Nick: Typical Azed puzzle, 6/10 for me.
The possible gotcha clue is at 3dn, and a possible error in the clue at 32ac.
23dn contains the (possibly) most well known Chambers definition, but the lady?
| Across | |||
| 1. | Deceased I examine wither and dissolve (in bardic parlance) (9) | ||
| DISCANDIE | D+I+SCAN+DIE | ||
| 11. | Ring for sailing boat’s timber, blessing when securing painter (8) | ||
| BOOM-IRON | MIRO in BOON | ||
| 12. | Spinach, not pressure cooked, connected courses (6) | ||
| CHAINS | (S(p)INACH)* | ||
| 13. | Run second edition (6) | ||
| SPRINT | S+PRINT | ||
| 14. | Stop sign? Hospital nurse skirts zone (6) | ||
| HAMZAH | H+(Z in AMAH) | ||
| 15. | It’s essential to check a zip … after visit here? (4) | ||
| KAZI | hidden (&lit?): checK A ZIp | ||
| 16. | Vintners were awaiting vintage variety of rouges (10) | ||
| BODEGUEROS | BODE+(ROUGES*) | ||
| 18. | Residue left in position? (4) | ||
| SILT | L in SIT | ||
| 19. | Excited parent, in ecstasy (6) | ||
| ENRAPT | (PARENT)* | ||
| 22. | Poet’s circle, checked, finally died away (5) | ||
| STEMME | STEMME(d) | ||
| 25. | Shut crystal ornament box (4) | ||
| SPAR | 3 definitions (or perhaps 4?) | ||
| 26. | Cattle farmer, English, cooked nice roast (10) |
||
| ESTANCIERO | E+(NICE ROAST*) | ||
| 29. | French town becomes foul with this hooligan? (4) | ||
| LOUT | Fr town=ville; L out of ville=vile=foul | ||
| 30. | Lines penned by Hank, idle (6) | ||
| LOLLOP | LL in LOOP | ||
| 32. | Roughly 20 pounds porter finally loaded into carriage (6) | ||
| ARROBA | R in AROBA An error, perhaps? Chambers quotes 25 pounds, and precisely gives 11.35kgs, so is it also ‘roughly’? |
||
| 33. | Guarantee expired? Our vac (not right) needs replacing, getting hot (6) | ||
| AVOUCH | (OU(r) VAC*)+H | ||
| 34. | ‘Ector in chokey requiring wrist fastener (one of a pair) (8, 2 words) | ||
| CUFF LINK | ([h]’UFF) in CLINK | ||
| 35. | Yearn to wander wrapped in fur of mountain region (9) | ||
| PYRENAEAN | (YEARN*) in PEAN | ||
| Down | |||
| 1. | Fine work from Brussels about the French Roquefort mould of top quality? (12, 2 words) | ||
| DUCHESSE LACE | DU+CHESSEL(cheese mould)+ACE | ||
| 2. | People shortly taking possession of Hungary (7) | ||
| INHABIT | H in (IN A BIT) | ||
| 3. | Walk unsteadily, as qualified doctor in graduation? (7) | ||
| SCAMBLE | MB in SCALE ‘shamble’ would fit here if the solver fails to parse the clue correctly and guesses |
||
| 4. | X, algebraic variable giving schoolboy nuisance (4) | ||
| CHIZ | CHI+Z | ||
| 5. | Considerable wind after consuming starter of haricots in eatery (6) | ||
| NOSHER | H in NOSER | ||
| 6. | Measure maybe suggested by party (green) (6) | ||
| DOSAGE | DO+SAGE | ||
| 7. | Submerge limb attached to training rope (8) | ||
| IMPLUNGE | IMP+LUNGE | ||
| 8. | Large hairy dog, tail disappearing in pipe (5) | ||
| BRIAR | BRIAR(d) | ||
| 9. | Sentimentality about place one associates with Wellington? That’s absurd (5) | ||
| GONZO | GOO around NZ | ||
| 10. | Stint with harpoon at sea? It’s aimed to get back at adversary (12) | ||
| ANTISTROPHON | (STINT HARPOON)* | ||
| 17. | Bishop separates man and lady falling out in hateful fashion (8) | ||
| DAMNABLY | (B+MAN+LADY)* | ||
| 20. | Distant point in a space orbit, or one in an opposite extreme (7) | ||
| APOLUNE | UN in (A POLE)[north pole/south pole) | ||
| 21. | Coarse sugar transformed capon – what a surprise! (7) | ||
| PANOCHA | (CAPON*)+HA! | ||
| 23. | Jenny’s cake? That won’t last long! (6) | ||
| ECLAIR | ref. Jenny ECLAIR This lady HERE. I personally have never heard of her. |
||
| 24. | A gas created by transposing two single elements of a salt (6) | ||
| SILANE | SALINE transposing the ‘A’ and ‘I’ | ||
| 27. | A cluster of spore cases in Eumycetes or Ustilago (5) | ||
| SORUS | hidden: EumyceteS OR UStilago | ||
| 28. | Swell: see me yielding to king suggesting royal sport? (5) | ||
| TURFY | TUMEFY with ‘R’ replacing ‘ME’ | ||
| 31. | Hill, flat on top, a creature responsible for one almost climbs (4) | ||
| LOMA | A MOL(e)< | ||
| …………………………… | |||
Thank you Nick. I am now kicking myself for failing to parse LOUT though the answer was obvious.
The scamble/shamble thing is a device I’ve seen Azed use before, often in annoying four letter answers. It’s one of his best devices.
I have a feeling that the 11.35kg definition is another Chambers ‘joke’ in the éclair vein. It would be a bit more amusing if they’d got the answer right though.
Well not so much a ‘guess’ at 3d as taking the ‘graduation’ to refer to ‘layers’ of ‘shale’. Like sidey I mis-parsed 29. My lazy note gave minus F (French) plus T (town) and a kind of elided clue. Not good but I often trip on these short ones. I couldn’t for the life of me untangle 1d – fixated on ‘cheese’ wordplay. Thanks for sorting them for me.
aztobesed, yes, I tried to convince myself for a few minutes that ‘layers of shale’ could be a ‘graduation’, but wasn’t happy with it.
Nick
It was when I saw ‘layers’ being mentioned prominently in Chambers that I thought I was home and hosed – but it’s all a touch pernickety anyway since scamble is given as dialect for shamble and shale and scale share closely related etymology. I’m sure you’re right, by the way, I’m not disputing the call. I still think it’s a bit of a chiz. No excuse for Town = T — No idea what my thinking was there.
Thanks all
Average difficulty.
Jenny Eclair is all over BBC Radio 4. News Quiz, Just a Minute, Woman’s Hour. She has been so for years since being (I think) the first female to win the comedy award at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Unlike her radio appearances,her live stand-up is often (always?) very crude (or as many on here prefer, risqué).
3d I do not really understand what is questionable here.’graduation’is ‘scale’immediately to me.