I got though this quite quickly, so either I’m getting better or this is at the easier end of the Azed spectrum. Thank you Azed for yet another fine puzzle.
| Across | ||
| 1 | GHOST GUM | Good landlord, reverse of fool, has branches in Oz (8, 2 words) |
| G (good) HOST (landlord) with MUG (fool) reversed – an Australian tree | ||
| 11 | STOOPINGLY | Get to work, entering one by one in subservient fashion? (10) |
| TO OP (work) in SINGLY (one by one) | ||
| 12 | CROON | Crosby’s first on list for Jock … of those that do? (5) |
| Crosby (first letter of) and ROON (list, for Jock=Scottish) – Bing Crosby would be first on any list of crooners | ||
| 13 | HATRED | Junction? Went fast round it in spite (6) |
| T (junction) inside HARED (went fast) | ||
| 14 | KINONE | Benzene derivative, or nearest the same (6) |
| KIN (nearest, and dearest) ONE (the same) | ||
| 15 | BURIED | Deeply engrossed, was picking brambles, we hear? (6) |
| sounds like (we hear) berried (was picking brambles) | ||
| 16 | AMULETS | Use malt for distilling in magic potions? (7) |
| anagram (for distilling) of USE MALT | ||
| 18 | WHOP | Sound of a bump making wife jump (4) |
| W (wife) HOP (jump) | ||
| 20 | PONENT | Imprisoned on being captured in early western (6) |
| PENT (imprisoned) containing (with…being captured) ON – early usage by Milton | ||
| 21 | REBITE | Apply fresh acid to eastern river flowing west (6) |
| E (Eastern) TIBER (river) all reversed (flowing west, right-to-left on a map) | ||
| 24 | SAGE | Second one of seven – or any one (4) |
| S (second) and AGE (one of seven, seven ages of man, Shakespeare) – any one of the Seven Sages of India, Greece, Mesopotamia, Rome or the Chinese Bamboo Grove. Take your pick. | ||
| 26 | RATITAE | Flightless birds speed round palm tree (7) |
| RATE (speed) contains ITA (palm tree) | ||
| 28 | SEREIN | Rarely dry during late tropical misty rain (6) |
| SERE (dry, rare) IN (during) | ||
| 29 | YOGURT | Gouty, poorly, accepting recipe for healthy food? (6) |
| anagram (poorly) of GOUTY containing R (recipe) | ||
| 31 | TRIODE | Radio set working – as this valve appears? (6) |
| an anagram (working) of RADIO SET gives AS TRIODE (this valve) | ||
| 32 | BELEE | Bard’s beginning to pen Lear (first half) in place where it’s calm for him (5) |
| BEE (the letter B, beginning of Bard) contains pens) LEar (first half of) | ||
| 33 | LOUNDERING | Dose of corporal punishment in Fettes or Oundle administered by clique (10) |
| anagram (administered) of OUNDLE then RING – Fettes is a public school, a system once know for its ritual beatings UPDATE: Fettes is a Scottish school so any beatings there, for whatever reason, might be be described using a Scots word. | ||
| 34 | OSSETERS | Big fish: I’ll make way for group among willows (8) |
| OSIERS (willows) with I replaced by (making way for) SET (group) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | GUCK | Gloucester’s opener on nought, first dismissed – certainly won’t appeal! (4) |
| Gloucester (opening letter of) then dUCK (nought, zero score in cricket) missing first letter | ||
| 2 | HARIM | Mihrab mostly reconstructed in Muslim holy place (5) |
| anagram (reconstructed) of MIHRAb (mostly) | ||
| 3 | STOOL PIGEONS | Informers? See nameless one sing to slop deviously (12, 2 words) |
| anagram (deviously) of OnE (nameless) with SING TO SLOP | ||
| 4 | TONNES | One gets ecstatic about number lifting these weights (6) |
| SENT (ecstatic) containing (about) NO (number) all reversed (lifting) | ||
| 5 | GO-GETTER | I’ll be on the way up in great territory – I know what I want (8) |
| EGI (I) reversed (on the way up) in GT (great) TER (territory) | ||
| 6 | MIAUL | Tom’s sound, if not strong, in heaving mass of forwards (5) |
| If (missing F, strong) in MAUL (heaving mass of forwards, in Rugby) | ||
| 7 | INTRANSIGENT | Is gran wavering in purpose? Far from it (12) |
| anagram (wavering) of IS GRAN in INTENT (purpose) | ||
| 8 | AGRISE | The old scare, endless increase in years (6) |
| RISe (increase, endless) in AGE (years) | ||
| 9 | FLEEING | Limits of exuberance in brief affair evaporating (7) |
| ExuberancE (extreme letters of) in FLING (brief affair) | ||
| 10 | LYDDITE | HE, tiddley, tottering (7) |
| anagram (tottering) of TIDDLEY – high explosive | ||
| 17 | SPRAYERS | Sabbath churchgoers? They may be seen playing on the lawn (8) |
| S (sabbath) PARYERS (churchgoers) | ||
| 18 | WRESTLE | Clinch? Women, fidgety, avoiding final coupling (7) |
| W (women) RESTLEss (fidgety) missing SS (coupling?). I don’t understand coupling here, unless it refers to an S&S coupling on a bicycle. This seems unlikely to me. | ||
| 19 | HETEROS | Boys turned on by girls, say, impassioned over love (7) |
| HET (impassioned) on EROS (love) | ||
| 22 | BARIUM | Ingredient of meal often, mostly dry, fed to hobo (6) |
| ARId (dry,mostly) inside (fed to) BUM (hobo) – a Barium Meal is taken in hospital to aid x-ray photography | ||
| 23 | STOBIE | Name given to poles supporting wires is to be changed (6) |
| anagram (changed) of IS TO BE | ||
| 25 | KIDDO | Son I had, dead captivated by stunner? (5) |
| I’D (I had) D (dead) inside (captivated by) KO (stunner) | ||
| 27 | AREAR | Once behind in space race, having lost expert airman? (5) |
| AREA (space) then Race missing ACE (expert airman) | ||
| 30 | TEMS | Riddle: what shows sides but no centre? (4) |
| TEaMS (side) missing centre letter | ||
definitions are underlined
I write these posts to help people get started with cryptic crosswords. If there is something here you do not understand ask a question; there are probably others wondering the same thing.
Thanks PeeDee. I thought “coupling” in 18d just meant that you have to remove the last two letters, though using “coupling” to mean “couple” seems a bit of a stretch, and isn’t given in Chambers.
Also, I think the Fettes reference in 33a is more to indicate that LOUNDERING is a Scots usage, rather than because Fettes was any more noted for the use of corporal punishment than other public schools. (Though I did know someone who went there and told gruesome tales of bullying in the dormitories.)
Correct Andrew, that fact that Fettes is in Scotland is the key point.
I spent a white wondering how to describe the definition, particularly with non-UK solvers reading the blog. Fettes is technically not a public school either as that is really a term for English schools. Private School doesn’t really carry the right connotations either. And would loundering apply to a beating in a posh school environment anyway? Was it a term more correctly applied to a fight between young neds in Leith, or adult riviters in Govan?
I went to a very ordinary school and didn’t have first hand experience of any of these situations and have never had or given a beating to anybody. Despite living in Scotland for years I have never heard the word used either.
I would be very interested to hear from anyone who knows this word.
PeeDee, both Fettes and Oundle are in fact public schools, since both schools are members of the HMC (see the list at this website).
I can’t remember a thing about this puzzle. However, I have a completed grid in front of me, so I must have done it. I also noted that I couldn’t parse 14 and 28ac, so thanks for the explanations.
Anyone know if a blog for 2376 is in the offing? That one completely defeated me.
Ref. 18 down – coupling =chain. See ESS in Chambers.
Nick
Dormouse – 2376 seems to have been overlooked during the Holiday period. I will have a go at it later on and write up a blog for you.
PeeDee – Loonapick has now posted the blog for 2376. It was not overlooked, but delayed because of the later submission date.
By chance last week I did a random Azed puzzle from the 90s and found the same clue for TRIODE – word for word.
Many thanks to Azed and PeeDee for a wonderfully clear and comprehensive explanation. A first Azed for me and I really miss my Chambers.
I owe Azed a special thank you for PONENT. I was invited to join a non-English speaking yacht crew and to prepare I had to learn my compass points as Sardinian sailors have the quaint habit of referring to winds by their 14th century names. The one I could never remember was PONENTE (a westerly); I can now.
When I first arrived I found myself in what I thought was the outflow of an air-conditioning system. It wasn’t. It was a SCIROCCO, a hot, not warm, south-easterly. Just last week I heard rain forecast and lazily put a stool on the terrace to save my cleaning it. The next day my terrace was covered in sand that had fallen from the sky, and the stool dirtier than it had been; again the SCIROCCO or OSTRO (southerly).
If I hear MAESTRALE (NW), it means tie down the garden furniture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_compass_winds