Pleasant crossword from Azed this week. I didn’t think it was all that difficult by the usual standards, but would have appreciated a bit more guidance for words that are not in Chambers. However, at some point it just becomes general knowledge and whether or not it’s in Chambers one just has to know it. Azed’s grids are, as here, rather good: he usually manages to get four long words, two across and two down, interlocking.
Definitions in crimson, underlined. Anagrams indicated (like this)* or *(like this).
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPLOTCH |
Trudge through mud? Page in cloth’s damaged (7)
|
| p in (cloths)* | ||
| 7 | FLED |
After dinner, last of meal consumed ran (4)
|
| fed round [mea]l — it looks as if a comma after ‘consumed’ has been omitted | ||
| 10 | EAGRE |
Bore, weak without money as introduction (5)
|
| [m]eagre | ||
| 11 | PERUKE |
Pet has almost run in for a scratch? (6)
|
| pe(ru[n])ke — a scratch-wig | ||
| 13 | OTTO |
Man leaving comfortable seat – it’s fragrant (4)
|
| otto[man] | ||
| 14 | CROTAL |
Little bell, round, found in Sri Lanka (6)
|
| C(rota)L — CL not SL, as I always have to be reminded; it comes from the old name, Ceylon | ||
| 15 | MARINER |
Seaman causing damage round old bark (7)
|
| ma(rine)r | ||
| 16 | CROSS-SECTION |
Typical element irritated by misspelt notices (12)
|
| cross *(notices) | ||
| 19 | ICHABOD |
Crane maybe required to construct Greenwich abode (7)
|
| Hidden in GreenwICH ABODe — the reference is to Ichabod Crane in Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow | ||
| 21 | CARAUNA |
Resinous stuff? Vehicle its association filled with one (7)
|
| car A(un)A | ||
| 25 | ORGANISER BAG |
Tidy senior with ragbag put in order (12)
|
| (senior ragbag)* — the answer isn’t actually in Chambers so far as I can see: in the past we would have been told at the end something like ‘The answer to 25ac can be verified on the internet’ | ||
| 27 | BETROTH |
Prepare to get hitched? Liz accepting tease (7)
|
| Bet(rot)h | ||
| 29 | POONAC |
Cattle food not applicable for feeding to dog mostly (6)
|
| poo(n/a)c[h] | ||
| 30 | PLIE |
What dancer may execute, left in a mess (4)
|
| p(l)ie | ||
| 31 | ESSENE |
One lives an austere life, being without a modicum of comfort (6)
|
| essen[c]e, the c being c[omfort] | ||
| 32 | NALLA |
Drain installed in urinal (lav) (5)
|
| Hidden in uriNAL (LAv) | ||
| 33 | RUST |
Fungus like a sort of lozenge, not red (4)
|
| rust[red] — not rust-red, but a term from heraldry | ||
| 34 | BELTANE |
Old quarter day, day avoided in Lent abed, lazily (7)
|
| (Lent abe[d])* | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SOOM |
Scottish reel like this requires doctor being called up (4)
|
| so (MO)rev. | ||
| 2 | PETARD |
Firework or taper set off before start of dinner (6)
|
| (taper)* d[inner] | ||
| 3 | LATRON |
A cracker taking look on weighing scales (6)
|
| la tron — maybe a bit of a stretch, since it’s an obsolete word for a robber, who might (or might not) be a safe-cracker | ||
| 4 | TRANSMUNDANE |
A stunner, damn fantastic, out of this world (12)
|
| (A stunner damn)* | ||
| 5 | CERESIN |
What’s used in polish, unadulterated but with elements switched (7)
|
| sincere with the two parts/syllables switched | ||
| 6 | PERICHAETIAL |
Like a leaf cluster, full-toned in a petal, i.e. splayed (12)
|
| rich in (a petal ie)* | ||
| 7 | FRONTAL |
Façade, fine blend of three? (7)
|
| f *(latron) — having failed to have any success with f *(three) I was bewildered, but ‘three’ refers to 3dn, which is LATRON — this is unusual, since when there are such cross-references they are usually to a number written as a numeral | ||
| 8 | LUTE |
Instrument, not loud, in protective covering (4)
|
| f(lute) — a bit misleading here, since LUTE is not an instrument (although of course it could be) but the second definition in Chambers, a protective covering | ||
| 9 | DELENDA |
Like Carthage, according to old orator, consequence coming in endless deferral (7)
|
| del(end)a[y] — this refers to what Cato is said to have pronounced in the Roman Senate, the equivalent of “Carthago delenda est” | ||
| 12 | KAZOO |
Ancient statue, with animals – it creates a buzz (5)
|
| ka zoo — ka is a statue from Ancient Egypt | ||
| 17 | SCORPER |
Gouge page enveloped by one working throughout innings? (7)
|
| scor(p)er — in cricket if the scorer is to do a satisfactory job they will have to keep at it throughout the innings | ||
| 18 | HAAF-NET |
Boater maybe going round a fen, rippling – it can be full during ebb-tide (7)
|
| hat round (a fen)* | ||
| 20 | CASERNE |
Garrison to house senior service, English (7)
|
| case RN E | ||
| 22 | ARVOS |
The old king’s mostly laid up in post- prandial periods in Perth (5)
|
| (sovra[n])rev. — an Australian word for afternoons | ||
| 23 | ABOLLA |
Topcoat for e.g. legionary, a swell one (6)
|
| a boll a | ||
| 24 | LATIAN |
Paul’s correspondents out of gas, found in area round Rome? (6)
|
| [Ga]latian[s] — another word that, although in Chambers, so far as I can see refers to a word (Latium) that isn’t — I had to go to Google for this | ||
| 26 | BOSS |
One managing bovine stud (4)
|
| 3 defs: One managing, bovine, and stud | ||
| 28 | HELE |
No longer conceal nameless beauty (4)
|
| Hele[n] — the temptation is to think it’s Hebe, but that can’t be made to parse — the reference is to Helen of Troy — I expect some entries will get this wrong |
ORGANISER-BAG is in Chambers under the heading for “organize or -ise,” but spelled only as “organizer-bag.”
The clue for FRONTAL threw me, too, even though the solution was obvious. Blend of three what???
I did not even think to look for LATIAN in Chambers.
Thanks Azed and John.
Using the print edition of Chambers 2016, we have:
25ac: “(also organizer-bag or -purse, etc)” appears on page 1085, as an alternative form for the relevant definition of the noun given as “organizer or -s-” under the headword “organize or -ise“. I think we can reasonably infer the spelling actually used in this puzzle, as included in the “etc”. (Edit: I think I have added to what Cineraria wrote in comment 1).
24dn: I think the definition is “found in area found Rome?”. Latian appears on page 865 under the headword Latin which is defined as “relating to ancient Latium (esp Rome)”. To me, this conveys the necessary information that Latium was the area round Rome.
7dn: Azed does not often have one clue referring to another, but he has done this before, with the clue number spelled out rather than given as a numeral or numerals.
17dn: I think I am one of the people that Roz last week said would be pleased by this clue.
LATRON
Could the def be ‘A cracker taking’—>a taking cracker/a stealing expert?
Thanks for the blog , I did find ORGANISER-BAG and the s is implied above , I have used one for many years but never called it a “tidy” . Is this modern usage? It is not really in Chambers93 , only the sense of a desk-tidy .
I agree with Pelham Barton @3 for both points.
I think beauty for HELE(n) makes it obvious , Hebe is youth. The SI unit for beauty is the milliHelen, a face to launch a single ship .
Nice idea from KVa@4 for LATRON , I agree with the blog that it is a bit of a stretch for the definition and should have some indication for the (obs) .
25ac. I thought it a bit below standard to have ‘bag’ in both clue and solution. I spent some time trying to find a solution without ‘bag’ in it. Otherwise, fairly straightforward and thanks to John for clearing up a few I could not parse, and as always to AZED
Thanks for the blog, John. A fairly standard Azed, I thought, although he so rarely uses a cross-reference to another clue that I didn’t notice it in 7d and so relied on the checkers, which made it obvious. Note to self: remember that a mess is always likely to be a pie in Azland (30a).
I don’t know what happened last week. Having finished reading the paper, I thought I’d have a quick look at Azed to see if there were any obvious answers and next thing I knew I’d finished it.
I use the Chambers app and had no difficulty spotting ORGANIZER BAG.
Like others, I queried “cracker” as a definition in 3dn. It’s an example of an approach we see increasingly frequently from Azed, whereby if a=b and c=b, a is assumed to equal c. Another such is SOOM, a Scottish word which can mean “swim” in the sense of move in water, but I’ve not seen anything to suggest it means “swim” in the sense of be dizzy or reel. I also couldn’t find anything in my Chambers ’98 to suggest BOSS = bovine (26dn). The nearest it gets is “to make a mess of” or “a mistake”, but perhaps it’s different in more recent editions.
Don’t like to be left out so have postponed starting today’s comp. Thanks to Azed (another setter has used his name recently!) and t John.
My most enjoyable moment in this was recollecting Crane’s first name and having read W. Irving’s collection of American legends about eighty years ago! Ichabod seems a bit relevant to the present day’s sad news.
To work!
26dn: Chambers 2011 and 2016 (p 178 each time) have boss³ (US) n a calf or cow. Perhaps an indicator for the US usage should be there, but it is good to see Azed rewarding those of us who have bought the more recent editions of Chambers.
MunroMaiden @10: the OED has
1871
My head’s bizzing, and sooming, and burning.
C. Gibbon, For Lack of Gold
The DSL entry has
Sc. forms and usages of Eng. swim.
Thanks Azed and John.
Thanks, Gonzo. I did see the DSL entry, but wasn’t convinced that “usages” covered all varieties of meaning. However, the Charles Gibbon quote seems to confirm it.