We have a plain Azed puzzle this week. There is no competition and there are no controversial grid entries that I can see.
I found this to be quite a tough puzzle with more entries that I hadn’t come across before than entries I recognised as words in everyday conversation.
The long anagrams in three of the four outer rows and columns were useful.
I didn’t know that SASHA was a diminutive for Alexandra. I only looked at the Chambers Appendix of first names after I had failed to find a recognisable Sasha Alexandra or Alexandra Sasha on the web.
I couldn’t find a reference that defined ‘in term’ as ‘up at university’ as part of the wordplay at 1 across, but it seemed plausible. I though that SNARLY would be the entry at 13 across, but that didn’t fit the wordplay. A bit of research showed that GNARLY was a more logical entry.
There were though a few clues that fell quite quickly, such as those for TIROLEAN, HOMELY, SURETY, RUNES, PROSE, and DROME. I was a bit surprised to find that PROSECCO didn’t feature in my Chambers dictionary app dated 2003. Has it only come into favour as a drink in the past 20 years? I know that it is later editions.
I always enjoy Azed’s composite anagrams so the clue for NYLGHAU was a good one for me.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | While up at uni, having entered it ends somehow being brought to light (12)
DISINTERMENT (being brought to light) IN TERM (I’m guessing this means’ up at university’ although I can’t find a dictionary reference that defines it as such) contained in (having entered) an anagram of (somehow) IT ENDS DIS (IN TERM) ENT* |
| 9 | Once in a brawl, completely involved in endless stir (7)
ROUTOUS (ROUT is an archaic [once] word for a brawl, so ROUTOUS is descriptive of being in a brawl) OUT (completely [OUT and OUT]) contained in (involved in) ROUSe (stir) excluding the final letter (endless) E R (OUT) OUS |
| 12 | Unfriendly Scots frequently object (5)
FRAIM (Scots word for cold or unfriendly) FR (frequently) + AIM (target; object) FR AIM |
| 13 | Called back on being dismissed by herald, bad-tempered (6)
GNARLY (bad-tempered) RANG (called ) reversed (back) + LYon (chief herald of Scotland) excluding (being dismissed by) ON GNAR< LY |
| 14 | Pottery first to last lined up as before (4)
AREW (Spenserian [old[ as before] word for ‘in a row’ [lined up]) WARE (pottery) with the opening letter [first] moved to the end [last – first to last]) to form AREW AREW |
| 15 | Pariahs, reverse of lyric among gluttons (7)
PIE-DOGS (ownerless or half-wild dogs, also known as pariah dogs [pariahs]) ODE (lyric; air) reversed (reverse of) contained in (among) PIGS (gluttons) PI (E DO<) GS |
| 16 | Very small Scotch, extreme in goodness! (5)
MOTTY (Scottish word meaning ‘containing particles or specks of dust’; very small Scotch) OTT (over the top [extreme]) contained in (in) MY (gosh!; goodness!) M (OTT) Y |
| 18 | Alexandra displaying what accompanies thrust, around centre of fashion (5)
SASHA (diminutive of the name Alexandra) SA SA (a fencer’s exclamation on thrusting; what accompanies thrust) containing (around) H (middle letter of [centre of] fasHion) SA S (H) A |
| 20 | Displaced relation of some Austrians (8)
TIROLEAN (descriptive of Austrians who live in the province of Tirol) Anagram of (displaced) RELATION TIROLEAN* |
| 22 | Bovine lady’s confused about hawkish bird (8)
ALDERNEY (small dairy cow; bovine) Anagram of (confused) LADY containing (about) ERNE (an eagle, especially the sea eagle; hawkish bird) ALD (ERNE) Y* |
| 25 | Freak garden bloom, less than half of it moved to rear (5)
TERAS (a monstrosity; a freak) ASTER (garden flower [bloom]) with the first two of five [less than half) letters AS moved to the end [moved to rear] to form TERAS TERAS |
| 27 | Tropical tree, one lacking in hard outer covering (5)
CARAP (tropical tree of the mahogany family) CARAPace (hard shell; hard outer covering) excluding (lacking) ACE (one) CARAP |
| 28 | Clappers of course gripped by urge for Scotch (7)
CROTALA (clappers or castanets used in ancient religious rites) ROTAL (of a ROTA [course]; of a course) contained in (gripped by_) CA‘ (Scottish word for urge) C (ROTAL) A |
| 30 | Spenser’s last in litter, appearance not fine (4)
RONT (Spenserian word for RUNT [smallest of a litter; last in importance in a litter]) fRONT (appearance) excluding (not) F (fine) RONT |
| 31 | Divine has taken me in, it’s plain (6)
HOMELY (plain) HOLY (sacred; divine) containing (taken … in) ME HO (ME) LY |
| 32 | Fish in barrel, newly gutted (5)
TUNNY (tuna; fish) TUN (barrel) + NewlY excluding the central letters EWL [gutted]) TUN NY |
| 33 | Stops on organ, flaming brittle! (7)
REDSEAR (alternative word for REDSHORT [brittle at red-heat; flaming brittle]) REDS (stop lights; stops) + EAR (organ of the body) REDS EAR |
| 34 | Loan on cargo readjusted in tars on deep (12)
RESPONDENTIA (a loan on a ship’s cargo, payable only on safe arrival) Anagram of (readjusted) IN TARS ON DEEP RESPONDENTIA* |
| Down | |
| 1 | Native American ornament, charm created fancily (12)
DREAMCATCHER (an ornament consisting of a small net mounted on a decorated hoop, based on Native American originals which are believed to bring good dreams) Anagram of (fancily) CHARM CREATED DREAMCATCHER* |
| 2 | Safeguard helping to pressure tyres (6)
SURETY (safeguard) SURETY (hidden word in [helping to] presSURE TYres) SURETY |
| 3 | Turbulent lives beset by trouble locally (5)
NOISY (turbulent) IS (lives) contained in (beset by) NOY (dialect [locally] word for ‘trouble’) NO (IS) Y |
| 4 | Haulier’s strap, once very small, surrounding form of lump (8)
TUMPLINE (strap across the forehead or chest for carrying burdens or hauling) TINE (Shaespearean [once] word for ‘tiny’, always preceded by ‘little’) containing (surrounding) an anagram of (form of) LUMP T (UMPL*) INE |
| 5 | Spells you may find nurse treated (5)
RUNES (spells or songs) Anagram of (treated) NURSE RUNES* |
| 6 | Metheglin? Crazy about the heart of it (4)
MEAD (Meteglin is defined as a spiced or medicated MEAD, traditionally associated with Wales) MAD (crazy) containing (about) E (middle letter of [heart of] methEglin) M (E) AD |
| 7 | Laughing hyena may account for such an antelope with a neigh! (7)
NYLGHAU (a large Indian antelope) LAUGHING HYENA is an anagram of (may account for) NYLGHAU [the entry] and A NEIGH [words in the clue] – one of Azed’s composite anagrams NYLGHAU |
| 8 | Insect order in peony that’s intrigued artist (12)
THYSANOPTERA (an order of insects with fringed wings, some of which are serious pests to fruit, such as thrips) Anagram of (intrigued) PEONY THAT’S + RA (Royal Academician; artist) THYSANOPTE* RA |
| 10 | Something to bind old thong? Jock’s in a tangle (6)
TAWTIE (Scottish [Jock] word for ‘to tangle’) TAW (obsolete [old] word for ‘thong’) + TIE (bind) TAW TIE |
| 11 | More than half Italian fizzy drink is dull (5)
PROSE (dull) PROSE (five of the eight [more than half] letters in PROSEcco [Italian sparkling [fizzy] wine]) PROSE |
| 17 | Number that’s designed at the edges or with scalloped borders (8)
CRENATED (with scalloped edges or borders) N (number) contained in (that’s … at the edges) CREATED (designed) CRE (N) ATED |
| 19 | Pressure on head of edible fungus forced up part of primary growth (7)
PLEROME (the central part of the apical meristem, the part of the primary tissue from which growth takes place) P (pressure) + (E [first letter of [head of] Edible) + MOREL [fungus]) all reversed (forced up) P (LEROM E)< |
| 21 | Memorizes major role in play, not specified (6)
LEARNS (memorizes) LEAR (leading [major] role in Shakespeare’s play King Lear) + NS (not specified) LEAR NS |
| 23 | Where one lands or departs, adjacent to capital (5)
DROME (aerodrome [a place where one lands {or departs} on an aeroplane]) D [departs] + ROME (capital city of Italy) D ROME |
| 24 | Old ewe with bit of tangled hair covering hoof (6)
CRONET (the hair growing over the top of a horse’s hoof) CRONE (an old ewe) + T (first letter of [bit of] Tangled) CRONE T |
| 26 | Sudden round of applause – it helps to avoid offence (5)
SALVO (sudden round of applause) SALVO (an excuse, pretext; an expedient for saving appearances, avoiding offence, etc.) double definition SALVO |
| 27 | Like a reflecting telescope, universal in volume (5)
COUDÉ (of a reflecting telescope, in which one or more plane mirrors reflect the light down the polar axis; like a reflecting telescope) U (universal) contained in (in) CODE (a volume) CO (U) DE |
| 29 | One only in the pool for a while, forming pattern (not late) (4)
TEMP (TEMPorary employee; one in the pool of workers for a while) TEMPlate (pattern) excluding (not) LATE TEMP |
Thanks for the blog, Duncan. I think you’re right about GNARLY: I carelessly bunged in SNARLY, but couldn’t parse it fully.
Enjoyed this one. PROSECCO is in my Chambers App. Agree about GNARLY.
Pleased to see that the updated Observer website now retains my completed grids from earlier weeks so much easier to check against the blog.
Thanks to Azed and Duncan
Another SNARLY here. GNARLY reminded me of the John Adams clarinet concert, Gnarly Buttons, which I thought meant very good.
Re 1ac: I think “in term” relates to “while up at uni”, which makes more sense than just “up at uni”. However, there were a few “stretched” definitions. 16ac, MOTTY: as the blog says, this means containing motes; one meaning of mote is anything very small, but something that contains a very small item is not necessarily very small itself. “Dusty” would have been nearer the mark. 4dn: again, the blog has it: TINE = Shakespearian word for tiny, “always preceded by little” – ie TINE on its own doesn’t mean very small. 19dn: as the blog says, PLEROME is part of primary tissue; the clue could have substituted tissue for growth and the surface reading would have been none the worse. Quibbles all; a tricky and enjoyable puzzle over all.
Ditto SNARLY / GNARLY! Happy to have anagram for familiar word at 1D givng all those nice starting letters. For once I spotted the compound anagram at 7D – interestingly my Chambers app on iPhone didn’t find NYLGHAU when I searched for it – Google led me to NILGAI which I then looked up in the app and found that NYLGHAU was provided as an alternative spelling – strange as the app search usually includes alternative spellings. Thanks AZED and DUNCAN.
I, too, was guessing on the sense of “IN TERM” and could not find any source for it. It sounds plausibly like other UK college slang, though.
For those that haven’t heard, more changes are afoot; from the latest Azed slip:
Thanks Andrew. Gamelo being Spanish for Twin of course, Colin Thomas’ other pseudonym.