An uncontroversial (I think) plain Azed this week.
There are a couple of hard to classify clues at 16 and 29 and (particularly) 30 across, but otherwise the usual mix of common and obscure words. Perhaps towards the easier end of the Azed scale.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BLU-TACK | Adhesive as once used to fill stain (7) |
| UT (old word for “as”) inside BLACK (which can mean to stain). | ||
| 6 | PLANER | Carpenter’s tool, not so complicated, I got rid of (6) |
| PLA(i)NER. | ||
| 11 | LEHR | What needs to be held in both hands for oven (4) |
| EH (what?) inside L and R. It’s a glass-annealing oven, which can also be spelled LEAR or LEER. | ||
| 12 | BOWLINE | Rope aboard sailing vessel mostly trundling east (7) |
| BOWLIN(g) E. | ||
| 13 | POORISH | Backing band includes knight, rather hard up (7) |
| SIR inside HOOP, all rev. | ||
| 15 | NUOC MAM | Spicy sauce got from can mum cooked with duck (7, 2 words) |
| O in *(CAN MUM). It’s a Vietnamese sauce made from raw fish. | ||
| 16 | EVEJAR | Something akin to a swift beer towards closing time? (6) |
| A cryptic definition, I suppose, redeemed by its smooth surface. The evejar is a dialect term for the nightjar. | ||
| 17 | DREK | Coming round tinker duly bags such rubbish (4) |
| Hidden and reversed in “tinker duly””. | ||
| 18 | CLARO | Stop dropping in for a mild smoke (5) |
| CLAR(in)O: an organ stop. | ||
| 19 | DISCARDMENT | Being abandoned, didn’t scream, though upset (11) |
| *(DIDN’T SCREAM). | ||
| 22 | RUBIA | Source of dye I added to massage, first- class? (5) |
| RUB I A. It’s the madder genus, whose root produces a red dye. | ||
| 24 | SAVE | Five kept in enclosure, often spare (4) |
| V in SAE (often an enclosure). | ||
| 26 | BROCHE | Soft loaf I cut with raised pattern (6) |
| BR(i)OCHE. It should read BROCHÉ. | ||
| 27 | SNACKED | Grabbed a bite in the office? Tin rolled over in desk messily (7) |
| CAN(rev.) in *DESK. I’m not sure that “in the office” adds anything to the clue, except perhaps to the surface. | ||
| 28 | STAITHE | Female imbibing a wee bittie Scotch where the sailors tie up (7) |
| TAIT (a Scottish word for a pinch or small portion) inside SHE. It means a wharf. | ||
| 29 | SUBLATE | Deny extra editing work on the paper may keep this? (7) |
| Extra editing work may keep the sub(-editor) late. | ||
| 30 | WAIN | Mark refuses tot initially – being on it? (Charles has one) (4) |
| Mark (T)WAIN would refuse a drink if he were on the wagon… Charles’s Wain is the group of seven bright stars that make up the Plough. Hard to know where the definition is in this playful clue. | ||
| 31 | SMOYLE | Expression of pleasure no longer shown by Mosley being banged up (6) |
| *MOSLEY. | ||
| 32 | UNSAINT | Deny sanctity of a nun? It’s out of order (7) |
| *(A NUN ITS). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BLUNDERBUSS | Qualified lawyer, subordinate plonker? It could be fatal (11) |
| BL (Bachelor of Laws) UNDER BUSS (a kiss, or a plonker). | ||
| 2 | LEMUR | Malagasy native? Supporter of La Maison probably (5) |
| If a wall supports a house, then in French Le Mur supports La Maison. | ||
| 3 | TROCK | Traffic in Glasgow? Reduced it with firm support (5) |
| ‘T ROCK. It means to have dealings or to traffic. | ||
| 4 | ANOMIC | Camion requiring service, indicating a sort of breakdown (6) |
| *CAMION. | ||
| 5 | CARAVANETTE | Mobile home needing attention. Dry after a fan installed (11) |
| A VANE (fan) TT (dry) in CARE. | ||
| 6 | POSEIDONIAN | Attitude of some Greek islands, about depth of deity ruling their surroundings (11) |
| POSE, D(depth) in IONIAN. | ||
| 7 | ALLELE | Walk round lake? It’s familiar to geneticist (6) |
| L inside ALLEE. The definition is perhaps a little loose, but the generous checking leaves no room for doubt. | ||
| 8 | NINJA | Hitmen in Japan? One among that lot (5) |
| Hidden in “hitmen in Japan”. | ||
| 9 | ENDART | Business on the up? Number involved enter thrustingly as before (6) |
| N in TRADE (rev). | ||
| 10 | RETROCEDENT | Rock record tenet: ‘Backing required’ (11) |
| *(RECORD TENET). | ||
| 14 | IMPRESA | Goblin with twitchy ears, an old gnome? (7) |
| IMP *EARS. “Gnome” here means a motto. | ||
| 19 | DURDUM | Onset of disease in the early wheat, causing stir in Scotland (6) |
| D(isease) in DURUM; it’s a kind of spring wheat, hence “early”. | ||
| 20 | SICKLY | Being unwell shifty ’ob’s kept inside (6) |
| (h)ick in SLY. A hob can be a rustic. | ||
| 21 | MEATUS | What’s anathema to vegans, useless as opening (6) |
| MEAT US(eless). It’s an anatomical term for an opening of a passage. | ||
| 23 | BOMBO | Aussie plonk, ordinary accompanying local banger (5) |
| BOMB (Australian for an old car, or banger) O(rdinary). | ||
| 24 | SCHWA | Helping of kirschwasser? It ends with one (5) |
| Hidden in “kirschwasser”. It’s the neutral vowel sound at the end of the word. | ||
| 25 | VENIN | When it’s getting late, everything imbibed in it is toxic stuff (5) |
| (e)VENIN(g). | ||
Some unusual constructions, I actually took longer than usual. Thanks bridgesong.
We haven’t had any compound anagrams for a while.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
Thanks, Bridgesong. I still do not quite understand the parsing for MEATUS? How is US derived from useless? I thought perhaps “use” that is “e-less,” but that does not really work (although clever if it did work). Is US an abbreviation for something like “rubbish”? Feeling a bit clueless, there.
Cineraria@2: US is an abbreviation for ‘unserviceable’.
Gonzo@3: Thanks. The things I learn from this blog. Overall, I found myself filling in quite a few with relative ease from the apparent definitions, then struggling to retrofit the parsing.
shocked myself once again by completing this one! thank you for the explanation of BOMBO – i had a bomb being a ‘banger’ of sorts so was confused as to what ‘local’ was doing in the clue. did “it could be fatal” strike anyone else as a bit of a stretch as a definition for BLUNDERBUSS?
Davey @5: yes, it is a bit loose, but it’s a long word with lots of crossers, not at all obscure, so I think some laxity is acceptable.