A quick, but very fun Easter Sunday solve.
The preamble for this puzzle reads:
Each numbered square in the diagram is surrounded by eight blank squares. All clues lead to answers of eight letters, and these are to be entered around their appropriate numbers, clockwise or anticlockwise, beginning anywhere. Solvers must determine where each begins and the direction in which it is to go. The twelve unchecked letters at the corners of the completed diagram may be arranged as BUTLER’S TOAST.
In the blog below, red indicates definition, and BLUE indicates solution.
No 33 held me up for a wee while, but the rest slotted in fairly quickly. It’s a shame about 18; otherwise this would have been a flawless puzzle.
1 Picture maybe left to soak
PORTRAIT – PORT (“left”) + RAIT (“to soak”)
2 Support for carriage roof to protect track
CANTRAIL – CAN (“protect” as in preserve) + TRAIL (“track”)
3 Last cent restored fragments
CANTLETS – *(last cent) [anag:restored]
4 Screen French painter put round old mound
MANTELET – (Edouard) MANET (“French painter”) round TEL (“old mound”)
5 Old killjoy lambasted pros in marketplace
MARSPORT – *(pros) [anag: lambasted] in MART (“marketplace”)
6 Post-mortem succeeded, held in a perfect place
AUTOPSIA – S (succeeded) held in A UTOPIA (“perfect place”)
7 Vice squad initially excited nabbing suitable prisoners
CAPTIVES – *(vice s) [anag:excited] where S is S(quad) [initially] nabbing APT (“suitable”)
8 Body left by us returned stirring, formerly prone
PROCLIVE – <=CORP(us) (“body” returning, with US left) + LIVE (“stirring”)
9 Musicians producing tired old stuff is interspersed with silence!
CORNISTS – CORN (“tired old stuff”) + ISinterspersed with ST (“silence!”)
10 Mimicking dotty aunt, smile endlessly
SIMULANT – *(aunt smil) where SMIL is SMIL(e) [endlessly]
11 Peculiar aberration of the upper throat
SINGULAR – SIN (“aberration”) + GULAR (“of the upper throat”)
12 Rides in a wobbly forerunner of the bike
DRAISINE – *(rides in a) [anag:wobbly]
A draisine was a wooden two-wheeled vehicle invented by Karl Draise in 1817.
13 Harden less with core disintegrating
SCLEROSE – *(less core) [anag:disintegrating]
14 Stick note in place for detective
PRODNOSE – ROD (“stick”) + N (note) in POSE (“place”)
15 Trouble with sign of fungal growth round new decking
ADORNING – ADO (“trouble”) with RING (“sign of fungal growth”) round N (new)
16 Planted rosaceous shrub round Ulster? Talent once needed
INGENIUM – IN (“planted”) + GEUM (a “rosaceous shrub”) round NI (Northern Ireland, so “Ulster”)
17 What flautist must master for gig with nun dancing
TONGUING – TO (“for”) + *(gig nun) [anag:dancing]
18 Marginal note in location absorbing study circle
SITE (“location”) absorbing DEN (“study”) + O (circle)
A little editing would have made this clue better as having NOTE in the solution and the clue is a bit clumsy.
19 Appendages to old footwear – right toe badly pinched by dandies
FORETOPS – *(r toe) where R is right [anag:badly] pinched byFOPS (“dandies”)
20 Of slender form, with no end of allure for those with roaming hands?
FONDLERS – *(of slendr) where SLENDR is SLEND(e)R with no [end of] (allure)E
21 She’s overly meek and oddly glad about pay increase
GRISELDA – *(glad) [anag:oddly] about RISE (“pay increase”)
Griselda appears in “The Clerk’s Tale” in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
22 African of short stature to question in made-up language
NEGRILLO – GRILL (“to question”) in NEO (“made-up language”)
Neo is an artificial language created by Arturo Alfandari in 1961.
23 Greyhound, spoilt giant swathed in lots of love
LONGTAIL – *(giant) [anag:spoilt] in LOL (lots of love)
24 Typify as ‘flipping’ mushrooms I had for supper?
SPECIATE – [flipping] <=CEPS (“mushrooms”) + I ATE (“had for dinner”)
25 Slappers swagger in showy boots
TROLLOPS – ROLL (“swagger”) in TOPS (top-boots, so “showy boots”)
26 Makes fresh plans for hollowed raft in revised search
RECHARTS – [hollowed] R(af)T in *(search) [anag:revised]
27 Moderate, once, in pursuit, about to take seat, returned
CHASTISE – CHASE (“pursuit”) about <=SIT (“to take seat”, returned)
28 Restraining sharp pain, not well inside
STILLING – STING (“sharp pain”) with ILL (“not well”) inside
29 Athlete holding nothing back, one that’s into top gear?
MILLINER – MILER (“athlete”) holding<=NIL (“nothing” back)
30 Cor! Met is disturbed – by this wintry phenomenon? (2 words)
ICE STORM – *(cor met is) [anag:disturbed]
31 One’s smartest kit mostly includes odd sleeping bags
BEDROLLS – BES(t) (“one’s smartest kit” mostly) includes DROLL (“odd”)
32 Set went quickly, including scrappy end
HARDENED – HARED (“went quickly”) including *(end) [anag:scrappy]
33 Lanceolate, as of some plants until put out to dry
HASTATED – HASTA (“until” in Spanish, as in “hasta la vista”) + TED (“put out to dry”)
34 Drug included in chuck where livestock’s housed
STABLING – TAB (“drug”) included in SLING (“chuck”)
35 Rating, releasing end, let out part of rigging
RATTLINE – *(ratin let) [anag:out] where RATIN is RATIN(g) [releasing end]
36 Witness maybe attending trial with rankers?
ATTESTOR – AT (“attending trial”) + TEST (“trial”) withOR (other ranks, so “rankers”)
Thanks loonapick, agree on 18 (though you have missed out the solution).
My first Eightsome Reels – not as fierce as I was expecting. PROCLIVE is an interesting obsoletism.
Thanks Azed.
Today’s Observer (not shown on the pdf download from The Guardian website) includes confirmation of my expectation from last week: the monthly Azed clue-writing competition will continue as normal.
^ Bridgesong, I don’t have the paper – what does the confirmation say? (I wonder if there was a noticeable reduction in clue competition entries this month.)
I feel sure that ‘note’ in the clue for SIDENOTE wasn’t something that Azed would have been happy with. More like something he meant to refine but forgot.
A bright moment in a rotten time. Thanks Azed and loonapick.
I began, from some reason, in the bottom right corner and had ICESTORM, ATTESTOR with an annoying five successive matches to decide about- nor were the corner letters helpful. However RATTLINE immediately had a lot organised and thereafter it was plain-ish sailing.
I rarely agree with quibbles but “note” in the clue for 18 did seem unusually clumsy from one of Azed’s eminence
Nila @ 3: the (slightly ambiguous) message in the paper is as follows – “We regret to announce that, until further notice, we are unable to offer prizes for solvers of the Azed weekly crosswords. The special monthly Azed clue-writing competitions are not affected and will continue as normal. Entry rules for these will appear as usual”.
Which leaves open the question about prizes for the monthly competitions (entirely academic in my case!).
Thanks, bridgesong. I like the “entry rules for these will appear as usual”. They told us to send our clues for ‘bung’ to London!