AZED 2,448

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Is this an Azed I see before me?

A little knowledge of Shakespeare would not go amiss in solving this Azed, as quotes from the bard furnish two solutions and a third clue relies on your knowledge of Shakespearean birds.

On the whole, this was not a terribly difficult Azed, especially if like me, the two long verticals were write-ins.  The only difficulty I came across was in my poor eyesight leading me to enter WHEMMIE into the grid instead of WHEMMLE, which meant I spent a long time staring at ?io?ING at 20dn before going back to Chambers to check again.

Thanks, Azed.

Across
1 DAYNT Rand maybe in transmission of data? One’s choice no longer (5)
AYN (Rand, maybe) in DT (data transmission)

Daynt is an archaic form of dainty.
8 MAIR Extra Scotch, medium dry (4)
M (medium) + AIR (“dry”)

Mair is a Scottish variant of more
11 PORRACEOUS Spongy, running inside, like Pyramus’ eyes? (10)
POROUS (“spongy”) with RACE (“running”) inside

In Act 5, Scene 1 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the grieving Thisbe says of Pyramus, “his eyes were green as leeks”.  Porraceous means leek-green.
12 SECKEL Boiled leeks containing slice of conference pear (6)
*(leeks) containing [slice of] C(onference)

A seckel is a small red/yellow pear.
13 ANTRAL Cavity’s rent a molar? More treated with this (6)
*(rent a molar) gives MORE ANTRAL
15 AMNIOTE Vertebrate of a kind from America I included in observation (7)
AM (America) + I included in NOTE (“observation”)
16 NOYANCE Always having to turn in, the moment causing irritation for the poet (7)
<=AY [having to turn] in NONCE (“the moment”)

Noyance is a poetic version of annoyance.
17 AORTA Claret vessel: a little left after meal imbibed by those that shouldn’t? (5)
ORT (“a little left after a meal”) imbibed by AA (Alcoholics Anonymous, i.e. “those that shouldn’t (imbibe claret))
18 COSTREL Hip flask of yesteryear bedecked corslet (7)
*(corslet)

A costrel was a flask, hung at the waist.
22 WHEMMLE Woman, twice married, breaking cover, causing confusion locally (7)
W (woman) + MM (“twice married”) breaking HELE (archaic word for “cover”)

Whemmle is a dialect word for confusion.
23 ACOLD Bill, aged, shivering like poor Tom (tragically) (5)
AC (account, so “bill”) + OLD (“aged”)

In Act 3, Scene 4 of King Lear, Edgar declares “Bless thy five wits! Tom’s a-cold“
24 HOLESOM Cavities requiring return of doctor, no longer healthy (7)
HOLES (“cavities”) require <=MO (return of “doctor”)
26 NOSELED Quite pooped (as once)? Take a nap round opportune time (7)
NOD (“take a nap”) round SELE (a time of happiness, so “opportune time”)

Noseled means fooled completely
29 THEBAN Creon, or the edict he issued? (6)
THE EDICT (“ban”)

Creon was the ruler of Thebes in the legend of Oedipus, in Greek mythology.
30 RIGLIN Beast reminding one of Hitler, equipment stuff being one short! (6)
RIG (“equipment”) + LIN(e) (“stuff” being one (letter) short)

A riglin is an animal with only one testicle.  In urban mythology, Hitler is reputed to have had only one testicle.  A song often sung in my childhood implied that the other was in the Albert Hall, and that it had been removed by his own mother.
31 TRUNCATION Shortening not in a crust? It ruins more than one of these (10)
*(not in a crust) provides TRUNCATIONS (i.e. more than one)
32 DAYS Some times are bewildering by the sound of it (4)
Homophone [by the sound of it] of DAZE (“are bewildering”)
33 HOGGS Yearlings stop joining gee-gees (5)
HO (“stop”) joining GGS (gee-gees)
Down
1 DISENCHANTED Able to see clearly again (chains tended to be loosened) (12)
*(chains tended)
2 APEHOOD Being a primate, he turned up with ordinary, entering a school (7)
<=HE [turned up] with O (ordinary) entering A POD (“school”)
3 YOCK Company sent up king causing some laughter in theatre (4)
<=COY (company, sent up) + K (king)
4 TREEN Wooden bit of tableware shunned by upper-class (5)
T(u)REEN (“bit of silverware”) shunned by U (upper-class)
5 GALA Grand, in the manner of sporting occasion (4)
G (grand) + A LA (“in the manner of”)
6 SCAMEL Bird in Shakespeare supposedly arrived in doubled piece of muslin (6)
CAME (“arrived”) in [double piece of] (mu)SL(in)

According to Shakespeare, a scamel was a Norfolk godwit, but this may have been a misprint for a stannel.
7 PEN NAME Emperor (Queen included) that’s taken up an alias (7, 2 words)
<=EMP (emperor) with <=(Queen) ANNE included with both taken up
8 MOTIONMEN String-pullers formerly? I’m not one that’s devious about money (9)
*(im not one) about M (money)

Motionmen were puppeteers
9 AURORA Tincture seen in coloured glow, a rich orange (6)
In AURA (“coloured glow”), OR (“tincture”)
10 RELEASEMENTS Left to rest, soldiers during rest disturbed getting discharges (12)
L (left) + EASE (“to rest”) + MEN (“soldiers”) during *(rest)
14 BATTLEBUS Racket, deviously subtle vehicle for campaigning Brexiteers? (9)
BAT (“tracket”) + *(subtle)
19 RED LANE Food crop? After climbing tree one misses nothing (7, 2 words)
After <=ALDER (climbing “tree”) (o)NE [misses nothing i.e. O)

Red Lane is a nickname for the oesophagus which is the crop (i.e. throat) where food goes down.
20 CLOSING Last jam? Shame to open it (7)
CLOG (“jam”) with SIN (“shame”) to open it.
21 ROSERY Flowerbed came back to life with grass curtailed (6)
ROSE (“came back to life”) with RY(e) (“grass” curtailed)
22 WHENCE West Dorking church showing place of origin? (6)
W (west) + HEN (of which “Dorking” is a breed) + CE (“church” of England)
25 LAITH Splat – I’ll dive in. Jock’s reluctant (5)
LATH (“splat”) with I in

Laith is the Scottish for loath.
27 DRAT Bother – nearly late, lift needed (4)
<=TARD(y) (nearly “late”, lifted)
28 SLOG When it’s missing leg, inclined to go for big hit (4)
SLO(pin)G, (“inclined”, missing PIN (“leg”))

*anagram

10 comments on “AZED 2,448”

  1. Thanks to both. The dictionary meander these involve usually means it takes me the odd sitting to finish and this was no exception. RED LANE I had no idea about but it could be nothing else from the clueing. I had not heard that meaning.

    RIGLIN I also had to look up but it was there and I too remember a marching song from my youth. Sung with much gusto while the masters tried to quieten us. The rest was the usual slow unveiling of unknown or forgotten words. Great fun.

  2. Thanks Azed and loonapick

    In 9dn, I think the definition (of aurora) is “a rich orange” while “Tincture” gives OR.

  3. 11ac, two tiny typos in the blog – no, three, now I look closer:

    should be leek-green, not leak, also Pyramus. And Midsummer.

    I haven’t gone through everything line by line, but looked at that one to check the (long forgotten) Shakespeare reference.

    Many thanks to both.

     

  4. Well, I entered 22ac correctly and I still couldn’t work out what 20dn was, even after a word search.  I also couldn’t parse 28dn, so thanks for that.

    I agree with Pelham@2 that AURORA means a rich orange colour (at least according to Chambers).

  5. I’d like to draw further attention to the clue for 11ac, in which Azed defines a word with a very specific meaning by means of a highly appropriate (and rather obscure) reference from Shakespeare. I can’t imagine any other setter would go to such lengths, and this is one of the reasons why, for me, Azed is the best in the business.

  8. Thanks to loonapick and Azed

    I have a Glaswegian brother-in-law who delights in befuddling me with arcane Scottish terms so MAIR and LAITH weren’t a problem, but one parsing eludes me.

    I enjoy the research (necessitated by my deficient classical/ Shakespearean education) involved in solving an AZED  as much as the puzzle itself, but I can’t find a justification for EDICT = BAN.

    I spent a fun half hour reading up on Sophocles, Antigone, and Oedipus, but unless BAN simply refers to the edict banning a proper burial for Polyneices then I’m in the dark.

    BTW @28d I saw SLOG as verbal- GO FOR BIG HIT

  9. Dansar@8:  That’s how I interpreted 29ac, the burial ban.

    A few years ago there was an opera on in London which was based on all three Theban plays, starting with Oedipus Rex.  During the interval someone I know overheard in the bar, “No, it wasn’t his wife who died in the first act, it was his mother.”

  10. Dormouse@9

    Great story! It reminded me of a pub quiz I was in a few years back – one of the question was “who was Poet Laureate in 1850”. I’m not great on that sort of thing and neither was any other member of our team. I went to the bar in the interval and overheard another team saying that they had entered Shakespeare. I came back from the bar with what I thought was a great story to tell only to find one of our team had suggested the same thing. We didn’t win.

    I wasn’t happy with THE BAN so I have looked into it a little further and it seems that the edict forbidding burial was so unusual that classical scholars often refer to it at “The Theban Edict”, and the fact that it  BANNED Polyneices’ burial is coincidental.

    I’m still not entirely sure though.

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