Azed No. 2,688: ‘A Cool Yomp’ – Christmas Competition Puzzle

29 comments on “Azed No. 2,688: ‘A Cool Yomp’ – Christmas Competition Puzzle”

1. The definitions for a Spoonerism type crossword tend to be a lot looser than for a plain one, so “Mate for a God” meaning a Goddess seems fine to me.
   As usual, the hard part of this was coming up with a clue as the word seemed unusually difficult in finding a Spoonerism definition and I reckon I failed miserably. No doubt I’ll kick myself when the slip for this appears and I marvel as usual at the cleverness of the clues listed.

2. Thanks Cineraria. I see on Wiki some mention of Athena as the bride of Hephaestus.
   Very satisfying puzzle, the parsing of NAME PART and INTERPOLAR took a while to get.
   I liked the way the Spoonered and un-Spoonered definitions in 29 both work.
   Thanks as ever to Azed.

3. Great work, Cineraria. The puzzle itself was hard enough to unravel without having to translate and codify into a blog.

   Gonzo @2, those two clues were the same ones that took me the longest to parse too!

   Tim @1, I also found Flaneur difficult to define with a Spoonerism, although the word has generous possibilities for letter-play. Unfortunately I didn’t leave myself enough time to solve and also write a decent clue, having planned to start work on it this coming week when I had more time (I presumed we’d get two weeks as usual for the Christmas competition). Maybe we only had one week this time because it was the sort of Special we would see at any time rather than being a seasonal mega-challenge.

4. Thanks Azed and Cineraria. I imagine that some people will be disappointed that Azed has just given a seasonal title to a tried and trusted “special”, but I was quite happy with it after last year’s new idea proved to have a latent defect. My solving time for this one was not far beyond my usual maximum for a plain puzzle, and that suits me.

   Azed is following in the tradition of Ximenes and (I think) some others in the way that subsidiary indications are given for the grid entries. Just imagine what it would be like if we had normal clues for Type 1 and then had to enter a Spoonerism of the answer without any check that we had the spoonerism right.

   11ac: Nice to see a return for Jock after an absence of four weeks by my reckoning.

   16ac: On a personal note, I have a particular memory for the French word flâner “to stroll” as the first word we wrote in a new vocabulary book issued part way through my time in secondary education.

   13dn (INTERPOLAR): This seems to be stretching the definition of a Spoonerism one step further than usual. Ideally, the Spoonerism should involve an exchange of two sounds. I have got used to the idea of a single consonant being moved from one side to the other, as in 26ac and 30ac. Here, moving the P to the beginning means that the R of INTER changes from a vowel modifier before a consonant to a sounded letter before a vowel. In my view, this is acceptable in a puzzle where every clue has to involve a Spoonerism. I would be less happy if this were used in a Spoonerism clue in a plain puzzle, where Azed would have the choice of using a completely different clue type.

   22dn: Thanks Gonzo@2 for the extra information on Athena.

5. Thanks for the blog and all the others this year , this one is a daunting task and you have found a brilliant way to explain it all concisely.
   These are never too bad once you get started, I find the Type 2 much easier but Type 1 start to come as you get the hang of it.
   TimC@ 1 I would say definitions are looser and do not really exist for many of the type 1 clues. I just solve with wordplay and work backwards.
   INTERPOLAR I agree with Pelham Barton@4 not really acceptable in isolation but fine in a complete puzzle of this nature.
   NAME PART my last one to understand, I kept going back to pate=crown and finally found naam.
   Finally I must say some of the clues are brilliant, BANCO and DRAM right at the end.

6. Many thanks for the detailed blog which cleared up a couple of points for me. As I only started Azed this year this was my first Christmas puzzle.
   I did note that BAALS as a plural does not seem to be given in Chambers, the plural is BAALIM.
   Happy New Year to all.

7. Agreed about the last two Roz @5, although with DRAM I found myself thinking of a Wee Twat (very un-Azed and more Cyclops) for a while until the penny dropped. 😉

8. For anyone who hasn’t yet submitted an entry to the competition, I believe that there’s still plenty of time. Although the closing date on the puzzle is shown as 31st December 2023, this looks like a copy and paste gone wrong, since Azed always allows two weeks for the submission of entries to the Christmas comp. If extra evidence were required, the giveaways are the stated closing date being a Sunday rather than a Saturday and the results being announced on ‘Sunday 8 January 2023’. I suspect that the real closing date (which is always subject to adjustment at Azed’s discretion) is likely to be Saturday 6 January 2024.

9. There is a correction in the paper today . Closing date for this is now 8 January 2024.

10. Interesting Jay @6 about the plural of Baal. Baals appear as the plural in a lot of modern English translations of the Bible such as NIV and ESV, although the KJV has Baalim. 1 Kings 18:18 is an example.

11. Thanks, Roz@9. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t yet submitted a clue to have a go. The Spoonerism comps often see a few new names among the winners and commended entrants, the key being an inventive spoonerism rather than a complex wordplay.

12. I wish I’d hung on now the closing date’s changed. I solved the puzzle and wrote a clue in a rush on Thursday evening after I belatedly realised I didn’t (apparently) have 2 weeks after all! Could have saved 50p by sending 2nd class too! 😀 (Does this mean this blog will have to be shelved for another week?)

    I loved the Spoonerism for Etna, very poetic. Took me a while though.

13. The problem with this puzzle was the timing. It was published on Christmas Eve and the day before I had started a visit to the rest of my family. I did get the paper, but what with all the talking, eating and drinking, I could barely get started, and when I got home later in the week, I didn’t have the enthusiasm to continue.

14. I suppose this post will have to come down for a week if they really have changed the deadline. It seems unfair. Like Twmbarlwm I had to rush my clue, especially as we were going away on the Friday. I had fun doing it, although I also agree it was harder than usual coming up with the Spoonerism part.

    In the puzzle itself, I had similar reservations to Pelham Barton about INTERPOLAR, and my doubts did hold me up for a while. The one that really bothered me, though, was PAPER COAL. I think Azed might have just accidentally put a definition (lignite) where he meant to put the wordplay. I wasn’t sure I’d got it right until I came here today.

15. 24dn following Jay@6 and Tim@9: True, Chambers gives Baalim as the plural, as does SOED 2007. However, Collins 2023 gives no specific plural, but does have the definition “any false god or idol” for which a plural could legitimately be formed and by implication would allow Baals. For some specials, Azed changes the rubric to something like “All answers are in …”, but here he has stuck to the usual “is recommended”. I think he gets away with it, although I would still have expected him to say that Chambers does not give the plural form in 24, or words to that effect.
    One could also argue that the (corrected) definition “true gods? Certainly not” itself indicates a false plural form, as in reality no one god is more a true god than any other. However, I hope that Azed is not relying on that one.

16. Tim@10 and PB@15, many thanks for following up on my BAALS/BALIM observation… very interesting.

17. I would only add that I had LAVA’S KIST for ETNA at 14 across, which just about works. As the closing date has been extended, I won’t offer any suggestions for Spoonerisms of FLANEUR yet…

18. Herb@14, I completely agree about 10ac. If it’s a type 1 clue, then the second half should have been wordplay leading to the correct answer, not a definition.
    As regards Athena, traditionally, she wasn’t the “bride of Hephaestus”; on the contrary, Hephaestus tried to rape her (but impregnated someone else instead). She was known as Athena Parthenos (the Parthenon in Athens was dedicated to her), which means Athena the virgin. Far from being the mate of a god!
    Personally, I’m not keen on Spoonerism puzzles, as the clues feel too repetitive in style. I pushed myself to complete this one, but it palled on me pretty quickly.

19. With regard to 10A: I was originally going to comment that I thought that Azed had made a mistake, but it occurred to me that a double definition is a category of wordplay, so I think this clue is fine.

    As for the belatedly extended closing date for the competition: I have contacted the site administrator about whether the blog needs to come down for a week. I would assume that anyone who wanted to see the solution has probably seen it by now (further assuming that my solution is even correct, mind you). I hope that my reliance upon the Grauniad’s error has not spoiled the competition, and that competitors will behave honorably. (The “hold” time for posting Azed solutions used to be 9 days, but there was a clarification to the rules about a year ago, such that a 7-day “hold” time has become the norm, so I posted based upon the information that I had at the time.)

20. Hello all. hanks to Azed & Cinararia. I enjoyed this ,though declining eyesight and idleness made it more of a chore than it should be. Counting the number of the two types meant I was looking for a Type 2 for INTERPOLAR and wasted half an orthy hour. I found the Spoonerisms less groan-worthy than is sometimes the case.
    How would I have known that the deadline had changed. My FLANEUR was a fudge and it would have saved me a stagger to catch Friday’s post. This blog is really premature.
    I had the idea of a Proustian clue based on Cabourg or the Guermantes Way. Hélas

21. Now a very late response for very sound reasons. I agree with Cineraria @19 regarding PAPERCOAL.
    Azed says that subsidiary indications lead to the correct answer , this can be a second definition , rarely used by Azed but fair enough.
    Also you are totally blameless for the first posting, the Observer was at fault. I suspect most people reading the blog will have finished it anyway.

22. I’d agree with you Cineraria @19. A second (or third or fourth) definition is just as much wordplay as anything else.

23. Re: 13D INTERPOLAR and the ‘vowel modifier’ – this one is minor payback for those of us in the colonies who pronounce all of our Rs! Extra fun inwardly voicing every other clue in RP (34A was a doozy).

24. A shame about the deadline mix-up. My clue was a real fudge and I have had some better ideas when the holiday pressures were past. I
    did enjoy the puzzle and found the Spoonerisms all fair.
    Happy New Year to all Azeders. Now to working something sensible out for 2024s first.

25. I don’t buy this “double definition” theory for 10A. I don’t see “caper poll” (or “caperpoll”) as a definition. This smells like a mistake to me. We shall see if there is a confession in the Slip.

26. CAPER POLL is a definition in the style of type 1 clues.
    No different to PRAT BACK, AXE PENNED , CARDY LAKES …. and many others.

27. 10ac: I think what is happening here is that, on this site, we use slightly different terminology from Azed. In a plain puzzle, the different terms match almost perfectly, but, in a Spoonerism puzzle, the difference starts to matter. First, I cannot remember Azed ever using the expression “double definition”: he says “two meanings”. As an example, see 31dn in Azed 2,686 where Andrew has written “Two definitions, and WALE[s]”, and Azed’s note reads “2 meanings & Wale(s)”. Second, Azed talks about “subsidiary indications” where we normally say “wordplay”. In a plain puzzle, these terms match. However, in a Spoonerisms puzzle, the main indication is not a straight definition, and therefore the subsidiary indication, which must lead to the correct answer itself, can be a definition. Roz@26 has shown how the main indication in 10ac matches to the pattern in the other Type 1 clues.

    All this is, in my view, only a matter of terminology, not of substance. It will be interesting to see how it is handled in the notes published in the Observer with the answers, which will presumably appear on Sunday 14 January.

28. Having had another look at earlier comments, I think I should say that mine @27 is largely echoing (and expanding upon) what Roz said @21.

29. Point taken, Roz@26. I guess those clues have a clearer “subsidiary indication”. Have to make allowances for this type of puzzle.

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