A puzzle with a distinct French character this week.
Two French phrases and one word of French extraction as well as some Scottish terms in a generous grid with no fewer than four four-letter words being wholly checked. So this was certainly on the easier end of the Azed scale, as long as you speak French!
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DROIT DES GENS | International law signed and sorted out (12, 3 words) |
| *(SIGNED SORTED). The first of two French phrases (both in Chambers) in this puzzle. | ||
| 9 | RUNNION | Old slut making name in right marriage (7) |
| N(ame) in R(ight) UNION. | ||
| 12 | TAROT | Special pack, amateur, having run around (5) |
| A(mateur) in TROT. | ||
| 13 | QUEEN IT | Behave regally, even during leave (7, 2 words) |
| E’EN in QUIT. | ||
| 14 | SEXY | Reverse of sure about kiss? Certainly not (4) |
| X in YES (rev). I’m not entirely sure that this should qualify as an & lit clue, as the last two words do not form part of the wordplay. However, it’s worth pointing out that this is the first of four four letter answers which are wholly checked in a generous grid. | ||
| 16 | TWIN | Counterpart in part of old Scotland (4) |
| Double definition: twin or twine is marked as “obsolete and Scot” in Chambers, meaning to separate or part. | ||
| 17 | SNITCHERS | Older nippers? Nits with search are removed frantically (9) |
| *(NITS SE(a)RCH). Both nippers and snitchers can mean handcuffs. | ||
| 19 | BOTHY | Wherein hands are put up. left and right, with ending of homily (5) |
| BOTH (homil)Y. The fullstop in the clue is as it was printed in the paper, but is clearly a misprint for a comma. | ||
| 20 | ASCEND | Zoom for instance to finish around end of pandemic (6) |
| (pandemi)C in AS END. A topical reference, although I was a little dubious about the definition: how does “zoom” equate to “ascend”? But it’s in Bradford, so it’s been done before. | ||
| 21 | NAUTIC | A cut in, going off course? It’s rarely to do with steering at sea (6) |
| *(A CUT IN). Azed has resisted the temptation to cross-refer this clue to the navigators at 5 down. | ||
| 23 | SMURS | Makes Scotch Mist, strong drink passed round in centre of vessel (5) |
| RUM (rev) inside SS. | ||
| 24 | AME PERDUE | Desperate character getting charge after parking in a lake (9, 2 words) |
| P(arking) in A MEER (lake), DUE (charge). The second French phrase. | ||
| 26 | DAFT | Craze returning with time – crazy indeed (4) |
| FAD (rev), T(ime). | ||
| 28 | FURS | Minks etc making sound suggestive of moorland shrub (4) |
| Sounds like FURZE. | ||
| 29 | RHAETIA | Valley skirting tiny bit of Caledonia in Roman province (7) |
| HAET (Scottish for whit, so a tiny “bit of Caledonia”) in RIA (a “normal drowned valley”). | ||
| 30 | WRAWL | Screech like old moggies lacking training in walk (odd ones only) (5) |
| RAW in W(a)L(k). | ||
| 31 | STYRENE | Source of plastic cushion, new, in half-hose (7) |
| TYRE (cushion) in (ho)SE. | ||
| 32 | NEAT’S LEATHER | Cowhide: finished large quantity round brogue’s heel (12, 2 words, apostrophe)) |
| NEAT (finished); (brogu)E in SLATHER (large quantity). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DRESSING-DOWN | Lotion put on fine hair leading to severe reprimand (12) |
| A simple charade of DRESSING and DOWN. | ||
| 2 | RUMEN | Guys in contact sport displaying paunch (5) |
| Another charade: RU (Rugby Union, a contact sport) MEN. | ||
| 3 | INKY | What’s Aussie in the grip of drink? Yes (4) |
| Hidden in “drink Yes”. | ||
| 4 | DOUGHY | Pasty party laid on that’s disgusting with bit of yoghurt added (6) |
| DO (party) UGH (that’s disgusting) Y(oghurt). | ||
| 5 | STEERSMEN | RN seem set on new course – thanks to us? (9) |
| *(RN SEEM. SET) | ||
| 6 | GANT | Lady’s man, all out, Sandy’s indication he’s ready for bed? (4) |
| G(all)ANT. It’s a Scottish word for “yawn”. | ||
| 7 | NOTIONS | US haberdashery giving one ideas (7) |
| Double definition. | ||
| 8 | STONE DRESSER | Mason, sloshed, actually being taken in by bishop (12, 2 words) |
| STONED (sloshed) ESSE (actually) inside RR (bishop). Strictly speaking, “esse” is a noun so “actually” is a little loose. | ||
| 10 | NOXIOUS | Just after rising up Sioux, maltreated, harmful (7) |
| ON (rev) *SIOUX. | ||
| 11 | NEMEA | Source of egregious mane tailored (for hero) (5) |
| *(E(gregious) MANE). The slaying of the Nemean lion was the first labour of Hercules, its golden fur being impenetrable. | ||
| 15 | SCHIMMELS | Bays spotted, school I’m with lunches, not one inside (9) |
| SCH(ool) IM ME(a)LS. It’s a kind of horse. | ||
| 18 | PERDURE | Last person expected to close door ultimately (7) |
| (doo)R in PER(son) DUE. “Close” in the clue is the inclusion indicator. It seems to mean “endure”. | ||
| 19 | BAGARRE | Rumpus caused by tatterdemalion turning up in nude (7) |
| RAG (rev) in BARE. Another French term. | ||
| 22 | CENTS | Money made by sound judgement, according to auditors? (5) |
| Sounds like “sense”. | ||
| 23 | SPRITE | Changing sitrep displayed by movable icon (6) |
| *SITREP. This is a term from computer graphics. | ||
| 25 | URINE | No. 1 statuette, figless? (5) |
| (fig)URINE. | ||
| 27 | TAWT | Scotch mat clot turned upside down (4) |
| TWAT (rev). | ||
| 28 | FORT | Keep half or third, but not all (4) |
| Hidden in “half or third”. | ||
Thanks bridgesong, slight typo in 15, ‘spotted’ is part of the definition.
I did find ‘soar’ for ‘zoom’ in Chambers – what’s Bradford?
Got RUNNION from its other spelling ‘ronyon’ – my dad liked to quote the 3 witches speech from Macbeth, clearly he’d been made to memorise it.
Thanks, Azed and bridgesong. I finished this in an evening, so this certainly seemed easier than usual to me, with my Scots dictionary handy. For NOXIOUS, I still do not quite understand where the “on” comes from? “Just” or “just after”? In what context would either of those equate to “on”? I take “zoom,” in the right context, to equate to “soar” or “rocket.”
Cineraria: OED has
Exactly at or just coming up to (a scheduled or other specified time); just before or after in time. Also: having just or almost attained (a specified age).
Have to say I was surprised (but not outraged!) by the appearance of 27d considering its primary meaning.
Yet another Plain competition one today. Perhaps Azed doesn’t want to shortwire our brains before the Christmas puzzle. (Also seems to be a typo in one of the across clues (online) that makes the surface nonsensical, but it seems obvious what it should have been, and at least it doesn’t affect the solution.)
Yes, 27D would be far too impolite for a US publication, at least.
For 10D, something like: “On turning 18, they got married”? OK, I’ll buy that.
Gonzo @1: Bradford is Bradford’s Crossword Solver’s Dictionary. It’s like a thesaurus, but every entry has been used (presumably as a definition) in.a crossword. It’s very useful in solving the tougher cryptics.
Nila @4: yes, I was surprised by 27d as well. It’s one of the fully checked four letter words, so perhaps not a deliberate selection by Azed, but he certainly didn’t shrink from referring to its reversal.
As well as containing the fully checked four-letter words, the diagram is invariant under a 90-degree rotation (in mathematical terms, it has Z4 symmetry). An impressive achievement.
At 6 Dn, the original clue (online, which some of us overseas have to use) read: “Lady’s man, run out, Sandy’s indication that he’s ready for bed”. It became obvious that this was a mistake but it held me up. I note the Grauniad have now fixed it. Which also leads me to observe that occasionally we might be too quick to criticise Azed for a very small lapse in a clue for which he is not responsible.
I was also remarkably surprised to find SCHIMMEL in Chambers as a “bay” horse. Anyone who studied German at the school I went to learned that “ein weisser Schimmel” was an example of pleonasm. And so we learned what pleonasm meant as well. Ein Schimmel is a “white horse”. so you can’t say a white, white horse. It’s not the only time Chambers is wrong. And here again we have the glorious “normal drowned valley”! What would my Sundays be without Azed and Chambers?
Stefan
My schoolboy French doesn’t run to DROIT DES GENS but I got it once some crossers were in. Didn’t know SNITCHERS or nippers were handcuffs, so 17a was a bit of a mystery. But as others have said, not as challenging as some of Azed’s puzzles. Thanks to A & B.