A slow burner for me.
This one took a little longer than normal, as I struggled with some of the parsings (QUOIF and CRAWED are obvious once you see them, but held out for a while). I’m not convinced by my parsing of 7dn, so as usual, I’m looking forward to comments on this one.
Thanks Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | AMPHIMICTIC |
CIC? I’m apt for training around him, combining characteristics (11)
|
| *(cic im apt) [anag:for training] around HIM | ||
| 11 | QUOIF |
Sandy’s stated condition for hairstyle (5)
|
| QUO‘ (Scots form of quoth, therefore “Sandy’s stated”) + IF (“condition”) | ||
| 12 | NORSEL |
Old Scandinavian line, one for fastening nets (6)
|
| NORSE (“old Scandinavian”) + L (line) | ||
| 13 | BRUMAIRE |
Autumn time ? strange breeze featuring in fringes thereof (8)
|
| RUM (“strange”) + AIR (“breeze”) featuring in [fringes of] B(reez)E
Brumaire was the second month of the French revolutionary calendar, mid-October to mid-November. |
||
| 14 | ARTEX |
A king swathes heart of château in ‘lumpy’ coating (5)
|
| A + REX (“king”) swathes [heart of] (cha)T(eau) | ||
| 15 | PLATE |
Serving prince, deceased (5)
|
| P (prince) + LATE (“deceased”) | ||
| 16 | CHANSON |
Carol and Jackie, maybe, offspring (7)
|
| (Jackie) CHAN + SON (“offspring”) | ||
| 18 | KALIF |
Spiritual leader, one caught in heated criticism, making comeback (5)
|
| I (one) caught in <=FLAK (“heated criticism”, making comeback) | ||
| 20 | SCOTOMY |
What was dizzying? Appalling cost ? well I never! (7)
|
| *(cost) [anag:appalling] + O MY! (“well I never!”)
Scotomy is an old word describing dizziness and dimness of vision. |
||
| 22 | SPOILER |
Sore lip after battering? It gives the game away! (7)
|
| *(sore lip) [anag:after battering] | ||
| 23 | TORCH |
Link in bracelet or chain (5)
|
| Hidden [in] “braceleT OR CHain”
Link is an old name for a torch made of pitch and hemp material. |
||
| 27 | PAD-TREE |
Old horse with pedigree? See harness frame (7)
|
| PAD (an old word for a “horse”) with TREE (“pedigree”) | ||
| 29 | LOGIN |
Access via code ? observe trap (5)
|
| LO (“observe”) + GIN (“trap”) | ||
| 30 | TRONA |
Chemical combination ? page includes it for support (5)
|
| (pa)TRONA(ge) (“support”)
Trona is a combination of acid and sodium carbonate. |
||
| 31 | VULSELLA |
Forceps lulls Eva being operated on (8)
|
| *(lulls Eva) [anag:being operated on] | ||
| 32 | ENSOUL |
Give animation to wild ones, duly free of curbs? (6)
|
| *(ones) [anag:wild] + (d)UL(y) [free of curbs] | ||
| 33 | FLEAS |
Hoppers emptied fields bagging ale’s components (5)
|
| [emptied] F(ield)S bagging *(ale) [anag:‘s components] | ||
| 34 | TARRADIDDLE |
A fib (11)
|
| Azed invites us to come up with our own clue for this one. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | MURRHA |
Right hand used in Pompeian artwork (not left) ? unidentified material (6)
|
| RH (right hand) used in MURA(l) (“Pompeian artwork”, not L (left)) | ||
| 3 | PORTALOO |
There’s a smell endlessly round mobile lat or … this? (8)
|
| POO(h) (“there’s a smell”, endlessly) round *(lat or) [anag:mobile] | ||
| 4 | HIZEN |
Fine porcelain greeting oriental Buddhist (5)
|
| HI (“greeting”) + ZEN (“oriental Buddhist”) | ||
| 5 | MARMOSE |
Opossum some damaged grabbing limb (7)
|
| *(some) [anag:damaged] grabbing ARM (“limb”) | ||
| 6 | INURN |
By the sound of it you are in pub to prepare for tea (probably not!) (5)
|
| Homophone [by the sound of it] of YOU ARE in INN (“pub”) | ||
| 7 | COMPLOT |
Azedders battling for preferment? It’s an old conspiracy (7)
|
| COMP (competition, as in the Azed puzzle) LOT could be a way of describing Azedders, I suppose. | ||
| 8 | TRALA |
Singers may hum it contralaterally in part (5)
|
| Hidden in [in part] “conTRALAterally” | ||
| 9 | CERTS |
Working at clothiers? Ah, toil with such snips maybe (5)
|
| *(at clothiers) [anag:working] would yield AH TOIL CERTS | ||
| 10 | SLEEPYHEADS |
Spot leaders taking shelter in dozy- looking lot (11)
|
| SPY (“spot”) + HEADS (“leaders”) taking LEE (“shelter”) | ||
| 11 | QUACKSALVER |
Dodgy old doctor, mercurial? I’ll go for one twice (11)
|
| QUICKSILVER (of mercury, so “mercurial”) with I going for (being replaced) twice by A (“one”) would become QUACKSALVER | ||
| 17 | CORRODED |
Rusty flex around was annoying (8)
|
| CORD (“flex”) around RODE (“was annoying”) | ||
| 19 | FLANEUR |
One strolling pathway in warm coating (7)
|
| LANE (“pathway”) in FUR (“warm coating”) | ||
| 21 | CRAWLED |
Crop in conveyance moved slowly (7)
|
| CRAW (“crop”) + LED (“in conveyance”) | ||
| 24 | CENTAL |
Measure of old grain a client ordered I shifted (6)
|
| *(a clent) [anag:ordered] where CLENT is CL(i)ENT with I shifted | ||
| 25 | MOUNT |
What palmist may read that’s put on (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | VISOR |
Peak like this may be seen in Old Man (5)
|
| SO (“like this”) may be seen in VIR (Latin for “man”, so “old man”) | ||
| 27 | PALLA |
Cloak from past enveloping everything (5)
|
| pa. (past) enveloping ALL (“everything”) | ||
| 28 | TRILD |
What’s left in loose earth raised in a fine stream once (5)
|
| L (left) in <=DIRT (“loose earth”, raised) |
I think your parsing of COMPLOT is fine loonapick.
I did like ARTEX for the memories (is it still around?), although thankfully I’ve never had to try and remove it. CHANSON was nice for the JACKIE reference, but my favourite was the nearly &lit PORTALOO.
This week’s Azed was pretty late appearing online.
I finished this, but a few parsings remained incompletely resolved, so thanks for the blog.
Thanks Azed and loonapick.
7dn: I think the point here is that the competition lot are the Azedders who, by entering the competition, are battling for preferment, as opposed to those like me who merely solve the puzzles. I am not sure if I am adding substance to your parsing, or merely explaining it in greater detail.
Thanks for the blog, for COMPLOT I took it as those who enter CLUES for the COMPETITION puzzles like this one and so seek preferment . The other Azed puzzles are not labelled competition and are essentially a raffle.
I am not sure this adds anything, I have just rambled more.
Enjoyed this, a lot of clues where I worked out the answer and thought this word does not exist but there it was in Chambers. QUACKSALVER was brilliant .
I struggled a bit to get going on this. I got a few scattered clues, but there were many I could parse, but not actually get without any help. The turning point was AMPHIMICTIC (for which spotting the prefix AMPHI was the key to solving the anagram); after that they all started slotting in nicely. Re 7dn: if I don’t submit clues for the competitions, does that mean I’m not an Azedder? Or just not an Azedder who battles for preferment?
MunroMaiden@5, like Roz I think you are a non-battling Azedder. Many people at the last Azed lunch said they do not submit clues – in one case, because they would expect to get a VHC but not a prize.
My LOI was 26D, put off by VIR not appearing in C2014 although the wordplay clearly worked. Don’t we normally get an “except one subsidiary indication” in the rubric (or is it in C2016)? I took it as “old man” = “husband” = “vir” (which lingers in legal English) but loonapick’s parsing is more convincing.
TimC@1, I also liked 14A, although the image of a chateau swathed in Artex (and with shag-pile carpets perhaps?) is truly appalling. [Artex produced up to 1984 contained white asbestos so should be treated with caution.]
[TimSee @6, yes, I read about the asbestos in Artex. Not a good idea to get the sander on it. I have a vague memory of using Polytex on a ceiling of my first house in England many years ago. I moved to Australia where “fibro” houses are fairly common. ]
Also, the vir = Latin (old) man is a good point as it doesn’t appear explicitly as a headword. There was a discussion on here recently about the differences between 2014 C and 2016 C and I haven’t yet worked out what the differences are and how you tell which one you have. Mine is labelled 13th Edition copyright 2014 but I’m sure I bought it after 2016. Anyway, mine doesn’t have “vir” as a headword but “vir” appears in the etymologies of the words virago and virile.
My 2016 C is labelled revised 13th edition. And also doesn’t have Vir as headword. My 1979 edition similarly so.
Thanks to TimC@7 and Tyro@8. My Chambers was a gift in 2019, but is still labelled 13th Edition copyright 2014. As you say, Latin “vir” is fair to take as GK given the English words derived from it, but Azed is usually explicit where anything other than a person’s name is not found as an entry or even occurs in an unexpected place. I also worry more when battling for preferment.
If I remember rightly, there was some discussion not so long ago about capitals/lower case where one fitted the surface meaning, but the other fitted the wordplay. What do people think about “Old Man” in 26dn? To indicate VIR, it would normally be lower case, I think. The capitals are presumably meant to suggest the Old Man of Hoy (although, as a sea stack, that doesn’t actually have a peak, more a summit platform).
VIR is not in Chambers93 , I had to look under virile to check the origin.
MunroMaiden I think the “rule” is that fake capitals are okay to mislead but real capitals should always be there, personally I do not like the use of fake capitals as in Old Man.
I think we are both Azedders who enter the raffle three times a month but we do not battle for preferment in the competitions .
Thanks, Roz, that seems clear, if not always agreeable. I’m afraid I don’t even enter the raffle, usually. I did submit a clue once, just for the experience, but my effort sank without trace!
I suppose no-one reads late contributions but usual thanks to Azed and loonapick.
Re VIR I think Azed considers the Latin derivations as part of the word’s listing and doesn’t draw attention to it in the Chambers note.
I usually enter the Comp but bow to the pros. HC satisfies me. I do encourage the “Raffle only” folk to have a go.
Keith Thomas@13, I’m still reading.
I’ll echo the encouragement to enter the competition, as someone else who is pleased to get an HC ( or “hard cheese” as it was glossed to me). Only about 30% of entrants get a mention in any month. You will want to get the slip, too – you could even try clueing without entering for a while and see if you come up with similar ideas. There used to be about 300 entries per month and it would be a pity to see the competition disappear from apparent neglect. Azed used to provide more comment on sound and unsound clues, too (anonymously) – it would be good to see that return.
MunroMaiden @12, the protocol here for when we don’t get a mention in the competition is “infuriatingly lost in the post” rather than “sank without trace” 😉 (I suspect that really will be the case for some of us over the next few competitions, given the postal strikes.)
Keith@13, as the winner of prizes and VHCs you’re being too modest again – are you trying to placate the clue gods?
Twmbarlwm@15, I do apologise. As a clue tyro (though a veteran solver), I didn’t think I could claim the dizzy heights of ‘lost in the post’ 🙂
🙂 As a wise man once said, even the winning entries end up in the same recycling bin.