Azed No 2,427

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The usual mixture of obscure and more common words, and the usual combination of relatively easy and more subtle clues.

There were two things of note in this plain puzzle from Azed; first, there were no Scottish words, which has happened before, but is relatively unusual.  Secondly, there was an indirect use of a trade name (at 13 across) without any indication; strangely, the word itself does appear in Chambers, but with a completely different meaning.

I have a couple of queries which I was unable to resolve when solving the puzzle or writing this blog; no doubt others will be able to point out what I have missed.  My favourite clue was 7 down, which exploits a device that I have seen Azed use before.

Across
1  AITCH Before getting hitched to flighty chit, one’s warned about dropping one (5)
A (one of the more obscure meanings is “before”) *CHIT.  A slightly allusive definition.
5  OPUS DEI Pious heads of each diocese involved in liturgical worship? (7, 2 words)
*(PIOUS E D).  I was familiar with the Roman Catholic organisation, but not this particular meaning of the phrase.
10  SNEAP Check limit of exposure in photo (5)
E in SNAP.
11  RESTOCK Top up rank disheartened about ‘shorty’ sword (7)
ESTOC (a short sword) in R(an)K.
12  HARRY Sack for prince (5)
Double definition.
13  TACOS Coffee place switching ingredients for pancakes (5)
COSTA (as in Costa Coffee) with the last two letters brought to the front.
15  KUROSHIO Warm current that’s battered UK shore endlessly I love (8)
*(UK SHOR(e)) I O.
16  RETICULE Renegade concealing high explosive with rubber bag (8)
(HE)RETIC ULE(rubber).  Took me a while to work out where the high explosive was being subtracted from.
18  NASTALIK Cursive script from Norway with a stem circling upright letter (8)
N, I in A STALK.
21  APPESTAT Neural centre in the brain, a soft mass restricting plague (8)
PEST in A PAT (e.g. of butter).
24  ZELATRIX Overseer of religiously strict conduct: zenith (lax rite) punished (8)
*(Z LAX RITE).
28  COROCORE East Asian boat the people’s seen off crowning crew? (8)
CORO(NATION) CORE.  Another clue where I didn’t initially work out the subtraction.
29  MACON Mum’s anti meat that’s smoked and salted (5)
MA CON.  Apparently it’s the mutton version of bacon, hence the name.
30  GALOP Lively dance making country lass work (5)
GAL OP.
31  BRASSET Armband, hunter’s last seized by hound (7)
(hunte)R in BASSET (hound).
32  URALI Source of venom you may find heads of unfriendly rival’s arrow laced in (5)
Initial letters of “Unfriendly Rival’s Arrow Laced In”.
33  ALTERNE Bird in lea shredded plant group different from its neighbours (7)
TERN in *LEA.
34  NEELE What seamstresses wielded, contributing to feminine elegance (5)
Hidden in “feminine elegance”.  The past tense of “wielded” indicates that this is an obsolete usage.
Down
1  ASHKENAZIM Large religious group makes hay initially, excited when their persecutor’s imprisoned? (10)
NAZI in *(H MAKES).  I think it’s almost certain that many more Ashkenazim, both absolutely and relatively, were slaughtered by the Nazis; there were fewer Sephardic Jews in the countries occupied by Germany.
2  INAURATE Wearing halo, note, gilded (8)
IN AURA TE.
3  TERRY Travelling diaper for theatrical family (5)
I don’t understand what “travelling” is doing; perhaps Azed was thinking of “towelling”? John Gielgud is one of the more recent members of the Terry family
4  CAROM Cannon carriage on order (5)
CAR OM.
5  ORCHEL Dyestuff that’s changed her (not our) colour (6)
*(HER COL(our)).
6  PERITI Church consultants, sanctimonious about modified rite (6)
*RITE in PI.
7  STANCES Points of view? Majority of forbears will have them with motors around (7)
(MO)ST ANCES(TORS).  Another one that took me a while to spot.
8  DOCQUET Medic silent when one’s extracted case list (7)
DOC QU(I)ET.  An alternative spelling of “docket”.
9  ECOD Slid a label for art top to bottom? (4)
(ART) DECO with the first or top letter going to the end or bottom (it’s a down clue).  ‘Slid (presumably short for “God’s eyelid”) is a common 17th century oath; ecod is another form of the more familiar egad.
14  SWEETIEPIE Honey we found in plant that is added to pastry dish (10)
WE in SET, IE PIE.
17  LEAF ROLL Potato blight, droop that’s damaged fare within (8, 2 words)
*FARE in LOLL.
19  SALTCAT Food for pigeon, sailor’s pet on board often (7)
A charade of SALT (sailor) and CAT (pet).  I don’t understand “on board often”.
20  TEA ROSE Hybrid bloom, eastern, among aroids (English) (7, 2 words)
E in TAROS E.  Taro is a plant of the arum or aroid family.
22  PROVEN Pair given e.g. Microwave tested in US (6)
PR OVEN.  I don’t understand why Microwave is capitalised.
23  PIRATE Rover? Parking charge involving it reduced by 50% (6)
P RATE I(t).  I’m not entirely sure that the clue adequately indicates that the I precedes RATE.  Or is there another parsing?
25  SCARE Achievement of horror film recognised in Oscar eventually (5)
Hidden in “Oscar eventually”.
26  VOLAE Result of holding all the best cards (ace included)? They’re of interest to palmist (5)
A in VOLE.  The vola is the hollow of the palm; vole is a term in some card games for winning all the tricks in one deal.
27  MARL School surrendering borough ground for poet (4)
MARL(BOROUGH).  Not the oldest, but one of the most expensive independent schools.

*anagram

8 comments on “Azed No 2,427”

  2. Thank you to Azed and bridgesong. I found this (relatively) straightforward for Azed, but held myself up at the end by putting in Ashkenazis rather than Ashkenazim.

  4. I think the ‘on board often’ in 19dn is a reference to the long-established practice of keeping a cat on board ship to control vermin (although they were banned by the Royal Navy in 1975 for ‘health and safety reasons’). ‘Pet’ alone is a pretty loose indication of ‘cat’ (the ‘Sailor’ is there to provide ‘salt’, so doesn’t narrow down the type of pet).

    I have no explanation for ‘Travelling’ in 3dn beyond bridgesong’s suggestion, nor for the capital M in Microwave (22dn).

    “Slid” in 9dn seems a bit of a stretch given that Chambers only lists it with an initial apostrophe; of the four examples in OED, two have the apostrophe and two don’t, but it is Chambers which is the primary reference for Azed puzzles.

  5. Andrew @4; thank you, that makes sense.

    DRC @ 4: that also makes sense, although I was unaware of the practice. Are there any references to ships’ cats (other than the nine-tailed kind) in the Hornblower or Jack Aubrey novels? I nearly missed ‘slid altogether, as my electronic Chambers does not give it when you search for “slid”. I suppose the question mark and the easy wordplay just about rescue the clue.

  6. Interestingly, it seems that ship’s cats of the single-tailed variety do not abound in fiction (where they seem to be more common on spaceships than on sea-going vessels). Information about a few of the more famous real-life ship’s cats can be found here, with more ship’s cats than you could shake a sextant at here.

  7. The only fictional ship’s cat I can think of is the one in Edward Ardizzone‘s Tim All Alone, in which the boy hero misses getting on the lifeboat when his ship is sinking because he goes back to rescue the cat. (This indirectly leads to him finding his mother, who thought he was dead, in a scene that can still make me well up nearly six decades after I first read it.)

  8. “The Ship’s Cat” is a 1977 narrative poem by Richard Adams (he of rabbit fame), which is also known by the catchy title “The Adventures & Brave Deeds Of The Ship’s Cat On The Spanish Maine: Together With The Most Lamentable Losse Of The Alcestis & Triumphant Firing Of The Port Of Chagres”. But not often.

    bridgesong@5 – yes, I agree about ECOD. And on the plus side, it is an inventive but not over-difficult clue for a word which is very hard to define deceptively.

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