Rather more compound anagrams than usual in this week’s plain Azed.
The usual combination of obscure and familiar words (including two items of Indian apparel), with the usual meticulous clueing and a helpful grid (unlike some barred cryptics, which will sometimes have a three letter word with an unchecked cell – something that Azed never does).
| Across | ||
| 1 | BUNKOSTEERER | Conman to see all over the place? Run inside shelter (12) |
| *(TO SEE) R inside BUNKER. This American phrase was entirely new to me, and, judging by the entries in the OED, is now somewhat dated. | ||
| 9 | ARGO | Star group, first of records appearing in past (4) |
| R(ecords) in AGO. | ||
| 10 | SPRAYEY | Branching like a rose? (7) |
| Double definition. I think that “rose” here refers both to the shrub and to the perforated cap fitted to watering cans to produce a fine spray. | ||
| 12 | SHAKO | Cap with a plume has twisted end in ring, often (5) |
| *HAS, KO (rev). | ||
| 14 | BESOM | Cleansing agent essential for robe sometimes (5) |
| Hidden in “robe sometimes”. | ||
| 15 | MENISCUS | Surface of liquid: scum stirring without rolling in it (8) |
| SINE (without: rev) in *SCUM. | ||
| 16 | TRAMP | Steamer to enclose securely, containing small piece of mutton (5) |
| M(utton) in TRAP. | ||
| 17 | GOURD | Green type of bean in home-made bottle? (5) |
| GO (green light) URD (type of bean). | ||
| 19 | HOSPODAR | Prince historically cut dash with poor (8) |
| *(DASH POOR). Another unfamiliar term. | ||
| 23 | TEMPESTS | Screen filled with e.g. locust storms (8) |
| PEST in TEMS (a sieve or strainer). | ||
| 25 | SEALS | Pod? Get —— apt to burst yielding last peas (5) |
| Our first compound anagram: SEALS APT is an anagram of LAST PEAS. | ||
| 26 | MEDOC | Maître d’, one giving men orders for wine (5) |
| ME (maitre) D OC (officer commanding). | ||
| 29 | STREIGNE | The old grip tightly, steering wildly (8) |
| *STEERING. An old spelling of strain. | ||
| 30 | UHLAN | Cavalryman partaking in final hurrah, but forced to retreat (5) |
| Hidden and reversed (“forced to retreat”) in “final hurrah”. | ||
| 31 | CHOLI | Part of Indira’s getup, a little cold before her local festival? (5) |
| C HOLI (Hindu spring festival). | ||
| 32 | SETNESS | Establishment senses stirring around core of proletariat (7) |
| (prole)T(ariat) in * SENSES. | ||
| 33 | ETEN | David’s tangled with one? Vast indeed! (4) |
| Another compound anagram, this time forming an & lit clue referring to David’s battle with Goliath. DAVID + ETEN = VAST INDEED. | ||
| 34 | UNDERSEALING | Anti-corrosion treatment in the main embraced by junior employee (12) |
| SEA inside UNDERLING. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | BASOTHOS | African people, a considerable come-down when seen going round like this (8) |
| AS O in BATHOS. | ||
| 2 | NGANA | One may be detected in nag, poorly (5) |
| AN in *NAG. It’s a horse disease. | ||
| 3 | KOKUM | Asian tree: this arar is cultivated in Karakorum (5) |
| Another compound anagram (ARAR + KOKUM = KARAKORUM), but I’m not sure that a kokum is in fact related to the arar. Additionally, Karakorum is the historic capital of the Mongol Empire and is now in ruins, so perhaps geographically a little distant from the area where you might cultivate what Chambers defines as an Indian tree. | ||
| 4 | SPREADEAGLES | A sad peer, legs collapsing, falls flat (12) |
| *(A SAD PEER LEGS). | ||
| 5 | TRANSAMINASE | Acid converter Sam and Ian adapted to penetrate Jock’s through passage (12) |
| (SAM IAN) inside TRANSE (a Scottish term for a through passage). | ||
| 6 | EYESORE | Consent for digging into eastern mineral, causing blot on the landscape? (7) |
| YES in E ORE. | ||
| 7 | RESCUES | Deliveries not properly secure with end of services (7) |
| (service)S inside *SECURE. | ||
| 8 | RAMS | Head welcomes married beaks (4) |
| M(arried) inside RAS (headland); it refers to the beak of a warship, used to strike holes in an enemy vessel’s hull. | ||
| 11 | YOURT | Tent party our troop’s holding (5) |
| Another hidden clue: “party our troop”. | ||
| 13 | HARO | Fie! Stop holding artillery up (4) |
| RA (rev) in HO (stop). It’s an archaic term meaning “alas”, the archaism and the meaning both being rendered by “fie!”. | ||
| 18 | DISCOING | Clubbing Yankee to study hard about sonic dancing (8) |
| *SONIC inside DIG (an American term meaning to study hard). | ||
| 20 | STAR-LED | Like kings of old, shocked time is wasted (7) |
| STAR(t)LED. The reference is to the three magi or wise men who are referred to in Matthew’s Gospel. | ||
| 21 | PILEATE | Capped arms stacked and put away (7) |
| The wordplay suggests a word like p(and)ileate – but it doesn’t exist; any suggestions? | ||
| 22 | METHS | Nog I mixed with this? Something maybe that one shouldn’t drink (5) |
| The fourth compound anagram: SOMETHING minus NOG I = METHS. | ||
| 24 | TOLL | Charge for grinding, sound as a bell (4) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 27 | ETHEL | Girl’s heading for oblivion right to the end (5) |
| LETHE (oblivion) with the first letter moved to the end. | ||
| 28 | DHOTI | Simple garment I had lifted, feeling sexy inside (5) |
| HOT inside I’D (rev). | ||
| 29 | SUSU | W. African folk sun looks down on usually (4) |
| S(un) USU(ally). | ||
*anagram
I don’t think Azed says an arar is related to the kokum. The clue defines KOKUM as ‘Asian tree’, which is true. It then says ARAR + KOKUM anagrams to KARAKORUM, also true. The ‘This’ merely refers to ‘this answer here’ even if it does appear to attribute equivalence to the two.
I agree with Phi about 3d.
For 21d: Chambers gives ‘a stack of arms’ as one meaning of PILE and ‘put away’ = ATE.
Thanks to both. I agree with Matthew@2 for PILEATE.
As usual I had to check the validity of many of the terms I came up with, but that is half the fun. Enjoyable as ever.
Thanks, Phi and Matthew for those helpful comments. I don’t know why I didn’t see PILE ATE.
Me for maitre was a new one for me. Couldn’t see how 26ac worked, although the answer was obvious. Thanks for explaining that and 17ac – I really should have seen that one, even if I hadn’t heard of URD.
Thanks bridgesong.
A couple of typos – 1d is just SO in BATHOS, and 7d is a charade not an envelope.
I knew the giant in 33 from Tolkien’s Ents, but took a while finding that particular spelling in Chambers (enet, ente …?). Last to parse was GOURD as I didn’t twig GO for green.
Thanks Azed.