Azed No. 2,619 Plain

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A reasonably straightforward puzzle this week, with one clue that I couldn’t parse to my satisfaction and one questionable definition.

The clue I couldn’t parse was NANDINE.  I was also troubled by BEDROLLS, until I realised the significance of “strangeness” in the clue and could then see the wordplay.  My quibble relates to ANTICLERICAL .

ACROSS
2 SCRIPTURES
Texts I cut, press modified about right (10)
*(I CUT PRESS R).
10 MORUS
What’ll include breadfruit from Morocco that one can’t use (5)
MOR (oco), US (useless). Morus is the mulberry genus.
11 WOTAN
Deity turning some in China to worship (5)
Hidden and reversed in “China to worship”.
13 BROCARD
Great bird embraced by poet as a basic rule (7)
ROC (great bird) in BARD.
14 AMRIT
Baptism, a noon ceremony mostly (5)
A M(eridiem, noon) RIT(e). It’s the Sikh baptismal ceremony.
15 DIOSCURI
Twins, duo afflicted with endless crisis (8)
*(DUO CRISI(s)). The term for Castor and Pollux together, as sons of Zeus.
16 ROTULA
Part of Aristotle’s lantern, ultra flickering round circle (6)
O (circle) in *ULTRA. Aristotle’s lantern is a chewing mechanism in sea urchins (compared by Aristotle to a ship’s lantern) and a rotula is a radial piece of an Aristotle’s lantern. As ever, solving an Azed puzzle is an educational experience!
18 DORIC
Referring to order, perform, well off without husband (5)
DO, RIC(h).
19 GUNSIGHT
Hunt gig’s varied ? this’ll facilitate aim (8)
*(HUNT GIGS).
23 GUARDAGE
After misuse of a drug grow old in custody once (8)
*(A DRUG), AGE.
25 MANAT
Provide workers for Laotian unit making money elsewhere (5)
MAN (provide workers), AT (Laos unit of currency). A manat is the standard monetary unit of Azerbaijan.
26 PIECER
One mending damaged threads cut through right to the end (6)
PIERCE, with the R moved to the end.
29 BEDROLLS
Camping equipment to make people laugh with strangeness? (8)
A charade of BE DROLL (make people laugh), S(trangeness) (a technical term in physics, applying to atomic particles).
31 LUING
Hardy breed I housed in town’s open space (5)
I in LUNG (a town’s open space, metaphorically). Not in Chambers, but ascertainable online as a breed of cattle named after the eponymous Scottish island.
32 AEROBIC
Caber I tossed ingesting oxygen ? in such exercise? (7)
O(xygen) in *(CABER I).
33 ESNES
They served indoors, showing reverse of discernment (5)
SENSE (rev). Esnes are defined as domestic slaves in Anglo-Saxon times, so they probably worked outside the home as well.
34 ERICA
Moorland family, one occupying rolling space (5)
I in ACRE (rev).
35 PERSISTENT
Unruly sister in upstairs apartment, nagging (10)
*SISTER in PENT (which can mean a penthouse).
DOWN
1 AMBER GAMBLER
Reckless driver, one strolling round Italian city ignoring roundabout? (12, 2 words)
BERGAM(o) in AMBLER.
2 SORGO
Sun on gold and green millet (5)
S(un) OR (gold) GO (as indicated by green traffic light).
3 CROUT
Accompaniment for wurst before once served up in slice? (5)
OR (an archaic use, meaning before in time, or once, rev), in CUT.
4 RUCKUS
Disturbance universal among masses (6)
U(niversal) in RUCKS.
5 PERIAGUA
I argue furiously with the old man circling dugout (8)
*(I ARGUE) inside PA. It’s a version of piragua or the (perhaps better-known) pirogue.
6 TODO
Old found under bush, causing stir (4)
O(ld) under TOD (a bush).
7 ROMCOM
One introducing entertainment in space? I’ll amuse viewers (6)
MC (one introducing entertainment) in ROOM.
8 ETRURIA
Pottery centre wherein true air circulates (7)
*(TRUE AIR). This district of Stoke, sometime home of the Wedgwood pottery business, was named after the Italian district of the same name where the Etruscan people lived.
9 ANTICLERICAL
Caper I introduced in drunken cellar, anything but godly? (12)
ANTIC, I in *CELLAR. Strictly speaking, it means opposed to the clergy, not necessarily opposed to religion or belief as such.
12 AIRING
Major-scale melody getting broadcast? (6)
AIR IN G.
17 CHAPLETS
Men clutching permitted wreaths (8)
LET in CHAPS.
20 URAEUS
Snake symbol, sinuous, a user displayed below centre of skull (6)
(sk)U(ll) *(A USER).
21 NANDINE
African ‘cat’ in what suggests a small square? (7)
I’m struggling to parse this. A nandine is a West African civet, so a kind of cat. Nine is a small square: does “and” really equate to “what” in the clue?
22 GARNER
Maverick store? (6)
Double definition, referring to the actor James Garner who played the character Bret Maverick in a 1950s TV series, Maverick.
24 DEVORE
‘Etched’ fabric, English version in possession of French etcher (6)
E(nglish) V(ersion) in (Gustave) DORÉ (French etcher).  The first E in the answer should also have an acute accent.
27 CABIN
Naval office vocabulary has this (5)
Vocabulary has CAB IN.
28 EDICT
Start of corrida? Thereabouts time’s up for bull (5)
C(orrida) in TIDE (rev). Azed is referring to papal bulls, not the sort found in bullrings.
30 LARI
I’m ready for Georgia, a girl that’s ditzy, losing head (4)
*(A (g)IRL). The lari is the standard monetary unit of Georgia.

11 comments on “Azed No. 2,619 Plain”

  2. Thanks for the blog, I think Azed often use the N and INE trick whenever AND appears in the answer.
    LUING was in my Chambers 93 but DEVORE was not.
    For MORUS I think the US is unserviceable.
    For MANAT I thought the Laos currency was the ATT??
    BEDROLLS was my favourite clue , I have been asking for setters to use S=Strangeness for years, there is a Strange quark which gives the property of strangeness to hadrons.
    The abbreviation S is used daily in particle physics calculations , unlike many first letter abbreviations.

  3. Dave and Roz: thanks both for the parsing of NANDINE. Considering how long I have been solving Azed puzzles, you’d think I would have got wise to the AND trick by now, but it fools me every time.

    Roz: I agree about unserviceable for US, but Chambers does give AT as the spelling of the currency unit. I don’t recall coming across S=Strangeness before, which may be why it took me a long time to parse the clue correctly.

  4. A few days before this puzzle appeared there had been a reference to Maverick in an Indie crossword. The answer turned out to be (Tom) Cruise but I’d looked up the television series so James Garner was still fresh in my mind.

  5. Thanks Azed and Bridgesong

    31ac: The phrase Luing cattle appears in my copy of Chambers 2014. I think Azed is being reasonable in using the first word on its own.

  6. Pelham Barton: you’re absolutely right, I have just found it on the app and don’t know how I missed it.

  7. Rats, I thought LUING was a win for C93 for once .
    Recently we had PANDA from father, P and A.
    I thought AT must be in C2014, it was ATT in my atlas which has a lot of facts about countries.
    I have never seen S= strangeness before, been waiting a long time. Charm can be next.

  8. I don’t like to be left out.
    Hello all!
    Thanks to Azed and to bridgesong.
    I usually keep the page with my comments scribbled on the day and then can’t either read or, perhaps, understand what I wrote.
    Strangeness hadn’t been thought of in 1946 Higher Certificate Physics so thanks Roz for bringing me a little up to date.
    “Maverick” is also a bit after my time. Setters have their generation deducible from such references. I await Morse, Frost and Barnaby clues. The former is, of course, woven into crosswords’ history.

  9. Roz@7, I think ATT may be the plural? Wikipedia says that the Lao Kip is divided into 100 att. I’m just guessing, as neither AT nor ATT is in my C98 (but DEVORE is). Re ANTICLERICAL, I agree it means opposed to the clergy (or their power), but the clue does have a question mark, so I would nod it through for that.
    Thanks for the blog.

  10. MM@9: Chambers 2011 and 2014 both give a kip as “100 at” with a single T. I suspect that “att” is simply an alternative transliteration from the original language.

  11. Thanks, Pelham B. I’m not planning to travel to Laos any time soon, but it’s nice to know these things!

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