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NCE again, Azed offers a
puzzle with few traps or difficult general knowledge references, for the month’s
competition. Three hidden solutions, one of which is a little harder to find,
and several straight anagrams, help the solver off the blocks. Surfaces are
fluent throughout. 5 down introduces a previously unseen indicator, the
colourful ‘arsy-versy’, for swapping round two halves of a word. Clue-writing
competitors should enjoy STONKERED, which comes with a good range of wordplay
options and colloquial definitions.
11. Arachnid
scuttles round head of monastery before liturgy – me? ARCHIMANDRITE (m in anag. + rite). Solvers may be led to think that ‘me’ refers
to the arachnid rather than the head of monastery, so the solution delivers a
small penny-drop. The clue doesn’t qualify as & lit. in Dr Watson’s view. ‘Me’
has no part in the wordplay, and the wordplay itself doesn’t define the
solution.
16. Lawyer links
about five cases
DATIVES (DA + V in ties) An example of how to combine wordplay and
definition into a coherent, misleading surface. The cases here are grammatical
ones.
18. E.g. wooden
partition essential to mask re-entry SKREEN (hidden). Revisiting this one
for the review Dr Watson had to think again how it worked, which suggests it’s
a clever hidden clue, partly because ‘mask’ is usually itself a hidden indicator..
19. Funeral ceremonies
over, a little food follows
OBIT (o + bit). The surface creates that vivid mental picture
that clue writers strive for.
23. Blind ox,
wild about introduction to sill BISSON (s in bison). ‘Blind ox, wild’
gives away the definition (‘blind’) less easily than ‘blind wild ox’ might have.
A sill is part of a plough, that an ox might be reluctant to be introduced to.
33. I
believe in recreation – it’s seen flourishing behind part of fence PALINGENESIST (paling
+ anag.).
Nothing too complicated here, but the punning definition hides the setter’s
intent nicely, and ‘it’s seen’ is one of those neutral expressions that the
solver can easily pass over before realising the importance of its role.
5. Become
mentally confused, as solitary fellow all arsy-versy? MITHER (halves swapped in hermit). Dr Watson certainly
hasn’t seen ‘all arsy-versy?’ as a wordplay device before, but it works well
enough here and creates the most entertaining clue of the puzzle.
7. German
cab driver, clipped on the weather DROSKY (dr o’
sky). The comma between ‘driver’ and ‘clipped’ helps distract the solver
from the correct cryptic parsing.
8. Whose
plumage changes completely in wintry periods? RYPER (hidden). Very much a semi-&lit. clue. The
true definition ‘Whose plumage changes
completely’ is enhanced by the wordplay element. ‘Ryper’
is the Danish plural of ‘rype’, a name for the ptarmigan.
9. Morgan
e.g., top removed, being more than a little warm IRATE ((p)irate). A conflation of two Morgans:
the motor marque
known for its convertibles, and the buccaneer.
21. Rowan
up north I knew when rambling round about WICKEN (c. in anag.).
Another clue that hides key wordplay elements in innocuous words, ‘I knew’ and ‘about’.
Other solutions:
Across: 11. BAREGINE (bare gin E.); 13. À FOND (A +
fond); 14. DOPANT (do pant); 15. CHIPSET (anag.); 22. ZONK (z(one) + n in ok); 26. RIPOSTE (anag.); 28. CARIOCA (C + Co, rev., in aria); 30. STOLEN (stole + n); 31. BIKIE (alternate letters); 32. SHETLAND (anag.
in s hand).
Down: 2. RAFF (F in RAF); 3. CROUT (C rout); 4. HENBIT (anag.); 6. ANTISTROPHE (anag.
inc. th(e)); 10. TANGENT (n gen
in tat); 11. BANDOBAST (band + anag.); 12. STONKERED; 17. AB INTRA (a bin + art, rev.); 20. BOREEN (BO + reen); 22. ZORALIS (l in zorais); 24. SCOWL (s + cowl; see lour); 25. SALMI (anag. inc. lam(b)); 27. SAKAI (a in saki); 29. PINS (snip, rev.).
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