Azed No. 2,773 Plain – Competition Puzzle

6 comments on “Azed No. 2,773 Plain – Competition Puzzle”

1. 

   Jerry

   #1 - Sun 14th Dec 25, 02:12

   
   

   unfortunately, I entered dirts for dorts without thinking
   other than that slip, I really liked this one, if not a little anagram-heavy. A mild challenge over the start of my week

2. 

   Matthew

   #2 - Sun 14th Dec 25, 04:48

   
   

   There were quite a few clues where I wasn’t sure about the definition, but I thought the wordplay was clear, so I felt like I was solving clues rather than just guessing answers.

   l could remember there is a word like OITICICA but not how to spell it, and I spent some time thinking the wordplay was backwards but I suppose ‘X occupied by Y’ can work either way. I also couldn’t remember the word ‘sallow’ for ‘willow’ in 35a; I could remember ‘salix’ and ‘sale’ but they didn’t help.

   Being from New Zealand, I think WAHINE is a normal word that I hear frequently, and find it funny to imagine that if I were from somewhere else it would probably be one of several words in this puzzle that I have only seen in crosswords.

   Thanks, Cineraria and Azed.

3. 

   bridgesong

   #3 - Sun 14th Dec 25, 08:38

   
   

   Parasocial? Not a word that Azed would be likely to use, since it’s not in Chambers (yet) but I see that it’s Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year, and describes the one-sided relationship between a fan and a celebrity they will never meet. Luckily, for those of us in the UK, Azed hosts a lunch every five years at which it’s possible to meet the great man in person, and even take tea in his garden.

   Like Matthew, I had doubts about OITICICA, but it had to be correct.

   The slip for the November competition was published punctually, but was disappointingly brief. I wonder if it will be Azed or Gemelo who will provide the Christmas special this year? We’ll find out next week.

4. 

   Dormouse

   #4 - Sun 14th Dec 25, 10:07

   
   

   Finished this fairly quickly on Sunday evening, which was quite a relief after the struggles I have with Gemelo. A couple I didn’t parse, although I kicked myself when I saw the explanation of EYELET.

5. 

   MunroMaiden

   #5 - Sun 14th Dec 25, 11:14

   
   

   I found this fairly straightforward, but had a couple of quibbles. Unlike Matthew@2, I don’t see how “occupied by” can work both ways; here, ICI is occupying the anagram of coati, not occupied by it. Why not say “surrounded by” or some such? 32ac: “corruption” is, as Cineraria says, an observation; it is certainly not a definition. There are any number of words that are corruptions of something else, both in Scotland and elsewhere.

6. 

   Hector

   #6 - Sun 14th Dec 25, 11:41

   
   

   You’re right that CINERARIA in no. 2645 might not have been a coincidence. Years ago, after I had become a regular entrant in the clue writing competition, my surname appeared as 1 across in a non-competition puzzle. Chambers gives it as a Miltonic variation of an everyday word. Until then I hadn’t known that it was in a dictionary.

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