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OLVERS should not have too
much trouble with this competition puzzle. The defintions
and wordplay are mainly straightforward, and there are no references that need
to be sought outside of Chambers. Azed repeats several wordplay elements in different clues.
Dr Watson counted four fish, three chemical compounds, and oddly enough, two
abbreviations for ‘large sized’ used misleadingly.
7. Party
William’s cutting SECT
(2 mngs.) ‘William’s’ to
indicate a Shakespearean word is not unusual, but Dr Watson can’t recall seeing
it in an Azed for a long time.
12. Bass
doubling, creating some distortion on soundtrack BLOOP (b loop) ‘Doubling’ is
used here in the sense of going back on oneself.
13. Twelve
heading east – uninhabited spot contains ——?
NO-ONE (noon + E) What looks like a comp. anag.
structure turns out to be a clever charade.
20. Getting a
lift maybe ’Arry does this protein OPSIN (i.e. ’ops in) The
aitch-dropping cockney makes an appearance. It’s not clear what ‘doing’ a
protein entails.
27. A wisp, me?
Wrong – OS-style, more like
MAPWISE (anag). Azed mixes up
two different meanings of the abbreviation OS, for outsize and Ordnance Survey.
29. Organic
compound got from major artery in fish IMIDE (M1 in ide) ‘Artery’ for the motorway continues to catch
out Dr Watson, who’s seen it enough times before.
31. Office
stuff, unavoidable
NECESSARY (3 mngs.) The three different senses of the solution
are hard to spot. The first involves slang terms for a lavatory, and the second
for money; the third is the easiest.
32. One learning
in school term for a type of rock GLAM (L in gam) Another tricky pair of synonyms, with ‘gam’
meaning a school or pod of cetaceans. Glam rock is hopefully familiar to both
younger and older generations of solvers.
9. Like a good
looker, with parts amounting to XL?
TWENTY-TWENTY (i.e. 20 + 20 = 40) Azed grabs the chance to use a piece of
arithmetic wordplay and a punning abbreviation similar to
27 across. A good looker is one who sees well, with 20-20 vision.
17. First
to exploit indefinable quality in garment, leading figure in rag trade? EDITRESS (e + it in dress) Nicely
exploiting the alternative meanings of ‘rag trade’ as the garment and newspaper
industries.
23. Some EU
members given a lift round Austria, arriving at upper house SEANAD (A in Danes, rev.) The solution is
the Senate of the Irish parliament.
25. Local
gutter to divert left
SWAYL (sway L). Swayl is an alterative spelling
of ‘swale’; not the marshy place, but the verb meaning to scorch or gutter like
a dying flame. Strictly it seems ‘swale’ refers to the action of the
extinguisher rather than the flame itself.
Other solutions:
Across: 1. BOBSTAYS (anag. in boys); 10.
TOPMINNOW (top + inn in mow); 14.
LYOMERI (mer (Fr.) in anag.); 18. SKIRRET (re(d) in skirt); 19. BEDIDE (did in bee); 21. PUTID (t I in pud); 22. SUBSET (e in anag.); 24. SOSATIE (SOS + anag.); 30. HALON (halo + n); 33. SADDLERY (anag.
incl. e).
Down: 1. BIBLE-BASHING (le bash in
(im)bibing); 2. OILY (alternate letters of jovially); 3. BLOOD-DUST (lo odd in bust); 4. STOMP (M in stop); 5. A-PER-SE (a perse); 6. SINCIPUT (anag.
in sit); 7.
SNOD (dons, rev.); 8. CONGENER; 11. MAIKO (OK I am, rev.); 15. GRISAILLE (anag.
incl I less E); 16. BEPOMMEL (pomme
(Fr.) in bel; see bael); 22 DIMES (hidden); 26. IDEM (medi(a),
rev.); 28. SOUR (s(c)our).
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