As straightforward as an Azed could ever be…
…nothing terribly difficult in this Azed, with recourse to the BRB being required for maybe 6 or 7 clues only, and then maybe a couple more to check definitions. I’m not convinced by CLOAM but happy to be corrected.
Thanks, Azed.
| Across | ||
| 1 | CLAPPY-DOO | Scottish shellfish very quietly in earth make love? (9) |
| PP (pianissimo, so “very quietly” in CLAY (“earth”) + DO (“make”) + O (“love”)
A clappy-doo is a large black mussel. |
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| 10 | HOSEL | Those little clasps wherein shaft joins head (5) |
| Hidden in “tHOSE Little”
The hosel is that part of the head of a golf club where the shaft is fitted. |
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| 12 | PRAIRIE | Strolling pier, taking in the breeze? That’s plain (7) |
| *(pier) taking in AIR (“breeze”) | ||
| 13 | INHAUL | Independent uhlan, out of order? Line to be drawn (6) |
| I (independent) + *(uhlan)
An inhaul is a rope used to bring in a sail. |
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| 14 | CLOAM | Clay? See mixture of that and sand (5) |
| C (see) + LOAM (“mixture of clay and sand”)
Not sure about this as loam is defined as land that does not have much clay or sand? |
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| 15 | MANICURE | What nail bar offers, crazy old operation (8) |
| MANIC (“crazy”) + URE (obsolete word for “operation”) | ||
| 16 | HEGEL | Philosopher in male set (5) |
| HE (“male”) + GEL (“set”)
Refers to Georg Hegel (1770-1831) |
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| 17 | GIANTS | Such as Goliath, tumbling to a sling? Lo, ——, perhaps (6) |
| *(to a sling) is an anagram of LO GIANTS | ||
| 19 | CREDITOR | Journo following constant rule, to whom one’s indebted (8) |
| EDITOR (“journo”) following C (constant) + R (rule) | ||
| 21 | APPLE-PIE | Typically American, squandering a pile with pep (8) |
| *(a pile pep) | ||
| 24 | ONLINE | Net user is so like fish being played? (6) |
| A fish on a line is being played | ||
| 25 | OLLAV | Whom the Irish respect on account of verse (lines penned) (5) |
| O/A (on account) + V (verse) with LL (lines) penned
An ollav was a learned man in Ireland |
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| 28 | BLOSSOMY | Bearing flowers, Jack accepts bereavement well! (8) |
| BO (“Jack”) accepts LOSS (“bereavement”) + MY! (“well!”) | ||
| 30 | DOSEH | Former religious rite from Egypt originally, dividing bread (5) |
| E(gypt) [originally] dividing DOSH (“bread”)
Doseh is a former Egyptian religious ceremony involving a sheikh riding a horse over prostrating followers |
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| 31 | PRATIE | Murphy causing gossip round Ireland’s capital (6) |
| PRATE (“gossip”) around I(reland’s) [capital]
“Pratie” and “Murphy” are terms for “potato” |
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| 32 | AMIABLE | Warm stroll round heart of aviary (7) |
| AMBLE (“stroll”) round [heart of] (av)IA(ry) | ||
| 33 | DREAR | Driver’s first source of unwelcome advice in car, cheerless (5) |
| D(river’s ) [first] + REAR (back seat = “source of unwelcome advice in car”) | ||
| 34 | LEERINGLY | Leaders in nasty lust eye girl askance – thus? (9) |
| *(n l eye girl) where N and L are [leaders in] N(asty) L(ust) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHICH | Legume I fed to children repeatedly (5) |
| I fed to CH (“children”) [repeatedly]
“Chich” is another word for a chickpea |
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| 2 | LONGERON | German going for Germany in capital part of fuselage (8) |
| D (Germany) being replaced by GER (German) in LON(d>GER)ON (“capital”) | ||
| 3 | PEARE | Spenser’s equal trembles to be cast off by one such? (5) |
| [“trembles” to be cast off] (shakes)PEARE (“one such i.e. an Elizabethan poet, as was Spenser himself) | ||
| 4 | YPLAST | Once in position, plays out time (6) |
| *(plays) + T (time)
“yplast” is an old version of “placed” |
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| 5 | DRONGO | Drive forward, light saying you can? (Cobber slow on the uptake) (6) |
| DR. (“drive”) + ON (“forward”) + GO (“light saying you can”)
“drongo” is an Australian word for an idiot. |
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| 6 | OILCAKE | What’s fed to animal like a cow, endlessly chewed? (7) |
| *(like a co)(w) [endlessly] | ||
| 7 | GROUND PLATE | Gap left, oddly, foot short as housing for circular base timber (11, 2 words) |
| *(gap let) (where LET is “left” with F(oot) short) housing ROUND (“circular”) | ||
| 8 | LIAR | Romancer raising the bar (4) |
| [raising the] <=RAIL (“bar”) | ||
| 9 | DEMESNE | Townships on north-eastern estate (7) |
| DEMES (“townships”) on NE (north-eastern) | ||
| 11 | SHIGELLOSIS | GI’s so ill he’s in a bad way – it’s a form of dysentery (11) |
| *(gps so ill hes) | ||
| 18 | TRIAXIAL | Part of sponge I cut in experiment (8) |
| I AX (“cut”) in TRIAL (“experiment”) | ||
| 19 | CHOBDAR | Chief on board retrained usher (7) |
| CH. (chief) on *(board)
A chobdar was a macebearer for an Indian dignity |
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| 20 | DEISEAL | Jock’s following the sun, having mixed deli round the Med e.g. (7) |
| *(deli) round SEA (“the Med, e.g”)
“deaisel” is a Scottish word for “following the sun” |
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| 22 | PEOPLE | Gym precedes work on Latin and English subjects (6) |
| PE (physical exercise, so “gym”) + OP (“work”) on L (Latin) and E (English) | ||
| 23 | PAMPER | Indulge, putting money in stocks and shares (6) |
| M (money) in PAPER (“stocks and shares”) | ||
| 26 | LEARN | Master giving second in class merit (5) |
| [second in] (c)L(ass) + EARN (“merit”) | ||
| 27 | VEERY | Migratory thrush, very weird (5) |
| V (very) + EERY (“weird”)
A veery is North American thrush |
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| 29 | LOMA | Scene with this? Form of mesa clone maybe (4) |
| *(mesa clone) is an anagram of LOMA SCENE
A loma is a mesa-like hill in south-west USA |
||
*anagram
Loonapick, I think you may have misread the definition of LOAM in Chambers:”a soil consisting of a natural mixture of clay and sand”. So CLOAM is indeed correct.
Interesting – Collins defines loam as “soil that is good for growing crops and plants in because it contains a lot of decayed vegetable matter and does not contain too much sand or clay“
Am I right in thinking that there have been fewer technical errors lately with Azed than there used to be? There are two today (2,455), online and also in the paper version, which held me up for a bit until I checked: correct letter count for 10 down and 11 down should be 10, not 9.
The OED gives this as its third definition of LOAM (the first is “clay, clayey earth, mud”): “A soil of great fertility composed chiefly of clay and sand with an admixture of decayed vegetable matter”. For CLOAM the OED makes it clear that it is an obsolete usage, except in south-western dialects.
You are indeed correct quenbarrow, and what’s more, for the last few weeks the link to the Azed puzzle has actually worked first thing Sunday morning!
I didn’t notice anything wrong with CLOAM, as the reference to LOAM as a type of soil was enough to point me in the right direction. Nice puzzle, as ever.
Thank you for the blog – I had “peare” as Spencer’s version of equal, not least because it sat next to “yplast” and pretty much all “y” words being past tenses of verbs seem to be Spencerisms, but I had not parsed it. Slight query over “triaxial” as well which I could not find as part of a sponge, but more a descriptor or parts. If you had a triaxial liver you would not say “triaxial” is an organ. Other than that, pretty pleased to have finished this as it’s only the second or third Azed I’ve tried, graduating up from the regular Grauniad puzzle.