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20. Lime tree? It grows wild in this mere TEIL (comp. anag.) It’s hard to classify
this comp. anag. clue as & lit. or not. ‘Lime tree’ is the definition, but
also provides the anagram material. Yet ‘It grows live in this mere’ is just
wordplay. Lime trees don’t generally grow in meres and which is ‘this’ mere anyway?
Perfectly solvable, but semi-&lit. at best in Dr Watson’s view.
21. Successes ending in party, old-fashioned
booze-up UPSY (ups + y) An interesting word, ‘upsy’, whose meaning
has shifted over time from ‘in the manner of’ to a description of a way of
carousing, to a carousal, to a cry made during a carousal..
30. Car I found in canal, wrecked LANCIA (I in anag.) Lancia
cars, now sold only in Italy, were notorious rust-buckets, as Dr Watson recalls,
when exposed to the British climate. More than one probably ended its life
dumped in a canal by its embittered owner.
32. Things to be seen VIDENDA Chambers
provides this frustratingly vague definition for the competition word. OED is more helpful, giving “Things
worth seeing or that should be seen” and citing some pre-20c guidebooks for
examples of use. It appears to have been used in English principally for ‘sights’
in the touristic sense, rather than, say, sports events or shows.
34. Outstanding court performer, not one given
holiday from hearing … NOVAK (no + ‘vac’) A reference of course to tennis player Novak Djokovic, whose excellent
form has been dogged by injury recently. The ellipsis at the end of the clue is
simply a link to the surface reading of the next one. No cryptic elements are
carried over.
2. Vaguely laid-back? Will of iron conceals
it LO-FI (hidden) The definition and unusual form of the
solution serve to make this hidden clue a little more tricky.
4. Malay state to manage in British Empire
latterly, then independent BRUNEI (run
in B e + I) Azed
could have gone fully & lit. with this clue to nation of Brunei Darussalam, but chose instead
to allow the wordplay to accurately enhance the definition.
7. Shuffling feet, a don’s no good with a
tune TONE-DEAF (anag.) Where a solution has previously
been used as a competition word, Azed often reuses a favourite clue from the
competition entry. He hasn’t taken the opportunity here to share something from
the Azed
895 competition of 1989.
8. Camp you’ll rarely find top in stories? OUTLIE (i.e. out-lie) A nice head-scratcher
of a clue. The solution calls for an imaginative construction along the lines
of ‘outplay’, ‘outlast’ etc.
10. Only in Afghan language, name for ‘knob’ PUSH-BUTTON (but in Pushto + n) The ‘name’ at the end is crucial to
distinguishing Pushto, the language, from one of the various spellings of Pushtun,
the speaker of Pushto.
16. Goats etc jumping apace round Scottish
track CAPRINAE (rin in anag.) With the sixth letter
unchecked, solvers need to make sure they trace ‘rin’, a Scots spelling found in
the heading of the Chambers entry for ‘run’, and don’t assume the answer must
be the more likely-looking ‘Capridae’, which is apparently an older classification
of goats.
Other solutions:
Across: 1. ALPHABET SOUP (anag.); 10. PORAL (p oral); 11. DUNT (dun + t); 13. ANGUINE ((s)anguine); 14. SIX-GUN (X in anag.); 15. CELLAR (hidden); 18. ADDICT (anag. in act); 19. BASQUINE (quin in base); 23. SEPALINE (pal in Seine); 26. TRACTS (tr. + Acts); 29. TIMBRE (Br(itten) in time); 33. NAOS (a (ante) in son, rev.); 35
PENDENTE LITE (pen dent elite).
Down: 3. PRAXIS (pr. + axis); 4. HANGI (ng in hai(l)); 6. ERICA (eric a); 9. UNLACING (anag. + in G.); 12. TURTLEBACK (anag. in tack); 17. LUSTRINE (in in anag.); 22. SAMSON (anag. + on); 24. PALEST (Palest(inians)); 25. INCAVI (Inca VI); 27. SEDAN (hidden); 28. INDOL (N in idol); 31. IKAT (taki, rev.).