I finished the puzzle, but there are a few unparsed.
Cards on the table – I printed the puzzle off last Sunday and left it sitting beside the printer until Saturday evening, thus leaving me less time than I would usually need to finish an Azed. The result of this is that I have completed the puzzle, but was unable to parse a couple of the clues, for which I apologize.
The puzzle in itself was not terribly difficult to complete. I completed the top left and bottom right corners quite quickly, then the top left revealed itself, before I had to resort to Chambers to complete the rest of it.
As I said before, I was unable to parse SASH (4dn) and ARETE (14ac), although I am 99% sure those are the required answers.
Thanks Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MUMPS | Silent addendum conveying Scotsman’s sulks (5) |
| MUM (“silent”) + PS (postscript, so “addendum”)
“Mump” is a Scots word for “mope” |
||
| 9 | ASSIGNS | Things appended in Shakespeare when errors include little good (7) |
| AS (“when”) + SINS (“errors”) include [little] G(ood) | ||
| 11 | ELO RATING | It classifies top players of chess, region Tal represented (9, 2 words) |
| *(region tal) [anag:represented]
The Elo rating is a rating for chess players named after its deviser, Arpad Elo |
||
| 12 | LOCUST | Destructive creature, confused, copper admitted (6) |
| LOST (“confused”) with Cu (chemical symbol for copper) admitted | ||
| 14 | ARETE | Craggy height, one with blunt and notched tip you’ll find us avoiding (5) |
| [To be parsed] | ||
| 16 | UNGUARD | Leave without supervision a gnu freely tucking into bean plant (7) |
| *(a gnu) [anag:freely] tucking into URD (“bean plant”)
An urd is an Indian bean plant with black seeds. |
||
| 17 | SPASM | Hiccup, e.g. what’s unwelcome on computer, section inside (5) |
| SPAM (“what’s unwelcome on computer”) with S (section) inside | ||
| 18 | EMUS | Odd bits of pea mousse polished off? They’ll never take off (4) |
| [odd bits of] (p)E(a)M(o)U(s)S(e) polished off, leaving the even letters to spell out EMUS (birds that will “never take off”) | ||
| 19 | MULIEBRITY | What WI members share, pork pie with fish? Reverse of ‘Yum!’ welcomes that (10) |
| LIE (“pork pie”) with BRIT (“fish”) welcomed by [reverse of] <=YUM | ||
| 22 | CALLICARPA | Oriental shrubs, term I nitpick about (10) |
| CALL (“term”) + I + CARP (“nitpick”) + A (about) | ||
| 23 | ARAK | One strong drink I refused for another (4) |
| A (“one”) + RAK(i) (“strong drink” with I refused)
Arak is a strong Asian alcoholic drink. |
||
| 25 | UPPER | Meal without starter as stimulant (5) |
| (s)UPPER (“meal” without starter) | ||
| 27 | MORRICE | Ungainly lass given bits of wood for old-style folk dance (7) |
| MOR (“ungainly lass”) + RICE (“bits of wood”)
Mor is another form of “mauther” and rice is a rare word meaning twigs. |
||
| 29 | AYELP | How excited hounds behave, certainly a record (5) |
| AYE (“certainly”) + LP (long playing “record”) | ||
| 30 | RHINAL | Chunk of myrrh in a lekythos – like a sniff? (6) |
| Hidden in [chunk of] “myrRH IN A Lekythos” | ||
| 31 | SPRAICKLE | Hook securing pair on a climb in the Cairngorms (9) |
| SICKLE (“hook”) securing Pr. (pair) on A
Sprackle or spraickle means “to climb”. |
||
| 32 | ELEVATE | Raise tax in completion of Robert’s designation? (7) |
| VAT (Value Added “Tax”) in E. LEE (“completion of Robert’s designation”) | ||
| 33 | PEONY | Flower, end of pedicle stuck in beer glass (5) |
| [end of] (pedicl)E stuck in PONY (“beer glass”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MELISMA | Song is followed by millions in Hindu festival (7) |
| IS followed by M (millions) in MELA (a “Hindu festival”) | ||
| 2 | MOCHA | Coffee, instant, and tea (5) |
| MO (“instant”, as in “back in a mo”) + CHA (“tea”) | ||
| 3 | PRUSSIA | Former state having power over much larger one (7) |
| P (power) over RUSSIA (“much larger” state) | ||
| 4 | SASH | Window-frame: make some change to home with this (4) |
| [To be parsed] | ||
| 6 | SIGNWRITER | Is he out of wits erring with letters out of order? (10) |
| *(wits erring) [anag:with letters out of order] | ||
| 7 | SNAGS | Catches? Slips maybe pocketing unspecified number (5) |
| SAGS (“slips, maybe”) pocketing N (unspecified number) | ||
| 8 | GLEAMY | Like polished silver set interspersed with precious stone (6) |
| LAY (“set”) interspersed with GEM (“precious stone”) – so G(L)E(A)M(Y) | ||
| 9 | NO TRUMPER | I don’t care for particular suits showing characteristic radius round bottom (9) |
| NOTE (“characteristic”) + R (radius) round RUMP (“bottom”) | ||
| 10 | SEEDS | Drill may be prepared for these top players (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 13 | TUMBLECART | Getting about in glass transport (first thereof) – its wheels and axle move as one (10) |
| Getting Ca. (circa, so “about”) in TUMBLER (“glass”) + T(ransport) [first thereof] | ||
| 15 | SPUR ROYAL | Sound contented with love in songs raised for a bit of old gold (9) |
| PURR (“sound contented”) with O (love, in tennis) in <=LAYS (“songs”, raised) | ||
| 20 | TAPPICE | Hide informal portrait wrapped in ribbon? (7) |
| PIC (“informal portrait”) wrapped in TAPE (“ribbon”) | ||
| 21 | PARSLEY | End of talks held up midway? Sage may suggest this alternative (7) |
| [end of] parley(S) [held up midway] becomes PAR(S)LEY, an “alternative” to “sage” | ||
| 22 | CAREME | Rich addition to cuisine? One’s restricted in this time of denial (6) |
| CREME (“rich addition to cuisine”) with A (one) restricted
Careme is another word for Lent. |
||
| 23 | AMAZE | A measure of herrings island unloaded, making one stagger (5) |
| A + MA(i)ZE (“measure of herrings”) with I (island) unloaded | ||
| 24 | KIPPA | Cap I park jauntily? Could be a —— RC restyled (as zucchetto?) (5) |
| *(cap i park) would give A KIPPA RC | ||
| 26 | PINKO | Left-leaning type to hold down with powerful punch? (5) |
| PIN (“to hold down”) with KO (knockout, so “powerful punch”) | ||
| 28 | CHIP | Nicklaus’s crisp approach shot (4) |
| Double definition, the first referring to Jack Nicklaus, an American golfer, who would call a crisp a chip. | ||
Thanks loonapick.
ARETE is A + RET[us]E
Retuse describing a leaf.
SASH is ‘S as H makes SOME turn into HOME’.
Thanks Azed as ever.
Thanks, Gonzo
14A is A + RET[US]E.
I agree with your solution, but also cannot parse 4D.
I could find an attribution for that spelling of “maize” in 23D, finding only “maise.”
Gonzo, on the ball, as usual. Thanks for 4D, and, also as usual, seems obvious now.
*could not find* (Goodness, it has been a long week.)
Cineria@3: It’s in Chambers, leastwise it’s in the Chambers app for Windows. Under mease is gives alternatives as maze, maize or maise.
I couldn’t parse 4dn either. Thanks everybody.
Incidentally, this time last week I comment how a word in that week’s puzzle, camarilla, had turned up in a book I was reading, a biography of Bismarck, in a description of 19th century Prussian politics. Having just made that comment I turned to the new puzzle and was amused to see 3dn. Maybe Azed had been reading the same biography.