AZED 2,478

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After a very quick start which saw me complete about a third of the puzzle almost immediately, I struggled to complete this Azed.

Although I have now got all the answers in, there are a couple of clues I can’t parse satisfactorily.  I don’t understand the Irish connection in Kell unless we are being asked to make Kells singular, which I don’t think we can do, given its a place name.  I also struggled to get 25dn clear in my head; I think Azed wants us to think about going on to the net, but I can’t quite see how it works in the clue.

Otherwise, my delay in completion was due to taking too long to work out TRAVEL-SOILED and misspelling HUMOROUS, so that I was looking for a calypso-style music that ended -ECA instead of -OCA for an inordinately long time.

Thanks Azed.

Across
1 GEMEINSCHAFT Close social group producing endless badinage in chaotic meetings (12)
[endless] CHAF(f) (“badinage”) in *(meetings)
10 SERVITE Mendicant in fast following sermon (7)
VITE (“fast”) following Ser. (sermon)
11 SULU Form of Malay cloth worn like a sarong (4)
Double definition
12 MAGMATA Masses of stodgy material? Big meeting engrossed in dull one (7)
AGM (Annual General Meeting, so “big meeting”) engrossed in MAT (“dull”) + A (“one”)
13 SITHE Old groan is over leading article (5)
<=IS [over] leading THE (“article”)

“Sithe” is an old form of “sigh” or “groan”
14 SOCA Calypso-style music, soi-disant – 50% of it anyway (4)
[50% of]  SO-CA(lled) (“soi-disant”)
16 DISGRACE Scandal rags distributed in Fulham maybe (8)
*(rags) in DICE (“Fulham maybe”)

Fulham dice are weighted at the corners to make them loaded.
18 PAMAK So?a Muslim starts to pray on mat after kneeling (5)
[starts to] P(ray) O(n) M(at) A(fter) K(neeling)

Pomaks are Slavic Muslims, so a Muslim from Sofia in Bulgaria may be a Pomak.
19 PROPEL Lopper tidied up drive (6)
*(lopper)
22 WRIGHT Derby-based artist, carpenter from Dundee (6)
Double definition, the first referring to Joseph Wright of Derby, a painter, and the second to the Scottish word for someone who makes things, as in “wainwright”, “cartwright.
23 QUINS Rare delivery for sports club, informally (5)
Double definition, the first referring to the relative scarcity of quintuplets, and the second to the shortened version of Harlequins, an English rugby union team.
24 RINGLETS Pugilistic venue – su?ers butter?ies (8)
(boxing) RING (“pugilistic venue”) + LETS (“suffers”)

A ringlet is a type of butterfly.
27 BOOB ‘Bish’: utterance that may startle bishop (4)
BOO (“utterance that may startle”) + B (bishop)
29 LIMBI Fringes of hell? Satanic o?spring is found on one (5)
LIMB (“satanic offspring”) is found on I (one)
30 TINNIER Tavern beset by row enjoying better luck down under (7)
INN (“tavern”) beset by TIER (“row”)

In Australia and New Zealand, “tinny” is another word for “lucky”
31 KELL Northern headdress like this is suggesting one from Ireland? (4)
A kell is a headdress in Scotland and Northern England, but I can’t see the rest of the wordplay (something to do with Kelly or Kells?)
32 BROMINE Gabbro mined partly for chemical element (7)
Hidden in [partly] “gabBRO MINEd”

Bromine (symbol Br) is No 35 on the Periodic Table.
33 RETROSPECTED Record septet made a mess of? Lot did it, disastrously (12)
*(record septet)

In Genesis, Lot’s wife looked back at the city of Sodom, which she had been allowed to flee from with her husband, and was turned into a pillar of salt.
Down
1 GOSSIPWRITER Hickey maybe, spigot manipulated with wires, right? (12)
*(spigot wires) + R (right)

William Hickey is a pseudonymous byline for a gossip column in the Daily Express.
2 MELTEMI Turbulence, mostly round Turkey initially – I’m getting up? (7)
MELE(e) (“turbulence”, mostly) round T(urkey) [initially] + <=I’M [getting up] and &lit.

A meltemi is a dry wind in the Eastern Mediterranean.
3 IVIED I put on recording about heart of forests, overgrown (5)
I put on VID (“recording”) about [heart of] (for)E(sts)
4 NIMB Oil from versatile tree, source of shade concealing us (4)
NIMB(us) (cloud, so “source of shade”, concealing US)
5 STARSPOT Big bucks for celebrity? Astronomical item (8)
A STAR’S POT may be defined as “big bucks” for a “celebrity”
6 HUMOROUS Mull as setting for wild roo? That’s funny (8)
HUMUS (“mull”) as setting for *(roo)

According to Chambers, “mull” is a layer of humus, formed by rapid decomposition throught he actions of a rich soil fauna in near-neutral or alkaline conditions.
7 ABACA Plant ?bre a shopping basket upended (5)
<=A CABA (“a shopping basket”, upended)
8 FETA Salad ingredient available in café/taverna (4)
Hidden [available] in “caFE/TAverna”
9 TRAVEL-SOILED Lear arrived chez Regan in such a state? Worked hard to contain snarls (12)
TOILED (“worked hard”) to contain RAVELS (“snarls”)
10 SUITOR What’s jostling this old pretender, see? Court is (6)
COURT IS is an anagram of C (see) SUITOR
15 WAGGONER Coachman d-dead in midst of major con?ict (8)
G-GONE (“d-dead”) in midst of WAR (“major conflict”)
17 INTEGERS Figures in lives on fringes of unruly regent (8)
IS (“lives”) on fringes of *(regent)
20 PIGMENT Livestock farmers overseeing their charges’ feeder, eschewing rough colouring (7)
PIGMEN (“livestock farmers”) overseeing T(rough) (pig (i.e. “their charges'”) “feeder”, eschewing ROUGH)
21 ENABLE Sanction bag circumvented by wriggly eel (6)
NAB (“bag”) circumvented by *(eel)
25 NONET Not many play this on going on line? (5)
ON “going on line” (Ie in NET)

Not sure about this at all…
26 SLIME Mother making version of muesli, not universal (5)
*(mesli) being “muesli” , but not the U (univesal)
27 BILE Humour (possibly black), device MO dismissed (4)
(mo)BILE (“device” with MO dismissed)
28 DROP A little bit of red in a cup? (4)
[a little bit of] R(ed) in DOP (a copper “cup”) and &lit.

*anagram

20 comments on “AZED 2,478”

  1. For 25d, I’m guessing that when you go ON LINE by using a fishing line, you now have NO NET?

    Shouldn’t the clue for 33a be “Lot’s wife did it, disastrously”? Lot didn’t look back.

  2. I thought 25dn might be something to do with tennis (of which I know nothing), so that makes three of us.

    Stefan

  3. I think the idea in 31 across is that “like this” means “like kell” i.e KELLY, which is an Irish name. It’s analogous with APPLY as a humorous description of cider, which I’ve seen a few times.

    I’m not at all certain that’s right though.

  4. Re 33ac, (and your comment on it).  Surely, therefore, the clue is wrong as it wasn’t Lot who RETROSPECTED but his wife?

    As usual, I remember nothing about solving this, but I have a completed grid in front of me, so I know I did.

  5. Isn’t 31 Ac DELL, a reference to Dell computers made in Ireland and also a northern headdress – a Herdwick Dell?

  6. Thanks, Loonapick. I don\’t remember being troubled by NONET (25d) but now I can\’t see how it works. I agree with cruciverbophile on 31a, but the most famous Kelly of all was from the Isle of Man, surely https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Has_Anybody_Here_Seen_Kelly In any case, a weak clue, I think.

    33a must just be a simple mistake. \”Lot\’s wife\” in the clue would have ruined the misdirection, of course. Orpheus was another catastrophic retrospector, who might have fitted the clue better.

  7. I took the wordplay of NONET to be ON in NET, as in “entering the (inter)net” along the lines of “camping” as an indication to put a word inside TENT.

    Now I think about it, you go ON the net rather than IN it, and “online” is one word, so my interpretation is probably rubbish!

  8. cruciverbophile @3 has my view- I thought of SLEEPY but APPLY is more like this clue. Noun+Y=adjective is not uncommon.

    Yes Lot’s wife became a pillar of salt. I seem to have read some years ago, and could probably Google, about a desert feature somewhere that is called “Lot’s wife”

    Still al “Lot” of fun- thanks to Azed and loonapick.

  9. I always remember a Sunday School teacher reminiscing about his experiences in the army in the desert in WWII.  He said there were spots outside the camp where the men went to pee.  The hot dry air would cause the salts in the urine to crystallise out.  Then, when the wind blew, you’d be left with a pillar of salt.  He often wondered if this was the allusion intended in the description of Lot’s wife – she turned into a column of dried piss.

  10. Reference the lot clue. I think the definition is wrong. Retrospectively doesn’t mean stopping in the road and looking back at something, it means looking back at a decision you should have done (or didn’t) or thinking back on a mistake you made. Retrospectively, why did I bet on Pompey to win yesterday?

  12. Thanks Bridgesong – you have PAMAK for POMAK in 18. Anyone else seeing question marks where some f’s should be above?
    In 16, Azed appears to be accepting ‘dice’ as singular, otherwise would it not be ‘Fulhams’?
    In 22, the Scots word is specifically a joiner according to Chambers.
    In 31, I can only think it is short for Kelly.
    25, I parsed similarly to Bridgesong, but the definition is a quandary – not many nonets compared to trios?
    I failed to complete this without pattern-searching, the interlocking MELTEMI (didn’t spot it was &lit) and SULU (should have got it from the Star Trek character).
    Nick@10: That’s the metaphorical meaning of ‘retrospect’, but the literal meaning still applies. We only use it for time because we generally map the past to what’s physically behind us, and the future physically in front – though some remote tribes do not.

  14. Thanks to loonapick and Azed

    I parsed 25d as “Not many play this” – def = NONET, ON going (leaving), makes NET = ON LINE? E.g an “An on line/net business”

    Two things I wasn’t too happy about – the def is very loose (duo, trio etc fit the bill much better), and on line is usually rendered as “on-line”, or more recently “online”, so I could easily be wrong.

  16. Google has “A pillar of salt named “Lot’s wife” is located near the Dead Sea at Mount Sodom in Israel. The Mishnah states that a blessing should be said at the place where the pillar of salt is. Other pillars are said to be at the crossing of the Red Sea as well as at the Wall of Jericho.” and has a picture.

    Re Kell-y we spent an enjoyable quarter of an hour going through feathery, beefy, bloody, chatty, watery etc and even thought of composing a poem thereon.

  19. Yes, Lizzie. But you never played for our cricket club on the banks of the Yarra. We were right tinnie and we knew it. I scored seventeen once! Talk about “tinnie”.

    Stefan

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