I don’t even know if I have completed this one right…
…even though I’ve filled in all the boxes.
[Edit: thanks to the commenters who have cleared up the things I was unable to see. I have edited the solutions below, so that new readers don’t get wrong answers and explanations].
I have been ill most of this week, so have struggled to find the time and energy to do this Azed.
I found it difficult almost from the start, and until Thursday, when I gave up and started using Chambers, I had about 5-6 answers slotted in.
There are three solutions in the grid that I am unsure of, as I can’t parse them. They are EGOTISE, which I think is right, NAGOR, which I’m not so sure about, and THIR which I’m almost certain is wrong.
Therefore, with apologies to my readers and to Azed, I present what I have been able to solve…
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WHISTLING-SHOP |
Where prisoners could buy booze and tipsily slosh gin with dash of pop (13)
|
| *(slosh gin with) [anag:tipsily] + [dash of] P(op) | ||
| 10 | HOTTIES |
Host excitedly making room for marriage bed may be more welcoming with them (7)
|
| *(host) [anag:excitedly] making room for TIE (“marriage”)
I assume that Azed is referring to the informal term for hot-water bottles, but the other definition of sexually attractive people would also work! |
||
| 13 | I SAY |
Speaker’s introduction? That’s a bit much (4, 2 words)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | EGOTISE |
Be full of conceit, as a regretful miss before end of romance (7)
|
| e.g. (Miss) OTIS, as in the Cole Porter song Miss Otis Regrets, before [end of] (romanc)E | ||
| 15 | BLET |
Quite a lot of table talk that’s beyond ripe? (4)
|
| Quite a lot of “taBLE Talk” | ||
| 16 | MONERON |
Primitive organism, reverse of type that’s undivided inside (7)
|
| [reverse of] <=NORM (“type”) with ONE (“undivided”) inside | ||
| 17 | KILOTON |
Measure of explosive force, too unstable in oven (7)
|
| *(too) [anag:unstable] in KILN (“oven”) | ||
| 18 | REREAD |
On twice heading for promotion, study repeatedly (6)
|
| RE + RE (“on”, twice) + AD (“promotion”) | ||
| 20 | SPIN-DRYER |
Nimbler restricting din in a way, I’ve a very active drum (9, 2 words)
|
| SPRYER (“nimbler”) restricting *(din) [anag:in a way] | ||
| 23 | JEMIMA |
A copy making comeback after jack boot (6)
|
| <=(A MIME (“copy”, making comeback)) after J (jack)
A jemima is an elastic-sided boot. |
||
| 25 | BIPOLAR |
Punt’s propelled thus, we hear, suffering extremes? (7)
|
| Homophone [we hear] of BY POLER (“punt’s propelled thus”) | ||
| 27 | AMES-ACE |
A club having French art pinched – bad luck (7)
|
| A MACE (“club”) having ES (“art” i.e. are in “French”) | ||
| 30 | TOGE |
Very old garment, only 50% well- organized (4)
|
| [only 50%] TOGE(ther) [well-organized]
Toge is an obsolete form of toga |
||
| 31 | COVERTS |
Shelters lettuce, green inside (7)
|
| COS (“lettuce”) with VERT (“green”) inside | ||
| 32 | ROTE |
Was recording short of Welsh instrument of old? (4)
|
| (w)ROTE (“was recording”) short of W (Welsh)
A rote was a medieval stringed instrument. |
||
| 33 | KAKAPOS |
Nocturnal birds, alias parrot’s head, found in Greek island (7)
|
| AKA (also known as, “alias”) + P(arrot) [‘s head], found in KOS (“Greek island”)
Kakapos are rare nocturnal parrots from New Zealand. |
||
| 34 | SPECTRE LEMURS |
Tarsiers perter with muscles flexed (13, 2 words)
|
| *(perter muscles) [anag:flexed] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WHISKYJACK |
Jay presenting gig with John (10, 2 words)
|
| WHISKY (light “gig”) with JACK (“John”)
Whisky john and whisky jack are alternative names for the Canada jay. |
||
| 2 | HOSPICE |
Travel lodge of old, house with season following (7)
|
| Ho. (house) with SPICE (“season”) following | ||
| 3 | STYLOPISED |
Like infected hive that could create debt possibly, bees lost (10)
|
| *(det possily) [anag:that could create] where DET POSSILY is “de(b)t possi(b)ly” with Bs lost.
A stylopised hive is one where the bees are infested with a parasite of the Stylops genus. |
||
| 4 | TIBET |
This cloth’s a heavy fabric: I lay under it briefly (5)
|
| I + BET (“lay”) under ‘t (“it, briefly”)
Tibet (cloth) is a heavy goats’ hair fabric. |
||
| 5 | LEPTON |
A bit spent in Athens once? Show you know about origin of Parthenon (6)
|
| LET ON (“show you know”) about [origin of] P(arthenon) | ||
| 6 | NAGOR |
Antelope of Nigeria is this, i.e. if wild (5)
|
| *(of Nigeria) [anag:wild] gives i.e. if NAGOR | ||
| 7 | GOONEY |
Navy getting sentimental about albatross (6)
|
| N (navy) getting GOOEY (“sentimental”) about | ||
| 8 | HAIR |
Locks bull to cut up? (4)
|
| <=(H(ot) AIR) up with TO cut | ||
| 9 | ODSO |
One with sponsor lacking crust? Criminy! (4)
|
| (g)ODSO(n) (“one with sponsor” lacking crust) | ||
| 11 | STEREOGRAM |
What (as a joke) powered old radio Roger clumsily installed? It suggests solidity (10)
|
| STEAM (“what (as a joke) powered old radio”) with *(Roger) [anag:clumsily] installed | ||
| 12 | TENDERNESS |
Dead eagles found in ransacked nest, being delicate (10)
|
| D (dead) + ERNES (“eagles”) in *(nest) [anag:ransacked] | ||
| 19 | ABACTOR |
A cattle-robber at large? Could be one such, belter (7)
|
| *(a cattle robber) [anag:at large] gives BELTER ABACTOR, “abattoir” bring another word for a cattle-thief. | ||
| 21 | IMARET |
Hotel abroad? It’s occupied by evil spirit (6)
|
| IT occupied by MARE (“evil spirit”)
An imaret is a Turkish inn. |
||
| 22 | RITUAL |
Liturgy, universal in Italian, led by rector (6)
|
| U (universal) in Ital. (Italian), led by R (rector) | ||
| 24 | ACTOR |
Performer, contralto in soaring rondo (5)
|
| C (contralto) in <= ROTA (“rondo”, soaring) | ||
| 26 | POAKE |
Callisthenics round wood revealing Will’s codpiece? (5)
|
| PE (physical exercise, so “callisthenics”) round OAK (“wood”) | ||
| 28 | MOOP |
There’s nothing in a bit of sponge to nibble (4)
|
| O (nothing) in MOP (“bit of sponge”) | ||
| 29 | EVOE |
Some tremble over rising maenadic shriek? (4)
|
| Hidden backwards in [some…rising] “tremblE OVEr” |
Thanks loonapick, sorry to hear you struggled.
8dn is HAIR, and I had to have that explained to me.
EGOTISE refers to the song “Miss Otis regrets”.
NAGOR is compound anagram with OF NIGERIA as the lhs fodder.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
Ah, 1across should be WHISTLING SHOP.
I had guessed that 8d was HAIR, but it was a while after I had completed the rest of the grid that I worked out that it could be bull=HOT AIR with TO removed reversed.
The pun in 25A is “by poler.”
This one was a bit hairy.
Thanks for the blog, it is funny how it goes sometimes with Azed, a recent Plain took me three times as long as normal but everyone else found it quite simple. This one went in very quickly with no Chambers.
Miss Otis Regrets was in a Bunthorne crossword a while ago and caught me out so I knew it this time.
Damn and blast I had an unparsed TOGA not a TOGE otherwise all in, although HAIR was an unparsed guess. Still one letter wrong in a hairier than last week isn’t too bad. I was pleased to have solved EGOTISE and thought who or what the hell is (an) OTIS? With no entry in Chambers it had to be who and Google soon provided that answer.
Thanks Azed and loonapick and hope you feel better soon.
Thanks Azed and loonapick. Sorry to hear you’ve been under the weather – not what you need when on Azed blogging duty!
Like Roz, I found this one surprisingly straightforward – I even spotted the comp.anag. for NAGOR. The one for ABACTOR was more troublesome, but I had enough helpful crossing letters to get there in the end. Overall, it helped that the NW corner went in fairly easily – not familiar with WHISTLING SHOP or WHISKY JACK but they both came readily from the clues (though on checking sources, I see that WHISKY JOHN is an alternative name for the bird, which made the clue seem a bit weaker).
HOTTIES seemed a tad risqué for Azed, but enjoyably so.
Had to rack the brain to remember Miss OTIS (which I know best from the wonderful Kirsty MacColl version).
MOOP happily reminded me of the brilliant ‘Bubble Boy’ episode of Seinfeld, when George Costanza gets in a fight over Trivial Pursuit because of a misprint on the card rendering Moors as Moops… “There’s no Moops!”
Yes, this one went in fairly quickly for me, but I did have to check a few in Chambers before I felt sure enough to enter them. Couldn’t parse HAIR and it took me a while to work out why a POAKE was a codpiece.
Widdersbel @ 7: I took HOTTIES to be a reference to hot water bottles, rather than ‘hot’ people…. I didn’t struggle particularly with the puzzle, but it took me a little while to parse HAIR.
MunroMaiden @9 – I agree, but I’m sure Azed is not naive enough to be unaware of the other meaning, which the surface seems to subtly hint at.
I should confess I also failed to parse HAIR, by the way. That aside, the only other thing that really gave me trouble with parsing was ‘French art’, which is a trick I’ve not encountered before – though I suspect it’s a chestnut for more experienced solvers. (Didn’t help that I was unfamiliar with AMES-ACE either.)
Do not think I have seen AMES-ACE before but I have definitely seen AMBS-ACE so I sort of remembered it. French art is used quite often since es is common inside words.
LEPTON was crying out for a science clue for once.
Thanks to Azed as always. I found the top right harder to complete but a few brain resets eventually let me see it all. I was mainly held up by misspelling one answer. Took a while to find as I was so sure!
Um, Loonapick, I think the definition for 19d is “A cattle robber”, which does double duty. Thanks for the blog – I needed it as I didn’t know Miss Otis.
Miss Otis was coincidentally in a Tees cryptic clue in The Times 3 days ago.
Roz @5, it’s good to know people are still solving old Bunthornes today (or do you have a super-memory?). A great setter.
Blorenge@13 I have a super-memory ha ha so I am told. I only ever did Bunthorne “live” in the Guardian on the days he set. He was my biggest problem when I was learning to solve crosswords .
I still only do crosswords on the day in the paper with one occasional exception, somebody kindly printed off some Torquemada puzzles for me, the Bunthorne of his day.
Jeez Roz, good luck with the Torquemadas. I recently found four old Azeds which are not online. I should try to get them online but I’m slightly challenged, at my age. I’ll get one of the younger ones to load them and let people know. They are 1,103, 1,105, 1,106 and 1,107. All Plains but interesting. Wish I had 1,104—the solution in 1,106 shows it was a Playfair. These would have been from 1993, I think.
Worth trying to find The Penguin Book of Ximenes Crossword Puzzles [1972], although it’s become very expensive. There was an earlier 1948 Ximenes Penguin but it was mostly Everymans.
Stefan