This is my 600th post for fifteensquared and it is a pleasure that I get an AZED puzzle to annotate. Thank you AZED.
| Across | ||
| 3 | BABY-JUMPER | Girl with pullover should keep mom’s toddler happy (10) |
| BABY (girl) with JUMPER (pullover) – mom’s toddler indicates this is the US version of the device, a UK mum would use a baby-bouncer | ||
| 11 | FACTICE | Rubber substitute causing uncontrollable movement in bearing (7) |
| TIC (uncontrollable movement) in FACE (bearing) | ||
| 12 | NORTH | Bridge player having void in hearts, capturing a third of tricks in turn (5) |
| NO H (void in hearts, no hearts) contains (capturing) TRicks (one thid of) reversed (in turn) | ||
| 13 | FLITTER | Fragments machine repairer has left inside (7) |
| FITTER (machine repairer) contains L (left) | ||
| 15 | SAGA | Native American chief, no more? It’s a long story (4) |
| SAGAmore (Native American chief) missing MORE | ||
| 16 | DETENUE | Female prisoner, unruly teen put inside directly (7) |
| anagram (unruly) of TEEN inside DUE (directly) | ||
| 17 | EXTIRP | Dig up old – front of wording missing – battered ‘RIP’ follows (6) |
| tEXT (wording, front letter missing) then anagram (battered) of RIP – Chambers gives extirp as Shakespearan or Spenserian extirpate but only in the sense of exterminate, not in the sense of dig up | ||
| 19 | OPERA | Timeless carouser, one Falstaff, say? (5) |
| tOPER (carouser) missing T (time) then A (one) | ||
| 20 | TOWNSHIP | Who isn’t irritated by parking in conurbation? (8) |
| anagram (irritated) of WHO ISN’T then P (parking) – my favoruite of the clues today | ||
| 24 | BOG-LATIN | Form of argot a semi-polyglot rubbished and binned? (8) |
| anagram (rubbished) of A polyGLOT (semi, half of) in the BIN (binned) | ||
| 25 | BLIVE | Old poet’s immediately energized after book (5) |
| LIVE (energized) follows B (book) the old poet is Spenser | ||
| 26 | O GRADE | Sweet Rosie’s cut short English in old Scottish exam (6, 2 words) |
| O’GRADy (Sweet Rosie O’Grady, film) ci=ut short then E (English) | ||
| 28 | LIP READ | Grasp without hearing lecturer repaid toiling(7) |
| L (lecturer) then anagram (toiling) of REPAID | ||
| 31 | LEAT | It keeps mill-wheel turning – hindrance restricts one (4) |
| LET (hinderance) contains (restricts) A (one) | ||
| 32 | TRIDENT | Free camping? Sort of fork provided (7) |
| RID (free) in TENT (camping) | ||
| 33 | QUALE | Property of the same value, first to last (5) |
| EQUAL (of the same value) first letter to the end | ||
| 34 | ESTORIL | Upmarket resort, rooms in ——? Torremolinos is wrong (7) |
| ROOMS IN ESTORIL (_____, the solution) is an anagram (wrong) of TORREMOLINOS IS | ||
| 35 | PETER-SEE-ME | After workout, short, old uncle goes for a wine (10) |
| PE (physical exercise, workout) then TERSE (short) EME (uncle, old=obsolete) | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | OFFSETABLE | Love story involving fine group as a possible compensation (10) |
| O (love) FABLE (story) contains (involving) F (fine) SET (group) | ||
| 2 | MALAX | Soften by kneading, careless when following mum (5) |
| LAX (careless) following) MA (mum) | ||
| 4 | ATTAINT | Old convict: one with time doubled isn’t common (7) |
| A (one) with T T (time, doubled) than AIN’T (isn’t, common) | ||
| 5 | BITE | Snack bar’s opening: cut piece from the press? (4) |
| Bar (opening letter of) then ITEm (piece from the press, cut short) | ||
| 6 | JEREPIGO | Sweet wine Jock’s beloved imbibes before pork (8) |
| JO (beloved, Jock’s=Scots) contains (imbibes) ERE (before) PIG (pork) | ||
| 7 | UNSTOP | Clear passage through part of runs to pasture (6) |
| found inside rUNS TO Pasture | ||
| 8 | MOKE | Versatile jazzman? He makes money, certainly (4) |
| M (money) OKE (OK, certainly) | ||
| 9 | PRONEST | Ancient homily on saint, most apt (7) |
| PRONE (homily, obsolete) on ST (saint) | ||
| 10 | ETOURDI | Our diet needs adapting to become frivolous, à la française (7) |
| anagram (needs adapting) of OUR DIET | ||
| 14 | DEAD-NETTLE | The misguided need Dettol (nothing less), grasping one? (10) |
| anagram (misguided) of NEED DEToL missing O (nothing) containing A (one) – definition is &lit implying that only a misguided person would apply Dettol after grasping a non-stinging nettle | ||
| 18 | PHONATES | Pronounces oriental soup ‘bum’ (8) |
| PHON (an oriental soup) then NATES (the bum) | ||
| 21 | OBLIQUE | By the way, more than half of strong drinks make you slash (7) |
| OB (by the way?) LIQUEurs (strong drinks, more than half the letters) – I don’t really understand OB. OB is obiter dicta – something said by the way. | ||
| 22 | WHIPCAT | He stitched cap with frills (7) |
| anagram (frills) of CAP WITH | ||
| 23 | EARLDOM | What could make me a lord? (7) |
| anagram (what could make) of ME A LORD – definiton is &lit | ||
| 24 | BEEPER | You require a horn or buzzer for each (6) |
| BEE (something that buzzes) then PER (for each) | ||
| 27 | DANIO | Cook making case for exotic bird or tropical fish (5) |
| DO (cook, defaud as in cook the books) contains (making case ofr) ANI (exotic bird) | ||
| 29 | RALE | Indication of lung disease? MO lost confidence (4) |
| moRALE (confidence) missing MO | ||
| 30 | TITE | Formerly straight, slewed by the sound of it (4) |
| sounds like (by the sound of it) “tight” (slewed, drunk) | ||
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.
The top right corner gave me trouble. Took me a long while to work out what 9dn was. I guessed 2ac, but I couldn’t parse it, and 8dn defeated me entirely.
Thanks and congratulations to Pee Dee – 600 up – perhaps number 1000 can be the cue for an Azed-style celebratory lunch. The next one of those should be 77 weeks from now i.e. May 2020.
OB in 21d must surely refer to obiter dicta. Like Dormouse I was defeated by 8d (third letter) and still don’t much like it. OED has this at the end of a longish entry: “Theatre slang. A performer who plays several different instruments. Obsolete. rare”, and one 19th-century quote. I suppose that the ? in the clue allows for the option of applying the term to a (20th century) jazzman, but it’s a bit of a stretch, or am I missing something? (Admittedly Chambers does not indicate ‘obsolete’ or ‘rare’.) My other, temporary, problem was reading bum in 18d as burn… the words look even more similar on the page in the Azed-clue lettering, usually not a problem, e.g. it was obviously horn nor hom n 24d. (And I do have an efficient pair of specs),
Thanks quernbarrow. I had never heard of obiter dicta, Chambers doesn’t show OB as an abbreviation so I was stuck.
ob. as ORBITER, by the way, is in my electronic Chambers on my tablet.
Thanks PeeDee and congratulations! My old Chambers (it’s so old and tattered it’s lacking the copyright page so I can’t even say what edition it is) says MOKE (8d) is “a variety performer on several instruments” but doesn’t mention jazz, so I agree with quenbarrow that it’s a bit of a stretch.
PeeDee @3 [now correctly without the spacing]: my Chambers (2014) does give ob. as abbreviation for obiter (L) ‘by the way’, alongside obiit/died.
I couldn’t see too much wrong with MOKE, although I was puzzled by Azed’s choice of the word ‘jazzman’ instead of a more generic term such as ‘musician’.
Although ‘rubbished’ in 24ac feels like a sound anagram indicator, I don’t think that the meaning ascribed by Chambers to the verb ‘rubbish’ (“to criticize, think of or talk about as rubbish”) justify its use in such a role. I would have preferred ‘trashed’.
quenbarrow – my mistake, I only looked at the entry for ob – I didn’t spot the separate entry for ob. with a full-stop.
Congrats on your 600th blog, PeeDee! May there be many more.
I also thought that the definition of 8 down was a stretch, but think it can be justified(ish): a jazzman is an example of a musician, and the ? clearly indicates that this is a definition by example.
Interesting point DRC, and I agree with you. What about “rubbish”in its colloquial sense as an adjective meaning “bad”? That one seems fair enough but I don’t recall ever seeing it used.
I’m firmly with DRC in liking anagram indicators to have some direct, even if tenuous, indication of rearrangement. I understand the “rubbish means bad and bad means rearranged” argument, but using this principle one can find a line of reasoning from and to almost anything. Angle means fish, and fish means salmon: does this imply that angle indicates salmon?
I’d agree with PeeDee that in its attributive form ‘rubbish’ means ‘no good’ rather than ‘making no sense’, so I wouldn’t be too keen on it…I think very similar considerations apply to ‘pants’, which I have been unable to resist using once or twice in clues for blocked puzzles but would definitely avoid in barred crosswords.
Yes, but doesn’t the modern sense of rubbish as adjective mean sloppy, defective, poor, awful, dreadful – all of which are accepted as anagram indicators because they mean “badly put together”? My cooking is usually rubbish because it usually doesn’t turn out in the way it’s supposed to. My piano playing is rubbish because I usually play the notes in the wrong order (like Eric Morecambe, but not as amusingly). That suggests to me that it’s every bit as valid as many of the anagram indicators we see in puzzles at all levels – but I agree the verb doesn’t work.
Re my comment @10 – I should really have written “rubbished means made to look bad and bad means rearranged” so that it relates to the clue in question.
Fair enough, Peedee!
15 ac – Indian chief is a sagamore, so it’s not a double def.
Thanks Max, fixed now.