Azed No. 2,568 Plain

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One of those puzzles…

… where I completed almost all of it without recourse to the dictionary, then used Chambers to confirm a few guesses.

 

What I couldn’t do was parse a couple of them, so I appeal for your collective assistance to provide enlightenment for OCREA and GRATE (may be CRATE)

 

Thanks Azed.

ACROSS
1. Who’ll have disturbed roosting? Loth, I (13)
ORNITHOLOGIST

*(roosting loth i) [anag:disturbed] and semi &lit.

11. Bit of foreign money in church one’s invested (4)
CHON

Hidden [invested] in “churCH ONe”

 

In Korea, a chon is one hundredth of a won.

12. Gill spreading wings, with full range to pick from (8, 3 words)
A LA CARTE

GILL (a “cart” for transporting wood) spreading ALAE (“wings”)

14. Hubbub strangely odder when wife’s involved – that hurts! (8)
ROWDEDOW

*(odder) [anag:strangely] with W involved, + OW (“that hurts”)

15. Horse and colt in decline (4)
SCAG

C (colt) in SAG (“decline”)

16. One with vision unbroken, nerveless in part (6)
KENNER

Hidden [in part] in “unbroKEN NERveless”

 

In Scots, a kenner is “one who kens” or “one who knows”.

17. Member of the family, good as dance partner? (4)
SONG

SON (“member of the family”) + G (good)

18. Pet having a suitable doctor brought in clipped as a proviso (6)
CAVEAT

CAT (“pet”) having VE(t) (“a suitable doctor” clipped) + A brought in

19. What drains body cavity rips aorta in bits (9)
ASPIRATOR

*(rips aorta) [anag:in bits]

21. Acute anaemia, not universal in expressionist style (6)
FAVISM

No U (universal) in FA(u)VISM (“expressionist style”)

 

Favism is anaemia caused by an allergic reaction to fava beans.

24. Wife after bit of coupling in bordello (4)
CRIB

RIB (“wife”) after [bit of] C(oupling)

26. Simon’s chance encounter I’ll abandon for possible primate once (6)
APEMAN

I will abandon A P(i)EMAN (as “encountered” by (Simple) “Simon”)

28. Shelter after rain’s beginning, not the first for mowers (4)
RAWN

AWN (“shelter”) after R(ain) [‘s beginning]

 

Rain is an alternative spelling of rowen, a second mowing of grass.

29. Colt given a pill for equine swelling (8)
CAPELLET

C (colt) given A PELLET (“pill”)

 

Capellet is a cyst-like swelling on a horse’s elbow.

30. Time to visit theatre bar? Poet’s even taking in leaflet (8)
ENTR’ACTE

ENE (“poet’s even”) taking in TRACT (“leaflet”)

31. Churchman abandoning work, a mistake (4)
BISH

BISH(op) (“churchman” abandoning Op. (opus, so “work”)

32. Hated being confused, losing the point? What you’ll find in the gods (13)
DEATHLESSNESS

*(hated) [anag:being confused] + LESS (“losing”) + NESS (“point”)

DOWN
2. Oleander hand hooped with end of osier, twined (11)
RHODODAPHNE

*(hand hooped r) [anag:twined] where R is [end of] (osie)R

3. Without extremes of cunning, such a situation is hopeless (5)
NO-WIN

k(NOWIN)g (“cunning”) [without extremes]

4. Expert airman rising in foremost position, showing what’s distinctive on wing tip (6)
TOECAP

ACE (“expert horseman”) in TOP (“foremost position”)

5. Religious schools (hard to find!) were on edge? (7)
HADARIM

HAD A (“were on”, as in “they were on whisky”) + RIM (“edge”)

 

The “hard to find” in the clue relates to the fact that “hadarim” does not appear in Chambers under H, but under “cheder”.

6. Jock’s daughter’s bairn holds record in science (5)
OLOGY

OY (“grandchild” in Scots, so “Jock’s daughter’s bairn”) holds LOG (“record”)

7. Pair of stipules wild sorrel has on inside (5)
OCREA

In botany, core is a pair of stipules, but I can’t work out the rest of the clue.

8. One in automatic maybe making progress in Scotland (4)
GAUN

A (“one”) in GUN (“automatic maybe”)

 

Gaun is Scots for “going”

9. I’m pressing about sort of weed that’s coming up (6)
IRONER

<=(RE (“about”) + NORI (“sort of (sea)weed”), that’s coming up)

10. Quality of some cured meat from strain including American cattle (11)
STREAKINESS

STRESS (“strain”) including A (American) + KINE (“cattle”)

11. Replace with another image gradually, mixed in Ford’s case (9)
CROSSFADE

*(fords case) [anag:mixed]

13. Roll in mud say, a berth that’s slippery and too hot initially? (9)
EARTHBATH

*(a berth) [anag:that’s slippery] + A(nd) T(oo) H(ot) [initially]

18. Finger food primate dipped in preserves (7)
CANAPES

APE (“primate”) dipped in CANS (“preserves”)

19. Holy scriptures: version thereof is Roman one (6)
AVESTA

AV (Authorised “Version” of the Bible (holy scriptures)) + EST (“is” in Latin, so “is Roman”) + A (“one”)

 

The Avesta is a collection of Zoroastrian writings.

20. Napkins to twist up (6)
TOWELS

TO + <=SLEW (“to twist”, up)

22. Paddy, soaked, succeeded coming first (5)
SAWAH

AWASH (“soaked”) with the S (succeeded) coming first would be S-AWAH

23. Old snake may be in this cage (5)
GRATE

Sorry, can’t parse this one.

25. Alms required endlessly – see the old assemble (5)
RELIE

RELIE(f) (“alms”, endlessly)

27. Farmstead flourished – as fed with this salt beef? (4)
MART

(MART as fed)* [anag:flourished]

20 comments on “Azed No. 2,568 Plain”

  3. …oh and thanks for the parsing of AVESTA (thought it was to do with Vesta) and the HAD A of HADARIM.
    I bit cheeky the clue for SAWAH, ‘coming first’ didn’t suggest movement of the letter naturally.

  4. This certainly was not done in one sitting. Azed keeps reinforcing how much I do not know, which is good.
    I wondered if GRATE might have something to do with a plumber’s snake as it could be used to clean a grate, but I like Gonzo’s explanation much better.
    The rest was the usual tour of the less used parts of the dictionary. Thanks for the deciphering Loonapick.

  5. Thanks for the blog, found it okay and did not use Chambers but the checking after was difficult, not a good week for Chambers 93
    Toecap has nothing in the wing sense, Relie not there at all. Hadarim missing, just checked for Cheder and that is not there.
    Fortunately all three were clued well enough to get.
    APEMAN was my favourite.

  6. My first ever Azed and not surprisingly a DNF (maybe 85% done) especially without a chambers to refer to. I was lucky enough to spot ornithologist straight away and immediately switched to the downs as now had some starting letters. Without that I’m not sure I’d have got even halfway.

    Thanks for filling in the blanks loonapick.

  7. Blah @6 it took me two years to learn how to do Azed and finish regularly , 85% is rather a lot for first go.
    Azed often has a long word across the top and down the left, first are the most useful for other words.

  8. Thanks Roz, it was actually a comment you made a while ago that prompted me to try an azed I shall definitely carry on with it although probably just the plains for while yet.

  9. The blogs are brilliant for help. When I started I had to wait two weeks for the answers in the paper and very brief notes from Azed, then have to work out everything I did not get first time.

  10. My bad. I had entered ROWDEDOW as ROWDEROW, so was not able to get HADARIM. The Chambers app gives it as a search result for HADA?IM, so the “hard to find” is less appropriate.

  11. I never did parse GRATE. I wondered if it was an alternative spelling of KRAIT but found no support for this. Thanks to Gonzo for the explanation – I’m very grateful.

  13. About 10 weeks ago, I suddenly lost all enthusiasm for cryptics, after a run of a few years of avid solving. Since then, I have still been working them, with almost no enjoyment and quite a bit of sadness over the loss of a formerly engaging pastime. (I don’t know whether it is any measure of my bona fides, but I did win the prize on the Genius puzzle a few years ago.) I keep doing them, hoping that my interest will reengage, but I am on the verge of quitting the scene completely. For what it is worth, I very much enjoy these blogs, and you all seem like splendid people. I have learned a lot. On this one, I did not get GRATE (also partial to CRATE, which almost works), and I had GAIN for GAUN, but knew that did not parse. Still chewing over the Playfair from a few weeks ago; that will probably prove that extra level of complication beyond my patience for finishing it, though.

  14. Roz@5: Chambers2014 has cheder or heder (Judaism) n. (pl. chadarim, hadarim, cheders or cheders ) – but it also points to cheder from heder just after heddle there isn’t one to hadarim after hadal.

  15. Cineraria @13 – I’m sorry to hear about your diminished enthusiasm for cryptics. Mine seems pretty stable at the moment (I do the Guardian every morning and Azed on Sundays), but my enthusiasm for posting on 15squared about my efforts has diminished recently.

    I was another who had CRATE; couldn’t do SAWAH; and had unparsed RALIE. But enjoyed the tussle as usual. Thanks to Azed and loonapick.

  16. Thank you PeterM @ 14, I am too attached to my Chambers 93 to upgrade it, usually it is fine but this week three answers were missing.
    Cineraria I hope the joy of crosswords returns for you soon.

  17. Thanks, Gonzo@1, for RE in OCA; I was imagining a word -OCREA- meaning wild sorrel. I also thought the clue for SAWAH was a bit cheeky. Roz@5, my Chambers 98 doesn’t have Hadarim, Cheder or Heder; nor does it have Relie or Toecap/wing tip. Google had the former and latter, though.

  18. As my last few copies of Chambers have fallen apart, I invested in the Windows app version, which can’t fall apart.

  19. Azed does specify 2014 so it is fair enough if words are not in older editions. I try not to use the dictionary but I do like to check everything when I have finished.

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