Another Azed where I got about half way through very quickly, but then struggled to finish the rest, though fortunately I managed it in the end. There seems to be a mistake in 30a, but maybe I’ve misunderstood. Thanks to Azed
Across | ||||||||
1 | SMITH | Fashion, feature of modernism I think (5) Hidden in moderiSM I Think, with both “fashion” and SMITH as verbs – a nice easy one to get us started |
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5 | MARISTS | RC congregation is engaged in branch of learning after mass (7) M + IS in ARTS |
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11 | AIR-SEA RESCUE | Joint response to SOS? Signal to act follows after areas rise turbulently (12, 2 words) (AREAS RISE)* + CUE (signal to act) |
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12 | GREW | Former monarch, we reflected, came to maturity (4) GR (Georgius Rex – take you pick from the six so far) |
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13 | CHIC | Fashionable style has abandoned orangey dyes (4) CHICHAS (orange dyes) less HAS |
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15 | AIR TAXI | Chopper for hire? Chopper, independent, following direction to Scotland (7, 2 words) AIRT (Scots “direction”) + AX (chopper) + I |
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16 | MAINOR | Loot from the past I found in grand house (6) I in MANOR |
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17 | KAME | Bank involved with brief transactions in market (4) I would call this an indirect subtractive anagram: KAME + TR is an anagram of MARKET |
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19 | MINIVET | Showy bird supplied by one seeing to pets on a small scale? (7) MINI-VET |
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21 | TEE-HEED | Penning extremes of eloquence the leader writer briefly got the giggles (7) E[loquenc]E in THE ED[itor] |
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23 | OPAH | Big fish creating no splash odd characters missed (4) Even letters of nO sPlAsH |
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25 | LEAN-TO | Place for tools, second in garden opening presto? Far from it (6) Second letter of gArden in LENTO (slowly: the opposite of presto in music) |
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27 | TOTTERS | Scrap merchants? They’re close to collapse (7) Double definition – for the second, totters can be a noun, meaning a tottering movement, which could precede a collapse |
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29 | IRIS | It portrayed a novelist’s life whiskey cut short (4) IRIS[h Whiskey], and the title of a biography of Iris Murdoch written by her husband, John Bayley. It was also made into a film, with Judi Dench playing the older Iris and Kate Winslet the younger |
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30 | CONS | Opposition’s tricks, unnatural but not strained (4) This looks as if it should be CONSTRAINED less STRAINED, but then the S is missing. There are also two definitions |
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31 | EMOTIONALISE | Create affection in a solemn tie I forged involving love? (12) O in (A SOLEMN TIE I)* |
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32 | SANICLE | Market contains delicate cut woodland plant (7) NIC[e] in SALE |
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33 | NEWEL | Feature of staircase in modern wing (5) NEW + EL (wing) |
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Down | ||||||||
1 | SAGUM | Old soldier’s cloak – it covers face up (5) SA (it) + reverse of MUG (face) |
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2 | MIRBANE | Perfumer’s coinage? Bra’s sprayed in rich source (7) BRA* in MINE |
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3 | TSWANA | Trumpeter maybe interrupts cheers for African race (6) SWAN (the trumpeter is a kind of swan) in TA (thanks) |
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4 | HELIOCENTRIC | The No. I cleric revised what’s typical of Galilean ideas? (12) (THE NO I CLERIC)* |
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5 | MAWR | Uppish beak imprisoning wife, an awkward female (4) W in reverse of RAM |
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6 | ARCTOID | Just like Pooh CR found in pot upended? (7) Reverse of CR in DIOTA (ancient vase) |
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7 | REMAINDER‑MAN | He acquires legal right in name marred with misuse (12) (IN NAME MARRED)* |
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8 | SCHIAVONE | Bodyguard’s weapon? A chiv’s brandished before anybody (9) (A CHIVS)* + ONE |
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9 | TUISM | Apostrophe: abbreviation of ‘has’ follows one in middle? (5) I in TUM (middle) + S (abbreviation of “has”); derived from Latin tu = you, with apostrophe as “a sudden turning away from the ordinary course of a speech to address some person or object present or absent” |
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10 | SECRETA | Discharges one after hours in church coming up (7) Reverse of TERCES (from the liturgical hours) + A |
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14 | LINEATION | Orderly arrangement: finished one accepted by admired personage (9) NEAT (finished) + I in LION |
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18 | STOVIES | Russians historically raising temperature a long way for Irish stew! (7) SOVIETS with the T moved up “a long way” |
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19 | MENTHOL | People in Scotland suffer endlessly – this is used to ease pain (7) MEN (people) + THOL[e] (Scots “suffer”) |
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20 | EXTENSE | Numbers found in river no longer large (7) TENS in EXE |
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22 | MASCLE | Dark spot round square heraldic bearing (6) S[quare] in MACLE (dark spot) |
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24 | PARMA | Recipe fed to parents? It’s noted for ham and cheese (5) R[ecipe] in PA and MA |
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26 | OUSEL | Dipper supposedly seen in river and lake (5) OUSE (river) + L[ake] – I’m not sure why Azed has used “supposedly” here: Chambers defines ousel as “a water ouzel”, which is in turn defined as “the dipper” |
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28 | ESNE | One in vassalage constrained by sire’s needs (4) Hidden in sirE’S NEeds |
Thanks for the blog. Managed it without Chambers but a lot of checking after.
I think the long words were very friendly in this one.
Thought KAME was a bit weak really. 30AC must be a misprint , maybe it should be trained .
The OUSEL is a completely different family to the DIPPER, they are like blackbirds so must be the thrush family. Water ouzel must just be a sort of local name, hence supposedly.
Can’t remember how long this took me, but I’m sure I finished not too late on Sunday. 17 and 30ac were the two I couldn’t parse.
I wonder if 30ac was changed at the last minute, thereby losing the original cryptic:
‘…not taught’ would explain removing ‘trained’ from ‘constrained’ (I taught the apprentice/I trained the apprentice).
As usual Azed has stretched my vocabulary in the nicest way. Thanks for that.
Roz, I also looked sideways at OUSEL but it was the only one that fitted. It took a bit of Chambers-ing to find the “water” bit. I also could not parse CONS, but it was the only thing that made sense and fitted.
It seems the setters’ word of the month is OPAH as it has come up elsewhere recently.
Thanks for the blog Andrew.
Yes I have seen OPAH lately. I thought the OUSEL clue was okay because Azed put supposedly. A dipper does look a little bit like a “water ousel ” hence the local name. The ousel is actually a mountain bird , I have seen them in the Brecon Beacons.
It is a bit like the dunnock, people call them hedge sparrows but they are totally different family.