Sundays wouldn’t be the same without an Azed puzzle in the Observer
This puzzle is a round number, 2600, which may explain the AZ occurrences in the clues and entries.
I though the clue for APLITE was excellent.
It took me a while to parse OLLA at 35 across. I knew I was looking for a word or phrase that had OLLA reversed in the middle, but I was initially fixated on 6 letter words and couldn’t find one that I thought was a clear contender for use in the wordplay. The ones I found were rather tenuous definitions of ‘bring on’. I know that Azed is very precise in his cluing, so I reckoned I was missing something and did some more research to find CALL OUT as the contributor to the wordplay.
As usual, a very good challenge from Azed.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 |
See subordinate with time for a break learning to earn a crust (11) BROTSTUDIEN (German word describing studies by which one earns one’s living; studies to earn a crust) Anagram of (break) SUBORDINATE with T (time) replacing (for) A BROTSTUDIEN* |
| 10 |
Tribal division united by chance (4) HAPU (tribal division) HAP (chance) + U (university) HAP U |
| 11 |
Strong drink artist tipped over more than half of historical document (8) ARMAGNAC (dry brandy distilled in South West France) RA (Royal Academician; artist) reversed (tipped over) + MAGNA CARTA (excluding the last 4 of 10 letters ARTA leaving more than half forming MAGNAC) AR< MAGNA C |
| 12 |
‘Pale, rocky’ encapsulates it (6) APLITE (fine-grained, light-coloured igneous rock; pale rocky) Anagram of (rocky) PALE containing (encapsulates) IT APL (IT) E* |
| 13 |
Nick damaged leg in prang on Aussie road (6) BINGLE (Australian word for car-crash; prang on Aussie road) BIN (colloquial term for ‘put into prison’; nick can mean arrest and presumably then put in prison) + an anagram of (damaged) LEG BIN GLE* |
| 16 |
Honeyed tipple imbibed by inamorata (5) MORAT (drink made of honey and mulberry juice) MORAT (hidden word in [imbibed by] INAMORATA) MORAT |
| 17 |
Sex organ’s linga oda exercised! (8) GONADIAL (of a GONAD [an organ that produces sex cells]) Anagram of (exercised) LINGA ODA GONADIAL* |
| 18 |
Cramp displayed by 50% of sportsmen? (5) CRICK (spasm or cramp of the muscles) CRICK (first 5 letters of 10, 50% of CRICKETERS [sportsmen]) CRICK |
| 20 |
Circus performer traditionally – a line’s juggling round ball (7, 2 words) SEA LION (marine mammal that once [traditionally] performed in circuses) Anagram of (juggling) A LINE’S containing (round) O (ball-shaped character) SEA LI (O) N* |
| 21 |
I’m surprised to be keeping near drunk as aid to maintaining balance (7) OTOLITH (a calcareous concretion in the ear of various animals, the movement of which helps the animal to maintain equilibrium) OH (expression of surprise) containing (to be keeping) (TO [near] + LIT [drunk]) O (TO LIT) H |
| 25 |
Old couple not active in the household (5) MENGE (archaic [old] word for couple) MENAGE (household) excluding (not) A (active) MENGE |
| 27 |
Obscure eon, an age associated with tropical America (8) NEOGAEAN (associated with the Neotropical region [tropics of the New World, American tropics]) Anagram of (obscure) EON AN AGE NEOAGEAN* |
| 31 |
She’s sometimes lazy, coming from the country, opening tin (5) SUSAN (reference a lazy SUSAN [a revolving tray, often with a number of separate dishes or sections for foods, intended to be placed on a dining table]) USA (example of a country) contained in (opening) SN (chemical symbol for tin) S (USA) N |
| 32 |
English ploughed furrows, cold inside? Rifts according to the Scots (6) ERUCTS (belch out; rift is a Scottish word meaning to belch) E (English) + (C [cold] contained in [inside] RUTS [furrows ‘ploughed’ by wheels]) E RU (C) TS |
| 33 |
Set of bells, including start of octave rings well (6) PUTEAL (wall round the top of a well) PEAL (a set of bells tuned to each other) containing (including) UT (a syllable representing the first note of the scale, now generally superseded by doh; first note of the octave) P (UT) EAL |
| 34 |
Fungicidal compound, litre distributed? I’ll have none inserted (8) TRIAZOLE (compound often used in fungicides) (AZ [pronounced as AZED is a reference to the setter; I] + O [character representing nothing; none]) contained in (inserted) an anagram of (distributed) LITRE TRI (AZ O) LE* |
| 35 |
Mixed dish to bring on, going round – cut edging off (4) OLLA (olio; mixed dish of meat and vegetables) CALL OUT (bring into operation; bring on) excluding (out) the letters CUT forming the edge OLLA< |
| 36 |
No. 1 in Elysium with threefold head, never dying (11) ETERNALNESS (the state of continuous existence; never dying) E (first letter of [No 1 in] ELYSIUM) + TERNAL (threefold) + NESS (head[land]) E TERNAL NESS |
| Down | |
| 1 |
Intoxicant, heroin taken in injection (5) BHANG (a narcotic and intoxicant) H (heroin) contained in (taken in) BANG (an injection of a drug) B (H) ANG |
| 2 |
Outcry going up about training e.g. falcon (6) RAPTOR (bird of prey, of which a falcon is an example) ROAR (outcry) reversed (going up; down entry) containing (about) PT (physical training) RA (PT) OR< |
| 3 |
Massage auntie endlessly administered (5, 2 words or 1) TUI NA [two words] or TUINA [one word] (Chinese therapeutic massage) Anagram of (administered) AUNTIE excluding the final letter (endlessly) TUI NA* |
| 4 |
Being full, here’s dish lad’s left for particular one? (5) SATED (fully satisfied) SALAD (dish of food) replacing (left … for) LAD (unspecific young male) with TED (name of a particular person) SA TED |
| 5 |
Stall, opposite of stand put up and occupied by vicar? (6) TREVIS (small partition or stall) SIT (opposite of stand) reversed (put up; down entry) containing (occupied by) REV (reverend; vicar) T (REV) IS< |
| 6 |
Sign of hesitation going over slope of hill in shades (6) UMBRAE (shades) UM (sign of hesitancy) + BRAE (hill slope) UM BRAE |
| 7 |
Scribbled blog in base? Base indeed (7) IGNOBLE (mean or worthless; base) Anagram of (scribbled) BLOG IN + E (base of natural logarithms) IGNOBL* E |
| 8 |
English Queen about reign formerly: ‘My colours will not fade’ (9) ENGRAINER (one who dyes with a fast or lasting colour; my colours will not fade) (ENG [English] + ER [Elizabeth Regina; queen]) containing (about) RAIN (Spenserian [formerly] word for reign) ENG (RAIN) ER |
| 9 |
What may be part of radical combination, ideal for singer? (7) ACETONE (a simple ketone [organic compound consisting of a carbonyl group united to two like or unlike alkyl radicals]) ACE (excellent) + TONE (character of sound) – taken together ACE TONE could be an ideal for the sound produced by a singer ACE TONE |
| 14 |
Gaucho’s requisite, essential to fill a zoo’s stock (4) LAZO (Spanish word for lasso; a requisite for a gaucho [cowboy of the pampas; Argentina is a Spanish speaking country) LAZO (hidden word in [stock] FILL A ZOO’S) LAZO |
| 15 |
Underwear of a kind, wedding kit for the groom? (9, 2 words) UNION SUIT (underwear in the form of combinations for man or boy) UNION (wedding) + SUIT (outfit; kit) – given the definition talks about male clothing, then the cryptic definition can be taken to refer to the groom at a wedding UNION SUIT |
| 18 |
Treats with special care lines of salad crops? (7) COSSETS (pampers; treats with special care) COS (type of lettuce used in salads) + SETS (planted lines of seeds) COS SETS |
| 19 |
Coca Cola’s half wasted with last of lemonade in the drains (7) CLOACAE (sewers; drains) Anagram of (wasted) COCA and LA (letters remaining after the first two of four letters COLA are removed leaving LA as the other half) + (with) E (final letter of [last of] LEMONADE) CLOACA* E |
| 22 |
Shift: did Abraham return this after time away? (4) TOUR (shift or turn of work) TO UR (In the Bible, Abraham is described as being from UR, so he would return TO UR if he after he spent time away) TO UR |
| 23 |
Verse contest creating excitement I lost? (6) TENSON (competition in verse between two troubadours before a court of love) TENSION (suppressed excitement) excluding (lost) I TENSON |
| 24 |
Rising stink left one in a kerfuffle (6) HOOPLA (excitement or disturbance; kerfuffle) POOH (stink) reversed (rising; down entry) + L (left) + A (one) HOOP< L A |
| 26 |
Verses composed by young females incorporating literal extremes (6) GAZALS (Persian and Arabic verse forms) GALS (girls; young females) containing (incorporating) A and Z, extremes of the alphabet; literal extremes) G (A Z) ALS |
| 28 |
Set about contact sport? It’s not very nourishing (5) GRUEL (thin [not very nourishing] food made by boiling oatmeal in water) GEL (to set) containing (about) RU *Rugby Union, an example of a contact sport) G (RU) EL |
| 29 |
One against receiving latest bit of advert – it was stuffed under mail (5) ACTON (stuffed jacket worn under a coat of mail) A (one) + (CON [against] containing [receiving] T [final letter of [last bit of] ADVERT) A C (T) ON |
| 30 |
After end of monsoon as of old harrow watercourses (5) NALAS (watercourses) N (final letter of [end of] MONSOON) + ALAS (harrow is an archaic [old] term for alas) N ALAS |
Ah, where would I be without the weekly dictionary tour. Great fun as always and I got myself in a tizz in the bottom right, although it was eventually resolved.
I find it interesting there was the 2500th planned celebration and now the 50th year, when we are suddenly at number 2600. Astonishing really. I am sure the 26 letters of the alphabet had something to do with the AZ answers.
Thanks, as ever, to Azed and Anto.
I also struggled with OLLA in trying to find callout and ignoring the “cut” which was staring me in the face of course. Initially I was also looking for a 3 letter word for “bring on” including a “u” (from cut edging off). I also missed “bin” for nick, but I’d heard the Aussie slang BINGLE so it couldn’t be anything else.
I did wonder whether “time away” was a second definition in TOUR which I liked.
Other favourites were APLITE for the concise &lit and TRIAZOLE for the self reference for another milestone.
Thanks for the blog, not a good week for Chambers 93, I could not find 10,13,34.36Ac and 3D.
Fortunately the clues were clear enough to put them in and TUI NA was used recently.
I thought BROTSTUDIEN was brilliant with the use of crust linking to bread. PUTEAL was a great misleading definition , TOUR was very nicely done.
Several I couldn’t get this week, and I couldn’t parse 1ac. Also messed up by guessing NILES for 30dn.
Roz@3, of those you mention, only TUINA is in my Chambers 98. As regards 13ac, I took BIN to mean prison (as a noun) – Chambers gives one definition as “gaol (slang)” – and Nick is also a slang word for prison, as well as arrest. Thanks for the blog, as ever.
MunroMaiden@5: Yes, that was my interpretation of nick/bin in 13ac too.
All the 5 words that Roz @3 mentions as not being in C93 (and the 4 MunroMaiden @5 which aren’t in C98) are not in my C83!!!. They are in my C2014.
The C83 was falling to pieces a couple of years ago so I bought C2014 and I’ve been surprised by the number of words that come up in Azed that are in 2014 but not previous editions. I read somewhere that 2014 is likely to be the last printed version of Chambers. I much prefer flipping pages to an electronic interface although I can see the advantages of the latter in terms of search (eruct=rift in this puzzle comes to mind).
I think I’ll become unusable before my 2014 edition does.
Tim C@7: My paper 2014 Chambers fell to bits years ago – you’re obviously not using it enough. 🙂
Mind you, I failed to spot the eruct/rift connection in the e-version. But it is convenient to have the e-version when travelling as a small laptop is less to carry than a hardback (and can be used for many other things).
I’m wondering whether they’ll either bring out a new electronic version or some sort of subscription like I believe they do with the OED.
Five words is a bit unusual, often one or at most two. I prefer to solve without the dictionary anyway but I do like to look everything up when I have finished, even the little bits in word play.
My dead tree edition of Chambers is 2003 and finding that was the first time I had opened it in years. These days i use the app on the iPad, which I see is the latest version. I bought both it and the thesaurus as a pair years ago.
The thing I like an Azed crossword is that the answer is always very clear and I do like to check things after.
My insomnia is alive and well as it is early morning hours here.
Greetings all. Thanks to Azed and duncanshiell. I didn’t make any notes so cannot recall a lot, though I did complete it on the day. Most of the looking up was at the end as the precision made constructing the rarities fairly straightforward. Like quite a few OLLA took a bit of time as CUT as a part of the wordplay rather than an instruction was unusual. The last two weeks seem to have even fewer “normals” I currently have an upstairs (2008)and a downstairs (1993) Chambers but my first was 1954. Have just started using an iPhone so wish me luck!