It’s the Azed Christmas special this week.
There was quite a lengthy preamble explaining what solvers were asked to do and stating that some entries would not be found in Chambers.
Eighteen clues lead to words/phrases from which the letters CARD (in that order but not necessarily consecutively) must be omitted before entry. Each of these clues contains a definition of the full unmutilated answer and a cryptic indication of the entry itself (only coincidentally a real word). Every ‘card’ word/phrase is in
Chambers except two (one of them being of two words), both of which may be verified on the Internet. Two non-thematic entries are not in Chambers, one a common two-word phrase and the other a geographical proper name. Bracketed numbers indicate the length of grid entries throughout.
I got off to a reasonable start with CHATEAUBRIAND as the defined answer to 1 down, and assumed that CARD would be spelled using the first occurrence of letter in sequence. 27 across CUSTARD also fell quite quickly with UST being the entry. I then solved a few normal clues such as VEENA, EAT IN, OREAD and NADA.
I slowed down a bit after that, but the grid filled steadily. About halfway through I realised my initial assumption about the position of the letters in CARD within the defined word was not always the first occurrence. The entries for CAMARADERIE, CANARY SEED and CARDBOARDS were generated by removing the second A [and R and D in one case] to get AMAERIE, ANYSEE and ARDBOS.
I had to rely on a bit of research to track down LAST CARD at 24 across, especially as there were two definitions acting as the wordplay for the actual entry, LAST, within the clue.
Generally the defined words were less obscure than is normally the case with a plain Azed. There were though a few I didn’t know, such as CATERCORNERED, CAT STANDARD and MACARISED.
The eighteen thematic words and their derivatives are shown in the table immediately below with the filled grid following beneath the table.
This puzzle shows Azed’s ability to write wordplay for any apparently random set of letters while still producing clues that have smooth surfaces.
This puzzle was a good entry into the Christmas season of puzzles of varying difficulty.
There is one entry that I can’t parse properly. I haven’t worked out where the first E in RESILE at 35 across comes from. I am sure someone will point out the obvious element that I have missed.
| Clue | Defined Word | Entry |
|
Across |
||
| 1 | CHARADES | HAES |
| 5 | CAMARADERIE | AMAERIE |
| 13 | INCARNATED | INNATE |
| 15 | CANARY SEED | ANYSEE |
| 17 | CUSTARD | UST |
| 20 | BRANCARDS | BRANS |
| 24 | LAST CARD | LAST |
| 39 | CAT STANDARD | TSTANDA |
| 40 | CASTERED | STEE |
| Down | ||
| 1 | CHATEAUBRIAND | HTEAUBIAN |
| 2 | ACARIDANS | AIANS |
| 4 | CAREENED | EENE |
| 6 | MACARISED | MAISE |
| 9 | CEDARED | EDE |
| 16 | CATER CORNERED | TECORNERE |
| 18 | CARDTABLES | TABLES |
| 27 | CARDBOARDS | ARDBOS |
| 32 | CAMISARD | MISA |
| No | Clue / definition / amended entry [if appropriate] / wordplay |
Entry |
| Across | ||
| 1 |
Some Christmas fun is entertaining, capturing guest’s heart (4) CHARADES (game in which one player mimes a word or phrase for others to guess; some Christmas fun) HAES HAS (is entertaining) containing (capturing) E (middle letter of [heart] GUEST HA (E) S |
|
| 5 |
Rapport that is following one, reverse of large quantity (7) CAMARADERIE (good fellowship; the intimacy of comradeship; rapport) AMAERIE A + REAM (informal term for a large quantity) reversed (reverse of) + IE (id est; that is) A MAER< IE |
|
| 10 |
Absorbed by love, enamoured, source of Indian music (5) VEENA (alternative spelling of VINA [an Indian stringed instrument with fretted fingerboard over two gourds]) VEENA (hidden word in [absorbed by] LOVE ENAMOURED) VEENA |
|
| 11 |
Ship’s straight ahead, also circling New England (5) AN-END (nautical [ship’s] term for straight ahead) AND (also) containing (circling) NE (New England) A (N-E) ND |
|
| 12 |
Corrode a metal after start of etching (5, 2 words) EAT IN (of acid, corrode) E (first letter of [start of] ETCHING) + A + TIN (a metal) E A T IN |
|
| 13 |
Showing instinct personified (6) INCARNATED (personified) INNATE INNATE (instinctive) INNATE |
|
| 15 |
What’s fed to cage-birds some observe (6) CANARY SEED (a food given to CANARies [cage-birds]) ANYSEE ANY (some) + SEE (observe) ANY SEE |
|
| 17 |
Pie filling? American’s given time (3) CUSTARD (type of pie filling) UST US (United States; American) + T (time) US T |
|
| 19 |
A neat tie knotted like a ribbon (8) TAENIATE (like a ribbon) Anagram of (knotted) A NEAT TIE TAENIATE* |
|
| 20 |
Taboos including rule for types of litter (5) BRANCARDS (horse litters) BRANS BANS (taboos) containing (including) R (rule) B (R) ANS |
|
| 22 |
Strip giving going-over by Michael Atherton? (4) LATH (thin strip of wood) LATH (hidden word in [giving going-over by] MICHAEL ATHERTON LATH |
|
| 24 |
Survive cargo: it’s popular with NZ players (4) LAST CARD (LAST CARD is a shedding-type card game popular in New Zealand Australia. It is similar in most aspects to Uno, Mau Mau or Crazy Eights, but several rules differentiate it, for instance the function of a particular card) LAST LAST (survive), also LAST (load or cargo) – double definition LAST |
|
| 26 |
Old silver piece: Italian adventurer has one inscribed (5) PAOLO (obsolete papal silver coin) POLO (reference the Italian explorer Marco POLO [1254 – 1324], a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295) containing (has … inscribed) A (one) P (A) OLO |
|
| 28 |
Fable maybe, quite bloody around its denouement (8) ALLEGORY (fable) (ALL [utterly; quite] + GORY [bloody]) containing (around) E (last letter of [it’s denoument] MAYBE) ALL (E) GORY |
|
| 30 |
Horse ran off: cause? (3) GAR (to cause) GARRAN (small type of horse) excluding (off) RAN GAR |
|
| 33 |
They perform at extremes, mark and dash around repeatedly (6, 2 words) END MEN (MEN at the end of a row of performers, etc) (EN [printing industry reference to an EN-dash {a dash that is the width of a letter N}] + EN again) to give dash repeatedly containing (around) DM ([Deutsch]mark) EN (D M) EN |
|
| 35 |
Back away from nettle, receiving first sign of sting? (6) RESILE (draw back from) RILE (annoy; nettle) containing (receiving) (E [?] + S [initial letter of {first sign of} SPRING) I don’t understand how the E before the S is clued. R (E S) ILE |
|
| 36 |
The old behaved, having accepted nuisance (5) ABORE (obsolete [the old] word for behaved) A (accepted) + BORE (a nuisance) A BORE |
|
| 37 |
Appear in embroidered sari, eastern (5) ARISE (appear) Anagram of (embroidered) SARI + E ARIS* E |
|
| 38 |
Love in serious condition – shame (5) AIDOS (shame) O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) contained in (in) AIDS (serious medical condition) AID (O) S |
|
| 39 |
Cheers, about to abide by lawful financial product (7, 2 words) CAT STANDARD (one of a number of government standards setting fair Charges, Access and Terms for financial products; a financial product that complies with these standards) TSTANDA TA (thank you; cheers) containing (about) STAND (tolerate; abide) T (STAND) A |
|
| 40 |
Fitted with wheels exorbitantly, not ply (5) CASTERED (having castors [small swivelling wheels]) STEE STEEPLY (exorbitantly) excluding (not) PLY STEE |
|
| Down | ||
| 1 |
Slice of grilled meat I heat with a bun, minced (9) CHATEAUBRIAND (thick steak cut from grilled fillet of beef) HTEAUBIAN Anagram of (minced) I HEAT and [with] A BUN HTEAUBIAN* |
|
| 2 |
Perfect answer for ticks (5) ACARIDANS (mites and ticks) AIANS AI (A one; perfect) + ANS (answer) AI ANS |
|
| 3 |
Possession in freehold – portion of manse is included (6) SEISIN (feudal possession, now possession in freehold) SEISIN (hidden word in [portion of] MANSE IS INCLUDED) SEISIN |
|
| 4 |
Eyes Scotch with a dash of Evian ready on the side? (4) CAREENED (tilted to one side; on the side) EENE EEN (Scottish term for eyes) + E (first letter of [dash of] EVIAN) EEN E |
|
| 5 |
Toughens English in the records (7) ANNEALS (toughens [glass]) E (English) contained in (in) ANNALS (historical records) ANN (E) ALS |
|
| 6 |
I dropped Margaret shortly, professed happy (5) MACARISED (declared to be happy) MAISE MAISIE (diminutive [shortly] name for Margaret) excluding (dropped) an I MAISE |
|
| 7 |
Sicilian location? Girl’s turned up here (4) ENNA (city in Sicily) ANNE (girl’s name) reversed (turned up; down entry) ENNA< |
|
| 8 |
Anti allergy drug forward injected, taken together (7, 2 words) IN TOTAL (taken together) TO (forward) contained in (injected) INTAL (drug, usually administered by inhaler and used to control certain types of asthma and allergic bronchitis) IN (TO) TAL |
|
| 9 |
Paradise mostly covered with evergreens (3) CEDARED (covered with CEDARs [evergreen trees]) EDE EDEN (paradise) excluding the letter (mostly) N |
|
| 11 |
Navy caught at sea? Against Scots mostly (5) ANENT (a word meaning against, mainly used in Scotland) N (Navy) contained in (caught) A NET (A NET is used to catch items at sea) A NE (N) T |
|
| 14 |
Meat substitute, if once topping a record (6) ANALOG (that which is analogous to something else, eg protein substances prepared to resemble meat) AN (historic [once] word for ‘if’) + A + LOG (record) This being a down entry the letters AN are on top of the letters A LOG AN A LOG |
|
| 16 |
Tree cone scattered round heart of Savernake, diagonally (9) CATERCORNERED (diagonally) TECORNERE Anagram of (scattered) TREE CONE containing (around) R (middle letter of [heart of] SAVERNAKE) TECO (R) NERE* |
|
| 18 |
Whereat partners confront each other, what youngsters can learn? (6) CARDTABLES (partners in CARD games sit opposite each other at CARDTABLES) TABLES TABLES (schoolchildren learn their multiplication TABLES) TABLES |
|
| 21 |
Waves, or what’ll create them? (7) ROLLERS (long heavy sea waves) ROLLERS (devices for creating waves in hair) double definition ROLLERS |
|
| 23 |
Closure of passage in continent limiting endless journey, long (7) ATRESIA (absence of, or closure of, a passage in the body) ASIA (continent) containing (limiting) TREK (journey) excluding the final letter (endless) K A (TRE) SIA |
|
| 25 |
Nimble and delicate, frequently being lost (5) AGILE (nimble) FRAGILE (delicate) excluding (being lost) FR (frequently) AGILE |
|
| 27 |
Materials for boxing, so drab when crumpled? (6) CARDBOARDS (materials for making storage boxes) ARDBOS Anagram of (crumpled) SO DRAB ARDBOS* |
|
| 29 |
Nymph to study, going after love (5) OREAD (a mountain nymph) O (character representing zero, the love score at tennis) + READ (study) O READ |
|
| 31 |
American lake, spiritual for poet (5) AERIE (a term used by poets to mean ‘spiritual’) A (American) + ERIE (one of the Great lakes) A ERIE |
|
| 32 |
Insurgent succeeded in mounting ambition (4) CAMISARD (an insurgent Huguenot of the Cevennes who fought against the French king’s forces from 1685 to 1705) MISA S (succeeded) contained in (in) AIM (ambition) reversed (mounting; down entry) MI (S) A< |
|
| 34 |
Iberian duck in home of goose (not California) (4) NADA (Spanish [Iberian] word for nothing [duck]) CANADA (reference the CANADA goose, native to North America) excluding CA (California) NADA |
|
| 35 |
Wretch? I should think so, having forsaken her (3) RAT (wretch) RATHER (I should say so!) excluding (having forsaken) HER RAT |
Hello:
In 35 Ac, it’s RILE around ES (that is, the first letter of ‘sting’: Chambers has ‘es’ or ‘ess’ for the letter S). It’s like ‘tee’ for T or ‘en’ for N.
Happy New Year to all!
After a couple of days working on this, I’d got about half of it done, but couldn’t get any further.
For RESILE, I think it is the letter “S” spelled out as “ES,” for the first letter of spring. It is in Chambers.
I guess 11D is literally “N” in A NET, thus the question mark. I had the hardest time figuring that out, even though ANENT had to be the answer.
Oops, I mean “sting,” and I see that WardL@1 had the same idea.
Yes, WardL @1 and Cineraria @3, that’s what I concluded. I thought that the extra “sign of” was there to suggest the letter ‘s’ spelled out rather than just having “the first sting”.
As you say duncanshiell, this was generally a bit easier than the usual Azed due to the added difficulty of interweaving CARD.
The answers at 20a BRANS (from Brancards) and 18d TABLES (from Cardtables) could almost have stood as normal clues if we hadn’t been given the total number of ‘card’ clues.
I found out from the Azed slip yesterday that my clue for 2,634 managed an HC. The competition for that was cancelled due to a lower number of entries because of a postal strike. That probably explains how I managed to sneak in. 🙂 At least my excuse that my entries end up in the email junk folder is blown, so I’ll try to sharpen the pencil in future.
Thanks for such a clear blog, a few of the cards were a bit sneaky with different possible positions. When I got to CARDBOARDS I fortunately had PAOLO in the grid so it made me think and check elsewhere.
Just to check the preamble, I use Chambers93, it says there are two themed words not in Chambers ( one of two words ) , I assume they are LAST CARD and CAT STANDARD . Are BOTH two words ?
Roz @6, CAT STANDARD is in Chambers (2014) in between CAT Scanner and catsup. I thought the two themed words Azed was referring to were LAST CARD and CASTERED (the noun as an alternative spelling of castor is given but not the adjective).
Many thanks Tim@7 , CAT STANDARD is not in my 93 which is now new and in mint condition after advice from this blog. I did not check CASTERED , seemed obvious.
Thanks Azed and Duncan
It was a lovely idea, but I was put off by the ambiguities in 16dn (any of the three Rs could have been the one to leave out) and 27dn (could have been any of BOARDS, DBOARS, RDBOAS, or the actual answer ARDBOS). Of course, the ambiguities would have been resolved from checked letters, and I might have gone back to the puzzle had I not been feeling unwell over the Christmas weekend. I still think it would have been kinder to solvers to avoid anagrams for the cases where CARD could have removed in more than one way. (Roz@6 has touched on this issue.)
Tim C@5: Unless Azed has radically changed his views recently, he would not allow “the first sting” to mean the first letter of the word sting. On the same line, years ago he said that he could find no justification for “extremely” meaning first and last letters of. I would also not expect him to accept wordplay such as “oddly coloured” for CLUE. I say this in full readiness to stand corrected with evidence.
Roz@8, the CAT standard was originally introduced for ISAs (Individual Savings Accounts), which began in 1999 – so it wouldn’t be in your C93! CAT stands for Cost, Access, Terms, for each of which criteria were set to represent a “simple” product, eg low cost, easy access and no unnecessary small print.
Incidentally, I’m not sure “lawful financial product” is a good definition for CAT standard. For one thing, the standard is not itself a product, but could apply to different types of product; and for another, products without it can still be lawful.
MunroMaiden @11 re 39ac: Apart from the formatting, the two definitions for CAT standard given by Duncan in his blog are exactly as they appear in Chambers 2011 and 2014, and presumably also 2016.
Pelham Barton@12: there’s still nothing about “lawful” in those definitions. Also, a “CAT standard mortgage”, say, is a product, but a “CAT standard”, by itself , is not (regardless of what Chambers says!); it would be like saying a kite-mark was a product. Finally, CAT standards were largely superseded by stakeholder products and other initiatives some years back. (I used to work in financial services…..!)
MM@13: I have always (or at least, ever since I started thinking about it) taken the statement that Chambers is recommended to include the principle that any definition in Chambers may be used, however much anyone claiming relevant specialised knowledge may disagree with that definition. In my view, to do otherwise would place a completely unreasonable burden on both setter and solvers. The bit about “lawful” in the definitions is the bit that says “that complies with these standards”. I think the simplest way of matching those is the definition “rightful” for lawful, but I would also say that at least two of the definitions for law would fit into “allowed by law”.
I quite agree that Azed is entitled to follow a definition in Chambers. However, I don’t agree that compliance with standards equates to either rightful or lawful. Champagne, for example, must comply with specific conditions, but would you describe it as a “lawful alcoholic product”? It is lawful, of course, but so are any number of sparkling wines. Regulated might be a better term or, better still, specialised. Sorry to be pedantic!
Pelham Barton @9, I think you’re correct that “the first sting” wouldn’t be acceptable (I’m still learning these small but crucial things). I just thought that “sign” suggested more than just indicating a single letter in the answer..
A belated entry here so maybe no-one will see it. Happy New Year all! Thanks to Azed and duncanshiell.
I enjoyed this up to a point but was stumped when I had only 15 “de-CARD-ed” answers. Two were BRANS (though bran was organic litter) and TABLES which didn’t seem incomplete. The other was LAST. I think I’d ruled out the CARD being continuous, which was the case in these three.
Nonetheless I did complete the diagram. It reminded me of many years ago when Azed had four twelve-letter edges to a diagram whose definitions were of ANAGRAMS of the answers. One could complete without knowing the actual definition words as, I suspect, many did.
I tried to underline anagrams and lost this- can this be explained?.