Another relatively easy puzzle by Azed standards, I thought, although it took me some time to parse all the answers. Two Hebrew terms (both in Chambers) and two French (also in Chambers) along with words of Russian (drosky) and Irish (scraw) origin demonstrate how English borrows from other languages.
Across
| 1 | SAMADHI | Gentleman in India, not British, frantic at heart for object of yogic meditation (7) |
| MAD in SAHI(b). | ||
| 7 | RAND | A cut from golf club in the fringe? (4) |
| R AND (a): The Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews has given its name to golf’s governing body. | ||
| 10 | CLAG | Stick cut shin in striking noisily (4) |
| CLA(shin)G. | ||
| 11 | RANDOMLY | My lord appears thus when receiving one (8) |
| AN in *(MY LORD). | ||
| 12 | RANI | Queen in ME country, first to last (4) |
| Iran, with first letter put at the end. | ||
| 13 | OOBITS | Scruffy titches sit uneasily after audience disapproval returns (6) |
| BOO(rev), *SIT. | ||
| 15 | ADAR SHENI | Notice a shrine specially prepared for intercalary period (9, 2 words) |
| AD *(A SHRINE). The Jewish lunar calendar has a thirteenth month in some years. | ||
| 17 | KIWANIAN | Sickly one before being taken in by family of charitable US types (8) |
| WAN 1+A (nte) in KIN. Referring to the Kiwanis. Thanks, Nick. | ||
| 18 | BRADYSEISM | Slow shifting of crust scattered by a messy bird (10) |
| *(A MESSY BIRD). | ||
| 19 | KENOPHOBIA | King on phone abandoned former charm, showing aversion to empty space (10) |
| K(ing) *PHONE, OBIA. “Abandoned” is the anagram indicator; OBIA is the obsolete form of a word meaning a fetish or charm. | ||
| 23 | AB INITIO | I’ll be hugged by a girl, briefly in love from day one (8, 2 words) |
| I in BINT, I(n) 0. Azed makes no apology for using a word described by Chambers as “slang, usually derogatory”. | ||
| 27 | ICHNEUMON | Threat to croc’s young – munching on Munchie! (9) |
| *(ON MUNCHIE). | ||
| 28 | HEATER | Maître d’ forgetting central piece in oven? (6) |
| HEA(d wai)TER. Not a very precise definition, hence the question mark. | ||
| 29 | FORA | In favour of adult media for debate (4) |
| FOR A(dults). | ||
| 30 | IGNITION | Back scoring one – I’ll be gripped, getting fired up (8) |
| I in NOTING 1 (rev). | ||
| 31 | DREW | Was attractive, going about in power dressing (4) |
| Hidden and reversed in “power dressing”. | ||
| 32 | ALAS | Harrow? A girl won’t be finishing here (4) |
| A LAS(s). | ||
| 33 | INGRESS | French painter, special: having made it, one’s in (7) |
| INGRES, S(pecial). | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | SCRAW | Second crop in thin turf (5) |
| S, CRAW. According to Chambers, no etymological connection with SCRAWNY. | ||
| 2 | A LA DEROBEE | Stealthily redo plays after one penned by playwright (10, 3 words) |
| A *REDO in ALBEE. | ||
| 3 | MANAT | Some monetary units from a nation’s coffers (5) |
| Hidden in “from a nation’s”; “coffers” is the indicator. It’s both the singular and the plural form, hence “units”. | ||
| 4 | DROSKY | Road up? O, heavens – get a cab (6) |
| RD(rev), O SKY. | ||
| 5 | HACHIS | Mixed dish keeps (not anti wine being included) (6) |
| CHI(anti) in HAS. Took me quite some time to see this. | ||
| 6 | ADONAI | Lord and lady dividing fish on Japanese menu (6) |
| DONA in AI. | ||
| 7 | ROBINSON | Castaway no longer mutters about having to trap bass (8) |
| B in ROINS ON. | ||
| 8 | AMID | Surrounded by money in donations? (4) |
| M in AID. | ||
| 9 | DYSPNEA | Not breathing easily, as NYPD found out about ultimate in sleaze (7) |
| (sleaz)E in *(AS NYPD). It’s an American spelling, as the reference to the New York police department implies. | ||
| 14 | TRADITORES | Deals involving wavering trio – they betrayed fellow – Christians (10) |
| *TRIO in TRADES. | ||
| 16 | ADENITIS | Glandular infection: it’s found among some Yemenis (8) |
| IT in ADENIS. | ||
| 18 | BRACHIA | Chair broken in half of back and arms (upper parts thereof) (7) |
| *CHAIR in BA(ck). | ||
| 20* | NICETY | Delicate management (6) |
| The competition word. | ||
| 21 | PINION | Pressure lump on back of head: bind, restricting movement (6) |
| P INION. | ||
| 22 | HOEING | Don’s work perhaps that is held up in warehouse (6) |
| IE(rev) in HONG. The reference is to Monty Don, television gardener, not to any crossword setter with a similar name. | ||
| 24 | SMORE | Scot’s put out, touchy about suggestion of miserliness (5) |
| M(iserliness) in SORE. | ||
| 25 | GNAWS | Poet’s controlled rising worries (5) |
| SWANG (rev). | ||
| 26 | MANA | 50% of US party leaders will display such personal prestige (4) |
| MANA(gers). Tucked away at the end of the entry in Chambers is this definition for “manager”: “a party leader (US)”. | ||
*anagram
Shame the definition was (and still is) missing from the online versions of 19a. It should read King on phone abandoned faulty charm, showing aversion to empty space (10)
Thanks bridgesong. Some really good clues here.
Thanks all
Fortunately there is neither an international scale or unit to measure Azed difficulty so I can quite confidently say that I thought this was much harder than 2121.
My favourites were 7ac, 5d and after I finally parsed it 28ac.
Last two were ‘clag’ and ‘Kiwanian'(very obscure?).
The answer to misprints on line is to buy the newspaper and help fund the compilers.
I would like to purchase the paper more often but four newspapers a month would cost more than my internet access. I fear they will have to make it access by subscription again.
Sorry for the off-topicness.
Today’s is an absolute belter. I am still laughing at two clues in particular.
Sidey @1, thanks for pointing out the missing words in 19a, which I have now inserted. I solved the puzzle from the paper version and didn’t notice that words had been omitted from the online version, which I used (thanks to PeeDee’s software) for compiling the blog.
Ref. 17ac – there is an ‘A’ missing. I believe it should be ‘WAN+I+A[before]’ in KIN.
Nick