Azed 2740 – ‘Christmas Playfair’

by

Several Azed bloggers, myself included, have commented that the appearance of a Playfair puzzle is a scary prospect, as it involved both cold-solving the italicised clues, and deducing the codeword from the answers and the crossing letters. Fortunately in this case I was able to solve all four thematic clues almost immediately, noting in the process that the answers all contained a double P, presumably the “hint to the code word” mentioned in the rubric.

The normal clues didn’t give too much trouble either, so I soon had the the partial encodings UPPISHLY->O?ENTMB?, APPEND->RAAP??, GRIPPY->??NERW and TRIPPANT->?KNEAR?M. Although this looks like a generous helping of information, there’s actually some repetition of the letter-pairs. I won’t try to reproduce my logic in working out the codeword, but it didn’t take me long to see DOUBLE-PARKING emerging. This rang a definite bell, and on checking I found this was used as a Playfair codeword for Azed 2226 in February 2015. It used the same hint of the double Ps, though with a different set of words. You can see the successful clues from that competition in the relevant Slip.

Despite the (doubtless unintended) duplication, an enjoyable pre-Christmas diversion, though a lot easier than some we’ve had in the past, and not particularly (or at all), Christmassy, but thanks to Azed anyway, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

(I was surprised to see that the closing date for the puzzle is given as 29th December: usually we get an extra week for the Christmas special. As a precaution against any changes to this, I’ve delayed the publication of the blog.)
Across
1 POPADUM Dad enters platform (not I) for tasty crisp (7)
PA in PODIUM less I
6 ASSOT The old infatuate fool, near backward (5)
ASS (fool) + reversea of TO (near)
10 OPUS Old matter? It’s usually numbered (4)
O + PUS
11 UPPISHLY
(OAENTMBZ)		 Shy pupil getting confused in a pretentious way (8)
(SHY PUPIL)*
12 LENTOUS No longer sluggish, soul’s excited about medical field (7)
ENT in SOUL*
13 DEIST Non-religious believer in sanctitude is trustworthy (5)
Hidden in sanctituDE IS Trustworthy
16 STEALTH Cunning deployed by the salt at sea (7)
(THE SALT)*
17 ENTRÉE Admission made by nurse with pedigree (6)
EN (Enrolled Nurse) + (family) TREE
18 APPEND
(RAAPIO)		 Affix one degree incorporating uni course (6)
PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics, degree course originally at Oxford University, and later at others) in AN D[egree]
20 UNIATE Auntie converted a particular Christian (6)
AUNTIE*
21 AIR-ARM Service branch? Gunners right in object (6)
RA R in AIM
23 GRIPPY
(CANERW)		 Tenacious prig dispensed heartless prudery (6)
PRIG* + P[ruder]Y
27 LUVVIE Thesp in Paris seen making comeback in live broadcast (6)
Reverse pf VU (French “seen”) in LIVE*
31 ELENCHI Examples of sophistry in translation of Le Chien (7)
(LE CHIEN)*
32 DIGIT Number to enjoy with that indefinable quality (5)
DIG (enjoy) + IT
33 AMESLAN Names changed around US city in local non-spoken lingo (7)
LA in NAMES* – AMErican Sign LANguage
34 TRIPPANT
(SKNEARFM)		 Time to tear and puff, like a deer walking? (8)
T + RIP + PANT
35 TUBE TV opening, not the first in retrospect (4)
Reverse of DEBUT less its first letter
36 CEORL Freeman of old confined to hospice or lazaretto (5)
Hidden in hospiCE OR Lazaretto
37 TEASERS A section in daubs presenting tricky questions (7)
A S in TEERS (daubs)
Down
1 POLJE Joint dividing terminal in limestone depression (5)
J in POLE
2 PUNCTA Quibble over cat getting caught out in tiny apertures (6)
PUN (quibble) + CAT*
3 ASTIR Stone found in spread, getting one roused (5)
ST in AIR
4 DOOLE Small portion, about nothing, causing distress once? (5)
O in DOLE (small portion) – a bit of a shame that DOOLE is a variant of DOLE in the sense of “distress”)
5 MESTO Extract from glummest opera, con dolore? (5)
Hidden in glumMEST Opera>Mesto and col dolore are both used in music to mean “sadly”
6 ANDEAN One dead old bear of the mountains (6)
AN + D + EAN (to give birth to, bear)
7 STEARIN Acidic compound as a rule kept in mug (7)
A R in STEIN
8 SMILE Vintage tot of whisky in favour (5)
Double definition
9 OBSTETRIC Midwife’s tending to cot’s tribe (9)
(COT’S TRIBE)
14 THREW Cast clear by the sound of it (5)
Sounds like “through”
15 SNAIL-LIKE Sluggish, I shall aye get caught by wretch (9)
I’LL I in SNAKE
18 RAYED Bust according to audience was radiant (5)
Sounds like “raid” (as in a police raid/bust)
19 PANNIER Waiter in robes displaying basket of goodies? (7)
Double definition
22 RECTAL I pulled out of concert midway? It’s to do with innards maybe (6)
REC[i]TAL
24 ÉVOLUÉ Develop, university replacing one volume, educated to an advanced level (6)
EVOLVE with one V changed to U[niversity]
25 SEGNO Indicator of repetition, part of longest turns (5)
Hidden in reverse of lONGESt; another musical term, it’s a sign (𝄋) used to indicate where a repeated section begins
26 CHART Monastery reuse abandoned table (5)
CHART[reuse]
28 ULEMA Expert theologians united over cooked meal (5)
U + MEAL*
29 VESTS Around opening of sale screens clothes (5)
S[ale] in VETS
30 ERNES Large bird has shortened old-fashioned longs (5)
ERNE (large bird) + ‘S (shortened “has”) – it’s a Spenserian variant of “yearns”, so “old-fashioned longs”

16 comments on “Azed 2740 – ‘Christmas Playfair’”

  1. Thanks Andrew,
    Not the hardest Playfair ever as you say, I should have got the keyword much sooner after pondering pianissimo etc.
    I understood the Chambers entry for TRIPPANT better after reading Wikipedia’s entry on Attitude (Heraldry) – fascinating.
    A slight error with the underlining for TUBE in the blog.
    Thanks as ever to Azed.

  2. I have not fared well with past Playfairs, but this time managed to deduce (assuming that W and Y did not move places in the square) that the sequence E-P-A-R had to be part of the codeword. I tried putting this sequence on the first line, but the only word that I could find that might work for that was “EPARCH,” which ultimately proved wrong. As I was getting ready for bed, it suddenly occurred to me that E-P-A-R could go on the second line of the square, and the answer followed swiftly from that, given the generous hint from the encoded solutions. Azed 2226 was before my time, so that repetition did not spoil the adventure for me. The blog looks good.

  3. Being in the USA, I have to print AZED’s crosswords, and my printer isn’t the best. In 19 Down, I formed an idea of the answer from ‘basket of goodies’ and from intersecting entries. Unfortunately, owing to a combination of bad eyes and a bad print-out, I read the first word of the clue as ‘Walker’. Of course, I assumed that this indicated ANNIE Walker from ‘Coronation Street’, thus providing me with the innards of the answer. Thereafter, I spent a quite ridiculous part of 2024 — hours that I will never get back — trying to figure out how ‘PR’ could suggested ‘robes’. In the end, I surrendered, entered PANNIER, and looked it up in Chambers; I’m still bruised from where I kicked myself. Thank to you and AZED (for the blog and crossword, not the bruising).

  4. I confess to using an online aid to derive the code word. Such assistance wasn’t available when I first encountered
    Playfair puzzles so I know that I can work them out manually – eventually, but life’s too short! I realised almost immediately that I had tried to devise a clue for DOUBLEPARKING previously, and it wasn’t long before I found confirmation on the (now no longer current) &lit website.

    I decided not to look at the successful clues from the previous competition until after I had submitted my own entry, and devised one that exploited the fact that the letters KEIR appeared in the code word, being confident that this was unlikely to have been topical in 2015. I no longer have a record of my (unsuccessful) submission to the previous competition.

    But I think it means that this competition has little validity. Will Azed accept clues that are similar to successful ones from 2015? Or will he rule them out? It’s an invidious dilemma, made worse by the fact that prizes for the Christmas competition are more generous than for the regular ones.

  5. I feel your pain WardL @3 with the small type, not only with reading clues properly, but trying to work out clue numbers in the grid.

    I don’t remember having any major difficulties with this one. I was aware of the previous use of the clue word, but like bridgesong @4 I avoided checking previous clues until I was happy with my own clue. I was nowhere near any of the previous ones. I’m not sure what the future of the &lit website is but it’s a fabulous resource. The re-use of a competition word has happened before… see the slip for 2064

  6. Generally straightforward clues, especially the ones to be encoded, but I took a ridiculously long time to get the Playfair word, despite having noticed the recurring PP as a hint. Couple of quibbles: 2dn – why “caught out”? I would have expected that to lead either to AT (CAT without C) or to an anagram of CAT ‘caught’ inside a synonym for quibble. As it is, CAT is simply ‘out’. 8dn: Chambers’definition of SMILE as a verb includes “to drink, esp. whisky”, but as a noun it’s defined simply as “a drink”, so “of whisky” in the clue is a tad superfluous/misleading. But overall, a nice bit of fun for the festive period.

  7. Didn’t finish this. By Christmas Eve there were only a few uncoded answers to get but I had other things to do over Christmas and didn’t get back to it. As cold solving isn’t my strong point, I didn’t start the coded answers.

  8. I had been anticipating APPAIR; but maybe that would have been a hint too far…
    It’s the first Playfair I’ve ever solved so I, for one, will remember it fondly.

  9. According to today’s Observer, the results will now be announced on Sunday 19 January.
    It was originally 5 January so I don’t know if that means the closing date has been extended by yet another week. Might just be that Azed is taking a break.

  10. Has there been an official update to the closing date? I see the results will be in the paper on the 19th, and they usually follow about two weeks after the close.
    Agree that the cluing was kind as usual to allow the necessary cold solving. Solved the Playfair by hand using Roz’s Scrabble tile aid, despite missing the hint completely.
    Thanks to Azed and Andrew, and belated wishes for a happy New Year to all.

  12. ^ 🙂 I think you’re probably right, Tim. The closing date was this weekend and the results schedule is resetting itself.

  13. Glad to see a few old friends here. I thoroughly enjoyed this as the last Playfair beat me- I think it is the only Azed I’ve been beaten by. I could not believe that P could be on line 5. I certainly didn’t spot the history.
    Happy New Year! If I last that long I hope to see you in May.

  14. The use of a previous clue word, plus the confusion about the closing date for entries and the date of the results announcement, is sadly indicative of an increasing lack of care. I don’t know where responsibility lies, but it’s disappointing and frustrating. I submitted a somewhat rushed entry to meet the original deadline; what’s the use of telling us the deadline has been extended after the original one has passed? It might encourage one or two additional entrants, but it hardly helps those who’ve already submitted and, like me I suspect, spent less time on their clue than they might normally. It’s never wise to try and second guess that an error has been made, and I didn’t take that risk.

  15. I was a bit disappointed with this , I think it is the first time that Azed has told us that the coded answers give a hint to the codeword , it is usually true but I do not recall him saying so before. Once I got the PP in each I remembered the DOUBLE-PARKING from before so did not have to mess with the square at all . When I encoded the entries I noticed a lot of repetition and thought it would have been very tricky to get the codeword working backwards in the normal way , which is the bit I like best . Unfortunately a combination of factors made it all too easy for a Christmas Special .

  16. Roz – Azed used very similar words about the PP hint in #2226 – “Each of the encoded words contains a hint to identifying the codeword.” (This time it was “Each of the answers to italicized clues provides a hint to the code word.)

Comments are closed.