The Azed puzzle this week is the monthly competition puzzle where this month the puzzle is plain and one clue is simply a definition. Competitors are asked to write a clue for the defined word and submit it to Azed for judging.
Azed shows every week that it is possible to write excellent clues no matter how obscure the word being clued may be. He also a great talent for matching the surface of the clue to a theme that relates to the entry in a way that requires you to think laterally.
I reckon that just under a third of the entries were unknown to me this week. I was OK with some of the Scottish words although I haven’t really heard them since I was a child. PLOUTER and LALDY come into this category. I just vaguely remember HAWKIT as a word from the past.
I went down the wrong track once when trying to understand the definition or word play. You will see in the body of the blog that I was following the wrong thread for PORTS for a while. For a time I was also looking at the wrong VEIL / WEIL as there was a French politician, who died this year, named Simone VEIL. Finally, I struggled a bit with the wordplay in LEESE and the reference to ‘threads’.
I counted 20 clues where there were container and contents elements. On the other hand I only noticed one clue where a letter was excluded from an constituent part of the word play.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
|
1
|
Dim, holding a little back that can be acted upon (7)
|
PALE (dim) containing (holding) BIT (a little) reversed (back) PA (TIB<) LE |
PATIBLE (capable of being acted on)
|
|
6
|
Censure what should go clockwise going the wrong way? (5)
|
PORTS (tradition has it that the PORT decanter is passed clockwise round the table after a meal) reversed (going the wrong way) I started off reading about PORT the helm where if you want the ship to turn to PORT you turn the top of the wheel to starboard (right; clockwise) but I think the clue is referring to the movement of the decanter round the table. STROP< |
STROP (censure)
|
|
10
|
Pedimental ornament‘s wild erotica RA left (10)
|
Anagram of (wild) EROTICA RA and L (left) ACROTERIAL* or you could view it as an anagram of EROTICA RA + L ACROTERIA* L |
ACROTERIAL (pedestal or ornament at the top or side angle of a pediment)
|
|
11
|
Hit difficulty having to reverse (4)
|
KNOT (difficulty) reversed (having to reverse) TONK< |
TONK (strike; hit)
|
|
12
|
Clock, in case, went in (6)
|
PEED (urinated; went) contained in (in) SO (in case) S (PEED) O |
SPEEDO (speedometer; clock)
|
|
14
|
Pipe smell, unpleasant, universal when scruffy hick’s around (7)
|
Anagram of (scruffy) HICK containing (around) (BO [body odour; unpleasant smell] + U [universal [film rating]) CHI (BO U) K* |
CHIBOUK ( long straight-stemmed Turkish tobacco pipe)
|
|
15
|
Pale-faced Scots peddle indefinable quality (6)
|
HAWK (peddle) + IT (indefinable quality) HAWK IT |
HAWKIT (Scots word for white-faced; pale-faced Scots)
|
|
17
|
Page one in history devoted to Rome (6)
|
(P [page] + I [Roman numeral for one]) contained in (in) PAST (history) PA (P I) ST |
PAPIST (one devoted to the Church of Rome)
|
|
19
|
Old carriage, no carpet, decrepit (8)
|
Anagram of (decrepit) NO CARPET PORTANCE* |
PORTANCE (Spenserian and Shakespearian [old] word for carriage or bearing)
|
|
21
|
Tea for one, all but the last muffin? (8)
|
CHA (tea) + PER (for [each]) + ONE excluding the final letter (all but the last) E CHA PER ON |
CHAPERON (MUFFIN can be defined as a man accompanying or CHAPERONing a young woman)
|
|
22
|
Savage (female?) may be addressed thus rudely, or in unctuous fashion (6)
|
OI (abrupt or rude interjection used to attract attention) + LILY (reference Paul O’Grady’s drag queen character LILY SAVAGE) OI LILY |
OILILY (in an unctuous fashion)
|
|
24
|
One clothed in treated pelts, soft (6)
|
A (one) contained in (clothed in) an anagram of (treated) PELTS P (A) STEL* |
PASTEL (soft)
|
|
27
|
Source of famous stone placed in course (7)
|
SET (placed) contained in (in) ROTA (course of duty) RO (SET) TA |
ROSETTA (reference the ROSETTA stone [a granodiorite stele, found in 1799, inscribed with three versions of a decree issued at Memphis, Egypt in 196 BC during the Ptolemaic dynasty on behalf of King Ptolemy V])
|
|
29
|
Fair occupying old place delighted (6)
|
OK (okay; fair) contained in (occupying) STED (obsolete [old] form of STEAD [place]) ST (OK) ED |
STOKED (delighted)
|
|
30
|
Eddy up north, one recalling Simone? (4)
|
WEIL (Northern England word for a whirlpool or eddy) WEIL |
WEIL (reference Simone WEIL [1909 – 1943], French philosopher, mystic, and political activist)
|
|
31
|
Diplomat of yesteryear involved in mess abroad (10)
|
Anagram of (involved in) MESS ABROAD EMBASSADOR* |
EMBASSADOR (obsolete [of yesteryear] word for AMBASSADOR [diplomat])
|
|
32
|
Praise in some parts came into being about nothing (5)
|
ROSE (came into being) containing (about) O (zero) RO (O) SE |
ROOSE (Scottish or dialect [in some parts] word for praise)
|
|
33
|
Girl involved certainly recalled significant engagement (7)
|
LASS (girl) contained in (involved) YEP (yes; certainly) reversed (recalled) P (LASS) EY< |
PLASSEY (The Battle of PLASSEY was a decisive victory of the British East
|
| Down | |||
|
1
|
Thrust in certain areas identified by some spot checks (5)
|
POTCH (hidden word in [some] SPOT CHECKS) POTCH |
POTCH (variant of POACH in a sense of thrust or trample)
|
|
2
|
Light, bright summer wear, look, mess in Scottish quarter (10, 2 words)
|
(LO [look] + HASH [mess]) contained in (in) AIRT (Scottish word for direction or quarter) A (LO HA SH) IRT |
ALOHA SHIRT (brightly-coloured loose-fitting SHIRT; light, bright summer wear)
|
|
3
|
What’s wrong about black cuckoo? It’s a monster (7)
|
Anagram of (wrong) WHAT containing (about) ANI (a black cuckoo (genus Crotophaga) with curved bill and long tail) T (ANI) WHA* |
TANIWHA (mythical Maori monster)
|
|
4
|
Energy I put into place that feels special (4)
|
I contained in (put into) BRO (a place for which one feels great affinity because of birth, upbringing, long residence, etc there) BR (I) O |
BRIO (vivacity; spirit; energy)
|
|
5
|
Where monks can chat over tonsure and parrot about it (8)
|
LORY (type of parrot) containing (about) (O [over] + CUT [a tonsure is a form of hairCUT]) L (O CUT) ORY |
LOCUTORY (a room for conversation, especially in a monastery.)
|
|
6
|
Like those old snaps, a jumble in the main (5)
|
PI (variant of PIE [mess; jumble]) contained in (in) SEA (the main) SE (PI) A |
SEPIA (brownish tone produced in certain, especially early, photographic processes)
|
|
7
|
Fool turned up restrained by lock for transgression (8)
|
SAP (fool) reversed (turned up; down clue) contained in (retained by) TRESS (lock of hair) TRES (PAS<) S |
TRESPASS (transgression)
|
|
8
|
Thong available in lingerie market (4)
|
RIEM (hidden word in (available in) LINGERIE MARKET RIEM |
RIEM (a rawhide thong)
|
|
9
|
Scottish potter fashioned pot with rule (7)
|
Anagram of (fashioned … with) POT and RULE PLOUTER* |
PLOUTER (Scottish word for dabble or potter)
|
|
13
|
Descriptive of separation record, note, quickly splitting up (10)
|
DISC (record) + (VITE [quickly] reversed [up; down clue] contained in [splitting] RE [a note of the tonic sol-fa]) DISC R (ETIV<) E |
DISCRETIVE (descriptive of separation)
|
|
16
|
Quarter of Kiev: pay is OK roughly thereabouts – In these? (8)
|
Anagram of (roughly) K (one letter of four [quarter] in KIEV) and PAY IS OK KOPIYKAS* |
KOPIYKAS (Ukrainian monetary unit; KIEV is the capital city of Ukraine)
|
|
*17
|
An offer
|
This is the competition word to be clued, so no wordplay
|
PROPOSAL (offer)
|
|
18
|
It’s stiff breaking special rule – one barters (7)
|
CORSE (poetic form of CORPSE [stiff]) contained in (breaking) (S [special] + R [rule]) S (CORSE) R |
SCORSER (someone who barters)
|
|
20
|
Is it cobs they’re after? They’re off their trolley (7)
|
NUTTERS (someone who gathers NUTs such as cobNUTs) NUTTERS |
NUTTERS (crazy people; they’re off their trolley)
|
|
23
|
The old lose thread? Quite a lot by the sound of it (5)
|
LEESE (sounds like [by the sound of it] LEASE [in weaving, a place or way of separating warp threads at the ends]) While that definition of LEASE gives me a link to threads I’m not sure why the clue refers to quite a lot unless the warp, by definition, refers to many threads)
|
LEESE (Spenserian or Shakespearean [old] word for lose)
|
|
25
|
What Scots masochist enjoys, mistress holding end of flail? (5)
|
LADY (mistress) containing (holding) L (last letter of [end of] FLAIL) LA (L) DY |
LALDY (Scottish word for beating or thrashing (as punishment); what a Scottish masochist enjoys)
|
|
26
|
Lens protector, black coated in sticky stuff (4)
|
B (black,used as an abbreviation on lead pencils to indicate softness) contained in (coated in) GOO (sticky stuff) GO (B) O |
GOBO (device used to protect a camera lens from light)
|
|
28
|
Rising party in South Africa creating splash? (4)
|
DO (party) reversed (rising; down clue) contained in (in) SA (South Africa) S (OD<) A |
SODA (SPLASH can be defined as ‘a little SODA water’)
|
30ac
I was hoping to find a famous person called SIMONE LIEW, who could be ‘recalled’ to give WEIL
but Google only threw up an obscure (but perhaps up-and-coming) Australian woman.
23d
I can’t see why LEESE sounds like a lot of thread either.
I note that Chambers gives the Pronunciation as L?z
N.B. My long ‘e’ was converted to a question mark in transmission
I think 23d is homophone of the plural of lea^3.
23d is a homophone of “leas” (see lea(3) in C).
You beat me to it, Matthew!
A pretty straightforward Azed I thought. I only really struggled at the close on 33ac for reasons that elude me now, as it’s a very straightforward clue. One or two not fully understood, so thanks for the as always comprehensive blog.
Guardian website re-design seems to have messed up the Azed crossword again. Does anyone know how to get a PDF of this week’s puzzle?
AP: see here