This is the first Azed competition puzzle for which entries may be submitted electronically from within the UK.
A relatively straightforward plain puzzle for the July competition, although there is one answer that I haven’t fully parsed to my satisfaction. Although I still subscribe to the printed newspaper, I solved this puzzle online (using an iPad), which created some additional difficulties. For some reason, the enumerations on the online version omitted the phrase “2 words” for clues such as 10 across, making the solve somewhat more difficult. I have drawn this error to the attention of The Observer. Update: today’s Puzzle No 1 by Gemelo appears to have appropriate enumerations.
I certainly appreciate being able to submit entries to competitions online, saving the (not insignificant) cost of a stamp, and eliminating the fear of my entry having been lost in the post. My entry for the June competition must have arrived safely, as I gained a rare VHC for it: the first that I have achieved for a considerable time.
In his (much delayed) slip for that competition Azed set out the new arrangements which are in force from now on. Ordinary weekly puzzles will now be set by Colin Thomas, under the name of Gemelo, but Azed (Jonathan Crowther) will continue to set and mark the monthly clue-writing competitions. Azed welcomes this sharing of the burden and I for one look forward to tackling the Gemelo puzzles. Colin, under the pseudonym of Twin, is now the First Test Solver for Magpie magazine and has also set for The Times. His puzzles can be very ingenious.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | WIGHT |
Old person, carelessly lax inside, snuffed out taper (5)
|
| W(ax l)IGHT (taper). I found this impossible to parse until I found wax light as a synonym for taper in Chambers Crossword Dictionary. | ||
| 5 | SAMADHI |
I’m a sadhu, endlessly transported in yogic meditation (7)
|
| *(I’M A SADH(u)). | ||
| 10 | IDAEAN VINE |
Whortleberry, source of an idea when opening grapery (10, 2 words)
|
| I’m not sure about this; it seems to be an anagram of AN IDEA, followed by VINE (grapery?). But that doesn’t adequately explain “when opening”, or even “source of”. | ||
| 12 | POPSICLE |
Greek character, see, in boom making lolly (8)
|
| PSI (Greek character) C (see) in POLE (boom). | ||
| 13 | EMBREWE |
Beverage imbibed by uncle in the past, the old soak (7)
|
| BREW (beverage) inside EME (obsolete word meaning uncle). | ||
| 14 | MOLA |
Fish end of tooth broken off (4)
|
| MOLA(r) (tooth). | ||
| 15 | GAULT |
3-part area, tons in brick-earth (5)
|
| GAUL (famously divided into three parts by Julius Caesar), T(ons). | ||
| 16 | BOATEL |
Riverside inn serving little over in varied table (6)
|
| O(ver) in *TABLE. | ||
| 19 | COSTARD |
Apple sauce? Nothing replaces second ingredient (7)
|
| CUSTARD (sauce) with O (nothing) for the second letter (U). | ||
| 22 | BLITTER |
Chip left in beer (7)
|
| L(eft) in BITTER (beer). | ||
| 24 | SMARTY |
Clever clogs? One often goes with pants or boots (6)
|
| An allusive definition, referring to the compounds smartypants and smarty-boots. | ||
| 26 | UNGOT |
Obscure tongue (not English) disowned (5)
|
| *TONGU(e). | ||
| 27 | COHO |
Salmon in group with similar character? Not right (4)
|
| COHO(rt) (group with similar character). | ||
| 28 | SEA HARE |
Marine gastropod that’s surprising when it’s dry outside (7, 2 words)
|
| AHA (that’s surprising) inside SERE (dry). | ||
| 30 | OUTDOORS |
Formerly abroad, we Scots will settle in Stroud strangely (8)
|
| OO (Scots form of “we”) inside *STROUD. | ||
| 31 | FLAIL ABOUT |
Trouble in evidence of overweight, hence thresh around (10, 2 words)
|
| AIL (trouble) in FLAB OUT (evidence of overweight). | ||
| 32 | SHREDDY |
Toss around rubbish in scraps (7)
|
| REDD (rubbish) in SHY (toss). | ||
| 33 | ROPES |
Climbing parties? Knowledge of them indicates familiarity with procedure (5)
|
| Cryptic definition: one who knows the ropes is familiar with procedure. This use of rope to mean a climbing party roped together is to be found in Chambers. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | WIDEGAB |
Scottish angler put off by a big dew (7)
|
| *(A BIG DEW). A Scottish term for the angler, a wide-mouthed fish. | ||
| 2 | GAMBUSIA |
Fish bearing live young? You’ll find us in African country (8)
|
| US in (The) GAMBIA. I had the pleasure of visiting The Gambia a few years ago and learned that the country adopted the prefix “The” to avoid confusion with Zambia. | ||
| 3 | HEIR |
Spread by the sound of it what’s often attached to loom (4)
|
| Homophone of AIR (spread) and cryptic definition (HEIRloom). | ||
| 4 | TAPETI |
Type of rabbit – what might that be in Pacific tree? (6)
|
| A PET inside TI (a Pacific tree). | ||
| 5 | SNOW-ICE |
Winter driving hazard currently skirted by chauffeur (7)
|
| NOW inside SICE (a chauffeur). | ||
| 6 | MISGO |
Stray bit of garlic found in soy-based paste (5)
|
| G(arlic) inside MISO (soy-based paste). | ||
| 7 | ANIMATO |
Jig-like dancing on a mat round Italy (7)
|
| I(taly) inside *(ON A MAT). | ||
| 8 | HELLERWORK |
Therapeutic exercise, such as Catch-22? (10)
|
| A reference to Joseph Heller’s 1961 satirical masterpiece, and the name of a therapeutic exercise named after an unrelated (so far as I can tell) Joseph Heller. | ||
| 9 | IDEAL |
First player is on my left? Perfect (5)
|
| I DEAL; in most card games, such as bridge, play proceeds clockwise, so after the cards have been dealt the player on the dealer’s left plays first (in fact, in bridge it is the dealer who goes first). | ||
| 11 | SMALLMOUTH |
Freshwater fish? Not what angler displays! (10)
|
| Cryptic definition. | ||
| 17 | TARGA TOP |
Unusual goat-trap displaying detachable cover (8, 2 words)
|
| *GOAT TRAP. | ||
| 18 | STRODLE |
Taking gee out flexed legs round old track, i.e. part them wide (7)
|
| TROD (old word meaning track) inside *LE(g)S. | ||
| 20 | ORDERLY |
Tidy (7)
|
| The competition word. | ||
| 21 | DETENTS |
Busy, in brief, sent abroad, we’ll regulate strikes (7)
|
| DET(ective) (busy) *SENT. They are catches for regulating the movement of a clock. | ||
| 23 | QUASAR |
Distant source of radiation in the capacity of timeless heavenly body (6)
|
| QUA (in the capacity of) S(t)AR. | ||
| 24 | SCOWS |
Canal boats are chastening with steamer around (5)
|
| COW (chasten) inside SS (steamship). | ||
| 25 | TROAD |
The N. English thoroughfare? A path of yesteryear (5)
|
| T’ ROAD (t’ for “the” is a Northern English usage). | ||
| 29 | HOBO |
Hot oil carrier or tramp (4)
|
| H(ot) OBO (vessel designed to carry oil). |
Good job on the blog. I had the same confusion about 5A, and ultimately resorted to dictionary-bashing to find the solution. I solve this on paper, and the PDF version had some typos/variants in the clues.
Should this be up on here given that the closing date for online entries is tomorrow?
Tim C; you’re quite right. I’d missed the new closing date, but as this is a clue-writing competition, I don’t believe that entrants are going to be particularly advantaged by seeing (what I believe are) the correct answers to the other clues. I’ll make sure that we get it right in future.
IDAEAN VINE
Is it a sort of reverse clue?
IDAEAN is a source of AN IDEA
IDAEN when opening/introducing VINE.
KVa @4: that seems plausible. But Chambers defines “grapery “ as “a building or place where grapes are grown”; hard to define a vine as a place.
Fair enough bridgesong @3. I find their closing date (“before midnight on the Monday that is one week after the publication of that month’s Azed puzzle”) ambiguous anyway as there are two midnights associated with Monday.
I also thought IDAEAN VINE was a bit of an odd clue and can’t shed any light on ‘opening’ as an anagram indicator or ‘grapery’.
For 10ac, I thought the same as KVa@4, but “source of” is hardly a decent anagram indicator and grapery/vine is dodgy, as Bridgesong says. I also thought 1ac was contorted, as the wordplay actually amounts to taper (ie WAX LIGHT) with “carelessly lax” taken away (“snuffed out”). I had a further query on 22ac: BLITTER seems to be defined as a circuit or coprocessor, which is not the same as a chip (which may carry a circuit). But someone who knows more than I do about IT (not hard!) may be able to explain it.
This puzzle was distinctly fishy: 14ac, 27ac, 1dn, 2dn and 11dn! Is angling one of Azed’s hobbies?
Thanks, bridgesong. Can’t offer any help on IDAEAN VINE but in 31a I’d suggest that FLAB alone is ‘evidence of overweight’ and OUT = hence, as in ‘Get thee hence!’
I remember little about this puzzle except that, doing it on paper, I’d entered COSTARD correctly, but when trying to solve 21dn, I misread the D as an O. Took me ages to see where I was going wrong. One advantage of doing online, I suppose.
Those who don’t subscribe to the paper may find this interview feature of interest: https://observer.co.uk/culture/interviews/article/in-setting-any-crossword-clue-always-always-think-of-the-solver
Great article bridgesong. It’s good to put faces to names and I see that Jonathan Crowther has the same OED version as me, the one reduced to small print 2 volumes with a magnifying glass so you can read it. 🙂
Also good to see baton being passed to Colin Thomas who I think will be a worthy successor.
Brian-with-an-eye@8: that sounds plausible; I had wondered about the “OUT” part.
Thanks, Bridgesong, for the article link – fascinating.
Re IDAEAN VINE. One definition of ‘open’ adj is ‘unfolded’, and ‘open’ vb is ‘to become open’, so ‘opening’ = ‘becoming unfolded’. ‘source’ is part of the definition. ‘grapery’ is a somewhat whimsical definition of ‘vine’ (a grape producer?).
In writing the above, I was blind to the comma after ‘Whortleberry’, so my explanation (re ‘source’) might not be as sound as I had thought.