A straightforward plain puzzle from Azed this week, with just one clue leaving me a little baffled.
The tricky clue was at 1 across; the generous checking means that I can be sure that the answer is correct, but I don’t see exactly how to get there. Apart from that, I was grateful to Azed for the excuse to have a look online for clips from my favourite Jacques Tati film (see 18 across).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | PASPALUM |
Field grass, luxuriant, mum plucked in pampas, grown wild (8)
|
| This looks like an anagram of PAMPAS and LU, but I can’t explain how “mum plucked” amounts to an instruction to remove (xuriant) from LUxuriant. What have I missed? | ||
| 7 | ARID |
What’s Kalahari desert centrally? (4)
|
| Hidden in “Kalahari desert”. | ||
| 10 | CISELURE |
Chasing cluers, i.e. needing solution (8)
|
| *(CLUERS IE). This is the second meaning of “chase” – to engrave. | ||
| 12 | PUDOR |
Ivy hugged by priest, shame abandoned (5)
|
| UDO (a Japanese ivy) in PR(iest). “Abandoned” indicates that this is an obsolete usage. | ||
| 13 | RUNIC |
Ancient Scandinavian track, mostly very cold (5)
|
| RUN (track) IC(y). | ||
| 14 | SLATCH |
Slack ropes left hand cast off (6)
|
| *(L(eft) H(and) CAST). | ||
| 15 | REMOTE |
Short time getting into network? This’ll facilitate that (6)
|
| MO in RETE (network). Slightly unusual definition, referring back to the wordplay. | ||
| 16 | MANITO |
Sacred object I wrapped in robe (6)
|
| I in MANTO (alternative spelling to manteau). MANITO is a spirit or sacred object among certain Native American tribes. | ||
| 18 | RECITATIVES |
Jacques maybe in service struggling for non-melodic parts (11)
|
| (Jacques)TATI in *SERVICE. The tennis serve adopted by M Hulot can be seen in this clip | ||
| 19 | SILVER MEDAL |
Reward for just missing first place reveals mild upset (11, 2 words)
|
| *(REVEALS MILD). | ||
| 24 | LAUDED |
Celebrated statute completed, according to hearsay (6)
|
| Sounds like “law dead”. | ||
| 26 | RILLET |
Sucker switching ends in little stream (6)
|
| TILLER with the ends swapped. A tiller can be a sucker from the base of a stem. | ||
| 27 | IGNORE |
Slight Italian gents doffing cap (6)
|
| (s)IGNORE. | ||
| 29 | EXIES |
One trapped by legal costs causing Jock’s hysterics (5)
|
| I in EXES. Not quite sure that “legal” is strictly necessary. | ||
| 30 | SCRIM |
Open fabric requiring some discrimination (5)
|
| Hidden in “discrimination”. | ||
| 31 | SALTIRES |
Juvenal’s work often includes Latin symbols (8)
|
| L in SATIRES (a collection of poems by the Roman poet Juvenal). | ||
| 32 | SCYE |
Sleeve goes into this strainer, chef’s first caught in it (4)
|
| C(hef) in SYE (strainer). | ||
| 33 | SIDEWAYS |
Is inclined to swallow fish anything but head first? (8)
|
| IDE in SWAYS. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | POPS |
Dad is going suddenly (4)
|
| POP (i)S. | ||
| 2 | ADULARIA |
Feldspar lay around, mostly uninteresting one (8)
|
| DUL(l) A in ARIA (a song or lay). | ||
| 3 | SEDAN |
Litter disfiguring Andes (5)
|
| *ANDES. | ||
| 4 | PHOTIC |
Light-sensitive image, animated inside (6)
|
| HOT (animated) inside PIC. | ||
| 5 | LITHOTRITOR |
Stone crusher giving endless thrill to tiro at work? (11)
|
| (THRIL(l) TO TIRO). | ||
| 6 | MEREST |
My siesta gives this, of minimum significance (6)
|
| (gives) ME REST. | ||
| 7 | ALUMNI |
Old Etonians, say, following trend turned up with a topper on (6)
|
| A LUM (a chimney-pot hat, or topper), IN (following trend, rev). | ||
| 8 | RUN-ON |
Right on, I’ll quit marriage, continuing to next row? (5)
|
| R UN(i)ON. | ||
| 9 | DECEASED |
Late exploit at extremes, enough said (possibly) (8)
|
| CEAS (sessa, which may mean “enough said”) inside DEED. | ||
| 11 | STREAMLINED |
Graceful Linda, six, in new guise (11)
|
| *(MEREST LINDA). An unusual (for Azed) cross-reference to an earlier answer (6 down), made more misleading by using the word rather than the figure. | ||
| 16 | MISTRESS |
Her upstairs giving me grief? (8)
|
| MI (sounds like ME) STRESS. “Giving” indicates the part homophone. | ||
| 17 | CELERITY |
It’s included in part of salad that’s going fast (8)
|
| IT in CELERY. | ||
| 20 | VALETE |
What may be flourished in a moiety of leavetakings? (6)
|
| *(LEAVETakings). Just about works as an & lit clue, I think, although can you really flourish a farewell? | ||
| 21 | EMESIS |
Posset shows this, one appearing in nasty mixture after end of bottle (6)
|
| (bottl)E, I in MESS. | ||
| 22 | DUN-COW |
Ray, dead, stripped of hood, led away (6)
|
| D UNCOW(led). | ||
| 23 | SLILY |
Flower after spring’s opening without being observed (5)
|
| S(pring) LILY. An alternative spelling to “slyly”. | ||
| 25 | DORSA |
Backs measure up, with attractive charm (5)
|
| ROD (measure, rev) SA (sex appeal, attractive charm). | ||
| 28 | EMYS |
Chelonian dissected in academy studies (4)
|
| Hidden in “academy studies”. |
Thanks bridgesong, PASPALUM had me stumped for a long time too.
It’s LU[sh] in PAMPAS*.
Thanks as ever to Azed. Liked EMESIS.
Thanks Azed and Bridgestone.
1ac: LU(sh) contained in anagram of PAMPAS.
Gonzo beat me to it and apologies for not spotting the “autocorrect” which made a mess of bridgesong’s screen name.
btw ME is a variant spelling of MI so no need for a homophone in 16.
Also isn’t lithotritor a lovely word for an unpleasant instrument…
I also agree with Gonzo about 16dn. ME and MI are alternative names for the third note of the scale.
I think 1dn is just two meanings. POPS is one of many informal addresses to a father, and you need all of “is going suddenly” for the second meaning.
I agree with PB@4 with regard to POPS – I took it as a double definition.
I wondered about PASPALUM for a long time too.
Lots of fun as always, so thanks to Azed and Bridgesong.
No real problems for me. Thanks for the Jaques Tati link bridgesong. I’m a fan as well. A true clown in the best sense of the word.
Nice to see “attractive charm” for SA for a change.
I think 24a is supposed to sound like “law did”.
I can see that SIGNORE can be masculine singular or feminine plural, but 27a needs it to be masculine plural.
Thanks for the blog, I agree STREAMLINED is a bit unusual, Azed rarely refers to other clues, also LAUDED is a bit of a dodgy homophone.
I really liked VALETE and RECITATIVES , also DUNCOW which you put in and do not believe it exists until you look it up.
Thanks, all, for your comments and emendations, all of which I accept. Kicking myself about LU(sh). And I don’t know why I didn’t indicate POPS as a double definition. Also I agree about ME and MI being alternative spellings, and that “law did” is the homophone at 24a. I wonder if an apostrophe got omitted from 27a?
I wasn’t convinced that a farewell could be flourished in 20dn. PASPALUM was definitely a retro-parse; I’d spotted the anagram of pampas before solving, but LU(sh) took some thought. I rather liked the use of ‘dissected’ in 28dn, presumably in reference to the word being split across ‘academy’ and ‘studies’; I’d not come across that before.
I am adding this somewhat belatedly having pondered further on a discussion about indirect anagrams in the blog for Azed 2633, but is not 11dn a blatant indirect anagram?
Pelham, I have in front of me Azed’s book, A-Z of Crosswords(2006), which uses exactly the same example (MORONIC/OMICRON) as the 1973 slip. “The component letters of the anagram, or an unequivocal indication of them [my emphasis], must be given explicitly in the anagram-based clue”. Here, MEREST is given by the (unusual for Azed ) cross-reference to 6 down. Is it explicit? What else can “six” mean? I think the clue is sound.
Thanks bridgesong@13. That phrase and reference is what I needed for the discussion we have been having in the blog on Azed 2633. I agree with you that the clue is sound, which is why I did not raise the issue of the indirect anagram earlier. I have put the quotation from Azed into the blog on 2633, repeating your emphasis (with credit to you).