Azed No. 2,727 – Plain

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A medium-difficulty Azed plain. I was a bit surprised to see two homophone clues: these always excite comment from people whose regional accents don’t make them obvious and Azed has in the past expressed misgivings about using such clues, for just this reason. In my case although I don’t have a regional accent one of them I pronounce differently from what is intended. But never mind; I won’t (like some) make an issue of it: it’s quite obvious what is intended.

Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagram indicators in italics.

ACROSS
1 FLYBACK
Stylish US player revealing beam making return (7)
Fly (= stylish) back (= US player, although I can’t see the need for US)
7 KILP
Seaweed left in bed (4)
ki(l)p
11 ARCHAISTIC
Antiquated backless couch chucked in lorry (10)
ar(chais[e])tic
12 SUNUP
Dawn offering broth, abandoning love for one (5)
soup abandoning its o, to be replaced by un
13 OLPE
Pitcher some deployed from the rear (4)
Hidden rev. in dEPLOyed — why do setters, even Azed, persist in using ‘some’ to indicate a hidden? Quite apart from the fact that there is, at any rate to my mind, some doubt about whether ‘some xxxxx’ means ‘some of the letters of xxxx’, it’s a total giveaway. And when, as in this clue, it’s combined with ‘from the rear’ the clue is hardly difficult to solve.
14 SPOT-ON
Inhabitant bagging trophy, exactly as required (6)
s(pot)on
15 OILMEN
Fuel extractors abandoned most of old mine (6)
*(ol[d] mine)
17 TESTABLE
The emptied barn, open to examination (8)
t[h]e stable
19 ROAD TEST
Wherein you’d find Toad, rest appalled! (8, 2 words)
(Toad rest)* — I think this is an &lit. — my knowledge of ‘Toad of Toad Hall’ is a bit thin, but didn’t Toad take a car out with dire consequences?
21 MANTEGNA
He may have splurged magenta round third of canvas (8)
(magenta)* round [ca]n[vas] — I think ‘He’, an Italian artist, is the definition and the rest of it is a sort of &littish hint, although perhaps the whole thing could be called an &lit. — either way Azed would simply call it an &lit. since he doesn’t seem to differentiate between the different types.
24 STINK BUG
Smelly insect intertwines back to irritate (8, 2 words)
(knits)rev. bug
26 TROGGS
Jock’s faith proves heavy going by the sound of it (6)
“trogs”
28 TEGMEN
Inner coat for those attending sheep? (6)
Those attending sheep could fancifully be called men attending tegs
30 RIEL
Monetary unit that is held in both hands (4)
ie in R and L (both hands)
31 BLIST
Not the first-rankers, once glorified (5)
B-list, old spelling of blessed
32 ASPERITIES
Rough places I traipse roaming El Salvador (10)
(I traipse)* then ES
33 TORN
Fuss-free storm in bits (4)
torn[ado]
34 LEISTER
One responsible for catalogue including English and Scottish spear (7)
l(E)ister
DOWN
1 FISSIROSTRAL
Sailor’s first misbehaving, having beak agape (12)
(Sailor’s first)*
2 LOUP
Run away to Scotland? Most tear northwards, filled with love (4)
I think this is loup = a Scottish form of lope; then (pul[l])rev. round 0 — where loup = flee = run away, and the removal of the r from tear is indicated by most, the US form of almost, although the Americanism isn’t indicated
3 YANOMAMI
Affliction of starving kid tucking into edible root, one forest-dweller (8)
noma {affliction of starving kid} in (yam 1)
4 BRUTE
Crude report we hear (5)
“bruit”
5 CHINEE
Forgotten oriental ravine with earth at the bottom (6)
Chine E — Chinee is an old word for Chinese
6 KAROSS
What’s pelt covering start of rain soaks dreadfully (6)
(r[ain] soaks)*
7 KIWI
King presiding over tribe, one in NZ (4)
K Iwi
8 ISOLATE
A tie’s broken, nothing left within – separate (7)
(A tie’s)* round (0 L)
9 PIPELINE
Pluto e.g. producing high-pitched cry, a row (8)
pipe {high-pitched cry} line — ref. P.L.U.T.O. (pipe line under the ocean); this seems a bit of a stretch, for it isn’t in Chambers and it even takes a bit of work to find it on Google
10 SCENE-PAINTER
One converts flats regularly, rentin’ space variously around Spain (12)
(rentin’ space)* round E — flats as in a theatre — I always think it’s a bit weak to have words with an apostrophe just to drop a letter in an anagram
16 CONTRIST
Sadden old prisoner, time including wretched stir (8)
*(stir) in (con t)
18 BIGAMIST
Great novelist, first of three – one partner’s not enough for him (8)
big Amis {Kingsley or Martin?} t[hree]
20 DANGLER
He hung about women often left in peril (7)
dang(L)er — the definition of a dangler in Chambers is a bit vague: it says that one dangles about after others, esp women, without really saying what ‘dangles about’ means; I suppose it means ‘hangs about’
22 ABSEIL
Sailor is still climbing in manoeuvre using double rope (6)
AB (lies)rev.
23 NUTATE
Nod head aiming for heart of agreement (6)
nut at {aiming for} [agre]e[ment]
25 OGLES
Lecherous acts with nothing on, removing top and bottom? (5)
ogles are lecherous acts, and it’s {t}ogles{s}
27 GURN
Revolver, either end of it penetrating, making one snarl (4)
gun round r [either end of revolver}
29 ESSE
Traces of fugitives seen? Posse reveals opposite of this (4)
Hidden in fugitivES SEen — I was bewildered here until I read the Chambers definition of ESSE

9 comments on “Azed No. 2,727 – Plain”

  1. Thanks John, i thought LOUP was O in PUL[e] rev. where pule=weep.
    For 29 I eventually found “in posse” in Chambers.
    Thanks as ever to Azed.

  3. The US in FLYBACK refers to stylish. Fly in this sense has a N. American qualifier in C2016. I also took MANTEGNA as an &lit.

  4. DANGLER
    One question: Chambers doesn’t say ‘hang about’ is intransitive. Some online dictionaries do mention the verbal phrase is intransitive.
    Is it ok to say ‘hang/hung about someone’?

    ROAD TEST and MANGTEGNA
    &littish rather than &lit, I guess. In both cases, a word or more of the clue is not used in the WP.

  6. Thanks for the blog, for LOUP Chambers93 simply gives pull = to tear or pluck ( it probably means hair or feathers ) .
    FLYBACK not in C93 but I know the term from the CRO , could not find fly=stylish , assumed this was the US bit and Tim@3 confirms .
    KVa @2 I agree – he hung about – gives the archaic word . Hangs about would be used for a word still in use.
    ROAD TEST I found very weak as an anagram , just swapping two letters , yes it is in the story .
    I could not find YANOMAMI but I did find NOMA .
    SCENE-PAINTER I agree is a bit of a cop-out dropping the G just to make it work .

  7. Thanks Azed and John. This was the easiest Azed I have completed (out a huge total of 5)

    I spent quite a bit of time on road test as I felt it was “not enough” of an anagram – until crossers crossers confirmed it

  8. DANGLER: One definition of dangle in Chambers is to follow about, so I guess that equates to “hang about”. KVa@4: Chambers doesn’t seem to specify transitive or intransitive for verb phrases – see, for example, hang back and hang fire, also hang out, which could be either.
    9dn: The “a” (“a row”) is superfluous as regards the wordplay. I think we’ve had a couple of clues like this fairly recently; it sems a little sloppy, but perhaps I’m being pedantic.
    22dn, ABSEIL: Chambers’ definition says “using a double rope”, but I don’t know why, as it’s perfectly possible to abseil on a single length of rope. Doubling the rope is usually done to aid retrieval, not for safety reasons.

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