I found this a bit harder than some recent Azeds, but as always the impeccable clueing, even of unfamiliar words, of which there are perhaps slightly more than usual here, leads to the answer once you look at it in the right way. Thanks to Azed.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1. | SYNGAS | Whence hydrocarbons are created? Snags awkwardly will include laboratory’s closure (6) [laborator]Y in SNAGS* |
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| 6. | SPETCH | Leather for glue-making (special short cut) (6) SP[ecial] (shortened) + ETCH (“to cut or carve”) |
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| *11. | CHARMEUSE | Soft silky fabric (9) The competition word |
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| 12. | LABIA | Place for experiments I advanced in insect’s facial parts (5) LAB + I + A (as in A[dvanced]-levels) |
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| 13. | YO-HO | What sailors sing turning boat round? (4) Reverse of HOY (boat) + O (round) – yo-ho can be “a sailors’ chant”) |
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| 15. | PARQUET | Colourful bird releasing cry of wonder within Broadway stalls (7) PAROQUET (bird – variant of parakeet) less O (cry of wonder) |
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| 16. | FRASS | Larval excreta frequently found on turnip (5) FR + ASS (turnip = a fool) |
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| 17. | ANTRE | Portion of unimportant refuse, or grot (5) Hidden in unimportANT Refuse – it’s a cave or grot(to) |
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| 18. | FORE‑AND‑AFTER | Offered tar an adapted sailing vessel (12) (OFFERED TAR AN)* |
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| 20. | MUSSITATIONS | Rhubarb? Mix it with rolled oats in (12) MUSS IT (OATS IN)* – “rhubarb” as in the words mumbled by background actors |
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| 22. | ASWIM | Once at sea, I was off course by miles (5) (I WAS)* + M |
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| 25. | SLICK | Tail-ender moving to the front laps quickly (5) LICKS with the S moved to the front |
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| 26. | STIPEND | Retiring, it’s start of pension with what counts as final salary (7) Reverse of IT’S + P[ension] + END (what counts as final) |
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| 28. | JANN | Small joint, one acquiring name for weakest spirits (4) J + AN + N |
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| 29. | ARABY | Amateur artist near sheik’s place? (5) A + RA + BY |
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| 30. | BLUE-RINSE | Suggestive of formidable brigade, rebels uni sacked (9) (REBELS UNI)* |
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| 31. | DES RES | Property worth viewing I omitted from requests (6, 2 words) DESIRES less I – estate agents’ shortening of “desirable residence”: a shame that “desire” also occurs in the wordplay |
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| 32. | STAYER | Time inside, dreadful years, he’ll survive (6) T in YEARS* |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1. | SCLIFF | A wee bittie s-scar (6) S + CLIFF (scar) |
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| 2. | NABS | Arrests more than one lock-keeper in person (4) Double definition – a nab is “a keeper of a door-lock”. I’m not sure what “in person” is doing here |
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| 3. | GRILSES | First-time freshwater swimmers, oddly rig-less (7) RIGLESS* |
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| 4. | AMASS | Pile? Team could be set up with this (5) A very Azedian construction: if you take TEAM, and then have AM AS S (i.e. replace AM by S) you get TES, or “set up” |
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| 5. | SERPENTINOUS | Writer can, in the midst of watery meandering (12) PEN TIN in SEROUS |
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| 6. | SUGAR DADDIES | Dublin copper breaking into disused tumbledown for babysnatchers? (12, 2 words) GARDA (Irish policeman) in DISUSED* – I thought “cradle-snatcher” would be a better definition, but Chambers gives the sugardaddy meaning to “babysnatcher” first, with “cradle-snatcher” as an alternative |
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| 7. | PSORA | Start of privatizing rail, cause of irritation once (5) P + SORA (a rail (bird)) – psora is an old word for scabies, source of the more familiar “psoriasis” |
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| 8. | TROUT | What flies attract, all around river? (5) R in TOUT, with reference to the flies used by anglers |
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| 9. | COHERENCE | Consistency shown by college formerly, at this point limited (9) C + HERE in ONCE |
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| 10. | HOOTER | Beak giving signal for end of work? (6) Double definition (beak and hooter are both slang for the nose) |
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| 14. | CROUSTADE | Grub up – hand-reared lamb coming round, and there’s a pastry case (9) ROUST (to “rout out”: rout = to grub up) in CADE (a lamb raised by hand after being abandoned by its mother) |
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| 19. | FILARIA | Typical of child mostly, one with runs internally, and worms (7) A + R in FILIA[L] |
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| 20. | MASJID | Mosque servant (female) admitting Jesuits (6) SJ in MAID |
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| 21. | SKRYER | One fixes eyes on ball, one hit high, cover finally caught (6) [cove]R in SKYER – a skryer is a crystal-ball gazer |
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| 23. | WINGS | Where actors wait to enter, number in costume accessories? (5) N in WIGS |
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| 24. | MERLE | Part among Midsummer leads, Oberon maybe? (5) Hidden in midsumMER LEads – Merle Oberon, actress |
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| 25. | SCART | Lead in screen trailer providing plug (5) S[creen] + CART |
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| 27. | WANY | Path circling north and declining gradually (4) N in WAY |
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Thanks for the blog, Andrew. Chambers gives a definition for “nabs”: “A person, esp in such phrases as his nabs, himself”.
Thanks Bridgesong – I checked all the meanings of “nab” but didn’t think to look for a separate entry for “nabs”.
14dn was the one I had trouble with. Can’t remember if I had to do a word search in the end to get it, but I knew neither the word nor any of the wordplay. Thanks for the explanation.
I was prepared to gloss over 2dn (the keeper of a lock, ie the bit into which the bolt is shot, might be a “lock’s keeper” but it’s a real stretch to call it a “lock-keeper”, since it ‘keeps’ the bolt rather than the lock), however I couldn’t let 4dn (AMASS) pass without comment. I agree that the clue is very Azedian, of a type which I usually enjoy and which has given Azed many fine moments (eg “My letters could make lad sad” for LASS), but this one just doesn’t work for me. Yes, TEAM with AM AS S is TES, and, in a clue for a down entry, something like “Afternoon meals set up around one” for TEAS would be fine (SET is notionally entered downwards into the grid, inverted, and then has A inserted). But while the solution to the clue for AMASS is entered downwards, TEAM and SET are very much on the horizontal, and UP surely cannot indicate the inversion of a word (SET) which doesn’t get anywhere near the grid. UP could be an anagram indicator, TES being SET UP (ie ‘in an excited state’), but I don’t think this is what Azed intended.