A Printer’s Devilry puzzle for this month’s competition.
Not everyone likes Printer’s Devilry puzzles: they call for different skills to a conventional Azed plain puzzle and this one certainly took me longer than normal to solve. Half the skill lies in determining exactly where in the devilled clue the solution actually lies, and working out how the original clue should be laid out. There are one or two very nice examples here, particularly 27 down, which was my favourite. Equally, Azed has set himself the challenge of incorporating some very unpromising words, such as ATROPOS and SCARAMOUCH and these clues relied on a proper name or a foreign word to make them work. There were more references to popular culture than might be expected in an Azed puzzle: Hovis, Telstar, (Suzi) Quatro and the word “diss” all make an appearance.
In each case I have set out the clue in what I take to be its full undevilled version with its original spacing and punctuation. I have added a note about the meaning of some of the more obscure words, all of which are indeed in Chambers (except of course WALESA).
I don’t know if Azed just fills a grid and then sets himself the challenge of devilling the clues, or whether the words are to some extent deliberately chosen. I’m sure the exercise must take him substantially longer than usual, which may be one reason we don’t get to see these puzzles very often. In any case, I enjoyed the additional challenge.
| Across | ||
| 1 | TERMINI | A caring master’s where the young are in trouble (7) |
| A caring mater ministers where the young are in trouble. | ||
| 6 | SITUS | As an economical dish, the bites are all left-overs (5) |
| As an economical dish, the bits it uses are all left-overs. | ||
| 10 | AMORALIST | Pupil failing, exempted, to abandon modern languages (9) |
| Pupil failing exam oral is tempted to abandon modern languages. | ||
| 11 | VISTA | When you’re fond of coarse loaves you’ll find a home (5) |
| When you’re fond of coarse loaves you’ll find a Hovis tame. Other brands of bread are available. | ||
| 12 | WALESA | They don’t match traditional beers, those sampling – never! (6) |
| They don’t match traditional beers, those sampling new ales aver. The familiar foreign proper name referred to in the instructions. | ||
| 14 | ASTERID | If you really want to go, fling gets you nowhere (7) |
| If you really want to go faster, idling gets you nowhere. It’s a starfish. | ||
| 17 | NACARAT | A stay-at-home lover of his detracts but rarely (7) |
| A stay-at-home lover of his den a car attracts but rarely. It’s a bright orange-red. | ||
| 19 | NORNA | Might that red centrepiece be enhanced by agreement? (5) |
| Might that red centrepiece be enhanced by a green ornament? It’s the Latinized name of one of the Norse Fates. | ||
| 20 | LUSTRE | Your brakes need replacing – pads are badly worn (6) |
| Your brakes need replacing, plus treads are badly worn. | ||
| 22 | ELEGIT | It was a bad injury but thrust will soon heal (6) |
| It was a bad injury but the leg, I trust, will soon heal. Second consecutive appearance for this old writ; it was at 15 across last week. | ||
| 23 | STEAR | You soon learn that one, working fans more (5) |
| You soon learn that one working fast earns more. It’s an obsolete spelling of steer. | ||
| 24 | SILANES | Maybe Sybil once dreamt of building bat! (7) |
| Maybe Sybil once dreamt of building Basil a nest! A silane is a gas. The reference is to the classic sitcom, Fawlty Towers, in which two of the main characters were Basil Fawlty (played by John Cleese) and his wife Sybil (played by Prunella Scales). | ||
| 28 | ATROPOS | Is it time to call it a day? Female rock star quits (7) |
| Is it time to call it a day, female rock star Quatro posits. Another Fate, Greek this time, and familiar to me from the C.S. Forester novel “Hornblower and the Atropos“. The reference is to the rock star Suzi Quatro, but the suggestion that she might be retiring seems to be Azed’s invention for the purposes of the clue. |
||
| 30 | ITCHES | Essential for strategic game: player stows board (6) |
| Essential for strategic gameplayers: to wit, chess board. | ||
| 31 | ALL-UP | Why buy plastic roses when reins are available? (5) |
| Why buy plastic roses when real lupins are available? | ||
| 32 | VICEREINE | A nod, hard, lacking much experience of riding (9) |
| A novice reined hard, lacking much experience of riding. She is the wife of a viceroy. | ||
| 33 | EVERT | Primary schoolmates can get a bit annoyed with clots (5) |
| Primary schoolmates can get a bit annoyed with clever tots. | ||
| 34 | SMEATHS | Critics of Irish leisure activity disport, as poorly organized (7) |
| Critics of Irish leisure activity diss Meath sport as poorly organized. It’s a duck. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | TAVA | We have no details yet (buried) – programme is promised (4) |
| We have no details yet, but a varied programme is promised. It’s a griddle used in Indian cookery. | ||
| 2 | EPISTOLIST | The sentry in a castle, keen for intruders (10) |
| The sentry in a castle keep is to listen for intruders. | ||
| *3 | RESTORE | To put back (7) |
| The competition word, and a much friendlier one than some of the others in the grid. | ||
| 4 | IMARI | In belfry tiff do some clangers out of turn (5) |
| In belfry tiff do some claim ringer’s out of turn. It’s a type of Japanese porcelain. | ||
| 5 | NOMINATE | After my snakebite they found a little vest (8) |
| After my snakebite they found a little venom in a test. | ||
| 6 | SAAG | With the car I name, save good advice (4) |
| With the car in a mess, AA gave good advice. It’s the Indian word for spinach, familiar from many a curry house menu. Note how Azed has altered the spacing to enable the devilled version to have some form of meaning. | ||
| 7 | ILL-FASTE | Waters get the most from a well-balanced meal (8) |
| Will fast eaters get the most from a well-balanced meal? It’s a Spenserian version of “ill-faced”, meaning ugly. | ||
| 8 | TIED | After a brief, resit the remainder of the paper (4) |
| After a brief rest, I edit the remainder of the paper. | ||
| 9 | STARTERS | Dismissing old pop hits like tele critic wasted few words (8) |
| Dismissing old pop hits like Telstar, terse critic wasted few words. Here’s a link to the tune, which dates back to 1962. | ||
| 13 | SCARAMOUCH | Is this peer one that loves idling around Adriatic resorts? (10) |
| 15 | INESSIVE | As a comedian cutting corner towards the more sophisticated (8) |
| As a comedian cutting corniness, I veer towards the more sophisticated. | ||
| 16 | INGATHER | Some twitchers love nothing better than gazons! (8) |
| Some twitchers love nothing better than gazing at herons. |
||
| 18 | ALASTRIM | It’s good to see my old college pesters tarts (8) |
| It’s good to see my old college pal as trimester starts. It’s a mild form of smallpox. | ||
| 21 | TEMPLET | In Hansard one can, noting RIP in debate (7) |
| In Hansard one can note MP letting rip in debate. | ||
| 25 | CRANE | An indie’s permitted filming in the royal palace (5) |
| An Indic ranee’s permitted filming in the royal palace. | ||
| 26 | ECCE | Herd way ahead, sent forward to scout (4) |
| He recced way ahead, sent forward to scout. | ||
| 27 | PERT | What’s that, painted pink? It’s theft! (4) |
| What’s that paper tinted pink? It’s the FT! The brilliant compression of “the” and “FT” gives a completely different meaning to the devilled version of the clue. | ||
| 29 | SPAS | The chef’s a star hit, as the best in the business (4) |
| The chef’s a star, his pasta’s the best in the business. | ||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, bridgesong.
I think 13d is supposed to start ‘Is this Pescara moucher’ since Pescara is an Adriatic resort.
Matthew’s comment agrees with my parsing of 13d.
This was only my second attempt at a Printer’s Devilry puzzle (I didn’t finish the first one), and it’s a relief to see that my filled grid appears to have been right. It took me ages, 5 or 6 long sessions in all – probably didn’t help that at first I wrongly guessed REPLACE for the competition word – but it did become much more enjoyable as the grid began to fill up. (How long it took me to write a clue for the competition is a whole other kettle of bananas.)
My first one in was NOMINATE, with VEST in the devilled version being a friendly pointer to VENOM.
The wordplay delineated in the blog speaks for itself – so many clever examples, and 20a Lustre was very neat.
Thank you, bridgesong and Azed.
Anyone know where todays’s (14 May) AZED can be found?
Matthew and Michael: you’re obviously correct about Pescara; unfortunately for me, I’d never heard of it.
Goujeers, it’s in the paper as usual. There’s normally a link from the andlit website, but it doesn’t seem to be there yet.
hi Goujeers – I like a printable Azed as I can start it before getting the paper – is there a duty editor or will we have to wait until tomorrow for an update to the website?
Bridgesong – I meant on-line
MrsMc – my previous experience is that emailing the contct address does not get the puzzles loaded on the day.
Somewhere the pdf will be on the website as
http://static.guim.co.uk/ni/1449xxxxxxxxx/2,344_May-14.pdf
but the stream of “x”s could be any digits as far as I can tell.
I ground to a halt on this one, I’m afraid. Used to enjoy these when I was doing the Azed back in the eighties but switched to Beelzebub when that started and I am obviously now out of practice.
Well, this was my first ever PD crossword I have ever completed – took me over three days, on and off.
My favourite was the Suzi Quarto clue – and when I first parsed through the clues on Sunday morning, she was the first person that popped into my head when I read it but it took until Monday evening to get the answer.
First in was ecce and the last was smeaths as I didn’t know of Meath in Ireland (Google to the rescue).
All in all great fun now I can do them.
Nick
Yesterday’s is on the website now
Just to say, as a Ximenes/Azed-eer since 1954 this really took me back. Delighted still to be able to summon up the special knack. A real treat and I even posted my clue on Wednesday! Pleased to find some fellow- enjoyers. Thanks as always Azed. SCARAMOUCH was outrageous.
P.S. A propos 34 ac SMEATH. What is the “its a duck at the end? Was I unique in spending a while looking for an Irish town called Mooth?
Keith @11: a smeath, or smee or smeeth is a duck.
I must admit, I got NACARAT due to checking letters, but I wondered what “ran a car at Ely” was all about (Ra/rely) – ha har, total cock-up.
Lucky escape for me there!
Nick
Found a copy of “Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword” (1966) in which he includes as an example his No 525, A Printer’s Devilry. I’d put in the page as a bookmark, Azed slip No. 622, a Competition P.D. with SIMP to be clued. Got a VHC so I must have been a lot brighter then!
Apologies to birdsong- I had it in my mind that SMEATH meant something quite different. It’s a snag with P.D.’s that the meanings of the excised words play no part and are instantly placed in one’s mental “Deleted” file.
Keith,
What you described was exactly my problem on solving these. See my blog on one I failed on here (I make no excuses):
http://www.fifteensquared.net/2011/07/10/azed-no-2040-printers-devilry-competition-puzzle/
Nick
Thanks Nick. Looked at your 2040 blog and found Azed’s slip. I didn’t remember that it had been a moment of glory! I got third prize. One of my few successes. So thanks for the reminder.
Strange circles we move in.
Now looking back (or maybe moving forward), clue #4 is the best.
Where does time go?
Nick