AZED 2,334

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The usual good-quality Azed competition puzzle: everything seems to be soundly clued.

Definitions underlined and in maroon.

In the preamble it says ‘NB Competition clues submitted should begin with an appropriate letter so as to complete a hidden message‘. I spent ages trying to find this hidden message.

My problem was that I was looking in the completed grid. The entry HANGS UP made me think Azed was announcing his retirement, but I could find no support for this fanciful idea. Eventually I remembered that Azed has a habit of concealing his messages in the clues, and there it was: if you read down the first letters of the Across clues you see ‘Forty-five yea_s of Azed’, so one obviously had to insert an R in the space.

Across
1 APPRESSORIUM Flattened parasitical growth causing higher bp when bitten by a nasty fly (12)
pressor [= causing higher blood pressure] in (a pium) — how on earth does Azed know these extraordinary words?
10 TRIP Outing, a mind-blowing experience (4)
2 defs, one of them referring to drugs
11 NAMEABLE Ready for nomination, a concoction of bone meal (one for nothing) (8)
(bone meal)* with a replacing o
12 LAMEDH Twelfth letter rendered implausible when written by husband (6)
lamed h — the twelfth letter of the Hebrew alphabet
13 ANITA Yo-yo, one trailing a girl (5)
The third definition of yo-yo in Chambers tells us that it’s a nit followed by a: trailing presumably means coming after, so nit comes after a, and the a in the clue gives the final letter of Anita
15 AGITATORS Frenzied orgiast on the fringes cheers political activists (9)
ta [= cheers] in (orgiast)*, so it’s really ‘Frenzied orgiast on the fringes of cheers …’ so far as I can see: the clue seems a bit odd and I may be parsing it wrongly — perhaps this (and if so it seems to be the only example) is a case of the clue’s becoming strained because of the hidden message
16 TRIO It’s often performed in vitro (not very complicated) (3)
(vitro – v)* — if this (and it’s all I’ve noticed) is the only thing The Observer has got wrong this time then that’s an improvement: it should of course say ‘(4)’
18 SPINAL Vertebral peg displayed in reception room? Not on (6)
s(pin)al{on}
19 LANDTAG Early diet left one with ‘dead’ label (7)
l an [= one] d tag — although if the clue omitted ‘one’ it would still be sound because ‘with’ = ‘and’, but perhaps the surface would then suffer — diet in the parliamentary sense
23 HANGS UP You may see nag struggling in thrust from behind delays (7, 2 words)
(nag)* in (push)rev.
26 COLMAR Excluding our appearance has to damage fan (6)
col{our} mar
28 SPUR Activate part of process (purification) (4)
Hidden in procesS (PURification)
*29 ALLELUIAH Song of praise (9)
The word which we have to clue; at least, we don’t have to, but …
31 PEATY Smoky like some whiskies, a type that’s blended (5)
(a type)*
32 SKLENT On a slope in Scotland I set off to whizz downhill fast? (6)
sk{i} lent [= fast]
33 ENTERATE Following initiate eat furiously, having food course? (8)
enter (eat)* — having an alimentary canal
34 URAO At lakeside this appears universal – row round (4)
u (oar)rev.
35 STORM LANTERN Zany salt on RN term: ‘What’ll I have to enlighten me?’ (12, 2 words)
(salt on RN term)*
Down
1 ATLATL Spear-thrower, range slightly reduced with extremes of toil (6)
Atla{s} t{oi}l — the Atlas mountain range
2 PRAT Bum that is dismissed by Murphy? (4)
prat(i.e.)
3 PIMPINELLA Monkey in tree climbing wholly to get umbellifers (10)
p(imp)ine (all)rev.
4 ENDGATE Pontiac’s tailboard extending outwards, with loveless hound on board (7)
en(d{o}g)ate — the Pontiac reference is to indicate that this is an American term
5 SAHIBA Indian lady rarely holds up international degree (6)
(has)rev. i BA — ‘rarely’ describes the equivalence of have and hold
6 SMUTS Black marks distinguished soldier (5)
2 defs, one of them referring to General Smuts
7 RANTINGS Evidence of disturbance produced by worker in cliques (8)
r(ant)ings — the equivalence of ant = worker surprises me: Azed is normally so punctilious about definition by example and one often sees in other crosswords ‘ant’ clued as ‘worker, perhaps’ or some such
8 ULTRAS Those on the fringes, frightful trash in part (6)
Hidden in frightfUL TRASh
9 MEASLY Miserable slice of meat I disposed of without difficulty (6)
m{eat} eas{i}ly — the structure of this clue seems a bit unsatisfactory: it means to say that ‘without difficulty’ disposes of i, but it doesn’t seem to say that — but as usual when I question Azed I may well be missing something
14 IONOSPHERE Spacecraft may enter it: I soon changed pressure at this point (10)
(I soon)* p here
17 ODOMETER One can clock up miles travelled, having motored freely round Spain (8)
(motored)* round E
20 UNTAKEN One cheers to know Mafeking remained so (7)
un [= one] ta [= cheers, for the second time in this crossword I think] ken
21 SCAPES Head’s topped by merest hint of smoke – a wisp? (6)
s{moke} cape’s — why ‘a wisp’ and not wisps?
22 DOLENT Wretched, old and workshy, in having been shunned? (6)
{in}dolent — an old term
24 ARISTA First helping of soup served in fine china making one bristle? (6)
Ari(s{oup})ta
25 PROTON Particle rapidly showing displacement of neutron (6)
pronto with the n displaced
27 RURAL Law almost broken by artist, no townie, of old (5)
ru(RA)l{e} — one wouldn’t think that ‘a rural’ was an old usage, but it is
30 SNAR Wolf not following at rear abandoned growl (4)
snar{f} — abandoned because the word is Spenserian — it is tempting to have GNAR or KNAR here (better definition perhaps) and I expect that in his slip Azed will say something like ‘187 entries, with many wrong answers at 30dn’.

*anagram

9 comments on “AZED 2,334”

  1. Had I sent in, I would have been among those many with a wrong answer to 30d – but then, if sending in, I would have spent more time on this last one in and perhaps tracked down SNAR/F. But I did happen to see the hidden message straightaway. 5d SAHIBA: does ‘rarely’ not go better with the word itself (as per Chambers) than with has/hold, not such a rare equivalence?

    Warm congratulations anyway to Azed on the 45 years and thanks to John for his usual scrupulous analysis

  2. footnote to @1. I was looking back at last week’s paper (print version) in relation to John’s blog and happened to notice that the prizewinners listed there for 2331 are the same three who are listed today for 2332. Same names, different order. Is this an amazing coincidence, drawing the same names out of the hat, or just another muddle? As last week, there seems to be only one minor error today in the crossword itself, the mis-numbering of the clue for 30 down, unless I have missed others…

  3. I had the right answer for 30d, but I have no recollection of how I got there. I took “rarely” as part of the definition in 5d, too. And I was dubious of 21d as the answer clearly had to be singular.

  4. @Doormouse- I had the same thoughts about 21d and it being plural – but I just read the Dr. Watson review on the andlit& site. In Chambers, look at 8 wisp then scape3.

    Nick

  5. Aha! That was a level of indirection to far for me. I was working along the lines that it was something to do with a scape being a stalk or part of a feather.

  6. Much to my surprise I got 30d correct, more by luck than judgement I suspect. I also spent too long looking in the grid for the hidden message. It was a week of birthdays in the Observer, apparently Everyman was 90 years old too. Found this puzzle on the easy side for Azed, looking forward to many more.

  7. @Doormouse. Yes, as C states ‘scapus’ is also an alternative to’scape’ I somehow convinced myself ‘scapes’ wasn’t plural.

  8. Nick: Incidentally, the name I use here, which was my nickname at school, has its first part derived from the Latin for to sleep, not the thing you use to get into a room. 🙂

  9. Thanks Azed and John. Managed this OK … except for 30dn.

    Was 29ac an in joke? You are not supposed to say it during Lent.

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