A straightforward plain Azed
I didn’t have time to have a go at 5dn, so didn’t send the puzzle in, but it was one of Azed’s easier offerings.
I’m writing this intro nearly a week after I solved the puzzle and parsed it, but I don’t remember there being anything too challenging. I hadn’t come across some of the words (POWIN, SCHMUTTER, SKEO and TAIGLE spring to mind), but I was glad to see a reminder of my childhood with DOCKEN.
Thanks, Azed.
| Across | ||
| 1 | SCHMUTTER | Clothing in school leading to grumble (9) |
| SCH (school) leading to MUTTER (“grumble”) | ||
| 11 | MYOID | A trim body, rippling? Could be brat, so muscly (5) |
| *(a trim body) could be MYOID “brat” | ||
| 12 | WANHOPE | The old despair with a phone that’s out of order (7) |
| W (with) + A + *(phone) | ||
| 13 | VERTICES | Green tops? The tops indeed (8) |
| VERT (“green’) + ICES (“tops”) | ||
| 14 | SOLON | Sage unaccompanied by that last bit of onion (5) |
| SOLO (“unaccompanied”) by [that last bit of] (onio)N
Solon was an ancient Greek lawgiver (one of the Seven Sages), whose name now means a “sage” |
||
| 15 | SKEO | A tin shed like this? Ikea’s not involved (4) |
| *(ikeas not) would give “a tin” SKEO
A skeo is a shed in the northern isles of Scotlland. |
||
| 16 | ROSE-TINTED | With resin applied and money invested, offering over-optimistic prospects (10) |
| ROSETED (“with resin applied”) and TIN (“money”) invested | ||
| 17 | AGHAST | Horror-struck commanders facing end of engagement (6) |
| AGHAS (“commanders”) facing [end of] (engagemen)T | ||
| 20 | SNOT | One commands no respect, plenty being withdrawn (4) |
| <=TONS (“plenty” being withdrawn) | ||
| 21 | NUFF | Section in buff uniform wheeling satisfyingly (4) |
| Hidden [section in] in “buFF UNiform” [wheeling, so turning] | ||
| 24 | HECATE | Mysterious goddess, endlessly angry but cold inside (6) |
| [endlessly] HEATE(d) (“angry”) with C (cold) inside | ||
| 27 | PLANETARIA | Design song about extraterrestrial orreries? (10) |
| PLAN (“design”) ARIA (“song”) about ET (extraterrestrial) | ||
| 29 | GLAD | What’s youngster after end of fagging? (4) |
| LAD (“youngster”) after [end of] (faggin)G, and &lit. | ||
| 30 | POWIN | Showy bird making an impact after entering (5) |
| POW (“impact”) + IN (“after entering”)
Powin is a Scots word for a peacock |
||
| 32 | RING ROAD | Heart in theatre grind or suffering bypass? (8, 2 words) |
| *(a grind or) where A is the heart in (the)A(tre) | ||
| 33 | ANGLIAN | Early dialect I don’t understand, including odd elements of Gallic (7) |
| ANAN (“I don’t understand”) including [odd elements of] G(a)L(l)I(c) | ||
| 34 | FELLS | High moorland was ruined by spades (5) |
| FELL (“was ruined”) by S (spades)
|
||
| 35 | PATENTEES | Plate by river showing those that may expect royalties? (9) |
| PATEN (“plate”) by (river) TEES | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SMASH-AND-GRAB | Robbery with violence: do this to find a brigand? Not I (12) |
| If you SMASH the letters in A BR(i)GAND (“not” the “I”) it could become AND GRAB | ||
| 2 | CYBORG | Robot dog I avoided by rearing inside (6) |
| CORG(i) (“dog” with “I” avoided) with <=BY [rearing] inside | ||
| 3 | HOWL | H-hooter making one laugh (4) |
| H + OWL (“hooter”) | ||
| 4 | MIMOSA | Month in Siam wandering round for flowering plant (6) |
| Mo. (month) in *(siam) around | ||
| *5 | TWEET | Chirp (5) |
| Azed wants you to come up with your own clue for “tweet”. | ||
| 6 | TARTISH | It’s associated with trash being flogged, blowzy (7) |
| *(it trash) | ||
| 7 | ENTENTE | Understanding what gets pair of nets entangled with barge’s stern (7) |
| Two *(net)s with (barg)E [‘s stern] | ||
| 8 | DOCKEN | Weed in the Munros maybe, conked out (6) |
| *(conked)
Growing up in Scotland, I soon learned that a docken leaf is a weed used to neutralise the effect of a nettle. |
||
| 9 | SPEEDO | Clock in square went round (6) |
| S (square) + PEED (“went”) + O (“round”) | ||
| 10 | BESOTTEDNESS | What’s sent Ted crazy with love, captivated by Liz? (12) |
| *(sent ted o) where O = “love”, captivated by BESS (“Liz”) | ||
| 18 | SANGRIA | Punch causing blood to spread from below (7) |
| SANG (“blood”) + <=AIR (“to spread”, from below) | ||
| 19 | THE GOAT | Sign which restricts self-confidence (7, 2 words) |
| THAT restricts EGO (“self-confidence”)
The zodiac sign Capricorn is alao known as The Goat |
||
| 22 | UPLINE | Pair wanting company going round in what commuters take? (6) |
| (co)UPLE (“pair” wanting CO(mpany)) going round IN | ||
| 23 | FLANGE | Drudgery alternating with former rail company, widen out (6) |
| F A G (“drudgery”) alternating with L N E (“former rail company”) | ||
| 25 | CRONET | Constant upward drift? It was especially noticeable in shires (6) |
| C (constant) + [upward] <=TENOR (“drift”)
A cronet is a tuft of hair above a horse’s hoof, so a prominent feature of a shire horse. |
||
| 26 | TAIGLE | Tag, last to take the lead in Highland trudge (6) |
| AIGLE(T) with the T going from last to first [to take the lead]
Taigle is a Scottish word for trudge, although I am more familiar with “trachle” |
||
| 28 | THANE | King’s companion in Elizabethan England (5) |
| Hidden in “elizabeTHAN England” | ||
| 31 | WALE | The best of northern England, one of its rivers, if not the first (4) |
| (s)WALE (one of (Northern England’s) rivers , but ith the “first” letter removed)
Wale means “ther pick” or “the best” in Scotland and Northern England. |
||
*anagram
Thanks for the blog, loonapick. I had loads of empty space remaining in the SE corner of this one, so I’m grateful for all those words – taigle, wale, powin – I’d never heard of and will never use again. Your parsing of 16a doesn’t work, though, or there’s a typo – it’s TIN inserted in ROSETED (who knew there were so many words for rosin?)
Tartish (6dn) apparently only means ‘caustic-y’. For the sense that Azed obviously intends the word is ‘tarty’ according to Chambers. Has Homer nodded?
Wil, also how does ‘blowzy’ work too?
Wil @2 OED appears to link tartish to tarty in the above sense, which would make it fine. Nick @3, blowsy/blowzy is “sluttish” in e.g. Collins.
I had ROBIN pencilled in unparsed for a while at 30a, and went through a lot of rivers in the north of England that weren’t the Swale, but on the whole it wasn’t a difficult puzzle. I’m sure I’m not the only one who guessed TWEET straight away. Trump clues ahoy.
Thanks to Azed and loonapick.
Nila, apart from the OED, which many of us haven’t got access so I can’t comment on that, Collins does state ‘sluttish’ under ‘blowzy’ but Collins still doesn’t define ‘tartish’ as that, but ‘tarty’, as Will stated.
Yes, I see what you mean about Chambers. Azed has said on other occasions that a word/def. in the OED not explicitly in Chambers is acceptable for the puzzle. I guess you could question whether there should have been a note under the clues to that effect, but the relevant sense of tart is in Chambers and it’s a straightforward anagram, so I don’t think so.
I didn’t say anything about Chambers…
Collins doesn’t confirm the definition either. I think this clue is just wrong, as Wil stated.
Sorry, it was Wil who mentioned Chambers explicitly. I was assuming you objected for the same reason.
Given the OED entry (if I’m interpreting it correctly), I don’t see how it can be wrong as such. I admit I put TARTISH in without checking Chambers simply because it sounded right.