Azed No. 2,613 Plain

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A plain puzzle with two French phrases and a couple of unusual bits of clueing (by Azed standards).

Both the French phrases are in Chambers. The unusual bits of clueing are the cross-reference at 1 down and the misleading capitalisation at 22 down. l managed to polish this off while watching the men’s final at Wimbledon (on TV, I should add).

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 COPPY
Small stool, reproduction we hear (5)
Sounds like “copy”.
7 CARBS
Two vehicles, the second without interior parts of engine (5)
CAR B(u)S; short for carburettors.
12 APRES COUP
A youngster bags score, batting – too late (9, 2 words)
*SCORE in A PUP. One of those relatively uncommon French phrases I am always surprised to find in Chambers.
13 RUEDA
Regretted afternoon knees-up in Havana? (5)
RUED A(fternoon).
14 RIPIENO
Supplementary instrument, welcome luxury in forged iron (7)
PIE in *IRON. An unfamiliar sense of PIE, but again it’s there in Chambers.
15 PERDENDO
A party includes culmination that’s softer and slower (8)
END (culmination) in PER (a), DO (party).
16 BOAT NECK
Tailored back with Eton collar feature? (8, 2 words)
*(BACK ETON).
19 OPTER
One choosing chopper has 50% chopped (5)
(helic)OPTER.
20 A TERRE
Part of water reed not raised above the ground (6, 2 words)
Hidden in “water reed”. Another French phrase in Chambers.
21 SEICHE
Whale, male, caught within water surface’s fluctuation (6)
C(aught) in SEI (whale) HE.
23 APAID
I’ll be confined to a flat, once satisfied (5)
I inside A PAD.
25 ESCROLLS
Key opening expensive car displaying heraldic decorations (8)
ESC (computer key) ROLLS (-royce).
27 RAMBUTAN
Fruit from Burma turning brown (8)
*BURMA, TAN (rev).
30 ATABRIN
Antimalarial pill swallowed in stormy rain (7)
TAB in *RAIN.
31 TINEA
What’s troublesome in a toe when it’s not over? (5)
*(IN A T(o)E). Tinea pedis is better known as athlete’s foot.
32 INVERTERS
They aim to turn back R. Severn – it’s in spate (9)
*(R SEVERN IT).
33 AMEER
Royal from the orient welcomed by America (5)
E (orient) inside AMER.
34 BESOM
Sweeper, mostly pre-eminent, given meritorious award (5)
BES(t) OM (Order of Merit).
DOWN
1 CARIB
Native American? I’ll be among one of seven (5)
I in CARB. A rare cross-reference here by Azed to another solution, 7 across.
2 OPUS OPERATUM
To sum up roughly Carmen, say, divides RC rite (12, 2 words)
OPERA inside *(TO SUM UP).
3 PRELATIC
Episcopal story brought up in charge endlessly (8)
TALE (rev) inside PRIC(e).
4 PEDATE
‘Footy’, might one suppose? It’s exercise time (6)
A charade of PE DATE.
5 SCREEVES
Special constable, severe, rubbished begging letters (8)
S(pecial) C(onstable) *SEVERE.
6 COIR
Growing medium college put over odd bits of osier (4)
C(ollege) OsIeR.
8 APIECE
Each one includes prepared pastry crust (6)
PIE (prepared pastry crust) inside ACE (one).
9 REEN
Getting in again, try missing gully (4)
REEN(try). Nothing to do with cricket: this is a ditch.
10 BANDERILLERO
Bullring performer, almost all borderline, chaotic (12)
*(AL BORDERLINE).
11 SPOOLED
Wound stank, once spoken about (7)
POOL (a stank is a mainly Scottish word for a pool) inside SED (Milton’s spelling of “said”).
17 CARCANET
Court receiving mysterious jewelled collar of old (8)
ARCANE inside CT.
18 PRALINES
Nutty sweets, present, one accompanying some poetry? (8)
PR(esent) A LINES.
19 OSTRACA
Old tiles? A vehicle like this hoisted tons loaded (7)
T(ons) in A CAR SO (all rev).
22 CABBIE
A BBC broadcast, that is one occupying Noddy? (6)
*(A BBC) I.E. A noddy is an old form of cab with a door at the back. The capitalisation is misleading: Azed says that he regards this practice as just acceptable, but he does not approve of the converse.
24 POLITE
Civil enforcers needing time to replace canine (6)
POLICE with T for C.
26 SPASM
Fit springs on front of mini (5)
SPAS (springs) M(ini).
28 MAZE
Old-fashioned girls, by the sound of it, are bewildering (4)
Sounds like “mays”.
29 TIVO
Recording system showing four closed rings (4)
IV (four) in TO (closed).

20 comments on “Azed No. 2,613 Plain”

  1. I was bothered a bit by “opening” in ESCROLLS as to whether it was needed apart from the surface. I’ve think I’ve convinced myself that it indicates that the key comes first, although the order of the clue also gives that. I also wondered whether TINEA was &lit if you take “when it’s not over” to be also part of the definition, as in when the fungal disease is still current.
    MAZE really needed the crosser AMEER to confirm which was the ‘sounds like’.
    The cross reference in CARIB was enjoyable for its rarity and BOATNECK was a clever clue and surface.

  2. Thanks for the blog, Tim@1 has covered most of my points, I agree 28D is a bit ambiguous . It often is when the “sounds like” is in the middle. RUEDA not in my Chambers93 but was very clear, also TIVO but I had heard of a “Tivo box” for a TV.
    Azed has used the fake capital before, quite recently we had Holding with a misleading allusion to the cricketer. I think the opposite , not using a required capital, is rarely seen even in the daily puzzles.

  3. Hello! Usual thanks to Azed and bridgesong. I did this in a single sitting, with no use of Chambers except a couple of checks at the end. I think I had 1a as COPPI, since it is Tour de France time and I once saw Fausto Coppi as a flash of yellow in the peloton inJuly ’52 when my cycle tour fortuitously crossed the path of the “Boucle” south of Paris!

  4. Re Noddy and capitalisation Roz @2…. I found this quote from Azed on here by Wil Ransome ….
    “Azed himself in his book A-Z of Crosswords says ‘I equally reject the notion that the capital initial of a proper name can be downcased in a clue because it suits the setter to do this. (The converse of this — upgrading a lower-case initial to a capital one I regard as acceptable — just.)’”

  5. Tim C @4: that quote from Azed’s book is exactly what I was referring to when I said that Azed regards the practice as just acceptable. In fact I even looked it up before writing the blog!

  7. I am in two minds about the fake capital really. I agree a capital should never be downgraded. The reverse , as here, I would prefer to see it avoided. Azed wants to use Noddy because he was a taxi driver, perhaps put Noddy at the front.

    Thanks Tim@4 , is your link to somewhere on this site? If so I will look at it.

  9. Thanks Tim, it is the one I was thinking of with Michael Holding and the bowler and the hat. Again the fake capital should perhaps have been avoided.

  10. 30ac: Is antimalarial acceptable as a noun – which it would need to be to define ATABRIN? My Chambers 98 shows it only as an adjective (listed at the foot of the page). I’m not keen on fake capitalisation; to say it’s acceptable when the reverse is not sounds a bit like self-justification…. 🙂

  11. This is the first time I’ve completed”Azed within a week! I had help from Chambers and Bradford’s.

    However, looking at the blog, I see a typo in my answers (OPERATUS instead of OPERATUM, possibly mislead by the US of OPUS), which explains why I couldn’t work out AMEER and bunged in ASSET thinking 28d was MAYS not MAZE. Is 28d a case of Schrodinger’s cat until we look in the box ie get a crosser to disambiguate?

    I’d always wondered about the validity of fake capitals. Perhaps it’s fine as a last resort but given sentences start with a capital, it could possibly be avoided?

  12. Good point Munro Maiden@10 same in Chambers 93, I suppose these drug terms do become a noun with usage. I am leaning towards the same view on capitals the more I thing about it.
    Well done pdp@11 , it took me two years to get reasonably good at Azed.

  13. MunroMaiden @10: you have a point, but I tend to think that it’s an omission in Chambers rather than an error by Azed. After all, if you refer to your medication by saying “it’s an antimalarial “ that doesn’t sound wrong, does it?

    pdp11 @11: well done! Chambers is essential, and Bradford’s very useful. And I agree that it’s impossible to be sure about clues like 28dn until you get a crosser. TimC made the same point @1.

  14. Thanks Roz and bridgesong. And apologies TimC for missing your note.

    Until a few months ago, I’d never attempted Azed. I’d seen it but it looked alien. Although only partially successful so far, I’m finding that it’s improving my solving abiility in cryptics generally. I put this down to not being able to get the answer just from the definition and having to work out the wordplay because I’ve never heard of half the words before!

  15. So good to see new names here- I go back to the 1950s. I find dailies’ crosswords, where you mostly get a half of the letters, or fewer, checked, ore more difficult than Azed, where you may well have four of the five. Having the confidence to “make up” a word and then find it exists is most satisfying.

  16. pdp@14 you are quite right about solving skills , many answers here you can get from the word play and if it “feels” right for the unknown definition then put it in.
    Keith@15 makes a good point about having far more letters to help, particularly useful for obscure definitions/answers with obscure word play.
    I agree that in some sense Azed is “easier” because of the letters. The trouble is you have to get started in order to get started.

  17. Keith@15 – I too feel that the obscure words in Azed are somewhat offset by the extra crossers. This was my fourth Azed and I’ve stopped saying, “That can’t be a word!” after conjuring something up from the wordplay. The English language is a wonderful thing.

    Roz@16 – for this week’s Azed, the left hand has gone in but the right side remains stubbornly blank after two sittings. As you said, you’ve got to get started to get started and at the moment the right refuses to yield yet. I’m sure it will.

  18. pdp11 @17: when I started doing Azeds, there were no blogs, just the annotated solution and the monthly slip. The key is perseverance. Keep plugging away and you’ll get there in the end.

  19. pdp@17 I second what bridgesong said @18, I would often work on Azed all week , maybe two weeks.
    I can’t say anything really about this week until the blog next Tuesday, it clearly splits into 4 corners and the left hand ones are easier. For the right you just need a start, sounds easy, keep going and inspiration may strike.

  20. Thanks again bridgesong and Roz. I will continue to persevere.

    I’m overloaded at the moment. I do the Guardian daily except Monday when I do Azed. I’m not fast enough to do multiple crosswords in a day and I’ve just realised there’s a new Cyclops, which I’ll have to keep going in the background since I enjoyed the first one.

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