A rather busy week meant that I solved this in several short sessions, which perhaps made it seem more difficult than it actually is, but in retrospect most of it looks fairly straightforward, though as always with a few unusual words and tricky parsings. Thanks to Azed
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | EUTROPHICATE | A hot slice of tart epicure cooked to feed healthily (12) Anagram of A HOT T[art] EPICURE. Coincidentally I just come across TROPHIC (meaning “relating to nutrition”) in a Kairos puzzle: this is related, with the familiar EU- prefix for “well” |
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| 10 | CERO | Big fish: company boss is about right (4) R in CEO |
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| 11 | SNATHS | Bushwhackers may have these tin hats, battered (6) SN (chemical symbol for tin) + HATS* |
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| 13 | DIOPTRE | Urgent – plump in the middle? See lens measurement (7) OPT (to plump) in DIRE |
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| 15 | SUTLERS | They ply their wares to men in camp – result’s getting drunk (7) RESULTS* |
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| 16 | SOIRÉE | Party provided warmth about start of evening (6) SO (provided – this is number 14 in a long list of definitions of “so” in Chambers, as in “so/provided that”) + E[vening] in IRE |
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| 17 | CADETS | Colts accepting start of training? (6) T[raning] in CADES &lit (cade=”a lamb or colt left by its mother) |
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| 18 | INCENSE | Heat meat for cottage pie, setting aside first three quarters (7) [M]INCE (meat for cottage pie, with its first letter “set aside”) + N S E (three quarters of the compass – rather vague by Azed’s standards) |
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| 19 | SNIB | Falling backwards dumps catch (4) Reverse of BINS |
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| 21 | SOFA | Canapé tastes of almond in the middle (4) The exact middle letters of tasteS OF Almond |
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| 23 | SPONDEE | Experience, taking in flash? One has no shorts! (7) POND in SEE – a spondee is a metrical foot of two long syllables, so no “shorts” |
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| 26 | CLUSIA | Evergreen climbers from Sri Lanka and the States, one of them (6) CL (code for Sri Lanka, from its old name of Ceylon) + US (the states) + IA (code for Iowa, one of the states) |
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| 28 | AMRITA | It’s imbibed by Rama possibly (6) IT in RAMA* &lit – “the drink of the Hindu gods” |
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| 29 | HARMONY | Damage fine stone, scratching sign of love or concord (7) HARM ONYX less X (sign of a kiss or love) |
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| 31 | POINTEL | Line fashioned with top style? (7) (LINE TOP)* |
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| 32 | PEELER | Person catching fish he skins (6) EEL in PER[son] |
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| 33 | TELE | Vacated theatre and left only half set? (4) T[heatr]E + LE[ft] – tele (or telly) as in television set |
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| 34 | ORDER OF MERIT | Mitre might be this indication of grade (12, 3 words) A “reverse anagram” – MERIT is an anagram or ORDERing of MITRE |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | ECDYSIS | Slough features in this involvement of Ed with Cissy (7) (ED CISSY)* – ecdysis is the shedding or sloughing of (e.g.) a reptile’s skin |
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| 2 | TROPIC | Turning point right within theme of discourse (6) R in TOPIC |
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| 3 | ROPY | Glutinous helping of chilly porridge served up (4) Hidden in reverse of chillY PORridge |
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| 4 | OUT‑PENSIONER | Non-resident with state support, poorest struggling with ennui (12) (POOREST ENNUI)* |
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| 5 | PURSES | Old bungs foiled user opening special up (6) USER* in reverse of SP[ecial] – bung is old criminal slang for a purse |
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| 6 | INSTAR OMNIUM | To recap, with it Roman somehow encapsulated … his admired philosopher (12, 2 words) (IT ROMAN)* in IN SUM (to recap) – it’s a phrase used by Cicero to describe Plato, meaning “worth all of them”, so I think this is another &lit |
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| 7 | CAULD | Chilled Scotch in Jock’s bar? (5) Two Scots definitions – “cold” and a dam or “bar” |
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| 8 | ATWEEN | Linking arms thus we each express nearness initially (6) First letters of Arms Thus We Each Express Nearness |
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| 9 | THIRTIETH | End of September? Hitter hit out (9) (HITTER HIT)* – “thirty days hath September…” |
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| 12 | SOSS | Mayday, with character leading show, plump (4) SOS (mayday, as a radio signal) + S[how] |
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| 14 | MONOLATER | E.g. Christian doctor, just as timely (9) MO (doctor) + NO LATER – a monolater is one who worships a single god, though allowing the possibility of others, so maybe Christian is not the best example |
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| 20 | BEAMLET | Lay about wandering male, minor luminary? (7) MALE* in BET |
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| 22 | FURLED | Rolled up coat following guide (6) FUR (coat) + LED (following [a] guide) |
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| 24 | PAYOFF | Dénouement left out of drama, no longer available (6) PLAY less L + OFF (no longer available, e.g. as in a restaurant) |
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| 25 | DIETER | Banter (one might suppose) I introduced to restrain (6) I in DETER – a banter is one who practises banting, or dieting |
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| 26 | CHIP | Approach part of archipelago? (4) Hidden in arCHIPelago – a chip is an approach shot in golf |
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| 27 | SMILE | Old soldier, last promoted to lead 20’s a slight one? (5) MILES (Latin “soldier”) with the S moved to the top; a BEAMLET (20d) could be a “slight smile” – it’s unusual for Azed to use this kind of cross-referencing; in fact I think he mentioned that he’s not keen on it in a recent Slip |
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| 30 | ANTE | Heading heavenward, maid leaves glittering stake (4) DIAMANTE, less reverse of MAID – stake as in poker etc |
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Tut tut I left SMILE unfilled. Thanks Andrew.
Some good WIGTTFOOS moments in this one – OUTPENSIONER stuck in memory.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
Thanks Azed for the usual dip into the slightly obscure side of the dictionary.
I tend to agree with your 6d categorisation Andrew, and thanks for untangling everything. The great thing about an Azed is you usually know if you are right or not. I didn’t help myself by misspelling SUTLERS – yes, really. It took me a couple of sessions to untangle from there.
MONOLATER was my pick of them this week.
Thanks for the blog, first non Chambers finish for a while.
CERO not in my Chambers 93 when I checked after but had to be right.
SUTLERS was in fairly recently, I agree MONOLATER is not really Christian
SPONDEE was my favourite for this use of flash.
EUTROPHICATE is one of those strange words that can mean opposites, most commonly it is used to mean ruining the ecosystem in a a pond or lake due to fertiliser run-off.
After two weeks in a row of totally failing to finish, I’m pleased to say I completed this before starting dinner last Sunday. I needed a word search to get 6dn and couldn’t parse SOIREE.
What is WIGTTFOOS, Gonzo? When I get the….?
What Is Grohl To The Foos? Or more likely, Well I’ll Go To The Foot Of Our Stairs.
I didn’t realise how strict Azed was about reversals in down clues until I came across an old Azed slip a couple of weeks ago. Eg in 30d – ‘Heading heavenward, maid leaves glittering stake’ – the more natural ‘Heading back…’ is verboten for him, even though other setters would use it.
cruciverbophile@5: Twmbarlwm has it. I have devised the most wonderful clue for this phrase, but this blog is too small to contain it.
Not an expression I was aware of, so thanks for the enlightenment!
I’m being dim – why does POND = flash?
Shirl @9 I did not check Chambers but I am sure it will be there. Pennington Flash is a pool fairly near us so I knew it, there must be many others.
Thanks Roz, another one to try to secure in the memory bank.
Flash had me scratching my head. From Chambers:
flash2 /flash/ (obsolete or dialect)
noun
A pool, pond or marshy place
ORIGIN: Onomatopoeic; perh infl by Fr flache a hollow or pool
[ I came here to see when yesterday’s Azed will get blogged – looks like on Sunday. Got a coupls of DNPs and one I can’t get from a word-search in the Chambers app – which is supposed to be the 2014 edition. ]
I can’t say anything really until Sunday but there were definitely three answers not in my Chambers 93 and I am sure they are correct, they may be in 2014.