | ||
| 22 | OUTTOP | Excel, though dismissed by spinner? (6) |
| out [= dismissed in cricket] top — not quite sure about ‘though’ as a link-word, although perhaps it’s not much different from ‘but’ or ‘and’ | ||
| 25 | STAGE NAME | It’s assumed by performer, ditto when devious agent’s involved (9, 2 words) |
| (agent)* in same | ||
| 27 | ACER | Plant all Canadians especially revere – just look at their leaders (4) |
| a{ll} C{anadians} e{specially} r{evere} | ||
| 29 | CHACMA | Baboon which macaque at heart mistreated (6) |
| (chmaca)*, this coming from {whi}ch maca{que} — a second clue where Azed, unusually, combines a hidden with something else | ||
| 30 | GRANDE | Passion may be such a complex danger (6) |
| (danger)* | ||
| 31 | KIMMERIDGIAN | Like certain rocks I dig – mark mine for blasting (12) |
| (I dig — mark mine)* | ||
| 32 | SAYST | Art expressing aspect of Rothesay strand (5) |
| Hidden in RotheSAY STrand | ||
| 33 | BONED | Like corsets worn during sex? (5) |
| ‘on in bed’ is another way of saying ‘worn during sex’, perhaps | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | MOPUS | Money got with work – it was worth very little (5) |
| m opus | ||
| 2 | ARISTOLOCHIA | Tropical plant: one is ariot growing wild round lake (12) |
| (a is ariot)* round loch — no it isn’t a misprint: ‘ariot’ is a word | ||
| 3 | HANJAR | Dagger causing worker to drop dead with clash (6) |
| han{d} jar | ||
| 4 | UNAU | Last in bateau with sickness, sea dropping – it moves sluggishly (4) |
| {batea}u nau{sea} | ||
| 5 | TEA SET | Card time, and it’s laid out around four? (6, 2 words) |
| tease t — card = tease in possibly two ways: to card = to tease (wool, etc), and a card = an eccentric = a tease | ||
| 6 | CRUSTA | Vintage fizzy asti I avoided in cocktail (6) |
| cru (asti – I)* | ||
| 7 | CONSTRUED | Cheats to be believed? Part of deception inferred (9) |
| cons true d{eception} — although as a friend of mine always says, quite correctly in my opinion, when Azed has ‘bit of’ or ‘part of’ for the first letter, how do we know that it is the first letter and not just any letter? | ||
| 8 | AGRÉGÉ | One gets teaching job, bit of work coming up in later years (6) |
| (erg)rev. in age | ||
| 9 | CHIRONOMIDAE | Tiresome insects come in hairdo that’s untidy (12) |
| (come in hairdo)* | ||
| 10 | HYMEN | Old marriage song in English? The opposite (5) |
| hym(E)n — the opposite of hymn in E is E in hymn | ||
| 14 | QUIA TIMET | A period during leave denoting a legal injunction (9, 2 words) |
| qui(a time)t | ||
| 20 | DREAMY | Lovely morning lining nest (6) |
| dre(a.m.)y | ||
| 21 | NAGARI | Script in a muddle holding paper up (6) |
| (in a)* round (rag)rev. | ||
| 22 | OGYGIA | Feature of mythology, giant in epic locale causing long delay (6) |
| Hidden in mytholOGY, GIAnt — I wasn’t quite sure about the epic locale, but this seems to help | ||
| 23 | TANNIN | Feature of wine pub served up in function (6) |
| ta(nni)n, the nni being (inn)rev. — tan = tangent, the trigonometrical function | ||
| 24 | BACKS | Is in favour of large tubs where students may relax (5) |
| 3 defs, the third of them referring to The Backs at Cambridge | ||
| 26 | EMEND | Editor briefly takes in staff to do what he does? (5) |
| e(men)d. | ||
| 28 | KAGO | Transport for mikado, grand, in the past? (4) |
| k ago | ||
*anagram
It’s sad that Azed’s beautifully crafted and ingenious puzzles attract so little interest on this site. Perhaps it’s because Azed solvers aren’t very blog-minded. I hope so, because otherwise it shows serious apathy towards quality advanced crosswords,
I agree. Although, like Dac’s puzzles it is often difficult to find much to say, except to say thank you to the blogger, and Azed if he’s ever around.
Agree this was an enjoyable puzzle up to Azed’s usual standard.
Re 22 down. Ogygia is an island mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey (hence “epic locale”), where Odysseus lingered on his way home (“causing long delay”).