Another fairly straightforward Azed puzzle for my first official blog, with some easy hidden answers and anagrams to get started on. The grid is slightly unusual, with 38 words in it rather than the usual 36.
Key:
dd = double definition
* = anagram
< = reversal
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JIMJAMS | dd | Chambers lists both meanings under the same heading, with “origin unknown”, though it seems obvious that the “pyjamas” meaning is an example of hypocorism. |
| 6 | SCRAP | CRAPS with S moved to the front | |
| 10 | POUPT | UP in POT | I had to look up “cozen” and found that it means to cheat, and possibly comes from the idea of falsely claiming kinship (cf “cousin”). |
| 12 | INEARTH | (THE RAIN)* | |
| 13 | EUSCARA | ca(UCAS*)us in ERA | As the note says, this spelling is only (“perversely”) given in Chambers under BASQUE. The alternative spelling EUSKARA is shown under EUSKARIAN: the fourth letter is unchecked, so either version would fit, but presumably Azed chose the spelling with C for its better clueing potential. I’ve also just noticed that EUSKARA is (presumably) mis-spelled as ESKUARA under the “Basque” heading. The Basque language is notable for being an “isolate”, i.e. not linguistically related to any other known languages, |
| 14 | PLATO | PLATOON less ON (=”about”) | |
| 18 | GALANTAMINE | (MANIA TANGLE)* &lit | Perhaps a slightly tasteless clue for this word – a drug used to treat dementia – but the &lit must have been irresistible. |
| 19 | LORING | RI in LONG | A Spenserian derivation from LORE. |
| 20 | FLASER | L in FEARS* | L is apparently used as a symbol for angular momentum in physics; a new one on me (or possibly long-forgotten). |
| 21 | LAISSE | hidden | |
| 24 | BONSAI | “Bonne sigh” | Nicely misleading use of “stunt”. |
| 27 | SYNTACTICAL | TACT in (SLY I CAN)* | |
| 31 | RAYNE | (A ENRY)* | |
| 32 | BRINIER | IN in BRIER | I had to smile when the penny dropped for this one – I’d been trying to find synonyms of “staler”, but was thinking of the wrong kind of “fresh”. |
| 33 | TROELIE | (TREE OIL)* | Cleverly disguising an implicit “that” between Palm tree |
| 34 | SINAI | Hidden in “asIAN ISland”< | The Sinai peninsula is between the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba. |
| 35 | SANDY | dd | |
| 36 | BETIGHT | BE TIGHT | Spenserian past participle of BETIDE. To “be tight” is a now rather old-fashioned expression for “to have drunk far too much”, though I’m not sure about the “far” – surely “drunk too much” would be enough. Chambers just has “intoxicated”. I think being tight is probably worse than “tiddly” but not as bad as “blotto”. |
| Down | |||
| 1 | J-PEN | JP E N | JP = Justice of the Peace. |
| 2 | MUSCARINE | SCARIN(g) in EMU* | |
| 3 | ATAMAN | A TAM AN | AN is apparently a form of “on”. |
| 4 | MIRIN | Hidden | |
| 5 | SNAB | First letters &lit | A variety of SNOB – I think this could have done with a question mark, as surely not all snobs are characterised by their shoes. |
| 6 | SEPTAL | PLATES* | A “sept” is a clan (cf “sect”) |
| 7 | CALAMANCO | A MAN replaces I in CALICO | |
| 8 | ATTONE | (E TANTO)* | The Italian phrase means something like “[he] is so upset”: turbato is the anagrind. |
| 9 | PHONER-IN | HONER in PIN | Once upon a time, people had to write in with their comments for “Any Answers”. I don’t think the quality of the debate was greatly improved by the change to a phone-in (and more recently the addition of email) |
| 11 | OUTGO | TUG* in OO | In cricket, a batsman gets a “pair” by scoring 0 in both innings. |
| 15 | GLISTENED | LISTEN in GED | Yes, a ged is a pike, though the fact that it’s a dialect word isn’t mentioned in the clue. |
| 16 | MISSAYING | MISS (GAY IN)* | |
| 17 | ALLSORTS | L LSO in ARTS | There are two Ls for London in the answer, though only one is clued directly. Misleading but completely sound, I think. |
| 22 | AYMARA | ARMY* in A A | |
| 23 | SAMELY | MEAL* replaces inside of SeminarY | |
| 25 | OIKIST | OIK IS (birthrigh)T | Can also be spelt “oecist”. From the Greek “oikos” , meaning “house”, which is also the source of “ecology” and “economy”. |
| 26 | ALDEA | D in A LEA | |
| 28 | THREE | HR (abbrev of HOUR) in TEE(vee) | Three is a prime number. |
| 29 | ABIB | A BIB. | Abib is the former name of a month in the Hebrew calendar, called Nisan since the days of the Babylonian captivity. |
| 30 | BRIT | R in BIT | A young herring or sprat; happily no mention of the horrible “brit”=”British person”. |