Azed 2525

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A fairly typical Azed experience for me on this one, with most of the answers going in fairly quickly and a few stragglers holding out longer. It’s always good to solve a long 1 across early on, but that wasn’t going to happen here. Thanks as ever to Azed

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. CYNGHANEDD System of poetic correspondence I extracted from bobbing dinghy dance (10)
Anagram of (BOBBING DINGHY) less I – I needed almost all the crossing letters before I could get anywhere close to guessing this one
11. CIAO Greeting that’s international, accepted in company (4)
I[nternational] + A[ccepted] in CO
*12. PLACITUM Court decision (8)
The word to be clued for the competition
13. PREDY Old seaman’s cleared for action, heading for dhow in distress (5)
D[how] in PREY (to distress, as in “prey on ones mind”); the rather long-winded definition is because it’s an obsolete nautical word for “cleared for action”
14. OMANI Citizen of sultanate, returning very soon? (5)
reverse of IN A MO[ment]
15. WELL-BOAT It can keep catch alive, swimming at length below (8, 2 words)
Anagram of AT L[ength] BELOW
16. ECHIURA Marine invertebrates chippy’s half rejected in a foreign street, sent back (7)
CHI (chippy with “half [the letters] rejected”) in reverse of A RUE (French “street”)
18. SMITHY Forge myths concocted with minimum of ingenuity (6)
Anagram of MYTHS + I[ngenuity]
20. STEELE English engraved in tablet for Irish-born writer (6)
E in STELE – Richard Steele is (I presume) the writer
21. SYNCOM See this satellite go adrift round edge of space in cosmogeny? (6)
A subtractive or composite anagram: COSMOGENY* = SYNCOM + GO + [spac]E
24. COSTER Street trader requiring accountant, might one assume? (6)
An accountant might be a “coster”; as a street trader “coster” is a shortening of “costermonger”, with the “coster” part coming from “costard”, a kind of apple
27. URICASE Enzyme in time extracted from nettles, eastern (7)
URTICA (the nettle genus) less T, plus E
28. LIGNITIC Form of tiling, I see, between vegetable and mineral? (8)
TILING* + I C
30. ELVEN Distraught, being left in flat (5)
L in EVEN; “distraught” is the third meaning given in Chambers: I’m not sure what the association with elves is. The full OED doesn’t give this meaning
31. ARIAN Song name: ‘Born when it’s springtime in Britain’ (5)
ARIA + N; born under the sign of Aries, 20 March — 19 April, so in (the first month of) Spring (in Britain and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere)
32. SUBADULT Lad excited with bust shown round for all to see, not quite fully developed (8)
U (for all to see, as in film classifications) in (LAD BUST)*
33. ENVY XI gutted with victory likewise treated as grudge? (4)
E[leve]N + V[ictor]Y
34. FLAME‑TREES Buteas of a kind? Leaf’s unusually round measure (10)
METRE (measure) in LEAFS*; the name “flame-tree” applies to various trees, including a particular species of Butea, hence the question mark and “of a kind”
Down
2. YIRK Carp, last in fishery – bother (4)
[fisher]Y + IRK; for the definition, carp in the sense of find fault
3. NAETHING About last of Scotch, neat gin’s drunk? It means nowt to Jock (8)
[scotc]H in (NEAT GIN)*
4. GODWIT Bird arranged twig to tidy up nesting (6)
Reverse of DO (tidy) “nesting” in TWIG*
5. ALMERY Lord Mayor occupying lofty perch, safe (6)
LM in AERY (alternative spelling of eyrie)
6. NALLAS Drains on each side going into hospital that’s erected (6)
ALL (“on each side” – Chambers has “on all sides”) in reverse of SAN (hospital)
7. E COLI Environmental ills half disposed of when reversing bacterial species (5, 2 words)
ECO (environmental) + reverse of IL[ls]; perhaps there should have been an indication – in either the clue or the rubric – that this is an abbreviation, but it’s much more common that the full version Escherichia coli
8. DIMBLE Glen, David or Jonathan dropping by? (6)
DIMBLE[by] (broadcasters D & J, sons of Richard)
9. TUNABLE Projection in lute that’s off-key – making it so? (7)
NAB in LUTE; nab here is a hilltop, promotory or projection, found in the names of some hills, including Nab Hill near Bradford, making it (presumably) a tautological name
10. SMITHEREEN Smash witnessed – hassle separating parts (10)
MITHER (annoy, hasle) in SEEN; as a noun smithereens can only be plural, but in this form it can be a verb (“rare”, says Chambers)
13. PRESS FLESH Newspapers on ER getting out of herself, uplifted, to meet the people (10, 2 words)
PRESS (newspapers) + reverse of H[er]SELF
17. PETALINE Like a flower part one’s planted in favourite row (8)
A in PET LINE
19. MYTILUS I’m served in the manner of the bargeman’s wife, mustily dressed (7)
MUSTILY; the common mussel genus: they can be served as moules [à la] marinière, meaning cooked “in the manner of the bargeman’s wife”
22. CUNEAL Like a chunky shoe maybe, French one secured by knotted lace (6)
UN (French “one”) in LACE* – it means “wedge-shaped”, which I suppose a chunky shoe could be
23. MUTUUM Keep quiet about debt settlement in historical bailment (6)
UTU (Maori word for a debt settlement) in MUM (keep quiet!)
24. CRIBLÉ Ride bicycle when damaged: dicey and thus punctured (6)
Another composite anagram: (RIDE BICYCLE)* = DICEY + CRIBLE
25. SCORER One keeps a tally, increasingly irritated when about 100 (6)
C (100) in SORER
26. KINDA Appearing in pink in dance that’s a bit informal (5)
Hidden in pinK IN DAnce – the definition means “an informal way of saying ‘a bit’”
29. FAVE Loud greeting preferred in ‘yoofspeak’ (4)
F + AVE – informal form of “favourite”, though I wouldn’t call it particularly “yoofy” myself

10 comments on “Azed 2525”

  1. Thanks Andrew, a couple of typos – URTICAS for the S in 27, and LUTE* in 9.
    It was fun to learn what ‘a la mariniere” means, thanks Azed.

  2. Thanks, Andrew and Azed. I finished this from the definitions, with quite a few ?s on the parsing, so I appreciate the explanations. I assumed that “distraught” had an archaic sense akin to “enchanted” or “bewildered,” as if by magical sprites.

  3. I puzzled over the definition of ELVEN for a long time, and eventually came to the same conclusion as Cineraria.  Checking the etymology, “distraught” has the same origin as “distracted”, which fits with “enchanted” etc.

  4. In my ignorance I didn’t get the bargeman’s wife reference for a long time. Quite a relief when it clicked.

    That’s four Plain competitions in a row – is that usual?  I fear a Printer’s Devilry or Letters Latent in December, both specials that I’m terrible at!

  5. Blorenge@4:  Looking back thought the blogs, it would appear on average a special is every six weeks of so.  With 2500 being a special (for obvious reasons) there was a bit of a variation around then.  The previous special was 2496, the next was 2508.  Still averages at six weeks.

  7. Enjoyable puzzle as ever. Andrew – the anagram for 1a was for DINGHY DANCE less I, not BOBBING DINGHY. Thanks to A & A.

  8. Thanks, Dormouse. I can see that the average across all puzzles is more or less the same, but the norm (looking at the last year or so) seems to have been 2 Plain competitions in a row followed by a Special. So these past four have been doubly unusual.

  10. I’d agree that FAVE is about as ‘yoofspeak’ as ‘hepcat’ and ‘daddio’ but someone needs to update the editors of Chambers…

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