A 13 x 11 grid for this month’s competition puzzle.
Scottish and Latin terms seem to be popular with Azed this week. I have a query about the parsing of 29 across, but I’m pretty sure my answer is correct.
Solvers may note that Azed is now recommending the 2016 edition of Chambers instead of the 2014 one. He explained in his most recent slip that he recently received from the publishers a “revised thirteenth edition” of the dictionary. The extent of the revision was nowhere explained, and he thought that “corrected edition” would be more accurate. Quite why the publishers should choose to send him a copy six years after publication is also a mystery. I suspect (and hope) that there is nothing in it which is not also in the electronic version on which I rely, but I have updated my version, to be on the safe side.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPANISH DAGGER |
His garden’s prepared with gap for yucca (13, 2 words)
|
| *(HIS GARDEN’S GAP). A straightforward anagram to get us started. | ||
| 10 | CROUCH-WARE |
Burslem product – squat, mind (10)
|
| CROUCH (squat) WARE (mind). And a simple charade. It seems to be agreed that crouch-ware originated in Burslem in the Potteries but the origins of the term are uhknown. | ||
| 12 | ROOPY |
Jock’s husky, no good when fed nothing (5)
|
| 0 (nothing) in ROPY (no good). As the reference to Jock indicates, it’s a Scottish term. | ||
| 14 | AMMIRAL |
Former commander at sea, one having pain trapping his foreign counterpart (7)
|
| MIR (a Muslim, or foreign, commander) inside A MAL (pain). It’s an old spelling of ADMIRAL. | ||
| 15 | GEUM |
Eucalypt hosting European member of Rosaceae (4)
|
| E(uropean) inside GUM (eucalyptus). It’s defined in Chambers as an avena, which itself is said to be the oat genus of grasses, so it’s some way from being a rose. | ||
| 16 | MONA |
Monkey? One accepted in place of clue (4)
|
| MON(key) with A in place of key (clue). One of the many definitions of “key” in Chambers is “that which leads to the solution of a problem” so clue seems fair enough as a synonym. | ||
| 17 | TOR |
Beside river in spate? Less than half – but it’s fairly high (3)
|
| TOR(rent). As Azed always plays fair with his grids, this three-letter word was fully checked, so in fact I didn’t solve it when completing the puzzle. | ||
| 19 | TERNATE |
Bird fed in groups of three (7)
|
| TERN ATE. | ||
| 20 | CHEWY |
Women grasped in cold dance, anything but tender (5)
|
| W(oman) in C(old) HEY (dance). | ||
| 22 | BOTTE |
Learner lacking in courage making pass (5)
|
| BOTT(l)E. It’s a term from the sport of fencing. | ||
| 23 | ICE-COLD |
Italian cook’s starter, whipped dolce, straight from the freezer? (7)
|
| I(talian) C(ook), *(DOLCE). | ||
| 26 | END |
Tip I’ve removed from salad plant (3)
|
| END(ive). | ||
| 28 | CRIA |
Cold wind returning, accounting for young pampas creature (4)
|
| AIR C(old) (all rev). It’s the offspring of a llama. | ||
| 29 | NOOK |
Secluded spot, acceptable after retiring certainly (4)
|
| I think that this is a reversal of OK ON, although I have a difficulty in equating ON with “certainly”. NO can mean “certainly not” but the clue lacks a negative indication. Any suggestions? | ||
| 30 | ASPIRIN |
Endlessly ambitious, one may inhibit clots (7)
|
| ASPIRIN(g). The humble aspirin tablet can be used to prevent blood clots. | ||
| 31 | GRIKE |
Trouble cutting off furlong round Grand Canyon (5)
|
| K (grand) inside GRIE(f) (trouble). | ||
| 32 | HESSONITES |
Garnets I found among stones he’s fashioned (10)
|
| *(I STONES HES). | ||
| 33 | DESERT ISLANDS |
Creeping snail died, swallowed by rats in lonely places (13, 2 words)
|
| *SNAIL D(ied) inside DESERTS (rats). | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCRATCHCARD |
Old Harry, eccentric, that may reveal winning number (11, 2 words)
|
| SCRATCH (like Old Harry, a term for the Devil) CARD (eccentric). Chambers has this as one word, not two as the clue suggests. | ||
| 2 | PROMO |
Video that trails concert, introducing orchestra’s leader (5)
|
| PROM (concert) O(rchestra). | ||
| 3 | NUPES |
African people turned up round edge of equator (5)
|
| E(quator) inside SPUN (rev). | ||
| 4 | SHAM |
Making awkward progress dropping bling – it’s not real (4)
|
| SHAM(bling). | ||
| 5 | DAMBROD |
Mother and children lacking nothing on which games are played (7)
|
| DAM (mother) BRO(o)D. It’s a term meaning a draughts board: Chambers says that “dam” in this sense is obsolete Scots, but doesn’t say whether DAMBROD is similarly obsolete and Scots. | ||
| 6 | ARMAN |
Franco-US artist supplied by fellow serving drinks (not his first) (5)
|
| (b)ARMAN. This is the “less familiar” proper name referred to in the instructions. | ||
| 7 | GAROTTE |
What thugs used on piercing wretched target (7)
|
| O(n) inside *TARGET. I’m not entirely happy with O for ON, but it’s there in Chambers. | ||
| 8 | ELANET |
Raptor having a catch under wing (6)
|
| EL (a wing in architecture) A NET(catch). | ||
| 9 | RELATEDNESS |
Kinship (11)
|
| The competition word. | ||
| 11 | WATER LENS |
Simple optical device we learnt after adjusting section (9, 2 words)
|
| *(WE LEARNT) S(ection). | ||
| 13 | YUKY |
Some cows’ll follow you wanting nothing – like a rash? (4)
|
| Y(o)U, KY (a Scottish term for cows). It means itchy. | ||
| 18 | RECIPES |
What can be rendered spicier when one goes for heart of pimento? (7)
|
| *(SPICIER) with (pim)E(nto) replacing one of the Is. | ||
| 19 | THOMIST |
Typical of theologian, allowing some obscurity (7)
|
| THO (allowing) MIST (obscurity). A word used to describe a follower of Thomas Aquinas. | ||
| 21 | HIRSLE |
Bairns fidget so, and relish misbehaving (6)
|
| *RELISH. Another Scottish term, indicated by the use of “bairns” in the clue. | ||
| 22 | BLOG |
Diary anyone may read left in the loo (4)
|
| L in BOG (loo). | ||
| 24 | CARER |
Councillor admits age rising, calling for social worker (5)
|
| ERA (rev) inside CR (councillor). | ||
| 25 | MORIA |
Something that accompanies memento, a folly (5)
|
| (memento) MORI, A. Memento mori is a Latin phrase literally meaning “remember that you must die”. | ||
| 27 | NAKED |
Defenceless and somehow protecting king, English (5)
|
| K(ing) E(nglish) inside *AND. | ||
| 29 | NAOS |
Disciple holds one up in sanctum sanctorum (4)
|
| A in SON (which can mean a disciple). “Sanctum sanctorum” is Latin for the holy of holies, referring to the inner chamber of the Jewish tabernacle; naos is the Greek word for the inner cell of a temple. |
Thanks bridgesong.
I think 29 is to be parsed ON (acceptable) rev., + OK (certainly).
I always assumec the Revised 13th ed I have was 2014, but see it is from 2016 indeed. Never had any problems with it solving Azed, to whom thanks as ever.
It’s interesting that ASPIRIN also appeared in yesterday’s cryptic by Vulcan with the clue “shortly aiming for painkiller”.
Like Gonzo, I also parsed NOOK as NO (ON – after retiring) + OK (certainly). Chambers has acceptable as an informal definition of “on”. It’s a deceptive clue given that OK can mean both acceptable and certainly.
Favourite for me was RECIPES.
Good blog.
Further to Gonzo@1: The phrase that came to mind for me (from watching untold British sitcoms) was: “It’s not on,” meaning, “That is not acceptable.”
Out of the many improbable words that I have seen in various Azeds, YUKY somehow strikes me as particularly weird.
Thanks for the blog, glad to see Azed use Burslem a place very familiar to me, also home of the Staffordshire oatcake. I took TOR as a triple , beside=TO + R for the first.
CRIA not in my Ch93 but was obvious. Agree with comments above for NOOK.
I think DAM is generally used for mother for cattle etc.
ARMAN was pretty obscure for me but the clue was fair.
Agree that YUKY is pretty strange, even the KY bit.
As usual, no memory of solving this. Not even any question marks on my completed grid so either I thought I could parse everything or filled in answers in the heat of solving without thinking about them.
I’m sure that the electronic version of Chamers I downloaded from the Microsoft app store some years ago is the revised edition in that the missing words from the 2014 edition are included, such as “taghairm”.
Roz@4, it’s DAM meaning draughtman that is obsolete Scots, rather than DAM = mother. KY is more often spelled KYE. Like you, I took TOR as a triple; it was TO + R that gave it to me rather than TOR(rent). Bridgesong: re 15ac, GEUM is an avens, not avena (easy to mistake, but two different plants), and is a member of the rose family. Thanks for the blog.
MunroMaiden @6: many thanks for correcting my mistake about GEUM; I was hoping that a botanist would come along!
Dormouse @5, I have the hardcopy 2014 edition of Chambers with nothing to indicate it’s the 2016 corrected version of the 2014 one, even though I’m pretty sure I bought it after 2016. Who knows!!!! but it does have taghairm in it as “taghairm n (in the Scottish Highlands) divination; esp inspiration sought by lying in a bullock’s hide behind a waterfall [Gaelic]
The mind boggles…. 🙂
TimC: look in the publishing history, opposite the Contents.
Thanks MunroMaiden@6 I should have read the blog more carefully. I often wonder when Chambers gives the main entry as obselete, archaic , Scots etc does this apply to later derived words ?
Just been to see “The Lost King” so late in coming aboard. Hello all.
Thanks to Azed & bridgsong.
Hard to remember doing this but can’t remember any special problems, apart from trying to write a clue. Wasn’t surprised that the master left RELATEDNESS for us mortals.
Tim C@8: I have the 2014 edition – bought it not long after it came out and is falling to bits. It does not have “taghairm”, it goes straight from tagetes to tagine.
I mentioned “taghairm” as it is a word I know and I knew it was missing from my edition. To give some background, the previous edition of Chambers had highlighted interesting words. However, when the next edition came out, they decided to remove the highlighting, but someone removed the words completely.
A friend told me a story a few years ago that in his office a colleague was reading a letter and suddenly announced, “There’s a word that means to sit behind a waterfall wearing a bullock hide,” and two people in the office said, “That’s taghairm!”
Gonzo @9, Dormouse @12, well that’s a bit strange. The page opposite the Contents says “This thirteenth edition published in 2014….” and “Copyright Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd 2014” but definitely has an entry for “taghairm”.
The “missing words” are listed by Chambers here.
I have speculated over the years whether the fiasco with the missing words is one of the reasons why there has not been a new edition since. However, an assistant at Waterstone’s did say when I was buying an earlier edition that shops were not stocking paper dictionaries so much now. But I do wish that they’d at least produce an updated electronic edition.
Another masterful Azed, I think. But what a mess I made of it. I thought Azed was truly clever at 16 Ac: I assumed “one accepted” as i a in “place of clue” = Dn so it was obviously “Dian”. I knew Diana could be Dian and I knew Diana monkey but didn’t bother checking Chambers.
Then I discovered that there is indeed an artist called Nabil [W]AITER for 6 Dn but couldn’t be bothered trying to confirm his nationality and assumed Azed was just being generous. And I spent too long trying to find out if “Warfarin” had an alternative spelling with only seven letters at 30 Ac.
Just one quibble, and this possibly reflects the edition of Chambers I’m using (2006). Is “I” an abbreviation for “Italian” (at 23 Ac)? I have only Italy (IVR). I agree with all the comments above about those glorious words that someone at Chambers chose to take out of the dictionary and then had to put back.
Stefan
Stefan@15 I did wonder about Italian as well, my Chambers 93 has the same as you for Italy and IT for Italian as in ” Gin and It “. Maybe later editions are different.
Stefan and Roz: it’s the same in later editions, including the electronic one. To be completely accurate, the electronic version has “It.” as meaning either Italian or Italian vermouth, and “it” as meaning Italian vermouth. It has to go down as a slip by Azed: I should have picked it up when writing the blog.