Azed No. 2,700 Plain

24 comments on “Azed No. 2,700 Plain”

1. I recommend reading back over the clues on this one, just to appreciate the many clever surfaces.
   Can’t agree more. Many brilliant surfaces.
   BRIT
   Is there another layer? I don’t know if Azed resorts to such clueing.
   Could the ‘I am typical (referring to himself)’ and the ‘small fry’ be two separate defs?

   BILABIALS: My top fave.

   Thanks Cineraria for coming up with such a lovely blog!

2. FIRESTORM
   Could ‘a going-over’ mean ‘cycling just once’? STORE becomes ESTOR.
   Don’t recall if Azed uses such devices.

3. Thanks for the blog, very standard plain puzzle , 1D gave many useful first letters.
   I could not find EENSY in Chambers93 , a lot of variants under teeny, no sign of HORAH and for TUILLE it just gives the armour plate, I know the wafer as TUILE but must be a different spelling.

4. Time to buy the 13th edition Roz! EENSY, HORAH and TUILLE are all there in the latest edition.

5. Enjoyed this one. EENSY is in my Chambers as a “shortened form of teensy-weensy”. HORAH is shown as a variant of “hora”. Had a similar thought to KVa regarding the ‘cycling’ of STORE.
   Many thanks for the detailed blog.

6. KVa@4 time for Azed to see sense and go back to using C93.

7. 😀

8. KVa@1: 7D could be a triple definition, sure. I guess the “cycling” parsing for 14D also works.

9. I don’t recall any great problems with this, apart from not getting GANT and not parsing AKEE.

   I used to buy the new Chambers as soon as it came out and one has to wonder whether there will ever be a later edition. My copy of the 13th fell apart years ago and I invested in the Chambers app, which is easier to carry with me on my computer and won’t fall apart. I’d be happy if they just released updates to that.

10. I hadn’t previously come across plonker meaning a smacking kiss (re 5dn). Like Roz, I found a few things not in my Chambers (1998), but Google was obliging.
    KVa@1, re 7dn: if “I’m typical” and “small fry” are separate definitions, the “of” becomes redundant and I think Azed usually steers clear of superfluous words?

11. Thanks Azed and Cineraria

    7dn: I think the words “I’m typical of” are indicating a definition by example.

12. Correction to 11: I should have said something like “are indicating that brits are only examples of small fry”.

13. Hello all! Not yet looked at today’s. Still a fortnight to the next comp. Thanks to Azed and to cineraria for blog.
    I don’t remember struggling with this though being a bit peeved not to find EENSY in my (coverless) Chambers. My first, now long gone to the library in the sky. was bought in 1956. Ido have one 21st century but mainly use the ’93
    First met TEMENOS on a visit to Delphi in 1964, the term being applied to a circular edifice below the Pythoness’s shrine.

14. Keith@13 my original C93 became unusable but i did get a “new” one as a present . In mint condition and the sprogs said it cost less than £5. It should last me another 30 years.

15. Keith@13, despite a visit long ago to Delphi, TEMENOS and the rest of the SW held out for longer than I understand in retrospect.
    Thanks to Azed and Cineraria [and congratulations to TimC, who I think has a VHC from the last competition – no slip yet on crossword.org to confirm].

16. Do you get the paper slip TimSee @15?

17. The top 3 clues and the names of the VHC clue-writers were in today’s Observer, so TimSee could have seen them there.
    Hope you’re Tim Coates in Australia!

18. I am indeed Twmbarlwm, and I assume you have a Welsh connection from your moniker?

19. Derek Harrison is on holiday without his laptop so won’t be able to post the slip until Wednesday. However, he was kind enough to email me a copy and I can confirm that K Thomas (who is presumably our Keith) is among the HCs.

20. Thanks bridgesong @19… I’d subscribe to the posted Azed slip but I don’t have a cheque book and I’m not sure the subscription would cover post to Australia. 🙂

21. TimC@16, I used to get the e-mail version of the paper slip (same price but should reach Australia) – payment was accepted by bank transfer, though I don’t know what the conversion charges might add. I let it lapse when I found the free version, which was usually earlier.

22. Thanks bridgesong. I didn’t receive last month’s slip so hope this one will reach me. I always think of myself as being more at home amongst the HC’s. LOCUM TENENS was a kindly choice with so many possibilities and a big relief after MALIK. My clue used the fact that I, L, M and K are all “numbers”, Latin or scientific but I suspect Azed does not like non-alphabetical clues. “Break-down results in one.” (4,4) can often appear on week-days.

23. Tim C @18, yes indeed, and still lobbying hard for Wales to get competition clue emailing privileges as a distant nation, like yours!

24. Definitely improving. Got all but 4 this time and am a week late checking it out. So many great surfaces in the clues and so many obscure/obsolete words make every puzzle a true challenge.

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