A plain Azed this week, one which I found quite difficult to get started
There were a couple of clues where the word play eluded me for a while. These were the ones for UNHABLE [as I hadn’t come across PUPUNHA as a word before and it seemed fairly unlikely until I went to it as a last resort) and STELA where it took me a while to realise that ‘classical’ might be directing the solver to Latin or Greek. I was stuck on STELLAR for a while but couldn’t see how to get rid of the R as well as an L)
As ever with Azed, the clues had excellent surfaces and I felt confident in the parsing, except for the two mentioned above.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 | Concealed coating, less grand than befits aristocrats (8) |
UPPER CRUST (aristocracy) with UPPER replaced by SUB thereby becoming less grand to form SUB CRUST SUB CRUST |
SUBCRUST (lower or concealed coating) |
| 12 | Supporter, chummy but denied parking (4) |
PALLY (chummy) excluding (denied) P (parking) ALLY |
ALLY (supporter) |
| 13 | Scots one keeping watch for one of symmetrical pair (8) |
ANE (Scots word for one) containing (keeping) TIMER (watch) AN (TIMER) E |
ANTIMERE ([in symmetrical organisms] a body part that corresponds to a similar structure on the other side of the body. |
| 14 | Product of trout hatcheries? There’s plenty in Scotland (5) |
ROUTH (hidden word in [product of] TROUT HATCHERIES) ROUTH |
ROUTH (Scottish word for abundance or plentiful) |
| 15 | Superior muscle? Beefy but lacking meat (5) |
AB (abdominal muscle) + BOTHAM (reference Ian [Beefy] BOTHAM [born 1955] former English cricketer) excluding (lacking) HAM (type of meat) AB BOT |
ABBOT (person in charge of an abbey; the word superior is often used to describe the head of a religious house) |
| 17 | Select a cast for opera? (7) |
Anagram of (cast) SELECT A ALCESTE* |
ALCESTE (1767 opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck)
|
| 18 | Car’s smashed dog holding bone, not one regular roadside feature (12, 2 words) |
Anagram of (smashed) CAR’S + (HARRIER [medium-sized keen-scented dog for hunting hares] containing [holding] [BONE excluding {not} ONE]) CRAS* H (B) ARRIER |
CRASH BARRIER (common feature on roadsides) |
| 19 | Cereal recipe – sort of sieve required (5) |
RICE (cereal crop) + R (recipe) RICE R |
RICER (cooking utensil that forms soft food into strands; something like a sieve)
|
| 20 | Female complaint ma got rid of (4) |
MALADY (disease; complaint) excluding (got rid of) MA LADY |
LADY (female)
|
| 23 | Description of requirement has peculiarities in part (4) |
SPEC (hidden word in (in part) HAS PECULIARITIES) SPEC |
SPEC (specification; description of requirements) |
| 24 | Satinwood from Zambia with stake supporting it (5) |
Z (International Vehicle Registration for Zambia) + ANTE (fixed stake put down by a poker player, usually before the deal) I take ‘supporting’ to mean being at one’s side or, in this case, at the side of Z Z ANTE |
ZANTE (satinwood) |
| 26 | Arachnid with secretion of rich poison power-packed (12, 2 words) |
W (with) + (P [power] contained in [packed] an anagram of [secretion of] RICH POISON) W HI (P) SCORPION* |
WHIP SCORPION (any arachnid of the order Pedipalpida, slightly resembling true scorpions but having no sting and usually having a whiplike appendage at the rear of the body. |
| 28 | It’s a time of conflict, wealth lost (7) |
WAR IS ON (it’s a time of conflict) WAR IS ON |
WARISON (obsolete [lost] word for wealth)
|
| 31 | Aromatic cornmeal dish pa’s left outside (5) |
POLENTA (Italian porridge made of maize, barley, chestnut, or other meal.; cornmeal dish) excluding (left) P and A, PA, the outside letters OLENT |
OLENT (having a smell; aromatic) |
| 32 | Variable weight when one’s tucked in of course (5) |
A (one) contained in (tucked in) ROTL (a variable Levantine weight) ROT (A) L |
ROTAL (of a ROTA, of a course) |
| 33 | Freeze together again, bond including earth personified (8) |
RELATE (get on well with; bond) containing (including) GE (in Greek mythology, the goddess or personification of Earth) RE (GE) LATE |
REGELATE (freeze together again) |
| 34 | Ancient bondsman cutting husband’s elaborate hairdo (4) |
THETE (serf; bondsman) excluding (cutting) H (husband) TETE |
TÊTE (elaborately dressed head of hair) |
| 35 | Starting point on course? Beside it sick tree died, looked like falling (8) |
TEE (where a ball is placed for a drive on a golf course; starting point on course) + an anagram of (sick) TREE + D (died) TEE TERE* D |
TEETERED (swayed and looked like falling over) |
| Down | |||
| 2 | Upper-class group well supplied with drinks and weeds (12) |
U (upper class) + LOT (set of things; group) + RICH (well stocked; well supplied) + ALES (drinks) U LOT RICH ALES |
ULOTRICHALES (an order of multicellular uninucleate green algae, marine and freshwater; weeds)
|
| 3 | Temporary adhesive that can repair bat with luck (7) |
Anagram of (repair) BAT and LUCK BLU-TACK* |
BLU-TACK (malleable solid adhesive used to fix paper temporarily to walls, noticeboards, etc) |
| 4 | Enzyme that is kept in box (6) |
YT (obsolete abbreviation for that) contained in (kept in) CASE (box) C (YT) ASE |
CYTASE (an enzyme that breaks down cellulose)
|
| 5 | Sun starts to hide unseen – creator of eclipse, some thought (4) |
RA (ancient Egyptian sun-god) + HU (first letter of [starts to] each of HIDE and UNSEEN) RA H U |
RAHU (in Hindu myth, the demon that swallows the sun and moon at eclipses) |
| 6 | Weak no longer, pup polished off peachy fruit on table without thanks (7) |
PUPUNHA (the peach-palm; peachy fruit) excluding (polished off) PUP + TABLE excluding (without) TA (thanks) UNHA BLE |
UNHABLE (obsolete [no longer] form of unable [week]) |
| 7 | Classical star forgetting one line in The Standing Stone (5) |
STELLA (Latin [classical] for star) excluding (forgetting) one L (line) STELA |
STELA (upright stone slab)
|
| 8 | Yellowish cupboard earl installed (6) |
E (earl) contained in (installed) AMBRY (cupboard) AMB (E) RY |
AMBERY (yellowish)
|
| 9 | Bills suggesting bablah pods? (4) |
NEBS (descriptive of [suggesting] the formation of the word NEB-NEB [bablah pods]) NEBS |
NEBS (bills or beaks)
|
| 10 | College included porter to tea arranged to show guardianship (12) |
C (college) contained in (included) an anagram of [arranged] PORTER TO TEA PROTE (C) TORATE* |
PROTECTORATE (guardianship)
|
| 11 | Being abrasive, put off noble once (9) |
DETER (put off) + GENT (historically [once] any man above the rank of yeoman, including members of the nobility) DETER GENT |
DETERGENT (an abrasive cleaning material) |
| 16 | Lethal larva? Eight maybe in lines raised marks (9) |
(CREW [an ‘eight’ is a rowing CREW] contained in (in) ROWS (lines) reversed (raised; down clue]) + M (marks; former German currency) S (CREW) WOR< M |
SCREW-WORM ( the larva of a dipterous fly which develops under the skin of various animals, often causing death; lethal larva) |
| 21 | Deadly poison, one featured in a story (7) |
(I [Roman numeral for one] contained in [featured in] [A + CONTE {short story}]) A CON (I) TE |
ACONITE (any plant of the ranunculaceous genus Aconitum, esp wolf’s-bane or monk’s-hood; poison obtained from it) |
| 22 | Tincture fern’s variegated with it (7) |
Anagram of (variegated) FERNS and IT SNIFTER* |
SNIFTER (a dram or small alcoholic drink; tincture can be similarly defined)
|
| 23 | Composite mineral, note, found in pitch (6) |
N (note) contained in (found in) SPIEL (story or line of talk; for example a salesman’s pitch) SPI (N) EL |
SPINEL (any mineral of a group of aluminates, ferrates, and chromates of magnesium, iron, zinc, etc crystallizing in octahedra) |
| 25 | Primate required to hold infant? One won’t decline (6) |
APE (primate) containing (required to hold) TOT (infant) AP (TOT) E |
APTOTE (an indeclinable noun) |
| 27 | Bones – there’s beef one included in chef’s odds (5) |
(OX [general name for the male or female of common domestic cattle; beef] + A [one]) contained in (included in) CE (letters 1 and 3 [odds] of CHEF) C (OX A) E |
COXAE (plural of COXA, the hip bone) |
| 29 | Rule number one Aussie motorist must have one (4) |
R (rule) + EGO (self; number one) R EGO |
REGO (in Australia, an informal term for a motor vehicle registration; Aussie motorist needs one)
|
| 30 | Worry upsetting the old sod (4) |
TERF (poetic [Milton], hence old, spelling of TURF [sod]) reversed (upsetting) FRET< |
FRET (worry) |
I’ve spent all week wondering what 9dn was, and now I see the reason I couldn’t get it was that I’d made a mistake entering 15ac!
Shame there’s such a dearth of comments for this excellent puzzle and Duncan’s splendid blog. I found this much harder than the previous week’s and got stuck for ages on UNHABLE. I suppose clues based on “obscure word with a chunk chopped of to give another obscure word” are technically OK by Ximenean standards, but they do make for a tricky solve. Was I the only one who trawled through words with PUP in them until I hit the right one?
This is in support of cruciverbophile above. Not that I have anything urgent to say about any detail or aspect of this typically solid and enjoyable plain Azed, but the dearth (as often) of comments on puzzle and careful blog is indeed a bit sad – in contrast to the flood of comments on every weekday Guardian puzzle. But naturally one tends to forget the solving experience one week later; an incentive perhaps to make a note on the day and then be ready to ome back to it. Who was the blogger who wrote recently that the best way to attract comments was to make a mistake? (deliberate or otherwise). Anyway, thanks to Azed and DS, and to CVP. One week on, I recall finding that the excellent 1 across took longest to work out.
Agreed this was a tough solve- took me till Wednesday to fill in and satisfactorily parse everything (preparations for my wife’s 90th got in the way). Confidence somewhat restored when I completed 2015 in a single sitting. More about that next week.
Thanks as always to Azed and to Duncan for a definitive analysis. My last in was NEBS which I knew must be right but hadn’t looked down a few lines to find neb-neb and “bablah pods”, whatever they are. Sound like a standard staple in the Observer’s “Food Monthly” which could provide a complete Azed vocabulary of weirdo ingredients.
I wonder how many words consist of the same two- or three-letter sequence repeated? Pompom, pawpaw come to mind but I’d guess Azed knows a lot more!
Yes, it is a shame that the chat about Azed marvels is so short. I must remember to jot notes whilst they’re fresh in my mind.