A standard plain Azed this week, in a standard 12 x 12 grid.
I found this a little harder than the previous week’s puzzle (probably because I had to blog it) but as usual Azed’s immaculate wordplay meant that there was no real doubt about the answer, even where the word and its constituent parts was wholly obscure.
| Across | ||
| 1 | FURMETY | Cereal dish assembled in rage (7) |
| MET in FURY. An alternative spelling of frumenty. | ||
| 6 | SLAMS | Religion’s losing leader – we’re harshly critical (5) |
| (I)SLAM’S. I don’t quite see why Azed has chosen to personalise the noun “slam” in this way. It doesn’t seem essential for the surface reading. | ||
| 10 | ACOUCHY | Rodent forever nipping bit of soft furnishing (7) |
| COUCH in AY. | ||
| 11 | TAROT | Pack, larger than standard, sharp when capturing ball? (5) |
| O in TART. A tarot pack has 78 rather than 52 cards. | ||
| 12 | NARROWCAST | Broadcast on cable: quarrel with players if shown after noon (10) |
| N (oon) QUARREL, CAST. A secondary meaning of “quarrel” is a crossbow bolt. | ||
| 14 | MANSUETE | What’s use meant ‘broken’? (8) |
| * (USE MEANT). Mansuete is defined in Chambers as an archaic term meaning “tame”, which can equate I suppose to an animal that has been “broken-in”. The only & lit clue in the puzzle. | ||
| 15 | ARREAR | Once behind tree, Ray concealed therein (6) |
| RE in ARAR (the sandarac tree). RAY is a phonetic version of RE in sol-fa notation. | ||
| 18 | SAUL | Jealous king, Scottish leader? (4) |
| Double definition. Saul is a Scottish form of “soul”, one of whose subsidiary meanings is inspirer or leader. The story of Saul’s jealousy of David is found in the first book of Samuel. | ||
| 19 | ASPECT | Face ninny kissed on the ears? (6) |
| Sounds (“on the ears”) like ASS PECKED. | ||
| 20 | TINEAL | Like a worm by way of being fed to bird (6) |
| IN in TEAL. | ||
| 23 | HALO | Glory in triumph à l’outrance (4) |
| Hidden in “triumph à l’outrance”. | ||
| 25 | GUIDES | Steers fish into outflow (not ultimately hard) (6) |
| IDE in GUS(H). | ||
| 26 | CEINTURE | Constant disorderly retinue – might it have circled Louis? (8) |
| C *RETINUE. | ||
| 28 | BALLETGIRL | Degas model, often allowed to clothe back in dance (10) |
| LET, RIG(rev) in BALL. | ||
| 29 | SCREE | Border without depth? It offers mountaineer no firm foothold (5) |
| SCREE(d). | ||
| 30 | PATERAE | Padre running water around wine dishes (7) |
| PATER, EA(rev). They are round flat dishes holding the wine in Roman sacrifices, according to Chambers. | ||
| 31 | MHORR | Antelope, mobile and bristling, I’d despatched (5) |
| M HORR(id). An unlikely spelling of a type of gazelle. | ||
| 32 | PLOSION | It’s released after stoppage in pools at work (7) |
| *(IN POOLS). Technically, it’s the breath that’s released in this way, so the definition is a little loose. | ||
| Down | ||
| 1 | FANTASTICISM | Wine consumed, mints café mostly scattered showing whimsicality (12) |
| ASTI in *(MINTS CAF(e)). | ||
| 2 | RORY | Top golfer creating clamour at Troon? (4) |
| It’s an alternative spelling of “roary”; the reference is to Rory McIlroy. Nice to have an alternative golfer to (Ernie) Els. | ||
| 3 | MURRELET | Small seabird, strange if seen climbing on small island, is disappearing (8) |
| RUM (rev) RE (on) (is)LET. | ||
| 4 | ECOMAP | Second among rate rises? This may chart community interaction (6) |
| MO in PACE (all rev). | ||
| 5 | THWARTLY | Poet’s ultimate skill in hwyl displayed in oblique fashion (8) |
| (poe)T, ART in *HWYL. | ||
| 6 | STASIS | Secret police section making arrest (6) |
| STASI S(ection). | ||
| 7 | ARTEX | Wall covering? A king’s installed tons (5) |
| T(ons) in A REX. | ||
| 8 | MONTICLES | Small mounds – or those responsible for them, number twitching inside? (9) |
| N TIC in MOLES. It’s a variant spelling of monticule. | ||
| 9 | STREPTOSOLEN | Evergreen shrub nicked – criminal or pest involved (12) |
| *(OR PEST) in STOLEN. | ||
| 13 | PRAISEACH | Chap, poorly, about to bring up savoury porridge? (9) |
| RAISE in *CHAP. | ||
| 16 | SANGREAL | Celebrated authentic object of legendary quest (8) |
| SANG, REAL. | ||
| 17 | SPHINGES | Mythical monsters, something foul-smelling fed to rearing serpent (8) |
| HING in SEPS (rev). Hing is a term for asafoetida, and seps is a venomous snake. | ||
| 21 | ANTLER | Part of crown that’s leant uneasily on king (6) |
| *LEANT, R. | ||
| 22 | DUETTO | Four hands playing? Exactly, reverse of excessive (6) |
| DUE, OTT (rev). | ||
| 24 | FIBRO | Aussie building slab forming sphere whenever put up (5) |
| ORB IF (all rev). | ||
| 27 | MIRI | Group within admiring peasant communes (4) |
| Hidden in “admiring”. | ||
*anagram
Nothing too difficult, obviously a set-up for the prize job today. Thanks for identifying the golfer.
I should have noted that the clue for MANSUETE
I should have noted that the clue for MANSUETE is in fact the prize-winning clue from competition 1593 (submitted independently by two separate entrants!). As I see that my own entry to that competition (of which I now have no memory) was awarded an HC, I should perhaps have spotted this rather sooner.