Azed 2597

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As the Azed series moves into its second half-century, yet another high-quality puzzle. Thanks to Azed

 
Across
1 BRACKISH Mistake imbibing selection of wine, barely drinkable (8)
RACK (where wine may be stored) in BISH (mistake)
7 ARCH Principal taking part in popular charade (4)
Hidden in populAR CHarade
12 AIZOACEAE African plant: fish and individual creatures desist when sun’s out (9)
AI (Japanese fish) + ZOA (individual creatures) + CEASE (desist) less S
13 FLAUNE Crêpe in France, Breton one containing local milk, not Italian (6)
LAIT (French “milk”) less IT in F[rance] + UNE (“one” as might be said by a Breton, though not in the Celtic Breton language)
14 INDRA Monsoon deity? I’ll go for river where my worshippers are (5)
INDIA (where worshippers of Indra – king of the Hindu gods, and god of rain and storms – might be) with the second I replaced by R
15 FAT CAMP Fact: ma and pa will be thrilled with bit of avoirdupois lost here? (7, 2 words)
(FACT MA PA)* less A[voirdupois] &lit
16 RAVER Madman runs state (5)
R + AVER
17 SCHUSSES Such terribly regressive tax takes the most downhill route (8)
SUCH* + reverse of SESS (tax – variant of “cess”)
19 BROILER Brother bottles what’s used for cooking chicken (7)
OIL in BRER
21 REMERGE Regiment, half of it about good to form fresh coalition (7)
REME + G in RE[ME]
25 MONOCRAT Despot given no credit occupying castle defence system (8)
NO CR in MOAT
26 PATNA Extract from plant, a plant from the east, that gives name to common food (5)
Hidden in reverse of plANT A Plant
27 ATTAINT Old convict having to reach end of imprisonment (7)
ATTAIN + [imprisonmen]T
29 PRIOR Senior canon Louis maybe backed to attend prince (5)
PR[ince] + reverse of ROI
30 DOTAGE ‘Over-lovingness’ label accepted by female (6)
TAG in DOE
31 ESCLANDRE What can dispose of such unpleasantness? Elders can (9)
(ELDERS CAN)*
32 RISK Danger: knife’s front end going as far as it can (4)
KRIS (knife) with its “front end” moved to the end
33 TAR-SEALS Sailor leading marine creatures puts hard covering on (8)
TAR + SEALS
Down
1 BOFF Intellectual dropping in for punch (4)
BOFFIN less IN
2 RELÂCHE Rest freeing one from genuine pain (7)
REAL less A + ACHE
3 CAUCUSES Small groups involving copper in motives (8)
CU in CAUSES
4 KINASE Enzyme, one occurring in tangled skein (6)
A in SKEIN*
5 SOAPER Oldie entranced by series, one such regularly broadcast in the US? (6)
OAP in SER[ies] – an American name for a soap opera
6 HAIRS Fine things see off professorships (5)
CHAIRS less C (see)
8 RED VALERIAN Form of lavender fringing drowned valley ? it’s akin to teasels (11, 2 words)
RIA in LAVENDER*
9 CAREX Solicitude, mark of affection for waterside plant (5)
CARE + X (sign for a kiss)
10 HEART-ROT Try moderate pace ? it may be fatal in forest (8)
HEAR + TROT
11 MATHEMATICS Degree subject ? it’s swatted round college (11)
MA (degree) + THEMA (subject) + C in ITS* &lit
17 SCRAPPER Violinist keeps quiet, one involved in medley earlier? (8)
P in SCRAPER – “medley” is an obsolete variant of melé
18 HICCATEE Tortoise, this, delicacy with a slice of entrecôte (8)
HIC (this, from Latin) + CATE (a delicacy) + E[ntrecôte]
20 EVANGEL Holidays coming up? No good getting stuck into that gospel (7)
NG in reverse of LEAVE
22 GOANNA Large lizard of Indian state and North America (6)
GOAN (of Indian state) + NA
23 MOTORS Classic model entering uplands goes at quite a lick (6)
T (Ford model) in MOORS
24 FARSI Persian sharif losing hearts, banged up (5)
Anagram of SHARIF less H
25 MARAT French mister artist framed in middle of bath? Lifeless one! (5)
M + RA in [b]AT[h] – Jean-Paul Marat was famously assassinated in his bath, so there’s an extended definition
28 TEMS Riddle: what causes regular loss in structure of tree moss? (4)
Alternate letters of TrEe MoSs

3 comments on “Azed 2597”

  1. Thanks for the blog , top quality as you say. 12Ac is one of those words you do not believe exists when you solve it, and there it is in Chambers.

  2. Re 25dn, “lifeless one” provides a sort of definition, or additional clue, but the rest of the clue could stand alone as an &lit, as there is a painting by David, “The death of Marat”. Thanks for the blog and thanks as ever to Azed.

  3. Thanks Azed and Andrew.
    17dn: I meant to say this earlier, but when I told one of my teachers that I had joined the school orchestra, he asked me “Do you scrape or blow?” (I scraped, on the back desk of the second violins.)

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