I only seem to blog plain Azeds and this is another one. I think the only Azed with a twist I have blogged in the last couple of years was the April Fool one.
Of course, this was a good example of the plain flavour of Azed crosswords which yielded the usual mix of unusual words and esoteric knowledge.
I often find the simple clues are the best and I particularly liked OPRAH and HORNETS
It’s a while since I’ve come across jolly defined as gay in 5 down.
There were the usual Scottish words this week, but we also venture further afield to Italy and the Middle East.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 2 | Piano piece: "The Tough Old Beggar"? (10) |
UPRIGHT (type of piano) + MAN (piece in chess) UPRIGHT MAN |
UPRIGHT-MAN (obsolete [old] slang for a sturdy [touch] beggar) |
|
11
|
There’s a special charm about black oriental tree (6)
|
AROMA (peculiar charm) containing B (black, on lead pencils to indicate softness) A (B) ROMA |
ABROMA (genus of East Indian sterculiaceous fibre-yielding trees)
|
| 13 | Part of earth’s crust, old region that’s wrinkled (no island) (6) |
O (old) + an anagram of (that’s wrinkled) REGION excluding (no) I (island) O ROGEN* |
OROGEN (a usually elongated region of the earth’s crust that has been subjected to a period of mountain-building, during which rocks are severely folded or metamorphosed) |
| 14 | Pot or cocaine, highly addictive form of it (5) |
C (cocaine) + ROCK (crack, a highly addictive form of cocaine) C ROCK |
CROCK (pot) |
|
15
|
Where you’ll find a tip timely (5, 2 words)
|
ON CUE (a billiard, pool or snooker cue has a tip) ON CUE |
ON CUE (just at the right moment; timely)
|
| 16 | Urgent labours with start of engaging – one’s delivered in that birth of old (8) |
I (Roman numeral for one) contained in (delivered in) (an anagram of (labours) URGENT + E [first letter of {start of} ENGAGING]) GEN (I) TUR* E |
GENITURE (rare [of old] term for birth)
|
| 17 | Muscular wines drunk with ‘kernel’ of noyau (6) |
Anagram of (drunk) WINES + Y (middle letter of [kernel of] NOYAU) SINEW* |
SINEWY (strong; muscular) |
| 18 | Rat on grocery, for example (4) |
SHOP (inform on; rat on)
|
SHOP (a grocery is an example of a SHOP) double definition |
| 20 | High ranker, late and flustered – trouble follows (10) |
Anagram of (flustered) LATE AND + ADO (trouble) ADELANT* ADO |
ADELANTADO (provincial governor; grandee; high ranker) |
| 23 | Like some proteins, almost all wasted with boiled rice (10) |
ALL excluding the last letter (almost) L + LOST (wasted) + an anagram of (boiled) RICE AL LOST ERIC* |
ALLOSTERIC (relating to proteins, particularly enzymes, which change their three-dimensional shape on binding with a smaller molecule which is not a substrate, often leading to altered activity) |
| 26 | Cause king to enter enclosure wanting something in return (4) |
K (king) contained in (to enter) SAE (stamped addressed envelope, something often enclosed in a postal communication to seek a return response) SA (K) E |
SAKE (cause) |
| 28 | Rue, similar to ground creepers (6) |
REPENT (lying on the ground and rooting; similar to ground creepers) REPENT |
REPENT (regret, rue) |
| 29 | Historical breastplate, sort that’s elaborate in design (8) |
Anagram of (that’s elaborated) SORT contained in (in) PLAN (design) PLA (STRO*) N |
PLASTRON (a fencer’s wadded breast-shield)
|
| 30 | A Marx revolutionary, huge media success (5) |
HARPO (reference HARPO Marx [1888 – 1964], American comedian, actor, mime artist, and musician, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers) reversed (revolutionary) OPRAH< |
OPRAH (reference OPRAH Winfrey [born 1954], American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Regularly referred to now as just OPRAH)
|
| 31 | Conference, maybe tense within? It was explosive (5) |
T (tense) contained in (within) PEAR (reference a conference PEAR) PE (T) AR |
PETAR (Shakespearean [old; it was] word for PETARD [a case containing an explosive, used for blowing in doors, etc])
|
| 32 | Justice in Islam dispensed in ME assembly (6) |
J (justice) contained in (in) an anagram of (dispensed) ISLAM MA (J) LIS* |
MAJLIS (assembly or council in various N African and Middle Eastern [ME} countries., the most notable being the Iranian parliament) |
| 33 | Interval in Greek music, reputed ace (6) |
DIT (named, reputed) + ONE (ace) DIT ONE |
DITONE (in ancient Greek music, an interval of two major tone)
|
| 34 | Equipment is comforting with installation of new stoves (10) |
KIT (equipment) + (CHEERS [is comforting] containing [with installation of] N [new]) KIT CHE (N) ERS |
KITCHENERS (cooking stoves)
|
| Down | |||
| 1 | Mots from tired old journos? They’ll get through bars etc (8) |
HACK (literary or journalistic drudge; tired old journalist) + SAWS (sayings, mots) I think this works even with HACK as a singular HACK SAWS |
HACKSAWS (tools that can cut through metal bars) |
| 3 | Given year inside, ready for the old trim? (6) |
Y (year) contained in (inside) PRONE (willing, ready, eager) PRO (Y) NE |
PROYNE (old alternative spelling of prune [trim])
|
| 4 | Part of Fehling’s solution is disposing of hotel callers (12) |
Anagram of (dispensing) HOTEL CALLERS ROCHELLE-SALT* |
ROCHELLE-SALT (sodium potassium tartrate, discovered in 1672 by a Rochelle apothecary) Fehling’s solution is A solution of copper sulphate, potassium sodium tartrate and sodium hydroxide used to detect the presence of aldehydes, especially sugars, named after a German chemist |
| 5 | Scandalous jolly includes this writer (5) |
GAY (jolly) containing (including) ME (this writer) GA (ME) Y |
GAMEY (scandalous)
|
| 6 | Dangerous flyers: see some servicemen circled by those at sea (7) |
RN (Royal Navy; servicemen) contained in (circled by) an anagram of (at sea) THOSE HO (RN) ETS* |
HORNETS (large wasps; dangerous flyers) |
| 7 | Such as Paris metro I claim includes it (5) |
TROIC (hidden word in (includes) METRO I CLAIM) TROIC |
TROIC (Trojan. Paris was a famous man of Troy) |
| 8 | Pawnshops in depots abroad, within boundary (12) |
Anagram of (abroad) IN DEPOTS contained in (within) METE (boundary or limit) M (ONTS DE PI*) ETE |
MONTS-DE-PIETE (Italian state pawnshops)
|
| 9 | Special cell: old man maybe is among names there (6) |
EURO (any of several types of large kangaroo – OLD MAN can be defined as an adult male kangaroo) contained in (is among) (N [name] + N [name] to give names) N (EURO) N |
NEURON ( cell with the specialized function of transmitting nerve impulses)
|
| 10 | Treat cuttingly, earlier showing contempt? Ring off (4) |
SNEERING (showing contempt) excluding (off) RING SNEE |
SNEE (cut) |
| 12 | To anyone listening, called harshly for scrambled eggs (5) |
BRAID (sounds like [to anyone listening] BRAYED [called harshly]) BRAID |
BRAID (embroidery; SCRAMBLED EGGS is a term for the gold BRAID on an military officer’s cap)
|
| 19 | Puts rice out for plates? (8) |
Anagram of (out) PUTS RICE PICTURES* |
PICTURES (PLATES can be defined as illustrations or pictures in a book)
|
| 21 | Apocryphal stipulation by nasty old landlady, somewhat bleak? (7) |
NO IRISH (nobody from Ireland will stay in my property; often said, without much evidence, to be an attitude of landladies of yesteryear) NO IRISH |
NOIRISH (redolent of some of the qualities of film NOIR; somewhat bleak)
|
| 22 | Capital item for Turk, his last after a very long day (6) |
KALPA (a day of Brahma, a period of 4320 million years; very long day) + K (last letter of [his last] TURK) KALPA K |
KALPAK (triangular Turkish or Tatar felt cap; capital [relating to the head] item for Turk)
|
| 24 | Leisure time on hill? One rambles in gardens (6) |
REC (recreation; leisure time) + TOR REC TOR |
RECTOR (reference rambling RECTOR rose) |
| 25 | In losing Andy may reduce Scotsmen to tears (5) |
INGAN (hidden word in [in] LOSING ANDY) INGAN |
INGAN (Scots and dialect form of onion, cutting which may reduce one to tears)
|
| 27 | Treatise on morals, eastern, frequently not finished (5) |
E (Eastern) + THICK (frequent, in quick succession) excluding the final letter (not finished) K E THIC |
ETHIC (a treatise on morals)
|
| 28 | River Seine’s surge – face copying what’s written? (5) |
R (river) + ONDE (French for wave or billow; surge?) R ONDE |
RONDE (a style of letter of type [face] that emulates handwriting; script printing-type)
|
| 29 | Humourless parliamentarian displaying self-importance (4) |
PO (PO-faced; humourless) + MP (Member of Parliament; parliamentarian) PO MP |
POMP (display of self-importance) |
I found this more difficult than of late, and in the end I had to use a word search to get 22dn as neither the answer nor the word play was familiar to me. 8dn took a lot of searching in Chambers, too. I also got held up in the top left corner, having entered CRACK for 24ac. I knew of crack being a type of cocaine, but not rock.
Usually I can’t remember anything about the previous week’s solve by now. It’s only because I had so much difficulty this time that I remember it.
Yep, I confidently entered CRACK as well, making an already tricky solve more so. Also liked OPRAH. 🙂
I am regularly misled – at least temporarily – by Azed’s avoidance of the hyphen in marking wordlengths (or word-lengths, or indeed word lengths). This puzzle: ROCHELLE-SALT (12) and UPRIGHT-MAN (10), when both DS (above) and Chambers hyphenate. Last week there was GOLD STICK (9), commonly written thus, though admittedly Chambers allows it as one word. Queries: has Azed ever hyphenated, or accounted for his reluctance to do so? And: are there other setters who share this quirk? Maybe this has been discussed before, but I am fairly new to the site. Thanks anyway to DS for the chart, always lucid and elegant.
quenbarrow@3: I first started doing Azed in the late seventies and my memory is that hyphens were not indicated then, either, nor individual word counts for multi-word answers. I recall that it was also the convention for Beelzebub in the Independent on Sunday, and I have a book of Mephisto crosswords from the Sunday Times – copyright date 1988 – that also doesn’t indicate hyphends.
So, my feeling is that it is a convention for barred puzzles, but I don’t know when it started.
The standard practice in UK barred cryptics (Azed, Mephisto, EV, Listener etc) is that compound words are treated as single words, with the overall letter count given, while phrases are given the additional qualification ‘n words’. This contrasts with blocked cryptics, where (a-b[-c…]) and (a,b[,c…]) are normal, so UPRIGHT-MAN would be (7-3) rather than (10) while UPRIGHT PIANO would be (7,5) rather than (12, two words). This makes things a little more difficult for the solver of barred puzzles, but that is to an extent offset by the smaller number of unchecked letters in entries (never more than a third in Azed, although other barred puzzles do allow three unches in eight-letter words). Azed has made comments on the topic of hyphenated words on several occasions, most recently I believe in the slip for AZ 1,203, where he observed:
“Some of you queried my non-indication of hyphenated words as such, e.g. by calling OTHER-DIRECTED a 13-letter word, not ‘(5-8)’. This has always been my practice, following Ximenean precedent, and on balance I don’t see the need to change.”
With a solution like GOLDSTICK, Azed will always show the form given by Chambers (Chambers shows it only as a single word); where Chambers lists multiple options, eg NO-ONE or NO ONE, Azed will typically show the pattern of the ‘more integrated’ (ie less helpful to the solver) form (here NO-ONE).
Dormouse@4: thank you. I don’t go back as far as you do with Azed, though I used to do the IOS in its early years (and won two lots of high-quality Italian olive oil – or was that a Saturday prize?). I don’t recall their hyphen policy, but hyphens certainly do get indicated in the barred crosswords in The Spectator, e.g. this in the latest one: NZ health drink (6, hyphened). Maybe some of the books on crosswords past and present by Paul and others have something to say on this small issue.
… and thanks now also to DRC for that very full and authoritative answer, posted while I was checking up on The Spectator.