A plain puzzle from Azed this week
The grid contains the usual collection of less common words clued very precisely.
I liked the linked clues at 29 and 31 down for GOAT and SEAT with the first clue needing a word in the second clue.
There seemed to quite a few rarely used words this week with Azed using his full vocabulary for indicating them – fallen silent, old, no longer [used twice] and rarely.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 4 | Scots scrounging meal, minced lamb with cress (9) |
Anagram of (minced … with) LAMB and CRESS SCAMBLERS* |
SCAMBLERS (Scottish word for mealtime spongers [scroungers]) |
| 12 | Beautiful black stone to drill, right for one of the rings (6) |
SCHO SCHORL |
SCHORL (black tourmaline [mineral or stone]) |
| 13 | Wrinkly, fatter than most, gripped by running urge (6) |
OS (outsize; over normal size, possibly fatter) contained in (gripped by) an anagram of (running) URGE RUG (OS) E* |
RUGOSE (wrinkled; covered with sunken lines) |
| 15 | Actor’s muddled about line – clappers fallen silent? (7) |
Anagram of (muddled) ACTORS containing (about) L (line) CROTA (L) S* |
CROTALS (clapper or castanet used in ancient [fallen silent] religious rites) |
| 16 | Politician enveloped by emergency is lost in waves (6) |
MP (Member of Parliament; politician) contained in (enveloped by) CRIS CRI (MP) S |
CRIMPS (curls or waves) |
| 17 | Form of pidgin Irish comprehended I mouth strangely (8, 2 words) |
Anagram of (strangely) IR (Irish) and I MOUTH HIRI MOTU* |
HIRI MOTU (a pidgin form of the Motu language, spoken in Papua New Guinea) |
| 18 | Quantity of dry goods, steep haberdashery stocks (4) |
EPHA (hidden word in [stocks] STEEP HABERDASHERY) EPHA |
EPHA (a Hebrew measure for dry goods.) |
| 20 | Rebel earning reforms (7) |
Anagram of (reform) EARNING AGINNER* |
AGINNER (rebel) |
| 21 | Milor, nose-arch disfigured, displays this? (13) |
Anagram of (disfigured) MILOR NOSE ARCH – MILOR is a rare form of MILORD, a term of address for an aristocrat RHINOSCLEROMA* |
RHINOSCLEROMA (a disease with hard swelling in the nose, etc) |
| 24 | Greek governor decreeing this reduces calendar by a month (7) |
NO MARCH (NO month of MARCH, thereby reducing the calendar by one month) NO MARCH |
NOMARCH (governor of a province or department, especially in ancient Egypt or modern Greece. |
| 27 | Being thus overgrown what needs stripping? Privy does (4) |
IVYD (hidden word in (what needs stripping [is the outer letters of] PRIVY DOES) IVYD |
IVYD (overgrown with IVY) |
| 30 | Falling sick, pegged out, having toured most of the earth? (8) |
DIED (‘having pegged out’ is a slang expression describing someone who has died) ) containing (toured) SEAS (the oceans cover over 70% of the earth’s surface) DI (SEAS) ED |
DISEASED (falling sick) |
| 32 | Since old needs to put in means of draining fluid (6) |
TO contained in (needs to be put in) SENS (an obsolete [old] word for since) SE (TO) NS |
SETONS (threads or similar filaments passed through the skin as a counter-irritant and means of promoting drainage) |
| 33 | Bone about to get better (referring to body bag?) (7) |
OS (bone) + C (circa) + HEAL (get better) OS C HEAL |
OSCHEAL (relating to the scrotum ( bag of skin that contains the testicles in mammals) |
| 34 | It was imposed by Irish law, as Rule One, accepted by everyone (6) |
(R [rule] + I [Roman numeral for one]) contained in (accepted by) EACH (every one separately) E (R I) ACH |
ERIACH (blood-fine paid by a murderer to his victim’s family in old Irish law) |
| 35 | Yank ate hen? That’s not the gas they treat it with over there! (6) |
Anagram of (yank) ATE HEN ETHANE* |
ETHANE (colourless, odourless hydrocarbon gas) I assume the clue also refers to CHLORINE, another gas that is used to treat chicken in the United States and is the subject of great debate over the content of a future trade deal between the United Kingdom and the United States) |
| 36 | Herald changes following act that’s restructured major place of worship (9) |
Anagram of (that’s restructured) ACT + an anagram of (changes) HERALD CAT* HEDRAL* |
CATHEDRAL (major place of worship) |
| Down | |||
| 1 | Fertile soil, richest possibly I removed to smell mass (11) |
Anagram of (possibly) R TSCHER* NOSE M |
TSCHERNOSEM (very fertile soil of sub-humid steppe, consisting of a dark topsoil over a lighter calcareous layer) |
| 2 | Little old bag, last abandoned by string of characters (5) |
SCRIP SCRIP |
SCRIP (obsolete [old] word for a small bag) |
| 3 | Piece from basset-horns, one producing many a clap (4) |
THOR (hidden word in [piece from] BASSET-HORNS) THOR |
THOR (Scandinavian thunder god, one who produces many claps []of thunder]) |
| 5 | Book on love with stuff above (rhyme) (6) |
CRAM (stuff) + B (book) + O (character representing zero or love score in tennis) CRAM B O |
CRAMBO (game in which one player gives a word to which another finds a rhyme, or simply just rhyme) |
| 6 | A large amount to drink (not good)? Off we go! (6) |
ALLONS |
ALLONS (French word meaning let’s go!) |
| 7 | Mounting amount goes on cathode I repaired, with appendages on dial (11) |
SUM (total; amount) reversed (mounting; down clue) + an anagram of (repaired) I CATHODE MUS< TACHIOED* |
MUSTACHIOED (alternative spelling of MOUSTACHOED, with unshaven hair [appendages] on the upper lip [part of the face or dial]) |
| 8 | Unidentified affliction make on uglier after treatment lacking energy (5) |
Anagram of (after treatment) UGLI LURGI* |
LURGI (non-specific disease; unidentified affliction) |
| 9 | Third of investment lost, put up for protection (4) |
SI EGIS< |
EGIS (aegis; protection) |
| 10 | Foreign dynasty runs ME country with love avoiding extremes (7) |
R (runs) + OMAN (Middle Eastern country) + OV (letters remaining in LOVE when the outer letters L and E are removed [avoiding extremes]) R OMAN OV |
ROMANOV (reference the ROMANOV dynasty who rules Russia from 1613 to 1917) |
| 11 | Rides as jockey, finest over hurdles (11) |
BEST (finest) + RADDLES (hurdles) BEST RADDLES |
BESTRADDLES (descriptive of how someone sits on a horse when riding as a jockey) |
| 14 | Look no longer, not left to tell the tale (4) |
SPIE SPIE |
SPIE (archaic [no longer] poetic spelling of SPY [look]) |
| 19 | Greeting with lifting of cap, I answer in classical garb (7) |
HI (greeting) + TAM (TAM‘o’shanter; cap with broad circular flat top) reversed (lifting; down clue) + I + A (answer) HI MAT< I A |
HIMATIA (ancient Greek outer garments; classical garb) |
| 22 | Inferior helping to supply table’s service (6) |
LESSER (hidden word in [helping to supply] TABLE’S SERVICE) LESSER |
LESSER (inferior) |
| 23 | Volcanic stuff from cone on being thrown out with a jet erupting (6) |
Anagram of (erupting) CE (letters remaining in C EJECTA* |
EJECTA (matter thrown out, especially by volcanoes) |
| 25 | Rarely calling back up king deposed? That’s past (4) |
REVO OVER< |
OVER (finished; past) |
| 26 | Organised church spread (5) |
RAN (organised) + CH (church) RAN CH |
RANCH (spread is a North American term for a RANCH) |
| 28 | Bears showing positive response if no longer in captivity (5) |
AN (‘if’ is an archaic [no longer] meaning of AN) contained in (in captivity) YES (positive response) YE (AN) S |
YEANS (of a sheep, gives birth to [bears]) |
| 29 | Roué caught pinching sheila’s … (4) |
GOT (caught) containing (pinching) A (last letter [… rear] of SHEILA) GO (A) T |
GOAT (lecher; roué) |
| 31 | … Rear, playing endless tease (4) |
Anagram of (playing) TEAS SEAT* |
SEAT (rear – given as a synonym in Bradfords) |
Thanks duncanshiell. A pleasant solve, I recall being misled toward ‘minute/second hands’ for ‘appendages on dial’ (7), and ‘sin’ being another old form of ‘since’ had me trying to fit ‘siphon’ in 32.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
Thanks, Duncanshiell. The clues overall seemed more intelligible this time. I managed all of this except 14D, guessing SPAE, which sort of fits the definition, working back from SPALE, which does not parse, unfortunately. A few others I got from the definition, with no idea how to parse, e.g., ALLONS, which of course seems obvious now.
I’m surprised that there has been no comment about “toured” at 30. I’ve spent too long trying to find The Great “Touring Ulster” Tea Trolley Disaster Debate from about 1984. At the time, I had only a couple of decades of crossword-solving under my belt so I didn’t feel qualified to make a pronouncement—the Elders could do that. And they did. In no uncertain terms, unequivocally, they decided, unilaterally and with sufficient splutter, that “touring” did not mean “going around”.
I was a silent dissenter. I cannot remember the clue but I think the answer was uNIt and the poor little word became the victim of terrible abuse. I could not then nor now see the problem with using “NI” for Ulster. It took me a while to learn that the fury The Elders had raised was not about Ulster at all but about “touring”! Did touring mean “going around”? No, it didn’t. Well, I thought it did. And, if Azed wanted someone to go in to bat for him, I was his Geoffrey.
And now, another couple of decades on, I think I’ve become one of those Elders myself. Miffed. Not pleased.
In this very crossword, 2516, we have a “toured” which I shall defend. But we have too a “comprehend” at 17. And that is not acceptable at all. Chambers can tell me till kingdom come (“the state after death”) that comprehend means “include” but it doesn’t.
Stefan