Azed 2746

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I found this mostly not to hard on the Azed scale, though a few clues held me up at the end, especially the crossing pair 30a and 22d. I have a couple of nitpicks, noted below, but maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree. Thanks as ever to Azed for the puzzle.

 
Across
1 CHAPKA Military headgear, hard, in a pack that’s unpacked (6)
H in (A PACK)*
6 FASTI Strong wine for judgement days (5)
F (forte, strng) + ASTI
11 SWINESTONE Cellar enveloped by peculiar notes? It stinks when scoured (10)
WINES (celler) in NOTES*
12 SUPE Actor not required, passive, in being left out (4)
SUPINE (passive) less IN – short for a supernumerary actor, one without lines (in a stage play, so similar to an extra in films): so “not required” (though they may be important in creating a visual impression)
13 DARGS Jock’s workload, second after returning degree (5)
Reverse of GRAD + S
14 TRICKLET Conjuror’s offering at children’s party? A minor bit of drivel! (8)
Double definition
15 TICH Line of verse son’s left, little ’un (4)
STICH (a line of verse) less S
16 STRINE Ozzie batting, rest tumbled out? (6)
IN (batting) in REST* – a facetious “phonetic” spelling of Australian, and particularly Australian English, as in the 1965 book Let Stalk Strine by the pseudonymous Afferbeck Lauder.
19 ROSE ELDER Viburnum came up, supported by older one (9, 2 words)
ROSE(came up) + ELDER – “supported by” suggests this might have been intended as a down clue
20 EXPOSITOR Interpreter exits, poor in translation (9)
(EXITS POOR)(
23 E-BOATS Food containing nasty smell posed threats to many serving (6)
BO (nasty smell) in EATS
24 NISI I’ll follow reversal of crime – this may follow decree (4)
Reverse of SIN + I
*27 ANCIENTS Elders (8)
The competition word – maybe a pity that “elder” is part of 19
29 ROTAL Canon’s maybe Roman Catholic? This man Chico in disguise (5)
ROMAN CATHOLIC is an anagram of ROTAL (i.e. this, the answer) MAN CHICO. It’s an adjectival form of canon in the musical sense
30 JEEL Scottish set move to the right and left (4)
Presumably JEE + L. Chambers defines JEE ass to stir, budge, so why “to the right”? The answer is a Scots form of “gel”, to set
31 TOILINETTE Dressing oneself around home in waistcoat material (10)
IN (home) in TOILETTE (dressing oneself); both main words here derive from French toile, linen
32 DELTA Lower grade delivered, one from the middle coming last (5)
DEALT (delivered) with the middle letter moved to the end
33 WEIRDS Ties the knot around Ireland? Forewarns Scots (6)
IR in WEDS
Down
1 COST THE EARTH See man in collapse of cash totter – when financial deals do? (12, 3 words)
HE in (CASH TOTTER)*
2 HOURI Starts to hearten one usually rather introverted? She may (5)
First letters of Hearten One Usually Rather Introverted
3 ASPICK When to choose a cobra for a poet? (6)
AS (when) + PICK; it’s a poetic/archaic word for asp, which can mean a type of cobra
4 KINK-HOST Army following whim – it’s followed by whoops (8)
KINK (whim) + HOST (army) – another name for whooping cough
5 ANALYSIS Examination of data: one country’s is short of it (8)
AN ITALY IS less IT
6 FEME Fellow given preference over uncle once for old woman (4)
F + EME (old word for an uncle)
7 STAW Nicked Scotch right out of middle of trifle (4)
STRAW (a trvial thing, trifle) less R. It’s a Scots form of stole, = nicked
8 TORPID Oarsman beside river has a short swim turning up (6)
TO (beside) + R + reverse of DIP. From the definition in Chambers I would think the definition should be oarsmen
9 INGENER Shakespearean sapper, by and large one left out (7)
IN GENERAL less AL
10 WESTERN ISLES Lewis is part of one of us (Lewes is wrong about back) (12, 2 words)
STERN (back) in (LEWES IS)*. The so-called Isle of Lewis is actually part of the larger Hebridean island that also includes the “Isle” of Harris.
16 SET-SCREW What’ll prevent relative motion composes team (8)
SETS (composes) + CREW
17 TEOSINTE Fodder grass, English, with it stone ground (8)
(E IT STONE)*
18 OXBLOOD Dark brown, or dark blue, for being replaced in black WC (7)
OXFORD (dark blue, in sporting contests) with FOR replaced by B LOO
21 PONTIE Glassworker’s rod not broken in confusion (6)
NOT* in PIE (confusion)
22 FINEER Antique overlay of excellent quality covering royal monogram? (6)
FINE + ER (the late Queen’s monogram)
25 STEND What claymore may give guy, ay cut before death (5)
STAY (guy-rope) less AY + END
26 PALL Pastor precedes every corporal in church (4)
P + ALL – a corporal or pall is a cloth used in the Eucharist
28 NANA Chump from south I don’t understand as before (4)
Reverse of ANAN (an old interjection expressing failure to understand)

15 comments on “Azed 2746”

  1. Thanks Andrew. Re JEEL Chambers has for GEE ‘(of a horse) to move to the right’. (I started off looking for GEEL).
    The Collins entry for TORPID implies the singular is possible.
    Thanks as ever to Azed. Medium strength.

  2. Thanks Azed and Andrew

    30ac: I think Gonzo has it right here. Note that Chambers gives jee¹ as the same as gee¹ (which is the one we need here) or gee³.

    28dn: Probably a typing error, but I think it is “Chump” that is the definition.

  3. Agree with Gonzo for JEEL.
    I also think that TORPID should be the crew (oarsmen not oarsman). Not sure Collins (“plural noun. A series of boat races held at Oxford University”) helps. The ODE similarly has “plural noun (Torpids) (at Oxford University) a series of eight-oared rowing boats held in Hilary term…” but the plural is the series. Presumably the singular would be one race in the series, not necessarily a crew member. The SOED has “noun. In pl. Annual boat races between Oxford college eights, now held in the spring term. Also (sing.), a crew or boat taking part in such a race.” which aligns closely with Chambers.

  4. Beg pardon,
    I should have said Wiktionary:
    An inferior racing boat, or one who rows in such a boat
    Azed should know, being on the spot 🙂

  5. Thanks for the bog, I never send these off so I can just put answers in the grid and not worry if it gets messed up later , I know GEE so did put GEEL and had to search and correct at the end. I remember TORPIDs , used to spoil my swimming schedule.
    OXBLOOD , not keen on the wordplay “in black WC” , does “in” mean “by” ?
    ROSE ELDER , supported by , I took as backed by .

  6. Thanks Azed and Andrew.

    I found this was made much easier than usual by a handful of very useful write-ins (chapka to start with). Most enjoyable. I do love a well constructed clue that allows a previously completely unknown word to be worked out and then looked up

  7. Anyone else have trouble accessing AZED 2747 via the “printed version” on the website? I am just getting the grid rather than pdf of puzzle

  9. Got stuck on the top right corner, not helped by discovering STINKSTONE but not SWINESTONE. Still couldn’t finish on Monday.

  11. Roz@5, I also queried “in” at 18dn. Gonzo@4: Torpids started out as a race for the second boats of colleges, but that’s no longer the case. Also, “boat” here refers to the crews; it would be they who are “inferior”, not necessarily the boat itself. I’ve never heard Torpid used to refer to a single oarsman. (A friend of mine coxing in her first Torpids – a men’s boat – was literally bumped by the boat behind, jamming the rudder at right angles, so she had to drop out of the race. The boat therefore fell to the very bottom of the division, the biggest one-day fall in the college’s history.)

  12. 18dn: “by or through” is at the beginning of the sixth line of the (long) list of definitions for in¹ given in the recommended dictionary (Chambers 2016 p 767), so there should be no possible doubt whatever about Azed’s right to use it in this puzzle.

  14. MM@13: I see what you are getting at, but I would argue that it is routine in solving clues to interpret words in a way that ignores their context in the surface reading of the clue. It is my view that 18dn makes sense on that principle.

  15. The Azed slip for this competition has now been published and in it Azed refers to the controversy about his decision to define TORPID as “oarsman”. He says that “it’s pretty clear (though I’m still not absolutely certain) that the word applies to a racing boat or its crew, and I fancy it’s more often found in the plural”.

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