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ZED produced something
similar to this Christmas Special in 2017 (‘Christmas
Pudding’), where several of the grid entries were ‘coins’ inside ‘puddings’
and a clue was requested for SOW(PIASTRE)ENS. This time the metaphor is presents
around the Christmas tree. As explained in the preamble, the thematic clues are
wordplay only, and must be found amongst the normal ones. Azed has plenty of
scope to interpret ‘present’, not just as a gift or a verb meaning ‘give’, but
also as the here and now, and he uses most of the available senses of the word.
He’s previously (as with
2001’s ‘Ship of Fools’) given the special clues a thematic surface, so we might
have expected something Christmassy this time. It probably proved too difficult
to produce clues that are both decent and thematic, and Azed thankfully chose
to produce decent ones, such as the succinct 10 down for ASH in HERE. The clues
give competitors a good idea of the standard they should aspire to in their own
entries. It’s worth noting that the wordplay should indicate not only the
present and the tree, but also the position of the tree inside the present.
All Azed’s clues do it unambiguously, though as noted
below, the grid entry chosen for the competition needs extra care.
The remaining normal clues are
well up to Azed’s regular standard, with a couple of gems,
including 20 down’s Idris Elba reference.
1. See
preamble POTLATSUGATCH (TSUGA in POTLATCH) This is the one solvers need to work out from
scratch and clue themselves. Indicating the position of TSUGA in POTLATCH is
complicated by both ends of the join being between an A and a T, which
restricts the choice of anagrams and ‘container and contents’ devices that lead
to only one possible sequence. It remains to be seen how strictly Azed enforces
the requirement of unambiguous postioning.
14. Notices
belly having swallowed one ADSTIUM
(TI in ADSUM; ads + I in tum) One of two 2-letter trees used by Azed. ‘Adsum’ is Latin for ‘(I am) here’.
16. Dodges
game RACKETS
(2 mngs.) A tidy little double def. ‘Dodges’ is used as
a noun in the wordplay.
19. Typical
of artistic school that is found in fuzzy (not
cloudy) scenes SIENESE (i.e.
in anag. less c)
A reference to the medieval Sienese School of painting.
23. Against
being hugged by beloved on shortened engagement DEANTIARODATE (ANTIAR in DEODATE; anti in dear + o’ date) Dr Watson was confused
at first, having mixed up DEODATE, which is a gift to or from God, with DEODAR,
which is a tree.
27. Life in
judo get-up GIVITAE (ITA in GIVE; vita in gie) The similarity of the solution and the
wordplay elements made the former hard to see.
33. Circus owner
maybe introduced to rubber trampolines
BERTRAM (hidden) You need to go back a few years to recall Bertram Mills’ Circus,
which closed in the 1960s, but until then was the biggest show of its kind in
Britain.
36. Eye liners
always recalled when taking a Turner?
RETINAE (Tina in e’er, rev.) Hopeully no explanation of Tina Turner, who was just
getting going in the Sixties, is required. ‘Taking in’ would make more sense in
this clue than just ‘taking’, and it may be an accidental omission.
39. Tenser,
quaking, about war god with cleaver, new ETRSTYRAXENNE (STYRAX in ÉTRENNE; Tyr
axe n in anag.) Solvers might understandably spot STORAX in the
dictionary, assume Tor is a variant spelling to Thor and move on without
considering Tyr, the old Norse war god with an entry in Chambers, or STYRAX, the
genus to which storax-producing trees belong. Dr
Watson’s spies have ascertained that some have done just that, but Dr Watson
thinks it possible, given the etymology of Thor (and despite the preamble note
that ‘all … the component parts of thematic entries are in Chambers’), that their
solutions will be passed, which would be a welcome étrenne
(a New Year’s gift).
1. Shakespearean
pouch over middle of costume POAKET
(OAK in PET; poake + t) One of the hardest
specials to identify with a very normal-looking clue and the ambiguity of ‘over’
in the wordplay.
3. A chap wih
promptings, entering privies LATAMANURGESS (TAMANU in LARGESS; a man + urges, all in lats) It’s a
racing certainty that the long solutions are thematic, but both tree and
present here are obscure enough to prevent a quick solution.
5. With
no special attachment this is how anti-union Scot feels in his beat? TOUK (i.e. to UK) To make sense of this clue, you need to read it very
literally, replacing ‘this’ with the solution, i.e. ‘With no special attachment
to UK is how…’. It’s still a bit inelegant in Dr Watson’s view, and what does ‘feels
in his beat’ mean?
6. Twins rarely like conjoined
ones, i.e. separated SAMES (S(i)ames(e)) A tricky wordplay
taking advantage of the rarity of ‘same’ as a noun meaning twin.
8. Occupied
with red wine reputed (French) one I have
ATTENTDITAIVE (DITA in ATTENTIVE; at tent3 dit3 a I’ve) It’s
satisfying to find a straight charade for a long non-word like this, even if it
wasn’t possible to run it across the joins between the component words.
10. Woman
given run around HASHERE
(ASH in HERE; she in hare) The best of the special clues, with a convincingly normal
surface.
18. Shift cycling
shades STINT (cycling
of tints) Azed knows exactly when this type of wordplay
device will work best.
20. Elba? Italy’s
mostly arid island IDRIS (I dr(y) Is) Fans of The Wire, Luther, and
of course Marvel’s Thor, won’t have missed this reference. Azed’s clueing is on a roll here.
22. Replaced
X-ray unit, Nigerian, on time REMIBOT
(BO in REMIT; rem Ibo + t) ‘Replaced’ isn’t wordplay but part of the
definition of rem, which is now known as a rad. Chambers is circumspect about ‘bo2’
as the correct term for a bo tree, which is a
specific individual tree of enlightenment rather than a type of tree.
32. Not what this
is, clearly PLAIN
(2 mngs.) An in-joke for Azed solvers, whose puzzles
split into ‘Plains’ and ‘Specials’ like this one.
Other solutions:
Across: 11. OLEA (hidden); 12. URTICA (it in a cru,
all rev.); 15. COTTAS (anag.); 17. ENEMAS (men,
rev., in anag.);
21. TRUANTS (tru(e) ants); 29. MISRATE (rat in mise); 31. SET-UPS (anag.); 35. ROBERT (BE in rort); 37. STASIS (Stasi + s); 38. VEIN (‘vain’).
Down: 2. OLDEN (d in olen(t)); 4. ALICANT
(can in a lit); 7. GROSET (rose in g(il)t); 9. TITLED (t
in tiled); 13. CASSATA (sat in casa); 23. DEMERSE (Med, rev. + Erse); 24. OVERTAX (overt ax); 25. ISOBAR (soba in IR); 26. CABRIT (anag.
in CT); 28. ESSENE
((l)essene(d)); 30. ERROR ((t)error); 34. TELA (anag.;
i.e. web of lies).
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