Azed No. 2,544 Plain

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A plain puzzle from Azed

It may just be because I am doing more Azeds than I used to, or it may be that crossword practice in general improves solving times, but this one took a lot less time and less recourse to Chambers than I am used to. Some of the more unusual words such as TAWS, POLIS, ANTRA are now part of my lexicon, partly because I’m a Scot and partly from seeing them in Crosswordland before, so don’t give me the same pause as they used to.

 

This was standard Azed fare, with concise clues and great surfaces, although I do have a couple of minor comments. I don’t like “reduced” as an anagrind (see 12dn), and it’s a shame that TAKE appears in both clue and solution in 35ac.

 

Nothing to detract from the overall satisfaction of solving the puzzle, but worthy of note all the same.

 

Thanks, Azed

ACROSS
1 UPPER-BRACKET
Person in pub spreading din typical of high earners? (12)
Per. (person) in *(pub) [anag:spreading] + RACKET (“din”)
10 GRUM
Morose? Strange after gallons (4)
RUM (“strange”) after G (gallons)
11 POLIS
The law in Scotland, displaying endless refinement (5)
[endless] POLIS(h) (“refinement”)

 

In Glasgow, the police would be known as “the polis”
13 LONGTOGS
What tar onshore gets into, having drunk nogg, lots (8)
*(nogg lots) [anag:drunk]
15 GINSENG
Element of Pugin’s Englishness – it’s radically restorative (7)
Hidden in [element of] “puGIN’S ENGlishness”

 

Ginseng root (hence “radical”) is used in traditional medicine.
16 CAVA
One on holiday knocked back fizzy stuff (4)
<=(A (“one”) on VAC (vacation, so “holiday”), knocked back)
17 TAWS
Alleys may be used for hiding (4)
Double definition, the first referring to another word for a taw, as in a prized marble (in the game of marbles), and the second relating to a strip of leather used in corporal punishment.
19 CLEG
Part of course with colt leading? One gives it a nasty sting (4)
LEG (“part of course”) with C (colt, on a race card) [leading]
20 INDIAN CORN
Maize I can do, modifying recipe in tavern (10, 2 words)
*(can do) [anag:modifying] + R (recipe) in INN (“tavern”)
22 TRIFARIOUS
Facing three ways? Or is it four, RA being involved (10)
*(is it four ra) [anag:being involved]
24 LAKY
Reddish lean when centre’s cut (4)
LA(n)KY (“lean” when centre (letter)’s cut)
26 LIMO
Leaders of official motorcade in line will go round in this? (4)
<=[leaders of (O(fficial) M(otorcade) I(n) L(one)) will go round] and &lit.
27 BATT
Military unit shortened measure of wadding (4)
Batt. (Battalion, so “military unit shortened”) and batt (or bat) is “wadding”
28 INSTORE
Tries on arrays of goods on display (7)
*(tries on) [anag:arrays]
32 JALAPENO
Hot stuff in the style of writer in love (8)
A LA (“in the style of”) + PEN (“writer”) in JO (Scottish word for “sweetheart”, so “love”)
33 TRULL
Old pro almost constantly on line (5)
[almost] TRUL(y) on L (line)

 

“Trull” is an old world for “prostitute”
34 SHIN
Swarm hurtling out of rug (4)
(ru)SHIN(g) (“hurtling” out of RUG)
35 TAKE ONE’S SEAT
Join other members: when ordered eat OK with head to take dinner? (12, 3 words)
*(eat ok) [anag:when ordered] with NESS (“head”) + EAT (“to take dinner”)

 

Shame that TAKE is in the clue and answer (“have dinner” may have been better)
DOWN
2 PROBANG
It’s used to treat throat pain, pad once inserted (7)
PANG (“pain”) with ROB (“pad once”) inserted

 

“Pad” is an archaic term for robbing someone on foot (cf “footpad”).

 

A probang is a long flexible tube, often with a sponge attached to the end so that medication can be applied
3 PUNA
One aloft climbing Andean plateau (4)
<=(AN (“one”) + UP (“aloft”)) [climbing]
4 RAT’S TAIL
Lump on nag’s leg? Lariat’s thrown round half of it (8)
*(lariats) [anag:thrown] round [half of] (i)T
5 BROGAN
Shoe horse, eye rolling upwards (6)
<=(NAG (“horse”) + ORB (“eye”), rolling upwards)
6 RAGI
Needing some outliers, foraging for cereal crop (4)
(fo)RAGI(ng) [needing (i.e. lacking) some outliers]

 

Ragi is a form of fillet from the Asian subcontinent
7 CONSCRIBE
Enlist second horse, once galloping around (9)
S (second) + CRIB (“horse”) with *(once) [anag:galloping] around

 

Horse and crib can both mean a copy or a translation (cf US pony)
8 KLEE
Artist king afforded protection (4)
K (king) afforded LEE (“protection”)

 

Refers to the Swiss-German expressionist painter Paul Klee (1879-1940)
9 EIGNE
‘Senior’ once derived from ‘seigneur’ (5)
Hidden in [derived from] “sEIGNEur”

 

“Eigne” is an old legal term for “first-born”
10 GLACIALIST
A lilac growing wild in essence, one up on polar regions? (10)
*(a lilac) [anag:growing wild] in GIST (“essence”)
12 SUGGESTION
Hint of a sort? Reduced to guessing (10)
*(to guessing) [anag:reduced]

 

I’m assuming that “reduced” is the anagram indicator, but I don’t like it. Even in its culinary meaning, “reduced” means “lessened” not “mixed”. The clue could have been simply something like “Hint? Resort to guessing.”
14 FAIRY TALE
A Left broadcast, lacking substance within? It can’t be true (9, 2 words)
*(a left) [anag:broadcast] with AIRY (“lacking substance”) within
18 SOROBANS
Calculators? Filch one with children around (8)
ROB (“filch”) + A (one) with SONS (“children”) around

 

A soroban is a traditional Japanese abacus
21 TUTANIA
Something like pewter aunt got out with her Spanish equivalent coming round (7)
*(aunt) [anag:got out] with TIA (Spanish for aunt, so “her Spanish equivalent”) coming round
23 AMELIE
Film star, international, trapped in a fracas endlessly (6)
I (international) trapped in A MELE(e) (“fracas” endlessly)

 

Amelie is the protagonist of the eponymous 2001 French film, starring Audrey Tautou
25 ANTRA
Body cavities physician trapanned – look inside (5)
[look inside] “physiciAN TRApanned”
29 SOUK
Not a lot of money goes on bit of kouskous in it? (4)
SOU (“not a lot of money”) goes on [bit of] K(ouskous) and &lit.

 

A souk is an Arabic marketplace
30 RAWN
Caviar à l’Écossaise, uncooked but with a dash of nutmeg (4)
RAW (“uncooked”) with [a dash of] N(nutmeg)

 

Rawn is a Scots dialect word for fish eggs
31 HEHE
Couple coupling in the heather? It’s a bit of a giggle (4)
HE(at)HE(r) – a couple of couples of letters from “heather”

14 comments on “Azed No. 2,544 Plain”

  1. Good crossword, super blog thank you, it is millet not fillet for RAGI, just a typo.
    Very nearly my second consecutive finish without Chambers. 21d spoiled it, did not know the Spanish aunt, had to look up mia, pia, ria , sia and at last tia.
    Does Tia Maria mean Aunt Mary ? Not quite so exotic.

  3. I did complete this Sunday evening, but I was so sure that “take” couldn’t be in both the clue and the answer for 35ac that I did a word search to check if there were any other phrases it could be.

    Yes, Tia Maria does mean Aunt Mary. The Wikipedia entry for the drink gives the legend of how a Spanish girl escaped from a conflict with only her servant, known as Aunt Mary, and the family recipe, so the drink was named after the servant.

  6. Yes, another pleasingly straightforward.
    I’d query whether the “film star” is the actor or the character. Hardly some kind of Hepburn or Bogart I might have heard of. And the best I can do with 12Dn is suggest that it’s misleading punctuation and the indicator is something like “a sort reduced to”. Then it would need two “to’s”: a sort reduced to to guessing. Very odd clue.

    Stefan

  8. I suspect the double take(!) in 35a was inadvertent on Azed’s part, where he mistakenly took his eye off the ball.

    Re 12d, Chambers has one of the definitions of reduce as “to change to another form”.
    Azed used it not so long ago at 21a here

  10. Seem to have missed out TAWS in the middle – it’s the short clues I usually find the hardest – but as I remember, this wasn’t too difficult (in contrast the Carte Blanche today!). Many thanks to Azed and loonapick.

  11. The Carte Blanche is so awkward because you do not know the length of the words until you have most of the grid. Took me nearly two hours.

  14. Well, I’ve got four answers to today’s after about an hour. I doubt I’ll get many more. Got plenty of other stuff to do.

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