As it’s the first Sunday of the month (and indeed the year) this is a competition puzzle, though the PDF (and presumably the paper version) merely labels it as “plain”. Thanks to Azed, and Happy New Year to him and all his solvers.
| Across | ||||||||
| 1 | KATAL | End of a lecture given prominence? It involves a mole (5) A TALK with the last letter moved to the start |
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| 5 | POST-DOC | Piece of research stood out, penned by government administrator (7) STOOD* in PC (Privy Counsellor) |
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| 10 | BIAS CRIME | Felony involving ethnicity, i.e. b––– racism in a way (9, 2 words) (IE B RACISM)* – US term for a “crime committed for racial reasons” |
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| 12 | TONUS | Condition of healthy muscles – plenty observed round university (5) U in TONS (a lot, plenty) |
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| 13 | TRITON | Sailor or his vessel – it’s in the market (6) IT in TRON (market) |
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| 14 | UNDATE | Wavy? Soak, not fashionable (6) INUNDATE (soak) less IN (fashionable) |
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| 16 | BARP | Save page for Scottish cairn (4) BAR (except, save) + P |
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| 17 | REALES | Spanish cash in property ownership, no small portion (6) REAL ESTATE less TATE (a small portion) |
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| 18 | CARLEY FLOAT | Treacly loaf made a mess of rubber raft (11, 2 words) (TREACLY LOAF)* |
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| 20 | HEART ATTACK | Try matting strip for coronary (11, 2 words) HEAR (to try, as in court) + TAT + TACK |
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| 24 | FADEUR | Following fashion, regret backing dullness of hue (6) FAD + reverse of RUE |
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| 26 | GLEE | Eagle-eyed in part, causing mirth (4) Hidden in eaGLE-Eyed |
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| 28 | LOLITA | Young girl maybe, Dolores, full of what she’s known for (6) IT (sex appeal) in LOLA (diminutive of Dolores); a bit weak as Lolita is also a diminutive of Dolores – which is the real name of the character in the Nabokov novel |
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| 29 | CREOLE | Like W. Indian dish, cabbage, about swallowed (6) RE (about) in COLE (cabbage, as in cole slaw) |
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| 30 | CANTS | Slopes, bare front to back (5) SCANT (bare) with S moved to the end |
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| 31 | ACARIDEAN | A journey in a container – such as ticks! (9) A RIDE in A CAN |
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| 32 | LAMETER | Returning disease damaged tree Scots cripple (7) Reverse MAL + TREE* |
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| 33 | RISEN | Pierre’s love, including bit of sex given new life? (5) S[ex] in RIEN (French “nothing”, love as a tennis score) |
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| Down | ||||||||
| 1 | KETUBAH | Bachelor in the UK damaged marriage contract (7) BA I (THE UK)* |
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| 2 | ANONACEAE | Such as magnolias nameless champion fed with running water (9) ANON + EA in ACE, with “such as” used in much the same way as in 31 across |
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| 3 | TUNDRA | Root-tuber pulled up round deserted plain (6) D[eserted] in reverse of ARNUT (an edible root-tuber) |
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| 4 | LISTEL | Fellow leaving grilled fillets? Small one, as was (6) Anagram of FILLETS less F – a listel is “a small fillet” in the architectural sense |
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| 5 | PALE-HEARTED | Helper, a date out of sorts once crestfallen (11) (HELPER A DATE)* |
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| 6 | SCRY | Spy sparse beard trimmed (4) This took me a bit of working out: it’s SCRAWNY (sparse) less AWN (beard, of corn etc); a Spenserian (unindicated) form of “descry”, meaning to reveal, discover or espy |
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| 7 | TRIBAL | Racial, mostly mean after time (6) T + RIBAL[d] |
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| 8 | DITAL | What sharpens string, keeping tension in face (5) T in DIAL |
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| 9 | CENTS | What sounds like understanding money (5) Sounds like “sense”. Whether they are exact homophones would depend on whether the speaker has the prince–prints merger |
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| 11 | STORY-TELLER | Party person with tons opening liquor store, we hear? He may not be trustworthy (11) TORY (“party person) + T in SELLER (homophone of “cellar”, a liquor store) |
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| *15 | TEA-KETTLE | Boiler (9, 2 words) The competition word |
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| 19 | TREASON | Short tense argument? It may be petty (7) T[ense] + REASON |
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| 21 | REBORE | Engineers put up with work on cylinder? (6) RE (Royal Engineers) + BORE (put up with) |
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| 22 | TROCAR | Something for draining liquid boiling carrot (6) CARROT* |
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| 23 | CLINTS | Dressing cutting gas in rocky outcrops (6) LINT in CS (riot control gas) |
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| 24 | FOCAL | Central point’s colt regarding pregnant mare? (5) C[old] “in FOAL” |
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| 25 | DREAM | Energy imbibed in a tipple? It may be unattainable (5) E in DRAM |
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| 27 | GLIT | Gooey stuff surgeon cut from minor malfunction (4) GLITCH less CH (abbreviation of chirurgeon, old form of surgeon) |
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I had the same quibble about LOLITA and had written in SCRY from the definition and checking letters and only understood the wordplay later. I initially thought 23d could be CLINES, but once I looked things up in Chambers I thought I should have been able to work it out because I have seen the relevant definitions of CLINTS and LINT before
I worked out ANONACEAE from the wordplay, but I’m not sure the definition is right because magnolias are in the family Magnoliaceae, but the two families are apparently in the same order.
Thanks, Andrew and Azed.
Thanks for the blog , yes just Plain in the paper but the instructions and asterisk are there .
I liked FOCAL ( tiny typo in the blog ) and SCRY but this should have had some indication .
I could not find REALES in Chambers93 but the wordplay was clear .
Not keen on the LOLITA clue for many reasons .
Difficult for me but I’m possibly losing touch now I do only one a month. Doctor Clue at The Clue Clinic was hypercritical this week and even called for Azed’s retirement! Heaven forbid. I have never been over bothered if a clue makes no reference to a dialect, slang or old word, or a Scottish or US or even Australian word. Interesting that many words from the Raj seem to be amalgamated, in Chambers’ mind, into English usage so nala, paan, dak, gadi, subah, etc, need no indication from Azed yet words like eejit, Esky, lam (US) and bap are all qualified and therefore would, according to some solvers, require Azed to bend his clue. I disagree.
Possibly in support: why, in Chambers, is subah English but his immediate inferior, the jemadar, Indian? And why should Azed take any notice?
Further on Chambers: I cannot recall, to my shame, which of our members here pointed out one of Chambers’ several errors. A Carley Float is not made of rubber. There was once a list of oddities like this, before the internet, but I’ve no idea where it was. I seem to remember in one edition errhine n., was defined as ‘ptarmic’. And ptarmic n., was defined as ‘errhine’. so that was bloody useful, wasn’t it?
Sorry, haven’t finished, so…
Stefan
S
Andrew – apologies for jumping on this post but I don’t have your email address.
Could you contact me about the quiz prize from S&B please? matt@unchcrosswords.com
I couldn’t enter this Azed clue competition. The last 5 years have produced a few HCs and VHCs but more importantly have improved my clue writing skills tremendously, also with thanks to Dr Clue at the Clue Clinic who contributed a lot of time to my questions.
I just find that 16 pounds a month (plus international currency charges etc) to enter a competition once a month where I can’t win a prize as a non-UK solver as unjustifiable. Too bad but it was enjoyable while it lasted.
I’ll continue solving, along with Gemelo who is a breath of fresh air, as long as the back door to the pdf remains open, although I don’t think that will be long before it disappears
Quibbles this month: I don’t think 10 Ac works. The long dash might be acceptible in Victorian novels but to us it means the omission is the answer or a compound anagram. 33 Ac Azed knows well that ‘Pierre’s love’ is not rien. 6 Dn if I were trimming a beard, I’d be taking something off the bottom, not out of the middle. 9 Dn Azed has used this homonym before, possibly more than once. It’s fine by me and I’d previously put it down to the North/South Divide (the ‘untin and shootin’ lot: ohm and home are pronounced the same: so thank you, Andrew, for the prince-prints merger reference). 24 Ac I know this is one of Azed’s ho-ho charades but does it work? What is ‘regarding’ doing? How exactly does the clue work?
I agree: I think that there are too many ‘weak’ clues this month.
Anyone notice that ‘Socotra’ was in the news this week? Possible as many as four hundred tourists there so definitely a ‘well-known’ word, as Azed put it, a year or two ago.
Stefan
Tim C@5, that’s a shame but, realistically, the Azed competition does seem to be nearly at an end. We still don’t have the slip for the December competition, although the winning clues and the successful VHC entrants did appear last week.
Will Gemelo be tasked with a clue-writing competition when Azed does finally retire? I have my doubts. The Sunday Times, also behind a paywall, does have a clue-writing competition when, overseen by Peter Biddlecombe, once of this parish.