I’m afraid this puzzle defeated me. I think I have all the answers, but there are two where I am sure the answer’s right, but I couldn’t parse (SASTRA and TEAN), and one (INTROLD) where I’m not sure of the answer becasue I can’t find a definition that matches the clue.
This was tougher than most of the recent Azed’s I’ve had to blog, and it saw me referring more than normal to Chambers, where I found a load of words that I had never come across before, among them FINNAC, CHI-RHO, SASTRA, INTROLD, JARULS, KAHAL and RAHU. I was so disprited that I didn’t even try to come up with a clue for SONDAGE.
Thanks Azed
| ACROSS | ||
| 2 | BUMPSADAISY |
Worthless pay’s said to be revised – whoops! (11)
|
| BUM (“worthless”) + *(pays said) [anag:to be revised] | ||
| 10 | ARTAL |
Parts of long robe exchanged? Their weight varies (5)
|
| Parts of TAL-AR (“long robe”) exchanged becomes ARTAL (a variable unit of weight in the Eastern Med) | ||
| 11 | FINNAC |
Young trout I fancy cooked without tail around noon (6)
|
| *(i fanc) [anag:cooked] around N (noon) where FANC is FANC(y) [without tail] | ||
| 13 | RIGLING |
Male not quite all there, annoying when general intelligence is involved (7)
|
| RILING (“annoying”) when G (general intelligence) is involved | ||
| 14 | AGMA |
A chap almost swallows gallon, feature of drinking twice, we hear (4)
|
| A MA(n) (“chap”) [almost] swallows G (gallon)
Agma is the name given to the nasal – ing sound, as in dr-ING-k-ING |
||
| 15 | CHI-RHO |
Religious sign husband held in hand when attached (6)
|
| H (husband) held in CHIRO- (prefix meaning “hand”, so when attached) | ||
| 16 | SUBGRADE |
Redug most of base anew as what underlies foundations (8)
|
| *(redug bas) [anag:anew] where BAS is [most of] BAS(e) | ||
| 18 | FOUR |
River crew laughing helplessly, without ire (4)
|
| FOU R(ire) (“laughing helplessly” without IRE) | ||
| 20 | GARBLED |
Clothes were first getting mangled (7)
|
| GARB (“clothes”) + LED (“were first”) | ||
| 22 | TRUSSER |
One bundling up rani’s head in local silk? (7)
|
| R(ani) [‘s head] in TUSSER (“local” word for an Indian “silk”) | ||
| 25 | OKRA |
Edible pods, a creation of cook combined with ravioli (4)
|
| Hidden in [a creation of] “coOK combined with RAvioli” | ||
| 27 | CARRAWAY |
Something in tonic to bring round without delay for Scot (8)
|
| CARRY (“to bring”) round AWA (away, or “without delay” in Scots) | ||
| 28 | SASTRA |
Sacred text without date twice translator penned (6)
|
| 31 | CORM |
Feature of crocus? It’s seen fringing capsicum (4)
|
| C OR M (the “fringes” of C(apsicu)M) | ||
| 32 | MEAT-TUB |
Each non-drinker enters spree? Reverse thereof – entry herein’s getting pickled (7)
|
| Ea. (each) + TT (teetotal, so “non-drinker”) enters [reverse of] <=BUM (“spree”) | ||
| 33 | SARAPE |
Nasty blow in stormy sea? This may warm shoulders (6)
|
| RAP (“nastly blow”) in *(sea) [anag:stormy] | ||
| 34 | HULLO |
Greeting bottom with nothing on (5)
|
| HULL (“bottom”) with O (nothing) on | ||
| 35 | PLANT-HOUSES |
Conservatories: large number and not seen among trees (11)
|
| THOUS(and) (“large number”, not AND) seen among PLANES (“trees”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | PARASITOSIS |
Infestation: chunks of text I consider informally including first sign of that (11)
|
| PARA(graph)S (“chunks of text”) + I + TOSS (“consider informally”) including [first sign of] I(nfestation) | ||
| 2 | BRIGUE |
Scheming baron I urge in revolution (6)
|
| B (baron) + *(i urge) [anag:in revolution] | ||
| 3 | MALAGA |
Mum holds festivity up for sweet wine (6)
|
| MA (“mum”) holds <=GALA (“festivity”, up) | ||
| 4 | PLIM |
Local’s swell, causing a lot of compliments (4)
|
| Hidden in [a lot of] “comPLIMents” | ||
| 5 | SONDAGE |
A trial excavation (7)
|
| This was the solution for which Azed invited us to come up with a clue. | ||
| 6 | DITHERER |
One prone to vacillate, attending when director’s around (8)
|
| THERE (“attending”) when Dir. (director) [‘s around] | ||
| 7 | ANTI |
Con trick (extraordinary), 100 found wanting (4)
|
| ANTI(c) (“trick”) with C (100) found wanting | ||
| 8 | INTROLD |
Poet’s dubious term in opening passage, line 500 (7)
|
| INTRO (“opening passage”) + L (line) + D (500)
Not sure of the definition here, as Chambers has “introld” meaning “enrolled” or “encircled” |
||
| 9 | SADHU |
Holy man had us converted (5)
|
| *(had us) [anag:converted] | ||
| 12 | CHORD SYMBOL |
Harms body, one slashed terribly in neck – sign of triad? (11, 2 words)
|
| *(hrms body) [anag:terribly] in COL (“neck”) where HRMS is H(a)RMS with A (“one”) slashed | ||
| 17 | RESCRIPT |
Imperial response, shred flanked by flamboyant crest (8)
|
| RIP (“shred”) flanked by *(crest) [anag:flamboyant] | ||
| 19 | BURSERA |
Knots appearing with age in timber tree (7)
|
| BURS (“knots”) appearing with ERA (“age”) | ||
| 21 | ARRIERO |
Fence not bowled over? His charges are loaded (7)
|
| (b)ARRIER (“fence”, not B (bowled)) + O (over)
An arriero is a Latin American mule driver |
||
| 23 | CACTUS |
Fleshy plant: hew off nut and cut askew inside (6)
|
| HEW off CAS(hew) (“nut”) with *(cut) [anag:askew] inside | ||
| 24 | JARULS |
Asian trees, ugly, even bits cut and stuck in pithoi (6)
|
| U(g)L(y) [even bits cut] stuck in JARS (“pithoi”)
The jarul is also known as the Indian bloodwood |
||
| 26 | KAHAL |
Product of the Diaspora held together by Hanukkah always? (5)
|
| Hidden in [held together by] “hannuKAH ALways” | ||
| 29 | TEAN |
Anacreontic, maybe? This (not epic) is creation of ancient poet (4)
|
| 30 | RAHU |
Gandhi, cut off early? It was monstrous (4)
|
| RAHU(l) (Gandhi) (Indian politician) [cut off early]
Rahu is a Hindu demon who swallows the moon and the sun during eclipses. |
As far as INTROLD goes, Chambers seems to be hedging bets by saying the word is unknown, and that the meanings you quote are merely conjectural. ‘Poet’s dubious term’ seems to fit nicely. Another to add to the heap in which EALE is the most prominent member.
SASTRA is tr in sa sa
TEAN is a comp. anag. TEAN NOT EPIC anagrams to ANCIENT POET
Thanks for the blog, quite a lot of obscurities this week and some quite hard even to find.
SASTRI not in my Chambers 93 except for under shastri where it is only in the etymology , Azed uses this SA trick quite often. Not sure that PLIM is a “lot” of compliments but it was easy enough.
Many thanks for the blog. Definitely found this one tough. Waisted time trying to justify GLASSHOUSES for 35a. Need to remember Azed ignores hyphenations. Hadn’t twigged that the “that” in 1d referred all the way back to “infestation”. Liked INTROLD. Not convinced HULL is the same as “bottom”, Chambers gives it as the frame or body of a ship or an outer covering. There’s no parse for SASTRA in the blog, can someone please help with that one? Many thanks!
Roz@2
SHASTRA is an alternative spelling of SASTRA. In Sanskrit, the initial ‘S/SH’ is neither pronounced like S nor like SH; it’s something in between. Just sharing…
SASTRI/SHASTRI is a scholar (one who is well-versed in the sastras). Not sure this word has entered the English dictionaries.
PLIM
Can we not take ‘a lot of’ as ‘one bunch/group of’ (to mean ‘a bunch of letters from’)?
Jay@3
Phi@1 has parsed SASTRA and TEAN.
me@4 (missed out…)
SHASTRA is found in some dictionaries. Maybe Chambers ’93 has this variant of SASTRA.
KVa@5 and Phi@1 thanks for that, SA one to remember! SASTRA is in my Chambers 2016 as a variant of SHASTER and SHASTRA.
TEAN
Someone may help
Anacreon was from Teos. Therefore, he was a Tean (Didn’t know. Just Googled).
Anacreontic is ‘of Anacreon or related to his poetry’. I am unable to understand
how ‘Anacreontic’ is an example of ‘TEAN’.
KVa@4 thanks for the extras , I meant SHASTRA is in my Chambers but SASTRA only in the etymology . TEAN = TEIAN is there as – of Anacreon .
Jay@7 Azed tends to use SA= without date quite a lot. We do not see “IT = SA ” much .
Jay@3 I found HULL dubious as well after a lot of cross-checking in Chambers .
Several I couldn’t parse, and two I couldn’t get at all, but one of the was CORM which must have been an oversight on my part as I saw it immediately I picked up the puzzle to look at the blog.
Thanks all.
Though I see it is in Chambers, I’m dubious about ‘away’ (as opposed to ‘right away’) for ‘without delay’. No sign of it in OED. Quotes anyone?
Gonzo@13, as illustration of ‘away’ meaning ‘without hesitation or delay’, my SOED cites “fire away!”
Hello all you early birds. Thanks to Azed, as always, and loonapick. This was a struggle- finished near midnight. CORM held me up till I recalled STOA where Athens TO Athena resembled and c OR m clicked.
Lovely to see BOOMPSADAISY and remember teen-age dances in the ‘forties along with the Hokey-Cokey.
Jay @14; that would be sense A6:
Expressing continuous persistent action: onward in time, continuously, constantly; frequently with verbs in the imperative giving permission to begin or continue an activity. In earliest use implying completion: †fully, altogether, thoroughly (obsolete).
That’s plausible, thanks.
INTROLD apparently appears only once in The Faerie Queen (where else!) in
“Now hath faire Phoebe with her silver face
Thrice seene the shadowes of the neither worlds, Sith last I left that honourable place, In which her royall presence is introld; Ne ever shall I rest in house nor hold,
Till I that false Acrasia have wonne”
Quite a tough one I found, even without the clue writing.