I feel privileged to have received an Azed puzzle for my turn at this blog.
I would like to express my appreciation for the feeling of familiarity (however parasocial it might be) that I experience completing an Azed puzzle, which feels, I imagine, rather like corresponding with a pen pal whom I will never meet. I was a late arrival to this game, having looked with curiosity at the Azed puzzle on the Guardian site for quite a number of years before actually trying to solve one. It has been highlight of my career as a blogger to see CINERARIA appear as a solution in Azed No. 2,645, not too long after I had joined the Azed blogging team. Coincidence? Maybe, but I doubt it. Thanks again to Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPA |
Spring team, number lost (3)
|
| SPA[N] (team) minus (lost) N (number) | ||
| 4 | POSSET CUP |
Messy sops and so on at an end in covered bowl (9, 2 words)
|
| Anagram of (messy) SOPS + ETC. (and so on) + UP (at an end) | ||
| 10 | OITICICA |
Oil-yielding tree here in Marseille occupied by wild coati (8)
|
| ICI (here, in Marseille, i.e., in French) inside (occupied by) anagram of (wild) COATI | ||
| 12 | SCATHE |
Female bandaging pet’s injury once (6)
|
| SHE (female) around (bandaging) CAT (pet), listed in Chambers as “archaic or dialect” | ||
| 13 | HONIED |
Like seductive language that is cloaked in old-fashioned script (6)
|
| I.E. (that is) inside (cloaked in) HOND (old-fashioned script, listed in Chambers as “an obsolete form of ‘hand'”) | ||
| 14 | CODILLA |
Coarsest part of flax, unfavourable in the end (7)
|
| ILL (unfavourable) inside (in) CODA (the end) | ||
| 16 | DRY ROT |
Fungal mass trod in a mess round track shortly? (6, 2 words)
|
| Anagram of (in a mess) TROD around (round) abbreviation of (shortly) RY (track, i.e., railway) | ||
| 18 | SOIL |
Mould to fatten manure (4)
|
| Triple definition | ||
| 19 | RETICULATE |
Netted luce, treat I cooked (10)
|
| Anagram of (cooked) LUCE TREAT I | ||
| 20 | STREETWISE |
E.g. peach in stew is bubbling, displaying savvy (10)
|
| TREE (e.g. peach) inside (in) anagram of (bubbling) {STEW IS} | ||
| 24 | THUS |
Ruffians delivering last of beating and suchlike (4)
|
| THU[G]S (ruffians) minus (delivering) last [letter] of [BEATIN]G | ||
| 25 | TRADER |
Tidy skill shown in backing businessman (6)
|
| {RED (tidy) + ART (skill)} all reversed (shown in backing) | ||
| 27 | HAMATES |
Some bones swallowed in haunches (7)
|
| ATE (swallowed) inside (in) HAMS (haunches) | ||
| 31 | ENAMEL |
Designation in wing coating (6)
|
| NAME (designation) inside (in) EL (wing) | ||
| 32 | STIRRA |
Jail senior naval officer for corruption in Scotland (6)
|
| STIR (jail) + RA (senior naval officer, i.e., Rear Admiral). The “definition” here is more of a grammatical observation: according to Chambers, this is apparently a Scottish corruption of the archaic word “sirrah.” | ||
| 33 | PETUNTSE |
China product, terribly steep, including a lot of wine? (8)
|
| Anagram of (terribly) STEEP around (including) TUN (a lot of wine?) | ||
| 34 | SEMANTEME |
Chap in group with uncle once conveying what amounts to an idea (9)
|
| {MAN (chap) inside (in) SET (group)} + EME (uncle once, listed in Chambers as “obsolete”) | ||
| 35 | SAL |
Large Indian tree, a willow, not short (3)
|
| SAL[LOW] (a willow) minus (not) LOW (short) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SO-SO |
Double provided, indifferent (4)
|
| SO + SO (“double” provided) | ||
| 2 | PICE |
Coin, not English – it was worth little abroad (4)
|
| &lit and PI[E]CE (coin) minus (not) E (English) | ||
| 3 | ATAXY |
Lack of coordination always interrupted by exercise? (5)
|
| AY (always) around (interrupted by) TAX (exercise) | ||
| 4 | PITURI |
Aussie narcotic? It’s served in a small cake (6)
|
| IT inside ([is] served in) PURI (a small cake) | ||
| 5 | OCHLOCRAT |
Advocate of power to the people brandishing torch with coal (9)
|
| Anagram of (brandishing) {TORCH + COAL} | ||
| 6 | SCHORL |
Institution, right to replace old black stone (6)
|
| SCHO[O]L (institution) substituting (to replace) R (right) for O (old) | ||
| 7 | TANIST |
Gardener giving off unpleasant smell? He was due to follow the chief (6)
|
| [BO]TANIST (“gardener”) minus (giving off) B.O. (unpleasant smell), referring to a Celtic system of inheritance | ||
| 8 | COIL |
Fuss formerly created by one in grip of depression (4)
|
| I (one) inside (in grip of) COL (depression), listed in Chambers as “archaic,” thus “formerly” | ||
| 9 | PEDALIER |
Piano board (8)
|
| The competition word | ||
| 11 | PELISSE |
Coat for youngster peels off and is taken inside (7)
|
| IS inside (taken inside) anagram of (off) PEELS | ||
| 15 | DIATRETUM |
A rum diet – tons imbibed, all mixed in old glass bowl (9)
|
| Anagram of (all mixed) {A RUM DIET around (imbibed) T (tons)} | ||
| 16 | DRUTHERS |
Herd’s wandering round fixed course, cowboy’s choice? (8)
|
| Anagram of (wandering) HERD’S around (round) RUT (fixed course), listed in Chambers as American slang | ||
| 17 | RED HAND |
Ulster’s symbol had broken apart in split (7, 2 words)
|
| Anagram of (broken apart) HAD inside (in) REND (split) | ||
| 21 | TSAMBA |
Barley dish, mass in a fibre turned over (6)
|
| M (mass) inside (in) {A + BAST (fibre)} inverted (turned over) | ||
| 22 | EYELET |
Key, by the sound of it, for embroidery decoration (6)
|
| Homophone of (by the sound of it) ISLET (key) | ||
| 23 | WAHINE |
Complaint about a Maori woman (6)
|
| WHINE (complaint) around (about) A | ||
| 26 | DORTS |
Jock’s pet took a walk almost, climbing (5)
|
| STROD[E] (took a walk) minus last letter (almost) inverted (climbing). Chambers lists this as “noun plural” defined as “sulks.” | ||
| 28 | MALM |
Clay-chalk mixture in normal manufacture (4)
|
| Hidden in [NOR]MAL M[ANUFACTURE] | ||
| 29 | URSA |
Wagons feature? Guardsman shows this regularly (4)
|
| Alternate letters of (regularly) [G]U[A]R[D]S[M]A[N]. The clue refers to the fact that the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are also known as “the Wagon” and “the Wagon of Heaven.” | ||
| 30 | TAEL |
Chinese weight, requiring muscle to lift round East (4)
|
| LAT (muscle) inverted (to lift) around (round) E (East) |
unfortunately, I entered dirts for dorts without thinking
other than that slip, I really liked this one, if not a little anagram-heavy. A mild challenge over the start of my week
There were quite a few clues where I wasn’t sure about the definition, but I thought the wordplay was clear, so I felt like I was solving clues rather than just guessing answers.
l could remember there is a word like OITICICA but not how to spell it, and I spent some time thinking the wordplay was backwards but I suppose ‘X occupied by Y’ can work either way. I also couldn’t remember the word ‘sallow’ for ‘willow’ in 35a; I could remember ‘salix’ and ‘sale’ but they didn’t help.
Being from New Zealand, I think WAHINE is a normal word that I hear frequently, and find it funny to imagine that if I were from somewhere else it would probably be one of several words in this puzzle that I have only seen in crosswords.
Thanks, Cineraria and Azed.