A plain Azed puzzle this week
The parsing took me a while to suss out this week. I didn’t get to the bottom of a few clues until well into the blog writing.
It took me ages to realise that ‘silly’ was the anagram indicator in 31 across. I spent far too long thinking about words that mean silly person.
GREASE at 6 across also took me a while to fathom out until a faint inkling that GREE was a word came to mind.
The third one that took a bit of time was HAIRST where I didn’t see ‘this’ as part of the anagram for a while. I’m frequently fooled by clues where common words like ‘this’, ‘the’, ‘which’ etc form part of the wordplay.
The occurrence of I’ll in the clue and within the entry BAILLI at 13 across held me up for a few moments before I saw that BILL meant written accusation.
Another red herring was the occurrence of all the letters of ELEANOR within CRENELLATION.
All in all, a good challenge from Azed.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Dazzlingly bright indeed, in shimmering gold (6)
|
AY (yes; indeed) contained in (in) an anagram of (shimmering) GOLD D (AY) GLO* |
DAYGLO (of a luminously brilliant green, yellow, pink or orange)
|
|
6
|
Bribe old copper, in favour no longer (6)
|
AS (a Roman [old] copper coin) contained in (in) GREE (Spenserian [no longer] word for goodwill or favour) GRE (AS) E |
GREASE (slang word for bribe)
|
|
11
|
Vaguely histrionic eye admitting age (8)
|
OPTIC (eye) containing (admitting) ERA (age) OP (ERA) TIC |
OPERATIC (defined by Chambers as [loosely] histrionic)
|
|
12
|
Dine with this? A marinated mix possibly (6)
|
TAMARA (A MARINATED* is an anagram of (mix) of TAMARA and DINE) – a compound anagram TAMARA |
TAMARA (a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, coriander, etc. which could be used as part of a marinade)
|
|
13
|
Magistrate? I’ll follow one in written accusation (6)
|
(A [one] contained in (in) BILL [written accusation]) + I B (A) ILL I |
BAILLI (magistrate)
|
|
14
|
Battlement thing made to protect Eleanor? (12)
|
CREATION (something made) containing (to protect) NELL (diminutive of Eleanor) CRE (NELL) ATION |
CRENELLATION (battlement)
|
|
16
|
Faraday’s discovery penned in monograph en effet (5)
|
PHENE (hidden word in [penned in] MONOGRAPH EN EFFET) PHENE |
PHENE (old name for benzene, a hydrocarbon discovered by Faraday in 1825)
|
|
17
|
Half, i.e. time in second year (6)
|
(I.E. + T [time]) contained in (in) (MO [moment; second] + Y [year]) MO (IE T) Y |
MOIETY (half; either of two parts or divisions)
|
|
18
|
Winds from south-east nip back (6)
|
(SE [South East] + DART [nip]) all reversed (back) (TRAD ES)< |
TRADES (reference the TRADE winds)
|
|
19
|
I’m turned off teacher possibly – it’s the pressure (6)
|
MISTRESS (teacher) excluding (off) I’M reversed (turned) STRESS |
STRESS (emotional or physical pressure)
|
|
22
|
Acrobatic feat? One’s bananas to produce such! (6)
|
SPLITS (acrobatic feat of going down to the floor with the legs spread out laterally or one forward and one back) SPLITS |
SPLITS (reference the desserts banana SPLITS [dish composed of a banana halved lengthways, ice cream, and other ingredient]) double definition
|
|
25
|
Poet’s to inflame young adult with start of desire (5)
|
TEEN (TEENager; young adult) + D (first letter of [start of] DESIRE) TEEND |
TEEND (poet Robert Herrick’s word for ignite or inflame)
|
|
27
|
Job’s place, diversifying modest talent (12, 2 words)
|
Anagram of (diversifying) MODEST TALENT OLD TESTAMENT* |
OLD TESTAMENT (job is a Book of the OLD TESTAMENT)
|
|
28
|
Butterflies? One may be seen in proms (6)
|
I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (may be seen in) PIERS (promenades) PIER (I) S |
PIERIS (cabbage-butterfly genus)
|
|
29
|
Tattie-howking? One’s involved with this around summer’s end (6)
|
(Anagram of [involved] A and THIS) containing (around) R (last letter of [‘s end] SUMMER) HAI (R) ST* |
HAIRST (Scottish form of harvest as is tattie-howking referring specifically to the potato harvest)
|
|
30
|
Bristly worm in stratum alongside river (8, 2 words)
|
SEAM (a stratum of a mineral) + MOUSE (river in England) SEA MOUSE |
SEA MOUSE (an elliptical polychaete, Aphrodite aculeata, with coarse iridescent hairs and bristles along its sides)
|
| 31 | Grooms? Silly person, one of three in engagement losing ring (6) |
Anagram of (silly) PERSON and E [there are three Es in engagement, the only letter appearing three times] excluding (losing) O (ring shaped letter) PREENS* |
PREENS (grooms) |
|
32
|
Name new modified tree rings for decade (6) |
Anagram of (modified) (N [name] and N [new] and TREE) TENNER* |
TENNER (ten years; decade)
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
On-line trader from Thailand caught in ruin (6)
|
(T [international vehicle registration for Thailand] + C [caught]) contained in (in) DOOM (ruin) DO (T C) OM |
DOTCOM (business trading on the internet)
|
|
2
|
Middle-easterner, independence overcome by revolutionary enemy (6)
|
Anagram of (revolutionary) ENEMY + I YEMEN* I |
YEMENI (citizen of YEMEN, a state in the Middle East)
|
|
3
|
Noble name and lineage gets you this? (12, 2 words)
|
GRANDEE (noble) + N (name) + TREE (pedigree; lineage) GRANDE E N TREE |
GRANDE ENTRÉE (admission to Court, etc on occasions of state)
|
|
4
|
They help to protect you at home as part of titular estate (5)
|
LARES (hidden word in [as part of] TITULAR ESTATE) LARES |
LARES (Gods of a house, presumably offering protection)
|
|
5
|
Gay lot raving, a threat to audition? (6)
|
Anagram of (raving) GAY LOT OTALGY* |
OTALGY (earache, a threat to hearing [audition])
|
|
6
|
Old tom suffered what’s made of offal (6)
|
GIB (obsolete [old] term for a castrated tomcat) + LET (suffered) GIB LET |
GIBLET (internal eatable parts of a fowl, etc; entrails.; offal)
|
|
7
|
A Latin poem I composed about husband, it was performed at marriage (12)
|
Anagram of (composed) A LATIN POEM I containing (about) H (husband) EPIT (H) ALAMION* |
EPITHALAMION (song or poem in celebration of a marriage)
|
|
8
|
One fib admitted by civic dignitary briefly (6)
|
LIE (fib) contained in (admitted by) ALD (abbreviation [briefly] for ALDerman [civic dignitary]) AL (LIE) D |
ALLIED (together; as one)
|
|
9
|
Specific soil type alone surmounting difficulties (8)
|
SOLO (alone) + NETS (difficulties) SOLO NETS |
SOLONETS (alkaline soil type having a hard, dark subsoil under a thin friable topsoil, formed by the leaching of salts from a solonchak)
|
|
10
|
Pollen membranes displaying oomph when coating’s removed? (6)
|
SEXINESS (can be defined as oomph) excluding the outer letters S and S (when coating’s removed) EXINES |
EXINES (variant spelling of EXTINES [outer membranes of a pollen grain or spore)
|
|
15
|
My rooms have adjacent parking – I let more converted (8)
|
Anagram of (converted) I LET MORE MOTELIER* |
MOTELIER (manager of a hotel with accommodation and parking facilities outside the door of the room)
|
|
19
|
Plug post, one assumes? (6,2 words)
|
STOP UP would be a down clue for POST STOP UP |
STOP UP (plug)
|
|
20
|
Including a dash of enzlan, give fresh colour to cheap whiskey (6)
|
RE-DYE (give fresh colour to) containing (including) E (first letter of [a dash of] ENZLAN) RED (E) YE |
REDEYE (poor quality whiskey in the United States)
|
|
21
|
Discovers local rate going up around the States (6)
|
(SESS [variant spelling of CESS {tax, local rate}]) reversed (going up) containing (around) US (United States) S (US) SES< |
SUSSES (slang term for discovers)
|
|
22
|
Drunk bowler? If only (6, 2 words)
|
SOT (drunkard) + HAT (reference a bowler HAT) SO T HAT |
SO THAT (if only)
|
|
23
|
What’ll provide sport in Nice? That’s crazy (6, 2 words)
|
RU (Rugby Union [example of a sport) contained in (in) an anagram of (that’s crazy) NICE ICE (RU) N* |
ICE RUN (tobogganing slide, some thing that will provide sport) I’m not 100% sure of the definition in this clue. Sport seems to be doing double duty |
|
24
|
I spy! (6)
|
SETTER (descriptive of Azed; I) SETTER |
SETTER (spy) double definition
|
|
26
|
Neighbours of S Claus? One among the aforesaid (5)
|
A (one) contained in (among) SAME (the aforesaid) S (A) AME |
SAAME (Lapp; Santa Claus is said to have his home in Lappland)
|
I thought this quite difficult, especially the NE corner where I spent an absolute age. 19d I couldn’t find in my (electronic) version of the latest Chambers, though it couldn’t be anything else.
I agree that this was perhaps a little tougher than usual, certainly harder than today’s offering, which I shall be blogging next Sunday.
22d: Chambers does give ‘if only’ as a subsidiary meaning for ‘SO THAT’ – but does anyone use it that way in real life? Obscure words and meanings are of course part of the fun with Azed, but this was (for me) somehow different and unsatisfying.