I found this at the trickier end of Azed’s plain puzzles. No complaints about that from me, the enjoyment lasted longer than usual. Thank you Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MASTERSWITCH | Controller of all power South writes off in sporting event (12) |
| S (south) and anagram (off) of WRITES inside MATCH (sorting event) | ||
| 9 | SWAB | Mop I’m handing over to seaman in state of dizziness (4) |
| SWIM (state of dizziness) with I’M being replaced by (handing over to) AB (seaman) | ||
| 11 | YECH | Bits at the end for Popeye – spinach – disgusting! (4) |
| last pair of letters (bits at the end) from popeYE and spinaCH | ||
| 13 | DACHA | Cottage in the country pop’s fitted with central heating after year (5) |
| DA (pop, father) contains (fitted with) CH (central heating) following A (annus, year) | ||
| 14 | CONIA | This hemlock derivative encompasses end for Socrates – as icon perished? (5) |
| CONIA (this hemlock derivative, the answer) containing (encompasses) gives an a anagram (perished) of AS ICON | ||
| 16 | CLANGOR | There’s a lot of blood attached to mafia family in this Chicago racket (7) |
| GORe (blood, a lot of) following (attached to) CLAN (mafia family) – Chicago indicates American spelling | ||
| 17 | SHAUCHLE | Bairn’s worn-out shoe has battered rubber child gets into (8) |
| anagram (battered) of HAS then ULE (rubber) containing (that…gets into) CH (child) | ||
| 19 | VERB | Part of speech penned by Beaverbrook (4) |
| found inside (penned by) beaVERBrook | ||
| 20 | SOY SAUCE | Larder standby sprinkled in case you start on salad (8, 2 words) |
| anagram (sprinkled in) of CASE YOU and Salad (first letter, start of) | ||
| 21 | STIPULAR | Like leafy appendages turning up, look, in jug (8) |
| UP (reversed (turning) LA (look) inside STIR (jug, prison) | ||
| 24 | SPIN | Some doctoring is option after regular excisions (4) |
| every other letter (after regular excisions) of iS oPtIoN | ||
| 25 | FINGERED | Discovery includes old clothes pilfered? (8) |
| FIND (discovery) includes GERE (clothes, old indicates Spenserian) | ||
| 27 | CRATING | Third classification in boxing? (7) |
| C (third, eg C-list celebrity) RATING (classification) | ||
| 30 | CIMEX | Love-making cut at start after bug returns? Not what you want in bed! (5) |
| sEX (love-making, cut) following MIC (microphone, bug) reversed (returns) – bed bugs | ||
| 31 | PHOCA | Sea monster leads to personal hate of Capt. Ahab (5) |
| first letters (leads to) of Personal Hate Of Captain Ahab | ||
| 32 | BANI | Shed unloaded, got rid of Romanian money (4) |
| BANIshed (got rid of) missing SHED | ||
| 33 | QUEY | What’s a young cow to Sandy? Question with no answer ultimately (4) |
| QUErY (question) missing answeR (last letter of, ultimately) – to Sandy indicates Scots | ||
| 34 | SYSTEMATISES | Sets in order a messy set and it’s reorganized (12) |
| anagram (reorganized) of A MESSY SET and IT’S | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MSDOS | Computer system, tidy, in documents (unkeyed?) (5) |
| DO (tidy, act as housekeeper) inside MSS (manuscripts, documents hand written not keyed) | ||
| 2 | SACRARIA | Where relics are housed? 100, mostly excellent, in Asia ransacked (8) |
| C (100) RARe (excellent, mostly) inside anagram (ransacked) of ASIA | ||
| 3 | EYAS | Very young hawk, unconstrained, tail up (4) |
| EASY (unconstrained) with the last letter (tail) moved up | ||
| 4 | RE-ECHO | Ring round after delivery (not the first)? (6) |
| O (something round) follows (after) bREECH (delivery, birth) missing first letter | ||
| 5 | SCALLY | Rogue caught interrupting excursion (6) |
| C caught inside (interrupting) SALLY (excursion) | ||
| 6 | IRONCASED | Like old man-of-war? Consider being shot to pieces when one’s aboard (9) |
| anagram (being shot to pieces) of CONSIDER containing (when…is aboard) A (one) | ||
| 7 | TONG | Secret crime society? One might deduce its members are up this (4) |
| its members are up TO NG (no good) | ||
| 8 | HOARSE | Husky in frost at head of sledge being unloaded? (6) |
| HOAR (frost) before (at head of) SledgE (being unloaded, no middle letters) | ||
| 10 | WASHETERIA | Launderette offering server, I wear clothing after treatment (10) |
| ASHET (a serving tray, server) inside (with…clothing) anagram (after treatment) of I WEAR | ||
| 12 | BIOSCIENCE | Botany, say? Love endless aroma enfolding one in artist’s pale-green? (10) |
| O (zero, love) and SCENt (aroma, endless) containing (enfolding) I (one) inside BICE (pale green artist’s paint) | ||
| 15 | SUBPOTENT | Not fully empowered, pub struggles, accordingly limiting that red wine (9) |
| anagram (struggles) of PUB inside (…limiting that) SO (accordingly) then TENT (red wine) | ||
| 18 | CUPREOUS | Like copper goblets drunken roué’s filled (8) |
| CUPS (goblets) contains (…has filled) anagram (drunken) of ROUE | ||
| 21 | SACCOS | Part of bishop’s get-up, form of trimmed cassock (6) |
| anagram (form) of CASSOCk missing last letter (trimmed) | ||
| 22 | LINGAM | Divine symbol of maleness, glam by implication (6) |
| L IN GAM implies GLAM | ||
| 23 | ANGINA | New trap given room by motorists – it’s a dreadful pain (6) |
| N (new) GIN (trap) inside (given room by) AA (Automobile Association, motorists) | ||
| 26 | DRAYS | Timber sledges one’s kept in out of the rain before start of snow (5) |
| A (one) inside (kept in) DRY (out of the rain) then Snow (first letter, start of) | ||
| 28 | AMIS | Part of crust rolled up as wrap (4) |
| SIMA (part of Earth’s crust) reversed (rolled up) – definition is a Spenserian spelling of amice (a wrap) | ||
| 29 | SPIT | Dig openings for seed potatoes in trench (4) |
| first letters (openings) for Seed Potatoes In Trench | ||
Thanks PeeDee, some lovely clues here, TONG especially.
Having only the last S of 28, and knowing SIAL from Geol. but not SIAL, the SW corner held me up.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
Dur ‘but not SIMA…’
Surely, 10D is WASHETERIA, not WASHATARIA. I did not know the “ashet” part of the clue, but got that from the crossers.
I got all of the rest of this except 28D, for which I arrived at AMAS, which apparently is a style of wraparound skirt, parsing MA(ntle) reversed + AS. I find your solution the more plausible, and one I feel as though I should have stumbled on, in retrospect.
Thanks PeeDee and Azed.
Cineraria @3 – yes I have a typo there. I will fix it ASAP.
I suppose obscurity is the gimmick of these Azeds, and in part is a necessity, given their structure, but I am a little annoyed by those occasions (such as 28D) that reach for the obscure, when a perfectly ordinary definition (such as “nice friends” or “author”) or an alternate, accessible solution (such as AMPS or AMES) is available to round out an unchecked answer. Or maybe it’s just me, and other folks are well familiar with AMICE (var. AMIS) and SIMA.
Cineraria – Azed usually indicates Spenserian words in the clue, so I did wonder if I had the right solution/explanation for AMIS, perhaps I have it wrong. If not then I think the omission is probably an oversight on Azed’s part rather than a deliberate attempt at obscurity.