A relatively straightforward plain puzzle this week from Azed.
As Azed commented in one of his slips some years ago, it can be something of a relief to encounter a plain unthemed puzzle at this time of year, when the crossword solver is presented with a richer than usual diet of Christmas puzzles.
| Across | ||
| 1 | DOGGY-BAG | Cook’s joke about endless change of course, what diner’s sent home with (8) |
| GYB(e) in DO GAG. The apostrophe after “cook” in the clue was more than a little misleading, but the answer was obvious from the definition. | ||
| 7 | DIVI | Fool is losing half share (4) |
| DIV (fool) I(s). | ||
| 10 | MARQUESAN | Polynesian islander makes one (9) |
| MARQUES AN. | ||
| 11 | SESH | She’s given revised order for time of sitting (4) |
| *SHES. I think that this abbreviation is almost always associated with what Chambers gives as the 8th meaning of the word “session”: “a period of time spent engaged in any one activity eg teaching, drinking or making music” with particular emphasis on the last two activities. But that may just be my experience. | ||
| 13 | SPAWN | Offspring found with hand in tin (5) |
| PAW in SN (symbol for the metallic element). | ||
| 14 | HASHTAG | Twitter indicator has reversed section of raga (7) |
| HAS GATH(rev). | ||
| 16 | ENOKI | Mushroom – with cod it might be cooked in (5) |
| Compound anagram: COD + ENOKI = COOKED IN. | ||
| 17 | LIEVER | Fanciful bird, about ultimate in extravagance, getting more dear for Scot (6) |
| (extravaganc)E in LIVER (the fanciful bird in Liverpool’s city arms). | ||
| 18 | GRAPESTONE | The old moan about a nuisance giving one the pip (10) |
| A PEST in GRONE. | ||
| 20 | FREE-CITIES | Recife, oddly, matches places like Singapore (10) |
| *RECIFE, TIES. | ||
| 22 | LIABLE | Prone position with muscle left clenched (6) |
| AB L in (“clenched”) LIE. | ||
| 24 | MOPER | One with depression, person put on to doctor (5) |
| MO (medical officer) PER(son). | ||
| 27 | CAPFULS | Keeping fine old horses – loads of capital cover needed (7) |
| F in CAPULS (old word for horse). The definition refers to the fact that a cap covers the head (the caput). | ||
| 29 | CHOIR | Some echo, irritating in part of cathedral? (5) |
| Hidden in “echo irritating”. | ||
| 30 | BRIO | Life? Life story about run (4) |
| R in BIO. | ||
| 31 | KILLIFISH | Bait to discard if I keep silent (9) |
| KILL IF I SH. | ||
| 32 | SIFT | What posers do, including following riddle (4) |
| F(ollowing) in SIT. | ||
| 33 | CRETONNE | Strong cotton fabric? See about weight (8) |
| C RE TONNE. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | DOSH | Party’s starter of halloumi and greens (4) |
| DO’S H(alloumi). “Greens”, like dosh, is slang for money. | ||
| 2 | OCEANARIA | A canoe deployed on valley areas for training dolphins, etc? (9) |
| *(A CANOE) RIA (valley). | ||
| 3 | GESSO | Oil company going after good type of ground (5) |
| G ESSO. It’s a ground for painting. | ||
| 4 | YAUTIA | Edible tuber, a beauty I mashed with no odd bits of beet (6) |
| *(A BEAUTY – B E). | ||
| 5 | BROADPIECE | Pair of women (unacceptable to feminists) joined old sovereign? (10) |
| BROAD PIECE: two words, both disrespectful to women, which together mean an old 20 shilling coin. | ||
| 6 | GUSLI | Balkan fiddle, type of viol thin apart from its end (5) |
| GU (viol) SLI(m). | ||
| 7 | DEPLETE | Former obstruction in deep swirling drain (7) |
| LET in *DEEP. | ||
| 8 | I SAY | Attractive option for those saving yen? Get that! (4, 2 words) |
| ISA (a tax-free savings fund) Y. | ||
| 9 | INNER EAR | Pub entrance’s opening on back, where vestibule’s found (8, 2 words) |
| INN E(ntrance) REAR. The vestibule is the cavity leading to the inner ear. | ||
| 12 | AGLET BABIE | Will’s lace adornment? A big Beatle hit (10, 2 words) |
| *(A BIG BEATLE). The lack of an “s” after Beatle was a pretty clear indication of anagram fodder. The phrase itself is one of many Shakespearean usages about which one can only make an educated guess. | ||
| 15 | MENDELIAN | Chaps recalling Aegean island in relation to certain biology theories (9) |
| MEN DELIAN (i.e. recalling Delos). | ||
| 16 | ELFLOCKS | Hair in a tangle once? Almost otherwise when congregation’s involved (8) |
| FLOCK in ELS(e). | ||
| 19 | REBUILT | I left in e.g. potato coming up, established anew (7) |
| I L in TUBER (rev). | ||
| 21 | IMPOST | Tax like this premier lifted – it’s all-embracing (6) |
| (SO PM) (rev) in |
||
| 23 | LYRIC | Poem and song, equally rich in part (5) |
| Hidden in “equally rich”. | ||
| 25 | PURIN | Crystalline substance found in soft water mostly (5) |
| P URIN(e). | ||
| 26 | GOLF | Whip up gee (4) |
| FLOG (rev). The definition refers to the NATO phonetic alphabet. | ||
| 28 | SOKE | Drunk judged by hearing in juridical district (4) |
| Sounds like “soak”. | ||
*anagram
Many thanks to both. Every time I complete one of these I am amazed at my own ignorance. As a knowledge expander, the weekly AZED has few equals and I really need the blog to explain some partings.
21d should be (SO PM) (rev) in IT, so there’s no need for an anagram indicator.
Matthew: you’re quite right – that was a careless error. I’ve corrected the post.