Reviews
index
| & lit. homepage | Try the puzzle
|
A |
FTER the bracing slog that
was Azed 2500,
solvers and competitors may be happy to swap their metaphorical hiking boots
for open-toed sandals and enjoy the gentler terrain of this month’s competition
puzzle. None of the clues is especially difficult, and everything that’s needed
can be found in Chambers or its close vicinity. Dr Watson had quibbles with a
couple of the definitions, but more as a result of Chambers’s
ambiguity than Azed’s interpretation of it.
1. Such as
Quasimodo producing ring in big belfry’s No. 1, swinging GOBBI (O in anag.
incl. b)
‘Such as Quasimodo’
doesn’t provide the information to determine that the plural form of ‘gobbo’ is
needed, and solvers must rely on the wordplay to fill in the unchecked final
letter.
7. Constellation
as above alongside Libra aloft LUPUS (L up + us) L for libra (i.e.
pound) may be a familiar abbreviation, but ‘us’ for ut
supra perhaps less so. Lupus is a
constellation of the southern hemisphere.
14. Liqueur for
Pepe’s other half? TIA MARIA (cf. Tio Pepe) Unusually for Azed, this is almost a cryptic definition. Tia Maria has her own entry
in Chambers, but that certainly doesn’t exclude any other liqueur named Tia, of
which a number can be found online. Any relationship between Jamaica’s Tia
Maria and Tio Pepe of Jerez
would necessarily be a long-distance one.
17. Hear this for
anguish, Charley? TACHE ((hear)tache)
A nicely penny-dropping
wordplay. It seems improbable that a moustache named after Charlie Chaplin
would be spelt this way, but Chambers provides both spellings for all
definitions of ‘Charlie’.
27. Toe part’s
misshapen – it’s prone to the big C PROSTATE (anag.) A reminder that prostate cancer is now the most
commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK.
29. Plant
ovaries, end buried in earmarked areas STIPITES (tip in sites) Chambers’s definition
under ‘stipe’ should almost certainly be read as ‘A stalk of an ovary’ and not
the ovary itself.
32. Skin disease
represented by Greek letter? TINEA (i.e. t in ea
= eta) A
‘reverse cyptic’ clue where the solution must be read
as wordplay. This isn’t the best example of the type, but it adds variety for solvers.
If, like Quasimodo, it rang a bell, it’s because
Azed has previously used this wordplay in puzzle nos. 2325 (“Menial Japanese displays this skin disease?”
[eta2]) and 1849 (“Skin condition presented by eta, literally”).
6. Small
branches about closed in green activity – part of trade war? PRICE-CUTTING (rice c. in putting) ‘Green activity’ for ‘putting’ is a deft touch. Rice2
is an obsolete or dialect term for brushwood.
9. Punch
holes in article about what’s central for Boris PIERCE (r in piece) Our
hapless (or choose your preferred term) PM makes his first appearance that Dr
Watson can remember in an Azed clue.
11. Eels mixed
with ray where sea creatures breed SEALERY (anag.) Dr Watson
struggled with this definition. Chambers gives ‘seal-fishery’ as its definition
for sealery but unhelpfully fails to define that
term. A scan of OED turns up ‘the occupation of hunting the seal’ for sealery, but it likewise doesn’t define ‘seal-fishery’. A
fellow solver has pointed out the entry for sealery
in SOED as ‘a place colonized by seals’, so the confusion is understandable. Azed’s definition seems closest to that of ‘seal-rookery’.
21. Musician
not following another LUTER
((f)luter)
The clue appears to be missing something until you discover the role of ‘following’
in the wordplay.
Other solutions:
Across: 12. ARRIDE (Ar + ride); 13. RAPINE (anag.
less MO); 15. PICKEREL (pic + r in keel2); 16. OLENT (hidden); 19. DIVARICATE (anag.); 20. SANGUINARY (Angui(s)
in snary); 23.
SNIRT (trins, rev.);
24. GOLEM (go + LEM); 30. STANZE
(s + Tänze (Ger));
31. NOSEAN (nose + an); 33. SERRE
(E in errs, rev.).
Down: 1. GATSO (gat so; tool = gun); 2. ORILLION (ill
in Orion); 3. BRAVE (v in brae); 4. BIMANA
(anag. less I);
5. PERIWIG-PATED (I in anag.); 8. UPBEAT;
10. UNCE (unc(L)e); 18. HARE’S-EAR (rese(t) in haar); 19. DISPOST (dipsos
with ps rev. + t);
20. SIOUAN (anag. incl. O); 21. ARSINE (hidden); 22. NOWISE (w in noise); 26. MESNE (s in mene;
see mean4); 29. ROTI (rot + i(t)).
Reviews
index
| & lit. homepage | Try the puzzle