How splendid to blog another Azed.
I have marked a few points that I could not quite resolve below, none of which ultimately prevented completion of the grid.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SPEED COP |
One checking road crime, special vigour limiting breaking of code (8, 2 words)
|
| S (special) + PEP (vigour) around (limiting) anagram of (breaking of) CODE | ||
| 7 | NOBS |
Swells kicked the bucket after end of celebration (4)
|
| I think there is a problem here: Last letter of (end of) [CELEBRATIO]N + OB. (kicked the bucket = obiit, died) + S (???) or: Last letter of (end of) [CELEBRATIO]N + OBS (kicked the bucket = obsolete???) | ||
| 11 | CRACK |
Expert creating flaw (5)
|
| Double definition | ||
| 12 | HARD BOP |
Jazz type making poet dance switching parts (7, 2 words)
|
| [B]ARD (poet) + [H]OP (dancing) switching the first letters (switching parts) | ||
| 13 | AEROSIDERITE |
A tide rose, i.e. somehow about right, indicating heavenly body (12)
|
| Anagram of (somehow) {A TIDE ROSE I.E.} around (about) R (right), specifically, an iron meteorite | ||
| 16 | STOL |
It involves take-offs and landings, many returning (4)
|
| LOTS (many) reversed (returning), an aeronautical acronym | ||
| 17 | STEGOSAUR |
Jurassic creature, sort e.g. roaming round USA, wild (9)
|
| Anagram of (roaming) {SORT E.G.} around (round) anagram of (wild) USA | ||
| 18 | ERHU |
One’s bowed, displaying dowager hump in part (4)
|
| Hidden in (displaying . . . in part) [DOWAG]ER HU[MP], according to Chambers: “a Chinese two-stringed musical instrument, played with a bow” | ||
| 20 | URGE |
Ballot-box information twice yielding names to press (4)
|
| UR[N] (ballot-box) + GE[N] (information) twice minus (yielding) N (name[s]) | ||
| 22 | ALEE |
Indicating port side, outer bits cut from whale bone (4)
|
| I think there is a problem here: The wordplay leads to: [B]ALEE[N] (whale bone) minus (cut) outside letters (outer bits), but “alee” means “on or toward the lee-side,” according to Chambers. I wonder whether Azed’s glance skipped down to the next entry, “aleft,” defined in Chambers as “on or to the left hand.” | ||
| 23 | OBIA |
Charm I discerned in African chieftain (4)
|
| I inside (discerned in) OBA (African chieftain), this spelling indicated as “obsolete” in Chambers | ||
| 25 | REBELLION |
Dance round baron, brave one in activity involving boxers? (9)
|
| REEL (dance) around (round) B (baron) + LION (brave one), with a non-capitalization misdirection, referring to the Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901 | ||
| 26 | DADO |
Trouble going after depth in border (4)
|
| D (depth) + ADO (trouble) | ||
| 30 | ELECTROMOTOR |
Picked for office tomorrow? Almost, in a way, as power source (12)
|
| ELECT (picked for office) + anagram of (in a way) TOMORRO[W] minus last letter (almost) | ||
| 31 | CORTÈGE |
Sheep occupying centre in procession (7)
|
| TEG (sheep) inside (occupying) CORE (centre) | ||
| 32 | DRUSE |
Doctor given exercise for cavity (5)
|
| DR (doctor) + USE (exercise) | ||
| 33 | KOSS |
Digger on ship a short distance from India (4)
|
| KO (“digger,” i.e., a Maori digging stick) + SS (ship). I am not sure about “a short distance,” in that this is defined in Chambers as “about 1 3/4 miles.” See also KVa@2. | ||
| 34 | SEA LEMON |
Fish twice interspersed with English marine slug (8, 2 words)
|
| SALMON (fish) twice interspersed with E (English) | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | SCAG |
Junk, cold, dumped in sink (4)
|
| C (cold) inside (dumped in) SAG (sink), both slang for heroin | ||
| 2 | PRESTEL |
Viewdata system was still mostly in programming language (7)
|
| RESTE[D] (was still) minus last letter (mostly) inside (in) PL (programming language) | ||
| 3 | EAR DEFENDERS |
Muffs organ and delays involving consequence (12, 2 words)
|
| EAR (organ) + DEFERS (delays) around (involving) END (consequence) | ||
| 4 | ECOD |
Crack that’s devoid of extremes? It was a mild oath (4)
|
| [D]ECOD[E] (crack) minus (devoid of) outside letters (extremes) | ||
| 5 | CHID |
Ticked off flower without tincture? (4)
|
| [OR]CHID (flower) minus (without) OR (tincture) | ||
| 6 | PRENUBILE |
Dancing in pub reel, not yet ready to get hitched (9)
|
| Anagram of (dancing) IN PUB REEL | ||
| 8 | OBITER DICTUM |
Passing remark, one taking effect in blame around court (12, 2 words)
|
| BITER (one taking effect) inside (in) ODIUM (blame) around CT (court) | ||
| 9 | BOTOX |
Something for treating complexion to put in receptacle (5)
|
| TO inside (put in) BOX (receptacle) | ||
| 10 | SPELAEAN |
Like a caveman, tumbling asleep if old (8)
|
| Anagram of (tumbling) ASLEEP + AN (if, old, indicated in Chambers as “archaic”) | ||
| 14 | CORVETTES |
Old vessels? One experienced in military service in Spanish parliament (9)
|
| VET (one experienced in military service) inside (in) CORTES (Spanish parliament). A modern class of ship called “corvette” also exists. | ||
| 15 | DAUB |
Smear in meat stew, French, not English (4)
|
| DAUB[E] (meat stew, French) minus (not) E (English) | ||
| 17 | SPAR DECK |
Electrician consumes rotten matter, ay lost, in temporary part of vessel (8, 2 words)
|
| SPARK (electrician) around (consumes) DEC[AY] (rotten matter) minus (lost) AY | ||
| 19 | HOBO |
Tramp perished in wartime service (4)
|
| OB. (perished, obiit) inside (in) HO (wartime service, defined in Chambers as “hostilities only, used to designate service in the Royal Navy during wartime”) | ||
| 21 | GIOCOSO |
Sound made by Scotsman, exceedingly jolly (7)
|
| Homophones of (sound made by) JOCK (Scotsman) + OH SO (exceedingly) | ||
| 24 | BALOO |
Bear black tuber (5)
|
| B (black) + ALOO (tuber), |
||
| 27 | ZOEA |
Crab larva, ordinary, found among maize (4)
|
| O (ordinary) inside (found among) ZEA (maize) | ||
| 28 | GORE |
Try on old-fashioned skirt (4)
|
| GO (try) + RE (on), indicated in Chambers as “obsolete,” thus “old-fashioned” | ||
| 29 | WREN |
Serving girl, fresh up, taking recipe in (4)
|
| NEW (fresh) inverted (up) around (taking . . . in) R (recipe), defined in Chambers as “a member of the WRNS,” “formerly, Women’s Royal Naval Service” |
I didn’t find this puzzle was too hard. There were a few answers like HARD BOP, AEROSIDERITE, DRUSE and PRESTEL that I didn’t know but could work out from the wordplay, and some others like SEA LEMON, EAR DEFENDERS and PRENUBILE that I didn’t really know but seemed reasonable. I couldn’t think how ‘digger’ could be KO in the clue to KOSS and, being from New Zealand, I was annoyed to find it was a Maori word I didn’t know. I thought the homophone of GIOCOSO was funny.
I had the same ideas about NOBS as in the blog, and also wasn’t happy with the definition of ALEE. Seeing BALOO always makes me think of the Jungle Book character, but it is in Chambers with the definition ‘In India, a bear’. I imagined that a member of the Boxer movement could be called a boxer with a lowercase b, but reading the blog made me search for and fail to find justification for it.
Thanks, Cineraria and Azed.
ALEE
Does it also indicate how a harbour/port is located (with respect to an island, maybe)?
Could get any dictionary support for this. Just asking.
KOSS
The original Sanskrit word ‘krośa’ (from which koss is derived) is used as a unit of measurement, and it means
‘call’/”shout’ as well. KOSS was earlier used to mean ‘a calling distance’. A short distance historically.