A reasonably straightforward crossword from Azed today (straightforward that is if you can handle the weird words, something you should be able to do if you have a copy of Chambers to hand).
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this).
| ACROSS | ||
| 5 | STICKJAW |
Stodgy pudding producing club chat (8)
|
| stick jaw — stick = club, jaw = chat — surely Azed is deviating from his own injunction ([wordplay] leads to [definition]) and should have said ‘Stodgy pudding produced by club chat’, but maybe the surface was too tempting | ||
| 11 | MOOLY |
Beef or duck served in wild onion (5)
|
| mo(0)ly | ||
| 12 | BORAGE |
Salad herb yielding distinctive smell on heat? (6)
|
| B.O. rage — Azed doesn’t adopt The Times’s policy of having AB = B on A, but not A on B, in an across clue, and I agree with him | ||
| 13 | BUGGANE |
Nasty spirit but mostly whipped up with an egg (7)
|
| (bu[t] an egg)* | ||
| 15 | GANT |
Sign of fatigue for Scots on board brigantine (4)
|
| hidden in briGANTine | ||
| 16 | ROMPER |
Traveller going to and fro in playsuit? (6)
|
| rom (rep)rev. — both rom[any] and rep are travellers | ||
| 17 | STEEVING |
Packing e.g. vest in tight? (8)
|
| (eg vest in)*, with ‘tight’ the anagram indicator, ‘tight’ as in ‘drunk’ | ||
| 18 | MARD |
Drink knocked back, old poet’s addled (4)
|
| (dram)rev. | ||
| 19 | ORTHOGENETIC |
Regarding determinate variation, see wild riot etc imbibing strong drink (12)
|
| *(riot etc) round hogen | ||
| 23 | MALACOSTRACA |
What rattles – look at price involved – varied shellfish (12)
|
| (la cost) in maraca | ||
| 24 | CHAL |
Vagrant person, parasite avoided by CID (4)
|
| chal[CID] — I suppose the Chambers definition of chal, which has ‘Romany’ at the end, indicates the fact that a chal is vagrant, but I can see nothing about the fact that the word is obsolete | ||
| 25 | CATCHALL |
Henry’s included in derisive shout – it omits nothing (8)
|
| catc(H)all | ||
| 28 | RETIAL |
Network’s genuine, holding it back (6)
|
| (it)rev. in real — NB the definition is ‘Network’s’ not ‘Network’ | ||
| 30 | RUIN |
I’ll be caught by chance in bankruptcy (4)
|
| ru(I)n — Chambers does give run = chance (under run (noun)), but I can’t think of two sentences where they are interchangeable | ||
| 31 | REPTANT |
Like creeping plants, forming odd pattern (7)
|
| *(pattern) | ||
| 32 | SENORA |
Rankers in army abroad going for foreign lady (6)
|
| sen(OR)a | ||
| 33 | DONAT |
Primer, once new, held in spoon? (5)
|
| Donat is the primer, once; do(n)at where doat is a variant spelling of dote = spoon in the flirtatious sense | ||
| 34 | SPY-MONEY |
Founder of democracy (John), first in Seychelles, getting agent’s fee? (8)
|
| S(Pym one)Y — this caused some difficulty because John Pym I had forgotten about, also was unaware that it was SY. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | IMBOSOM |
Cuddle bimbo somewhat without clothing? (7)
|
| Hidden in bIMBO SOMewhat | ||
| 2 | POURTRAHED |
Poet’s featured in picture, strangely parrot-hued (10)
|
| *(parrot-hued) — a Spenserian version of portrayed — when there is reference to a poet in Azed it’s usually to Spenser | ||
| 3 | POGGE |
Bomb work mounting: it’s armed at sea (5)
|
| (egg op)rev. | ||
| 4 | ALGAE |
Weedy group, half crazy to get stuck into beer (5)
|
| ga[ga] in ale | ||
| 6 | TENTIGO |
Lewd display? I buzz off following earlier probe (7)
|
| tent I go — where ‘earlier’ means that the word is archaic or obsolete | ||
| 7 | COHOG |
Clam mostly heated in wooden bowl for Sandy (5)
|
| ho[t] in cog — ‘Sandy’ indicates the Scotticism | ||
| 8 | KRIMMER |
Lamb’s fur, reverse of dark – it lost value (7)
|
| (mirk)rev. mer[it] | ||
| 9 | JASP |
What’ll make Jack pack fine porcelain (4)
|
| ‘Jack’ can be made into ‘pack’ by changing the J into a p, in other words J as p — a type of clue that Azed likes | ||
| 10 | WEIRD |
One of Macbeth’s witches described climbing round centre of pit (5)
|
| (drew)rev. round [p]i[t] — the witches in Macbeth are known as the Weird Sisters | ||
| 14 | PERICLINAL |
Nice pillar fashioned sloping downwards all round (10)
|
| (Nice pillar)* | ||
| 20 | HALIDOM |
Bad actor circling beach in precious antique? (7)
|
| ha(lido)m — precious as in ‘my precious’, ‘antique’ an adjective, indicating the archaic-ness of the word equivalent to precious — all a bit of a stretch, perhaps | ||
| 21 | ESTREPE |
Ruin part in best repertory (7)
|
| hidden in bEST REPErtory | ||
| 22 | CALOTTE |
Skullcap (7)
|
| The competition clue-word | ||
| 24 | CROSS |
Peevish? Not what I am doffing topper (5)
|
| [a]cross — ‘I’ refers to the answer; this is a down clue so is not an across one; ‘doffing topper’ is an indication that you cut the first letter | ||
| 25 | CAIRO |
Endless song about international capital (5)
|
| I in caro[l] | ||
| 26 | HIT ON |
Flirt with poppet, full of sexiness (5, 2 words)
|
| h(it)on — hon = honey, it = sex-appeal | ||
| 27 | ANANA |
Poll’s associated with me? Poll led by adult maybe (5)
|
| ‘me’ is a pineapple; the reference is to Pineapple Poll, by Gilbert & Sullivan; A nana (nana = head = poll) — the ‘maybe’ refers I think to Poll, since there is no need for ‘maybe’ about A being adult, although if so why then didn’t Azed have ‘Poll maybe led by adult’? | ||
| 29 | TONY |
Trendy old twit (4)
|
| 2 defs, each a bit outré — tony is an adjective from tone, also obsolete slang for a simpleton |
Has there really been no comment yet. I’m on an hotel wi-fi so my connection is a bit slow.
To be pedantic, Pineapple Poll is not actually by Gilbert and Sullivan. It’s a 1950’s ballet based on a poem by Gilbert with music from the operettas arranged by Charles Mackerras.
Thanks Azed and John.
Really not much to say. The answer to 13ac could have been built as bu(t) + (an egg)*, but the wording definitely means that bu(t) is part of the anagram. I assume Azed chose to do it that way for a better surface
I thought that the clue for SENORA was a little misleading, in that “going for” implies a removal, whereas in fact we have an envelope. SENA is an army of a particular kind in India, inside which OR (other ranks) has been inserted.
John, it would be interesting to know how much time you spent on this puzzle compared to the supposedly easier Everyman on the facing page!
I didn’t time myself so not sure. Certainly this wasn’t too bad and didn’t take all that long by Azed standards — as I say in my preamble it’s pretty straightforward so long as you have a copy of Chambers to cope with the crazy words — but Everyman I did find very difficult: however, since I was blogging both it and Azed on the same weekend and wanted to get it all done fairly quickly because I was busy with other things I used electronic aids from a fairly early stage. To call Everyman an entry-level puzzle is ridiculous and we have long ago abandoned that idea.
I struggled with this one over 4 or 5 sessions, and did not know the background for ANANA, even though that had to be the solution, so thanks for that. Of course, it seems “straightforward” in retrospect. For me, anyway, this was definitely harder than recent Azeds.