AZED 2,493

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A plain puzzle with a slight Australian flavour this week.

As the result of a (pardonable) error on my part at 11 across, I thought for some time that this was a rare, if not unique, example of an Azed puzzle with the same word included twice with completely different clues.  But it was not to be.  The Australian references are to be found at 11 across and 5 and 23 down.

completed grid
Across
4 ICTERIDAE  Passerines: I caught eastern one in course of journey (9)
I CT E, A in RIDE.
11  BOAB Tree, Australian, planted in dip (4)
A in BOB.  I originally entered SOAP (A in SOP), which seemed to fit the wordplay and there is a SOAP TREE in Chambers.  In this clue, “Australian” is arguably doing double duty as BOAB is an Australian term for the baobab tree.
13  ONELY Without others, as of old, where Hereward took refuge? (5)
ON (the Isle of) ELY.
14  SCRAWM Singular crop – millions graze locally (6)
S CRAW M.  It’s a dialect term meaning to scratch.
15  RAGTAG Newspaper’s label for the common herd (6)
RAG TAG.
16  THALAMI In the morning loads Indian set meal receptacles (7)
AM in THALI (an Indian set meal).  Thalami is a botanical term.
18  RAGULY With stubby projections on shield, silver, held by orderly (6)
AG in RULY.
19  INION Lump on the head, or wing? Not positive at first (5)
(P)INION.
20  MESSAGE UNIT Part of US trunk-call charge, minutes and ages being treated differently (11, 2 words)
*(MINUTES AGES).
22  CURETTEMENT ENT meet for treatment, in short – it involves internal scouring (11)
*(ENT MEET) in CURT.
26  TROTH Faith displayed by husband? Wrong, in hindsight (5)
H TORT (all rev).
27  RESIST Buck spends life in lodge (6)
IS in REST.
31  IONOMER In Romeo you’ll see misguided result of long-term bonding (7)
*(IN ROMEO).
32  SOLION Unaccompanied performances close to amplifier (6)
SOLI (a plural of solo), ON.
33  LAKOTA Native American language without issue? Reverse of that (6)
ATOKAL (rev).  Atokal means without offspring.
34  SAUNA Bum holding one back? One gets all steamed up (5)
A in ANUS (rev).
35  BIOG I tucked into traditional stodge – it’s often potted (4)
I in BOG.
36  APPETISER Antipasto? Favourite is wrapped in e.g. onion-skin (no starter) (9)
PET IS inside (p)APER.  A definition by example, hence the question mark.
Down
1  ABSTRACTS Some modern art is appealing, with time yielding to nonsense, crudely (9)
ATTRACTS with BS for T.
2  MOCHA Soft leather is taken from chamois, tanned (5)
*CHAMO(is).
3  PARAGE Youthful courtier robing king, one showing high birth (6)
K A in PAGE.
5  COWAL Australian fills tub in shallow lake locally? (5)
A in COWL.  I’m not sure why there is a question mark in this clue: a cowal is an Australian term for a shallow lake, so the definition is exact.
6  TOMMY ATKINS Food prepared in task, private (11, 2 words)
TOMMY (food) *(IN TASK).  It’s a (now somewhat dated) term for a private in the British Army.
7  ROADIE One supporting band on tour in Spain after radio broadcast (6)
*RADIO, E.
8  INGENUE Inexperienced female, natural, in being moved to take the lead (7)
GENUINE with the IN being moved to the front.
9  DETAIN Keep exotic fish in private room (6)
TAI in DEN.
10  ALAY Once calm, listener may have heard this from a troubadour (4)
A LAY.
12  BRIDGE ROLLS Features of club tea? There’s a bit of a fiddle with name lists (11, 2 words)
BRIDGE (part of a fiddle) ROLLS (name lists).  The question mark here may allude to the fact that it is not certain that this term has any connection in fact with the game of bridge.
17  ANTITRAGI Bit of cloth held by Titian shaping ear parts (9)
RAG in *TITIAN.
21  SETLINE Tons left in net, what fishermen suspend from buoys (7)
T L in SEINE.
23  ROLL-UP After run out, shot to leg lifted MCG attendance? (6)
RO, PULL (rev).  One definition of “pull” in Chambers is: “an attacking stroke played with a horizontal bat where the batsman hits the ball from waist height round onto the legside”.
24  THROAT A spot of laryngitis which holds tenor up, number abandoned (6)
(TEN)OR (rev) in THAT.
25  NIM-OIL Medicinal application I smear after start of nettle-rash (6)
N I MOIL.
28  ENATE Leader of upper house has left, developing external constituents? (5)
(S)ENATE.
29  SETON Money maybe raised to instigate drainage flow (5)
NOTES (rev).
30  SOAP Get soused around afternoon in bar, often (4)
A in SOP.  It took me a long time to realise that “bar” referred to a bar of soap.  See also 11 across.

*anagram

10 comments on “AZED 2,493”

  1. Thanks bridgesong and Azed.
    I had to go through a glossary of heraldry to crack RAGULY and the NW corner.
    Loved the LATOKA/ATOKAL reversal.

  3. Quite a few I couldn’t parse this week, but looking at the blog I can’t see why.  How could I miss such an obvious parsing as 28dn?  Thanks for those.

    I’d recently been watching an old TV documentary series about the American West and LAKOTA was obviously the answer for 33ac, but I couldn’t see why.  Never even occurred to me to look up the reverse spelling.

  4. Thanks for clearing up a few parsing queries. I thought ROLLUP must be Australian for “crowd” but it was not in my electronic version of Chambers and I had to fall back on the print version.

  5. Apologies, I see Chambers disagrees with me. My excuse is I have recently returned from Norway where they are sure that Scandinavia is Norway, Sweden and Denmark!

  6. I was apologising for a comment which seems to have vanished – “14a : Finland is not part of Scandinavia”

  7. I am having a bad day, I must be going down with something. My last two comments were intended for Everyman!

  10. Thanks to bridgesong and Azed

    In 29d both “money maybe raised”, and “instigate” give “seton”

    I can’t see 12d at all. Are we simply to see “club” as “bridge club”?

    That seems so weak that I wondered if Azed might support Chelsea.

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