Apart from a couple of clues, an uncommonly gentle offering from Azed this week.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPRITZIG |
Second glutton goes round smart hotel displaying fizz (8)
|
| {S (second) + PIG (glutton)} around (goes round) RITZ (smart hotel) | ||
| 7 | REDO |
Have another go at doctrine lacking leader (4)
|
| [C]REDO (doctrine) minus first letter (lacking leader) | ||
| 11 | TRAMPET |
Shaft attached to front of favourite bit of gym equipment (7)
|
| TRAM (shaft) + PET (favourite) | ||
| 13 | RIDER |
Extra attachment for jockey (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 14 | OOMPH |
Sound of band, not amateur, showing enthusiasm? (5)
|
| OOMP[A]H (sound of band) minus (not) A (amateur) | ||
| 15 | HEDERA |
Climber, male, read ranges abroad (6)
|
| HE (male) + anagram of (ranges abroad) READ, referring to an ivy genus | ||
| 16 | FORGEMAN |
Metal worker, enthusiast about gold stone (8)
|
| FAN (enthusiast) around (about) {OR (gold) + GEM (stone)} | ||
| 17 | BELGA |
Discontinued currency unit mostly originated including pound (5)
|
| BEGA[N] (originated) minus last letter (mostly) around (including) L (pound, i.e., £) | ||
| 19 | CENTRE STAGE |
Where attention is focussed, a hundred and others mature (11, 2 words)
|
| CENT. (a hundred) + REST (others) + AGE (mature) | ||
| 20 | RAREFACTION |
Refinement, not common with rebellious group (11)
|
| RARE (not common) + FACTION (rebellious group) | ||
| 24 | FORBY |
Female rarely round, once near (5)
|
| F (female) + ORBY (round, listed in Chambers as “rare,” thus “rarely”), attributed in Chambers to Spenser, thus “once” | ||
| 26 | SCURRILE |
Like dirty old jokes left aboard cruiser at sea? (8)
|
| L (left) inside (aboard) anagram of (at sea) CRUISER, listed in Chambers as “archaic,” thus “old” | ||
| 28 | TARPAN |
Wild horse dad found entering lake, small one (6)
|
| PA (dad) inside (found entering) TARN (lake, [a] small one) | ||
| 29 | DAGGA |
Love-drug provided by blade according to hearsay? (5)
|
| Homophone of (according to hearsay) DAGGER (blade) | ||
| 30 | ARIES |
Shows disagreement casting initial V sign (5)
|
| [V]ARIES (shows disagreement) minus (casting) first letter (initial V) | ||
| 31 | GUTTIER |
Increasingly plucky American, one in the groove (7)
|
| I (one) inside (in) GUTTER (the groove), with “American” referring to usage | ||
| 32 | TANA |
Revelation from Calcutta narks may appear here (4)
|
| Hidden in (revelation from) [CALCUT]TA NA[RKS], with an element of “clue as definition” at play, referring to a police station in India | ||
| 33 | SARMENTA |
Strawberry runners? Means rat at work possibly (8)
|
| Anagram of (at work possibly) {MEANS RAT} | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | STOA |
Venue for classical lectures leads to serious talks on Athens (4)
|
| First letters of (leads to) S[ERIOUS] T[ALKS] O[N] A[THENS] | ||
| 2 | PRONE |
Old-style homily directed downward (5)
|
| Double definition, the first listed in Chambers as “obsolete,” thus “old-style” | ||
| 3 | RAMBLE |
A nice walk? Eric’s last as leader maybe (6)
|
| Presumably referring to novelist Eric AMBLER (thus “maybe,” i.e., for example), with the last letter moved to the beginning (last as leader) | ||
| 4 | IMPUGNED |
Phosphorus in mine dug out called into question (8)
|
| P (phosphorous) inside (in) anagram of (out) {MINE DUG} | ||
| 5 | ZERO-GRAZING |
Love scraping by in economical dairy farming (11)
|
| ZERO (love) + GRAZING (scraping by) | ||
| 6 | GREGO |
Old monarch covers self-confidence in warm coat (5)
|
| GR (old monarch, i.e., Georgius Rex) + EGO (self-confidence) | ||
| 8 | EDEMA |
Unhealthy swelling became deadly in part? It must be lifted (5)
|
| Hidden in (in part) [BEC]AME DE[ADLY], inverted (it must be lifted) | ||
| 9 | DERAIGN |
The old justify varied reading (7)
|
| Anagram of (varied) READING, listed in Chambers as “obsolete,” thus “old” | ||
| 10 | ORANGERY |
Specialized orchard park officer placed in old yard (8)
|
| RANGER (park officer) inside (placed in) {O (old) + Y (yard)} | ||
| 12 | THREE-COLOUR |
Lo, cheer reverberated in outing that recalls French flag? (11)
|
| Anagram of (reverberated) {LO + CHEER} inside (in) TOUR (outing) | ||
| 17 | BAROSTAT |
Pressure regulator to secure toast when it’s done? (8)
|
| BAR (to secure) + anagram of (when it’s done) TOAST | ||
| 18 | ETIOLATE |
Pale? A lot, tee I mishit (8)
|
| Anagram of (mishit) {A LOT TEE I} | ||
| 19 | CASCARA |
Accountant having to accept a stigma as bitter tonic? (7)
|
| CA (accountant) around (having to accept) A SCAR (a stigma) | ||
| 21 | ORIGIN |
Source of river in Geneva? (6)
|
| O’ (of) + R (river) + I’ (in) + GIN (geneva), with a capitalization misdirection | ||
| 22 | BURIN |
Stone Age tool I found in Scottish stream (5)
|
| I inside (found in) BURN (Scottish stream) | ||
| 23 | FRASS |
Larval excrement? With this it becomes pertness (5)
|
| The clue instructs us to read “this” solution as “FR AS S.” Substituting S for FR results in (becomes) SASS (pertness). | ||
| 25 | BEGET |
Gender, formerly, what may be hedged round say (5)
|
| BET (what may be hedged) around (round) E.G. (say), listed in Chambers as “archaic,” thus “formerly” | ||
| 27 | TARA |
So-called fern I omitted from headdress (4)
|
| T[I]ARA (headdress) minus (omitted from) I |
Thanks for the blog , my fastest ever finish . I think this puzzle is due to the previous week which must have been so hard to set , this often happens when we have a special .
GUTTIER not in Chambers93 but had to be right , we say gutsier .
SARMENTA , not sure we need the possibly .
The rest of my clues totally unmarked.
I see in the paper that Matthew Newell has won this week . Beginner’s luck .
I too found it quick. Roz@1: GUTTIER is in my C98, under gutty (2); agree that there’s no need for “possibly” in 33ac.
I didn’t like the clue for 23dn – there is no wordplay for the FR, since any combination of letters “as S” would produce SASS. If the entry had been a well-known word, that might have been ok, but I don’t think we should be expected either to know a word like FRASS or to go through the dictionary looking for it.
MunroMaiden @3 I have found GUTTIER now , I did not think to look under gutty .
I agree for FRASS , a neat idea but the first letter not checked and could be anything from the wordplay . Fortunately I have seen this word a few times with the same definition .
Totally different to the previous week. I got a couple of answers just glancing at the clues whilst reading the paper. I think I had to do a word search for 23dn.
Still no blog for 2729?
Greetings all.
Usual thanks to Azed & to Cineraria for blog. It was the easiest Azed for a while unless lat week had reactivated long dormant grey cells. Under two hours.
FRASS was the only quibble. The idea here is, I think, an Azed invention. I particularly remember STOA where Athens became Athena (S to A). The FR seems to do double duty here as the object of the “as” conversion to S. These X (is) Y; X “as” Y; X “to” Y clues refer to other words not spelt out so seem to breach the “indirect anagrams” anathema since Afrit laid down rules. I had once a book of Torquemada puzzles which broke every rule and were still solved by contemporaries.
spelled
Thanks Azed and Cineraria
Keith@6: The blog for 2729 has been there for several hours as I type this (edit: I see you have now found it.)
I returned to attempting Azeds last week after the end of the UK cricket season and gave up on the Give and Take after solving five connected clues in the NE corner. That, I am sure, was me being out of from. I solved this one in a time somewhere in the middle of my expected range. I took 3dn on trust, so thanks Cineraria for the parsing of that one.
33ac: I think the word “possibly” improves the surface, and it is relevant to the anagram indication.
23dn: I got FRASS from my rather old copy of Chambers Back-Words for Crosswords, but would have searched C2016 if necessary.