A slightly tougher than normal plain Azed…
…at least in this blogger’s opinion. I think I have managed to parse everything.
Thanks Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | ORTHOSIS |
What’ll improve movement? Ordinary adjustable shorts I’ll get into (8)
|
| O (Ordinary, as in O levels) + I will get into *(shorts) [anag:adjustable] | ||
| 11 | RECONTINUE |
Against boarding train last again (10)
|
| CON (“against”) boarding RETINUE (“train”)
I think “continue” in the sense of “last” indicates a level of consistency, and recontinue would therefore imply that the consistent streak has been broken and then resumed, so I don’t know if “last again” is an appropriate definition. |
||
| 12 | LOONY |
Office once close, one’s unhinged (5)
|
| LOO (“office”, synonyms for lavatory) + NY (old variation of nigh, so “once close”) | ||
| 13 | CONIMA |
Fragrant resin, a product of manioc (6)
|
| *(manioc) [anag:a product of] | ||
| 14 | SPUNGE |
Old-fashioned Madeira? One’s entranced by its pungency (6)
|
| Hidden in [entranced by] “itS PUNGEncy” | ||
| 15 | FUTON |
Forward, involved in enjoyment in mattress (5)
|
| TO (“forward”) involved in FUN (“enjoyment”) | ||
| 16 | BRAZENRY |
Around Rex, Basil and ‘Arry there’s some nerve (8)
|
| BAZ (Barry) and ‘ENRY (‘Arry) around R (Rex) | ||
| 18 | ELENCH |
Essential to Helen, charming old-style sophistry (6)
|
| Hidden in [essential to] “hELEN CHarming” | ||
| 20 | STOTS |
Stokes drinking cups in highland springs (5)
|
| S (stokes, the CGS unit of kinematic viscosity in physics) + TOTS (small “drinking cups”)
“stot” is a Scots word for “bound or spring”. |
||
| 22 | DORSA |
By day oars plied backs (5)
|
| By D (day), *(oars) [anag:plied] | ||
| 24 | POSTIE |
Fully convinced by marriage, one makes regular deliveries (6)
|
| POS (positive, so “fully convinced”) by TIE (“marriage”) | ||
| 26 | SCEATTAS |
Variety of tat in assorted cases: very old coins (8)
|
| *(tat) [anag:variety of] in *(cases) [anag:assorted] | ||
| 28 | TENUE |
Anger once with upper-class being crammed in carriage (5)
|
| TENE (old word for “anger”) with U (upper-class) being crammed in | ||
| 30 | ULNARE |
The old practice round lane almost damaged bone (6)
|
| URE (“old” word for “practice”) round *(lan) [anag:damaged] where LAN is LAN(e) [almost] | ||
| 31 | ARILLI |
Seed coverings I found behind a small trench (6)
|
| I found behind A + RILL (“small trench”) | ||
| 32 | VATIC |
One leaves Rome inspired? (5)
|
| AN (“one”) leaves VATIC(an) (“Rome”) | ||
| 33 | MARIONETTE |
Mete ration out? It doesn’t work without strings attached (10)
|
| *(mete ration) [anag:out] | ||
| 34 | MENHADEN |
Herring of a kind? Chaps took a measure (8)
|
| MEN (“chaps”) + HAD (“took”) + EN (a printer’s “measure”) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | OILSEED |
What may accompany rape? Crooked idol judge imprisoned (7)
|
| *(idol) [anag:crooked] with SEE (“judge”) imprisoned | ||
| 2 | RHOPALOCERAL |
Butterfly’s maybe blended a pallor with ochre (12)
|
| *(a pallor ochre) [anag:blended]
Rhopaloceral is the adjectival form of Rhopalocera (a sub-order of insects with clubbed antennae) |
||
| 3 | TROUVERE |
Epic poet (8)
|
| Azed wants us to come up with a cryptic clue for TROUVERE | ||
| 4 | HENNIN |
Woman, note, wearing medieval-style hat (6)
|
| HEN (“woman”) + N (note) + IN (“wearing”) | ||
| 5 | SOLER |
Upper room offering exclusive opening to roof (5)
|
| SOLE (“exclusive”) + [opening to] R(oof) | ||
| 6 | INCLASP |
Embrace including pals, with a shake (7)
|
| inc. (including) + *(pals) [anag:with a shake] | ||
| 7 | MINUET |
Slow piece of music? That could be me with lilting tune (6)
|
| MI (“that could be me”) with *(tune) [anag:lilting] | ||
| 8 | KNIT |
Outfit including new jumper maybe (4)
|
| KIT (“outfit”) including N (new) | ||
| 9 | DUMORTIERITE |
Gemstone, Tudor, I’m flashing with English ceremony (12)
|
| *(tudor im) [anag:flashing] with E (English) + RITE (“ceremony”) | ||
| 10 | LEANY |
Poet’s slight one lying in meadow (5)
|
| AN (“one”) lying in LEY (“meadow” or more accurately fallow land) | ||
| 17 | NOT-PATED |
Like poet’s close cut – as Dante with with top trimmed? (8)
|
| *(dante top) [anag:trimmed] | ||
| 19 | HOT LINE |
Special link installed in redesigned hotel (7, 1 word or 2)
|
| IN installed in *(hotel) [anag:redesigned] | ||
| 21 | SENECAN |
Like a philosopher, even in the course of scrutiny (7)
|
| ENE (“even”, alternative to e’en) in the course of SCAN (“scrutiny”) | 23 | SAULIE |
Scottish person, that is one who was paid to grieve (6)
|
| SAUL (Scots form of soul, so “Scottish person”) + i.e. (id est, or “that is”) and &lit. | ||
| 25 | SONATA |
Musical piece, one penned by German singer (not good) (6)
|
| A (“one”) penned by (Henriette) SONTA(g) (“German” opera “singer”, 1806-54, not G (good) | ||
| 26 | STAMP |
Cast section pack round (5)
|
| S (section) + TAMP (“pack round”) | ||
| 27 | AUDEN |
Poet, nameless, about due for rediscovery? (5)
|
| an. (anonymous, so “nameless”) about *(due) [anag:for discovery] | ||
| 29 | NIRL |
King captivated by love for wee dwarf (4)
|
| R (Rex, so “king”) captivated by NIL (love, in tennis). Nirl is a Scots word for a stunted person, hence “wee dwarf” |
||
Thanks for the blog , I have similar thoughts for RECONTINUE , it sort of works .
STOTS , the lambs are stotting at the moment , they bounce on all four feet , the cgs unit stokes has symbol St ( since at least 1960 ) but blame Chambers , not Azed .
INCLASP , I was not impressed by the INC .
I like the feature on the new site which tells you when you have completed it correctly. With AZED there are so many odd variants and alternate spellings possible that it is nice to know when you have reached the definitive end-point. Madeira, I was stuck on the wine and forgot about the cake, never heard of stokes as a unit in physics, one stokes, two stokes presumably rather than one stoke, two stokes.
Otherwise, sitting with the dictionary, I got it finished in one sitting.
Thanks to both.
Now that the new Azed is up, last week’s grid with all my answers has disappeared, but (from memory) I missed LOONY, SPUNGE (yes, I thought of the island and the wine but not the cake), BRAZENRY, ULNARE, VATIC, MENHADEN (I was trying to put MEN at the end), TROUVERE, LEANY and NOT-PATED, and had SOLAR. As a new Azed solver, the Observer website doesn’t explain the significance of the starred clue for TROUVERE.
I experimented by first solving the puzzle with pencil and paper, then transferring my answers to the online grid, completing the puzzle in a very impressive 5.25 minutes 😉, before printing out the grid to attach to my clue for TROUVERE. Should make Azed’s task of checking the grid a little easier.
My only issue with the actual puzzle was a delay caused by entering the more familiar spelling SOLAR at 5dn, until I realised my mistake.
Gladys @3: you’re right, but of course you also have the option of looking at the pdf, where the special instructions are visible.
Gladys@3 , once a month Azed has a Prize Competition puzzle . The clue with an asterisk is a straight definition . Solvers have to invent a cryptic clue for this and send it with their entry .
Azed selects the best three .
SZJoe@ 2 definitely 1 stokes , named after George Gilbert . For some reason the USA uses stoke for all values .
What changed in the 1960s Roz @1? I’ve just had a look at my old lecture notes and text books from London Uni in the late 1970s and they use S (or really cS as a more practical unit) for Stokes. The fashion has obviously changed.
gladys@3, is it worth printing (or “print to pdf” to save paper) so you have a record of what your solution was? I’m old school so solve on the printed pdf.
TimC@6: I think for the moment I will have to try to remember to do a print of the “story so far” on Saturday: I have the Azed going on and off all week and have yet to finish one.
Gladys@7, I’ve been taking a screen shots of completed Azed and Everyman puzzles so that I have something to refer to when the blog comes out. To read any special instructions you need to open the pdf file of the puzzle which is under the interactive version on the Observer site.
Tim@6 – The eleventh CGPM (1960 ) , a fascinating document . I was too excited to check back any earlier .
If the kinematic viscosity fraternity are a fractious bunch, I can see why they abandoned the stokes/stoke unit which must have been the cause of many time-wasting disagreements. Also, it sounds more like it should have something to do with boilers. ‘The fireman had to operate at 50 stokes (stokes/hr?) when the locomotive was moving at top speed.’
Roz@1, my Chambers ’98 gives inc. as an abbreviation for including. I haven’t marked any clues this week; there were some that stumped me for a while, but none I considered dodgy.
Greetings all. Had sufficiently recovered from my recent mini-stroke to solve this and send in a cobbled-up clue. Thought TROUVERE was a kindly choice to test our skill. Had to put Champagne in somewhere!
Cannot recognise the Observer in its new format though at least we haven’t lost John Naughton. Have taken the paper since 1956 when it was attacking the shameful Suez episode