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1.
Denial
of right to private ownership hampers site being developed ASPHETERISM (anag.) Azed picks a
straightforward anagram and definition for one of the lesser known names for
this principle. Sixty-one years ago Ximenes’
competitors tackled the same word, and found it to be rich in anagram and &
lit. potential. Jeremy Morse won with “In which
State’s end is to reorganise all mastership around
itself,” and R. R. Greenfield produced “This doctrine is one spelling the ruin
of the miser.”
12. One translation of ‘bear’ followed by
another, contrarily À
REBOURS (anag. + ours
(Fr.)) A
lovely double-take on both ‘bear’ and ‘translation’.
19. Latin mass mostly followed by church, god
demanding sacrifices MOLECH (mole(s) + Ch)
The E in the grid is unchecked, and the primary spelling given in
Chambers is MOLOCH, so Azed presents a tripping hazard here to solvers whose Latin
is not fluent, and who might be more familiar with ‘missa’
than ‘moles’ as a translation of ‘mass’. For those with
only Chambers to rely on, the Latin ‘moles’ can be found in the etymology of
mole5.
25. Bit of African money in leaving we
exchanged NGWEE (hidden) This looks like it’s
leading to an anagram with ‘exchanged’, and the hidden solution doesn’t leap
out at you. The old Zambian
kwacha was discontinued a couple of years ago at a rate of 10,000 to the
£1, so it’s unlikely you’d have had much luck exchanging your ngwee.
34. Tamper with honey, scattering bees, say HYMENOPTERA (anag.) The
solver might spot an anagram to be decoded, but not be sure whether ‘tamper’ or
‘scattered’ is the indicator. In this instance the best option is to look for
the 11 letters that could provide the material – assuming, that is, that ‘bees’
doesn’t denote ‘BB’ or similar.
4. Something like a tablet honoured officer
put up? Yes E-BOOK
(OBE, rev. + OK)
Dr Watson thinks Azed has misunderstood the
e-terminology, although Chambers’ definition is fairly clear. Something like a
tablet would be an e-reader, whereas an e-book is software.
7. Warship in this is fine? IRON-CLAD (i.e. fine = in in Fe) A brilliant ‘reverse cryptic’ where the
solution is treated as a cryptic indication. Watson can’t help feeling Azed is playing fast and loose with his own strictures on
letter case here, though. The symbol for iron is never anything but Fe, so the
clue should really say ‘Fine’.
8. Cephalopod creating confusion where it lives SEPIA (pi in
sea) The wordplay isn’t
obvious, with ‘confusion’ hinting at an anagram rather than a 2-letter word.
For those questioning the clue’s scientific accuracy, Chambers describes the Cephalopda
as ‘exclusively marine’.
9. Calcified seaweed in a recipe
interspersed with honey
MAERL (a r distributed in mel) Happily ‘mel’, unlike ‘moles’, is given as a headword in Chambers
for non-Latinists. This must be one of very few Breton loan words in the
dictionary.
23. Italian cop, very good, NY force installed SBIRRO
(birr1 in so) Having
mixed up his New York Yankees and Knicks recently, Azed
gets this Americanism right. Along with NGWEE, an unexpected spelling that may
have taken solvers a while to track down.
27. Tiresome curse for the Scots, suspicious
about English WEARY
(E in wary, 2 defs.) Azed throws in an
extra definition to enhance the wordplay and unbalance the solver a little. Dr
Watson wonders if Azed had the referendum and ensuing
constitutional wrangle in mind?
Other solutions:
Across: 11. COHAB (oh in cab;
Hackney carriage); 12.
UNTREAD (t in unread);
13. HULLO (Hull + O); 14.
GROPED (op for e in greed);
17. SCALE (C in sale); 18. SOMONI (M in soon I); 21. OPULUS (pulu in OS); 23. SPATHE (spa the); 29. BRINDLED (rind in bled); 30. TRAINS (2 mngs.);
31. TROPE ((d)eport,
rev.); 32. TARSIER (anag.); 33. ACTED (t in
aced).
Down: 2. SOURSOP (sours op.); 3. PHLEUM (comp. anag.;
i.e. timothy grass); 5. TUMULI (’um in tuli(P)); 6. ENGRAM (anag. +
RAM, & lit.); 10. ADDLE-HEADED (le head in added); 11. CHANSONETTE (Ch. an so nett E); 16. SOLECISM; 20. CHEEPER
(‘cheaper’); 22.
SARSEN (RA in ness, all rev.); 24. TYLOTE (lot in tye1); 26. GERAH (g +
hare, rev.); 28.
ON TAP (Pat. No., rev.).