A plain Azed this week.
I finished the puzzle, with recourse of course to the BRB, but there are still a couple of thing stumping me, both of which I am sure will be duly explained by my betters here.
The first is X for “my predecessor” in 6 down, and the second is the definition in 28dn.
Other than that, the answers fell into place and sometimes I had to think a bit about the parsing, but it generally made sense without having to exercise the grey matter too much.
Thanks, Azed.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SCRUMPOX | Runt with beef – what hookers are prone to? (8) |
| SCRUMP (“runt”) with OX (“beef”)
Scrumpox is a form of impetigo suffered by rugby players. |
||
| 7 | PLUS | Fruit without mark inside – an advantage (4) |
| PLU(m)S (“fruit”, without M(ark)) | ||
| 10 | QUIVERISH | ‘Alertness I’ve lost, sir.’ He explodes, trembling (9) |
| 11 | MITY | Infested with tiny creatures? Enormous by the sound of it (4) |
| Homophone (by the sound of it) of MIGHTY
As in “infested with mites”. |
||
| 13 | REFFO | Reversed invitation for e.g. boat person (5) |
| <=OFFER (“invitation”, reversed)
In Australia, a reffo is an immigrant or refugee |
||
| 14 | SPAG BOL | Pals go crazy about British trat speciality (7, 2 words) |
| *(pals go) about B(ritish)
Spag bol is of course short for spaghetti bolognaise, in the same way as trat is short for trattoria. |
||
| 16 | COLZA | Source of cooking oil: there’s zero in soft drink (5) |
| Z(ero) in COLA (“soft drink”)
Colza is another name for coalseed |
||
| 17 | A SALTI | Sailor cutting open sweetfish in fits and starts (6, 2 words) |
| SALT (“sailor”) cutting AI (“sweetfish”) | ||
| 18 | UTILITY MEN | Versatile actors badly lit mutiny about theatre’s closure (10, 2 words) |
| *(badly lit) about (theatr)E | ||
| 20 | SHIRTINESS | This rinses roughly, being waxy (10) |
| *(this rinses) | ||
| 22 | SIMURG | Fabulous bird? I’m captivated by endless heaving (6) |
| IM captivated by SURG(e) (“heaving”, endless)
A simurg or simorg was a wise bird-like creature of Persian mythology. |
||
| 24 | NEALS | Extract of caffeine also toughens (5) |
| Hidden in (extract of) “caffeiNE ALSo”
Neal is a shortened version of the more common anneal. |
||
| 27 | HAFFLIN | Scot who’s not really grown very strong, draggin’ round (7) |
| FF (fortissimo, so “very strong”) with HALIN‘ (“draggin'”) around | ||
| 29 | NAWAB | Muslim prince keeping a wife in nick (5) |
| A W(ife) in NAB (“nick”) | ||
| 30 | YGOE | Dodgy geology (no record) poet’s lost? (4) |
| *(geoy), being “geology” with LOG (“record”) lost
Ygoe is an archaic word for ago, so old poets may have used it to mean time lost, or past. |
||
| 31 | OLIGOCENE | Early epoch, earth repeatedly cooling all over the place (9) |
| *(cooling EE), where EE is “Earth repeatedly” | ||
| 32 | SIZE | Measure is indicating relief by the sound of it? (4) |
| Homophone of SIGHS (“relief”, by the sound of it) | ||
| 33 | TESTIEST | No-win results in big match, making one most irritable (8) |
| TIES (“no-win results”) in TEST (“big match”) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SUMS | Writing follows us up – in the primary curriculum? (4) |
| <=US + MS (manuscript, so “writing”) and &lit.
Technically, in the traditional three Rs, it’s reading, writing & ‘rithmetic, so sums follow writing, but that’s a minor nuance. |
||
| 2 | CHIPOCHIA | Shakespearean fool, affected one circling the chamber (9) |
| CHI-CHI (“affected”) + A circling PO (“chamber” pot) | ||
| 3 | ROTAL | Corruption, completely endless of course (5) |
| ROT (“corruption”) + AL(l) (“completely”, endless) | ||
| 4 | MUMBAI | I’m a bum wandering round commercial capital (6) |
| *(im a bum)
Mumbai is known as the “commerical capital of India” |
||
| 5 | PILOT LIGHT | I’ll be in the garden, idle – but it shows one’s connected (10, 2 words) |
| I in PLOT (“garden”) + LIGHT (“idle”) | ||
| 6 | XERES | Reverse of dry, my predecessor? Could have been dry though (5) |
| <=SERE (reverse of “dry”) + X (?) | ||
| 7 | PREPAYS | Traveller in French country sends money in advance (7) |
| REP (commercial “traveller”) in PAYS (French for “country”) | ||
| 8 | LIFT | Support condition in Lithuania (4) |
| IF (“condition”) in lt. (top level domain code for Lithuania) | ||
| 9 | SHOWINGS | Programmes revealing who’s involved in carols (8) |
| *(who) in SINGS (“carols”) | ||
| 12 | PLAIN JANES | Frumps having entered Jamaica on board aircraft (10, 2 words) |
| IN (“having entered”) JA (international vehicle registration code for “Jamaica”) on board PLANES (“aircraft”), so PLA(IN-JA)NES | ||
| 15 | STELLIONS | Why don’t we, turning up, before zoo favourites see lizards? (9) |
| <=LET’S (“why don’t we”, turning up) before LIONS (“zoo favourites”)
A stellion is a green Mediterranean lizard with black star-shaped markings. |
||
| 16 | CASSINOS | Boy is accompanied by bag given lift for card games (8) |
| <=SON IS SAC (“boy is” accompnaied by “bag”, given lift)
Cassino is a card game for two to four players in which players pair cards from their hands with others exposed on the table. |
||
| 19 | TRUCAGE | Art fraud in almost genuine frame? (7) |
| TRU(e) (almost “genuine”) + CAGE (“frame”) | ||
| 21 | ENFANT | Wing in hospital department? One’s often terrible (6) |
| FAN (“wing”) in E.N.T. (“hospital department”)
An enfant terrible is a person who causes embarrassment to those around him/her. |
||
| 23 | ROBOT | Electronic traffic signal: red (abroad) has guy stopping (5) |
| ROT (“red” in German, so abroad) with BO stopping | ||
| 25 | ALGAE | Weeds, advanced, big bird mostly pulled up (5) |
| A(dvanced) + <=EAGL(e) (“big bird”, mostly up) | ||
| 26 | SWIZ | Lemon, second magician cut in half (4) |
| S(econd) + WIZ(ard) (“magician”, cut in half) | ||
| 28 | NEWT | What’s dropping on famous scientist? Just ask (4) |
| NEWT(on) | ||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, loonapick.
I’m not sure that 6d is fair, but Azed sometimes uses X as an abbreviation Ximenes (e.g. in the last line of Azed slip 2378) which was the pseudonym of his predecessor, Derrick Somerset Macnutt.
For the definition in 28d, ask is a dialect word for a newt, see ask^2 in Chambers.
Matthew is right on both accounts.
Meanwhile, they’ve fouled up the loading of the Azed puzzle for the second week in a row.
https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2018/03/23/2,389_March25.pdf
3planks on the Guardian commenters found it.
I guessed the X /Ximenes in 6dn, but ask=NEWT defeated me. Of course, I didn’t think to look up ask in Chambers.
I wonder if there are people here who were solving Ximenes puzzles when he was around. I’m certainly old enough, but I didn’t attempt an Azed until about 1979.
Thanks for the link, Goujeers, and for the blog, loonapick. FWIW I don’t think “my predecessor” for “X” is good practice (although I somehow remembered it). It’s a bit of fairly obscure, specialised, crossword lore, that you won’t find in any dictionary and in particular is a barrier to younger solvers, whom we should surely be encouraging.
Solved a day late after the Guardian’s well-documented cock-up, which is a pity because I had plenty of time to solve what with all the snow and ice. I found this a little above par in terms of difficulty for Azed, with a few I didn’t entirely follow. Regarding the use of Ximenes, I thought it was a nice touch, and I’m far (well a bit) too young to remember him. What’s intended is pretty obvious, and there’s always Google…
Some minor points on the blog – the parsing for 10ac is missing [(QUI VIVE – IVE) + (SIR HE)*, definition ‘trembling’], in 18ac the anagram fodder is LIT MUNITY rather than BADLY LIT, and in 8dn I think Azed was probably thinking of the IVR code for Lithuania rather than the ccTLD, the former being given by Chambers but not the latter (and Azed not generally using tech terms unless he really has to!).
Thanks, DRC. Don’t know what happened with QUVERISH – I distinctly remember typing it as it took me ages to parse and was relieved when I finally worked it out. Must have forgotten to press “enter”. The other one is my now mandatory typo, lol.
@4. In the mid 60s I rented a flat in St Johns Wood London and the local publican had the current Ximenes crossword and Chambers open on his counter. Customers were free to solve clues and (on agreement) enter them. Generally the crossword was completed.
It was a welcome release after coming home from the office with nobody in the bar to talk to and to enjoy a pint. I was not aware of any other pub that offered that service and I suspect it is unlikely to be offered today.
I read this blog with great interest but I do not attempt Azed. However I noticed 10ac this morning and did in fact parse it. So some of the cells are still working.
I agree that cluing X by reference to Ximenes is rather unfair on younger solvers – I was a regular solver of his puzzles, and although I’m not good enough at writing clues to have ever won a prize, I did get a Ximenes tie, which is black with white Xs all over.
Personally speaking, I have no problem at all with the use of ‘my predecessor?’ to indicate ‘X’ in the context of an AZ clue. This isn’t a crossword for beginners, and I’d like to think that any solver (regardless of their age) who had passed the novice stage would prefer inventive, witty and accurate cluing to a repetitive diet of sappers, salesmen and senior services combined with unsound constructions which make parsing – and therefore true solution – impossible. Ximenes should be familiar to barred puzzle aficionados (even if like me they don’t remember his compositions) given his importance in the development of the modern crossword – as witnessed by the fact that the term ‘Ximenean’ is very much a part of the vernacular. A recent reference (in 2,381) to The Dong with a Luminous Nose drew no adverse comment although it is unlikely that any current solvers were around when the poem was published (1877), and Chambers provides no assistance. The abbreviation X was routinely used by Macnutt himself, his correspondents and his merchandise (thank you peterM@10), and, as Jon_S suggests (@6), a Google search for ‘Azed predecessor’ would get anyone there without too much bother; a search for ‘dong’ is rather less illuminating…