This is the annual Christmas Competition Puzzle where solvers were given two weeks for submission, hence the delay in publishing the blog.
The preamble stated: Ten thematic clues are without definitions and lead to answers which must be similarly modified before entry, forming non-words in all cases except one (coincidentally). The link between them is hinted at by the title of the puzzle. Two of them are plurals in their unmutilated form. All other clues are normal. Bracketed numbers indicate grid entries (throughout). Competitors should submit with their entries a normal cryptic clue to the plural compound noun, (15, 2 words) which identifies the theme.
We had 44 clues, 8 more than a standard Azed puzzle,so perhaps we can consider the extra 8 as Azed’s little extra.
A couple of the non standard clues fell quite quickly, NYLON [YLO entered] and MOGGAN [OGGA] and that gave a very strong nudge towards the theme of the contents of stockings, or STOCKING FILLERS
I found the normal clues slightly easier than usual for a standard Azed and the number of obscure words seemed less than the case in many other Azed puzzles. There were though, quite a few obscure examples of stockings. However, the cluing remained as sound as ever, such that there was never any doubt as to how the entries were constructed from the wordplay.
For those submitting clues, the 15 letter 2 part word has been mentioned above – STOCKING FILLERS
On the last Azed I blogged, there was a comment that the red I used was a bit bold, so I have tried to tone down the colours at that end of the spectrum in this blog.
The completed grid was as shown below:
| Across | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Answer | Entry |
| 1 | Work on reversing confusion over marsupial (7) |
OP (opus; work) + (MUSS [confusion] + O [over in cricket scoring notation]) reversed (reversing) OP (O SSUM)< |
OPOSSUM (small marsupial) | |
| 6 | Register disapproval of that lot (6) |
BOO (register disapproval) + THOSE (the people over there; that lot) BOO THOSE |
BOOTHOSE (long over-stocking which covers the leg like a boot) |
OOTHOS |
| 11 | Well dry, look, lacking what’s central to monsoon (5) |
SPA (mineral spring; well) + TT (teetotal; dry) + SPA TT EE |
SPATTEE (protective outer stocking or long gaiter) |
PATTE |
| 12 | Wide branch caught in angler’s tackle (7) |
(W [wide] + ARM [branch]) contained in (in) LEGER (fishing bait that is anchored to the bottom; angler’s tackle) LEG (W ARM) ER |
LEGWARMER (long footless sock) | EGWARME |
| 13 | Monkey active in central Asia (3) |
A (active) contained in (in) SI (middle letters of [central] ASIA) S (A) I |
SAI (capuchin monkey) | |
| 14 | Jock’s bearing what happens in court mostly reversed (4) |
(TRIA AIRT< |
AIRT (Scottish [Jock’s] word for direction or bearing) | |
| 15 | Lassie’s fit, most alluring having shed stone (5) |
EXIES |
EXIES (Scottish [lassie] word for fit, e.g. of hysterics or ague) |
|
| 17 | Damage in the manner of Syrian ‘caper’ |
HARM (damage) + ALA (in the manner of) HARM ALA |
HARMALA (the so-called African or Syrian rue [strong smelling shrubby Mediterranean plant] of the bean caper family) |
|
| 18 | Tight holds partially circling sumotori (6) |
CLINGS (hidden word in [partially] CIRCLING SUMOTORI) CLINGS |
CLINGS (tight holds) | |
| 20 | Chaplet, cheap one turned round back of head (6) |
(MEAN [cheap] + A [one) reversed (turned) containing (round) D (last letter of [back of] HEAD) (A NA (D) EM)< |
ANADEM (crown or diadem) | |
| 23 | Young fish caught in fishermen’s gear (9) |
HERLING (young sea trout) contained in (caught in) NETS (fishermen’s gear) NET (HERLING) S |
NETHERLINGS (Dickensian word for stockings) | ETHERLING |
| 25 | Certain Christians shame university retreats (6) |
(STAIN [shame] +U [university]) all reversed (retreats) (U NIATS)< |
UNIATS ( member of any community of Christians, especially in eastern Europe and Asia, that acknowledges the papal supremacy but which is allowed to retain its own customs and practices with regard to all else, ie clerical matrimony, communion in both kinds, church discipline, rites and liturgy) |
|
| 26 | Show failure to clean depth in winding tubes (6) |
D (depth) contained in (in) an anagram of (winding) TUBES BE (D) UST* |
BEDUST (cover with dust; show failure to clean) | |
| 29 | Turned increasingly caustic about island image of old (7) |
TARTER (increasingly caustic) reversed (turned) containing (about) I (island) RETRA (I) T< |
RETRAIT (portrait or portrature). Chambers seems to spell this meaning as RETRAITT or RETRATE rather than RETRAIT with only one T at the end | |
| 34 | Diet universal for some African people (5) |
BANT (to diet) + U (universal) BANT U |
BANTU (name given to a large group of African languages and the peoples speaking them in South and Central Africa) |
|
| 35 | Coarse fellow, German (4) |
HOG (coarse fellow) + GER (German) HOG GER |
HOGGER (a footless stocking worn as a gaiter) |
OGGE |
| 36 | What’s intrinsic to many Londoners (3) |
NYLON (hidden word in [what’s intrinsic to] MANY LONDONERS) NYLON |
NYLON (stocking made of a material of the same name) | YLO |
| 37 | Scramble racing following ring, structural (7) |
O (ring shaped letter) + an anagram of (scrambled) RACING O RGANIC* |
ORGANIC (structural) | |
| 38 | Left off worshipping God alone in church forecourts (5) |
ATRIA |
ATRIA (church forecourts) | |
| 39 | It is not irregularly seen alongside sun spots (6) |
T‘AIN‘T (IT AIN’T, an irregular [but very common in Scotland] version of ‘it is not’) + S (sun) TAINT S |
TAINTS (stains, spots) | |
| 40 | Shut up in school? On the contrary one’s seen in King Tut exhibition maybe (7) |
SCH (school) contained in (in) PENT (to shut up), i.e. the opposite [on the contrary] construction to the one first envisaged in the clue P (SCH) ENT |
PSCHENT (the crown of the Egyptian pharaohs, something that might be seen in an exhibition of items from the life of King Tutenkhamun) |
|
| Down | ||||
| 1 | Cop’s corrupted, in grip of power certainly (5) |
Anagram of (corrupted) COPS contained in (in grip of) (P [power] + OK [okay; certainly]) P O (PSOC*) K |
POPSOCK (woman’s nylon stocking reaching up to the knee) |
OPSOC |
| 2 | Against being excluded from dance – it’s mildly stimulating (4) |
PA PAAN |
PAAN (betel leaf; mild stimulant) | |
| 3 | Ordinary involuntary response of listener (4) |
O (ordinary) + TIC (involuntary response) O TIC |
OTIC (of or relating to the ear; of listener) | |
| 4 | To row backwards at sea, sailor’s on board according to nature (5) |
TAR (sailor) contained in (on board) SN (secundum naturam (Latin), according to nature) S (TAR) N |
STARN (alternative spelling of STERN [row backward]) | |
| 5 | Rebels maybe use leverage in the States (7) |
PRISE ([a tool giving] leverage) contained in (in) US ([United] States) U (PRISE) S |
UPRISES (rebels) | |
| 6 | Way of working followed by crooked gang (4) |
MO (modus operandi; way of working) + an anagram of (crooked) GANG MO GGAN* |
MOGGAN (a footless stocking) |
OGGA |
| 7 | One in debt, it seems, too much for Scotsman (4) |
OWER (one who OWEs money; one in debt) OWER |
OWER (Scottish word for ‘over’; too much for Scotsman) double definition | |
| 8 | Publican once offering tawny around Christmas with a bit off (6) |
TAN (lightish brown colour as is tawny) containing (around) XMA TA (XMA) N |
TAXMAN (publican is an old word for a Roman TAX collector) | |
| 9 | Some upset about poor service wherein breaking is inevitable? (7) |
Anagram of (upset) SOME containing (about) LET (a service in tennis that has to be retaken; poor service) OME (LET) S* |
OMELETS (reference the phrase ‘you can’t make an OMELET without breaking eggs’) | |
| 10 | Source of oil that’s polluted seas, and NE state shortly thereafter (6) |
Anagram of (polluted) SEAS + ME (abbreviation [shortly] for the US State of Maine, located in the North East of the country) SESA* ME |
SESAME (plant cultivated for its seeds which yield a light edible oil) |
|
| 12 | Having got stuck into drink, he trots jauntily (9) |
Anagram of (jauntily) HE TROTS contained in (having got stuck into) NECK (slang for ‘drink’) NE (THERSTO*) CK |
NETHERSTOCK (obsolete word for a stocking) | ETHERSTOC |
| 16 | Touch headgear when one leaves (4) |
TIG (touch) + H TIG HTS |
TIGHTS (stockings) | IGHT |
| 19 | Name in realia distributed in script defying scholars (7) |
N (name) contained in (in) an anagram of (distributed) REALIA LI (N) EAR A* |
LINEAR-A (an ancient script found in Crete, deciphered with all but general acceptance as a form of a semitic language) |
|
| 20 | Discolourings of the eye, a deficiency mostly involving germ (7) |
(A + LOS A L (BUG) OS |
ALBUGOS (leucome [a white opacity of the cornea.in the eye]) |
|
| 21 | Stale pud I wrapped in napkin holder (4) |
I contained in (wrapped in) NEF (ornamental stand or holder for a knife, fork, etc or for a table napkin, often in the shape of a ship) N (I) EF |
NIEF (fist; ‘pud’ is also an old [stale] word for fist) | |
| 22 | Polish up fly for river fish (6) |
RUB (polish) reversed (up; down clue) + BOT (maggot of a BOTfly) BUR< BOT |
BURBOT (freshwater fish, like the ling, with a longish barbel on its lower jaw) |
|
| 26 | All weather stuff covering track, pitch and leather (6) |
TAR (dark, viscous mixture obtained by destructive distillation of wood, coal, peat etc; pitch) + TAN (convert into leather; also to beat or to leather) TAR TAN |
TARTAN (material used to lay tracks for athletic events, usable in all weathers)
|
|
| 27 | Treats formerly giving John hollow teeth? (5) |
DOE (reference John DOE [name for unidentified male characters, especially in US detective stories) + TH (letters remaining in T DOE TH |
DOETH (old fashioned [formerly] word for DOES [treats]) | |
| 28 | Bellow from deer, red one seen round heart of heath (5) |
TROT (supporter of Leon TROTsky; communist; red one) containing (seen round) A (middle letter of [heart of] HEATH) TRO (A) T |
TROAT (bellow of a buck [deer]) | |
| 30 | Sally e.g. made by a military group I avoided (4) |
A + UN A UNT |
AUNT (reference AUNT Sally [a fairground or pub game, in which sticks or balls are thrown to smash a pipe in the mouth of a wooden figure; any of several variations of the game; a target for abuse, criticism or blame]) |
|
| 31 | Antipodean tribes, certainly old-fashioned (4) |
IWIS (New Zealand [antipodean] tribes) IWIS |
IWIS (archaic [old-fashioned] word meaning certainly) double definition | |
| 32 | There’s only some stodgy reading will do for literary circle (4) |
GYRE (hidden word in [there’s only some] STODGY READING) GYRE |
GYRE (a word in literature meaning ‘to circle’) | |
| 33 | Damn king quits, causing cessation for poet (4) |
BLIN BLIN |
BLIN (Spenserian [poet] word for cease or end) | |
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