We have a plain puzzle from Azed this week
I entered TOM-TOM fairly confidently at 20 across, thinking that ‘kite’ referred to the American professional golfer TOM Kite [born 1949], but discovered later on that neither of the Os seemed to work for 21 or 22 down. After a study of the dictionary , I found that ‘kite’ can mean paunch, belly, stomach [TUM] so I changed TOM-TOM to TUM-TUM and solved 21 and 22 down. I note that TAM-TAM also means the same as TOM-TOM and TUM-TUM.
The 45 in 7 down also confused me for a bit as I associate 45 with Donald Trump’s first term as the 45th President of the United States. It’s a long time since I have used 33, 45 or 78 when referring to musical records.
Apart from these initial misinterpretations on my part the rest of the puzzle was built from dictionary checks for meanings of possible entries or constituent parts. I found the whole puzzle more difficult than the majority of Azed’s I have solved.
As ever, I learnt a number of new words as I built up the grid, CHAEBOLS, BEDES, COSMOPLASTIC and DOOLE being the most obscure for me.
| No | Detail |
| Across | |
| 1 | E. Asian business conglomerates, each crooked boor backed (8)
CHAEBOLS (large business conglomerates in South Korea, part of East Asia) Anagram of (crooked) EACH + SLOB (a boor) reversed (backed) CHAE* BOLS< |
| 11 | Child about to take meal time – she may be assisting (9)
MIDINETTE (a young female worker, especially a shop assistant, in the Paris fashion or millinery business; she may be assisting) MITE (small child) containing (about) (DINE [take meal] + T [time]) MI (DINE T) TE |
| 12 | Depressed about press release formerly broadcast (5)
SPRAD (obsolete [formerly] word for spread or broadcast) SAD (depressed) containing (about) PR (press release) S (PR) AD |
| 13 | Team displaying sign of distinction (5)
SPURS (reference the football team Tottenham Hotspur, known as the SPURS) SPURS (reference the phrase ‘win one’s SPURS‘ [achieve a distinction]) double definition SPURS |
| 14 | Material for a warm coat requiring money John put on? (6)
MELTON (a strong cloth for overcoats; material for a warm coat) M (money) + ELTON (reference the singer songwriter ELTON John [born 1947]) M ELTON |
| 15 | Love song, touching, received by an Irish lass (6)
AMORET (a love sonnet or song) RE (concerning; touching) contained in (received by) (A + MOT [Irish slang for a girl or young woman, especially a girlfriend]) A MO (RE) T |
| 18 | Shortened, delivering a cut with both hands possibly (6)
CURTAL (docked or shortened) Anagram of (possibly) A CUT and R [right [hand]) and L [left [hand]) CURTAL* |
| 19 | Heathen of old, a little devil back to front (5)
PANIM (Miltonian spelling of PAYNIM [obsolete [of old] term for a heathen) AN IMP (a little devil) with the final letter (last) P moved to the first place (to front) to form PANIM PANIM |
| 20 | Double kite? It’ll take some beating (6)
TUM-TUM (alternative spelling of TOM-TOM [a Native American or oriental drum played with the hands]) TUM (stomach; KITE can be defined as paunch or belly) + TUM (stomach; KITE can be defined as paunch or belly) giving double kite. TUM TUM |
| 23 | Like a victim of Heracles, loveless one, malicious (6)
NEMEAN (the NEMEAN lion was a monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. Eventually, it was killed by Heracles) ONE excluding (-less) O (character representing zero [love score at tennis]) + MEAN (malicious) NE MEAN |
| 24 | Collects earth in county briefly (5)
BEDES (prayers; collects [here, collect is a noun] are also prayers) E (earth) contained in (in) BEDS (abbreviation [briefly] for Bedfordshire) BED (E) S |
| 25 | Part of sum dad scattered round study (6)
ADDEND (a number or quantity added as part of a sum) Anagram of (scattered) DAD containing (round) DEN (study) AD (END) D* |
| 29 | True Eastern comfort (6)
SOOTHE (comfort) SOOTH (true) + E (Eastern) SOOTH E |
| 30 | Lowland stream returns alongside lake (6)
LALLAN (lowland) L (lake) + NALLA (alternative spelling of NULLA [stream or drain]) reversed (returns) L ALLAN< |
| 32 | Such as Priam, first among the royalty of Ilian capital (5)
TROIC (Trojan, Priam was a Trojan king) TROIC (first letters of [first among] each of THE, ROYALTY, OF, ILIAN and CAPITAL) T R O I C |
| 33 | Greeting of old one received in US mass? (5)
SALUE (obsolete [of old] form of salute [a greeting]) A (one) contained in (received in) SLUE (American [US] term for a large number or amount [mass]) S (A) LUE |
| 34 | Millet ground through being coarse (9, 2 words)
ILL TEMPER (being rude; being coarse) Anagram of (ground) MILLET + PER (through) ILL TEM* PER |
| 35 | Large number of birds die clutching old claw (8)
PASSERES (an old order of birds comprising more than half of all the birds; large number of birds) PASS (die) containing (clutching) SERE (obsolete [old] term for a claw) PAS (SERE) S |
| Down | |
| 1 | MO’s reinvented operation, in being divided into parts, world-forming (12)
COSMOPLASTIC (moulding or forming the universe; world-forming) (Anagram of [reinvented] MO’S + OP [operation]) all contained in (in) CLASTIC ([being] divided or divisible into parts) C (OSM* OP) LASTIC |
| 2 | Sales gimmick created by pushy person (4)
HYPE (sales gimmick) HYPE (hidden word in [created by] PUSHY PERSON) HYPE |
| 3 | Means of travel describing crack (not the first)? (7)
AIRLINE (company offering a means of travel) HAIRLINE (very thin crack) excluding the first letter (not the first) AIRLINE |
| 4 | Water bottle, maybe, to aim for in sale? (5)
BIDON (container for liquids, such as a water bottle) BID ON (what you might do if you want to buy an item at an auction sale) BID ON |
| 5 | Predaceous insects? Tailless one swallowed by a toad, jumping (7)
ODONATA (the dragonfly order of predaceous insects) ONE excluding the final letter (tailless) and contained in (swallowed by) an anagram of (jumping) A TOAD OD (ON) ATA* |
| 6 | It’s activated by electromagnetic waves on leaving graduate college (5)
LINAC (linear accelerator [an apparatus in which electrons are accelerated while travelling down a metal tube or tubes, eg by means of electromagnetic waves]) LINACRE (a graduate College of the University of Oxford) excluding (leaving) RE (concerning; on) LINAC |
| 7 | Legman, 45, taken in by conman (8)
REPORTER (a legman can be defined as a newspaper REPORTER) EP (an EP [Extended Play] record is played at 45 revolutions per minute and was known in the past as a 45) contained in (in) RORTER (a con man) R (EP) ORTER |
| 8 | Trouble, often in Glasgow, raised sign of impatience locally about rector (5)
STURT (Scottish [Glasgow] word for trouble) (TUTS [sign of impatience, used as a plural in Scotland [local to Glasgow]) reversed (raised; down entry) containing (about) R (rector) ST (R) UT< |
| 9 | Remaster edited major headline (8)
STREAMER (a large bold headline in a newspaper) Anagram of (edited) REMASTER STREAMER* |
| 10 | Be still losing head and being fidgety (12)
RESTLESSNESS (state of never being still, therefore being fidgety) REST (be still) + LESS (losing) + NESS (head[land]) REST LESS NESS |
| 16 | Artistic oval panel Roman lad designed (8)
MANDORLA (an oval panel, or a work of art filling one) Anagram of (redesigned) ROMAN LAD MANDORLA* |
| 17 | Mineral I came across in very small amount (8)
MIMETITE (a mineral, lead arsenate and chloride) (I + MET [came across]) contained in (in) MITE (very small amount) M (I MET) ITE |
| 21 | State with cheek in America is getting detached (7)
UNCLIPS (getting detached) (NC [North Carolina, American State] + LIP [cheek]) all contained in (in) US (United States; America) U (NC LIP) S |
| 22 | Slab in centre of Bury portraying estate holder (7)
UDALLER (a holder of a feudal estate) DALLE (a decorative slab) contained in (in) UR (middle letters of [centre] of BURY) U (DALLE) R |
| 26 | Dutch blended oleo – was it weeping? (5)
DOOLE (obsolete [was] word for pain or grief which might involve weeping) D (Dutch) + an anagram of (blended) OLEO D OOLE* |
| 27 | Not all hide from Spiderman! (5)
DERMA (true skin or hide) DERMA (hidden word in [not all {of}] SPIDERMAN) DERMA |
| 28 | Lace trimmings cad cut for suits? (5)
CASES (legal suits) CASCADES (lace trimmings) excluding (cut) CAD CASES |
| 31 | Bit of old French fabric, a madame’s article (4)
AUNE (an old French measure of length (especially of fabric)) A + UNE (female indefinite article in French [madame]) A UNE |
Thanks Azed and Duncan
20ac: I too put TOM-TOM in at first, but on reflection I do not think that Azed would use a lower case k to refer to Tom Kite.
MIDINETTE we had a few days earlier in the Guardian Pasquale 29,586 with “Saleswoman in eating area by motorway”.
I remember playing some 78s, but that was at least 60 years ago.
Thanks for the blog , managed to avoid tom-tom because I looked at UNCLIPS first of all as Azed noted it.
CHAEBOLS not in Chambers93 but the wordplay was clear .
CURTAL earned a very severe and direct Paddington stare .
LINAC is a very poor definition , in Chambers so Azed has full cover . The most famous is at Stanford .
Thanks Azed and Duncan
I agree this was tougher than last few Plains. The SE corner held out for quite a while.
It has made it to Chambers app
chaebol /chā’bol/
noun (pl chae’bol or chae’bols)
A large business conglomerate in South Korea, orig one that was family-owned
ORIGIN: Korean chae wealth, and bōl powerful family; from Middle Chin
The breadth of some of the chaebols is staggering – a South Korean colleague once averred that every won one earned and spent / every item required could be at Hyundai; from cradle to grave, dawn to dusk, work and play. Very alien to my UK sensibilities
Matthew@4: Thank you for the additional information about chaebols. The definition and origin of the word can be found (on page 258) in the latest printed edition of Chambers, the 2016 edition as recommended by Azed. Roz@3 was referring to the 1993 edition, the oldest edition to use the name The Chambers Dictionary.
Chaebol is in the 2011 Chambers.
I also found this puzzle quite demanding, especially the SE corner, mainly because I was fixated on Salve for 33ac. I mostly do crosswords last thing at night and first thing in the morning, and generally finish AZED by Tuesday at the latest, but this time it was not till I was drinking my morning tea on Saturday that I thought of trying a U instead of a V.
Is there a grammatical query about 34 ac? I would have thought that ill-temper is rudeness or coarseness,, and that being rude or coarse would be ill-tempered.
Thanks to AZED for a week’s entertainment and to Duncanshiell for the blog.
You’re correct Pelham Barton @5 about the 1993 edition being the oldest edition to use the name “The Chambers Dictionary“. My 1983 edition is called “The Chambers 20th Century Dictionary“. 🙂
nonafi @6, English grammar is not one of my strong points, but I think the word “being” in the clue is the way that Azed avoids the grammatical problem. The noun ‘coarse’ (ill tempered) is transformed into a present participle by ‘being’. So “She was being coarse” is equivalent to “She was ill tempered”. At least that’s the way I took it.
ILL TEMPER
Doesn’t ‘being coarse’ here mean the ‘quality of being coarse’/coarseness’?
I knew UDALLER from somewhere so I thing I entered that early, and was not caught out by TUM TUM.
CASES was the one that got me. Didn’t thing to look up CASCADES.
DOOLE appeared less than a month ago, I’m sure.
Why I kept on typing “think” as “thing” I don’t know. 🙂
Tim C: Thank you for the information at comment 7. In comment 8, you have explained how “being coarse” could define the adjective ILL-TEMPERED. However, to get the noun phrase ILL TEMPER as the answer to 34ac, we must take “being” as a verbal noun (gerund) as noted by KVa@9.
AP@11: Well spotted. DOOLE is actually at 4dn in Azed 2740, whose answers were printed next to the clues for this crossword. Of course, you would have to be looking for it.
A few quibbles. 24ac: A collect is a type of prayer and BEDES means prayers – but that doesn’t make BEDES and collects synonymous. Azed seems to do this quite often. 32ac: “first among” – I wasn’t sure that “among” really signified take the first letters of each of the following words. 2dn: not sure that “created by” was appropriate to mean “hidden in”.
For “45” in 7dn, I thought of Colt and then of EP. I guess it’s an age thing, although the song “Brimful of Asha” by Cornershop references a 45 and that was as recent as 1997.
I agree that this was trickier than recent Azeds. I knew of the “kite”/”stomach” correspondence from this old musichall song.
Roz@3, good to have you here to give the physicist’s view of the world – so many of C’s technical definitions manage to miss the essentials of the thing “defined”. The graduate college reference was a bit obscure too, even for an alumnus.
I’m surprised no one’s backing up Roz re CURTAL. I shall. Just because it’s been used before does not make it acceptable. I made this up (and it didn’t take long):
See you! Gone: that’s the end of Labuschagne, caught, with both hands possibly, back of square (6)
Solution below. Don’t spend long on it: it’s not worth it. That’s the point: it’s not worth spending much time on Azed’s clue either. And I find that sad. I have tried to “transpose”, as it were, Azed’s own parsing of CURTAL.
I too found this more challenging. Partly because I got 1Dn immediately and so wandered off instead of going through the clues in order.
I have a large collection of vinyl and at least some of my 7” are not singles and I’d call them EPs. Some run at 33rpm. Chambers is not much help so let us allow Azed licence. The same with LINAC: many of the technical terms from science, philosophy, religion and elsewhere must be brutes to clue so I’ll be grateful for the many brilliant clues and put up with the odd LINAC.
Back to my clue. It’s straighforward. LabuschagnE, Caught, back of squarE. Azed’s anagram indicator is ‘delivering’ which I will allow as ‘setting free’. Mine is ‘gone’ in the sense of ‘delirious’, which at least is in Chambers Crossword Dictionary. The other letters are H R and S. They come from ‘HouR hand’ and ‘Second hand’, which are at least ‘hands’. I do not understand why ‘both hands, possibly’ should be allowed as a clue to ‘right’ and ‘left’, which are themselves clues to ‘R’ and ‘L’. So we already have clues to clues. ‘Both ears, possibly’. Why not? Right and left traffic lights? Right wing and left wing politicians, footballers? If you’re allowing hands then you have to allow all these words as well. It’s a nightmare.
If Azed is allowed this behaviour, I’ll claim that I will have ‘hour’. Note that that is both H and HR. Also second is both S and SEC. I hope Mr Thomas will be along with his maths to tell us exactly how many combinations these letters make. (It’s at least 6! which is 720 so it’s no wonder I could come up with a clue quickly.)
If we allow this to carry on, we’ll be back in Torquemada days. Azed will be putting out his slip: “only one solution this week and even that was wrong…” Is that what we want?
The letters are E C E H R S and you have to make an anagram of them.
See you!
Stefan
As usual I may be too late for anyone to read these ramblings. Welcome all and thanks to Azed and duncanshiell.
Don’t remember finding this any harder than usual. My (coverless and tattered) ancient Chambers does give CHAEBOLS..
CURTAL was familiar (Friar Tuck was a curtal friar). “Both hands” seems fair enough for RL. Lesser setters use “state” as one of the 50 in the USA, more than the letters in the alphabet. Indian states would certainly test us.
Maths-wise 2743 is not prime.
MS@16: I took the anagram indicator for CURTAL to be “possibly” or, better, “delivering….possibly”. I didn’t like the clue, but I didn’t mention it because I thought Roz@3 had said it as well as anyone could.