Azed 2647

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We have a plain puzzle from Azed this week

 

 

 

 

I thought this a puzzle towards the easier end of Azed’s spectrum with quite a few entries that would be normal in a standard national daily crossword.

I wonder if I was the only solve who started to write in TAHR confidently at 28 down just before realising that it didn’t fit the word play.  It’s the first time I have been aware that there are two different breeds of Himalayan goats spelled almost the same.

It’s not often that you see a word that doesn’t actually exist as an entry in an Azed puzzle, but Chanbers has a few quirky entries which attract crossword setters.  Chambers is very clear that OCTOPI is not a legitimate plural for OCTOPUS, but it’s in the dictionary so is fair game for setters.

Although there good number of common words, Azed also served up a good number of more obscure ones.  New words for me today were HAIKH, SHOTTLE, RHODORA and AECIOSPORE.

The word CATENA brought back some memories of my early days training as a Land Surveyor where we learnt about measurement of long distances by chains and had to calculate the correction for the curve generated by the weight of the chain between its supports.

No Detail
Across  
1

Chaps troubled about pieces returned by editor, being hard up (12) 

CASH-STRAPPED (short of money; hard up)

(Anagram of [troubled] CHAPS containing [about] PARTS [piece]) reversed [returned]) + ED (editor)

CASH (STRAP<) P* ED
9

Armenian clothed in Thai khaki (5) 

HAIKH (Armenian)

HAIKH (hidden word [clothed in] THAI KHAKI)

HAIKH
11

What Indian women may wear about festival in spring (5) 

CHOLI (a short, short-sleeved bodice as worn by Indian women under a sari)

C (circa; about) + HOLI (Hindu spring festival)

C HOLI
13

Comb English county briefly for sedimentary rocks (7, 2 words) 

RED BEDS (red sedimentary rocks)

RED (alternative spelling of REDD (to comb) + BEDS (shortened form of the English County BEDfordshire)

RED BEDS
14

Unit of money, ‘penny’ in Arabia (5) 

DINAR (the standard monetary unit of several Arab countries)

D (symbol for a penny in Britain before decimalisation) + IN + AR (Arabia)

D IN AR
15

Unlocked the lost desk drawer (7) 

SHOTTLE (small drawer, especially in a cabinet or chest)

Anagram of (unlocked) THE LOST

SHOTTLE*
16

Points retracted in entering place of punishment (6, 2 words) 

SIN BIN (enclosure to which a player is sent for a statutory length of time when suspended from a game for unruly behaviour; place of punishment)

IN contained in (entering) NIBS (points) reversed (retracted)

S (IN) BIN<
18

Throw with the intention of wounding, showing vigour? Not on once (6)

ELANCE (throw as a LANCE [weapon]; throw with the intention of wounding)

ELAN (dash; vigour) + ONCE excluding (not) ON

ELAN CE
19

Like many in the senate house, before not being allowed out (7)

TOGATED (wearing a TOGA [outer garment of a Roman citizen], the dress of Romans in the senate house)

TO (before) + GATED (not allowed out)

TO GATED
23

Gossip, as female getting round lows (7) 

SHMOOSE (gossip or chat in a friendly or intimate manner)

SHE (descriptive of a lady) containing (getting round) MOOS (reference the sounds made by lowing cows)

SH (MOOS) E
25

Hooligan giving the old man back pain (6) 

APACHE (lawless ruffian or hooligan in Paris or elsewhere)

PA (father; old man) reversed (back) + ACHE (pain)

AP< ACHE
26

Caught immediately before tea? Take that! (6) 

GOTCHA (expressing pleasure at having tricked or surprised someone; take that!)

GOT (caught) + CHA (tea)

GOT CHA
27

Company’s base, not heat-resistant – well, only partly (7) 

THEATRE (home [base]  for a company of actors)

THEATRE (hidden word in [only partly] NOT HEAT RESISTANT)

THEATRE
29

Former operation I see to do with bodily secretion (5) 

UREIC (related to the bodily secretion of urine)

URE (obsolete [former] word for operation) + I + C (see is the pronunciation of the letter C)

URE I C
30

American shrub from Haiti, its smell having a touch of arum (7) 

RHODORA (North American species of Rhododendron; American shrub)

RH (international Vehicle Registration for Haiti) + ODOR (American spelling of ODOUR [smell]) + A (first letter of [touch of] ARUM)

RH ODOR A
31

Arms may display this brown colour; however back contains extremes of wan skin (5)

TENNY (in heraldry, an orange-brown colour; heraldic arms may display this colour)

YET (however) reversed (back) containing (contains) NN (last letters [extremes] of each of WAN and SKIN)

TE (NN) Y<
32

Free literary style is associated with him in dialect (5) 

UNPEN (release;free)

UN (dialect word for ‘him’) + PEN (literary style)

UN PEN
33

Officer may flourish this bundle; suffering regt sick (12, 2 words) 

SWAGGER STICK (short military cane, sometimes flourished by officers)

SWAG (bundle) + an anagram of (suffering) REGT SICK

SWAG GER STICK*
Down  
1

Overseas bowler demonstrating turn on the way down (7) 

CHRISTY (Canadian [overseas] term for a bowler hat)

CHRISTY (a turn with skis parallel, executed when descending at speed; demonstrating turn on the way down)  double definition

CHRISTY
2

Partial weatherproofing in north America (6) 

SIDING (taking sides; partial to one particular viewpoint)

SIDING (American term for material used to weatherproof the outside of a building)  double definition

SIDING
3

The slaughter of animals struck hiding in African tree (7) 

SHEHITA (slaughtering of animals in accordance with rabbinical law)

HIT (struck) contained in (hiding in) SHEA (an African tree)

SHE (HIT) A
4

The French forced out of Spanish city creating a rumpus (4) 

TO-DO (commotion; rumpus)

TOLEDO (city in Spain) excluding (out of) LE (French for ;the’)

TODO
5

One doing housework switching ends became inefficient (6) 

RUSTED (became inefficient)

DUSTER (one doing housework) with the outside letters (ends) R and D swapped round (switching) to form RUSTED

RUSTED
6

I bathed in hot lamp turning a dull brown (8) 

PHILAMOT (dull brown colour)

I contained in (bathed in) an anagram of (turning) HOT LAMP

PH (I) LAMOT*
7

Shut up about number turning up in the old west (6) 

PONENT (the poet John Milton’s [old] term for ‘western’)

PENT (held in; shut up) containing (about) NO (number) reversed (turning up; down entry)

P (ON<) ENT
8

Start of glee interrupting dreadful monody (5) 

DIRGE (mournful piece of music; monody)

G (first letter of [start of] GLEE) contained in (interrupting) DIRE (dreadful)

DIR (G) E
10

It produces fungal growth, so a piece spreads, yellowish inside (10) 

AECIOSPORE (fungal growth spore)

OR (yellow colour; yellowish) contained in (inside) an anagram of (spreads) SO A PIECE

AECIOSP (OR) E*
12

Having money invested in real crackers for cheese (10) 

LANCASHIRE (type of cheese)

CASH (money) contained in (invested) an anagram of (crackers) IN REAL

LAN (CASH) IRE*
17

Activity in bakery, except with children involved (8) 

BATCHING (baking a quantity of bread)

BATING (except) containing (with … involved) CH (children)

BAT (CH) ING
29

Malay Muslim in Australia briefly in love (7)

AMOROUS (in love)

MORO (a member of any of the tribes of Muslim Malays in the Philippine islands) contained in (in) AUS (short form of AUStralia)

A (MORO) US
21

Bask endlessly almost naked, careless? It’s just the place for that (7)

SEABANK (just the place for baking almost naked)

Anagram of (careless) BASK and NAKED each excluding their final letters (almost) K and D respectively

SEABANK*
22

Sequence of intricate names forming connected series (6) 

CATENA (chain or connected series)

CATENA (hidden word in [sequence of] INTRICATE NAMES)

CATENA
23

Old riddle: what’s creating luminous discharge in bishop’s place? (6)

SEARCE (obsolete [old] term for a sieve or riddle)

ARC (luminous discharge of electricity) contained in (in) SEE (office of bishop of a particular diocese)

SE (ARC) E
24

Cephalopods wrongly seen in ring on embroidered picot (6)

OCTOPI (a word considered by many to be the plural of OCTOPus [a cephalopod];  Chambers states clearly that the use of OCTOPI is wrong)

O (ring shaped) character + an anagram of (embroidered) PICOT

O CTOPI*
25

Is up against time with amateur coach around (5) 

ABUTS (is up against)

T (time) contained in (with … around) (A [amateur] + BUS [coach])

A BU (T) S
28

Mountain goat or deer, tail aloft (4) 

THAR (Himalayan goat like an antelope)

HART (male deer) with the final letter (tail) T moved up to the start (aloft to the first letter in a down entry) to form THAR

THAR

 

12 comments on “Azed 2647”

  1. Thanks Azed and Duncan
    Small quibble on the parsing of 21dn: The removals of K and D are indicated separately by “endlessly” and “almost” respectively.

  2. For 1D, I also discovered a Wikipedia entry for Jim Christy, a (perhaps obscure) South African cricketer of yesteryear, but I think that the hat/skiing parsing is correct.

    I guessed ELANCE pretty quickly, but could not figure out the parsing for the longest time, until I remembered Azed’s fondness for this sort of “subtraction” clue.

  3. I agree Cineraria @2 that the hat is better than the cricketer for CHRISTY.
    I’m ashamed to say that it took me far too long to get LANCASHIRE, given that I was born there. I’m biased but it’s a great cheese for cooking (cheese on toast…) but very hard to get here in Aus.

  4. The Canadian bowler hat is called a “Christy stiff” I believe. The Chambers entry appears to associate it with the English hat maker Christys’ which is still around today though I couldn’t find any evidence of a connection with the Canadian term.

    I did get the goats confused, but helpfully Chambers includes a note within both entries pointing to the possible confusion.

    I think this was my quickest Azed so far. Many thanks to Azed and to Duncan for the detailed blog.

  5. Pelham Barton @ 1

    Yes, you are right. I had spotted the twoseparate indicators when I solved it but I must have rushed through that part of the blog when I was typing it.

  6. For 31ac, I took the “extremes of wan skin” to be WN and came up with TEWNY, which seemed feasible as a version of tawny (although there was no indication in the clue of archaic/dialect etc). CATENA put me straight – and then I realised the significance of “arms”, which I hadn’t spotted before. I couldn’t find REDBEDS in my Chambers 98, nor SIDING to mean weatherproofing, but both clues were clear enough.

  7. It’s been a few years since I last tried an Azed puzzle, and I’m glad I picked this one up after completing my usual collection of weekend puzzles earlier than usual. It was as I remembered my last one – a ‘plain’ but elegant puzzle whose clues gave this solver plenty to think about, but not requiring any online searches – only looking things up in my essential references.

    I started with RHODORA and THAR and found myself working (or being led) through the grid in a Z shape: SE, SW, NE and finally NW. My last in was CHRISTY, a unique clue in this puzzle insofar as it gave me no way to work it out. It consisted of one straight (but superficially misleading) definition and one descriptive definition with no context. I knew neither meaning of the word, but with all the crossers a likely answer came readily enough and turned out to be correct.

    The standard of cluemanship was high, as I expected, having read one of the recent blogs and remembered something about that earlier puzzle.

    Thanks to Azed and duncanshiell.

  8. Good afternoon all! Thanks, as always, to Azed and to duncanshiels for the donkey-work. As said this was straightforward with Chambers only opened at the end. It is encouraging when 1 across is a write-in.
    2647 is a prime number- the next prime year is 2027 if I last that long!

  9. Thanks for the blog, the long answers were pretty friendly and very helpful in the grid, Like MunroMaiden, my Chambers93 did not have RED BEDS or the second meaning of SIDING . I did know RED BEDS , very important fossil sites.
    Why is it “north America” for SIDING , I would expect North , just a misprint ?

  10. [Keith@8: I have just over two years to go until I reach the age of 67 and can revive my joke about being in the prime of life.]

  11. Roz, my Chambers has…
    siding (noun)
    Material used to weatherproof the outside of a building (N American)

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