Azed No. 2,553 Plain

13 comments on “Azed No. 2,553 Plain”

1. Re BRRR
   There are loads with Y, of course.
   But don’t forget CRWTH

2. TAKE = “to use up” in my Chambers (10th).
   What are “e.g.” and “him” doing in 23 Ac DETHRONER? Unless both I and bridgesong are misreading the clue, it’s just a straightforward definition-and-indicator. In which case e.g. and him are unnecessary and misleading clutter and certainly not allowable by any except the anti-Ximeneans.
   “One’s” in 2 Dn = “one has” and is just an indication from Azed to the solver. He and others have used the device for years and I can’t see anything wrong with it. It’s not misleading and makes the surface of the clue read just a little more fluently. It means: “Copper you [i.e. you, the solver] get dropped into muddy drain, losing it”.
   Stefan

3. MS: The way I read 23 is with Herod being part of the definition, and then ‘him’ being a placeholder for a second HEROD to form part of the anagram.
   Thanks bridgesong, and thanks to Azedas ever.

4. Thanks for a great blog. I am with Gonzo for 23 ac. One unseating a king – and then Herod used in the anagram. I suspect it was going to be a compound anagram but never really worked.
   As kenmac says there are many words containing y , rhythm for example, but y is really a vowel in most uses.
   CRWTH is not in my Chambers 93, I suspect it is Welsh in which case W is a vowel.

5. CRWTH
   The crowd, an old Welsh stringed instrument, four of its six strings played with a bow, two plucked by the thumb.
   I haven’t used a paper Chambers for years but I’m surprised that it’s not in older editions, I’ve known the word for years!

6. Thanks kenmac it is not in my Chambers 93, I thought it would be.

7. Gonzo’s explanation of 23 works for me. I couldn’t see it when solving and thought perhaps the gremlins had crept in. Good to have the clue vindicated, even if it isn’t one of Azed’s most elegant!

8. 2d IRACUND
   Has one been misled?

   Like Marmite Struggler I decided that “one’s” in 2dn had to interpreted as ‘one has’ in the sense of ‘someone has’, rather than part of an instruction to insert an ‘I’ or an ‘A’ into the answer.

   Perhaps Azed made the clue deliberately more misleading, as well as improving the surface, by adding the “one’s”?

   New solvers should always be aware that apostrophe s can be a possessive, a shortened ‘is’ or a shortened
   ‘has’ (as in he’s got chicken pox).

9. Roz: That’s curious. Crwth is in my 1988 Chambers and also my 1998 edition. 1993 was when it changed its name to The Chambers Dictionary – perhaps the criteria for inclusion were also changed and then revised later.

10. MunroMaiden @9: that’s because Roz is mistaken. Crwth is in the 1993 edition (p. 410).

    Norman @8 (and Marmite Smuggler @2): this is from Azed himself, in the introduction to his book A – Z of Crosswords: “Every clue should contain a definition or equivalent of the answer plus a cryptic treatment of its component parts, and nothing else[Azed’s italics]. Every word in the clue must have a function as part of the whole, and there should be no superfluous verbiage”. In my view, the clue to IRACUND would work perfectly well without “one’s”, so why include it?

11. Thank you bridgesong and sorry MunroMaiden and others. Found it now , I should have looked more carefully the first time.

12. Thanks all for explaining DETHRONER; I understand it now—I was sure Azed would not ignore convention to such an extent. The definition is “One unseating e.g. Herod”. It’s a type of clue I don’t like but is approved by the masters. I’ve asked this before but I’ll ask it again: is “three” an anagram of “the Queen”? The answer is yes. I’ll just continue my dislike of such clues.
    Stefan

13. PSST, a crossword staple.

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