Azed 2758

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A new proprietor, a new interactive interface, but the same reliable Azed. It feels as if there are fewer familiar words than usual, but despite that I managed to fill the grid fairly quickly. On the other hand, some of the parsing was a bit tricky, with 32 down proving elusive until the 11th hour. Thanks to Azed for the puzzle, and best wishes to those attending the lunch in Oxford today yesterday, which I’m I was sadly unable to attend on this occasion.

 
Across
1 ORTHOPTIST One modifying poor sight, not good, with start and finish of treatment? (10)
Anagram of POOR SIGHT less G, plus T[reatmen]T, &lit
12 ARENARIA Rain tumbled inside piece of ground for chickweed relative (8)
RAIN* in AREA
13 POISHA Small change in Bangladesh I spotted entering expensive area (6)
I in POSH A
14 SURAT Coarse cotton universal in sailors making comeback (5)
U in reverse of TARS
15 INDOL What’s in indigo icon? Little new in that (5)
N[ew] in IDOL
16 NECROSE Pink after kiss mostly? Show interruption of blood supply? (7)
NEC[k] + ROSE
17 SEAN What fisherman casts? His medium number (4)
SEA (fisherman’s “medium”) + N – variant of Seine, a type of fishing net
20 TICO Simple game in US? Lacking tact for Central American (4)
TIC-TAC-TO (US name of noughts and crosses, more usually spelled tic-tac-toe) less TACT
22 ACCEPTER Trained pacer, etc – one that’s sure to run (8)
(PACER ETC)* – presumably the one that’s sure to run is one who has accepted a nomination in a (US) election
24 IGNITION Number one bell I turned? It often requires a key (8)
Reverse of NO I TING I
25 VERA An occupant of the pulpit rerunning tape recorder? (4)
Reverse of A REV
28 OAFS They’re dim-witted on account of extremes of fatuousness (4)
OA (on account of) +F[atuousnes]S
30 BAGARRE Quantity of drugs fit to be nicked, not stable, in Parisian rumpus (7)
BAG (quantity of drugs) + ARRE[stable]
31 MARAH Bitter banned for Muslims? Send it back (5)
Reverse of HARAM
33 INURN Bury ma you’ll find thus in the forest swamp (5)
MA IN URN would give UMARN, which is a swampy pine forest
34 BORAGE Salad veg displaying strong smell inspired frenzy (6)
BO + RAGE
35 TITRATES Measures strength of obligations limiting eaterie (8)
TRAT in TIES
36 SILENTNESS Restationed sentinels succeeded in remaining inaudible (10)
SENTINELS + S[ucceeded]
Down
2 RHONE Strand, the same after its centre is out of reach (5)
R[eac]H + ONE (the same)
3 TRIDACNA Giant bivalve shrivelled in acid tarn (8)
(ACID TARN)*
4 HUSO Large fish, not useful, stored in hold (4)
U/S in HO
5 PRANG Crash resounded after parking (5)
P + RANG
6 TEDESCO German/Italian deploying some French in supermarket (7)
DE (French “some”) in TESCO. This is the word that “perhaps surprisingly” is not given by Chambers. This note is only visible in the PDF, not in the interactive version.
7 INSCIENT Isn’t muddled about cine abroad, ignorant no longer (8)
CINE* in ISNT* – I caused myself problems by carelessly entering NESCIENT for this
8 SAURY Sea fish, salty when not left inside (5)
SAVOURY (salty) less VO (verso, left-hand page in a book)
9 DIASTER Stage in dividing cells, calamity when section’s removed (7)
DISASTER less one S
10 GATECRASHER E.g. cat toyed with bit of breakfast, sort of interloper (11)
(EG CAT)* + RASHER (of bacon)
11 EPISTILBITE Part of flower below earth to penetrate mineral (11)
E[arth] + PISTIL + BITE
18 MATERNAL A bird gripped by sickness of parent (8)
A TERN in MAL
19 STEARAGE Floor grabbing attraction in government as of old (8)
EAR in STAGE
21 IGUANID Lizard weapon cut short in India, wild (7)
GU[n] in INDIA*
23 CIRRATE Irish stored in packing case, cloudy after a fashion (7)
IR in CRATE
26 MARRI Flowery tree in bed, not mature (5)
MARRIAGE (bed) less AGE
27 HEBEN Shrubby plant, name for hard old wood (5)
HEBE (shrubby plant) + N – an old form of “ebony”
29 FAGUS Work hard on American tree family (5)
FAG + US
32 ARAN Like some woollies, in parts they came undone (4)
A (dialect form of “they”, i.e. used “in parts” of the country) + RAN (came undone, as in stitches)

16 comments on “Azed 2758”

  1. To give EAR in STEARAGE, it seems attention (definition 4 of ear in C2016) would be better than attraction which make me think it’s a typo.

  2. I thought that ACCEPTER was a horse-racing term, but Chambers only has that sense under ACCEPTOR, and doesn’t define ACCEPTER at all.
    I was lucky enough to be able to attend the celebratory lunch yesterday and will post a report later.

  3. Yes bridgesong@2, the horse racing “acceptor” seems also more in keeping with the clue surface so maybe another glitch.

  4. Found this on the trickier side mainly due to the number of obscure words, but even so it came together nicely. “They” for “a” as dialect is one to remember and I note it can be he, she, it or they.

    I enjoyed the new interactive interface.

  5. Thanks for the blog , I have the same points underlined . Agree with Tim@1 for EAR , should be attention , and with Bridgesong@2 for -OR .
    For REVA does “rerunning” mean returning ? I think it means the same direction twice .
    MARRI is not in Chambers93 and has bed=marriage two weeks in a row and still dubious .

  6. Nice to be able to attempt this interactively: one of the few advantages of the Observer site. Defeated by SEAN, RHONE, VERA (all unsolved), MARRI (I had KARRI, another flowery tree that doesn’t parse) CIRRATE (I had CITRATE). Took a long time to realise the fish wasn’t HUSS.

  7. As promised, here’s a report from yesterday’s lunch, along with some answers to questions and comments posed on the Azed/Everyman thread which I have been given by our contact at The Observer.

    The lunch was well attended, with around 86 guests, very similar to the one a few years ago to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Normally these lunches are held every five years when a numerical milestone is reached, but of course it wasn’t possible to hold one in 2020 (for the 2500 edition). Among the guests who spoke at the lunch were The Guardian crossword editor (and Everyman setter) Alan Connor and The Times puzzle editor Mick Hodgkin. Other guests included John Henderson (Enigmatist) and several other setters.

    We were fortunate that the good weather lasted so that we could enjoy drinks on the lawn at Wolfson College, followed by lunch in the hall, and we then proceeded the short distance to Azed’s home where tea and cakes were enjoyed in the garden.

    There was one reference during the lunch to the controversy over the second prize winning clue to 2,750. Jim Vincent, who co-authored the clue in question, delivered a poetic tribute to Azed and in his introductory remarks mentioned his embarrassment at having misunderstood the requirements of the competition, to be compounded by greater embarrassment when his clue was awarded the second prize! Azed himself made no mention of the incident, as far as I could tell (the PA system broke down quite early in the speeches, so those of us at a distance from the top table struggled to hear everything that was said).

    It’s clear that the transition to new ownership has presented challenges to all those involved. Although the person primarily responsible for the publication of the crossword puzzles in the printed paper is the same, and has worked with Azed for a decade, yesterday was the first time that they had actually met in person! By contrast, the team responsible for the web version of The Observer is wholly new and is “under significant pressure to understand complex systems – crosswords included”. Last week there was initially no obvious route to find the puzzles on the website, but that was swiftly remedied after it was pointed out. The online experience was an improvement on what had gone before, in that it is now possible to complete the puzzle online. The inclusion of a “submit” button on the Azed puzzle was apparently an error. Unfortunately, as I write this, today’s puzzle – a competition one – has yet to appear on the website. Ken and I have been in touch with our contact to point this out and I expect that it will be there before too long.

  8. Agree with Roz@5 on all points. Chambers ’98 does give TEDESCO (wonder when it was dropped?), but not MARRI or POISHA. I found this a bit harder than the last few weeks, especially the left hand side (unknown words like Epistilbite, Tridacna, Poisha, Tico were hard to get without the inter-crossing letters!), but persistence paid off.

  10. MunroMaiden@8 I just checked TEDESCO and it is in C93 , did not bother last week because of the note . POISHA I checked in our Atlas which is very good for currencies .

    Well done Gladys@6 , you will find that Azed gets easier with practice .

  11. Thanks Bridgesong@7 , fortunately I can ignore all the IT stuff but I imagine it is not at all easy taking over a whole online operation . The paper today has tidied up the issue with winners . 2755 winning clues are shown , the winners shown last week are for 2756 , they have been moved below the grid , maybe this week only ? I prefer the name and address space below the grid for sending off , very small problem .

  12. Tried this for the first time and was happy enough to fill most in the north and everything in the NW plus IGNITION, INURN, IGUANID, MATERNAL, MARRI, FAGUS and SILENTNESS. Considered VERA, TICO and STEARAGE from their clues but couldn’t confirm they are actual words or fit the definitions (“tape recorder”??). Thought about RHONE, too, but couldn’t parse it. In retrospect, quite a few were rather “gettable”, but well… TEDESCO was actually a write-in, for German in Italian, with Tesco and “de”. All in all, it was OK, methinks 🙂

  13. Belated comment having had no time yesterday. Also found left side hard but got there in the end. Submit button on line raised hopes that one might be able to send by email instead of snail mail. I was at the party excellent except for being unable to hear the speeches many thanks are due to the organisers and especially to Azed and Alison for entertaining so many people to tea

  15. Too busy yesterday to join in. Thanks Bridgesong for snap of the Oxford do. I have been at every one of Azed’s earlier celebrations and Zoomed into this one. I do recommend always having a non-participant Director to improve the experience for viewers. Panning to show audience, ensuring that mikes are close to mouths, muting the folk “along the top” One of my fellow viewers was playing his guitar unmuted, another only appeared as a “headless horseman”
    As a consequence of my mini-stroke I thought I would be unable to tackle Azed so you can imagine my joy when I finished 2758 yesterday. Wish me luck on 2759.

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