For the benefit of solvers new to the rigours of the Advanced Cryptic, Dr Watson provides a monthly review of the Observer’s Azed competition puzzle. Dr Watson is a regular Azed competitor. Please post any comments on this review to the Crossword Centre’s message board.
Head still spinning in the aftermath of those Christmas cryptics? Azed often sets an easier competition puzzle for January to help clear the fug, but this time it’s more hair-of-the-dog than analgesic. This puzzle is quite short on helpful anagrams and long on the more obscure subsidiary definitions. The good news is that only a couple of clues stray far from what can be confirmed in Chambers, and as ever there’s lots to enjoy.
Notes to the clues:
Across:
12. Peer, sporty lord in the capacity of
lecturer. CO-EQUAL (Coe qua L). Lord Coe is probably the easiest component
of the clue, though ‘qua’ (Latin for ‘as’) and the abbreviation are in Chambers.
16. Guard guitar favoured by the stars. FENDER (2 meanings). Dr Watson spent a while pondering what ‘favoured
by the stars’ could define before seeing the correct break. Famous players of
Fenders are too numerous to list here, but Wikipedia
does a reasonable job of it.
27. Hamlet, old-style? Rep to get excited about
opening thereof. THORPE (H in
anag.). The clue plays cleverly with
the alternative meanings of ‘hamlet’.
33. Oriental litter, edge gripped by 12? NORIMON (rim in noon). Solvers trying to fit something into a
synonym of ‘co-equal’ would have got nowhere. Azed rarely cross-references
clues in that way, but it doesn’t stop him pulling the occasional fast one.
35. Suppurating rednesses round opening of scar - it’s knowing what to put on. DRESS SENSE (s in anag.). The anagram is rather a good one (and one that has seen past service, if Watson recalls correctly), but ‘suppurating’? It’s difficult to see a connection, analogous, metaphorical or otherwise, between oozing pus and the rearrangement of letters.
Down:
2. Well up in waste resinous stuff of use to
insects. BEE-GLUE (gee, rev. in
blue). Both the subsidiary definitions
are difficult to decode. ‘Gee’ and ‘well’ are equivalent interjections.
3. Far from merry widow who can be fully
gratified? Not able. SATI (sati(able)). Leaving aside the extreme litotes of the
definition, there’s still the question of the wordplay. ‘Satiable’ needs to be
read as a noun to match ‘who can...’.
6. Face to Face, story about father
getting tipsy. CONFRONTÉ (Fr. on in
conte). ‘On’, Dr Watson’s least
favourite anagram indicator (with ‘suppurating’ now running it a close second)
appears here, but thankfully as part of a charade.
8. Bits of gut fitted upon a fiddle? Flip
these, perhaps. DUODENA (comp.
anag.). If the compounded anagram isn’t
obvious, it’s possibly because of the uncommon indicator ‘fitted’, or the
addition of ‘perhaps’ at the end.
10. ‘Nun wife, New Church admitted’ - Herald
(second leader). CLARENCEUX (n CE in
Clare ux). A series of fairly difficult
definitions to piece together here. The Clarenceux is the second-ranking king-of-arms
in the world of heraldry.
15. Hollywood types? Upset as none’s found round
set. ANGELENOS (gel in anag.). Azed’s brilliance at finding a punning connection
often brings his clues to life. The linking of ‘gel’ with film-sets is quite
inspired.
26. Modesty in statement from char when coming
round? AIDOS (I do in as). The question-mark is well merited. A char,
being ‘a lady who does’ (i.e. cleans), might describe her profession as ‘I do
[for a gentleman, etc.]’
30. Reminder of summer holiday in Hungary? The
opposite - immediately forgotten. THAN
(H in tan). A lot of clue for a short
answer, and it’s not at all clear at first where it’s leading, but it all hangs
together beautifully. ‘H in tan’ is the opposite of the ‘tan in H’ indicated by
the first sentence. The definition leads to than2, an archaic form
of ‘then’, which can mean ‘immediately’.
Other solutions:
Across: 1. OBSTRUCTED (r in anag.); 11. GEARE (hidden); 13. METOPON (met Op. on); 14. MOXA (ox in ma); 17. CLIP-ON (lip in con); 18. DIENE (e in dine); 19. HUMONGOUS; 22. STENOPAIC (I in anag.); 25. SANKO (sank + o); 29. TISANE (’tis ane); 31. ODAL (l ado, all rev.); 32. NARTHEX (N art hex); 34. DIANA (an aid, all rev.). Down: 4. TROPPO (op port, all rev.); 5. REPRO (hidden); 7. TELEDU (anag.); 9. WAXEN (axe in (he)wn); 13. MOCHA STONE (mo + chast(e) one); 20. MANSARD (man + r in sad; see mansard-roof); 21. LIPPENS (lip pens); 23. TO-NAME (on in tame); 24. PONTIE (anag. in pie); 28. HARDS (hard + S).