A typical Azed plain.
With the occasional help of the BRB, I was eventually able to complete the puzzle, but I’m not sure about Aber, so any confirmation would be appreciated.
Thanks, Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SUMP |
Money going into drink, leading to depression (4)
|
| M (money) going into SUP (“drink”) | ||
| 4 | TRANSACT |
Negotiate screed, penning answer (8)
|
| TRACT (“screed”) penning Ans. (answer) | ||
| 10 | CHIRAGRIC |
Gouty old French leader admits grip failing finally (9)
|
| (Jacques) CHIRAC (“old French leader”) admits GRI(p) [failing finally]
Chiragra is gout int he hand. |
||
| 12 | HERAT |
Afghan city centre, centre moving eastwards (5)
|
| HE(A)RT (“centre” with its centre moving eastwards becomes HER(A)T | ||
| 13 | PRUNT |
Glass ornament, uncommonly small one on back of cup (5)
|
| RUNT (“uncommonly small one”) on [back of] (cu)P | ||
| 15 | RIPPLET |
Boozer switching ends ? one barely disturbs the surface (7)
|
| TIPPLER switching ends becomes (R)IPPLE(T) | ||
| 16 | ENTOMB |
Note scrawled by doctor: ‘proceed with burying’ (6)
|
| *(note) [anag:scrawled] by MB (Bachelor of Medicine, so “doctor”) | ||
| 17 | VERY |
Truly it requires courage going without bra (4)
|
| (bra)VERY (“courage” going without BRA) | ||
| 18 | IDIOLECTAL |
Unusually coiled tail denoting particular articulation? (10)
|
| *(coiled tail) [anag:unusually] | ||
| 20 | PARAPLEGIC |
A blow on limb seen in photo showing one severely handicapped (10)
|
| A + RAP (“blow”) on LEG (“limb”) seen in PIC (“photo”) | ||
| 25 | ABER |
An old-fashioned carriage, line scrapped for bishop? (4)
|
| A BER(line) (“an old-fashioned carriage”) with LINE scrapped
Not convinced by the definition, as Aber means confluence of rivers; I can’t find a source that confirms that Aber is an epithet, nickname or abbreviation for the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney as Chambers suggests. |
||
| 26 | RETAIN |
Employ volunteers kept within control (6)
|
| TA (Territorial Army, one-time “volunteers”) kept within REIN (“control”) | ||
| 27 | SARANGI |
I’m bowed, in rags, hobbling round Australia (7)
|
| *(in rags) [anag:hobbling] round A (Australia)
A sarangi is an Indian stringed instrument played with a bow. |
||
| 29 | PLEON |
Part of Crab or Lion between head of Pisces and tail of Capricorn (5)
|
| LEO (“lion”) between [head of] P(isces) and [tail of] (capricor)N | ||
| 30 | SWIFT |
Reel sailor’s to tighten with rope (5)
|
| Double definition, the first referring to a reel for winding yarn, and the second referring to a nautical term for tightening a rope. | ||
| 31 | POSTHORSE |
Fresh mount ? he’s supplied with troops on the move (9)
|
| *(he’s troops) [anag:on the move] | ||
| 32 | RODENTIA |
Rats etc? See one of them I dealt with round old lair (8)
|
| *(rat (i.e. one of them) i) [anag:dealt with] round O (old) + DEN (“lair”) | ||
| 33 | BIEN |
Joe maybe disheartened as Mac’s well off (4)
|
| BI(d)EN (“Joe maybe”, disheartened) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCHLEPP |
Stupid one left with bungled prep right away after school (7)
|
| L with *(pep) [anag:bungled] after Sch. (school) where PEP is P(r)EP with R (right) away | ||
| 2 | MIRITI |
Palm I prune rising round centre of topiary (6)
|
| <=(I TRIM) (“I prune”, rising) round [centre of] (top)I(ary) | ||
| 3 | PRAT |
Murphy that is discounted for seat (4)
|
| PRAT(ie) (potato, so “murphy”) with i.e (that is) discounted | ||
| 4 | TATAMI |
Floor covering I’m lifting after so long (6)
|
| <=I’M [lifitng] after TATA (“so long”) | ||
| 5 | ARTILLERIST |
Gunner not so well with virtuoso around (11)
|
| ILLER (“not so well”) with ARTIST (“virtuoso”) around | ||
| 6 | NIPPLE |
Drink, what teetotaller takes, giving up half? It may be painful for jogger (6)
|
| NIP (“drink”) + PLE(dge) (“what teetotaller takes”, giving up half) | ||
| 7 | AMULET |
Charm e’er denied a driver of pack animals (6)
|
| E’ER denied from A MULET(eer) (“driver of pack animals”) | ||
| 8 | CINERARIA |
Artist captivated by a Pacific climbing plant with bright blooms (9)
|
| RA (member of the Royal Academy, so “artist”) captivated by <=(A + IRENIC (“pacific”), climbing) | ||
| 9 | TOTTY |
Sexy youth, under the influence (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 11 | GARBOLOGIST |
He empties US bins, clothing togs spoilt with oil (11)
|
| GARB (“clothing”) + *(togs oil) [anag:spoilt] | ||
| 14 | EN CABALLO |
In the saddle, having a dance, once capering around (9, 2 words)
|
| A BALL (“a dance”) with *(once) [anag:capering] around | ||
| 19 | LONG TEN |
Trump (crucial) showing desire to catch up (7, 2 words)
|
| LONG (“desire”) + <=NET (“to catch”, up)
I don’t play cards, but am reliably informed that there is a game called catch-the-ten in which the ten of trumps is also knows as the long ten. |
||
| 21 | REREAD |
Went back over dosage unit before swallowed (6)
|
| RAD (“dosage unit” of radiation) swallowed ERE (“before”) | ||
| 22 | PENNON |
State founder adorning flag (6)
|
| (William) PENN (“state founder”) + ON (“adorning”) | ||
| 23 | GEISHA |
Good-time girl in midst of binge is happy (6)
|
| Hidden [in midst of] “binGE IS HAppy” | ||
| 24 | CABIRI |
We offered protection for sailors ? I bone up on cases (6)
|
| <=(I (one) + RIB (“bone”)) on Ca (cases) | ||
| 25 | ASPER |
Fag, not good? Gives you rough breathing (5)
|
| (g)ASPER (“fag”, but not G (good)) | ||
| 28 | SWOB |
Wipe foredeck up (4)
|
| <=BOWS (“foredeck”, up) |
Thanks loonapick,
I think Aber is ok on the model of Cantab.
e.g.
Thanks as ever to Azed
Thought this was of the tougher sort, neither meaning of SWIFT was known to me. Wondered if the ‘crucial’ in 19 had any extra significance.
Assuming that 8D was a deliberate nod, I am honored. My blog for 2,646 is already in the can.
I found LONG TEN surprising hard to confirm. It is in Chambers, under “ten.” Similarly, ABER.
Thanks for the blog , good puzzle with a special mention for our newest blogger.
Good to see TOTTY as sexy youth , much better than sexy young girls I have seen in the past.
Gonzo@2 the crucial is crucial, the game is Scotch Whist and the ten of trumps is the most important card to catch.
ABER took a while , I eventually remembered Berlin as a carriage and checked Berlin(e) was valid. My Chambers93 does have Aber as a bishop.
For 10Ac I was surprised to see GRI(p) in clue and answer.
Aber is listed in Crockford’s Clerical Directory as an abbreviation for Aberdeen. Bishops in England often sign themselves as an abbreviation of the Latin name of their See such as Oxon (Oxford), Ebor (York), Cantaur (Canterbury) and the like, so I think Chambers is OK in listing it as an abbreviation for (the bishop of) Aberdeen.
First time I’ve finished Azed on a Sunday so I must be getting better with practice. ABER also my LOI and I had the same parsing as others. I was a little curious about using Christian names to indicate surnames as in “Joe maybe” for Biden. There are a lot of famous Joes in the world. I do like Azed “Scots” indicators though, last week we had “Sandy’s” this week “Mac’s”. I might start a list.
Like Roz@4, I eventually thought of Berlin and checked if it could be spelled with a final E, but I didn’t spot Aber in my Chambers (exhausted after searching for long ten!), so just assumed it was a clerical abbreviation. I agree that ‘sexy youth’ is a more agreeable definition for Totty, but was less happy with Geisha defined as ‘good-time girl’. To me, that suggests a girl (woman!) who is out for a good time, whereas geishas are traditionally trained to entertain men.
Strange: I am not in the UK and I accessed this puzzle online very early. There was originally a note from Azed (alongside the 2016 Dictionary recommendation) to the effect that the answer to 19 appeared in Chambers only under its second element. I’m sure I was using the Guardian upload but the note is no longer there. (For comparison, see COSPAS-SARSAT in Azed 2615.) Anyway, finding LONG TEN wasn’t a problem. Finding ABER was though, even though it was staring me in the face. It’s an abbreviation and I’m sure I’ve seen Azed in the past give solvers a similar note indicating so. Azed is superb at finding these little idiosyncrasies in Chambers.
Stefan
I did find ABER very easily in my Chambers93 once I had solved the clue, maybe the entry has changed. Like MunroMaiden@7 I did wonder about Geisha.
Jay@6 , a lot of Scottish words in Azed generally and he will nearly always indicate as sucn ( same for American etc ) . We get Jock of course but also references to Troon, Murrayfield , Fettes and many more.
I’ve recently taken to Azed and so become aware of some relative deficiencies of my 1988 Chambers. Would any of the e-Chambers have returned LONG TEN from a search on “long”?
Lemming@10, yes, the Chambers app suggests LONG TEN (and many other options, of course) when entering “long”. I use the app on an iPad and it is particularly useful for switching between the dictionary and thesaurus entries for any given word
I tried an Azed for the first time because Roz flagged 27a SARANGI as being of interest to me (which it was, thanks Roz), and I worked out enough of the puzzle to solve that one.
I enjoy the occasional jorum, where I get from the clue what sounds like it might possibly be a word and find it (or not) in the dictionary, but when the number of these reaches double digits – eleven in this case – the puzzle gets a bit tedious for me.
So this one was fun until I solved the clue I was after, but a joyless slog for much of the way after.
Thanks Azed and loonapick for the puzzle and much needed help, and Roz for the referral.