A plain Azed this week
Azed shows how possible it is to clue any word in the dictionary. I hadn’t come across any of the words in the perimeter of this weeks puzzle before, but it was clear which were anagrams (three of the four) and which was a combination of devices (including an anagram). Six acrosses intersecting with 1 down fell quite quickly – ROLLOVER, SERUM, MONEY, CRASH, LAYABOUT and TELLIN which helped identify CLOTH and then CHRISOM in 1 down. OMEGA, TANTI and UNTIE intersecting 1 across also fell quite quickly, so taking the initial C into account as well, it became a little bit easier to solve the anagram at 1 across.
The rest of the grid built up from the first row and column.
I can’t see the wordplay for 26 down, AYELP. I feel sure someone will explain it to me.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Half of carafe mum put out rubbished as worthless residue (12, 2 words) |
Anagram of (rubbished) (CAR [first three letters of {half of] CARAFE] and MUM PUT OUT CAPUT MORTUUM* |
CAPUT MORTUUM (the residuum after distillation or chemical analysis, literally dead head; worthless residue.) |
| 9 | Favourite pub for Jock, tot of usquebaugh taken in yard (4) |
U (first letter of [tot of] USQUEBAUGH) contained in (taken in by) HOF (yard) HO (U) F |
HOUF (Scottish [Jock] word place in which one is often to be found [favourite], a haunt, often a public house. |
| 11 | Mother’s brought round outfit for African doctor (6) |
MA (mother) containing (brought round) GANG (set of people; outfit) M (GANG) A |
MGANGA (in East Africa, a native doctor, a witch doctor)
|
| 13 | Delivered payment hero’s losing and paramour follows (8) |
ROLAND (hero of the Charlemagne legend; hence, a hero) excluding (losing) AND + LOVER (paramour) ROL LOVER |
ROLLOVER (deferred payment) |
| 15 | Gets warm wraps to fasten loose robes (8) |
NIGHS (gets close; gets warm) containing (wraps) TIE (fasten) NIGH (TIE) S |
NIGHTIES (loose clothing for sleeping in)
|
| 16 | Problem involving number around HM being fluid (5) |
SUM (problems involving numbers) containing (around) (ER (Elizabeth Regina; Her Majesty; HM) S (ER) UM |
SERUM (watery liquid; fluid) |
| 17 | Chemical compound to merge with neon (5) |
DIE (merge) + NE (chemical symbol for neon) DIE NE |
DIENE (organic compound containing two double bonds between carbon atoms)
|
| 18 | Radiating group of leaves arranged by our Sal (6) |
Anagram of (arranged by) OUR SAL ROSULA* |
ROSULA (leaf-rosette; radiating group of leaves) |
| 20 | Artist dotty about resin from conifers (5) |
(RA [Royal Academician] + MAD [dotty]) all reversed (about) (DAM AR)< |
DAMAR (hard resin used for making varnish, obtained from various conifers) |
| 23 | Bread undivided in crumbs (5) |
ONE (whole; undivided) contained in (in) MY (gosh, crumbs) M (ONE) Y |
MONEY (cash; bread) |
| 24 | Tick (say) I put in a race programme (6) |
I contained in (put in) (A + CARD [[horse] race programme]) A CAR (I) D |
ACARID (member of the class of arthropods to which mites and ticks belong) |
| 25 | Cocaine ill-advised? Especially when this follows (5) |
C (cocaine) + RASH (ill-advised) C RASH |
CRASH (it would not be helpful to be found to have recently taken cocaine if one is involved in a CRASH immediately after) |
| 29 | Weak cattle no longer flourished (5) |
W (weak) + OXEN (cattle) W OXEN |
WOXEN (obsolete [no longer] word for grown; increased; flourished) |
| 30 | Slob, thug holding a horse back (8) |
LOUT (ill-mannered or aggressive man or youth; thug) containing (holding) (A + [BAY {descriptive of the colour of a horse} reversed {back}]) L (A YAB<) OUT |
LAYABOUT (lazy, idle person; slob) |
| 32 | Whereat one prays, pride being dissipated that is universal (8) |
Anagram of (being dissipated) PRIDE + I.E. (id est; that is) + U (universal, descriptive of a film that is suitable for showing to all ages) PRIE D* IE U |
PRIE-DIEU (praying-desk or chair for praying on) |
| 33 | Bivalve mollusc, not entirely significant (6) |
TELLING (significant) excluding the final letter (not entirely) G TELLIN |
TELLIN (any bivalve mollusc of the TELLINa genus, with thin, delicate shells tinted yellow or pink, living in estuaries.) |
| 34 | Soak up start of sermon on celestial body (4) |
S (first letter of [start of] SERMON + ORB (celestial body) S ORB |
SORB (absorb; soak up) |
| 35 | Too much excitement all over the ship – yearn to be at sea (12) |
Anagram of (to be at sea) THE SHIP YEARN HYPERSTHENIA* |
HYPERSTHENIA (morbid condition marked by excessive excitement of all the vital phenomena) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Baptismal garb in church, a variety of school trim (12) |
Anagram of (a variety of) SCHOOL TRIM contained in (in) CH (church) C (HRISOM– CLOT*) H |
CHRISOM-CLOTH (white cloth or robe put on a child newly anointed with holy oil at its baptism) |
| 2 | Lord in the wars with a quibble about separate piece of armour (7) |
Anagram of (in the wars) LORD contained in (with a … about) PUN (quibble, Chambers defines ‘quibble’ as a ‘pun or play on words’) PU (LDRO*) N |
PULDRON (alternative spelling of PAULDRON [a separable shoulder-plate in armour]) |
| 3 | Regular customer cutting pa in market-place (4) |
PATRON (regular customer) excluding (cutting) PA TRON |
TRON (chiefly Scottish word meaning ‘market-place’) |
| 4 | Film editor giving very short time to member of string section (7) |
MO (moment; time so short that it may be considered as a point; very short time) + VIOLA (string instrument, or the player of the said string instrument) MO VIOLA |
MOVIOLA (a brand of upright film-editing machine)
|
| 5 | What concludes part of home game? (5) |
OMEGA (hidden word in [part of] HOME GAME) OMEGA |
OMEGA (the conclusion; what concludes) |
| 6 | Time in opposition, no longer worthwhile (5) |
T (time) + ANTI (against; in opposition) T ANTI |
TANTI (archaic [no longer] word for worthwhile) |
| 7 | Loose family member, one initially divorced (5) |
AUNTIE (family member) excluding (divorced) the first letter (initially) A UNTIE |
UNTIE (loose) |
| 8 | Source of nourishing sap: quantity that’s flowed a Bedu freely imbibes (12) |
MASS (quantity) + (an anagram of [freely] A BEDU containing (imbibes) RAN [flowed]) MASS E (RAN) DUBA* |
MASSERANDUBA (Brazilian milk-tree; source of nourishing sap) |
| 10 | ‘Form merger’ – see inside for local splash (6) |
LO (see) contained in (inside) FUSE (form merger) F (LO) USE |
FLOUSE (dialect [local ] word for splash) |
| 12 | Pineapples, more than one standard, with nut filling (8) |
EN (nut [printer’s EN]) contained in (filling) GRADES (more than one standard) GR (EN) ADES |
GRENADES (a GRENADE is known colloquially as a pineapple)
|
| 14 | Harangue foolish talk about foreign money going up (8) |
PRATE (foolish talk) containing (about) ØRE (coin and monetary unit in Norway and Denmark]) reversed (going up; down clue) P (ERO<) RATE |
PERORATE (harangue) |
| 19 | What’s gained free with shilling invested (7) |
ACQUIT (free) containing (with … invested) S (shilling) ACQUI (S) T |
ACQUIST (something gained) |
| 21 | Perennials briefly over in dry sun (6) |
O (abbreviation for [briefly] over, in cricket scoring notation) contained in (in) (ARID [dry] + S [sun]) AR (O) ID S |
AROIDS (perennial plants of the Aracea)
|
| 22 | It helps to fix gold-leaf, shifting 0 to 9 in movement (7) |
MOTION (movement) with the first O (zero; 0) replaced by (shifting … to …) IX (Roman numeral for 9) M IX TION |
MIXTION (mixture of amber, mastic and asphaltum used as a mordant [fix] for gold-leaf) |
| 26 | What displays mood, thus? Agitated poodle may (5) |
I can’t see what’s going on here in terms of wordplay. I’m not even sure whether the definition is the first half or the second half of the clue. AYELP |
AYELP (uttering a sharp cry or bark)
|
| 27 | Antelope that’s seen on the beach at Antibes? (5) |
SABLE ( large predominantly black antelope of S and E Africa, with long, ringed backward-curving horns) SABLE |
SABLE (French for ‘sand’ which you will find on the beach at Antibes, a town in the south of France) double definition
|
| 28 | Outside you’ll see number getting into drinking vessels (5) |
N (number) contained in (getting into) HORS (French for ‘outside’) HOR (N) S |
HORNS (drinking vessels) |
| 31 | FE establishment essential to inculcate chemistry (4) |
TECH (hidden word in [essential to] INCULCATE CHEMISTRY) TECH |
TECH (college of Further Education [FE]) |
Thanks Azed and Duncan.
I think 26dn is a composite anagram & lit. The anagram is MOOD + AYELP = (agitated) POODLE MAY. It works for me with “thus” standing for the answer, because it is an adverb.
Thanks. I couldn’t parse 17a because I didn’t know that DIE could be a synonym for MERGE (and still don’t really see it, but there it is in Chambers). CRASH in 25a has a more specific and relevant meaning: “to suffer the unpleasant after-effects of a high (drug-taking slang)”
Pelham Barton @ 1
Thanks – that makes sense. I usually spot the composite anagrams but I clearly missed this one.
I didn’t know the die/merge thing either, but as Brian says, it is in Chambers.
27dn defeated me entirely. I’m sure I must in the past have known a sable is an antelope and the French for sand, but neither came to mind when I was trying to come up with an answer.
I guess the die/merge thing is like a plant dies and gets absorbed by the surrounding soil?
Strange.
Nick
OED indicates that ‘die’ can be used in an architectural context to mean ‘to merge into’ or ‘to terminate gradually in’, as in ‘The mouldings of the arches die into the pillars.’ Who knew?
That is the trouble with C sometimes – it doesn’t give the context nor entomology of the word so on this example die equals merge. But in real language I bet it means something else i.e. maybe the tool (a die) to create the moulding.
^ Nick, there’s a spelling bee joke in there somewhere. Autocorrect, I presume.
I am lost Nila – please enlighten?
Aha, entomology vs etymology, Nick 😉
Thanks both. I’m glad I saw the subtractive anagram.
And I remembered HOUF from a previous puzzle!
Somebody told me many years ago that in entomology, en-tom is the Greek equivalent of in-sect – in sections, I suppose. I’ve used that as a mnemonic ever since. The Greek root for the suffix -tomy in words like lobotomy means to cut, I believe.