AZED No. 2,123 ‘Misprints’

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Nick:  A very tough ‘Misprints’ puzzle, I thought – it took me about 7 hours of solving.

I found this very hard going on the brain (but enjoyable), as not only did you have to keep track of what clue was what, you also had to try and remember what ‘misprinted’ letters were entered in the grid. Obviously the ‘misprints’ in the grid produced a lot of ‘non-words’ so conventional checking aids were rendered useless.

So we know what is going on, here are the ‘Special Instructions’:

Special instructions: Half the across and half the down clues contain a misprint of one letter in each, always occurring in the definition part. Their answers should be entered correctly spelt. Remaining answers are to be entered with a misprint of one letter only in each, always checked. In the clues to each of these the definition refers to the untreated answer and the subsidiary indication refers to the misprinted form to be entered. The misprints appearing in the finished diagram, taken in clue order, acrosses then downs, form a non-dictionary compound that could be regarded as a fanciful definition of MISPRINTS. £25 in book tokens for the first three correct solutions opened. Solutions postmarked no later than Saturday to AZED No. 2,123, The Observer, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Every answer is in The Chambers Dictionary (2011) except one proper name.

The misprinted letters in the grid, in clue across/down order spell:

CHARACTER ASSASSINS

In my post below:

i) ‘misprints’ in the clues are shown with the[CORRECT] word alongside in square brackets.
ii) ‘misprinted letters‘ in the answers are shown first, followed by the GRID ENTRY, followed by the answer as per the definition.

Across
1. No date set aside, further day[DRY] required (4)
SECO SECO(nd)
5. What’ll give one company up to a point? Cats maybe (7)
C – ANCORAS – ANGORAS AN+CO+RAS
11. My home’s close to a pile[POLE] in SE Capri, ruined (9)
PERISCIAN (IN SE CAPRI)*
12. Whiten side of old arch and line inside (6)
H – HLANCH – BLANCH L in HANCH
14. Duck I accepted in place of last pair moulting[MOULDING] (6)
SCOTIA (I+A for ER) in SCOTER
16. Tiptop old crone, entertainer entertaining millions (8)
A – HAGHMOST – HIGHMOST HAG+(HOST around M)
17. Large wooden box to recognize without opening section: Caribbean fruit (5)
R – ARKEE – ACKEE ARK+(s)EE
this caused me no end of problems trying to ‘box in’ (k)EN in something large and wooden
18. Bare[BARD] chamber containing minimum of embellishment (4)
POET POT around E(mbellishment)
19. Kit graces nuts – this activates shirt[SHIFT] (9)
GEARSTICK (KIT GRACES)*
22. Set in order ‘daisy’, Michaelmas possibly (9)
A – TRIMASTER – TRIMESTER TRIM+ASTER
25. Scottish reel? Experience involving head in clouds (4)
C – SCEE – SWEE C(louds) in SEE
27. Fame[NAME] of Egyptian leader on his being toppled (5)
HOSNI (ON HIS)*
28. Drawn out line[FINE], new in today’s wordplay (8)
THINSPUN N in ‘THIS PUN’
30. Element: international poem contains it (6)
T – IODITE – IODINE I+(ODE around IT)
31. Aphorism, say, about what’s always fashionable (6)
E – EAYING – SAYING E.G. around (AY+IN)
32. Hate[LATE] developing retrogressive ways, gobbling bread (9)
SEROTINAL ROTI in (LANES<)
33. Defame nurse about lecturer turning communist (7)
R – SLRNDER – SLANDER (SRN around L)+(RED<)
34. It’s inclined to make one just[LUST] cross having to cut bit of beef carcase (4)
SEXY X in SEY
 …
Down
1. Jagged gash (PT crisis): I’m studying weals[SEALS] (12)
SPHRAGISTICS (GASH (PT CRISIS))*
2. Row in California over end of burlesque turn (7)
A – CRANKAE – CRANKLE (RANK in CA)+(burlesqu)E
along with 17ac, this clue caused me issues – I had ‘crietae (for cristae)’ in for ages, until I realised I had spelt ‘tier’ wrong (‘riet<)
3. Grant[GRUNT] satisfactory when member of governing party’s involved (4)
OINK IN in OK
4. She presided over fortune accountants check internally (5)
S – TSCHE – TYCHE hidden: accountanTS CHEck
6. This antelope band, wild? Indians’ bag possibly (6)
S – NISGAI – NILGAI composite anagram (with misprint!): (INDIANS’ BAG) minus BAND = (INISAG*)
7. Rue[RUM] curtailment of cocoa source, having to imbibe tea (7)
CACHACA CHA in CACA(o)
8. Local thief[CHIEF] – Cockney titfer – swathed in big jumper? (5)
RATOO ‘AT (i.e. a Cockney’s hat) in ROO
9. A vet is disturbed about soldiers, rude[REDE]? (9)
AVISEMENT (A VET IS*) around MEN
10. Alone, penning bit of rag in style displaying difficulty with words (12)
A – STATTERINGLY – STUTTERINGLY TATTER in SINGLY
13. Candle[HANDLE], fine when protected by e.g. cloche (4)
HAFT F in HAT
15. Police horse let loose, i.e. missing, not yet caught[TAUGHT]? (9)
PRESCHOOL (POL(i)C(e) HORSE)*
20. Flower mostly in former place, damaged by cold weather (7)
S – SROSTED – FROSTED ROS(e) in STED
21. Poisonous gas is best dispersed round battalion’s rear (7)
S – STSBINE – STIBINE (IS BEST*) around (battalio)N
23. A statement made by new Anglo-French dad? (6)
I – IMPERE – AMPERE pun on ‘I’M PERE’
‘A’ is the definition here!
24. Pour[POUT] second dash of usquebaugh. Ecstasy follows (4)
MOUE MO+U(squebaugh)+E
26. Always catching fish? It’s luck[DUCK] (5)
EIDER ID in E’ER
27. Butterfly: it’s caught by John at harvest-time (5)
N – HNATH – HEATH hidden: joHN AT Harvest
29. Letter in Hebrew I say wrongly (4)
S – AYIS – AYIN (I SAY)*
 ……………………………………………………………………..

11 comments on “AZED No. 2,123 ‘Misprints’”

  1. Excellent blog Nick, very clear for a wonderfully convoluted puzzle. Most fun I’ve had (with a puzzle) for ages. 23 is my favourite clue, took ages to see the definition. 10 caused me much more difficulty than it should but my eyes were severely crossed by then, what with the entered misprints forming the ‘message’ rather than the more usual misprints in the clues which makes things easier, a bit.

    Now if only Azeds were included in this best monthly puzzle thingy…

  2. Well done, Nick; this one defeated me, so I’m very glad it wasn’t my turn to blog it. I can see that even some of the ones I thought I had solved have turned out to be wrong!

  3. Thanks all
    Excellent blog.
    I found this one very difficult. I often was confused as to which crossing letter was correct and which a misprint.
    Due to using SEN instead of SRN in 33ac I failed to complete 26d and 25ac. All the others were sussed out but with varying degrees of comprehension!
    Really enjoyable.

  4. It was a tough one, and must have been hard to blog as well. Like RCW (and others, I suspect) I was held up for a while with the nurses, only twigging when I worked out the character assassins, but it all came out in the end.

  6. A most enjoyable puzzle. I completed the grid on the day it was published, though I couldn’t see what RUDE was a misprint of in 9D, and the misprints in the definitions are unchecked and uncheckable.

    20 to 29 down were all ‘relatively’ easy giving SSINS for the end of the “non-dictionary compound”. Do you think AZED did this deliberately?

    Hosni [Mubarak]

  7. Great review, Nick. The colour coding is a great help in checking. For Norman @6 I thought the misprint at 9D had to be ‘rule’, an old meaning, intuitively understood but not expressly given in C., so hence the question mark. I had ‘lust?’ for 34A as preferable to ‘must’ which would just about work there too.

  10. The answer grid in today’s Observer is wrong I think. Ratoe for Ratoo, Pest for Poet and Avissment for Avisement.

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