[If you’re attending York S&B please see comments 32&33] - here
A plain puzzle this week requiring a fair bit of general knowledge.
I wonder when this puzzle was compiled as AMBER Rudd who features in the wordplay for 27 across, STARCH, hasn’t been a Government Minister since September 2019, and not even an MP since November 2019. Perhaps, as AMBER is a fairly uncommon name among politicians, it is assumed that solvers will make the connection. Of course, knowing who WES Hall is, to parse NEWEST at 22 down, requires us to dig much further back in time. Maybe cricketers are remembered more easily than politicians.
Azed makes use of three of his compound anagrams this week where a phrase in the clue is an anagram of the entry and another word in the clue. Each of PARA at 31 across, UPWAFT at 1 down and HIRCINE at 19 down are clued in this form. The clue to TSUNAMI at 12 across is of a similar form.
I am struggling with the parsing for WRAXLE at 13 across. I can see the AXE containing L element, but I can’t relate the remaining WR to the rest of the clue. I’m obviously missing something.
Is a MERL (falcon) a hawk as suggested by the clue at 16 across? Some sources I read suggested that it isn’t. I did find a reference to a peregrine falcon being known as a duck hawk in North America. I am sure there are solvers who will know far better than me whether falcons and hawks are the same.
| No | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| Across | |||
| 1 |
Harvard fresher, girl in rum dance, ungainly number (11) |
(LASS [girl] contained in [in] an anagram of [ungainly] RUM DANCE) + N (number) UNDERC (LASS) MA* N |
UNDERCLASSMAN (fresher at American University, such as Harvard) |
| 11 | The governor occupies position in list from which twelve were chosen (4) |
PA (father; governor) + IS (occupies position) PA IS |
PAIS (the people from whom a jury is drawn [this is an archaic word, so it is a list from which twelve WERE chosen]) |
| 12 | Tamilnadu’s devastated lad swept away – in this? (7) |
Anagram of (devastated) TAMI TSUNAMI* |
TSUNAMI (tidal wave, that could sweep away a LAD,. Tamil Nadu is a region of South East India, susceptible to TSUNAMIs) |
| 13 | Tussle in the south-west? Local service cut, line closed (6) |
I’m struggling to parse this to my satisfaction. I can get (AXE [cut] containing [closed?] L) but WR escapes me unless there is some local service in the south-west of England know as WR. So the best I can offer is WR AX (L) E |
WRAXLE (South West dialect word for wrestle [tussle]) |
| 15 |
Epic hero? King loses first by bog (4) |
AJA X |
AJAX (hero in Greek mythology) AJAX (also defined as a privy; toilet; bog) two definitions |
| 16 | Burnsian songster in avoiding hawk (4) |
MERL MERL |
MERL (archaic or literary Scottish word for a blackbird. A word Robert Burns might have used to describe a songster) |
| 17 | Two signs of wealth maybe creating popular outcry? (6) |
FUR (thick, soft, fine hair of certain animals; often in the past made into expensive clothing) + ORE (poetic term for precious metal, also a mineral from which more valuable constituents can be derived by treatment) two signs of wealth FUR ORE |
FURORE (public indignation; popular outcry) |
| 18 | Cistern supplying what school staff serving top table do (8) |
FEED (serve food to) + HEAD (HEADmaster who would sit at the top table at a school dinner) FEED HEAD |
FEED HEAD (cistern that supplies water to a boiler) |
| 21 | Bearing witness to finest Act II in play (13) |
Anagram of (in play) TO FINEST ACT II TESTIFICATION* |
TESTIFICATION (act of bearing witness to) |
| 25 | Strip clubs; reluctant entering French one, being female (6) |
(C [clubs] + LOTH [reluctant]) contained in (entering) UNE (the female French form of ‘one’) UN (C LOTH) E |
UNCLOTHE (strip) |
| 27 | Group of senior ministers excluding Rudd, rigidly formal (6) |
STAR CH STARCH |
STARCH (rigid, formal; rigidly formal) |
| 29 | Swell? Crescendo may proceed so (4) |
TO (towards; proceed towards) + FF (very loud as is a crescendo at the end) TO FF |
TOFF (aristocrat; swell) |
| 31 | Short article is apt read? Edits this possibly (4) |
PARA (IS APT READ is an anagram of (edits) and the entry {this] PARA) This clue illustrates Azed’s device of making an anagram from the entry and one of the words in the clue) PARA* |
PARA (abbreviation [short] for PARAgraph or written article) |
| 32 | Ordinary short sword back round middle of waist (6) |
ESTOC (short sword) reversed (back) containing (round) I (central letter of [middle of] WAIST) COT (I) SE< |
COTISE (an ordinary) |
| 33 | English vessel with nothing aboard, one conveying Boney to St Helena? (7) |
E (English) + (LINER [vessel] containing [with … aboard] O [character representing nothing]) E L (O) INER |
ELOINER (something that conveys to a distance; such as conveying Napoleon Bonaparte [Boney] to St Helena) |
| 34 | Those in the oldest profession, they say, dull as it sounds (4) |
PROS (sounds like [they say] PROSE [dull]) PROS |
PROS (prostitutes; prostitution is known as the world’s oldest profession) |
| 35 | Tennis Repton’s adapted relatively safe environmentally (13) |
Anagram of (adapted) TENNIS REPTON’S NONPERSISTENT* |
NONPERSISTENT ([of eg insecticides and pesticides] decomposing rapidly after application and not lingering in the environment) |
| Down | |||
| 1 |
A puff or two might make insecure roof ______ (6) |
Here again Azed is creating an anagram from the entry and one of the words in clue. A PUFF OR TWO* is an anagram of (insecure) UPWAFT, the entry and ROOF. UPWAFT* |
UPWAFT (a puff of air, which if strong enough could create an insecure roof) |
| 2 | Constituent of opium or cocaine inhaled by nostril once? Death mostly follows (7) |
(C [cocaine] contained in [inhaled by] NARE [archaic {once} word for nostril]) + EN NAR (C) E EN |
NARCEEN (narcotic alkaloid in opium) |
| 3 | I put in days on eastern garment almost finished, a fourth (11) |
(I contained in [put in] DATES [days]) + SARON D (I) ATES SARON |
DIATESSARON (in music, the interval of a fourth) |
| 4 | Get foot cut from middle of weapon (4) |
RI RILE |
RILE (annoy; irritate; get) |
| 5 | Casanova’s first present for beloved (5) |
C (initial letter of [first] CASANOVA) + HERE (present) C HERE |
CHERE (dear; beloved) |
| 6 | Those coming first in algebra and second in French? I don’t believe it (4, 2 words) |
ASIF (initial letters of [coming first] ALGEBRA, SECOND, IN and FRENCH) AS IF |
AS IF (expression of incredulity; I don’t believe it) |
| 7 | Seamy ultras mixed up with core of collusion (7) |
Anagram of (mixed up) ULTRAS and (with) U (middle letter of [core of] COLLUSION) SUTURAL* |
SUTURAL (descriptive of something with SUTURes [seams]; seamy) |
| 8 | Succeeded, never associated with allurements? (5) |
S (succeeded) + NARY (never) S NARY |
SNARY (associated with SNAREs [allurements]) |
| 9 | Rising block, Tories mostly excited about publicity, one likely to win in vote? (11) |
JAM (block) reversed (rising; down entry) + (an anagram of [excited] TORIE MAJ< ORIT (AIR) E* |
MAJORITAIRE (a member of a majority section of a political party, i.e. one most likely to win a vote within the party) |
| 10 | King at home brought up odd job for Paddy (5) |
(REX [king] + IN [at home]) all reversed (brought up; down entry) (NI XER)< |
NIXER (an Irish [Paddy] term for a job, especially a spare-time or irregular one, the earnings of which are not declared for tax purposes by the worker) |
| 14 | Toast included in tally of expenses chalked up? (7) |
SLATE (a list of preliminary expenses or credit, originally written in chalk on a real piece of SLATE) containing (included) IN SLA (IN) TE |
SLÀINTE (Gaelic toast, meaning ‘good health!#) |
| 19 | Children (tinies)? So typical of nanny, isn’t led astray (78) |
This is a third example of Azed creating an anagram (astray) from the entry and one or two words from the clue. The first two words of the clue CHILDREN TINIES form an anagram of ISN ‘T LED and the entry HIRCINE HIRCINE* |
HIRCINE (goat-like; typical of nanny) |
| 20 | Either of two Oxbridge colleges acceptable for ‘harmless drudge‘ (7) |
JOHNS (There are St JOHN’S colleges at both Oxford and Cambridge) + ON (acceptable) JOHNS ON |
JOHNSON (Dr Samuel JOHNSON [1709 – 1784], included lexicography amongst his many other talents. He defined a lexicographer as ‘a writer of dictionaries; a HARMLESS DRUDGE, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words’) |
| 22 | Hall, e.g. among number put up, ultra-modern (6) |
WES (reference Sir WESley Hall [born 1937], renowned West Indian fast bowler) contained in {among] TEN (a number) reversed (put up; down entry) NE (WES) T< |
NEWEST (the most modern) |
| 23 | Quaker? Not unlike one he reveres endlessly? (5) |
AS (like; not unlike) + PEN AS PEN |
ASPEN (trembling poplar; a quaker in the wind). PENN designed the city of Philadelphia and named many of it’s street after trees. Google maps tells me there is an ASPEN street in Philadelphia) |
| 24 | It’s for lifting potatoes one planted in trench (5) |
A (one ) contained in (planted in) GRIP (small ditch, gutter or trench to carry away surface water) GR (A) IP |
GRAIP (three- or four-pronged fork used for lifting dung or digging potatoes) |
| 26 | Bacteria? Opening of cut on back of head put off (5) |
C (first letter of [opening of] CUT) + OCCI C OCCI |
COCCI (spherical bacteria) |
| 28 | One looks out for catch making appearance before end of patter (4) |
HUE (appearance) + R (final letter of [end of] PATTER) HUE R |
HUER (a pilchard fishermen’s lookout man) |
| 30 | Waterfall, one leaving depression (4) |
FOSS FOSS |
FOSS (variation on FORCE [waterfall]) |
Thanks duncanshiell. The South West of England was historically served by the Great Western Railway, and later BR’s Western Region.
Thanks as ever to Azed. AJAX took a while for the penny to drop (or for me to actually check the BRB).
Loved the highly specific HUER. Had a forehead-wrinkling DRAB for 34 until more crossers intervened.
I wonder if WR is Western Region of British Rail. WR is in Chambers.
Gonzo – snap!
Thank you. I got stuck for the longest time trying to work around “wrassle,” which does not fit and also does not parse, before I realized where I had erred. I still don’t think the clue for SLAINTE quite works. Moreso than usual for me, even the most baffling clues seemed straightforward once I had worked them out, though.
Wes Hall was a politician as well as a fast bowler. As PM of Barbados he used to joke “if you thought my run-up was long you should hear my speeches!”
Thanks, I was a long way off finishing this one. I immediately assumed “Amber” for Rudd, but I’d never encountered “starch” as an adjective before.
Thanks to both, especially Sil for parsing STARCH. I got that from the definition alone as, in this part of the world, Rudd refers to an ex-Australian PM and I had no idea what he was doing there.
My understanding of the difference between hawks and falcons is mainly due to their hunting methods. While hawks are slightly larger, they also cruise along watching for movement on the ground, whereas falcons sit on perches waiting for something to fly as they tend to grab a meal on the wing.
Oops, sorry Duncan.
Thanks duncanshiell. There were a few clues I could not understand fully. I note that we now have another who went for “Kevin” Rudd! Azed would know that there are dedicated people around the world. He has indeed followers worldwide.
I raise again this wretched “composite” anagram. HIRCINE. Lovely reference to “nanny” but the clue doesn’t work. Or does it? It’s spewed apart and this “astray” must play two roles. It tells us that “isn’t led” is to be withdrawn, but it’s also the anagram indicator. The whole clue is clumsy and unworthy.
No one has pointed out that a “K. Thomas” got a VHC last Sunday. I think we know who he is. To him and the rest of you, I say Champion! Azed will keep us keeping on, until bafflement trips up our shoelaces.
But we are allowed to bleat, when bleating is necessary.
The clue for Slàinte, is easily explained if you understand that “included” is part of the clue and means “in”. I have no quibble. Azed winks. I say, cheers mate.
Stefan