Azed No. 2,577 Plain

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I found this Azed harder than usual, probably because there were no 11 or 12 letter words in the grid.

Unusually, there is what appears to be an error by Azed in the definition at 9 down. There are also two splendid & lit clues. I also particularly appreciated the clue for RESUME.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 SPLATCH
Wee stain spelling area of wet mud (7)
SP(elling) LATCH (wet mud). “Wee” in the definition indicates that this is a Scottish word.
6 FONTS
They’re familiar to printers old and new in newspaper section (5)
O and N inside FT, S(ection).
10 IRREVERENT
Godless hiding gun in disguised terrine (10)
REV (gun, as in to gun a car) inside *TERRINE.
11 BONCE
Ally constant in axis, say (5)
C(onstant) in BONE (an axis can refer to a vertebra). Ally is more usually spelled “alley”: it and bonce are both names for marbles.
12 JIBBER
Speak incomprehensibly, horse refusing jump? (6)
Double definition.
14 ICE-CALK
I cackle wildly – it’ll stop mount skidding (7)
*(I CACKLE). It’s a nail protruding from a horseshoe to provide grip on icy surfaces.
15 LOAST
Relaxed no longer, when in grip of destiny (5)
AS (when) inside LOT (destiny).
16 ANTLIA
Small constellation, one with twinkly tail (6)
AN *TAIL.
19 SPRAINT
Is it squidged in pats round either edge of river? (7)
*(IN PATS) around R(iver). A very neat & lit clue.
21 ATELIER
Wherein to find elite RA working? (7)
*(ELITE RA). And another & lit clue!
24 RESUME
What’s next to do? Think about filling in that CV (6)
Two definitions and one piece of wordplay: MUSE (rev.) in RE. I didn’t see the wordplay until I came to write this blog.
27 TREES
Wood? River circles small one (5)
R(iver) inside TEES.
29 ZOOGAMY
Neutering precludes this cross-breed – nothing smelly (7)
ZO (cross-breed), 0, GAMY.
30 TAMANU
Tall Pacific tree, piece incorporated in cross (6)
MAN (piece, as in chess) inside TAU.
31 WIRER
Snare-maker maybe creating fury, restrained by women’s resistance (5)
IRE inside W and R.
32 A NATURA REI
Rite suffused with an aura, as the case determines? (10, 3 words)
*(RITE AN AURA).
33 HOSEL
Part of golf club: selected club lost latitude (5)
(c)HOSE (selected) L(atitude).
34 ALENGTH
Tangle in one end of leash at full stretch (7)
*TANGLE (leas)H. “Tangle” seems to be doing double duty, both as the fodder for the anagram and the instruction.
DOWN
1 SYBIL
This fortune-teller calls art? Is crystal ball possibly (5)
Compound anagram: SYBIL CALLS ART is an anagram of IS CRYSTAL BALL.
2 PSOCOPTERA
Family of lice like this to catch in gym are on the rise (10)
SO COP inside PT, ARE (rev).
3 LINEAL
Faithful about family king abandoned, marking direct descent (6)
(k)IN inside LEAL (faithful).
4 TREATY
Covenant reached by doctor, character closing surgery (6)
TREAT (doctor) (surger)Y.
5 CELLOSE
Product of hydrolysis requiring instruments and electromotive force (7)
CELLOS E.
6 FEIGN
Imagine once e.g. breaking hand in two places (5)
EG inside (“breaking”) FIN (hand). “In two places” indicates that the letters of EG are separated.
7 ORBITAL
Regular course test including a short piece? (7)
BIT inside ORAL.
8 NEBEL
Instrument essential to tune bells (5)
Hidden (“essential”) inside “tune bells”.
9 STRIATE
Furrowed part of the US bordering another (7)
RI (Rhode Island) inside STATE. I fear that Azed has slipped here: STRIATE is a transitive verb, meaning to mark with striae, or furrows. The adjectival form is STRIATED. I admit that STRIATE looks at first glance like an adjective, which is how Azed must have misled himself.
13 EVINCEMENT
Cable maybe chaps fitted in east when missing – here’s proof (10)
VINCE (Cable) MEN inside E(as)T. A relatively rare occurrence these days for Mr Cable, once the leader of the Liberal Democrats and a minister in the coalition government.
17 WARATAH
Australian shrubs cover one fresh pulled up (7)
HAT A RAW (all rev).
18 PLUMATE
Fruit tasted, ready for plucking? (7)
A charade of PLUM ATE. Something plumate is feathered, hence might be ready for plucking.
20 PREORAL
Paler or trembling, like lips? (7)
*(PALER OR). Difficult to define this word, which isn’t specifically defined in Chambers.
22 STOWRE
First sign of racism in school creating turmoil as before (6)
R(acism) in STOWE (English public school).
23 LEA-RIG
Unploughed field due to knowledge number’s left in places (6)
LEAR(n)I(n)G.
25 SOMAS
Plant bodies Aegean island’s reared (5)
SAMOS (rev).
26 MANUL
Wildcat grabbing swan’s tail in savage struggle (5)
(swa)N in MAUL.
28 SYRAH
Wine holds up, short time bottled (5)
YR (short time) inside HAS (rev).

34 comments on “Azed No. 2,577 Plain”

  1. Thanks for the blog, bridgesong.

    In 34a, I think ‘tangle in one’ is supposed to indicate ‘tangle in a tangle’.

    In 1d, I was glad I avoided entering SIBYL, which I think is the more usual spelling.

    Re 9d: I checked a few recent editions of Chambers and they all give STRIATE as both a transitive verb and an adjective, in the latter case defined as ‘marked with striae’.

  2. Sorry bridgesong, OED confirms STRIATE as an adjective – last citation 1876, but it’s not marked as obsolete.
    I like your take on RESUME though, ‘what’s next to do’ could be a second definition.
    Thanks as ever to Azed.

  4. As mentioned elsewhere “as before” is redundant in 22a as it’s not listed as obsolete or archaic in Chambers(2014).

  5. I’m supporting Azed today.
    STRIATE is an adjective in my 2006 Chambers. And PLUMATE is defined as “feathered” and bridgesong is right about “ready for plucking?” Vince Cable is yet another parochialism—I might not like them, but Vince turned up readily enough on Google so fair’s fair.
    I struggle sometimes with Azed’s syntax: “Wildcat grabbing swan’s tail in savage struggle”—my syntax, and indeed the English language’s, would indicate that it’s the wildcat doing the grabbing. I think it can be justified because of the glorious ridiculousness of our language (which really does what it wants to whether we like it or not). But “grabbing” here comes dangerously close to Don Manley’s, and Azed’s own, redundant words. I would have passed “Wildcat getting swan’s tail in savage struggle” where “getting” = “producing” or “giving”.
    PREORAL must have been a brute. I’m not sure if Azed’s got it quite right but let’s be lenient. Anyway he was kind to point us to the list of prefixes. It’s not in my SOED and even OED flounders. As best I can work out, it refers to the Coelomata, and possibly some other families. It’s hyphenated on Lexico.
    If STOWRE is an alternative spelling of “stoor” or “stour”, it is indeed obsolete except in its Scottish meaning of dust, even though you have to crosscheck under “stoor”.
    Most unusual to have eleven straight Plains from Azed (rubs hands at sight of today’s!)

    Stefan

  6. Thanks for the blog , in my Chambers 93 STOWRE=STOUR=TURMOIL is not obsolete , the other meanings from STOOR are.
    PREORAL with PRE as sense 2 just means in front of the mouth so I was happy with the definition.
    HOSEL not in my Chambers but was in Azed very recently, ICECALK not in either but I did know the word.
    I was a bit surprised by maul as savage struggle, I know rugby can be a bit rough but savage is a bit much.

  7. Thanks Azed and Bridgesong,

    I usually take at least a couple of bites at these, but this took me much longer partly because I initially put in BALSA for 27, there is a river Lab in Serbia. I’d taken circling as a reversal and I hadn’t considered the question mark.

    The Chambers app only gives STRIATE as a verb with the adjective being as bridgesong notes. But it does have PREORAL linked to ORAL with the second sense of PRE- as in the anterior part of, in front of (esp. anatomy). So I think that’s fair enough.

  8. I stand by my criticism of STRIATE, although I accept that the adjectival sense is verifiable in other dictionaries, as well as in earlier editions of Chambers. When a setter recommends a particular edition of a particular dictionary, the onus is on him to check that the sense in which he uses it is supported in that edition. Alternatively, he can indicate that the particular usage is not to be found in that edition – something that Azed does quite often (see, for example, today’s puzzle).

    It would be interesting to know why Chambers decided to modify their entry for the current edition. Their database must presumably have indicated a change in usage.

  9. In 24 RESUME the “what’s next to do” surely provides the RE (as in do re mi) so I don’t think it can act as a second definition too?

  10. Cruciverbophile @9: I think you’re right. I saw that sense when solving, but had forgotten about it when I came to write the blog. So it’s just two separate pieces of wordplay – one for RE and one for SUME.

  11. I just put STRIATE in without a thought from the word play, it did sound right.
    bridgesong@8 I strongly agree with your main point, if something is not in or even not quite right in C14 then Azed needs to indicate this, he does do this in the vast majority of cases but not this time.

  12. STRIATE: I agree bridgesong and Roz. But I’m still going to allow Azed some leniency. He doesn’t always indicate obsolete usage, sometimes so we can get a clever surface reading. When this happens, I’d rather have Azed winking at us rather than brutal accuracy.
    One of the reasons I stick with my 2006 Chambers is that, over many years, it’s received so many cross-references in tiny pencil on most pages that I’d never be able to transfer them all to a new edition. I think my first Chambers was a 1970. I have about five since then (and many more historically prior) and, at first, I transferred religiously my annotations. But there are now too many. Age brings with it failing eyesight and shaky writing. I have known since 1970 that ptarmic, errhine and sternutatory all mean “sneezing”. But years mean that I can’t remember a recent reference to “bonce” as a marble, even though I really did know it—bdohhh! I have ten synonyms for “marble” and there’s another from my (dialect) youth not in Chambers. Fit all those into the margin of your Chambers.
    Blah’s reference to the Chambers’ app makes me grateful that I barely know what an “app” is.

    Stefan

  13. Stefan@12 I meant Azed should indicate when he puts “The C14 is recommended.” He could have said the sense of 9D is in earlier editions.
    I am still on my first Chambers from 93, it just about survives. I certainly do not know what an app is and remain determined never to find out.

  14. A DNF for me this week. I got the top half complete Sunday night but I had a medical appointment Monday afternoon and didn’t really get back to it till Tuesday. I got the bottom right complete but the bottom left flummoxed me.

    Curiously, I had considered TAMANU for 30ac but I couldn’t see it in Chambers (the app) even though I just rechecked and it’s there.

  15. Roz@13. The great thing about the app is that it never wears out. My paper copy of the latest edition fell apart years ago. Also, it’s easier to look something up and it’s weighs less when carrying it when travelling.

  16. Thanks Azed and Bridgesong. I have come late to this discussion on 9dn, but my copy of Chambers 2014 (page 1539) gives “adj marked with striae” as a definition immediately following the definition of striate as a verb, so I think it must mean that striate can also be an adjective.

  17. Sorry: my reference to STRIATE @12 should not have referred to obsolete usage but the part of grammar. The point applies to Azed’s occasional use of both.
    Now Dormouse has come out of the woodwork and reminded me of my migration to Australia. I was determined to cover as much of the journey overland as I could. You may believe it or not but my rucksack included the 1977 Chambers. I got as far as Hong Kong before I gave myself a good talking-to, and forwarded Chambers, a suit (very good for hitch-hiking), couple of ties and much other stuff by post.
    I do not have a mobile phone or smartphone. I have never driven a car in my life. I have spent most of my life without a TV but now we have two!
    Has anyone heard anything more about the “sixteenth” edition Azed referred to in his slip a while back?

    Stefan

  18. I’m hoping if there is a new edition of Chambers, it, too, will be available as an app. 🙂

    I’ve never driven a car, apart from some lessons in 1974. It terrified me. And I never got a mobile until after I retired, but that was 15 years ago now and a couple of years ago I upgraded to a smartphone. I use it as much as a cooking timer as I do as a phone.

    But I was a computer professional for 30 years so doing stuff on a computer is second nature to me.

  19. Pelham Barton @16: in which case I owe Azed an unreserved apology. I am another who relies on the app, my last print edition being the unfortunate 12th in 2011. The app is clear that STRIATE is only an infinitive form, not also an adjective. It specifically gives STRIATED as the adjective. However, in my defence, I must point out that the Chambers app claims to be based on the 13th edition, so it’s puzzling that it should apparently differ from the print edition.

  21. Yes, that clears things up. I only have the unrevised edition plus the missing words download and the app. The unrevised edition definitely has STRIATE as an adjective, the app doesn’t.

  22. I agree with bridgesong, this one was (even) harder than usual. Got there over several days, except I ended up with BONIE for 9 ac via the exact same wordplay, except that my constant was i, the square root of minus 1. Chambers has BONIE as an alternative spelling for BONNY, which can mean a Scottish sweetheart, hence, I thought, an ally. That felt incredibly stretchy for Azed, and nothing to indicate it is Scots, but I couldn’t see what else it could be. I did even consider BONCE from the wordplay, but couldn’t see how a head coud be an ally and I never would have got the marble connection in a million years.

    Agreed that PREORAL is in Chambers 2014, but I only found it in pre- on about the 5th attempt at looking it up as one word while thinking that “it just has to be that, surely it must be in here somewhere”!

  23. Can’t remember this being too much of a struggle. The one joy was finding my wife’s name at 1 down. At Azed’s 2,000th she had the memorable experience of being kissed by Colin Dexter! Is still frail but indefatigable.
    Thanks to you all for having someone to chat with. Cannot say that I had any quibbles over STRIATE but grammar can be entertaining and good that “pedants anonymous” is alive and kicking.

  26. As far am I’m concerned spoil away Roz, I could use the help!

    You’ve probably seen it Keith but this post about pedantry made me laugh.

  27. It takes a while to get going but does collapse, although I realise it is very tricky if you not seen these before.

  28. Sorry for late comment (only just finished). This one was a great challenge but managed to fill out correctly. Loved Waratah – (biased!), undone by Wordplay for resume, missed STOWE (English school) and explanation for HOSEL. My 2008 Chambers gives c = clubs not club but that’s probably being pedantic! Love the banter on this blog. Go Oz in the Ashes!

  30. PK @ 28 quite right c=clubs in the card sense but a single card is often referred to as a club. ” I should have played a club first before introducing hearts ”
    I had vaguely heard of the Waratahs which helped me, is it rugby union ?

  31. APP @ 29: just over a year, in fact, the first appearing in mid-October 2020, but we’ll spotted! All clued differently, of course.

  32. Roz@27 I think you’re right that correction makes sense and has unlocked the SW for me where I was stymied. I can’t say any more till next week of course but thanks muchly!

  33. Roz @25 & 27(a significant number in the context). Thanks for confirming suspicions. The Letters Latent is great fun as are all specials.

  34. It is just a printing error I think, everything else works perfectly. My favourite is the Carte Blanche but I do enjoy the Letters Latent.

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