Azed is in classic form.
I had only a couple of very minor notes.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | POST-OP |
Humourless plug after theatre? (6)
|
| PO (humourless, short for po-faced) + STOP (plug), referring to surgery | ||
| 6 | CHAMP |
Munch starter of haricots in party (5)
|
| First letter of (starter of) H[ARICOTS] inside (in) CAMP (party) | ||
| 11 | CARACARA |
Tailless lynx found round Arabia – it devours carrion (8)
|
| CARACA[L] (lynx) minus last letter (tailless) around (found round) AR. (Arabia) | ||
| 12 | TARLATAN |
Stiff muslin from Louisiana in checked pattern (8)
|
| LA (Louisiana) inside (in) TARTAN (checked pattern) | ||
| 13 | YBET |
Was once batting still, getting bowled on the inside (4)
|
| YET (still) around (getting . . . on the inside) B (bowled), obsolete past participle of “beat,” thus “once” | ||
| 14 | CHIANTI |
Wine from Greek island on occasion? Not me (7)
|
| CHIAN (from Greek island, i.e., Chios) + TI[ME] (occasion) minus (not) ME | ||
| 16 | HONK |
Cat giving a bit of a hallo close to king (4)
|
| First letter of (a bit of) H[ALLO] + ON (close to) + K (king), both meaning “to vomit.” I think the second “a” is technically extraneous to the wordplay. | ||
| 18 | PLUTO |
Heavenly body, denoting wealth in combination (5)
|
| PLUTO- (denoting wealth, in combination [form]) | ||
| 20 | GREEN LABEL |
Enlarge spreading Indian tree? It denotes environmental acceptability (10, 2 words)
|
| Anagram of (spreading) ENLARGE + BEL (Indian tree) | ||
| 21 | ROLLED OATS |
What’ll go into the making of breakfast – toast mostly? (10, 2 words)
|
| Anagram of (rolled) TOAS[T] minus last letter (mostly). I think this is classified as a reverse anagram. | ||
| 23 | PLEBE |
US cadet in purple beret (5)
|
| Hidden in (in) [PUR]PLE BE[RET] | ||
| 25 | MERC |
Hessian got from textile dealer without hesitation? (4)
|
| MERC[ER] (textile dealer) minus (without) ER (hesitation), from their use as mercenaries in the American Revolutionary War | ||
| 27 | MALICHO |
What Puck gets up to in moderation after endless ill-will (7)
|
| MALIC[E] (ill-will) minus last letter (endless) + HO (moderation), from Shakespeare, referring to A Midsummer Night’s Dream | ||
| 29 | APSE |
Half of copies switching places in exedra (4)
|
| APES (copies), with the last two letters ([latter] half) switching places | ||
| 30 | TILERIES |
Roofing suppliers, not generally viewable in French palace (8)
|
| T[U]ILERIES ([former] French palace) minus (not) U (generally viewable, as in a film) | ||
| 31 | NERVELET |
Tendril revel damaged in … (8)
|
| Anagram of (damaged) REVEL inside (in) NET (trap [or arguably snare], derived from the next clue 32A, indicated by “. . .”) | ||
| 32 | SNARE |
… Trap earns getting fixed (5)
|
| Anagram of (getting fixed) EARNS | ||
| 33 | DONEES |
Cash joints, by the sound of it recipients of gifts? (6)
|
| Homophones of (by the sound of it) DOUGH (cash) + KNEES (joints) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PITCHER PLANT |
Hole with siliceous rock containing scheme for growing type of insectivore (12, 2 words)
|
| PIT (hole) + {CHERT (siliceous rock) around (containing) PLAN (scheme)}. Alternate parsing: PLAN could be “scheme for growing,” and the definition could be just “type of insectivore.” I think both are plausible. | ||
| 2 | OPAH |
Large fish netted in shallop – a hake? (4)
|
| Hidden in (netted in) [SHALL]OP A H[AKE] | ||
| 3 | SPRINGLET |
A small water source (9)
|
| The competition word | ||
| 4 | TALAK |
Rumour going round about alliance splitting up (5)
|
| TALK (rumour) around (going round) A (about). According to Chambers: “(under Islamic law) a form of divorce.” | ||
| 5 | PATTLE |
Ploughman’s spade, dry, kept in enclosure (6)
|
| TT (dry) inside (kept in) PALE (enclosure) | ||
| 6 | CRAIC |
Jest, according to hearsay, the latest from Ireland (5)
|
| Homophone of (according to hearsay) CRACK (jest) | ||
| 7 | HANDPLAY |
Pugilistic activity convenient when catching elusive pal? (8)
|
| HANDY (convenient) around (when catching) anagram of (elusive) PAL | ||
| 8 | ACYL |
Radical acid, denoting ornamental fabric first to last? (4)
|
| LACY (denoting ornamental fabric) moving the first letter to the end (first to last) | ||
| 9 | PRESTEL |
BT system repels being affected by interference, and about time (7)
|
| Anagram of (being affected by interference) REPELS around (about) T (time), referring to British Telecom | ||
| 10 | CATHOLICOSES |
Church leaders, tense before spring festival with company in suits (12)
|
| {T (tense) + HOLI (spring festival) + CO. (company)} inside (in) CASES (suits, as in lawsuits) | ||
| 15 | SUBSECIVE |
Buses out of order, bulb once left over as before (9)
|
| Anagram of (out of order) BUSES + CIVE (bulb once, i.e., alternate form of “chive”), listed in Chambers as “obsolete or rare,” thus “as before” | ||
| 17 | BEE-EATER |
Bird spotter in Scotland interrupting one starting game? (8)
|
| EE (spotter in Scotland, i.e., Scots for “eye”) inside (interrupting) BEATER (one starting game, as in hunting) | ||
| 19 | POLYPES |
Aged cephalopods, sloppy, swimming round middle of sea (7)
|
| Anagram of (swimming) SLOPPY around (round) middle [letter] of [S]E[A], listed in Chambers as “obsolete,” thus “aged” | ||
| 22 | OPALED |
Lacking colour inside, cook up what’s iridescent (6)
|
| PALE (lacking colour) inside DO (cook) inverted (up) | ||
| 24 | SMILE |
Old soldier, last sent to the front as a favour? (5)
|
| MILES (soldier, i.e., in Latin, thus “old”), with the last [letter] sent to the front | ||
| 25 | MIRIN |
Gettin’ bogged down in wine for cookin’ (5)
|
| MIRIN’ (gettin’ bogged down) | ||
| 26 | DEVA |
Good spirit States wasted is shocking (4)
|
| DEVA[STATES] (is shocking) minus (wasted) STATES, with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 28 | HEME |
Pigment, topping subject (4)
|
| [T]HEME (subject) minus first letter (topping) |
Thanks Cineraria. I prefer ‘growing type of insectivore’ for PITCHER PLANT. How about ‘Cat given a bit of haddock at the expense of king’ for HONK?
Thanks as ever to Azed. Medium strength.
The three consecutive “E”s in BEE-EATER caused me to pause for a while before I realised it was hyphenated. I don’t really understand the rationale for the convention of not indicating hyphens or the lengths of multiple words in barred crosswords.
As usual with a competition puzzle, trying to come up with a half decent clue took a lot longer than doing the crossword.
Thanks for the blog, I agree with you and Gonzo@1 , the growing bit of 1D tells us it is a plant not an animal .
PLEBE not in Chambers93 and gave me EEE for 17D so I switched straight to that and fortunately it was easy. Tim@2 I think hyphens and word lengths simply give too much away .
YBET, not totally convinced that batting=beating but perhaps close enough .
Yes, Roz, I can see that it makes it harder. Is the fact that hyphens and word lengths are given in blocked crosswords then because their omission would make it too difficult as there are a lot less crossers? I’m not convinced as I find Azed and other similar barred crosswords difficult enough without any added enumeration difficulties.
I also puzzled a bit over the definition in YBET.
Tim I think the barred puzzles should be made as difficult as possible. When Azed does a Carte Blanche puzzle the answer lengths are not given and it makes the wordplay far more difficult. I would also prefer the clue order randomised but he never does that .
16ac: I think the second “a” is absolutely (not just technically) extraneous to the wordplay and not really needed for the surface. 25dn: I understand “gettin’ “, but why “cookin’ “? 9dn: maybe this should have had a ‘former’ reference – Prestel was sold off by BT 30 years ago!
PATTLE could also have been its alternative spelling of PETTLE until you solved CARACARA – ‘pele: a palisaded enclosure’.
Unusually I’m joining in on Sunday- have left 2025 for later.
Thanks Azed and Cineraria.. Don’t remember much except groaning at DOUGH KNEES! Humourless= PO bothered me in POST-OP as I’ve never heard of FACE being omitted. SPRINGLET was not as straightforward as FOLKLORIST in August.
25 off landmark.
I agree about po-faced Keith@8 but Chambers does have PO as a short version.
I think you mean 2725 , do you think 2750 will be a particular special ?
Thanks azed and Cineraria
Super-happy as this was first azed competition puzzle finished (parsed to my satisfaction) and sent off with alternative clue. Just gone through Cineraria’s blog and no errors spotted
Like Michael I had pettle not pattle (pele appeared to be a better match for enclosure than pale). Until a thought of caracal got me back on straight and narrow.
Azed puzzles look terrifying – and the knowledge that many answers will be very unusual words is off-putting; but actually once you get down to solving this one wasn’t too bad. I await my first non plain challenge.