Azed No 2140

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A reasonably straightforward Azed this week, if perhaps a little harder than average.  I have a couple of queries which will no doubt be resolved swiftly by the usual suspects.

Across
1 FIG WASP If bowled over, pant about wife, buzzy creature drawn to wild flowers (7, 2 words)
  IF(rev), W in GASP. A nice easy clue with which to start.
7 LASSA ‘Source’ of tropical disease I’ll escape recurrent attack (5)
  I think the word play here is pointing out that if you write ASSAIL repeatedly without a space, omitting the letter I, the word LASSA appears. Anyone have a better suggestion?
12 RAPPORTEUR One preparing dossier for committee, sympathy and pity returning (10)
  RAPPORT, RUE(rev).
13 SOOLE Pull (as M. Antony did his countrymen?), with loose rambling (5)
  *LOOSE. A Shakespearean term meaning to pull by the ears, hence the reference to Mark Antony’s famous speech in Julius Caesar.
14 BOING How released spring goes, in being embraced by ladies? (5)
  IN in BOG.
15 CROTCHET Etch squiggles in reverse of necklace – an ingenious idea
  *ETCH in TORC(rev). This sense of CROTCHET was new to me.
16 GIRTLINE Rope for hoisting tackle back, inlet abandoned (8)
  RIG(rev), *INLET.
17 STEED Mount section ready for driving (5)
  S, TEED.
19 TRENDY What’ll be showing the latest thing in taste? (6)
  END in TRY. An & lit clue.
22 TORRET Accessory essential for whippet or retriever? (6)
  Hidden in “whippet or retriever”.
24 STOPE Obstruct end of passage in mining excavation (5)
  STOP, (passag)E.
26 SWELCHIE Eddy, formerly from Wales, I encountered in southern Spain (8)
  (WELCH, I) in S E. There’s nothing in the clue to indicate that this word for a whirlpool is of Orkney origin.
29 NANNIGAI Fish eaten in Melbourne hostelry brought back in again, battered (8)
  INN in *AGAIN. As the footnote to the puzzle says, this spelling is not in Chambers, which gives the more common NANNYGAI, but is to be found online.
30 PROXY Agency putting pressure on old cinema? (5)
  P, ROXY. There are still some cinemas with this name.
31 SCAND Once examined in Nordic briefly (5)
  Double definition.
32 HELICONIAN Inhale besottedly, taking in image beloved of the Muses? (10)
  ICON in *INHALE.
33 ID EST Superlative broad (not weak, I mean) (5, 2 words)
  (w)IDEST.
34 REFLATE Boost cause of delayed kick-off? (7)
  REF LATE.
Down
1 FASCIST No moderate rising like this should be restricted by firm (7)
  SIC(rev) in FAST.
2 IVORY-TOWERED I see wayward Tory was in debt, holding on, unworldly (12)
  I, V, *TORY, RE in OWED.
3 GROOVE Love entering little wood, a pleasurable experience (6)
  0 in GROVE. A rather dated piece of 1960s slang.
4 WALTZER Fairground ride offered by e.g. Disney – almost nothing (7)
  WALT, ZER(o).
5 SPAHI Well, hello! Here’s one who rode into battle (5)
  SPA HI. A nicely misleading use of “well”.
6 POVERTY Want surplus proprietary bags (7)
  OVER in PTY. “Bags” here is a verb, indicating the container.
8 ATOLL Bikini maybe for hiding everything? Quite the opposite (5)
  TO in ALL. Bikini Atoll was used by the Americans in 1946 for nuclear bomb tests.
9 SEISIN Houses (semi) I’ll occupy through freehold possession in Edinburgh (6)
  I in (hou)SES, IN. I’m not sure that the Scottish reference is entirely accurate, as although the word is given in Chambers as a variant of the Scottish legal term SASINE, it’s not clear that the Scottish term implies freehold possession, as the English term does.
10 SUN-AND-PLANET Specially geared up, heading off Aunt Ann pedals furiously (12)
  *((a)UNT ANN PEDALS). A very descriptive phrase.
11 ARGUE Fit? Run in that contest (5)
  R in AGUE.
18 ATHANOR Afghani maybe cutting initial pressure with gold in unusual furnace (7)
  (p)ATHAN, OR.
20 ETHICAL Sticking to principles I teach revised Latin (7)
  *(I TEACH) L(atin).
21 YEZIDEE Sectarian I eyed askance taking in OT book (7)
  EZ(ekiel) in *(I EYED).
23 RESOLE Energy chronic failure summoned up to mend at last? (6)
  E(nergy) LOSER (all rev). “To mend at last” is a lovely definition.
25 ORGANA Methods for investigating sorceress spending money up front (6)
  (m)ORGANA.
26 SOPHI P & O ship endlessly transported Persian king (5)
  *(P O SHI(p)).
27 LEXIS Where treasure may be found ‘engarlanded’, in a manner of speaking? (5)
  X (marks the spot…) in LEIS.
28 INANE Mystical interpretation? It makes one agog thus – senseless (5)
  The wordplay here depends on the solver knowing (or discovering) that “mystical interpretation” = ANAGOGE.  This is AGOG in ANE, hence INANE.  Is this entirely fair, I wonder?

*anagram

13 comments on “Azed No 2140”

  1. Thanks bridgesong. I gave up trying to parse inane. Not sure what I think, certainly very difficult although the answer was obvious. Probably forgiveable for the amusing clues to BOING, RESOLE and LEXIS.

    NANNIGAI is in earlier editions of the BRB so the clue may have been lurking, waiting to pounce.

  2. Thanks, Bridgesong – I too looked at X in leis for LEXIS, but rejected that – then realised that it was one of three possibles: i.e. where l’ex is, or where le ‘X’ is, whichever is best in French. Then a possible le ‘X’ Is. also in mangled French, i.e. ‘a manner of speaking’

    INANE is similar – it’s i.e. in an E(cstasy)

  3. Maybe I was too keen to finish and persuaded myself about INANE – I certainly have never come across ANAGOGE, but that sounds more like it. You make a ‘fair’ point, Bridgesong. Sidey has made this point in the past, too.

  4. Thanks Azed for the puzzle – middle of the range of solving time for me – and bridgesong for the blog.

    7ac: I simply took “recurrent” as a reversal indicator without giving it much thought. Chambers 2011 gives “running back in the opposite direction or towards the place of origin (anat“. Even if the “(anat” is taken as applying to the whole of that, I think it is a legitimate borrowing of the meaning.

  6. Bob @ 2: I’m not persuaded by your parsing of LEXIS, because it seems to me that “in a manner of speaking” is the definition (Chambers gives “diction” as one definition of the word). I also disagree with your suggested reading of INANE. In the event I was eventually able to find ANAGOGE by means of an internet search for the meaning of “mystical interpretation”.

    I agree with Pelham @4 on “recurrent”: my explanation is unnecessarily complicated. Occam’s Razor applies!

  8. Nor am I, though for creativity Bob should get a gong.

    Must admit the IN-ANE trope reminded me of The Guardian, though here it’s done with more than a smattering of class.

  9. Thanks for the abuse, well merited. Must pay better attention, particularly when the bell is expected. I find these discussions more fun when the blog leaves something unresolved, not mentioning names, or when, as here, someone makes an ass of himself.

    On another point, I always notice when a clue omits a hint that a word to be found is of some regional origin, as in the note on SWELCHIE. I have come to the view that such indications are more likely to occur when it helps with the surface. Perhaps Paul could give us his view on that.

  11. Bob @: happy to put my hand up to leaving things unresolved (or even to getting them wrong!) I agree that it does tend to stimulate debate, which is what this site is all about.

    Perhaps if we all raise it on our competition slips next month Azed will give us his considered view? Is that completely inane?

  12. Well I don’t know why you want my opinion on it Bob, but FWIW, here goes: if the word is in Chambers, then, for an Azed puzzle, the definition ought to suffice. I suppose.

  13. Yes, Paul – I have sometimes been caught out when I know the definition of a word and rejected it as a possible solution, where the setter went by Chambers’ faulty version, which I’d not looked at.

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