Azed gave us few more twists and turns in this week’s puzzle, as compared to the most recent Plain puzzles, but nothing too outlandish.
On a side note: I persuaded myself last week to make a serious attempt at the recent Printer’s Devilry (Azed 2,655), previous instances of which I have found utterly baffling. I don’t know whether it was intuition or luck, or whether this one was just not as complicated as the ones that I had seen before, but I got about halfway done before getting pretty well stuck, with some less intelligible solutions hopelessly unparsed. After a break, and after getting a boost from inadvertently seeing the solution to 1A, I whittled it down to four unsolved clues before finally losing patience and looking at the published solution. I had actually been on the right track with the unsolved clues, but could not quite connect the dots. Could I have completed the puzzle on my own steam (or, heaven forbid, written up the blog for it)? I don’t think so, and I don’t think that I will ever enjoy PDs as much as some Azed fans apparently do, but it was a worthwhile exercise in a completely different form of wordplay.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SCHWÄRMERISCH |
Keenly sentimental and increasingly amorous, I, before and after school (13)
|
| SCH. (school) + WARMER (increasingly amorous) + I + SCH. (school) (“before and after”) | ||
| 10 | TRAT |
Place to order pasta (cocotte sent back) (4)
|
| TART (cocotte) reversed (sent back) | ||
| 11 | RUNNION |
Nun dressed in reverse of black abroad? She was disapproved of (7)
|
| Anagram of (dressed) NUN inside (in) NOIR (black “abroad,” i.e., in French) reversed (reverse of), a Shakespearean “term of reproach to a woman,” according to Chambers | ||
| 13 | REPROVER |
One decrying member of travelling troupe? (8)
|
| A “member of a travelling troupe” might be one who wanders around (i.e., a ROVER) with a REP[ERTORY] company, or cryptically a REP ROVER. | ||
| 16 | TENEMENTARY |
People dividing view, any, regarding apartment block (11)
|
| MEN (people) inside (dividing) [TENET (view) + ARY (any)]. Where I live, “ary” and especially “nary” are still commonly used. | ||
| 17 | UTERINE |
Sharing a ma but not a pa, i.e. with nature varied but not accepted (7)
|
| Anagram of (varied) [I.E. + NATURE minus (but not) A (accepted)] | ||
| 18 | KNEIPE |
Student boozer, one joint incorporating another (not the first) (6)
|
| KNEE (one joint) around (incorporating) [H]IP (another [joint] minus (not) the first [letter]) (German) | ||
| 23 | ANSATE |
Having what looks like hand one pair of bridge partners fed on (6)
|
| A (one) + N-S (pair of bridge partners) + ATE (fed on) | ||
| 24 | SYSTOLE |
Shortening (of speech), easy when half’s nicked, lifted (7)
|
| [EA]SY (“when half’s nicked”) + STOLE (lifted) | ||
| 25 | CONTINENTAL |
Like some breakfast? Against money being put into measure of grain once (11)
|
| ON (against) + TIN (money) inside (being put into) CENTAL (measure of grain once) | ||
| 29 | IDEALISE |
Place on pedestal that is containing fantastic ladies (8)
|
| I.E. (that is) around (containing) anagram of (fantastic) LADIES | ||
| 30 | SCISSEL |
Scrap metal, inferior, including such as in Scotland, all returned (7)
|
| LESS (inferior) around (including) SIC (such “as in Scotland,” i.e., in Scots) reversed (all returned) | ||
| 31 | ESSE |
French art turning back on itself? It represents reality (4)
|
| The equivalent of “Thou art” in French is “Tu es,” thus cryptically, ES = “French art” + SE (ES turning back on itself) | ||
| 32 | HELTER-SKELTER |
Here, left and right, kettle’s boiling – confused? (13)
|
| Anagram of (boiling) [HERE + L (left) + R (right) + KETTLE’S] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STROUPACH |
Cuppa for Jock? A hot cup’s brewed about right (9)
|
| Anagram of (brewed) A HOT CUP’S around (about) R (right). Scots, thus “for Jock” | ||
| 2 | CRESTON |
Basset? Crowning feature in position (7)
|
| CREST (crowning feature) + ON (in position), in the sense of “an outcrop” | ||
| 3 | HAPTEN |
Appropriate in female, it may prompt immune response (6)
|
| APT (appropriate) inside (in) HEN (female) | ||
| 4 | AGONISTICS |
Stirring acts I sing about ring? Such this might have included (10)
|
| Anagram of (stirring) ACTS I SING around (about) O (ring), referring to an archaic term for “the art and theory of games and prizefighting,” according to Chambers | ||
| 5 | RAVE |
One side of wagon? With that it’s shiny black (4)
|
| The wordplay here is: RAVE (that, i.e., the solution) + N (one side of [wago]n) = RAVEN (shiny black) | ||
| 6 | EUREKA |
Brainwave you utter ultimately in climbing tropical tree (6)
|
| {U (you) + last letter of (“ultimately”) [UTTE]R} inside (in) AKEE (tropical tree) inverted (climbing) | ||
| 7 | IN STEP |
What’ll suggest clan literally conforming with others? (6, 2 words)
|
| The wordplay here is: IN ST EP, or perhaps more clearly: putting EP inside (IN) ST = SEPT, which will “suggest clan literally.” I got this solution from the definition alone, and had a dickens of a time figuring out the wordplay. Azed uses this the-solution-is-the-meta-clue device frequently, so you would think that it would not throw me for a loop every time I run into it. | ||
| 8 | SIDA |
Hemp genus from Q I had planted in region not far from there, yielding … (4)
|
| I’D (I had) inside (planted in) SA (i.e., South Australia, region not far from there, i.e., Q or Queensland, where this plant grows). The “. . .” to 9D reads as “yielding fibre,” as this is a “tropical herb yielding a fibre,” according to Chambers. | ||
| 9 | COIR |
… Fibre, increasingly evasive by the sound of it (4)
|
| Homophone of (by the sound of it) COYER (increasingly evasive) | ||
| 12 | NANNY STATE |
Butter’s given a wee bittie salt? It provides more than we really want (10, 2 words)
|
| NANNY’S (“butter’s,” i.e., of a female goat) + TATE (a wee bittie salt, i.e., Scots for “pinch”), referring to overprotective government | ||
| 14 | EMERSED |
See me among waving reeds poking above the surface (7)
|
| ME inside (see . . . among) anagram of (waving) REEDS | ||
| 15 | EYELETEER |
Punch sleuth allowed always to poets (9)
|
| EYE (sleuth) + LET (allowed) + E’ER (always, “to poets”) | ||
| 19 | PELISSE |
Lady’s mantle from the orient in puckered fabric (7)
|
| E (from the orient, i.e., Eastern) inside (in) PLISSÉ (puckered fabric) | ||
| 20 | LATEST |
Breaking stalk held up by officer briefly (6)
|
| SETA (stalk) inverted (up) inside (held . . . by) LT (officer “briefly,” i.e., lieutenant), as in “breaking news” | ||
| 21 | DENIER |
Sum of little value one disowns (6)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | HOLIST |
I see the universe as complete in itself, lifting around length (6)
|
| HOIST (lifting) around L (length) | ||
| 26 | ONCE |
Solid leader being somewhat demoted as formerly (4)
|
| CONE (solid, i.e., a geometric shape) with the first letter C (“leader”) moving down two spaces (“being somewhat demoted”) | ||
| 27 | NOIL |
Piece of wool after combing cat from tail up (4)
|
| LION (cat) inverted (from tail up) | ||
| 28 | NEUK |
Corner of Scotland to recognize up there having entered university (4)
|
| KEN (to recognize . . . there, i.e., in Scots) inverted (up) around (having entered) U (university) (Scots equivalent to “nook”). I take “having entered” here in the sense of “having made an entry of,” as in filling in a form. |
Thanks Cineraria, especially for the parsing of IN STEP.
I thought AGONISTICS might be to do with opera until I looked it up.
RUNNION and variants always reminds me of the Three Witches speech.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
Thank you for IN STEP. I’m one of the solvers who can fill in the grid, but you feel you haven’t won till you’ve worked out exactly how the clues work. It can be very frustrating and a clue will spin around in your head for days.
Azed plays games: delightful usually, but can be obtuse. (That’s Azed’s school report.) Fifty years ago he was strictly Ximenean and would never have dared some of the charades he comes up with nowadays.
Stefan
Thanks for a very thorough blog, I like your method for IN STEP , I took it as STEP meaning related by marriage which is loosely what Chambers has for clan. Your idea is much better with the result being SEPT. Any=ARY was new to me but it had to be right and I did find it afterwards.
[ I am not keen on PD but I do admire the setting so I always finish them. I find 20 minute spells work for me, once you are stuck it is time to stop, taking a break leads to new inspiration ]
Sorry, Cineraria. I missed this. “Tu esse”, spelt thus, is mediaeval French for “thou art”. It will be interesting to see if he can clarify this in his notes in three weeks’ time.
I am pleased that Azed throws in these foreign languages. He is best in Italian, but not bad in French and not far behind in German. My Chambers (2006) has lots of Russian in it, perhaps reflecting the views of one of the contributors, and I’d like to see Azed using those words. It is strange that mere crossworders could make a statement about the world.
My full name is Stefan Wierzubowski, so you can tell where I’m from. I just happen to like playing with languages. Ukraine today, Poland tomorrow. Germany?
Stefan
Thanks for the blog which cleared up a number of points for me including IN STEP. Knew the Latin SIC, not the Scots one, nor Scots TATE.
Thanks to Azed