Lots of new words but I suppose that should never be a surprise with Azed. Was stuck on 16D (a laxative) for a while and then conveniently became unstuck.
| Across | ||
| 1 | HACKY SACK | Husband, certainly gutted in AA? It involves booting bag around (9, 2 words) |
| H,ACK(Y[e]S)ACK – where AA=ack,ack of the loud guns variety. It’s a trademark but in Chambers (basically kicking a bean bag around). | ||
| 11 | APPREHEND | Understand the girl’s turning in, hang on (9) |
| rev(her) in APPEND=hang on. I thought “hen” was our girl at first. | ||
| 12 | BOTTE | Sword thrust? There’s legal compensation when end of point goes in (5) |
| BOT([poin]T)E – both bote=legal compensation and botte=fencing term are new terms for me. | ||
| 13 | MONAL | Showy bird left man in a dither about love (5) |
| O in (L, man) – a Himalayan pheasant — another new word for me. | ||
| 14 | BREARE | Old rose bush, uncovered, about to be taken inside (6) |
| B(RE)ARE – Spenserian briar. And another new word for me. | ||
| 15 | CERATE | Ointment, last of tube kept in box (6) |
| C([tub]E)RATE – a waxy ointment. Did I mention that there are a lot of new words in this puzzle yet? | ||
| 18 | BRED | Bore ready for an audience? (4) |
| Sounds like “bread”=money=ready. | ||
| 19 | SEPIMENT | Fence, one chaps installed to separate clan division (8) |
| SEP(I,MEN)T – where sept=clan division. More new words! | ||
| 20 | ECHO | The choir’s part in response (4) |
| Hidden. An easy clue. Sort of. I hazarded ALTO at first. | ||
| 23 | HEEL | What’s headed the wing gets to kick back (4) |
| [t]HE,EL – where “headed”=beheaded in this case. EL=wing (architecture). | ||
| 24 | PLOUGHER | One following team perhaps, making RU go better with help? (8) |
| (RU go, help)* – very well-disguised definition — I couldn’t get sports teams out of my mind forever. But it’s just the person following a team of oxen. | ||
| 25 | KARK | ‘Last gasp’ from cronk chest? End for Aussie (4) |
| [cron]K,ARK – die for Australians. | ||
| 28 | ARIOSI | Melodies recalled evening abroad, ideal surrounding (6) |
| soir=evening in AI=excellent=ideal. Musical melodies. | ||
| 29 | HOOROO | Australian cheers on local native after cessation (6) |
| HO,O’,ROO – cheerio=cheers for Australians. I guess roo=local native (animal). O’=on and HO=stop=cessation. I suppose. | ||
| 31 | SIETH | Old bushwhacker? ’Tis he, on the loose (5) |
| (’tis he)* — Shak. scythe. I had sithe at first which is also an obsolete scythe. Oh well. My downs weren’t fitting so had to revisit. | ||
| 32 | QUOIN | Wedge, Sandy’s said, finding the hole? (5) |
| QUO,IN – quo=Scots quoth=said (ref. Sandy) and I suppose if you find the hole, you’re IN. | ||
| 33 | HANDLEBAR | What one should put brakes on pub staff do (9) |
| HANDLE,BAR – rather clever clue – at least the surface was relatively smooth. Two definitions. | ||
| 34 | SYNERGIES | Performances in concert galvanized singer? Yes (9) |
| (singer? Yes)* – Ah… corp-speak | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | HOBBISH | Typical of a clown or loveless vagrant? Blunder follows (7) |
| HOB[o],BISH – backed into this. Means clownish and bish=blunder. | ||
| 2 | A PORTEE | Accessible era poet represented (7, 2 words) |
| (era poet)* — from the French, within reach. | ||
| 3 | CUTE | Clever man’s humble having this inside (4) |
| I don’t see how this works though the definition is clear. “Cut” something from a man? a humble man? | ||
| 4 | KATAL | SI unit, last element of a discussion given prominence (5) |
| A unit of catalytic activity. Take “a talk”=”a discussion” and move the last letter to the beginning. | ||
| 5 | SPEIGELEISEN | It’s essential to steel industry – I see e.g. Pilsen drunk here (12) |
| (I see e.g. Pilsen)* — it’s an iron used to make steel. | ||
| 6 | ARACHNOPHOBE | Little Miss M., a child with no traces of plaited hair, in a long dress? (12) |
| A,R(A,CH,NO,P,H)OBE – ref. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Miss_Muffet who was scared of spiders. Not sure why Muffet abbreviated other than it would have been very easy if spelled out. I suppose it’s possibly an &lit. | ||
| 7 | CEMENTUM | Root covering, one in a hundred (8) |
| CE(ME)NTUM – me=one (for people who like to talk about themselves in the third person). It’s bone covering a tooth. CENTUM=hundred. | ||
| 8 | MENARCHE | Bairn’s lament with principal interrupting first period? (8) |
| MEN(ARCH)E – mene=Scots lament. Arch=principal and the whole thing is one’s (not mine in this case) first menstrual cycle. | ||
| 9 | ENATE | Forming an outgrowth got at by e.g. locusts, last moving northwards? (5) |
| eaten=”got at by e.g. locust” with the last letter N moving up. | ||
| 10 | IDLED | Sample of dolcelatte where you’d find it served up? Wasn’t engaged (5) |
| D[olcelatte] in rev(deli) – dolcelatte is a type of cheese presumably found in a DELI. | ||
| 16 | APERIENT | Not a thing for Parisian to feed to Minou possibly! (8) |
| A,PE(RIEN=French “not a thing”)T – it’s a laxative… and it’s not the kind of thing you want to feed your pet cat (apparently, Minou is a popular French pussycat). So I guess an &lit. | ||
| 17 | IMPISHLY | How mischief-maker behaves, mean about his crinkly (8) |
| his* in imply. | ||
| 21 | HEROISE | Take to exalted level HM entering lift (old) (7) |
| HE,R(O)ISE – HE=Her Excellency=Her Majesty. I suppose. | ||
| 22 | ORGONES | Vital forces, so misapplied with goner (7) |
| (so, goner)* – W. Reich’s vital forces. | ||
| 25 | KASHA | Sort of gruel? Twist has one after end of work (5) |
| [wor]K,has*,a – I can attest that KASHA tastes like gruel but for some reason my children like it. | ||
| 26 | ARIAN | Heretic raising some money in Africa (5) |
| rev(naira=Nigerian money). Unitarian sect (so, heretical?) | ||
| 27 | BOURG | Urban community contributing to Labour gains (5) |
| town – hidden in “Labour gains”. | ||
| 30 | ROTI | Indian food, tandoori may be made with duck and this (4) |
| Indian bread. comp. anag. &lit – tandoori = (O=duck, and, <this>) where <this>=roti. | ||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, ilancaron.
I also had SITHE at 31a at first.
For 3d, man is mean=humble having CUT E inside.
I think 21d is ER in HOISE.
I agree that 16d is supposed to be &lit (where is the definition otherwise) but I don’t think it’s a very good definition. I don’t see how 6d and 30d can be &lits because both can be divided into definition and wordplay with no overlap.
Agree on all counts. 21D parses a lot better (and moreover it’s more correct!) as H(ER)OISE – surface readings for 6D and 30D are nice but indeed aren’t quite &lits.
Thanks for the blog ilancaron. I am relatively new to AZED and was pleased to get everything except a porter. Pleased too to see that I was in good company with my first answer for 31a. On a train now struggling with 2307 where I have solved precisely four …
Sorry, portee.