AZED 2,352

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In a few cases (14ac, 19dn, 25dn, 27dn) Azed has produced clues of the highest quality, clues that would I’m sure be quoted in his own clue-setting competitions, but many of the rest, as is always the case with Azed, are, although perfectly sound and quite pleasant, very simple in their construction and the answers are only difficult to find because they require knowledge of words that are way beyond the ken of the solver on the Clapham omnibus. Which is as it should be. He is not intended to be solved on the C. o.

Definitions underlined and in maroon.

Across
1 FARTHINGLAND Variable tract of a certain appearance (Scottish), article Liberal penned (12)
far(thing L)and
9 APOOP Advanced exhaust at the back (5)
A poop — at the back on a ship
11 VILDE See about line that’s very bad in e.g. Spenser (5)
vi(l)de — Spenserian etc. version of vile
13 TIPPY-TOE Pity poet getting thrashed on points? (8)
(Pity poet)*
14 ARK-SHELL Bivalve provoking reaction to cramped accommodation by pairs on board (8)
As the animals went in two by two, one might have been heard to exclaim “ark’s hell!”
15 APRON Border, one almost laid flat (5)
a pron{e}
16 YTTRIA Powdery oxide, dry, turning light at the edges (6)
y(TT)ria, the yria being (airy)rev.
17 CIMINITE Rock containing olivine, very small in name (8)
ci(mini)te
22 STREUSEL Set rules for crumbling cake topping (8)
(Set rules)*
23 SEND-UP Spoof, an odd piece beset by drink (6)
s(end)up
26 TICAL The —— is positively asserting this coin is obsolete (5)
I spent ages trying to explain this, but, never having heard of the word thetical and wondering if in some way it was a misprint for theoretical, no wonder: the __ = the tical = thetical, which means ‘positively asserting’
28 CLARSACH Old harp damaged in car clash (8)
(car clash)* — car crash would have been nicer: I suppose a car clash is just about acceptable
29 INTREPID Brave I spotted in splash of red paint, not adult (in films) (8)
(red p{A}int)* round I — I’m not sure what the unnecessary ‘(in films)’ adds
30 MADGE Hammer that’s wizard, end of brad going in (5)
ma(d)ge, the d being {bra}d
31 PASTE ‘Special’ in head size? (5)
pa(s)te
32 PLASTERINESS Quality of fresco panel sisters ordered (12)
(panel sisters)*
Down
1 FATBACK Porky hunk, overweight centre? (7)
fat back [= centre? in rugby]
2 ROPER Decoy rook almost works (5)
R oper{a}
3 TOPSOIL Hard work involving events in theatre where seeds are sown? (7)
t(ops)oil
4 INTROIT Admit mass omitted anthem (7)
intro{m}it
5 NOOKY How’s your father? Not very well – variable (5)
no OK y
6 LICHT Squiffy after imbibing clubhouse Scotch easily digested? (5)
li(c.h.)t
7 ALBERTS With new dispensation, let’s bar chains (7)
(let’s bar)*
8 DELLA Street on TV once? Rang up, missing opening (5)
({c}alled)rev. — this seems to refer to Della Street, who was the secretary of Perry Mason, something I didn’t know and had to search for, as I suspect some others will have to
10 PIMPINELLA Key name I turned up going after one procuring umbellifers (10)
pimp (Allen I)rev. — referring to an Allen key
12 DELINEAVIT Late divine inaccurately depicted (10)
(Late divine)*
18 MONARDA Herb giving aromatic oil taken internally by old bird (long gone) (7)
mo(nard)a — what is added by ‘(long gone)’?
19 TRACTOR It may have ploughed up carrot after end of harvest (7)
{harves}t (carrot)* — &lit.
20 GUINEAN West African fiddle Annie played (7)
gu (Annie)*
21 ILLUDES Kids, reverse of stupid, with energy in lives (7)
i(llud e)s, the llud being (dull)rev.
23 SCAMP Fake parking? This one held up travellers (5)
scam P
24 DRUGS Major drain on NHS doctor detests (5)
dr ugs — well yes, drugs are a major drain on the NHS, but this seems a rather odd definition, referring to something that can’t be verified in Chambers
25 PANCE Cold? Bit of glass should protect this old flower (5)
pan(c)e
27 COPSE Brake catches rear of tyre (5)
cops {tyr}e — brake in the sense of group of trees

*anagram

4 comments on “AZED 2,352”

  1. Damn, I couldn’t spell PIMPENELLA – I put an I instead of the first E and didn’t stop to check the parsing. I wondered why I couldn’t get 17ac.

  3. Thanks to Azed and John

    For me this was a game of two halves – bottom half went in relatively easily, but the top was tough. I couldn’t get 1 across – which was unusually hard even for Azed because one of the words in the wordplay, farand, was as obscure as the answer.

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