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NCE again Azed supplies a
competition puzzle with enough hidden and straight anagram clues to give solvers
a fair chance of completing the grid and moving on to the clue-writing comp,
without unnecessary grief or chance of an accidental error. Almost everything
required can be found in Chambers. A
couple of unusual wordplays, at 11 and 27 across are given clear instructions
in their clues, and in both cases, in ways that complement the surface
readings. The competition phrase MONTE DI PIETÀ may look a daunting peak to scale, but contains a good distribution of letters for
anagrams and, like last month’s STONKERED, has some helpful colloquial
synonyms.
2. Leader of
men in headgear for conflict of old CAMP (m in cap). The solution here
is camp3, meaning a battle and related to the German ‘Kampf’, rather than camp1, which has military
connotations but derives from Latin ‘campus’, a field.
10. Backsliding
swindle takes one in
FAKIE (I in fake) Fakie is literally sliding backwards, a slang
term from skateboarding and snowboarding.
11. Unpleasant
woman adorns salon, say, shunned by same couple twice BESOM ((ro)bes (ro)om)). An innovative
wordplay device that enhances the surface reading.
17. Records in
wine year – little left
VINYL (vin + y + l). A misleadingly constructed charade delivering
a good penny-drop.
27. First half of
Ring reversed and moved to end canon maybe CLERIC (cir of circle reversed and moved to end). A second original
piece of wordplay, though the extended instructions don’t produce quite such a
convincing surface.
30. Five
points released by government department? They reveal a lot! MINIS (minis(try)) The
five points are from a Rugby Union try. Variants of the definition have been
used for over 50 years. Ximenes set MINI
SKIRTS, then newly added to Chambers
as a two-word expression, in a 1967 competition.
3. Truant? I
see he’s caught by Master (distinguished one) MICHER (I C he in MR). As well as
Mister, MR abbreviates the (very distinguished) Master of the Rolls.
‘Miche’ is a dialect word meaning to skive.
8. One
in charge turns up following neats roaming here ESTANCIA (anag. + a i/c, rev., & lit.). The
only & lit. clue of this puzzle. Neats (need it
be said?) are cattle, though you’ll need to visit OED to find this plural form.
9. Sailors
aboard boat developing calluses HORNY (RN in hoy1). There are no
doubt ways for sailors in boats to get horny other than through developing calluses,
but Azed goes for the safe option.
19. Supplies
fresh coat for US zebra? Experts required with that REFACES (ref + aces). A ref. to the ref in American football, etc.,
identified by their striped shirt.
22. Cardinal
(low one), priest exhibiting traditional belief THREEP (three P). Azed works the
number neatly into the clerical context of the clue.
23. Sell seafood,
all but a couple of pilchards
SCAM (scam(pi)). ‘A couple of’ isn’t often seen indicating
‘first two letters of’, and isn’t universally approved, either, but Azed is
content with it.
26. Goes
off sex, troubled about its appeal EXITS (it in anag.) Azed exploits the
opportunity offered by the double use of ‘sex’, though ‘its appeal’ for ‘it’ is
a little unwieldy.
Other solutions:
Across: 5. SMOKE-HO (OK in anag.; ref. Aus cricket
ground); 13. FRUCTANS (tan in scurf,
rev.); 14. ROCHET (t to end in troche;
ref. RC Church newspaper); 15. TORANA
(to rana); 18. MORRIS DANCER (r in anag.); 20.
PROPITIATIVE (vita I tip, all rev., in anag.); 23. SATED (anag.); 28. IN RIXA (INRI, X + a); 29. DIETETIC (die t + cite, rev.); 31. REATE (hidden); 32. AESCHNA (anag.
less t); 33.
OPUS (0 + pus).
Down: 1. OFF-RAMP (off + anag.); 2. CAROB (0
in carb); 4. PETER (3 mngs.); 5.
STATISTICIAN (anag.);
6. MONTE DI PIETÀ; 7. KEIRIN (anag. less b + in); 12. MEAL (hidden); 16. PROTEINS (anag.); 21. PERSIC (rep, rev. + alternate
letters); 24. ALKIE (k (kilo) in a
lie); 25. INTRO (hidden).
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