This will be the last Azed for The Observer under present management, a plain that is probably on the easier side. Let’s hope that his crosswords can continue in their present form.
Definitions underlined in crimson. Anagram indicators in italics.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | DUTCH CLINKER |
Common wife, slag, supplying part of course? (12, 2 words)
|
| Dutch Clinker — a type of brick so laid in a course; Dutch = wife, clinker = slag | ||
| 9 | TRANSIRE |
I rest relaxing, having smuggled in means of clearing customs (8)
|
| (I rest)* around ran — ‘ran {= smuggled}’ is ‘in’ the anagram | ||
| 12 | SHERPA |
Head of government’s aid, female assistant given run in (6)
|
| (she PA) with r in it | ||
| 13 | TAVEL |
French wine the local tax has backed (5)
|
| (le VAT) is fancifully the local tax and this is reversed | ||
| 14 | HER NIBS |
Mock title for woman from Belfast area immersed in cooking ingredients (7,2 words)
|
| NI in herbs | ||
| 16 | ERHU |
Oriental with right hand’s beginning to unwind – playing on it? (4)
|
| e rh u[nwind] | ||
| 18 | INHALE |
Henry tucking into beer that’s favoured draw (6)
|
| (in ale) round H — fancifully (again!) one could say that beer that’s favoured is ‘in ale’ | ||
| 19 | UPLED |
Company having left as a pair, given guidance towards the summit? (5)
|
| [co]upled | ||
| 21 | DEFER |
Some made fertile yield (5)
|
| Hidden in maDE FERtile —why do setters write clues with ‘some’ for a hidden? It’s a total giveaway (quite apart from in my opinion being questionable) | ||
| 23 | ITALA |
Something like the Vulgate a Catholic mostly recalled (5)
|
| (a Lati[n])rev. | ||
| 24 | DUETT |
It involves two parties, charge without alcohol (5)
|
| due TT | ||
| 25 | STRAWN |
Once scattered a short time, not cooked in tin (6)
|
| (t raw) in Sn | ||
| 26 | WISP |
Small broom is used inside weather permitting (4)
|
| W(is)P | ||
| 28 | ETAILER |
Entrepreneur via the Net, sort of salesman but not the first (7)
|
| [r]etailer | ||
| 30 | ANIME |
Product of a W. Indian tree, resown in Maine (5)
|
| *(Maine) — I’m a bit surprised that Azed writes this clue, since he’s normally such a stickler: ‘resown in Maine’ gives *(in Maine), and I can’t see how he gets rid of the ‘in’ | ||
| 31 | ILLUME |
Brighten shortly, that is round island from the east (7)
|
| ie round (Mull)rev. | ||
| 32 | IMPASSES |
Deadlocks, the devil when confronting fools (8)
|
| imp asses — imp = the devil | ||
| 33 | GREASY SPOONS |
Shabby cafes wherein dimwits will welcome reps? Say, possibly (12, 2 words)
|
| (reps say)* in goons | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | DASHEKI |
Woman a kid’s strangely clothing in a loose shirt (7)
|
| (a kid)* round she | ||
| 2 | USHERETTE |
University female almost soaked as torchbearer? (9)
|
| u she rette[d] — Wiktionary tells us that the word ‘usherette’ is dated, but to my surprise many dictionaries don’t suggest that it is in any way derogatory or at least sexist — usherettes in cinemas can be regarded as torchbearers, since they use torches | ||
| 3 | TIER |
One restraining row of guns (4)
|
| 2 defs, one of them a tie-er | ||
| 4 | CORNU |
One’s horny on becoming split up in vineyard (5)
|
| ‘on’ is split up into ‘o’ and ‘n’ and put separately into ‘cru’ — cornu is defined in Chambers as a horn, so since it is (unexpectedly?) a noun it is by definition horny | ||
| 5 | CRABBEDNESS |
Bill overcome by dejection with matrimony leading to bad temper (11)
|
| ness is overcome {ie has placed above it} (crab bed), where crab = dejection {the third definition of crab in Chambers}, bed = matrimony | ||
| 6 | INTENDED |
Fiancée, in care, then died after start of engagement (8)
|
| in tend e[ngagement] d | ||
| 7 | KIVA |
Religious vault I see, enveloped by divine spirit? (4)
|
| (I v) in ka — v = vide {Latin} | ||
| 8 | RELIE |
The old assemble providing endless comfort for the poor? (5)
|
| relie[f] | ||
| 10 | ASSIDUITIES |
Continuous attentions I upset with Saudis over marriages (11)
|
| (I Saudis)* ties | ||
| 11 | SACHET |
Perfume container, long, held by mum (6)
|
| ache in st! — st is defined in Chambers as hush {interjection} | ||
| 15 | PLEASEMAN |
Who would ingratiate himself means fidgeting after pretext (9)
|
| plea (means)* | ||
| 17 | CLAWLESS |
I dispensed with trick in lesson, unlikely to be scratchy? (8)
|
| w[i]le in class | ||
| 20 | PLASMA |
Stone that’s bright green when held in palm, twinkling (6)
|
| as in (palm)* | ||
| 22 | REPRESS |
Queen, female sovereign, lacking in millions to subjugate (7)
|
| R e[m]press | ||
| 25 | STAIG |
Scots colt leads to scoop third Aintree in gallop (5)
|
| s[coop] t[hird] A[intree] i[n] g[allop] | ||
| 26 | WILCO |
With changing of loci this may indicate message of compliance (5)
|
| w *(loci) | ||
| 27 | KIPE |
Some lure pike leaping in this? (4)
|
| Hidden reversed in lurE PIKe — ‘some’ again | ||
| 29 | LUDO |
Game making a row with second dropping (4)
|
| loud with its second letter dropping to the bottom |
For those struggling to find it, AZED 2758 can be found at https://observer.co.uk/azed
There’s no obvious link at this stage on the Observer home page.
Thanks for the blog , I am sure the crosswords will continue in their present form but I am worried about the newspaper , I might have to stop completely .
I have not got a single annotation on my clues for this one , very run of the mill and no need for Chambers . When I checked later I could not fiind TAVEL , ERHU or RELIE .
Roz@2 , according to an article in the Economist which covers some of the background and fallout from the sale , the Observer’s new owners have promised to keep the print edition “for at least five years”.
Thank you, Major. I tried to find it and failed — the search facility doesn’t bring it up.
With thanks to Major @1 for the link, I was able this morning to find and solve today’s puzzle online. I then clicked “submit” which seemed to work; presumably it will link to my subscriber details. Saved paying for a stamp, anyway.
If you click on the link that Major has provided, there is then the option to choose the pdf version. Bizarrely, this includes the results for the competition puzzle No 2755, as if it were a normal weekly puzzle. The slip for this month’s competition has not yet appeared, so I don’t know if the the three prize-winners (whose names I don’t recognise as regular competitors) are in fact the authors of clues that have been judged by Azed or are just successful solvers (perhaps of a different puzzle). I haven’t yet been out to see what’s in the printed paper, but I imagine it’s the same.
Thanks Jay @3 but I am very picky about my newspapers , I will give it the benefit of the doubt to start with but keep a very close eye on the quality .
SHE appears in 1dn, 2dn and 12ac, clued twice as “female” and once as “woman”. One of these repetitions could have been avoided in 1dn, by simply replacing “woman” with “man” – since the S can be supplied by “a kid’s strangely (clothing)”. I think this would be an improvement; as it stands, the S doesn’t directly contribute to the wordplay.
While I’m being pedantic, “bed” (5dn) is defined in my C98 as “matrimonial rights and duties” rather than just matrimony; and I wouldn’t call Northern Ireland “Belfast area” (14ac) – any more than I would call England “London area”.
Roz@2: RELIE is given in my C98 under relide.
Meanwhile, I’m pleased to see the new management has reverted to the sort of serif typeface it used to have years ago. The undesirable ambiguity between lower case “L” and upper case “I” has gone at last.
In 30a, I read “resown in Maine” to mean that MAINE is an anagram of the solution
Thank you MunroMaiden@8 , found it now , I did not look too hard before .
The new Observer is a pleasant and very welcome surprise .