AZED 2,380

15 comments on “AZED 2,380”

1. Thanks for the blog, PeeDee.

   I think 15a is SPUMONE with numero uno=ONE.

   In 16a, I think ‘savvy’ is a third definition. Chambers gives PATE=intelligence and savvy=common sense, know-how. I’m not sure that these are exact synonyms.

2. I had SPUMONE for 15ac, and took ONE to be numero uno translated into English.

3. Snap!

4. 33ac

   LAO, of course, is the IVR of Laos, not an alternative spelling of Laos

5. Sorry, Dormouse. I would have posted sooner but I got the CAPTCHA wrong (I suppose I’ll have to give back my maths degree) and then found I had to retype my comment.

6. 35ac

   As Finger’s-end is a type of grass, the definition seems to be ‘it’ and there are two subsidiary indications.

7. Norman – How does “it” define a type of grass?

8. Thanks to all for SPUMONE.  I knew this one as Spumoni and it never occurred to me to look for another spelling.  It seems so obvious now.

9. Pretty straightforward, with the many familiar words making for a quick grid fill. 26ac is a quite marvellous word, and worth the time spent alone to discover.

10. To PeeDee  re #7

    The point I was trying to make (badly) is that Finger’s-end is in Chambers (as a ten letter word with a hyphen) with a single meaning:

    ‘A grass of the genus Digitaria with finger-like spikes’.

    Finger’s end meaning the end of fingers would not be hyphenated, but Azed said (10) and not two words.

    I thought the clue was very clever and amusing and the answer was obvious, even though there is no definition for the hyphenated ten-letter answer. There are only two subsidiary indications neither of which have anything to do with grass.

     

     

11. I don’t think Chambers says that finger’s-end and finger-grass mean the same thing.

    The relevant part of Chambers reads: finger-end or finger’s-end n. finger-grass n a grass of the genus Digiteria, with finger-like spikes.

    The first full stop indicates that finger-grass is a new entry. In Chambers, if a compound’s meaning is evident from its two parts, it may be undefined, and that is what is happening with finger-end or finger’s-end.

12. At the time I did look up finger’s-end in chambers but only to check the spelling.  I didn’t notice it was a grass.

     

13. Matthew@11:  I think you are right.  Later in that entry there is fingernail n. finger-paint and I don’t think they are saying fingernail and finger-paint are the same thing.

14. Matthew is quite correct – the entry in Chambers for finger-end/finger’s-end stands alone, the meaning being confirmed by OED as ‘the end or tip of the finger’.

    The enumeration of the entry does raise the question about whether apostrophes should be flagged in barred puzzles. Azed pondered the topic in January 2007, after stating that he had always followed Ximenes’s lead when it came to treating hyphenated words as a single word:

    “I am less certain about the best way of indicating words and phrases that include apostrophes, and my uncertainty may have led to some inconsistency. Is, for example, J’ADOUBE one word or two, KWOK’S DISEASE two words or three? Significantly, the old edition of Chambers Words, which excluded phrasal compounds, included J’ADOUBE among the 7-letter words. If I clue it, should I mark it ‘(7)’, ‘(7, apostrophe)’ or ‘(7, 2 words)’? I am inclined to go for the second of these options, but would welcome comments.”

    Standard practice currently in barred puzzles seems to be to give no indication of the presence of apostrophes. I try to avoid them in my own puzzles because of the enumeration issue.

     

15. I also agree with Matthew@1 regarding 16a. Chambers gives PATE = ‘intelligence’, and OED gives SAVVY = ‘practical sense, intelligence’, so I think the clue is fine.

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