Reviews
index
| & lit. homepage | Try the
puzzle
|
T |
WO of Azed’s regular
Specials are what you might call ‘Plain with a twist’:
the clues are normal but the solver is given an extra challenge of fitting the
solutions into the grid. One type is the ‘Jigsaw’, last used in puzzle no
2463, where the grid bars are given but the clues are out of order and sometimes
not enumerated for length. The other type is this puzzle, the ‘Carte Blanche’,
where clues are in the normal order but not enumerated, and the grid is barless.
For regular solvers of barred
cryptics the Carte Blanche isn’t much more difficult
than a Plain to complete, because they will be familiar with Azed’s ‘unching patterns’ – the maximum
number of unchecked letters in words of different lengths – and once a few
clues are solved, especially ones with solutions on the edges of the grid, the
bar locations can be quickly established. Dr Watson got this grid started after
solving BOMA, the second across clue, and BRINE, the fourth down. Assuming that
the two B’s are mutually checking, it’s fairly certain
that the first across must be a four-letter word with one unchecked letter. The
only other possibility is a fully-checked 3-letter
word, which given the definition could be COL or NEK, but this is less likely.
Since clues are in their regular order and the grid is symmetrical, solving an
across clue gives away the length of its diagonal opposite solution, and as always the later down solutions are likely to be in descending
order of length.
The clues overall are of
average Azed difficulty, though it seems he avoided any extra-devious wordplay.
The final grid is given below,
and in the notes to the clues, each one is numbered by its starting position
(row, column) in the grid.
|
G |
H |
A |
T |
B |
O |
M |
A |
C |
F |
U |
P |
|
A |
A |
B |
A |
R |
R |
A |
C |
O |
U |
T |
A |
|
N |
I |
P |
P |
I |
E |
Y |
A |
R |
R |
A |
S |
|
G |
R |
E |
E |
N |
I |
E |
H |
O |
L |
S |
T |
|
S |
O |
T |
R |
E |
D |
S |
E |
T |
O |
S |
E |
|
W |
I |
R |
E |
N |
E |
T |
T |
I |
N |
G |
U |
|
I |
L |
A |
D |
Y |
S |
F |
I |
N |
G |
E |
R |
|
T |
I |
P |
T |
O |
P |
E |
A |
T |
S |
R |
E |
|
C |
O |
P |
I |
T |
A |
U |
R |
O |
R |
A |
L |
|
H |
I |
E |
M |
S |
R |
D |
E |
N |
T |
I |
L |
|
E |
L |
A |
B |
O |
R |
A |
T |
E |
D |
N |
A |
|
S |
Y |
N |
O |
W |
E |
L |
T |
D |
I |
T |
E |
1,1 Mountain
pass GHAT
1,5 A crowd’s turned back in this fenced enclosure BOMA (a
mob, rev.)
2,3 Rod, worthless, catching exhausted fish for supper? BARRACOUTA (bar + out in raca) Chambers defines the solution as ‘an edible fish’, etymologically but not taxonomically related to the barracuda.
3,1 Waitress serving drink, a chatterer NIPPIE (nip pie3) Nippies are most associated with Lyons tea houses, which were a London staple until about the 1970s. A pie3 is a magpie.
3,8 Foreign prince shown on Arabic tapestry ARRAS (Ar. ras)
4,1 Member of minority party in Oz, I, e.g.
agitated about local waterway
GREENIE (reen in anag.)
4,8 Composer breaks before end of concert HOLST (hols + t) ‘Hols’ is very neatly worked into the wordplay for Gustav Holst.
5,7 Drunk falls over in place of bishop, bristling? SETOSE (sot, rev., in see2)
6,1 ‘Peaceful’ girl, not drinking, with fan round what encloses tennis court? WIRE NETTING (Irene TT in wing) The meaning of Irene is one of the more familiar amongst first names that appear in crosswords.
7,2 Delicate sponge cake ‒ it receives new adornment on wedding day LADY’S FINGER (2 mngs.) Lady’s finger cakes have no doubt been around for a long time under that name, and probably served up by nippies, but Dr Watson only discovered the name recently, having always called them sponge fingers, while lady’s finger was the name for okra.
8,1 See next page counsel’s penned ‒ you can’t do better than that TIPTOP (PTO in tip) Dr Watson saw the PTO but spent too long looking for a variation of ‘optimal’ to fit the wordplay.
9,1 Take your medicine, one short in sherry glass COP IT (copit(a)) ‘Medicine’ here in the sense of punishment.
9,6 Dotty, Laura or Rosy AURORAL (anag.) An amusing anagram for one of the best clues of the puzzle.
10,1 Season for Horace? His first is holding the writer back HIEMS (me, rev., in H is) The solution is a Latin word for winter.
10,7 Study illuminated from behind architectural block DENTIL (den +
lit, rev.)
11,1 After start of election party man delivered speech with more detail ELABORATED (e + Lab + orated) Dr Watson couldn’t find convincing evidence that ‘Lab’ means a Labour Party member rather than the party itself, but it would likely appear after a candidate’s name in an election list.
12,5 Bit of leather ‘moistened’ encapsulates? Opposite of that WELT (i.e. l in wet, & lit.) Perhaps the trickiest wordplay of the puzzle. You’d normally expect ‘opposite’ to indicate a reversal of the wordplay, so here something meaning ‘moistened’ inside a word for some leather. But what’s indicated is the first letter of ‘leather’ inside ‘wet’, while the & lit. reading refers to both welt1, a piece of leather, and the opposite of welt2, meaning to wither or dry.
12,9 Early composition to prepare for press, first
to last DITE (e
to end in edit)
1,1 Changes in
playground allegiance forming current links?
GANG SWITCHES (2 mngs.) A second double
definition for a long solution after ‘lady’s finger’ above.
1,2 Pomade
causing cheer when foreign monarch enters HAIR OIL (roi
(Fr.) in hail)
1,4 Ribbon,
brightly coloured, growing narrower TAPERED (tape red)
1,5 Burns I get
treated: this saline solution and guts maybe BRINE (comp. anag.) One of Azed’s easier composite anagrams: ‘brine’ and ‘guts’ provide
an anagram of ‘burns I get’.
1,6 Ring mount
including bit of erbium? It only looks like gold OREIDE (O + e in ride)
1,7 Art having
the ability to show consent in what’s felt?
MAYEST (yes in mat) Regular solvers will have been alert to the old second person
singular ‘art’, and the ‘felt’ pun.
1,9 Painter,
silly, accepting closure of atelier
COROT (r in coot) Jean Corot
isn’t the best-known 19c. painter, but was very influential according to his wiki
entry.
1,10 Riders
regularly cover these warm trousers?
FURLONGS (i.e. fur longs) A great misleading definition and allusive wordplay.
1,11 Period of a
festival as in Rome and since
UTAS (ut2 + as) ‘As in Rome’ is always going to be ‘ut’ or ‘qua’, and ‘since’ is quite likely to be ‘as’.
1,12 Bacteria: see
all erupt freely round middle of plate PASTEURELLAE (a in anag.)
5,3 Part of
hammer getting under pitfall of e.g. basalt TRAPPEAN (trap + pean)
6,9 Sang like a
pigeon, holding note? INTONED (n in in-toed) A reference to ‘pigeon-toed’.
6,11 Welshman
probably having to learn about precipitation GERAINT (rain in get)
7,6 Box on in
traditional Glaswegian bar
SPARRE (spar2 re)
7,7 River
includes rising toll, to do with vassalage FEUDAL (due, rev., in Fal) The Fal
is the river that emerges at Falmouth in Cornwall.
8,4 I’m swallowed
by bot that’s done for? TIMBÓ (I’m in anag., & lit.) Nothing to do with social media bots. The
solution is a plant that provides an insecticide that would do for a botfly
maggot.
8,8 Judge, as
before, Spielberg’s achievement in e.g. cinema ARETT (E.T. in art)
9,2 Concerning
unction, ’allowed, I introduced? OILY (I
in ’oly) Sharp eyes needed to spot the aspirating apostrophe – it’s ‘’allowed’
and not ‘allowed’.
Reviews
index
| & lit. homepage | Try the
puzzle