Azed has me “stumped”
For the most part, this is a fairly straightforward Azed puzzle, if you accept that you will need to use the BRB a few times to solve any Azed.
However, two clues involving timber have me beat,
I can’t parse 13 across as I think the setter wants me to find a tree whose name fits ?PE but I may be “barking up the wrong tree(s)”.
In 9d, the answer is definitely TIMBERTOES, and assuming the paper referred to is the TIMES, then that leaves BERTO to be clued. I have done the best I can online to find an upmarket restaurant, but again I could be wrong.
Thanks Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BRITISH PLATE |
‘King Emperor’ engraved in battleship at sea in German silver (12, 2 words)
|
| RI (Rex et Imperator, so “King Emperor”) engraved in *(battleship) [anag:at sea] | ||
| 10 | DIALUP |
Face to windward, being connected via modem (6)
|
| DIAL (“face”) + UP (“to windward”) | ||
| 12 | GUIMP |
Coarse thread: there’s adhesive holding one on page (5)
|
| GUM (“adhesive”) holding I (one) on P (page) | ||
| 13 | OPEPE |
Source of hardwood? There’s none on timber tree in being cut twice (5)
|
| O (zero, so “none”) on ?? PE + PE (“timber tree”, cut twice) ??
Can’t see what the timber tree is? |
||
| 14 | LAMPUKI |
Edible fish coated in batter I almost vomit (7)
|
| [almost] PUK(e) (“vomit”) coated in LAM (“batter”) + I
Lampuki is an edible Mediterranean fish |
||
| 15 | DENIM |
Material for overalls? Search among garden implements (5)
|
| Hidden in [search among] “garDEN IMplements” | ||
| 17 | MISERERE |
Choir feature in tribute to prince HM backed repeatedly (8)
|
| MISE (“tribute to prince”) + <=(E.R. E.R) (Her Majesty, backed repeatedly) | ||
| 18 | SLEAZE |
Sordid stuff left inside old collar (6)
|
| L (left) inside SEAZE (old word for “seize”, thus “old collar”) | ||
| 19 | HECTOR |
Homeric star? I, ——, battling with arms maybe (6)
|
| *(homeric star) [anag:battling] may give “I,Hector, arms” | ||
| 22 | STRUNT |
Jock’s tipple supplying support around noon (6)
|
| STRUT (“support”) around N (noon)
Strunt is a Scots word for an alcoholic drink, although I have never come across it. |
||
| 24 | SCARCE |
Short extract from Oscar ceremony (6)
|
| Hidden in [extract from] “oSCAR CEremony” | ||
| 25 | BOTTLE IT |
Fail through nerves, changing title in computer program (8, 2 words)
|
| *(title) [anag:changing] in BOT (“computer program”) | ||
| 27 | AROID |
It’s dry round core of pot for perennial (5)
|
| ARID (“dry”) round [core of] (p)O(t)
An aroid is a type of perennial plant. |
||
| 28 | RELATOR |
Attorney General’s aide corrected most of error involving Latin (7)
|
| *(erro) [anag:corrected] where ERRO is [most of] ERRO(r), involving Lat. (Latin) | ||
| 30 | NIECE |
Priest’s daughter, extremely fussy about eulogy’s opening (5)
|
| NICE (“extremely fussy”) about E(ulogy’s) [opening] | ||
| 31 | GLEBE |
Old clod confined to single bed (5)
|
| Hidden in [confined to] “sinGLE BEd”
Glebe is an old word for a piece of land. |
||
| 32 | SAGENE |
Rarely used net from class abandoned us in rough sea (6)
|
| GEN(us) (“class” abandoning “us”) in *(sea) [anag:rough] | ||
| 33 | TABLE-DANCERS |
Strippers jiggling breast with candle (12)
|
| *(breast candle) [anag:jiggling] | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BUGLOSS |
Wild flower causing reduction in insect numbers? (7)
|
| BUG LOSS = “reduction in insect numbers” | ||
| 2 | ROUAULT |
Fauvist rubbish, including exotic feast seen from below (7)
|
| ROT (“rubbish”) including <=LUAU (“exotic feast”, seen from below)
Georges Rouault (1871-1958) was a French Fauvist painter. |
||
| 3 | TUMP |
What rises somewhat, clipping top of wicket? (4)
|
| [clipping top of] (s)TUMP (“wicket”)
A tump is a hillock, so could be described as “rising somewhat” |
||
| 4 | SICKIE |
Throws up endlessly, nursing itch alternately? It could mean day off work (6)
|
| SKIE(s) (“throws up”, endlessly) nursing I(t)C(h) [alternately] | ||
| 5 | HARISH |
Leporine, raw, I jugged? (6)
|
| HARSH (“raw”) with I jugged | ||
| 6 | LUPERCAL |
Purcell’s composition about a Roman festival (8)
|
| *(purcell) [anag:composition] about A
Lupercal was a festival dedicated to Lupercus, the Roman god of fertility and flocks |
||
| 7 | TAPIR |
Hoofed animal from Italy, caught in trap, struggling (5)
|
| I (Italy) caught in *(trap) [anag:struggling] | ||
| 8 | EXEME |
Scots release, as of old, former member of the family? (5)
|
| EX (“former”) + EME (old word for an uncle, so “member of the family”) | ||
| 9 | TIMBERTOES |
Upmarket restaurateur, half cut, appearing in paper as ‘Peg leg’ (10)
|
| BERTO ? appearing in TIMES (“paper”)
The clue seems to indicate that we need to cut the name of a restaurateur in half to get BERTO. My research online throws up one remote possibility – Tonino BERTOLEONI who is a member of a family who claim to be the royal family of an island off the coast of Sardinia. Tonino runs a restaurant on the island and if he is indeed the king of the island, I can’t imagine a more upmarket restaurant owner. |
||
| 11 | PENETRATES |
Probes former injury brought up in boasts (10)
|
| <=TENE (old word for “injury”, brought up) in PRATES (“boasts”) | ||
| 16 | NAUTICAL |
A unit at sea with mostly flat seas describing voyage? (8)
|
| *(a unit) [anag:at sea] with [mostly] CAL(m) (“flat seas”) | ||
| 20 | OCTOBER |
Officer in charge with future king in time of revolution? (7)
|
| OC (officer in charge) + TO BE (“future”) + R (Rex, so “king”) | ||
| 21 | REARERS |
As regards character leading regiment in War, we’re concerned with breeding (7)
|
| RE (“as regards”) + [character leading] R(egiment) in ARES (god of “War”) | ||
| 23 | TERMED |
Called in intermediaries (6)
|
| Hidden [in] “inTERMEDiaries” | ||
| 24 | SIENNA |
Pigment is seen when climbing over Sicilian location (6)
|
| <=IS [seen when climbing] over ENNA (a town in Sicily, so “Sicilian location”) | ||
| 25 | BANAT |
Prohibition disheartened aestheticist in military district (5)
|
| BAN (“prohibition”) + [disheartened] A(estheticis)T
Ban’at was a military district on the outskirts of the Hungarian kingdom. |
||
| 26 | ORIYA |
Foreign lingo for rainy day, yielding odd characters (5)
|
| (f)O(r) R(a)I(n)Y (d)A(y) [yielding odd characters]
Oriya is the official language of the Indian state of Orissa |
||
| 29 | ALEC |
Guinness, say, something served in pubs cold (4)
|
| ALE (“something served in pubs”) + C (cold) |
Thank loonapick.
In 13 the ‘in’ has to be taken out of ‘pine’ twice.
I think the restaurant may be Bertorelli in Covent Garden?
Thanks to Azed as ever.
…though I see mine is a brand, so maybe yours is better.
I also assumed that the restaurateur was Bertorelli, perhaps Renato Bertorelli, who seems to have been sufficiently famous to warrant an obituary in The Times.
Thanks to Azed and loonapick
I too thought that the 13ac was p(in)e p(in)e.
Once again Azed leads us into the charge kindly with some clear hidden answers – and then the tussle begins.
Thanks as always Azed. I am another in the pine camp for 13a. But the restaurant was beyond an old boy in the Antipodes. Got the answer but no idea where it came from, so thanks for the information. Thank you for the unpacking Loonapick.
Gonzo@1 and Marienkafer@4 – Well done re OPEPE. Like others, I parsed TIMBERTOES as including half of Bertorelli. Many thanks to Azed and loonapick. A relative doddle compared to the Printer’s Devilry today! I look forward to the comments on that.
Yes, I’d assumed the restaurateur was Bertorelli; blow obituaries in the Daily Murdoch, he was famous enough to appear in Private Eye (as the temperamental star Bert O’Relli who was the despair of tight-lipped, ashen faced Ron Knee, the 59-year-old manager of Neasden United).
In the 1950’s we used to got to Bertorelli’s for the lovely Ice Cream- I seem to remember one that looked like a chocolate coated apple. It seems that the “goodwill” passed to j. Lyons who list some pretty fancy specials. Did Azed frequent their establishment in his youth? Hope everyone is enjoying the P.D. especially Mr Lance.
Not sure if I will get a reply after this time-lag, but I am going to ask anyway. As a newcomer to Azed, and feeling chuffed to have completed this one, there always seem to be clues which I can solve by no means other than narrowing down the possibilities and then hammering Chambers to determine which ones are actual words. For example, 8dn, never heard of EME, never heard of EXEME, so it was a case of trying every possible letter which might fit between the crossers. All quite enjoyable and expanding of the vocabulary, but is this normal? Or are there really solvers out there who are aware of these obscurities?
PS, not sure why 15^2 have stuck a + in my username!
Welcome Fiery Jack. I certainly don’t have Azed’s vocabulary, but then I didn’t work on dictionaries as he did! Every puzzle still has something new to me, but I do find that some from previous puzzles recur, and have to some extent stuck in my head, so if you persist it may well get easier 🙂
I see Bertorelli is confirmed in today’s printed solution.