Azed 2656

by

Now that the Observer has amended/clarified the rules for submitting Azed solutions we’re going back to publishing the blogs on the Sunday after the puzzle appears.

After my first pass through the clues I found I’d entered 21 of the 36 answers, and it didn’t take much longer to fill in the rest. So not exactly a write-in, but but about as close to one as I’m likely to get with an Azed puzzle. Of course the clueing was up to the usual exemplary standards. Thanks to Azed.

 
Across
1 JALAP Purgative, in the manner of penetrating justice (5)
A LA in JP (Justice of the Peace)
5 ABSINTH Liqueur, wrong if swallowed in bath, relaxing (7)
SIN (wrong) in BATH*
11 OCOTILLOS Flowering shrubs left in neglected soil behind old bed (9)
O COT + L in SOIL*
12 UNBIAS Travelling in a bus that’s free of prejudice (6)
(IN A BUS)*, with “free” as a verb for the definition
14 ABIB Trendy clothing outlet recalled period in Haifa? (4)
Reverse of BIBA (a groovy clothes shop of the 60s and 70s). Abib is an earlier name for Nisa, a month of the Jewish calendar
16 AT TABLE Bill left during tea dealt with while eating (7, 2 words)
TAB L in TEA*
17 ELCHI It’s essential to expel Chinese ambassador (5)
Hidden in expEL CHInese
18 HALON Hydrogen, almost on its own, is thought harmful to the ozone layer (5)
H + ALON[e] – although is “considered detrimental to the ozone layer”, the definition doesn’t seem to indicate a noun, which would be unusual for Azed
19 RECONDENSE King being absent to judge very stupid, needing to concentrate again (10)
RECKON (to judge) less K + DENSE (stupid)
22 LORGNETTES Special glasses replaced in longer test (10)
(LONGER TEST)*
23 SNARF Wolf giving growl, endlessly noisy (5)
SNAR[L] + F[orte] – “wolf” in the sense of “eat greedily”
25 WORST Rare herbs? Transposing last pair, better (5)
WORTS (wort is a rare usage for “any herb or vegetable”) with the last two letters swapped. It’s a nice quirk that the apparent opposites “worst” and “best” (and “better”) can both mean to defeat
26 HETEROS Horse galloping round the emptied straights (7)
T[h]E in HORSE*
28 AXIS Alliance when including one behind times (4)
X (multiplication sign, times) + I in AS (when)
29 SOLIVE I must fill crack in minor joist (6)
I in SOLVE
30 INEBRIANT Cox maybe in difficulty with one in the bow getting slewed? (9)
I + BRIAN (either of two famous Brian Coxes, physicist and actor) in NET (difficulty)
31 HANSARD Rigorous about brief response to one of PMQs – it’ll end here? (7)
ANS (abbreviation of “answer”, as might be given at5 Prime Minister’s Questions in the UK parliament) in HARD. Hansard is the official record of parliamentary proceedings
32 TENGE What’s no good in Turkmenistan’s capital? Wrong, actually (5)
NG in TEE – Tenge is the unit of currency in Turkmenistan, so it’s not no good
Down
1 J’OUVERT Young star embracing love, right? It precedes carnival in WI (7, apostrophe)
O in JUVE + RT
2 LOBI Soft body parts forming line on oriental sash (4)
L + OBI
3 ATISHOO It may prompt a blessing, hence following raised palm (7)
Reverse ita (type of palm) + SHOO (go away, hence!). A sneeze may prompt “bless you!”
4 PIANI Quiet passages forming part of Thespian introduction (5)
Hidden in thesPIAN Introduction
6 BLITHENESS Merriment immediately leading to energy in the midst of happiness (10)
THEN (immediately) + E in BLISS
7 SOWTH Whistle for Scotch whisky initially in blended shot (5)
W[hisky] in SHOT*
8 NOBBLE Arrest peer, baron put inside (6)
B in NOBLE
9 TAILORESS She may fit out Rose in formal attire (9)
ROSE* in TAILS (formal dress) &lit
10 HEBEN Old hard wood furnishing a lot of the benches (5)
Hidden in tHE BENches – a old variant of “ebony”
13 SANDGROPER Grand prose disguised early Aussie pioneer (10)
(GRAND PROSE)*
15 PLEONEXIA Greed making one cross in misappropriation of a pile (9)
ONE X in (A PILE)*
20 STOOLIE Nark near taken in by very good fabrication (7)
TO (near) in SO + LIE
21 ESTHETE Arty Yank is cut short, protected by English thrall classically (7)
‘S (abbreviated “is”) in E + THETE (a poor freeman in ancient Athens). “Yank” indicates the US spelling of UK “aesthete”
22 LATIAN Early Roman native turning up around Italy (6)
I[taly] in reverse of NATAL
23 SHASH Interference gets to interrupt silence (5)
HAS (gets) in SH
24 FRENA Ligaments revealed in turning over a garden plot (5)
Reverse of AN ERF
25 WHORT Wife passionate about recipe for plant yielding berries (5)
W + R in HOT
27 XIAN Christian love rises to envelop one (4)
A in reverse of NIX

11 comments on “Azed 2656”

  1. Roz
    #1 - Sun 21st May 23, 04:44

    Thanks for the blog, my quickest ever Azed finish , perhaps he was setting this along with the PD which must take a lot of effort.
    BIBA not been trendy for a long time, I have some Biba boxes with clothes in from my mother.
    INEBRIANT was a neat clue, J’OUVERT not in my Chambers93 but JUVE was so it was fine.

  2. Roz
    #2 - Sun 21st May 23, 04:48

    Forgot one minor point, my atlas gives TENGE for Kazakhstan and Manat for Turkmenistan but does not give sub-divisions ?

  3. Jay
    #3 - Sun 21st May 23, 05:49

    Thanks to Azed and Andrew. I had a question mark next to “trendy clothing outlet” and can see now I’ve NHO Biba and failed to parse ATISHOO and ESTHETE, so many thanks for the blog.

    Roz, my Chambers gives TENGE as
    1. The standard monetary unit of Kazakhstan (100 tein)
    2. A monetary unit in Turkmenistan, 1/100 of a manat

  4. Dormouse
    #4 - Sun 21st May 23, 09:02

    I don’t recall any difficulties with this.

    When I was in hospital a couple of years ago, one of the doctors had the first name Biba.

    “Named after a sixties clothing store?” I asked. She said yes.

  5. Alan B
    #5 - Sun 21st May 23, 10:16

    It was nice come back to Plain devilry after the Printer’s kind the previous week (which I was not so well suited to). The solving of this puzzle went very smoothly, and not too quickly: the clues took me on a route starting in the NE and going anticlockwise round the grid to the SE. As always, a satisfying puzzle to solve.

    Thanks to Azed and Andrew.

  6. Roz
    #6 - Sun 21st May 23, 10:59

    Thanks Jay@3 I suspect for my Chambers93 they were still using Roubles.

  7. David Whisstock
    #7 - Wed 24th May 23, 09:42

    Can someone tell me why the Observer no longer publishes names of Azed prizewinners, neither in the newspaper nor online? The Azed Slip has also disappeared – to force solvers to subscribe, no doubt.
    The Observer doesn’t reply to my solicitations.

  8. Andrew
    #8 - Wed 24th May 23, 10:26

    The Azed slips are archived at the &lit site – http://www.andlit.org.uk/azed/slip_search.php

    This site is currently in abeyance because the maintainer has been seriously ill, but recent Slips are available at the Crossword Centre: http://www.crossword.org.uk/Azedslip.html

    I will not venture to comment on the lack of information from the Observer..

  9. Roz
    #9 - Wed 24th May 23, 13:05

    The Observer does publish winners.
    This week – Charles Barr, Nicholas E Gough, Avril & Julian Calder – For 2,654 , it is on a 3 week lag, it was two weeks for many years.
    They always publish prize-winning clues as well but no further comments.

  10. David Whisstock
    #10 - Wed 24th May 23, 14:59

    Thanks Andrew, I’ve located the Slips.
    Where do the winners’ names appear Roz?
    They used to be under the solutions.

  11. Roz
    #11 - Wed 24th May 23, 15:09

    There is the answer grid, underneath are the rules for sending off this week , below this the winners of 2,654 , very small . The bottom , right corner if the page is folded in half.

Comments are closed.