Azed No. 2,575 Plain

26 comments on “Azed No. 2,575 Plain”

1. Thanks PeeDee.
   I think the definition in 12 has an implied ‘of clay’ at the end, till being boulder clay.
   Has Azed mistaken the past tense for the past participle in 22?
   Thanks as ever to Azed.

2. Thanks for the blog, I agree on 12Ac , unless TILLY can refer to other types of boulder ? We need a geologist.
   MINKE a threatened species ? Not really compared to other types of whale, they are widespread and numerous at the moment .
   INGS, COLY and RAMET not in my Chambers 93 but all easy to solve, INGS was in very recently.
   Beltane is my favourite festival so BELTMAN has to be my favourite clue.

3. Thanks Azed and PeeDee

   I had a ? next to tilly too couldn’t find out much about it tho Wikipedia has a longish entry on till.

   Re the minke it appears there are more than one species commonly called minke, I found two entries on the iucn redlist, one under ‘data deficient’ another under ‘least concern’. Perhaps the fact they are on the list at all qualifies them as threatened?

4. Thanks to Azed and PeeDee
   I found this a particularly tough solve, although I was helped on 2d by the fact that raki “turned up” in the previous day’s Guardian quiz.
   I too wondered about the minke whale being threatened – but Azed has put a ?

5. Perhaps “threatened species” is not about current conservation status but a cryptic reference to the cliche “save the whale” referring to environmentalists in the 1970s and 80s.

6. One of those weeks where I have a completed puzzle in front of me but absolutely no memory of solving it.

7. 20dn: The ‘in’ seems to be superfluous for both parsing and surface meaning? When I first read the clue, I took it to mean the outer letters would be, say, NL – one (I) lacking in NIL.

   Re Minke, the Antarctic minke is listed as ‘near threatened’, which I suppose could be covered by the question mark.

   Thanks for the blog.

8. I barely made a dent in this one, partly due to tiredness/stress/lack of time, but it’s reassuring to see others saying it was tougher than recent weeks.

   And it’s educational to see how the clues break down, so thanks as ever for the blog, PeeDee.

   On a more positive note, I got an HC from JC for my 2573 submission – pleased with that for a first attempt (and I can’t argue with DM’s wonderful winner).

9. Anyone found a working link for today’s (there’s just the grid, no clues). I’ve tried tweaking the URL of last week’s but with no success.

10. You can find the clues on PressReader (requires login: Facebook and Google accounts can be used).

11. Sorry cruciverbophile @9 I am strictly pen and paper only.
    Well done widdersbel@8 , I am sure your clue was better than the three winners , I was not impressed today and the actual winner will simply confirm what most people say about Azed prizes.

12. cruciverbophile @9 – I also tried tweaking the link for today’s puzzle with no success. Oh dear, I suppose I have to do the Everyman. This has happened before just a few weeks ago, but it came up later in the day.

13. Thanks Andrew, I tried that but the formatting is jumbled up with missing numbers. There is a page view but that requires more signing up, so I’ll wait until tomorrow.

14. Congratulations Widdersbel, you must be as pleased as punch!

    Can anyone provide a link to the slip? I must be having a senior moment but cannot find it online.

15. Hello all! Nice to join in. Thanks to Azed and PeeDee. Can’t remember a lot about last week’s 2575 but did complete it on the day, which is not always the case these days.
    Very amused at the prize-winner for HANDS-ON. Cheeky of the Don to advertise his book!

16. Blah @14 – thanks, it’s some consolation for my abject failure to complete this puzzle.

    The slip can be found on the andlit.org.uk website

    Roz @11 – thanks also. I liked Don M’s clue though it was a bit self-indulgent.

17. Azed 2756
    Incomplete pdf file ! Manchester Guardian becoming more like Manure every week .

18. The pdf for 2756 is now available with clues!

19. This one most unsatisfying: yomps through brain and dictionary yielded everything except BELTMAN (couldn’t be bothered) so this a DNF. I should add that I live in Australia.
    I agree with Mr Thomas that Mr Manley’s clue was superb! And that, sometimes those little four-letter clues are the hardest to finish.
    I had INERT, and wondered why a Tyner could become a Tiner, but assumed it was something in newer editions than mine. I have a dear sister and brother-in-law, a true (almost unintelligible) Geordie, and he could polish off Azed in half the time we could. He was not a miner, but an intellectual (and now a bookbinder). So I shall take umbrage at Chambers or Azed or both for a possible insult.
    Stefan

20. Widdersbel as you *only* got an HC, your clue wasn’t on the slip, do you mind me asking what it was? Also was it the one you liked or the one you thought Azed would like? Oh and thanks for the link I was definitely having a senior moment crossed with a brain fart.

21. Blah @20 – sure… I had two clues – one that I thought would be perfectly serviceable for use in an ordinary crossword but I felt wasn’t really inventive enough for submission to a prize; the other was more ‘clever’ (possibly a matter of opinion) but perhaps needed further refinement to make the grade – it went through several iterations before I was happy with it:

    Wills is successor’s successor; if ‘King George’ ousted, Henry takes primacy
    (H+[gr]ANDSON)

    And here’s the ‘ordinary’ one:

    Soon finds room for daughter and son after hotel transfers
    (H+AN[D+S]ON)

22. In case that wasn’t clear, it was the first one that I submitted. No idea if Azed would have preferred the other but I didn’t think it was prize-worthy. But as Roz hints, some of those that did get a mention didn’t seem that special either.

23. I really liked Don Manley’s winning clue. The Azed competition traditionally has the very occasional in-joke and reference to Azed himself and the competition, and that’s all part of the fun. A great example was Mark Barley’s winning entry for ‘Transparent’, a clue that wouldn’t mean anything to non-Azeders, but brilliant:
    After ‘Devilry’, entrants must tackle standard ‘Plain’

24. I have tried , with limited success, to encourage good solvers to try Azed because I think they would enjoy it
    Some people are put off by the impression that the whole thing is a bit of a clique with “in-jokes” that exclude outsiders.

25. Thanks Widdersbel, I prefer the first but both are very good. Wills as definition was inspired! My attempts were somewhat stymied by my stricter use of the definition(as well as not being very good at it). I see on the slip that Azed addresses that point and is quite liberal in what he will accept. Good to know for the future.

    The winner for transparent is indeed excellent Blorenge, thanks for sharing that.

    Keep trying Roz, it worked with Widdersbel and myself.

26. The impression that a particular crossword is a bit of an in-club is something that applies to all crossword publications. I don’t think Azed is anything special in this regard.

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