Azed No. 2,511 Plain

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A plain puzzle with what almost amounts to a mini-theme.

Unusually for Azed, not only is there one solution (16 ac) referred to in another clue (34 ac) but also another solution (14 down) which could have been linked to either of the other clues.

It’s disappointing but understandable that the delayed lunch to celebrate Azed No 2,500 will not now be able to take place.

image of grid
ACROSS
1 PLUM-PORRIDGE Rather fat: before adjustment of girdle left out old fruity dish (12)
PLUMP, OR (before) *GIRDLE less L.
10 OOFY Like a fool parting with grand, being loaded (4)
g(OOFY).
11 LIEU Abstain from work, losing parking place (4)
LIE U(p).
12 PIOY Jock’s banger? Shame when that finally goes for nothing (4)
PITY with O for (tha)T. It is indeed a Scottish term for a home-made firework.
13 POGROM Show energy getting back in front? It’s a massacre (6)
GO (rev) inside PROM.  I’m not entirely happy with this, for two reasons.  First, and I’m grateful to Gaufrid for pointing this out, although there is nothing in the Chambers entry for “prom” to justify using “show” as a synonym, the entry for “promenade” (of which “prom” is of course a contraction) does have this as its first definition: “a walk, ride or drive, for pleasure, show or gentle exercise”.  I think it’s a bit of a stretch to say that this means that “show” equates to “prom”.  Secondly, “in front” suggests that the letters OG should come before the letters PROM, not inserted between the first and second of them.  As Dormouse has pointed out, it is in fact “front” that is the synonym for PROM, not “show”.
15 TRISTE Unhappy as once? Psychiatrist easily contains it (6)
Hidden in “psychiatrist easily”.
16 SPOONER One inclined to exchange letters, ready to participate in throbbing prose (7)
ON inside *PROSE. Although this answer is cross-referenced at 34 ac, Azed doesn’t take the opportunity to cross-refer to the definition at 14 down.
19 NAEVI Spots often associated with port wine or sparkling Évian (5)
*EVIAN; a port-wine stain is a kind of birthmark.
21 MORAL AGENT Mother holds test with man – he behaves knowing right from wrong (10, 2 words)
ORAL inside MA, GENT.
22 ILL-TREATED Titled Lear goes mad, being so (10)
*(TITLED LEAR). A self-referential clue, although I can’t find any reference in the play to Lear using this exact term about himself.
23 RESAT Had another go at a pass at a stunner having been rebuffed (5)
TASER (rev).
28 ESLOYNE Exile formerly, old domestic clutching a spade (7)
LOY (a spade) inside ESNE.
29 OLIVES Extra-large round energy-filled drinks- party etceteras (6)
LIVE in OS.
30 SURVEW Poet’s cast an eye over what your waiter is there to do, we hear (6)
Sounds like “serve you”. It’s a Spenserian spelling.
31 PANG Burnsian stuff – it’s emotionally distressing (4)
Double definition.
32 MIRK Leaders of movement instigate random killings, creating gloom (4)
Initial letters of Movement Instigate Random Killings.
33 IN SE Insignificant wretch court ignored intrinsically (4, 2 words)
INSE(ct).
34 SHEEP-STEALER Bushranger, say, a difficult local girl (for 16)? (12)
A Spoonerism of “steep Sheila” – Sheila of course being an Australian term.
DOWN
1 POPSY Peach? There’s a hint of that in bouquet (5)
P(each) in POSY.
2 LOOPHOLE Means of escaping the office post husband’s trapped in (8)
H in LOO (office) POLE (post).
3 MYROBALAN On rambly rambling one’s entranced by cherry plum (9)
A in *(ON RAMBLY).
4 PLONK No vintage, yet offering rare nose and little length within (5)
L in PONK (a rare form of “pong”).
5 RETROGRESS Degenerate soak, right, and monstrous woman (10)
RET R OGRESS. “Degenerate” here is a verb, not an adjective as the surface seems to suggest.
6 RURU Owl producing double turn without wings, soaring (4)
(t)UR(n) (rev and repeated). It’s a New Zealand term for the mopoke.
7 DISKETTE Small floppy kite set flying, attached to end of cord (8)
(cor)D *(KITE SET).
8 GO-TO Learned circle dependable in an emergency (4)
GOT (learned) O.
9 EYELIAD Lamb in grip of rising colour? It’s that wink from Will (7)
ELIA in DYE (all rev). Elia was a pen name of the author Charles Lamb.
14 METATHESIS Transposition requiring extremes of effort in mental discipline (10)
E(ffor)T in MATHESIS. It might be an interesting challenge to devise a clue for this word which incorporated a Spoonerism.
17 SANATORIA Rations AA organized in health farms? (9)
*(RATIONS AA).
18 PRISTINE Unused money seized by force (8)
TIN in PRISE.
20 VIENNESE Seven dances, including one short measure typical of Strauss (8)
1 EN in *SEVEN.
21 MORMOPS Bats, far from attractive? Awkward girl acts as sweeper (7)
MOR (a dialect term for an awkward girl) MOPS. The animal itself is defined in Chambers as “repulsive-looking”.
24 FLUKE Kidney potato? 5 I have briefly left out, not very hot (5)
F(ive) LUKE.
25 HEWER See him and us with different cases run for chopper (5)
HIM and US in what I suppose is the nominative, rather than the accusative, case.
26 BLAH Empty bull, I do protest! (4)
B(ul)L AH. I think that this just about works as an & lit clue, with the whole of the clue serving as a definition of sorts.
27 KEMP Competition for harvesters in piecework employment (4)
Hidden in “piecework employment”.

12 comments on “Azed No. 2,511 Plain”

  1. I took 13ac to be PROM meaning sea front, as in I do like to walk along the prom, prom prom, with GO reversed in it.

  2. Thanks bridgesong, you have left the I out of the parsing of 20 though.
    Re POGROM, I think a prom is a type of show, no problem. Agree about the placing of OG though – ‘show energy getting back in near the front…’?
    Had to use electronic aids for MORMOPS and EYELIAD – ‘Elia’ isn’t in Chambers in its own right of course, judt under ‘Elian’. I have seen it before but it didn’t click.
    Thanks as ever to Azed.

  3. Dormouse @1, that’s what I thought for Prom, although in Chambers it doesn’t explicitly say it’s the (sea)front itself. Bit of a tasteless clue apart from that.

    Bridgesong, where did you hear about the Azed lunch being called off?

  4. Dormouse: I see what you mean and have amended the blog.

    Gonzo: thanks for pointing out the error at 20, now corrected.

    Nila Palin: I had an email from the organiser, Richard Heald, about refunding my payment.  I’m sure that there will be something in today’s Observer, but my newsagent isn’t open yet!

  5. Nila, we found out from Wolfson College last weekend that they wouldn’t be able to host the (delayed) Azed 2,500 lunch next month so I’m afraid the decision has been taken to cancel the event outright. The puzzle in today’s paper *should* carry details of how to obtain a refund, but since the online version still has the old announcement saying the event’s going ahead I can’t say that with 100% confidence! Presumably Bridgesong is one of the people I’ve emailed about it in the last week – anyone else who still requires a refund should email/write to me with their bank details at the address given in the paper.

  8. Ref. 20dn. The parsing is slightly incorrect. ‘one’ here is I, not 1, as in (the Queen might say) “One must take the corgi for a walk”.

  10. Yes, but look in Chambers under ‘one’. I, me (formal). I have always taken ‘one’ as I in this/these context(s) – the Roman numeral version is viable, but only the setter will know what he meant.

  11. Thanks for the information, Bridgesong @4 and Richard @5. As you probably know by now, the cancellation news and refund details do appear in today’s paper. The online version still hasn’t been updated.

    No doubt the celebration will be all the more joyful when it does happen.

  12. Sad, though not surprised, to learn of the cancellation. I had been trying to work out if I could get there as Sybil needs my regular assistance. Perhaps by next year I shall have a reliable companion without today’s masks and other paraphernaiia.

    Am delighted to have completed 2512 on the day- not common recently. Now for the hard bit constructing a clue.

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