Reviews
index
| & lit. homepage | Try the
puzzle
|
D |
10. Apache
possibly? He’s mostly confused with
Satan! ATHAPASCAN (anag.
of Apach(e)
+ Satan; s.v. Athabascan) Azed may have had
in mind Edgar Rice
Burroughs’ Western: Apache Devil
as the surface connection between ‘Apache’ and ‘Satan’. Our solution refers to
the group of languages which includes that of the Apache tribes.
12. Old
poem by unknown oddball. DITZ (dit1
+ z) On finding ‘z’ to be our ‘unknown’,
and not the commonplace ‘x’ or ‘y’, many solvers may have joined Watson in
wondering once again whether any
letter might be so indicated.
13. Whiteness
originally noticeable among rural Bedouin. ALBEDO (hidden) This
clue is notable for including the solution to 1 Down, albeit in the more common
variant form. Its mere presence here, however, remains appropriately bewitching
until that clue is properly solved.
14. Tapir
is heading for rain but not in mountain pipes.
ANTARA (anta2 + ra(in)) Azed’s use of ‘is heading for’ to indicate ‘precedes’ is a
delightful feature of this clue. Solvers who may have wondered why our tapir
would not venture near ‘mountain pipes’ would have found the definition: ‘a
pipe-like volcanic vent’ at the entry for pipe1.
16. Antique
market I’ll be after – boon unusually includes that one-time fee? OBVENTION (vent3
+ I in anag.) Watson had quite a traipse
here amongst the stalls before he found just the right reading of this tricky
clue.
19. Cathodes
may be seen in shed converted with this Sky unit? OCTA (comp. anag.) It
is rare for Azed to begin a definition with an
unnecessary capital letter, forced here by the topical reference to Sky
Television as needed for the surface reading. The composite anagram is formed
by our solution: OCTA and ‘shed’, which may be transformed into ‘cathodes’. New
entrants to the competition should note that Azed
insists that both parts of a composite anagram must be indicated separately. Here,
he has obliged with ‘converted’ and the additional hint of a question mark. The latter serves also to allay concerns about the capital ‘S’.
25. Part
of school fashion? It may be seen in navy cords. HOUSE-LINE (house + line) Dr
Watson regards the surface of this clue as tellingly apt since sailors are
notoriously fashion-conscious in every aspect of managing their boats, and will
defend their own methods against those of others. Our solution is the name of a
style of cord used in seizings and other rope work.
31. The
governor takes place in group from which jury was picked. PAIS (pa + is; s.v.
be) The old man is on the panel. ‘To
take place’ may be found among the definitions at the substantive entry for the
verb: to be.
34. Resistance
to mal de mer, as seen in marine creatures. SEA LEGS (e.g. in seals) The
surface achieved here is highly appropriate in the context of the readiness of
marine creatures to dispose of our bodily waste, including vomit, as any sailor
will attest. Seals are a bit more choosy.
1. Tent-dweller, one secure under
mattress. BEDAWIN (bed + a + win; c.f.
13 Across) Regular
solvers will remember a recent puzzle, No 2076,
which featured a pair of clues, each including the solution of the other. Not
this time, however. Such a tease!
3. Flexible rod, dry, connecting parts of
horizontal timber. WATTLE (TT connecting parts of wale1; s.v. wattle1) This
is an intriguing clue as a careful reading of Chambers’ entry for wattle1
should reveal. The clue’s substantive definition is ‘flexible rod’, one of the
dialect meanings, but the remainder may be understood in the collective sense
as material laid out to be used as the horizontal weft
of hurdles.
4. Ben? Ben mostly put in crazy request
recalling W. Mitty.
THURBERESQUE ((Ben) Hur + Be(n),
all in anag.) Solvers
will no doubt expect to find appropriate links for Ben Hur, James Thurber, and his
famous story: The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty at this entry.
5. Desert travellers take narcotic drink,
tinned? CARAVAN (i.e. r + ava2,
all in can; s.v. kava) A
fourth reference to desert dwellers in this puzzle, this clue is notable for
its indication of ‘in can’ by the use of ‘tinned?’ Lower case ‘r’ is an
abbreviation for ‘take’.
7. A boy gets punished? Gyte with this maybe. ASBO (comp. anag.) In this clue, the second to feature a
composite anagram, ‘a boy gets’ is found to be an anagram of our solution: ASBO and ‘gyte’. The anagram of the first phrase is indicated in
normal fashion, the latter rather as an instance of the possible combinations
in response to the question posed. Regarding the surface reading, it is
interesting that both of the Scots words: gyte make
perfect sense, at least in modern senses of gyte1. The first means
crazy or mad; the second a child or brat .
11. Cobble this up before oration? One’s drying PAVE (evap(oration) (rev.))
What might need drying before an oration,
having been cobbled up? Clearly it is ink on a page, or so one might guess if
one could not understand the clue. With its third letter unchecked in the grid,
this could be held to be a classic of its type, the ‘unchecked’ trap or ‘unch’ as it is informally known.
20. Strict self-discipline one’s involved in
like tax of old. ASCESIS (I in as + cess) In this clue’s surface, Azed
has delivered a brilliant swipe at our posh-boy guardians of fiscal discipline,
and their now infamous freezing of the age-related tax allowance.
22. Chap admitting explosive lit must be
this? GUILTY (anag.
in guy) Regular solvers may have
remembered the clue for LITHE in the February competition puzzle at 17, and, if
so, made light work of this.
27. Sandy’s awl: changing this will make him a
club for ball game. STOB (i.e. ‘s’ to
‘b’ in Sandy gives ‘bandy’; s.v. bandy3) There have been quite a
few clues of this type recently, and so new solvers may be getting used to
scanning the solutions rather than the clues for an understanding of how they
work. In this one, in addition to his duties as material for the
transformation, Sandy also serves to hint at the Scots solution.
Other solutions:
Across: 1.
BEWITCH (The competition word) 7. ASTI (asti(r)) 17. ICE TEA (I + cete
+ A) 21. NIGH (nigh(t-ape)) 23. REISTS (I in anag.; s.v.
reast1) 29. OEUVRE (EU in anag.) 30. TALAQS (Q in anag.)
32. OUTRUSHING (anag.) 33. BAYT (bay7 + t;
(Spenser))
Down: 2.
EPINICION (‘in’ in epic + I + on; s.v. epinikion & on (adj.)) 6. PALINGENESIA (paling + anag. s.v. palingenesis) 8. SCENIC (anag. less e) 9. IN ON (on! (rev.) in in2) 15.
POTTERING (t in anag.) 18.
BRIOCHE (r,i in Boche) 24. SAVAGE (vas (rev.) + age) 26.
LESS (hidden) 28. GART (anag.
less E; s.v. gar2)