The last (plain) puzzle before the milestone, which should be published today if all goes well.
Congratulations to Azed on achieving the milestone of 2,500 puzzles, starting in March 1972 and still going strong. It’s hard for a regular blogger and solver to find anything new or orginal to say about Azed puzzles: this one combines obscure and everyday words in the usual way and any queries I may have are doubtless down to my failure to appreciate the subtleties of the wordplay or the use of some particularly recondite word in the process. Many thanks to Azed for continuing to provide a challenge every week: long may he continue to do so!
| Across | ||
| 1 | OBCOMPRESSED | Flattened like some plants in rose beds prepared with entry for competition (12) |
| COMP in *(ROSE BEDS). I hadn’t come across “entry” being used to indicate the first few letters of a word before, unless perhaps a comp is a recognised abbreviation for a competition entry | ||
| 11 | HAPU | Maori group united after their settlement’s returned (4) |
| PAH (rev) U(nited). A pah is a Maori fort or settlement. | ||
| 12 | UPTILT | Give jaunty angle to front of lid and titup friskily around (6) |
| L(id) in *TITUP. | ||
| 14 | PARRITCH | Young fish to tickle? It’s stirred by thible (8) |
| PARR (a young salmon) ITCH. A thible is a Scottish term for a stick used for stirring porridge (or parritch). | ||
| 15 | PROA | Amateur trailing one who isn’t in vessel (4) |
| PRO (one who isn’t an amateur) A. An inventive way to clue a Malay word which crops up frequently in crosswords. | ||
| 16 | RHYTINA | Heart of sting ray pierced by harpoon’s head, at sea? Marine creature now defunct (7) |
| Anagram (at sea) of (s)TIN(g) RAY, including H(arpoon). | ||
| 17 | EAT UP | Added rolls after central part of meal – don’t leave any (5, 2 words) |
| PUT (rev) after (m)EA(l). | ||
| 19 | SHUN | Hot where baskers are lying? Those at ease respond to it (4) |
| H in SUN. It’s the military command to soldiers to come to attention. | ||
| 20 | GOOPINESS | Think to break china trinkets? That’s fatuity (9) |
| OPINE in GOSS. | ||
| 23 | CANTONISE | Preserve stone I ground to separate into sections (9) |
| CAN *(STONE I). | ||
| 26 | RUMP | Parliament disturbance putting us off (4) |
| RUMP(us). | ||
| 29 | PSORA | Skin condition contained by soaps or antibiotics (5) |
| Hidden in “soaps or antibiotics”. | ||
| 30 | UP A TREE | Repute badly affected, adult admitted being in difficulties (7, 3 words) |
| A in *REPUTE. | ||
| 32 | ETAT | Rank and file’s last worthless stuff (4) |
| (fil)E TAT. | ||
| 33 | LITTLEST | Like the runt after time sow rolled over in roster (8) |
| T (ime) ELT (sow)(rev) in LIST. | ||
| 34 | TITIAN | Reddish-brown monkey with a tail of maroon (6) |
| TITI (monkey) A (maroo)N. | ||
| 35 | TOME | Bell beginning to emit no small volume (4) |
| TOM (bell) E(mit). | ||
| 36 | GREENGROCERY | Such as Verdi Gerry & Co adapted, typical Covent Garden stuff? (12) |
| GREEN (Verdi) *(GERRY CO). Of course, nowadays you might be hard pressed to find any fruit and vegetables in Covent Garden, since that market moved to Battersea in 1974. | ||
| Down | ||
| 2 | BHARAT | Home for many an Indian black deer, acreage fenced in (6) |
| A(creage) in B HART. It’s the Hindi name for the Republic of India. | ||
| 3 | CAROTIN | Yellowish colour displayed by bread in tin (7) |
| ROTI in CAN. | ||
| 4 | MUIRPOOT | I’m pro out sporting? I’d nae shoot this wee bird (8) |
| *(IM PRO OUT). The Scottish term “nae” indicates that this is a Scottish word for a young grouse. | ||
| 5 | PATROON | The old man accompanying golf club captain (7) |
| PA TROON (or, as it would wish to be known: Royal Troon Golf Club). | ||
| 6 | RUCHE | Has coiffure arranged? A frill like this is off, possibly (5) |
| Compound anagram: A RUCHE IS OFF = HAS COIFFURE. | ||
| 7 | STOT | Stagger like Scottish drunk, one such swallowing last of flacket (4) |
| (flacke)T in SOT. | ||
| 8 | SIRIH | Skier with being regularly deprived? One might get this for a quid (5) |
| Alternate (regular) letters in SkIeR wItH. It means betel, which like a quid is something chewed. | ||
| 9 | ELANUS | Accipitrines as a group dash above us (6) |
| ELAN US. “Accipitrine” means relating to hawks and is an adjective, according to both Chambers and the OED, so I question whether it can be pluralised. As to whether kites (the genus Elanus) can include the Accipiter genus (hawks), I offer no opinion. | ||
| 10 | UPPER CRUST | Gentry put out about a vintage, little special (10, 2 words) |
| PER (about?) and CRU S(pecial) all inside *PUT. | ||
| 13 | TRANS FATTY | Like some acid? Fussy about right answer if lacking one (10, 2 words) |
| R ANS (i)F inside TATTY (fussy). | ||
| 18 | RISPETTO | Jaunty esprit in accordance with folk song (8) |
| *(ESPRIT TO). | ||
| 21 | PINE TAR | It may be blended for painter (7, 2 words) |
| A very nice & lit anagram. | ||
| 22 | EROTEME | Rhetorical trope this writer’s used to follow end of phrase: repetition (7) |
| (phras)E ROTE ME. | ||
| 24 | AU PAIR | One with superior manner? She should improve her language! (6, 2 words) |
| A UP AIR. | ||
| 25 | ERASER | Part of potboiler, a series with which some writers end? (6) |
| Hidden in “potboiler a series“. | ||
| 27 | MATTE | Coarse metal, lustreless (5) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 28 | BEING | Life, or how it ends, in a mound (5) |
| (lif)E in BING (a pile or heap). | ||
| 31 | TRIE | Run in stage of tournament? Have a go, as of old (4) |
| R in TIE. It’s given in Chambers as a Spenserian spelling of try, meaning to turn out or prove. Strangely, the OED doesn’t cite Spenser for this spelling under the heading of the intransitive verb, but only cites Spenser using it in an adjectival sense, meaning “tried”. | ||
*anagram
Thanks bridgesong.
Comp is indeed in Chambers as informal for competition – ‘entry’ being the inclusion indicator of course.
‘Passerine’ is both adjective and noun, so I’m ok with Accipitrines.
Thanks as ever Azed and congrats.
Also in 10 I had ‘a’ for ‘PER’, with ‘about’ as inclusion indicator.
‘Such as Verdi’ for GREEN in 36? Simply Italian?
Gonzo, you’re right about comp (I had looked under “comp.”), but I don’t take your point about accipitrine. Just because a similar word is both an adjective and a noun doesn’t alter the fact this one is only an adjective.
Someone on another site pointed out that Verdi is in fact the plural of verde, which is Italian for green, but I thought the equivalence was close enough not to warrant comment.
9d – This usage may not be correct but it is quite common in birdwatching; for example to refer to swallows and martins collectively as hirundines although Chambers only has it as an adjective (I don’t know if Azed is a birdwatcher!) I had the same concern as you about kites but they are a member of the family Accipitridae so it is probably OK
As an aside, it’s disappointing to see no mention anywhere in The Observer of the fact that today’s issue marks a significant achievement.
Good luck to the blogger next week – phew…
Just to add my congratulations to the master cruciverbalist. The quality doesn’t slip a bit. I have a slip from Ximenes in which my Highly Commended was in a list alongside a lad called J.Crowther! Am now enjoying reading and re-reading the instructions for 2500 and reorganising my muddled mind for the tussle- I suspect 4-letter words are going to be a struggle!