Azed 2411

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Quite a high proportion of obscure words in this one, I think, but even so I managed to finish it quite quickly, and almost entirely without aids, thanks to educated guesswork resulting from the many decades I’ve been doing these puzzles. Thanks to Azed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. CLUB SANDWICH Double-decker? Modified bus taking family round: daughter, wife and one child (12, 2 words)
BUS* in CLAN + W 1 CH. The -wich ending was obvious, leading me quickly to the answer; it only seems to occur in place-names (e.g. Norwich; also as -wick) and words derived from them
9. CERRIS Tree yielding fruit he regularly cropped (6)
CHERRIES less, separately, H and E – a similar construction is used in 22a
11. SEA EGG Urchin, age obscured in toughened skin (6, 2 words)
AGE* in SEG (dialect word for a callus)
12. NUCHAL Launch hit like a rabbit punch (6)
LAUNCH* – nuchal is the adjectival form of nucha, meaning the nape of the neck, where a rabbit punch might be delivered
13. CIPRO Confined to clinic? I provide antibiotic (5)
Hidden in cliniC I PROvide
14. SCANT Pioneering gardener losing trade in short supply (5)
[TRADE]SCANT (John Tradescant the Elder, after whom the plant genus Tradescantia is named)
16. A LA CARTE Tea at Claridge’s, varied? Digest this possibly (8, 3 words)
Composite anagram – (TEA AT CLARIDGE’S)*= DIGEST A LA CARTE, with a bit of &littery in the definition
17. SCRUB Inferior NFL team cancel (5)
Double definition: the first is “a team of inferior players..”, though not necessarily in American Football, so this surely needs a “maybe” to avoid a definition-by-example
18. MAFIA Marie’s head a judicial warrant cut, for the mob? (5)
M[arie] + A FIA[t]
21. ANTES Those entering society releasing 50% in advance payments (5)
DEBUTANTES (who are, or were, “entering society”)
22. BROGH Ancient tower Open University unearthed in pieces from town (5)
BOROUGH less OU separately or “in pieces”. See also 9a
24. PLODDING Like archetypal copper, not even interrupting screamer (8)
ODD in PLING (an exclamation mark, aka “screamer”)
27. IDIOM Language institute attended by stupid taking in nothing (5)
I[nstitute] + O in DIM
28. SPERM The Seeds of Man, penned by Prosper Mérimée (5)
Hidden in proSPER Merimée
30. GITANA Esmeralda, say, number one in girly sex appeal – stories will follow (6)
G[irly] + IT (sex appeal) + ANA (stories). Presumably a reference to Esmerelda in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, though she was kidnapped by gypsies rather than being born one
31. HYPE UP Give a big boost to arrogant whelp? Sounds like it (6, 2 words)
Homophone of “high pup”
32. PLOVER Old dotard pair, full of affection (6)
LOVE in PR
33. TOLL-GATHERER Matthew, for one, got all flustered on the Paris commuter service (12)
(GOT ALL)* + THE + RER (the Parisian railway network Réseau Express Régional – as the rubric says, this abbreviation is not in Chambers. The disciple Matthew is described as a “publican”, meaning a tax-gatherer
Down
1. CUSCUS Asian marsupial, stubborn creature copper captured (6)
CU in CUSS
2. LWEI Some Angolan cash wife put into floral festoon (4)
W in LEI – a former subdivision of the Angolan kwanza
3. BEER GUT Evidence of overindulgence in the pub, though involving former step up (7, 2 words)
Reverse of GREE (step) in BUT
4. ARGULUS Endless dispute, endless concupiscence – bad news for the fishing industry (7)
ARGU[E] + LUS[T] – a destructive fish louse
5. NINJA Assassination in Japan might be seen to involve one (5)
Hidden in assassinatioN IN JApan, &lit
6. WICCA Sorcery making one snigger audibly? (5)
Homophone of “whicker” (meaning to snigger) – not of “wicker”, as I initially tried in vain to justify. Anyone whose speech is Rhotic, or does not have the Whine-Wine Merger, might complain, but in the Slip for the recent Spoonerisms puzzle, Azed said “RP needs to be the norm throughout, I think.”
7. CHANTAGE Hush money, thanks you get in form of cash (8)
TA in CHANGE
8. HALTER Rope leading horse that’s increasingly lame? (6)
Double definition: for the second, as in “the halt and the lame”
9. CAPERNOITY Scot’s drunk, an alcoholic tipple endlessly imbibed in town? (10)
A PERNO[D] in CITY. I was pleased to find this was correct after working it out from the wordplay (and a few crossing letters)
10. CHARIOTEER Star group unrestrainedly enveloped in applause (10)
ARIOT in CHEER
15. SCALDINO Coals lit, noise inside brazier (8)
DIN in COALS*
18. MANIHOT It’s very warm below prayer wall for this variety of spurge (7)
MANI (a prayer wall in Tibetan Buddhism) + HOT
19. FRAPPEE Strong snuff for female not naturally cool? (7)
F + RAPPEE (strong snuff)
20. SPIGOT Sort of plug to work inside skewer (6)
GO in SPIT
23. HAMPER Meat, a picnic requirement? (6)
HAM (meat) + PER (“a”as in “twice a/per week”)
25. DO-ALL Figaro, say, one captivated by attractive girl (5)
A in DOLL. A literal translation of “factotum”, as Figaro is in The Barber of Seville, and the famous aria
26. ITALA Atila’s accountable for destruction of this Bible version (5)
ATILA* – this rang a bell, and it turns out to be a bit of an Azed favourite: I found four previous occurrences of it as an answer in the archives. No doubt its vowels make it a useful grid-filler
29. RUME Ophelia’s tears maiden’s shown in repentance? (4)
M in RUE – Shakespearean form of “rheum”, so as might be used by Ophelia in Hamlet (though it doesn’t actually occur in the text, as far as I can see)

6 comments on “Azed 2411”

  1. 29d. I spend many a Sunday morning marvelling at Azed’s puzzles and the bloggers’ answers. So it is with some pleasure that I can point Andrew to the First Player’s speech in Hamlet II.2.501 where the Folio text reads:

    Run bare-foot vp and downe, / Threatening the flame / With Bisson Rheume :

  2. Thanks trenodia, nice find.  In my defence, I meant that I couldn’t find the exact spelling “rume”. Bisson is a good word too: Chambers and the OED tell me it probably means “blinding”, as in having one’s sight obscured by tears. (The OED’s citation has yet another spelling: “With Bison rehume”.)

  3. You that did voide your rume vpon my beard

    A Google search took me to the University of Chicago’s online concordance of the First Folio. I searched “rume” and only one item came up – the one above from The Merchant of Venice.

    So perhaps Azed should have “Shylock’s beard” in place of “Ophelia’s tears”.

  4. I pondered the parsing of 19dn awhile, concluding that the definition is ‘female not naturally cool?’, with the wordplay being F (strong) + RAPPEE (snuff). Whilst RAPPEE is described by C as ‘strong-flavoured snuff’ and F could be an abbreviation of ‘female’, I cannot then see how ‘for’ could indicate ‘going after’.

    Andrew – I see where you are coming from regarding 17ac, but I think that rather than being a definition by example, ‘Inferior NFL team’ is a definition including a geographical qualifier – by example! Since ‘inferior team’ is a very adequate definition of SCRUB in a sense shown by Chambers as ‘(N Am)’. this seems to me equivalent to “Obama’s policy reversal” for FLIP-FLOP (2,216), ‘Murrayfield score’ for RITT (2,321) or ‘Having studied at the Sorbonne’ for VOULU (2,080). But it’s a fine (and some might say, moot) distinction…

  5. I took the parsing of 19 to be F (strong) + RAPPEE (snuff) = FRAPPÉE (this is given in Chambers as the female form of FRAPPÉ). I have never liked F = strong, even though forte means strong as well as loud in Italian. F = strong is common enough in the Guardian daily puzzle but I’m surprised Azed used it, since in English F only means loud. I can’t see an equivalence between “play this passage loud” and “play this passage strong”.

    I didn’t see a problem with SCRUB, other than this is a meaning of which I was totally unaware.

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