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R WATSON made quick progress in finding
the solutions of this puzzle; progress in understanding the subsidiary
indications of a number of clues was slower. He is hopeful that his efforts to
comprehend them fully will be of relief to other solvers who may have entered
the competition similarly unsure.
1. Rough old beer with infusion of creeper
is so brewed - it’s fatal to birds. ASPERGILLOSIS (asper2,
gill4, anag.) Experienced solvers
will have noticed the indication to ‘..osis’
immediately, but making up the rest may have been as tricky as Dr Watson found
it to be. The phrase: ‘with infusion of’ suggests a possible inclusion of one
word in another, but it proved eventually to be part of the listed definition
of gill ale.
14. Become passé, died alone, areas of activity
halved. OBSOLESCE (ob., sole, sce(nes)) In the surface, the
phrase defining our solution: ‘become passé’ must be understood as ‘having
become passé’.
16. Where some worship and live, death’s
confounded. BETHESDA (be, anag.) The original reference
is to the Pool of Bethesda,
mentioned in St John’s Gospel, but the name is also adopted by many towns and
churches, too numerous to mention. Immediately solved.
18. Islamic princes: is it them cine-clip’s shown jerkily? AMIRS (comp. anag.) ‘Amirs, cine-clip’s’ is found to be an anagram of ‘Islamic
princes’. Is it another Azed compound anagram displaying an ambiguous indication of
the separate anagrams?
20. Australians’ luggage sent back, causing
ill-temper. STROP (ports (rev.); s.v. port8)
With The Ashes test series imminent, Dr
Watson’s thoughts turned on reading this clue to the importation of favourite
cricket bats. One famously made of aluminium
may have occurred to a few others.
24. What you’d find in conquest Romans
displayed? ESTRO (hidden &lit) Azed has devised his clue
to stand as a definition by example, suggested by the question-mark. The
surface may be understood as a reference to the popular culture of lavish
spectacles of peoples, animals and plunder at the Colosseum and elsewhere: Panem et circenses.
25. Rear stabilizer? Make adjustment to it
final. TAIL FIN (anag.)
Azed has noted
the absence of a definition of our solution in Chambers and referred to the
entry in the New Oxford Dictionary.
This is also listed in the Oxford Concise,
and the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.
The second of the three meanings given is the one indicated here, although the Concise omits the reference to
stability. See the link to ‘airplain vertical tail’ here.
27. Once beginning, elder alongside king is one
making appointments. ORDAINER (ord, aîné, R)
A
brilliantly apt surface is achieved here suggestive of one with his feet well
under the table.
32. Fish by stern of bawley,
the Saucy Sue? HUSSY (huss, y) Watson
wonders quite how many solvers did not need to check the meaning of ‘bawley’. A good
many may still be ignorant; after
all, a ‘y’ at the stern of one word is as good as any other. Bear away!
33. Is shortened amateurish Shakespearian
tragedy including the window cleaner? SHAMMY LEATHER (’s, hammy, the in
Lear) Azed
signs off with a witty allusion to The most Lamentable Comedy and most Cruel Death of Pyramus and Thisby
performed by Bottom and his ‘mechanical’ pals in A Midsummer-Night’s Dream.
2. Mounting hitches involving outside
broadcast once provided. SOBEIT (OB in ties (rev.)) This
puzzle was published on the day that BBC Parliament screened its re-mastered
films of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II
on June 2nd, 1953. Old boys in ties (retrospective), indeed.
5. Diver consumed by self-loathing re
belly-flops. GREBE (hidden) Cleverly
disguised as an inclusion, this clue was, for Watson, the hardest of the four
hidden words in this puzzle to spot, despite his knowing the solution.
6. Subsequently confined, palsied (not dead,
poorly) on the same side. IPSELATERAL (later in anag.,
less d; s.v. ipsilateral) Azed has provided a suitably medical surface
for our solution which is used to refer to anything on the same side of the
body as something given, some other condition, etc.
8. Red colouring is still taken up in
heraldic border. ORSEILLE (lies (rev.) in orle; s.v. lie2) ‘To
be still’ is listed amongst several meanings of ‘lie’. ‘Orseille’ is one
of several names for dyes obtained from lichens known as orchella
weeds.
9. Pander
leaving smack on Jenny’s cheek? SASS (s(mack), ass; s.v. mack2)
Watson was engaged for some time here,
looking for a possible indication that the obvious solution happens to be
listed as a North American word. The possessive indicator, included only for
the sake of the surface reading, was a further irritant.
10. Two boxes to fill in on form? Not one
concerning period in later life. SEXAGENARY (sex, age, nary) What
a charade! Very much like form-filling. For harassed sexagenarians, ‘nary’
might be an apt answer for both boxes.
13. What’ll cause Jock’s mulligrubs?
Qualified dentist, ordinary filling. DODS (o in DDS; s.v. dod2) Bods
or mods? Dr Watson wriggled in the
chair over these. Neither seemed to fit Jock’s mulligrubs, and well-deserved torment followed. Relief
came from a higher ‘grade’ - see 12 Across.
19. Have a drink? Minion will fill what we call
the vessel up! REFRESH (serf in ‘her’ (all rev.)) As in ‘fill her up!’
21. Portrait painter admits getting drunk,
wanting company. LONELY (on in Lely) Another
visit from our favourite portraitist, Sir Peter Lely. He was very
popular with the ladies, and rarely wanted for their attentions.
24. Work unfinished, hence terror mounts? ERGO
(two indications: ergo(n)
& ogre(rev.)) Two
indications in a rare configuration, with the definition between them, but in
view of the inferential function of our solution, highly apt. A gem.
Other solutions:
Across: 11. VOULU (U
in volu(me)) 12. GRADE (i.e. “greyed”) 17. TIERCEL (hidden) 22. GLEDE (d in
glee1) 30. DE RIGUEUR (The competition word) 31. TOP-UP (op in
tup)
Down: 3. PUSHERS
(‘her!’ in puss2) 4. RULY
((t)ruly) 7. LACTAM (act in mal (rev.)) 11. VOETSTOOTS (anag, toots) 15.
CROTALUM (rotal in cum1; s.v. rota) 23. DISUSE (S, US, all in die1)
26. ARISE (hidden) 28. DOPA (do, pa) 29. AGHA (agha(st))