This week’s plain puzzle contained several clues that would not be out of place in a daily cryptic.
Others did involve rare or obscure words, but (apart from the reasonably well-known proper name at 4 down) everything you need to solve the puzzle is in Chambers. The generous checking in a barred puzzle does make it easier, once you get started. The prizes are arguably more generous than the Guardian’s prize puzzle, as Azed offers book tokens, whereas the Guardian gives you no choice.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FUGHETTA |
How disgusting, cheese sandwiches – what players’ll get through quickly (8)
UGH in FETTA. It means a short fugue.
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| 11 | RADIOLARIA |
Air after old air trilled – they’re primitive in the main (10)
*(OLD AIR) ARIA. Unicellular, so primitive, sea creatures.
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| 12 | CRUMP |
Egg going off? See bit left (5)
C RUMP. One of the less well-known meanings of “egg” is “bomb”, something which Azed likes to exploit.
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| 13 | ARIES |
Sign most circumspect should shed weight externally (5)
(w)ARIES(t).
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| 14 | TIMBAL |
Drum providing most of rhythm accompanying Parisian dance (6)
TIM(e) BAL.
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| 15 | RETORT |
Comeback achieved when hare meets tortoise? (6)
Hidden in HARE TORTOISE (which the solver has to bring together).
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| 16 | SEICENTO |
Exhibition’s opening section arranged period of Italian art (8)
*(E(xhibition) SECTION).
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| 17 | LEMONY |
Sour, me? Only when out of sorts (6)
*(ME ONLY). Not every clue in an Azed puzzle involves obscure words.
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| 19 | CRESS |
Salad plant local girl removed from Trojan mountain? (5)
CRESS(ida). Mount Ida is the Trojan mountain, and Cressida herself is of course a Trojan woman. But shouldn’t the clue read “Trojan mountain removed from local girl”?
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| 22 | ENOCH |
What’s that about prisoner returning in Arden? (5)
CON(rev) in EH. Enoch Arden is a poem by Tennyson.
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| 24 | TARSIA |
Decorative inlay – mass taken from Asian land formerly by sailor (6)
TAR SIA(m).
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| 26 | CORONACH |
Right leg trapped in train? That sounds very sad (8)
R ON in COACH. Cricket lovers will be familiar with the use of “leg” to denote the “on” side of the cricket pitch.
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| 29 | ENAMEL |
Wing tips famous for a sort of sheen? (6)
NAME in EL. Name can be an adjective, and an el can be the wing of a building. “Tips” in the clue is used as a verb.
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| 30 | LADLED |
Describing workhouse helpings, young Oliver maybe took initiative? (6)
LAD LED. A simple charade, with Dickensian overtones.
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| 31 | BESIT |
I’ll appear in No. 1 suit, as before (5)
I in BEST.
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| 32 | PLUMB |
Fix pipes etc made of lead round Scottish chimney (5)
LUM in PB.
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| 33 | UNSTRESSED |
Sun idly, end of meal over, without a care (10)
*SUN, DESSERT(rev). Another clue that would not be out of place in a daily cryptic.
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| 34 | LYSOGENY |
Part of phage’s development? This one may be rendered as e.g. yes/no only (8)
A compound anagram: the letters of LYSOGENY and ONE can be rearranged to give EG YES NO ONLY.
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| Down | ||
| 1 | FICTILE |
Batch of terrific tiles, or descriptive thereof? (7)
Hidden in “terrific tiles”.
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| 2 | UPRISEN |
One has to admit former match revolting (7)
PRISE in UN. This is the fourth meaning of prize (or prise, as Spenser spells it) in Chambers.
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| 3 | GRUME |
Clot using recipe that slices seed pod the French avoided (5)
R in (le)GUME.
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| 4 | HAMBRO |
Rob crinkly going after inexpert banker (6)
HAM, *ROB. The family name was Hambro, but the best-known bank was Hambros.
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| 5 | TILLEY-VALLEY |
‘Fiddlesticks!’ I yell wildly in middle of telly passage (12)
*(I YELL) in TV ALLEY. All right, I admit that this one was obscure.
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| 6 | TOURIST CLASS |
Assist court somehow with little latitude in cheapest seats? (12, 2 words)
*(ASSIST COURT L(atitude)).
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| 7 | GARTER |
Soak newspaper up in a flash? (6)
RET RAG (all rev).
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| 8 | TRIONES |
Plough’s components I brought into the market-place with spades (7)
I in TRONE, S. This term refers to the seven stars making up the constellation of The Plough.
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| 9 | PIERT |
Supporter tense, formerly lively (in happier times) (5)
PIER T(ense) and hidden in “happier times”. Unusually, the definition is hidden in the middle of the clue, but Azed compensates by giving us two pieces of wordplay.
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| 10 | BASTO |
Top club boat’s bumped (5)
*BOATS. It means the ace of clubs in the game of quadrille.
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| 18 | MORASSY |
Marshy Scottish waterway penetrated by steamer (7)
SS in MORAY.
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| 20 | SIDEMEN |
We’re allowed occasional solos – pity when township’s involved (7)
DEME (a township) in SIN (an old meaning of which is pity). The word refers to jazz musicians.
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| 21 | SANDBOY |
Band rocking in saucy stuff? He’ll be happy (7)
*BAND in SOY. An allusion to the proverb.
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| 23 | COMITY |
Courtesy? Neglect replaces it in e.g. London (6)
OMIT for IT in CITY.
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| 25 | REDLEG |
Impoverished descendant of settlers, one that altered given lift (6)
GELDER (rev). “One that altered” seems a little vague for “gelder”.
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| 26 | CEBUS |
Monkey in Church coach? (5)
CE BUS.
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| 27 | ON END |
None in the wars died erect (5, 2 words)
*NONE D(ied).
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| 28 | ELUDE |
Dodge upcoming timetable missing school (5)
(sch)EDULE(rev). By coincidence, the previous day’s Guardian prize puzzle (see my blog from yesterday) also had a clue in which “dodge” was used for “elude”.
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*anagram
Thanks for the blog bridgesong. I agree with your assessment – this was definitely on the easy side.
The Guardian site has managed to mess up again – the Azed link still still points to this puzzle, but (thanks to the search facility) today’s is available here.
25 down GELDER (rev).
Chambers
alter (1)
vt to make different; to modify; to castrate (archaic)
18 down SS in MORAY
Why is MORAY a [Scottish] waterway?
MORAY is a town in Scotland, and a name for the surrounding administative area.
But is the MORAY FIRTH called MORAY for short?
Norman @2 and @3: thanks for drawing attention to the definition of ALTER, which I confess to not having checked. And I also failed to check MORAY, assuming that the Moray Firth was so well known that it counted as a name for a waterway, but I think your point is well made.