Azed 2519

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I was close to giving this up as unfinished, thanks to a mistaken entry at 29a, but managed to recover. The time I spent on that has rather obscured my memory of the rest of the solve, but I think it was a medium-strength puzzle overall. Dredging the long answer to 1a from the depths of my memory was a good start. Thanks as ever to Azed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. COMPSOGNATHUS Maps Congo randomly like this for small dinosaur (13)
(MAPS CONGO)* + THUS
10. ACORUS A group singing hearts out for The Sweet Flag (6)
A CHORUS less H
12. CHAPE Part of buckle, e.g. Sam Browne’s end piece? (5)
CHAP (Sam is an example of a man’s name) + [Brown]E
14. TATARIAN Form of riata in leather, typical of steppe-dwellers? (8)
RIATA* in TAN
15. CAROL Vehicle on end of tail – waits may give you this (5)
CAR + O (on) + [tai]L – waits are carol-singers
16. FANTAILS What may be shown by fancier fa-la isn’t tremolo (8)
(FA-LA ISN’T)*
17. RANGES What’s sacred to Hindus leaving its source in the Himalaya etc? (6)
R[iver] [G]ANGES
19. TERRETS Tackle rings engineers dipped in solvent liquid (7)
RE in TERTS (tetrachloroethylene, a solvent)
23. CIRQUES Natural amphitheatres created by state of affairs, we hear (7)
Homophone of “circs”, slang shortening of “circumstances”; when I’ve had cause to use this word (I’d be more likely to use the Gaelic-derived “corrie”) I’ve pronounced it in French style as “seerk”, but Chambers only gives the anglicised version
24. MASALA Mum has added salt with a spicy dish (6)
MA + SAL + A
26. LAUREATE Decorated with distinction that’s overdue when it’s about waste conveyor (8)
UREA in LATE
28. ILIAC Bony girls I fancy, odd ones being ignored (5)
Even letters of gIrLs I fAnCy
29. PHILOMOT I look masculine in unit of light or dull brown (8)
I + LO + M in PHOT – I got myself into trouble by carelessly entering PHILAMOT here, as it works equally well; both spellings are variants of “filemot”, from French feuillemorte = dead leaf
30. NANNY Nursemaid, girl getting in a state (5)
ANN in NY
31. ALPINE Pineal shaped plant of upland regions (6)
PINEAL*
32. GHETTO-BLASTER Part of abdomen cradling hot rubbery bottle, portable (usually large) (13)
H + BOTTLE* in GASTER (part of an insect’s abdomen)
Down
1. CAT-CRACKING Training with computers, very good for processing crude petroleum (11)
CAT (Computer-Assisted Training) + CRACKING (very good)
2. MOTH Learns flying with this light plane – on thermals (4)
Composite anagram: LEARNS + MOTH is an anagram of ON THERMALS
3. PRANG Blitz causing painful sensation round centre of Liverpool (5)
[Live]R[pool] in PANG
4. SURFER One browsing, gaining in confidence about folio (6)
F[olio] in SURER
5. GRANTH SAHIB Holy book has hint to be solved within grasp (11, 2 words)
(HAS HINT)* in GRAB
6. NON-TERM It was a time of idleness, accepted behaviour with ten relaxing inside (7)
TEN* in NORM
7. THAIRM Hat rim damaged? Jock’s may make a twang (6)
(HAT RIM)*
8. HARLEY Powerful two-wheeler difficult daughter’s abandoned on field (6)
HARD less D + LEY
9. SELF-STARTER What makes the eccentric fret, artless? No crank, certainly (11)
(FRET ARTLESS)*
11. CAMARILLA Intriguing group in California, not well after a ruin (9)
A MAR (ruin) ILL in CA
13. POSTILION Mail carrier landed up for it in place (9)
POSITION (place) with reverse of LIT replacing IT
18. STEEP-TO Rag-and-bone man, last to get central position, plunging straight down (7)
STEPTOE with the last E moved to the middle
20. GRAINE Whence silk producers emerge, embroidering REGINA (6)
REGINA*
21. EQUANT English propeller e.g. on the Broads, device for gauging planetary movement (6)
E + QUANT (punting pole)
22. PAELLA Mater’s mantle round Spain, producing archetypal local dish? (6)
E (Spain) in PALLA (a Roman woman’s mantle – hence the “mater”)
25. SLOPS Seamen’s clothes and bedding yielding old coppers (5)
Double definition: “clothes and bedding issued to sailors”, and old slang for policemen (coppers). My mistake at 29a made me nearly give up on this when I couldn’t make anything reasonable out of S?APS
27. SMIT In love, X scratched, mark in red (4)
SMITTEN (in love) less TEN (X)

5 comments on “Azed 2519”

  1. I must finally be getting on Azed’s wavelength. An enjoyable solve. I managed all of this, with a couple of guesses based on the definitions. 1D was a bit of a puzzler, but gettable. I do not see the anagram indicator in 2D, though, unless “flying” is doing double- or triple-duty, i.e., “flying” means “subtract” and “scramble” and is also a hint to the definition?

    Thanks, Andrew and Azed.

  2. Yes, Cineraria, ‘flying’ is the anagram indicator, but no need for double-duty if the definition is just ‘this light plane’.
    Thanks Andrew, I spotted the elephant trap in PHILOMOT fortunately, and left the crosser blank.
    For RANGES I had [o]RANGE’S, orange being a sacred colour to Hindus I think, which avoids having to get the R from unindicated R[iver].
    A chewy one, thanks Azed. How long before Steptoe falls from memory, I wonder.

  3. Yes, I too avoided the trap in 29ac.  I didn’t know the word and when I looked it up I saw both spellings worked.

    I recall coming across the term CAT-CRACKING somewhere back in the sixties, can’t think where, but it stuck in my mind ever since.

    By one of those strange coincidences I came across CAMARILLA just a couple of days before doing this puzzle in a biography of Bismarck, referring to some group in Prussian politics in the 1840s.  But I noted I couldn’t parse the clue.  It looks obvious, now you’ve explained it, thanks.

  4. I merrily wrote in PHILAMOT, and then satisfied 25d with SNAPS (“archaic: a share of profits or booty”), from SN (exterior of “seaman”) + APS (unverified spelling of “apse”, a recess).

  5. Many thanks for the explanations Andrew. The thing I really like about an AZED puzzle is that, once you have the answer, the parsing is usually reasonably clear. As usual I had to do the dictionary tour thing to be sure I had the right answer in places but it is all good fun. Thanks Azed.

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