Azed No. 2,654 Plain

by

A straightforward plain from Azed this week, but one clue had me puzzled.

The clue I couldn’t parse is at 15 across. Luckily I revisited the draft blog a few days later, and it all became perfectly obvious. Other than that I found the puzzle on the easy side by Azed standards, with only one Scottish term and fewer archaisms than normal.

picture of the completed grid

ACROSS
1 FRICHT
Scare in Scots financial broadsheet, full- flavoured within (6)
RICH (full-flavoured) in FT (financial broadsheet).
6 BOTCH
School science subject in short, child trailing in clumsy patch (5)
BOT(any) CH(ild). Two different indications here of abbreviations: “in short” and (less familiarly) “trailing”.
11 PORTOLAN
Navigational aid for sailors once on patrol at sea (8)
*(“at sea”) (ON PATROL). It’s an alternative spelling of PORTOLANO, which is Italian for a navigation manual or harbour master (according to Chambers).
12 DRANT
Local droning noise spread during transmission of data (5)
RAN (spread) in DT (data). “Local” indicates that it’s a dialect term.
13 FIORD
Inlet I entered in watery crossing (5)
I in FORD.
14 DUDGEON
Disused dagger, ineffective with edge half gone, getting oiled? (7)
DUD (ineffective), (ed)GE, ON (getting oiled). ON is old slang for getting drunk (as is getting oiled). I hadn’t come across this meaning of dudgeon before; it’s apparently unrelated to its more familiar sense meaning resentment.
15 ELPEE
Record? Two couples left kept awake when it’s spinning (5)
(sl)EEPLE(ss) (rev).  As mentioned above, I found this hard to parse, perhaps because SL and SS are not couples, except in the sense that they are consecutive letters in the synonym for “kept awake”.  It’s a bit like an indirect anagram, in that you first have to deduce the word and then manipulate it.
16 LEARNING
Scholarship? Inclined to accept first from redbrick (8)
R(edbridge) in LEANING (inclined). Not all Azed clues involve obscure words; this clue could easily be found in any standard daily newspaper cryptic puzzle.
18 TENDERFEET
Beginners fretted, seen losing head, in a pickle (10)
*(FRETTED (s)EEN). I did wonder if the plural of tenderfoot might in fact be tenderfoots, but Chambers says both are acceptable.
20 SUPERSWEET
Sickly drink? At first swallowing very little (10)
SUP (drink), WEE (very little) in ERST (at first).
26 FOOTSORE
Sounds ‘ostile in the front, having 18? (8)
‘OOTS (‘ostile sounds) in FORE. Understandably, Azed couldn’t resist the link to TENDERFEET, although it’s rare for him to include a cross-reference to another solution.
27 ITALA
Alternative to the Vulgate a Catholic mostly recalled (5)
A LATI(n) (rev). Both the Itala version and the Vulgate are translations of the Bible into Latin.
28 CLUSTER
Curls tight round either half of hair dressed in a bunch (7)
*CURLS round TE. This puzzled me until I realised that TETE can mean a head of hair.
30 CABBY
One should know how to negotiate traffic island, having ingested books (5)
BB in CAY (island).
31 DITTO
One taking time out, drained, in party? Same here (5)
I (one) T(ime ou)T, in DO (party).
32 KNEEDEEP
Take charge of restricting poverty, heavily involved (8)
NEED (poverty) in KEEP (take charge of).
33 TREED
Deter getting led astray, in a corner (5)
*DETER. The verb “tree” can mean “to drive into a tree, to corner”.
34 SAGENE
When traced back hereditary element reveals network (6)
AS (rev) GENE (hereditary element).
DOWN
1 FIDDLESTICKS
Part of string section beats time for stuff (12)
FIDDLES (part of string section) TICKS (beats time).
2 RURU
Repeated sport for NZ nightbird (4)
RU (rugby union), repeated.
3 IBADAT
Centre of faith wavering, broken by severe Islamic services (6)
BAD (severe) in *(f)AIT(h).
4 CONGREE
The old agree about splitting leave (7)
RE (about) in CONGÉ (leave).
5 TOXOID
Type of vaccine, cube maybe swallowed three times daily (6)
OXO (brand of stock cube) in TID (abbreviation for Latin phrase ter in die, meaning three times a day).
6 BRENNE
Pass, last dropped, making veteran smoulder? (6)
BRENNE(r); an Alpine pass between Italy and Austria.
7 TOILE
Dress material, old, found in hat (5)
O(ld) in TILE.
8 CLOPS
The sound of cavalry approaching line in force? (5)
L in COPS (police force).
9 HARE’S-EAR
Sea mist shrouding rees fluttering in umbellifer (8, apostrophe)
*REES in HAAR (sea mist). In accordance with his normal practice, Azed indicates the apostrophe, but not the hyphen.
10 UNDER THE ROSE
King occupying hidden house rented privately (12, 3 words)
R in *(HOUSE RENTED). I haven’t come across “hidden” as an anagram indicator before.
17 EQUITANT
Riding east, stop taking in volunteers (8)
E, TA (Territorial Army, volunteers) in QUINT (an organ stop).
19 FESSING
Grass ignoring cue to spill the beans, owning up (7)
FES(cue) SING (spill the beans).
21 SOCRED
Communist pursuing former legal right? He believes in redistribution of wealth (6)
SOC (feudal right) RED (Communist). A Socred is a Canadian term for a member of a party pursuing a social credit policy.
22 WOLVES
Team pack? (6)
Two definitions.
23 TOTTIE
Attractive youngsters to unite? About time (6)
T(ime) inside TO TIE.
24 SABER
What Custer carried into battle leaders of Sioux at Bighorn easily ransacked (5)
Initial letters.
25 ALBEE
Even though old-fashioned he wrote memorable plays (5)
Another double definition. Edward Albee was the playwright whose name is also a version of “albeit”.
29 ETEN
Climbing lowest end of range, e.g. Atlas? (4)
NET (the lowest) (rang)E. It’s an old word for a giant.

 

23 comments on “Azed No. 2,654 Plain”

  1. This stood out for me as the most challenging of the last eight Azed puzzles (that is, since I started doing them). I got stuck in the SE corner, including the long phrase at 10d. Leaving it until the next day solved the problem, and starting with DITTO and then ETEN, I filled that corner. Like you, bridgesong, I queried the anagram indicator ‘hidden’ in 10d. (Or at least, I queried it – perhaps you thought it ok!) I didn’t really understand 15a at the time, but it it is clear enough now.

    In the end, it was business as usual, a completed grid following the solving of a good variety of good clues. There were fewer words than usual among the answers that were unfamiliar (either the word or the meaning) – only 10 this time.

    Thanks to Azed and bridgesong.

  2. Thanks for the blog, I liked TOXOID for the cube, CLOP is neat and effective , FOOTSORE is clever and as you say a rare cross-reference.
    IBADAT and SOCRED not in my Chambers93 but both were clear.
    ELPEE is a bit loose really , I would expect the couples to be pairs.
    For BOTCH I had the CH simply behind the BOT (trailing) , does CH need an indicator to be short?
    For TOTTIE I would prefer not to see youngsters in the clue.

  3. [ The PD puzzle this week has extended T&C in the paper including the criteria for a successful clue entry , I have never seen this before.
    It also states entries must be postmarked no later than Saturday , can the blog return to Sundays ? ]

  4. [Roz @3: It’s strange that the Observer should choose to publish the T&Cs at the bottom of the page, well away from the puzzle itself. The judging criteria are indeed new, but it’s ironic that they are published in connection with a puzzle to which they don’t apply! There is no requirement for a definition in a PD clue.

    As to publication date of the blog, you are quite right to point out that the Observer has reverted to the former practice of specifying “postmarked no later than the Saturday following publication”. If this is not contradicted by something different next Sunday, then I am sure that Kenmac will agree to revert to Sunday publication.]

  6. Roz @2: you’re probably right about BOTCH. I now think that “trailing” is just an indication that CH follows BOT.

    Andy @5: I’ll leave it to teachers to say whether botany is now taught in schools, but I dare say it was when Azed was a lad….

  7. Hello!
    Thanks, as always, to Azed & to bridgesong for the blog.
    I completed this on the day (not always the case now) and do remember being doubtful about botany being a school subject, even in my days- now it’s psychology, photography and, of course, “media studies”.
    I love PD’s and hope to be up to sending an entry in time. I seem to recollect once, decades ago, getting a prize for a PD.

  8. Completed this correctly, albeit with some question marks which the blog has cleared up for me. Like Roz, I read “trailing” in BOTCH as ‘coming after’, and I queried the necessity for “school”.
    My next query was ELPEE where I would have expected “couples” to indicate something more specific such as bridge partners. Didn’t know TETE or QUINT in theses senses.

    Getting nowhere with this week’s PD, so shall have to treat it as a learning exercise and look forward to the blog!

    Thanks to Azed and bridgesong.

  9. Bridgesong@4 quite correct , none of the criteria really match for a PD , a unique type of clue.

    I am pretty sure there is no actual GCSE in botany but it must be studied as a topic within biology.

  10. Jay@8 PD is very different, best done in short bursts, 20 minutes or so seems to work for me.
    Without any spoilers, I can say generally it is best to attack the weak part of the sentence for each clue, every one seems to have a bit that does not seem quite right. Try 18D.

  11. PD’s are, in my view, easier than hard cryptics. The undevilled versions always have a pointer to the sphere it uses and the word is needed to complete a reference.
    Mr Lance’s winner some time ago, which Azed complimented by using himself later, referred to Mozart and “op(era the m)inion Figaro” led to ERATHEM. Look for the scene/theme/place in the clue and follow your instinct.
    Good luck!

  13. [Jay@12, I would suggest trying 10D in the PD as well as 18D. If you can get some first or last letters they can make finding the insertion point easier. Also, as Roz says, solving often comes as sudden insight rather than by persistent staring.]

  14. Roz@2, I don’t think CH for child really needs an abbreviation indicator, because it’s sufficiently common
    in crossword use. It’s rather like, say, p for quiet or MP for member of parliament. I agree that 15ac is a bit loose and, like yours, my old Chambers lacked IBADAT and SOCRED, but the internet confirmed them.

  16. Thanks AlanB , Azed does specify Chambers2016 so no complaints , I just prefer my old 93 , which is now a “new” copy but still an original first edition .
    MunroMaiden I agree that the CH for child is fine, I was just thinking about the blog which had an indicator for shortening it.

  17. For those of you enquiring about this week’s PD comp, Azed is aware that the Observer has published the wrong Terms & Conditions, and in the wrong place, and there will be a note about it with next Sunday’s puzzle. My guess is he will extend the deadline for entries by a few days.

  18. Thanks, Richard. I’ve already dispatched my entry, but given the lamentable delays in the postal system, any extension will be welcome. I’ll be interested to see what The Observer has to say about the deadlines.

  19. [wearing my stripy referee jumper]

    Please avoid references to the actual puzzle when discussing live puzzles.

    In this case there was a need to discuss the confusing deadline stuff but not the puzzle itself.

    [takes jumper off]

  21. [Richard Heald@17, looking at the online Azed FAQs this morning before posting my entry, I saw that e-mail submission is apparently permitted even for UK solvers. Can you confirm? It would be a relief (and an economy) for many.]
    [kenmac@19, apologies – I’d hoped I was only providing general advice of the kind one would offer to any PD solver rather than a spoiler but should not have referenced anything specific.]

  22. Sorry Kenmac , point taken. I was trying to encourage Jay but too specific .
    The PD blog itself will be better for discussing solving techniques.

  23. New rules in the paper today 14/5 – Entries must be postmarked no later than Saturday …..and reach us within 10 days ( Wed week) .
    The postmark implies the blog can return to Sunday ??

Comments are closed.