This Observer barred puzzle was published on the first Sunday of November, so under the new arrangements it is set by Azed as a plain competition offering.
I was convinced that 12 across was DOLE as it has a meaning of guiled / beguiled, but when I came to parse it I found that my bounder (DOE, a female deer) was containing L rather than the O I wanted. A deeper dictionary search came up with JOLE which when contained in CAD (another type of founder) gives CAJOLED (another meaning of beguiled)
I don’t think I have come across the form of construction of P (U) R SUAL at 19 down before, where just the first letter of one component part is contained in a separate component, but the wordplay instructions were quite clear.
I am sure that Azed was simply using ENNEADS at 33 across to reflect the fact that there are nine players in the Col,orado Rockies baseball team who play in Denver, Colorado, but I also found reference to a larger group of nines in the Colorado 9-9-9 challenge which is a multi-activity endurance test involving nine ski runs, nine holes of golf and nine innings of a baseball game [Colorado Rockies] ideally completed in one day. An additional component of the challenge is to consume nine hot dogs and nine beers during the nine innings of the baseball game. Some versions may slightly vary, with some variations focusing only on the baseball aspect of nine hot dogs and nine beers in nine innings)
This was a puzzle where I started quite quickly but gradually slowed down. In other words, a normal Azed solving experience for me. As ever, I have learnt a few new words. Some of them may stick in my mind.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Old weapon officer briefly positioned in tropical tree (7)
CALTRAP (an old military weapon) LT (abbreviation for [briefly] Lieutenant [officer]) contained in (positioned in) CARAP (a tropical tree of the mahogany family) CA (LT) RAP |
| 6 | Brew clubs, well-informed, set before the old man (5)
CUPPA (cup of tea; brew) C (clubs) + UP (well-informed) + PA (father; old man) C UP PA |
| 10 | Yellow-flowered composite I confused with erica having sound of bees around (9)
HIERACIUM (a yellow-flowered composite) (Anagram of [confused] I and [with] ERICA) contained in (having … around) HUM (sounds made by bees) H (IERACI*) UM |
| 11 | Snake-lover’s struck when absorbed by subject, first off (7)
OPHITIC (descriptive of a member of a Gnostic sect that reverenced snakes; snake-lover) HIT (struck) contained in (when absorbed by) tOPIC (subject) excluding the initial letter (first off) T OP (HIT) IC |
| 12 | Old head when taken in by bounder is beguiled (4)
JOLE (obsolete [old]word for head) If JOLE is contained in (taken in by) CAD (founder), we have CAJOLED meaning flattered or beguiled JOLE |
| 15 | Sweet pudding some Russkis select (6)
KISSEL (a Russian dessert of thickened fruit purée, so something that Ruuskis would select) KISSEL (hidden word in [some] russKIS SELect) KISSEL |
| 16 | Attic completely filled with old clothes? The opposite (6)
TALLAT (loft; attic) TAT (tawdry or shabby articles, especially clothes ) containing (filled with) ALL (completely) – this is the opposite of the description in the clue. T (ALL) AT |
| 17 | What Israeli may spend in Athenian market (5)
AGORA (a marketplace in Ancient Greece) AGORA (an Israeli monetary unit, 1/100 of a shekel; some coinage an Israeli may spend) double definition AGORA |
| 18 | Mate with black that may be contended with (9)
OPPOSABLE (something that may be contended with) OPPO (mate) + SABLE (black) OPPO SABLE |
| 20 | What may infest heated buildings bitumen injected – does it delay rusting? (9)
RETARDANT (something that delays or slows down a chemical reaction, such as rusting) TAR (bitumen) contained in (injected) RED ANT (an insect also known as the Pharaoh ant, which infests heated buildings such as hospitals, restaurants and blocks of flats) RE (TAR) D ANT |
| 23 | Destruction in poetic work? Singular city destroyed (5)
STROY (John Bunyan’s [poet’s] word for destruction) S (singular) + TROY (ancient city located in modern-day Turkey) S TROY |
| 24 | Old wagon needing map to get round orient (6)
CHARET (chariot; old wagon) CHART (map) containing (to get round) E (Eastern; orient) CHAR (E) T |
| 27 | Hard shells? Polish off group passed round (6)
TESTAE (hard shells) (EAT [polish off] + SET [group]) all reversed (passed round) (TES TAE)< |
| 29 | Part of year in Tel Aviv contributing to travel ultimately (4)
ELUL (the 12th month of the Jewish civil year, and 6th of the ecclesiastical; part of the year in Tel Aviv [city in Israel]) ELUL (hidden word in [contributing to] travEL ULtimately) ELUL |
| 30 | Ice cream pud I extracted from mixture of oat and fruit (7)
TARTUFO (A ball-shaped dessert of ice cream or light mousse-like chocolate) Anagram of (mixture of) OAT and FRUiT excluding (extracted from) I TARTUFO* |
| 31 | Space expert (9)
METEORIST (an expert on meteors; a space expert) There is no wordplay for this clue, as the answer is the word that has to be clued for Azed’s competition this week. There is no asterisk on the online version of the crossword to indicate this is the case, but it is present in the PDF version. METEORIST |
| 32 | Painter coming to Thailand, outcast (5)
DALIT (a member of the former untouchable class in India; outcast) DALI (reference Salvadore Dali [1904 – 1989], Spanish surrealist artist) + T (International Vehicle Registration for Thailand) DALI T |
| 33 | Such as the Colorado Rockies or NE Andes, rugged? (7)
ENNEADS (set of nine things – there are nine players in the Colorado Rockies baseball team) Anagram of (rugged) NE ANDES
ENNEADS*
|
| Down | |
| 1 | Taps excessive for shallow lake, often drying up (5)
CHOTT (alternative spelling of short [in North Africa and the Middle East, a shallow watercourse or lake that tends to dry up in certain seasons]) (C [cold tap] + H [hot tap]) + OTT (over the top; excessive) C H OTT |
| 2 | It may toughen glass, part of jar helping from below (4)
LEHR (a glass-annealing oven, used for toughening glass) LEHR (reversed [from below; down entry] hidden word [part of] jaR HELping) LEHR< |
| 3 | Lines appearing in threesome? It often ends in a turn (6)
TRILLO (a rapid alternation of two notes a tone or semitone apart, commonly ending with a turn) LL (lines) contained in (appearing in) TRIO (threesome) TRI (LL) O |
| 4 | Flat cake pa disposed of in carriage (5)
RATHA ( a four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage or chariot) paRATHA (flat round cake of unleavened bread, traditionally eaten as an accompaniment to Indian food) excluding (disposed of) PA RATHA |
| 5 | Child’s ride to choose a defender (9)
PICKABACK (a ride on someone’s back, usually a young child being carried by an adult) PICK (choose) + A + BACK (defender in a football team) PICK A BACK |
| 6 | Copper coin (old English) belonging to the papal court (6)
CURIAL (belonging to [of] the papal court) CU (chemical symbol for copper) + RIAL (any of various coins, such as an old English gold coin worth about ten shillings) CU RIAL |
| 7 | Part of arthropod’s anatomy dissected in spa room (7)
PROSOMA (cephalothorax [the fused head and thorax in some arthropods]; part of anthropod’s anatomy) Anagram of (dissected) SPA ROOM PROSOMA* |
| 8 | Dancing reel in longs or capes (9)
PELERINES (women’s tippets or capes) Anagram of (dancing) REEL contained in (in) PINES (longs) P (ELER*) INES |
| 9 | One without a sense of humour to endure after maturity (7)
AGELAST (a person who never laughs; one without humour) AGE (legal maturity) + LAST (endure) AGE LAST |
| 13 | A cavity in inner part of temple displaying knobby parts (9)
CAPITELLA (the heads or enlarged knob-like parts at the end of a long bone; knobby parts) (A + PIT [cavity]) contained in (in) CELLA (the naos, or inner chamber of a classical temple) C (A PIT) ELLA |
| 14 | Skin marking in tailless dog, e.g. Oscar? (9)
STATUETTE (the physical award at the annual Oscar ceremony) TATU (tattoo; skin marking) contained in (in) SETTEr (breed of dog) excluding the final letter (tailless) R S (TATU) ETTE |
| 18 | Jock’s farm developing as noted (7)
ONSTEAD (Scottish word (Jock’s] for a farmstead; farm) Anagram of (developing) AS NOTED ONSTEAD* |
| 19 | Prince taking lead in customary hunting (7)
PURSUAL (hunting) USUAL (customary) with (PR [Prince] containing [taking] the first letter [lead] U) P (U) R SUAL |
| 21 | Heraldic beast in Egypt and Turkish province (6)
EYALET (vilayet [a Turkish province]) YALE (mythical animal, depicted in heraldry as resembling a horse with tusks, horns and an elephant’s tail; heraldic beast) contained in (in) (ET [International Vehicle Registration for Egypt]) E (YALE) T |
| 22 | Skin disease the old face, temperature included (6)
DARTRE (some herpes-like skin disease) T (temperature) contained in (included) DARRE (Spenserian [old] word for dare [to challenge; to face]) DAR (T) RE |
| 25 | Wader in deep river, covering US acre 26
HERON (wading bird) acHERON (one of the rivers of Hades, a river of the deep; deep river) excluding (covering) AC (American [US] abbreviation for acre) HERON |
| 26 | What makes Scot’s expression of disapproval for beloved (5)
TOOTS (Scottish expression of disapproval) TOOTS (sweetheart; beloved) double definition TOOTS |
| 28 | NZ aboriginals with a local bird (4)
HUIA (New Zealand bird related to the crows and starlings, now probably extinct) HUI (a Maori gathering; a group of NZ native inhabitants) + A HUI A |
TARTUFO I’d never heard of and it defeated me.
Technically, there are much more than nine players in the Colorado Rockies. For a start, the pitcher rarely bats and the are often several changes of pitcher in a game, not to mention fielder substitutions. I’ve seen the Rockies plat in Denver.
Nice job on the blog, as usual. My last two were JOLE and HERON, both examples of the type of clue: “subtract a word to which the setter is alluding from some other word to which the setter is alluding.” I have a devil of a time with such clues, but I parsed both of these in some sort of burst of inspiration.
I had filled the grid apart from 1a and 4d, and the only thing I could think of for 1a was CALTROP but I wasn’t sure if CAROP was a tropical tree. When I eventually found the spelling variant and looked up CARAP I thought I might have seen it before, and it turns out it was in an Azed puzzle earlier this year. I probably should have remembered RATHA before looking in Chambers, but it probably didn’t help I was looking at the clue backwards thinking ‘Flat cake’ was the definition.
For a while I thought 12a must be NOLE but couldn’t see how the wordplay worked. I eventually thought of JOLE which seemed to fit the wordplay, but I wasn’t sure it was a word. I originally entered ENNEADS from the wordplay and only realised the Colorado Rockies were a baseball team when I was checking things. There were a few other lucky guessed before I looked things up like the order of the first two unchecked letters in PELERINES and I wasn’t sure CELLA was the right word for the wordplay in 13d. I also entered HERON from the definition, and it took me ages to think of ACHERON and discover the alternative abbreviation for acre.
I thought it was a bit odd to include the word ‘destroyed’ in the wordplay to STROY which clearly seems to be a shortened form of ‘destroy’.
Thanks, Azed and duncanshiell.