A mid-month puzzle from Azed is usually a plain puzzle, as this one is.
I got off to a good start, possibly because there were quite a few ‘everyday’ entries, but I slowed down towards the end with the remaining more difficult clues or more obscure entries.
It took me a long time to confirm ROVE AT at 15 across as I didn’t immediately see the ‘with at, obsolete’ towards the end of the first definition of ROVE in Chambers.
I was also slow to confirm DUNE at 31 down as I was fixed on AUNE (an old French measure of length, especially of fabric) even though I couldn’t parse it. Eventually the penny dropped and I realised that the definition was at the beginning of the clue (part of an erg) rather than at the end (unit of measurement).
I was slightly surprised to see that only less than a quarter of the 36 clues had the definition at the end, rather than having definitions spread a bit more evenly between start and end of clues.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | Old lock fools will have shifted back to front (5)
SASSE (obsolete [old] word for a sluice or lock) ASSES (fools) with the final letter (back) S moved to the front to form SASSE SASSE |
| 6 | Poet’s cause to bear clumsy poem with grin, lacking love (7)
IMPREGN (archaic poetic word for ‘impregnate’; to make pregnant; cause to bear child) Anagram of (clumsy) POEM and GRIN excluding (lacking) O (character representing zero [love score in tennis]) IMPREGN* |
| 12 | Soak English tux, shabby, then comb, given dry-cleaning treatment? (10)
RETEXTURED (restored to firmness lost through the action of spirit in the process of dry-cleaning) RET (soak) + E (English) + an anagram of (shabby) TUX + RED (alternative spelling of REDD [tidy; comb]) RET E XTU* RED |
| 14 | What’s assumed in address? In this is example (6)
STANCE (position assumed when addressing a golf shot for example) if STANCE is preceded by IN (IN ‘this entry’) we get INSTANCE (example) STANCE |
| 15 | The old aim for vehicle operated remotely to partake of? (6, 2 words)
ROVE AT (an obsolete [old] phrase meaning to aim or shoot arrows) ROV (remotely operated vehicle) + EAT (to partake of) ROV E AT |
| 17 | Piece of outstanding Italian art? Cheers (loudly) about position (7)
RILIEVO (a word from Italian describing a work in relief [projecting or standing out from a base]) RIVO (Shakespearean term for drinking cries [spoken loudly], such as Cheers!) containing (about) LIE (position) RI (LIE) VO |
| 18 | Pat of butter runs in liquid measure (5)
PRINT (a moulded pat of butter) R (runs) contained in (in) PINT (liquid measure) P (R) INT |
| 19 | Sailor’s slack shift (4)
VEER (nautical term meaning to pay out or to slack) VEER (change direction; shift) double definition VEER |
| 20 | Small fish, one nibbling on end of simple line (8)
PICKEREL (young pike; small fish) PICKER (one who picks at food; one who nibbles) + E (final letter of [end of] SIMPLE) + L (line) PICKER E L |
| 24 | Scrubbing return of TV in nightclub (8)
DELETIVE (erasing; scrubbing) TELE (TELEvision; TV) reversed (return of) contained in (in) DIVE (nightclub, often disreputable) D (ELET<) IVE |
| 26 | Some Ghanaians appearing in sweatshirts (4)
TSHI (member of a Ghanaian people speaking a language of the same name) TSHI (hidden word in [appearing in] SWEATSHIRTS) TSHI |
| 29 | One endlessly waited for party having learnt about it (5)
GODOT (reference the play Waiting for GODOT by Samuel Beckett [1906 – 1989]. GODOT never comes; one endlessly waited for) GOT (understood; learnt) containing (about) DO (party) GO (DO) T |
| 30 | Refreshing drink making a change to ace diet (7, 2 words)
ICED TEA (refreshing drink) Anagram of (making a change to) ACE DIET ICED TEA* |
| 32 | Has (briefly) death-notice around life’s end provided as once (6)
SOBEIT (archaic [as once] word for ‘provided’) ‘S (abbreviation for ‘has’) + (OBIT [OBITuary; death notice] containing [around] E [last letter of {end} LIFE]) S OB (E) IT |
| 33 | Lewdness free? Aged, released from that, cheer about it (6)
RAUNCH (lewdness, although originally an American term, Chambers doesn’t record it as such now) RAH (short form of hurRAH; cheer) containing (about) UNCAGED (free) excluding (released from) AGED RA (UNC) H |
| 34 | Earned endless pence with cord all tight? This performer might have (10, 2 words)
ROPE DANCER (performer who DANCEs on a tight-ROPE, which presumably should be stretched very tight) Anagram of (all tight) EARNED excluding the final letter [endless] D and P (pence) and CORD ROPE DANCER |
| 35 | One rarely holds whip to improve defence in being surrounded (7)
REIN-ARM (the hand / arm holding the REINs, opposed to the whip-hand) IN contained in (being surrounded) RE-ARM (improve defensive capability) RE (IN) –ARM |
| 36 | Penniless, deny having to work, retaining energy (5)
NEEDY (very poor; penniless) Anagram of (having to work) DENY containing (retaining) E (energy) NE (E) DY* – either E could be the one contained |
| Down | |
| 2 | It shows minor change in weather; see Rosie cope with hat, going out (12)
AETHRIOSCOPE (instrument for measuring the minute variations of temperature due to the condition of the sky) Anagram of (going out) ROSIE COPE and [with] HAT AETHRIOSCOPE* |
| 3 | Its flowers never fade, I see, in the country (7)
STATICE (any plumbaginaceous plant of the sea lavender genus, many of which are cultivated for their everlasting flowers) (I + C [see is the pronunciation for the letter C]) contained in (in) STATE (country) STAT (I C) E |
| 4 | Army or navy in its natural element (4)
SENA (in India, an army, especially used of paramilitary political organizations representing various castes) N (navy) contained in (in) SEA (natural element for a Navy) SE (N) A |
| 5 | Unstable left embracing Conservative (7)
EXCITED (in physics, having energy higher than that of the ground, or normal state, therefore becoming unstable) EXITED (departed; left) containing (embracing) C (Conservative) EX (C) ITED |
| 7 | Rodent involved with making hole in wall as of old (6)
MURINE (a mouselike animal; a rodent) IN (involved with) contained in (making hole in) MURE (wall) MUR (IN) E |
| 8 | Part to south of Portugal that’s popular (5)
PROLE (member of the proletariat [people]; the poorest working class; popular can be defined similarly as ‘of the people’) P (international vehicle registration for Portugal) + ROLE (part, in a play for instance) – this being a down entry the letters in ROLE are written under or south of the letter P P ROLE |
| 9 | Title of member of clergy I have come to (6)
REVIVE (bring back to consciousness; come to) REV (Reverend, member of the clergy) + I’VE (I have) REV IVE |
| 10 | Grating, adorned, see, I love relaxing inside (12)
GRAVEL-VOICED (sounding harsh or grating) (V [vide; Latin for ‘see’] + an anagram of [relaxing] I LOVE) contained in (inside) GRACED (adorned) GRA (V EL-VOI*) CED |
| 11 | Fame not unknown to surround most of ruling party? (9)
NOTORIETY (publicly known state, in a bad way, but still leading to fame) (NOT [not] + Y [letter frequently used as an unknown value in equations]) containing (to surround) TORIES (Conservatives, ruling party in the United Kingdom at the date of publication of this crossword) excluding the final letter (most of) S NO (TORIE) T Y |
| 13 | Spring maybe eclipsed by winter months (4)
TERM (schools have Spring TERMs) TERM (hidden word in [eclipsed by] WINTER MONTHS) TERM |
| 16 | Amuse-bouche, favourite I used as filling for stewed pears (9)
APPETISER (an AMUSE-BOUCHE is a small savoury item of food served as an appetizer) (PET [favourite] + I) contained in (used as filling) an anagram of (stewed) PEARS AP (PET I) SER* |
| 21 | Monitor? Pin gold up on one (7)
LEGUAAN (large monitor lizard) LEG (pin) + AU (chemical symbol for gold) reversed (up; down entry) + AN (one) LEG UA< AN |
| 22 | Help I needed cutting a caper? (7)
AIDANCE (help or support) I contained in (cutting) (A + DANCE [caper]) A (I) DANCE |
| 23 | Boy nets fish caught laterally (6)
SIDE-ON (from the SIDE; laterally) SON (boy) containing (nets) IDE (fish of the same family as the carp) S (IDE) –ON |
| 25 | See west-country river infuse from below (6)
EXETER (reference the bishopric or see of EXETER) EXE (west country river) + RET (soak; infuse) reversed (from below; down entry) EXE TER< |
| 27 | Grass: it’s coming up in spring (5)
STIPA (any grass of the feather-grass genus) IT reversed (coming up; down entry) contained in (in) SPA (spring) S (TI<) PA |
| 28 | Rock that’s dark-coloured with a hint of red in (4)
SARD (a deep-red or brownish variety of chalcedonic silica; rock) SAD (dark-coloured) containing (with … in) R (first letter of [hint of] RED) SA (R) D |
| 31 | Part of an erg, directly divisible by unit of measurement (4)
DUNE (an ERG is a Saharan area of shifting sand DUNEs) DUE (directly) containing (divisible by) N (en [a unit of measurement in printing) DU (N) E |
Ah, I see I entered an unparsed AUNE for 31d. Many thanks for clearing that one up!
Is the puzzle available for online solving?
KVa,
No only PDF
Thanks both.
Well I bunged in an unparsed Gideon instead of SIDE ON.
Interesting that today’s crossword (2666) was available on the website last week along with this one.
Thanks, Gonzo.
Thanks for the blog, DUNE was very devious with all the clue pointing is in the direction of units. LEGUAAN was not in my Chambers93 but was very clear once I had enough letters in .
Not totally convince by PROLE being popular, some overlap in Chambers but very sketchy. Good and surprising use of unstable=EXCITED by Azed.
SIDE-ON the clues has “nets” and “caught” ? I do not think we need both, IDE is fine for fish , does not need a homophone indicator.
I’m away this weekend so I haven’t got last week’s puzzle to hand.
I guessed PROLE and ROVE AT, although I couldn’t quite see why the first was “popular” and I couldn’t see the second in Chambers, although I’ve just spotted it. It had to be DUNE but I’m more familiar with “en” for the printing measure.
Thanks for the blog, Duncan, and congratulations on your 1,000 blogs, which Ken has seen fit to report today.
It was nice to return to a Plain puzzle, even after last week’s excellent Eightsome Reels. It wasn’t easy (they never are), but everything was possible. I liked DUNE particularly.
I second Alan B @8 , congratulations Duncan and many thanks for all the effort.
It would take me a whole week to type out even 1 blog and even then it would not have the boxes and colours that make it so easy to follow.
For 31D, I think that DUNE is the better (and intended) solution, but like Jay@1, I think that AUNE is also plausible: Part of AN E[RG] around (directly divisible by) U (unit) = measurement (definition).
Congratulations on the milestone blog.
Roz@6, I wondered if caught was part of the definition – ie ‘caught laterally’, in the sense of seen laterally? Like duncanshiell, I started this fast and then slowed down, but it yielded in the end. Congratulations on the milestone and thanks for the blog.
KVa—your post wasn’t clear. You can get Azed through a few channels. Can you fill them in? In my youth, I tinkered with computers. We were working on things like 64k and 128k. At the time, the United States was sending the human species to the moon, almost inch-perfect, with little more computer power than a modern hearing aid.
Tim C—I too thought it was odd that I came up with an Azed 2666. But I thought: it is the Grauniad after all: if they can’t get things wrong, no one can.
So I was surprised to see a solution to Azed 2665.
Stefan