Azed No. 2,526 Plain

by

A mostly straightforward puzzle this week, although I am missing one parsing.

I can’t parse 27 dn, but apart from that, this effort didn’t pose too many difficulties, which has more to do than the setter’s ability than mine.

If I had any quibbles, and these are really very very minor, I would point to Gandalf not being in Chambers and Azed’s using H for husband twice.

Thanks Azed

ACROSS
2 BLACKFISHER Poacher: filches cockles with bark? (11)
*(filches bark) [anag:cockles]

Don’t think I’ve ever come across cockles as an anagrind.
10 SAILYARD Mast beam airily wobbling I removed, unhappy about it (8)
*(airly) [anag:wobbling] with SAD (“unhappy”) about it, where AIRLY is AIR(i)LY with I removed
12 TREK What’s walker, tired, recalled? Some of it anyway (4)
HIdden backwards [some of it, recalled] in “walKER Tired”
13 TODDLER Young child left in care of stranger after court’s conclusion (7)
L (left) in care of ODDER (“stranger”) after (cour)T [‘s conclusion]
14 ROGER Rabbit filmed I put back in heart of burrow (5)
<=EGO (“I” put back) in [heart of] (bu)RR(ow)

The Roger referred to is the eponymous animal of the movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
15 ROMEO Love retracing instant in past poetically (5)
[retracing] <=(MO (“instant”) in O’ER (“past, poetically))
16 PILLARIST Ascetic, ailing one in ragged strip (9)
ILL (“ailing”) + A (“one”) in *(strip) [anag:ragged]

A pillarist was an ascetic who lived on top of a pillar.
17 NURHAG Ancient tower in a short time caught by cannon from the rear (6)
<=(A HR (hour, so “short time”) caught by GUN (“cannon”) [from the rear]

A nurhag (aka nuraghe) was a Bronze Age round tower, especially in Sardinia.
20 WAWE Woman with great adoration for vintage roller (4)
W (woman) with AWE (“great adoration”)

Wawe is an archaic form of wave (hence “ancient roller”)
22 GECK Lizard shedding tail, object of mockery up north (4)
GECK(o) (“lizard”, shedding tail)

In Scotland and Northern English dialect, a geck is a dupe.
24 TAMMAR Small marsupial heading for mound in river (6)
[heading for] M(ound) in (River) TAMAR

A tammar is a small wallaby.
26 HYALONEMA Husband, year on his own with mum’s sponge (9)
H (husband) + Y (year) + ALONE (“on his own”) with MA (“mum)

Hyalonema is also known as the “glass-rope sponge”.
30 EMBOG See me go frantic catching last of rhubarb in sink (5)
*(me go) [anag:frantic] catching [last of] (rhubar)B
31 BATON Decide against declaring in blackjack? (5)
While playing cricket, if you BAT ON, you are deciding not to declare.
32 LOBULAR Our ball needs blowing up, round and segmented (7)
*(our ball) [anag:blowing up]
33 MAND With troops in lines traditionally, representing command a Tory ignored (4)
MAND (a tory) (“representing command” without A TORY)

MAND is an old poetic (“in lines traditionally”) form of MANNED (“with troops”)
34 BLIGHTER Wretch born on dock boat (8)
B (born) on LIGHTER (“dock boat”)
35 SHEETFEEDER Storage cassette? The fee’s out of order, and advice outdated when it’s sent back (11)
*(the fees) [anag:out of order] + <=REDE (old word for advice, so “advice outdated” when it’s sent back)
DOWN
1 ESTRANGHELO Like ancient cursive script proclaimed in scribbled sheet, look (11)
RANG (“proclaimed”) in *(sheet) [anag:scribbled] + LO (“look”)
2 BAROQUE Leader of octet aboard vessel afloat, bold and vigorous in style (7)
[leader of] O(ctet) aboard BARQUE (“vessel afloat”)
3 LIEGER Former ambassador from Italy taken in by swindler (6)
I (Italy) taken in by LEGER (a “swindler” who uses shoddy material)
4 CYPRIAN Lewd woman making one cry out with pain (7)
*(cry pain) [anag:out]
5 KATAL SI unit last brought to the fore in a lecture (5)
(K)A TAL(k) (“a lecture” with its last (letter) brought to the fore)

The katal is the derived SI unit of catalyitc activity.
6 FROGLET As disappearing fast round river, look inquisitively for small amphibian (7)
AS disappearing from F(as)T round R (river) + OGLE (“look inquisitively”)
7 SUDOR Ivy, embraced by Spanish gent? See her ‘glow’! (5)
UDO (species of Japanese “ivy”) embraced by Sr. (senor, so “Spanish gent”)
8 HOLMIA Husband covering a limo freely in metallic oxide (6)
H (husband) covering *(a limo) [anag:freely]

Holmia is unsurprisingly, an oxide of holmium.
9 EPEES We’re engaged in contests on piste? Observe exercises from below (5)
<=(SEE (“observe”) + PE (physical “exercises”)) from below
11 PROTERANDRY Toper wretchedly had no more to drink – does it prevent full flowering? (11)
*(toper) [anag:wretchedly] + RAN DRY (“had no more to drink”)

I’m no botanist, so I’ll quote directly from Chambers under “protandry” – in a flower, opening of the anthers before the stigmas can receive pollen, so preventing self-pollination
18 GANDALF Garnett, briefly, plus forename – a spell-binding character (7)
G(arnett) [briefly] + AND (“plus”) ALF (Garnett’s “forename”)

Gandalf is of course a wizard in the Lord of the Rings. Contrary to Azed’s statement that “every word is in Chambers (2014), Gandalf is not there.

The Alf Garnett referred to in the clue was a politically incorrect character in “Til Death Do Us Part”, a sitcom which ran from 1965 to 1975, played by Warren Mitchell.
19 GAMBOGE Unable to walk easily round marshy ground, yellow gluey stuff (7)
GAME (“unable to walk”) round BOG (“marshy ground”)

Gamboge is a sticky yellow resin.
21 WAGONER Dead in conflict, he drove his chariot once (7)
GONE (“dead”) in WAR (“conflict”)
23 CABBIE One regularly hailed as ageless dullard, that is coming last (6)
CABB(age) (ageless “dullard”) + i.e. (“that is”)
25 MUTATE Appear in new form? Art maybe taken up, then English (6)
(Art) <=TATUM [taken up] then E (English)

Art Tatum (1909-1965) was an American jazz pianist.
27 YMOTH What naphtha mostly deals with? Treat ash-plant with it (5)
NAPTHA(lene) is used to kill moths. Not sure about the rest of the parsing?
28 LOUSE Sucker of a sort left at head of river (5)
L (left) at head of (River) OUSE
29 EERIE We retrained, but only intermittently? That’s weird (5)
(w)E (r)E(t)R(a)I(n)E(d) [only intermittently]

10 comments on “Azed No. 2,526 Plain”

  2. Yes, ‘cockle’ as ‘to pucker’ was new to me. GECK we have had recently I think.
    Gandalf isn’t on Collins either, so a General Knowledge Heavy clue all round.
    The other meaning of ‘piste’ is one to stash away.

  3. I found this very hard to get going on, but ended up getting all but MAND, and even with the explanation, I am not all that keen on that clue. All the rest were at least guessable, even with more than the usual quota of obscurities. I also completely missed the anagram in 27D, but figured the hint was about mothballs. Baffled, as always, by the cricket reference, but blackjack had to be BATON. Thanks.

  4. Yes, for me this was an easier one and welcome. I did not like 33 MAND. I think this is Azed pushing his luck. He is doing amazing things with new cluing at his longevity but you sometimes think: is he being a bit too brassy?

    It is not for me to say.

    Not all of us can buy a new Chambers, especially when it’s an old Chambers from two editions ago and all you’ve done is put back some weird words you left out last time.

    Anyway, horrid winds here in Oz so we know what to expect on the evening news. To my fellow solvers: I think we are blessed in having an Azed. I’ll criticise him as much as the next wallah, but c’mon. Not many nations in the world have an Azed

    Stefan

  5. Could someone please explain 7 down? Why does “sudor” = her “glow”? Is it because it’s Spanish for ‘sweat’? (and if so, is this fair?)

  8. I couldn’t parse 33ac either, so thanks for the explanation.  It’s one of those clues that is obvious once you explain it, but going the other way?

    I wondered about cockles as an anagrind, too.  I had to look it up in Chambers and then look up puckers.

  9. Many thanks to Azed for my weekly dictionary tour and subsequent knowledge accumulation. They are always a nice way to spend a few hours spread over a few days. Parsing of YMOTH defeated me too but I found it.
    what made me wonder was the exhortation at the end of the clues referring to the dictionary. It usually says “Chambers is recommended” but this time it said “All answers are in Chambers” and I wondered why. The next one (printed but not yet looked at seriously) is back to the original wording.
    Thanks for the explanations Loonapick. I do appreciate the work that goes into the blogging.

  10. The dictionary guidance was I’m sure a printer’s error, repeating the non-standard text from 2,522 (the Carte Blanche) rather than the usual ‘The Chambers Dictionary (2014) is recommended’.

Comments are closed.