Azed No. 2,550 Plain

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As straightforward as Azed can be.

I found this one comparatively easy going, so either it was a notch or two below average difficulty or I am getting better at solving Azeds.

 

The only clue I had trouble with was the one for BONE as it took me a while to see the B(eg)ONE trick.

 

I thought 6dn was ridiculously easy for a barred puzzle, and it was interesting that LID appeared in two crossing entries, albeit backwards in one case, with straight definitions. OMEN also appeared twice, although it was truncated in one of its appearances.

 

Thanks Azed.

ACROSS
1 AFTERTHOUGHT
My siblings are much older, and fatter, spoilt, if kept in (12)
*(fatter) [anag:spoilt] with THOUGH (“if”) kept in
9 LYCEUM
Extremes of lethargy with taking English in? With which Eng. Lit. students are familiar (6)
[extremes of] L(etharg)Y + CUM (“with”) taking E (English) in

 

Lyceum can mean “a place devoted to literary studies”
11 PILCH
Saddle rug gallop turned hard (5)
<=CLIP (“gallop, turned) + H (hard)
13 TORR
Rocky height, scorched, I had avoided (4)
TORR(id) (“scorched”) avoided by I’D (I had)
14 SEDILE
Diocesan office has installed cap from behind seat for clergy (6)
SEE (“diocesan office”) has installed <=LID (“cap”, from behind)
15 OBTRUDE
Thrust in unwelcome fashion battered redoubt (7)
*(redoubt) [anag:battered]
16 DANCY
Suitable for disco? There’s no charge getting in morning and afternoon (5)
N.C. (no charge) in DAY (“morning and afternoon”)
17 BONE
Cannon maybe? Hence e.g. fired inside (4)
B(eg)ONE (“hence”) with E.G. fired from inside
19 THREADLACE
Fine linen fabric embroidered cathedral, eastern (10)
*(cathedral) [anag:embroidered] + E (eastern)
20 SOMEWHILES
Now and then (rarely) husband’s taken in by a little cajolery (10)
H (husband) taken in by SOME WILES (“a little cajolery”)
22 TROT
Very old woman making wrong turn (4)
<= TORT (“wrong”, making a wrong turn)

 

Trot is an old word for an old woman.
24 SWACK
Nimble Scottish woman dressed in loose gown, old (5)
W (woman) dressed in SACK (“old” word for “loose gown”)

 

Swack is a Scots word for pliant or nimble.
26 ABDOMEN
Paunch? When it wobbles, bad sign (7)
*(bad) [anag:when it wobbles] + OMEN (“sign”)
29 UNEASE
Ensnared by misfortune, a senator feeling nervous (6)
Hidden in [ensnared by] “misfortUNE A SEnator”

 

As “unease” is a noun” and “feeling” (in this case) a verb, I am assuming that Azed is waxing poetical, and intends us to read the phrase as “nervous feeling”
30 TINE
Weed got with cash, ecstasy following (4)
TIN (“cash”) with E (ecstasy) following
31 CARSE
Plain, as example where river enters it (5)
CASE (“example”) where R (river) enters it
32 HEASTE
Ancient vow, what cardinal may describe when bound by his title? (6)
EAST (“what cardinal (point) may describe”) when bound by HE (His Excellency) (“his title”)
33 TUMBLE-DRIERS
Acrobats accepting bumpy ride in utilities (12)
TUMBLERS (“acrobats”) accepting *(ride) [anag:bumpy]
DOWN
1 AUTO-DESTRUCT
Vehicle wrongly trusted with colt in capable of crashing unprompted (12)
AUTO (“vehicle”) + *(trusted) [anag:wrongly] with C (colt) in
2 FLOTA
Commercial fleet from Florida laden with large amount (5)
Fa. (Florida) laden with LOT (“large amount”)
3 TYRANT
Autocrat, Russia’s leader in unusually natty clothing (6)
R(ussia) [‘s leader] in *(natty) [anag:unusually]
4 REGO
What Aussie must recognize during driving test, or have another try? (4)
Double definition, the first being an Australian word for a vehicle registration.
5 TUMBLEHOME
Tub with helm malfunctioning, mostly foreboding upper sides’ curving (10)
*(tub helm) [anag:malfunctioning] + [mostly] OME(n)

 

Tumblehome is a shipbuilding term describing the inward curvature of the upper parts of the sides of some ships.
6 OPERA
Work? Not just one will often be seen going after soap (5)
The word OPERA is very often seen after “soap”
7 GLID
Like Scottish rink, requiring good cover (4)
G (good) + LID (“cover”)

 

Glid is a Scots word for slippery or frozen
8 THE BEE’S KNEES
Shrubby plant on river spotted rising after time, a real winner (12, 3 words, apostrophe) (12)
HEBE (“shrubby plant”) on (River) ESK + <=SEEN (“spotted”, rising) after T (time)
10 CROCHET
Decorative work, see, covering bishop’s vestment (7)
C (see) covering ROCHET (“bishop’s vestment”)
12 CLENCH
About to behave lasciviously pinching woman’s rear? Get a grip (6)
C (circa, so “about”) + LECH (“behave lasciviously”) pinching (woma)N [‘s rear]
14 STRAITENED
Needs to be treated about stroke, being in a bad way (10)
*(needs) [anag:to be treated] about TRAIT (“stroke”)
17 BLEWITS
Edible fungus, slightly warm, in pieces (7)
LEW (“slightly warm”) in BITS (“pieces”)
18 TORANA
Embroidered hanging in honour of prince (6)
TO (“in honour of”) + RANA (“prince”)
21 SAMITE
Rich silk or woven tamise (6)
*(tamise) [anag:woven]
23 MOSEL
Who’s worried re aim with this – a sommelier perhaps? (5)
*(a sommelier) [anag:worried] would give us “MOSEL re aim”
25 CANER
Marriage venue? Sounds like I may be seeing to some chairs (5)
Homophone of [sounds like] CANA (the scene of a wedding in the New Testament, so “marriage venue”)
27 BERM
Defensive wall protected by some Berber militia? (4)
Hidden in [protected by some] “berBER Militia
28 NEAR
Tight head’s feature (one of two) with name or number on (4)
EAR (“head’s feature”) with N (name or number) on

12 comments on “Azed No. 2,550 Plain”

  1. Thanks, loonapick and Azed. I got a little stuck in the SE corner, but puzzled it out eventually, with some ??? about my guesses. I did not know what a cannon bone was, but found that on Google. I could not find a clear attribution for HEASTE or TINE, even though the wordplay was clear. I dread UK puns and homophones, since to my American ears, Cana sounds nothing at all like CANER. But I was particularly delighted by THE BEE’S KNEES, for some reason.

  2. This seemed to get done at normal pace for me, i.e. slowly but fairly steadily. Got a bit stuck on SOMEWHILES, wondering if it was ‘somethings’; also ‘swack’ has the same meaning (nimble) as SWANK, which confused me for a bit. BLEWITS suddenly popped into my head, which was useful. Realised eventually that TINE could refer to weeding. Many thanks to Azed and loonapick.

  3. Thanks for the blog, not much to mention here. REGO seems to have cropped up quite a bit recently. I always pick BLEWITS, they stain your fingers purple. TUMBLE HOME is two words in my Chambers 93 but may have changed in later editions.

  6. The 2014 Chambers gives Fa. as Florida.

    BONE defeated me, although I now see Cannon Bone is under Cannon in Chambers.

  7. I have a theory about some of the easy Azed clues that crop up from time to time:

    There is a conceit that every good solver will know the words and there is no compelling reason why OPERA should get treated any differently to TUMBLEHOME or PILCH. Not so obviously, but I like the idea of the rehabilitation of “obscure” words to being just “normal vocabulary”.

    Thanks loonapick

  8. A DNF for me. I ripped through most of it in no time (for the second week) but couldn’t get HEASTE or even NEAR. I got the cardinal EAST but didn’t know HE. How I missed Near is one of those things that make you worry about ageing. I think Azed is getting cleverer as he gets older: too clever for me.
    Stefan

  9. I think NEAR to mean miserly only ever appears in crosswords these days. I cannot recall hearing or reading about anyone using it in that sense.

  11. Thanks Azed and loonapick.
    I think 29ac works directly, even if it has taken me most of the day to work out how to explain why:
    “feel” is a verb
    “feel nervous” is a verb phrase
    “feeling” is the gerund of “feel” so is a noun
    “feeling nervous” is a noun phrase.

  12. drofle @10 it is a shame when usage dies out, CLOSE also means miserly and is barely used now. TIGHT has survived but I feel it is getting less common.

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