Azed 2339

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Quite an easy one this week (on the Azed scale at least), which I mostly polished off in less than half an hour, apart from one or two stragglers that needed a glance at Chambers. As always, teasing out the exact details to write up the blog took a bit longer. Thanks to Azed

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. EGG-AND-ANCHOR Ornamental moulding: mine also rancho adapted (12)
EGG (slang for a mine) + AND (also) + RANCHO*
10. SOLFAED Sang like Julie, famously, leaf fluttering in sward (7)
LEAF* in SOD – think of Julie Andrews singing “Doe, a deer…” in The Sound of Music
11. OUSE Bird that’s abandoned lake or … (4)
OUSEL less L, with the definition appearing as the first word the next clue
12. PRUNT … River, with river craft around, something attached to schooner? (5)
R in PUNT – the schooner here is a drinking glass (for sherry)
13. CHEMMY It’s played in casinos, getting clubs on edge? Well! (6)
C + HEM + MY – short form of the casino game chemin de fer
16. ALMAIN Old German dancer much employed (6)
ALMA (Egyptian dancer)+ IN (much employed, i.e. fashionable)
17. DREARY Like a pub with no beer that’s captured attention? (6)
EAR (attention) in DRY (like a pub with no beer), &lit
18. DINED Part of garden I dug over and fed (5)
Hidden in reverse of garDEN I Dug
19. BOSS-EYED Body sees poorly – being so? (8)
(BODY SEES)*
23. DULE-TREE Bough twosome including linnet initially, then sandpiper (8)
L[innet] in DUET + REE (aka reeve, a female sandpiper) – bough and dule-tree are both names for the gallows
25. SCOOP Cheese sample, e.g., wrapped by Tesco operative (5)
Hidden in teSCO OPerative
27. CHASER A sermon after church? One bracer after another! (6)
CH + A SER[mon]
29. HAMULI Millions in trawler’s catch, one following little hooks (6)
M in HAUL + I
30. PALAMA Webbing, soft, a priest put on behind (6)
P + A LAMA – it’s webbing as in a bird’s foot
31. SPRIG Special outfit for youngster (5)
SP. + RIG
32. NINE Curse of Scotland, partly seen in England? (4)
Hidden in seeN IN England – the nine of diamonds is known as the Curse of Scotland (for uncertain reasons). Is just “nine” a bit vague for it?
33. ARCHIVE Old records from a Roman centre of industry (7)
A RC (Roman [Catholic]) HIVE
34. GASTARBEITER Migrant worker, a brilliant one, cutting big tree in pieces (12)
A STAR in (BIG TREE)*
Down
2. GORCROW I fancy roadkill – it’s swell devouring monster (7)
ORC in GROW – the carrion crow
3. GLUTE Gorge on energy, creating muscle (5)
GLUT + E
4. NATURED Earth in wild tundra of specified disposition (7)
E in TUNDRA*
5. DECRY Blame milkmaid that’s pinched almost half the cream (5)
CR[eam] in DEY (dialect word for a dairymaid)
6. NEELD Old pointer adopted subservient posture, we hear? (5)
Homophone of “kneeled” – obsolete form of “needle”
7. COMMITTAL Holding h-hand , played Acol, making contract? (9)
M-MITT in ACOL*
8. HUMANE Fellow, in appearance elegant (6)
MAN in HUE
9. REINDEER AGE The Magdalenian era, i.e. gender changing (11, 2 words)
(ERA IE GENDER)* – the Magdalenian was part of the paleolithic age in Europe, also known as the Reindeer age because of antlers etc found as artefacts
10. SPUD-BASHING Son, self-assertive, admitting bad wrong, getting punishment in camp? (11)
S + BAD* in PUSHING
14. HAKE Frame for drying cheese or fish (4)
Double definition
15. CASSOULET Fool, headless chicken in court, in a stew (9)
ASS + [P]OULET in CT
20. DEHISCE Bananas she iced burst open (7)
(SHE ICED)*
21. BEEHIVE Herd mostly restricts greeting for US gum (7)
HI in BEEVE[S] (cattle) – gum is US dialect for a beehive, “esp. one made from a hollow gum-tree”
22. ROMANS Receivers of letters? From answers they can be found in (6)
Hidden in fROM ANSwers – reference to Paul’s Epistle to the Romans. The fourth hidden answer in this puzzle: is this a record?
24. URIM Part of Bible oracle I mark beside patriarch’s place (4)
UR (Abraham’s city) + I M – Urim and Thummim are mentioned in Exodus 28:30 and are (unspecified) objects used in divination.
26. PLAYA Basin drying out regularly was situated in fort (5)
LAY in PA
27. COARB Catholic row over bishop, calling for one to succeed him (5)
OAR (row) in C B – “an ecclesiastical successor”, from an Irish word
28. SPRIT Spar? Broach boxing rule (5)
R in (“boxed by”) SPIT

4 comments on “Azed 2339”

  1. 17A – I wonder if AZED is referring to the immortal lines

    There’s nothing so lonesome, so dull or so DREAR
    As to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer.

    from the Australian song “The pub with no beer”

  3. I took a little longer than the half hour, but definitely on the gentle side for Azed, with only a few with question marks at the close.

  4. Thanks, Andrew. AZED’s consistent denial of the existence of and need for hyphens remains a mystery. It seems to me to add pointlessly/unrewardingly to the complexity of the puzzles. If DOGANDANCHOR is one word, I’ll eat my books on the history of classical architecture. BOSS-EYED, SPUD-BASHING and DULE-TREE too!

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