An Azed plain puzzle this week, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for me.
When it comes to languages, I am much more comfortable with computer languages than I am with foreign languages so I had to do a bit of work to sort out the two clues that required what I thought was rather more than a very basic knowledge of French , namely 6 down TENUE and 16 down ACCUSABLE. I think I have got there in the end but am quite prepared to learn that I have got my tenses and/or my interpretation wrong, particularly in 16 down. German I am better with than French and ICH, the German for I at 7 down, does come into the very basic category.
As ever Azed finds some gems of words in the dictionary with this week’s star word being FORSWONCK at 3 down. I feel fair FORSWONCK after thumbing through my French dictionary.
I thought that using half of a dog breed’s name, APSO, at 14 across was a bit odd, but the clue was quite clear than we needed ‘part of’ something
I write the blog using the 10th edition of Chambers although I have ready access to some of the later editions. When writing up NIDE at 33 across I started off wondering why the clue used the word ‘once’ as NIDE is not described as obsolete or archaic in Chambers 10. I note that it is in the 12th and subsequent editions. I don’t have an 11th edition. It does make me wonder though what criteria are used to declare the usage of a word as archaic?
All in all, a typical Azed challenge which I found harder than usual.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Animal-watcher some distance away during stay in Scotland (8)
|
AFAR (some distance away) contained in (during) SIST (Scots legal term for stay) S (AFAR) IST |
SAFARIST (animal watcher)
|
|
7
|
Silk yarn in ultramarine (4)
|
TRAM (hidden word in [in] ULTRAMARINE)
|
TRAM (silk yarn for weft, of two or more strands)
|
|
10
|
Temporarily hold ferry up with e.g. storm around (8)
|
Anagram of (storm) (E.G. and UP) containing (around) RO-RO (roll-on, roll-off ferry) P (RO RO) GUE* |
PROROGUE (discontinue [meeting] for a time; temporarily hold)
|
|
11
|
Form of grain, not new (4)
|
Anagram of (form of) GRAIN excluding (not) N (new) RAGI* |
RAGI (a millet (Eleusine coracana) much grown in India, Africa, etc) I think this an &Lit definition if we accept that RAGI has been cultivated for a long time.
|
|
12
|
Rial changed for Georgian cash (4)
|
Anagram of (changed) RIAL LARI* |
LARI (standard monetary unit of Georgia)
|
|
13
|
Wildly amiss, fool swallowed poisonous plant (8)
|
Anagram of (wildly) AMISS containing (swallowed) NIT (fool) SAM (NIT) IS* |
SAMNITIS (unknown poisonous plant)
|
|
14
|
Part of canine pet? Shampoo maybe transposes bits(4)
|
SOAP (I think the ? after shampoo recognises that soap and shampoo are not 100% synonymous but they both act as cleaners for the body) with the second two letters AP moving in front of the first two (transposing bits) SO to form APSO APSO |
APSO (reference the dog breed LHASA APSO where APSO forms part of the name)
|
|
15
|
A grand in church you’ll need to polish (8)
|
THOU (a form of ‘you’ often used in the bible and church) + SAND (polish)
|
THOUSAND (a grand)
|
|
19
|
A school head’s left getting drunk in style – he can’t resist bars! (10)
|
Anagram of (getting drunk) A SCHOOL excluding S (first letter of [head of] School contained in (in) CHIC (style) CH (OCAHOL*) IC |
CHOCAHOLIC (person who has a craving for chocolate which is often marketed as bars of chocolate)
|
| 22 |
After a turn (poorly) and reduced energy, clergyman goes for alternative treatment (10, 2 words)
|
Anagram of (poorly) A TURN + E (abbreviation for [reduced] energy) + CURÉ (parish priest in France; clergyman) NATUR* E CURE |
NATURE CURE (the practice of or treatment by naturopathy; alternative treatment)
|
|
27
|
Almost 100,000 antelope recalling certain poets (8)
|
LAKH (in India and Pakistan the number 100000, especially in referring to rupees) excluding the final letter (almost) H + ELAND (South African antelope)
|
LAKELAND (reference the LAKE poets, any of the English poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey, who lived in the English Lake District of Cumberland and Westmorland (now Cumbria) at the beginning of the 19th century)
|
|
28
|
I roam the mountains, the Asian Himalayan range primarily (4)
|
TAHR (first letters of [primarily] each of THE, ASIAN, HIMALAYAS and RANGE)
|
TAHR (beardless Himalayan wild goat (Hemitragus jemlahicus) that frequents forest peaks)
|
|
29
|
Dark brown creature circling snare (8) |
BRUTE (creature) containing (circling) NET (snare) BRU (NET) TE |
BRUNETTE ([of hair colour] dark brown)
|
|
30
|
Ardent, having disposed of AZ? That’s clever (4)
|
ABLAZE (ardent) excluding (disposed of) AZ (reference Geographers A-Z maps)
|
ABLE (skilled; clever)
|
|
31
|
Tuareg’s heart, say, may be found in such desert features (4)
|
AR (middle letters of [heart] TUAREG) + E.G. (for example, say)
|
AREG (Saharan area of shifting sand dunes)
|
|
32
|
Bungs overbalance on board ship (8)
|
TOPPLE (overbalance) contained in (on board) SS (steamship) S (TOPPLE) S |
STOPPLES (plugs; bungs)
|
| 33 | Brood once making one mean, disowning sons at first (4) |
SNIDE (mean) excluding (drowning) S (first letter of [at first] Sons) S is an abbreviation for sons, used frequently in Who’s Who, so the clue could also work by omitting the words ‘at first’. |
NIDE (archaic word for pheasant’s nest or brood)
|
| 34 | His text I composed for late birthday? (8) |
Anagram of (composed) HIS TEXT I SIXTIETH* |
SIXTIETH (descriptive of a birthday in later years). I suppose you are definitely into the second half of your life at sixty, as life-expectancy hasn’t yet reached one hundred and twenty, but I doubt if many people would consider themselves old nowadays at sixty. |
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Dollop, last bit falling off dish in school (7)
|
PLATE (dish) excluding (falling off) the last letter (last bit) E contained in (in) SCH (school) S (PLAT) CH |
SPLATCH (splotch; dollop)
|
|
2
|
Native American chat in rock house (7) |
(RAP [chat] contained in (in) AA [type of scoriaceous volcanic rock]) + HO (house) A (RAP) A HO |
ARAPAHO (member of Native American people now living in Oklahoma and Wyoming)
|
|
3
|
Following fair round, Crown’s dreadfully overworked as before (9)
|
F (following) + (OK [satisfactory; fair] containing [round] an anagram of [dreadfully] CROWN) F O (RSWONC*) K |
FORSWONCK (Spenserian [as before] word overworked)
|
|
4
|
Fried potato, a bit of stodge in a sandwich (5)
|
S (first letter of [a bit of] STODGE) contained in (in) ROTI (kind of sandwich made of unleavened bread wrapped around curried vegetables, seafood or chicken) RO (S) TI |
RÖSTI (dish of grated potatoes shaped into a pancake and fried)
|
|
5
|
Wrestlers exhibiting totality of bulges (8) |
SUM (totality) + O‘ (of, shortened form) + TORI (plural of TORUS [ridge or prominence; bulge])
|
SUMOTORI (SUMO wrestlers)
|
| 6 | Carriage had clean up in SNCF? (5) |
(EU [past participle of the verb AVOIR {to have, in French}; had] + NET [clear, clean in French]) all reversed. SNCF is the French national state-owned railway company. (TEN UE)< |
TENUE (bearing or carriage) |
|
7
|
Short part of poem, dismal, old, the writer rendered in German (8)
|
TRIST (archaic [old] word for dismal) + ICH (German for I [the writer])
|
TRISTICH (group of three lines of verse)
|
|
8
|
Amateur company once becoming more mature (5)
|
A (amateur) + GING (gang or company)
|
AGING (becoming more mature)
|
|
9
|
Make a mess of paste for cooking, putting date in (5)
|
MISO (paste, used for flavouring, prepared from soya beans and fermented in brine) containing (putting … in) D (date) MIS (D) O |
MISDO (make a mess of)
|
|
16
|
Frenchman’s depressed about the States being not free of charge (9)
|
ACCABLE (French for overwhelms; depressed?) containing (about) US (United States) ACC (US) ABLE |
ACCUSABLE (subject to a charge; not free of charge)
|
|
17
|
Gather tots, English, in southern den (8) |
ENG (English) contained in (S [Southern] + CAVE [den]) S CAV (ENG) E |
SCAVENGE (search amongst refuse; gather tots [things retrieved from a dustbin])
|
|
18
|
Indian bread completely sealed in local clay pot (8)
|
UP (completely) contained in (sealed in) CHATTI (earthenware water pot) CH (UP) ATTI |
CHUPATTI (thin flat piece of unleavened bread used in Indian cookery, one of many spellings of the word)
|
|
20
|
A little bridge? Heart beaten with two of clubs (7)
|
Anagram of (beaten ) (HEART and CL (two letters of the word CLUBS) ARCHLET* |
ARCHLET (little bridge)
|
|
21
|
The lady’s nabbing churl from below for top up (7)
|
(HER [the lady’s] containing [nabbing] SERF [agricultural worker; churl]) all reversed (from below; down clue) (RE (FRES) H)< |
REFRESH (top up)
|
|
23
|
Ancient kingdom, line eclipsed by a curse (5)
|
L (line) contained in (eclipsed by) (A + BAN [curse]) A (L) BAN |
ALBAN (the ancient kingdom of the Picts and [Celtic] Scots, which the addition of Lothian and Strathclyde transformed into Scotland)
|
|
24
|
Eucalypt from Arabia appearing in some marginalia (5)
|
AR (Arab; someone from Arabia) contained in (appearing in) K’RI (a marginal reading in the Hebrew Bible, intended as a substitute for the k’thibh) K (AR) RI |
KARRI (Western Australian gum tree [Eucalyptus diversicolor])
|
|
25
|
Wound after amputation? Maybe 51 thousand amputated (5)
|
LIMBLESS (state after amputation perhaps) excluding (amputated) (LI [51 in Roman numerals] + M [1000 in Roman numerals)
|
BLESS (thrash or wound)
|
|
26
|
Expert, one heading admin section briefly (5)
|
A [one] + DEPT [department [section of an administration])
|
ADEPT (expert)
|
Thanks for the blog, duncanshiell.
accablé is in Chambers (even the 10th edition) and means depressed or overwhelmed.
Matthew @ 1
Thanks
It just never crossed my mind that such an odd looking word as accablé was in Chambers, although I realise that’s probably a rather silly thing to say given the splendid range of obscure words that characterise Azed puzzles.
Still, I increased my limited knowledge of French words by thumbing through the French dictionary.