A plain Azed this week – a typical example of the genre
I thought the clues in this puzzle were less complex in construction that some Azed puzzles, but they were eminently fair and illustrate clearly that less well known words can be just as elegantly clued as the well known words.
There was the usual mix of fairly well known words, more obscure words and Scottish words.
I made early progress in the top half of the grid and built up the full grid steadily from that start.
The female English playwright, Aphra BEHN was new to me. I’m happier with APPLETs than I am with 17th century playwrights.
There was a bit of medical bent to this puzzle with VIROLOGY, PREMY, PALINGENESIS and SIPHONOSTELE
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Cooker maybe, start of time on – a small program (6) |
APPLE (a cooker is a type of APPLE) + T (first letter of [start of] TIME) APPLE T |
APPLET (small program, that runs within another application. |
| 6 | Church hanging girl returned after celebration (6) |
DO (party; celebration) + LASS (girl) reversed (returned) DO SSAL< |
DOSSAL (a cloth hanging for the back of an altar, sides of a church chancel, etc) |
| 11 | Serpentine, no longer the pool I repeatedly swim in (9) |
Anagram of (swim in) THE POOL I and another I (to make I repeatedly) OPHIOLITE* |
OPHIOLITE (obsolete word [no longer] for serpentine) |
| 12 | Eye condition clumsy fellow gets over in deep sedation (8) |
(LOB [clumsy person] + O [over,in cricket scoring notation]) contained in (in) COMA (deeply unconscious state; deep sedation) CO (LOB O) MA |
COLOBOMA (congenital defect of the eye affecting the development of the lens, iris or retina) |
| 13 | Copying an ant, but without resentment (5) |
A (an) + PISMIRE (ant) excluding (without) IRE (resentment) A PISM |
APISM (copying) |
| 14 | Male playwright, one eclipsed by female one (5) |
A (one) contained in (eclipsed by) BEHN (reference Aphra BEHN [1640 – 1689], female English playwright) BEH (A) N |
BEHAN (reference Brendan BEHAN [1923 – 1964], male Irish poet, novelist and playwright) |
| 16 | Groovy, I, active around 50 – that’s medical science for you (8) |
Anagram of (active) GROOVY I containing (around) L (Roman numeral for 50) VIRO (L) OGY* |
VIROLOGY (study of virus, viruses and virus diseases; an example of a medical science) |
| 17 | Major formerly in English, that is going back (5) |
(ENG [English] + IE (id est {that is}]) all reversed (going back) (EI GNE)< |
EIGNE (first born; a word appended to the surname of two boys at a public school to indicate the elder or first-born) |
| 19 | Muslim often having to profit by the old game (6) |
PAY (benefit; profit) + NIM (old and widespread game, perhaps originally Chinese, in which two players take alternately from heaps or rows of objects) PAY NIM |
PAYNIM ( non-Christian,especially a Muslim) |
| 21 | Splash – a wee dram applied to lip (6) |
DR (abbreviation for [wee] DRAM) + EDGE (lip) DR EDGE |
DREDGE ( I can’t find a clear synonym meaning ‘splash’. The nearest I can get is ‘sprinkle’ referring to DREDGING a cake with icing sugar. I can’t see how deepening a channel, the other meaning of DREDGE, can relate to ‘splash’) |
| 23 | A doter yields his heart madly – to behave thus? (5) |
A + an anagram of (madly) DOTER excluding (yields) the central letter (heart) T A DORE* |
ADORE (what a doter may do to one he / she dotes on ) |
| 25 | Goose in sauce – makes good sense (8) |
NENE (the Hawaiian goose) contained in (in) SASS (impertinent talk or behaviour; sauce) SA (NENE) SS |
SANENESS (good sense) |
| 27 | Early arrival having nosy look around front of mansion? (5) |
PRY (have a nosy look) containing (around) EM (the letter M, the first letter of [front of] MANSION) PR (EM) Y |
PREMY (PREMature baby; early arrival) |
| 28 | Article kept in ugly old brass pot (5) |
A (indefinite article) contained in (kept in) LOTH (obsolete [old] word for ‘ugly’) LOT (A) H |
LOTAH (small brass or copper pot) |
| 30 | Sweet wine once drunk after tea (8) |
CHAR (tea) + an anagram of (drunk) ONCE CHAR NECO* |
CHARNECO (a kind of sweet wine) |
| 31 | Trace found from dig in ruin of Incas (9) |
TILL (cultivate land; dig) contained in (in) an anagram of (ruin of) INCAS SCIN (TILL) A* |
SCINTILLA (trace) |
| 32 | Mixed-race person from Thailand in the Louvre? (6) |
T (International Vehicle Registration for Thailand) contained in (in) MUSÉE (reference MUSÉE du Louvre) MUS (T) EE |
MUSTEE (alternative spelling of MESTEE [person of mixed ([specially Spanish and Native American] parentage) |
| 33 | Nameless one with this may represent Eeyorism! (6) |
EEYORISM* is a compound anagram of the entry MISERY and (ONE excluding [less] N [name]) MISERY |
MISERY (Eeyore, a character in Winnie the Pooh is a pessimistic, gloomy, depressed, anhedonic, old grey stuffed donkey, so MISERY represents Eeyorism) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Dacre deviously includes promo under cover of columns? (7) |
Anagram of (deviously) DACRE containing (includes) AD (advertisement; promo). Paul DACRE was until recently, the Editor of the Daily Mal and Mail on Sunday newspapers. ARC (AD) ED* |
ARCADED (covered by columns or plasters) |
| 2 | Wind information from America (4) |
POOP (become winded or exhausted; wind) POOP |
POOP (North American informal term for information) double definition |
| 3 | New birth male born somehow is pleasing all round (12) |
Anagram of (somehow) IS PLEASING containing (all round) NÉ(of a man, born) PALINGE (NE) SIS* |
PALINGENESIS (new birth) |
| 4 | Battle conclusion not dead finally – relax (6) |
LOOS (site of First World War battle) + END (conclusion) excluding the final letter (not finally) D (dead) LOOS EN |
LOOSEN (relax) |
| 5 | Domed tombs maybe from time prior to Hindu festival (5) |
T (time) + HOLI (Hindu spring festival characterized by boisterous revelry) T HOLI |
THOLI (round buildings, domes, cupolas, or tombs, especially dome-shaped tombs from the Mycenaean period) |
| 6 | One of paired forms? Prod him if nodding (7) |
Anagram of (if nodding) PROD HIM DIMORPH* |
DIMORPH (either of the two forms of a species or substance that can occur in two forms) |
| 7 | In cunning Scottish manner yells wildly trapping English (6) |
Anagram of (wildly) YELLS containing (trapping) E (English) SLE (E) LY* Either E can be the one contained |
SLEELY (Scottish word meaning slyly [in a cunning manner]) |
| 8 | The soil opens shifting to reveal tube of vascular tissue (12) |
Anagram of (shifting to reveal) THE SOIL OPENS SIPHONOSTELE* |
SIPHONOSTELE (hollow cylinder of vascular tissue)
|
| 9 | Refrain entering a turnstile – encouragement for one of ladies’ team? (8) |
TAG (refrain) contained in (entering) (A + TIRL [turnstile]) A T (TAG) IRL |
ATTAGIRL (expressing encouragement or approval to a woman) |
| 10 | Poet’s thin song interspersed with extremes of emotion (5) |
LAY (song) with EN (first and last letters of [extremes of] EMOTION) fitting between L and A and between A and Y respectively (interspersed) L (E) A (N) Y |
LEANY (Spenserian [poet’s] word for LEAN or thin) |
| 15 | Huge fish hoisted up full of poison (8) |
(UP containing [full of] CURARI [paralysing poison extracted from the bark of S American trees]) all reversed (hoisted; down clue) (P (IRARUC) U) < |
PIRARUCU (the arapaima [ gigantic S American river-fish]) |
| 18 | Shakespeare’s ‘grimy’? In folios it would denote ‘bold leader’ (7) |
REECHIE – if REECHIE were contained in (in) FF (folios) we would have FREE [bold] CHIEF [leader] REECHIE |
REECHIE (Shakespearean word for ‘grimy’) |
| 20 | This writer’s penning ‘doeth ill’ as disrespectful label for nonconformist (7) |
MY (this writer’s) containing (penning) an anagram of (ill) DOETH M (ETHOD*) Y |
METHODY (disrespectful nickname for a Methodist.[nonconformist as viewed by other believers]) |
| 22 | Obligation has people replacing bishop, crazy old fellow (6) |
DEBT (obligation) with MEN (people) replacing (replacing) B [bishop) DE MEN T |
DEMENT (rare [old] word for a crazy person) |
| 24 | See Australian tucked in so nod off – under one of these? (6) |
A (Australian) contained in (tucked in) an anagram of (off) SO NOD DOON (A) S* |
DOONAS (Australian word for duvets, under which they may nod off) |
| 25 | Healthy spots attended by millions for a short period (5) |
SPAS (health resorts; health spots) + M (millions) SPAS M |
SPASM (a brief period) |
| 26 | Hush introducing dancer curtailed old instrument (5) |
SH (be quiet; hush) + ALMA (Egyptian dancing girl) excluding the final letter (curtailed) A SH ALM |
SHALM (alternative spelling of SHAWM [musical instrument, a predecessor of the oboe, having a double reed and a flat circular piece against which the lips are rested.]) |
| 29 | Half remembered climbing tree (4) |
RECALLED (remembered) excluding (half) LLED (four [half] of the eight letters, leaving the other half) reversed (climbing; down clue) ACER< |
ACER (plant of the maple genus; tree) |
This seemed to take me longer than usual, and I still couldn’t see 18dn when I went to bed Sunday night. When I looked at it again Monday afternoon (whilst watching the final game of the World Series) I was able to think the clue through and get the answer.
But now I see that I got 13ac wrong. The only word I could think of was APISH, but I couldn’t parse it.
I have actually seen a play by Aprhra Behn. The RSC staged The Rover back in the eighties, and great fun iit was, too.
We’ve just started doing the azed. This is the third one in a row. Getting slightly easier but still takes us the best part of the week! Couldn’t parse attagirl or apism, and stupidly got premy wrong, but enjoyed it nonetheless. Different challenge to a standard cryptic.
Thanks for blogging, duncanshiell
Thank you to Azed and duncanshiell.
Like Dormouse I got it all right except for 13ac.
I have been doing Azed for about three years now. I print it off and start it during church (during the sermon – I sing in a choir out of sight in a gallery), then come back to finish it with much looking up of Bradford and Chambers (although some of the special instructions ones defeat me).
It is always enjoyable, and I feel a bit guilty that I don’t often get round to commenting on the comprehensive Azed blogs – the trouble is that a week later I am onto the next and have forgotten the struggles on the way.
Thanks, as always, to Azed, and to duncanshiell for the comprehensive blog. Lovely to greet some newbies to the admirers of the remote corners of the English dictionary. I’ve taken to keeping last week’s clues to remind me of the things that were special before they slip into the mental limbo.
As a drama buff I was thrilled with 14 across. Saw Aphra Behn’s “The Rover”, a wonderful romp, at Stratford only a couple of years ago and Brendan Behan’s “The Quare Fellow” is a resonant memory of many years earlier so it was “two for the price of one”! Behan’s conjuring of a black comedy out of the Ulster troubles was a wonder.
Thrilled to have completed today’s in a single sitting, not something I often achieve these days. Now comes the hardest bit, cobbling something together for the clue-setting comp.