You learn something new every day…
… unless you’re solving an Azed, in which case you can learn much more than one thing.
I came across a raft of new words, like REAST, PATTE, VAIR etc, and new meanings for CAVENDISH and GLAIR, as well as disovering that BEEZER is a Scots word (and I’m Scottish!)
Thanks Azed.
| Across | ||
| 1 | OBSTREPERATE | Work includes book rest trashed? Author’s to make a racket (12) |
| OPERATE (“work”) includes B(ook) +*(rest), so O(B-STRE)PERATE
Chambers indicates that Laurence Sterne used this word, hence the “author’s” in the clue. |
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| 10 | BAEL | Fruit from Bengal cored and mashed (4) |
| *(beal) (“bengal” cored, i.e. with its middle removed)
A bael is a thick-skinned Indian fruit. |
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| 11 | ALEGAR | Porter turned sour almost entirely, say, with a traveller’s tip (6) |
| AL(l) (almost “entirely”) + E.G. (“say”) + A + (travelle)R | ||
| 13 | ARRECT | Alert to hear decision college is involved in (6) |
| ARRET (“decision”) with C(ollege) involved | ||
| 14 | TO COME | Future punishment imposed on the writer (6, 2 words) |
| TOCO (a slang word for “punishment”) imposed on ME (“the writer”) | ||
| 15 | NYMPHO | One with constituency in city house – she has irresistible urges (6) |
| M.P. (“one with constituency) in N.Y. (“city”) + Ho(use) | ||
| 17 | CAVENDISH | Baccy cakes, new, in hollow bowl? (9) |
| N(ew) in CAVE (“hollow”) + DISH (“bowl”)
Cavendish is a method of preparing tobacco that involves pressing cooked tobacco into a cake. |
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| 19 | SANG | Blood in arms necessitates angioplasty? Only some of it (4) |
| Hidden in “necessitateS ANGioplasty” | ||
| 20 | BEEZER | When it’s not run out, love getting into popular tipple, excellent Scotch (6) |
| ZE(ro) (“love”, without r.o. (“run out”, in cricket)) getting into BEER (“popular tipple”)
I’ve always used the word “beezer” in phrases like ” a beezer catch” without realising that it was a Scottish word – I had assumed it was standard English. |
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| 21 | TREMOR | Former rock group entering rise, a thrill (6) |
| R.E.M. (“former rock band”) entering TOR (“rise”) | ||
| 23 | ABBE | Junior churchman, Scots one flanking bishops (4) |
| AE (“one” in Scots) flanking BB (“bishops”) | ||
| 25 | REEDGRASS | Fancy dress gear, material for Hawaiian skirt? Probably not (9) |
| *(dress gear) | ||
| 28 | STOLID | It’s old fashioned, wooden (6) |
| *(its old) | ||
| 30 | NOYADE | Fatal submersion from short period in much longer one, going back (6) |
| <=DAY (“short period”) in <=EON (“much longer one”) | ||
| 31 | TAILLE | Royal tax, obligation by the sound of it (6) |
| Homophone of TIE (“obligation”, by the sound of it).
I suppose, if pronounced in an Anglicized way, “taille” sounds like “tie”, but if pronounced as the French do it, they only sound vaguley similar. |
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| 32 | GLAIRS | Varnishes a girl variously applied to end of nails (6) |
| *(a girl) + (nail)S | ||
| 33 | YALD | Song that’s recalled dead, strong Scots (4) |
| <=LAY (“song”, recalled) + D(ead)
“Yald” or “yauld” is a Scots word for helathy or strong, although I’ve never heard it myself. |
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| 34 | NEUROTROPHIN | Runner with hip too stressed? Protein required (12) |
| *(runner hip too”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | BARYTA | Chemical compound processed in lab tray left out (6) |
| *(ab tray) (“lab tray” with L(eft) out) | ||
| 3 | SERMONEER | Preacher and prophet, jolly individual at heart (9) |
| SEER (“prophet”) with R.M. (Royal Marine, so “jolly”) + ONE (“individual”) at heart, so SE(R.M.-ONE)ER | ||
| 4 | RICH | Heads for repast in hall after taking in college buttery? (4) |
| R(epast) I(n) H(all) taking in C(ollege).
C for college for the second time in the puzzle? At first, I was going to cry foul, but it’s a crossing letter in the two clues ARRECT and RICH, so maybe this is actually quite a clever device? |
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| 5 | ESTOVER | Small estate left remaining as legal right (7) |
| Est(ate) + OVER (“left remainer”)
In English law, an estover is an allowance made to a person out of an estate, or other thing, for his or her support. |
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| 6 | PATTE | Crown circles head of tsar expanding towards the end (5) |
| PATE (“crown”) circles T(sar) | ||
| 7 | ELOINERS | They convey one to faraway place, rugged shoreline, hard going (8) |
| *(soreline) (“shoreline” with H(ard) going) | ||
| 8 | RECKON | On being dismissed by judge, past caring? (4) |
| RECK(on) (“judge”, ON being dismissed)
“Reck” is an old word for “care”. |
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| 9 | TAMISE | Continues without changing in dull woolly stuff (6) |
| IS (“continues without changing”) in TAME (“dull”)
From an online dictionary – TAMISE – a trade-name given to various thin woolen fabrics. |
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| 10 | BANDSTRING | Group with lead vocalist securing right collar fastener (10) |
| BAND (“group”) + STING (“lead volcalist” of The Police) securing R(ight)
A bandstring was used to keep ruffs and collars in place. |
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| 12 | RETHREADED | Tough grass nurses simmering hatred, ready to baste again? (10) |
| REED (“tough grass”) nurses *(hatred)
I hadn’t come across “baste” meaning “to sew with long, loose stitches, as in temporarily tacking together pieces of a garment while it is being made” before, but at least one online dictionary has this as definition 1. |
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| 16 | HIZBOLLAH | Militant lot, hard one, e.g. in Germany, raised welcoming cry (9) |
| H(ard) + I (“one”) + z.B (“zum Beispiel”, which is “for example” or “e.g.” in German) + <=HALLO (“welcoming cry” raised) | ||
| 18 | AVOGADRO | Physicist using volume to wedge faulty Aga door (8) |
| V(olume) used to wedge *(aga door)
Refers to Count Amadeo (1776–1856), Italian physicist and chemist, famous for his work on gases. Avogadro’s law states that, “equal volumes of all gases, at the same temperature and pressure, have the same number of molecules”. |
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| 20 | BLASTER | Turning tables with rook – it may get you out of a trap (7) |
| *(tables r), where R is “rook”.
A sand blaster is a golf club used to get out of a bunker or trap. |
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| 22 | RESOLE | Patch on last sore to be treated, limb not good (6) |
| *(sore) + LE(g) (“limb”, not G(ood)) | ||
| 24 | BAILLI | French beak, beak I’ll follow having afternoon in (6) |
| BILL (“beak”) + I having A(fternoon) in. | ||
| 26 | REEST | Turn, most indecent, topless? (5) |
| (F)REEST (“most indecent”, topless)
“Reest” or “reast” means “to go rancid” |
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| 27 | VAIR | Cheap fur matched with outward appearance (4) |
| V(ersus – so “matched with”) + AIR (“outward experience”) | ||
| 29 | TARO | Exotic food plant: look in for a taste, turning up (4) |
| Hidden backwards in “fOR A Taste” | ||
*anagram
Whereas I only knew BEEZER as a comic I used to read as a kid and I didn’t even know it was a word at all.
27dn beat me. The only thing I could think that fitted was HAIR, but couldn’t convince myself it was right.
“Vair”, at least according to some, is the reason Cinderella has glass slippers: a confusion of the similar-sounding “pantoufles de vair” (fur slippers) and “pantoufles de verre” (glass). Snopes debunks this story here, but Language Log debunks the debunking here.
Thanks to loonapick for a detailed blog. Also Andrew for the scholarly examination of the vair/verre confusion (?) which I heard from a French friend years ago. Vair, I believe, is still used in heraldic bearings where fur is incorporated into coats of arms.