Another plain 12 x 12 puzzle from Azed this week.
Like the previous week’s puzzle I found this to be at the easier end of the Azed spectrum, although I was held up at the end by the unfamiliar phrase at 30 across. Good to see the topical political reference at 12 across: politicians with short names are a boon to setters, but I don’t recall seeing this one featured in a crossword before.
As always, Azed is generous in his grid: there are seven letter answers here (e.g. 14 and 30 across) which have only one unchecked letter each. I did another barred cryptic recently which had a three letter word with one unch, which I thought was unfair.
| Across | ||
| 1 | PANSTICK | It applies make-up and isn’t mixed in store (8) |
| *ISNT in PACK. What I know about cosmetics could be written on the end of a eyeliner, but Chambers defines panstick as make-up “in stick form”, so it is the make-up rather than the tool for applying it. | ||
| 11 | GAUDY-GREEN | Vintage Chartreuse in college celebration on the lawn (10) |
| A charade of GAUDY (a college celebration) and GREEN. It’s an obsolete term (hence “vintage”) meaning yellowish-green. | ||
| 12 | RUDD | Amber, i.e. not quite red? (4) |
| RUDD(y). The Home Secretary is Amber Rudd, M.P. | ||
| 13 | TURCO | Foreigner in French service, on dropping crouton in the soup (5) |
| *CROUT(ON). | ||
| 14 | ASPHALT | What makes reptile stop? It may get flattened on the road (7) |
| ASP HALT. | ||
| 15 | SHORT | Snappy type, nursing a bit of hostility (5) |
| H in SORT. | ||
| 17 | LITOTES | Is prone to imbibe dram? That’s understatement (7) |
| TOT in LIES. | ||
| 19 | OGEED | Curving ball touching edge? Out! (5) |
| O *EDGE. | ||
| 21 | NEPITS | Bits of information showing salary cut in recession (6) |
| STIPEN(D) (rev). | ||
| 23 | RUN LOW | Where you’ll see hens, with predator returning endlessly, dwindle (6, 2 words) |
| RUN WOL(f) (rev). | ||
| 24 | RENAL | Stuffing children a lot, this failure is serious (5) |
| Hidden in “children a lot”. | ||
| 25 | BEASTED | Resemble unruly youth being put through harsh rookie tests (7) |
| BE AS TED. | ||
| 28 | RUCHE | Frilly thing husband clad in pleated ecru (5) |
| H in * ECRU. | ||
| 30 | DO TO WIT | Get acquainted with worthless thing in tow? The opposite (7, 3 words) |
| TOW in DOIT (a thing of little value). I was unfamiliar with this phrase, which Chambers defines as “To cause to know”. The OED gives no examples after 1674. | ||
| 31 | ALIAS | Nick the writer entering Harrow (as it was) (5) |
| I in ALAS (harrow is Old French; one meaning (archaic) is alas). Nick here is described as an internet usage, short for nickname. | ||
| 32 | THAI | Amateur caught by wild hit in one type of boxing (4) |
| A in *HIT. | ||
| 33 | CENTESIMOS | Transformation of some insect, change familiar in Panama (10) |
| *(SOME INSECT). | ||
| 34 | SHEARLEG | Strain on part of hoist (8) |
| SHEAR LEG (used in its cricketing sense – the on side of the field from the batsman’s point of view). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | PARADOR | Endless ostentation as alternative to tourist hotel? (7) |
| PARAD(E) OR. | ||
| 2 | AMUSE-GUEULES | Appetizers follow on for all to see in US meal, varied (12) |
| (U SEGUE) in *(US MEAL). | ||
| 3 | SADHE | Letter from abroad depressed man (5) |
| SAD HE. It’s a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. | ||
| 4 | TURANDOT | Opera, all in French, turned up including strip (8) |
| RAND in TOUT (rev). | ||
| 5 | IDYLL | Arcadia, say, some beautifully displayed, uplifted (5) |
| Hidden in “beautifully displayed” and reversed. | ||
| 6 | CYSTINE | Chemical compound insect’s manufactured round rear of belly (7) |
| (BELL)Y in *INSECT. | ||
| 7 | PRUH | ‘Giddy-up’ around end of canter? Reverse of that (4) |
| (CANTE)R in HUP (rev). It’s a Scottish word, which can either be a call to a cow to come near, or (as in this clue) a call to a horse to stop. | ||
| 8 | SEROTINE | Late-flowering rambling rose and wild vetch (8) |
| *ROSE, TINE. | ||
| 9 | SECRETARIATE | Council staff in rows round battered crate (12) |
| *CRATE in SERIATE. | ||
| 10 | KNOTS | Major blitz put up water rates? (5) |
| STONK (rev) (military slang). I thought “water rates” was a brilliant definition for “knots”. | ||
| 16 | MENACING | Punk cinema, no good, making one cringe? (8) |
| *CINEMA, NG. | ||
| 18 | TERATOMA | Tumour, one of nine in rising amount (8) |
| ERATO (one of the nine Muses) in AMT (rev). | ||
| 20 | SWEDISH | We tucked into second part of menu, European (7) |
| WE in S DISH. | ||
| 22 | SLATING | There’s money in mine waste as roofing material? (7) |
| TIN in SLAG. | ||
| 25 | BRACK | Cloth flaw causing start of rip in behind (5) |
| R(IP) in BACK. | ||
| 26 | DOWIE | Party with minimum of whisky that is dismal for Scots (5) |
| DO W I.E. | ||
| 27 | MOTOR | What one must pass before drive (5) |
| MOT OR. The MOT (Ministry of Transport) test has to be passed annually by motor vehicles in the UK once they are three years old. OR here is used in an old sense. | ||
| 29 | HATE | Bowler maybe with little energy can’t stand (4) |
| HAT E. | ||
*anagram
Like you, bridgesong, 30a was new to me (and my last one in – couldn’t even put my finger on it in Chambers!).
ASPHALT was good, and 26d reminded me of the lugubrious 1980s comedian John Dowie, one of the good ones who never quite achieved the fame they deserved.
The last two or three Plains haven’t been the toughest of tests by Azed’s standards… cue the dread Playfair puzzle!
Today’s Playfair has an interesting twist: the rubric refers to “four clues in italics” but the PDF from the web site has no italicised clues at all. I think from previous Playfair puzzles the affect words were the top and bottom across rows, but I’m not sure.
Yes, Goujeers, it’s fair to assume that in this puzzle that is correct. Every Azed Playfair I can remember encoded 4 six- letter words.
The italicised clues are 1, 19, 23 and 37 across
30ac defeated me, too. Didn’t know the phrase, didn’t know DOIT.
Bridgesong is correct. There are 2 other errors that I’ve spotted: 23 across is mis-numbered as a second 22, and 16 down should be shown as 3 letters not four.