AZED 2,328

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The usual Azed. All pretty sound so far as I can see. You really need to have Chambers by your side; it would be an endless task for me to explain everything everywhere.

As always the definitions are underlined and in maroon.

Across
1 FAIK Excuse for Scotch sounding anything but genuine (4)
“fake”
7 TAPAS Cheers dance offering in certain bars (5)
ta pas
12 IMPERATOR One in Rome trip reread e.g. Caesar (9)
(Rome trip)* round a
13 DAFTAR Office mad on army regulation (6)
daft AR — it’s good to see that Azed doesn’t bother to observe the restriction in some crosswords that A on B = BA; it always seems to me that if you say that A is on B then it is next to it and so could be in either position
14 ROSTER Oven turkey maybe without a stuffing put in a roll (6)
ro{a}ster
16 CRANIATA Major group within phylum, feline one, queen protected (8)
cat (rani) a
17 SAUTEED To the French occupying old service this is lightly fried (7)
s(au)teed — I’m not absolutely comfortable with steed = old service but that is I think what it is
20 CROC Well-ordered pupils bloom without us (4)
croc{us} — the well-ordered pupils are a crocodile
21 PAWING Treatment resented by stewardesses from old man on flight? (6)
Pa wing — semi-&lit., or as Azed would say in his slip, &lit. — there has been an interesting discussion recently on this matter on the Crossword Centre Message Board
22 CUSCUS Tree creature as a normal rule avoiding tom repeatedly (6)
cus{tom} cus{tom}
23 GENT Old noble affecting entry without much of entourage (4)
Hidden in affectinG ENTry
25 TABRERE See old drummer err, beat being off key (7)
(err beat)*
26 ACAULINE A membrane that is surrounding number of stemless plants (8)
a caul i.(n)e.
29 TONANT Granny laid into small child, fulminating (6)
to(Nan)t
30 TRIUNE Those musketeers, and fourth in group, go around (6)
tri(u)ne — the u is the fourth letter of group — this refers to the Three Musketeers
31 CLEARANCE Eviction, malignancy mostly involving tragic monarch (9)
c(Lear)ance{r}
32 SHEOL Hell holes, chaotic (5)
(holes)*
33 NEED How some treat dough, we hear, causing penury (4)
“knead”
Down
1 FIDUS ACHATES Bosom pal sailors’ bar employs having a chinwag inside(12, 2 words)
fid us(a chat)es
2 AMARACUS Herb sauce mostly sloshed around ‘hare’ of a kind (8)
(sauc{e})* round mara
3 KETA Pairs changing places catch salmon (4)
in take [= catch] you reverse the ta and the ke
4 GRACE CUP Doctor with a c-cure unusually introduced for health (8, 2 words)
G(racecu)P — the racecu being (a c-cure)*
5 BARRENS Arrives in old-style check when climbing shrubby US plateaux (7)
arr in (sneb)rev.
6 STRAD Most radios (not all) will need regular tuning (5)
Hidden in MoST RADios
8 ARSIS Bottle, second imbibed, making one up-beat (5)
ar(s)is — aris = arse = bottle and glass, rhyming slang
9 PATARINES Heretics in past are converted (9)
(in past are)*
10 ABET Make good muscle with extremes of effort (4)
ab. e{ffor}t
11 STRANGLEWEED Dodder maybe, having left little in rum, tiny dimension (12)
strang(l)e wee d — left little = l, even though left on its own = l, but the ‘little’ is needed for the surface, such as it is
15 PURSUANCE Act of following prize money consumes united amateur northern clubs (9)
purs(u A N c)e
18 HAGBERRY German gent holds bag, bursting, with yen for wild cherry (8)
h(agb)err Y, the agb being (bag)*
19 INTRINCE Shakespeare’s complex, in brief moment encapsulating central character in machination (8)
in tri({machi}n{ation})ce
21 PLANTAR Sailor following chart of what he walks on? (7)
plan tar
24 GUACO Fiddle a company’s underwritten offering anti-venom stuff (5)
gu a co.
25 TITER Quantity added in US chemistry lab, more precise by the sound of it (5)
“tighter”
27 COSH Billy (from Boston?) getting very uplifted in church (4)
(so)rev. in ch.
28 XIAN Christian, one in love going heavenward? (4)
i in (nix)rev.

*anagram

3 comments on “AZED 2,328”

  1. I had no trouble with steed for old service in 17ac. Chambers gives steed as an old form of stead, and defines that as service.

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