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1. This
is where the horses are com/ing between races BED-REST .
6. Being ho/me, she can’t wait for lessons to end TONGA Dr Watson wasn’t sure what ‘hot on game’ meant, but then it dawned that a gender swap was required for ‘hot on games, he…’.
10. To a crude and slovenly American: m/uck ANCHORESS The protagonist needs to be crude, solvenly and American to say the chores suck.
11. Victorious
armies keen to lo/ok a long time over it OTTO Splitting two double O’s is a satisfying
achievement.
13. In retirement among many, pleas/ing, in a choir URESIS Regular solvers may know that singing in a (currently virtual) choir really is one of Azed’s pleasures in retirement.
14. I
selec/t the name applied to a gallery piece with
flashing lights TRICAR A reference possibly to Martin Creed’s 2001 Turner
Prize winning ‘electric art’ installation The lights going on and off.
16. A
coat of white was/ted, wall’s becoming discoloured HAVER
A wording carefully chosen to
make the most sense in both readings.
17. My wife doesn’t like to cook i/t, straight from the river DESINE It makes sense to scale and gut your ide before you cook it.
18. Was it wretched affairs made m/ad verses? EPENTHESES
19. A society pa/d, what he’d expect for celebrity portraits INTERSTATE The ‘inter’ part of the solution for ‘painter’ stuck out immediately, but there were many possibilities for the second half.
23. The club’s new signing is recognized as l/ively, gifted ADMASS
25. Dad, after yet another night at the local, b/urns unsteadily ARRET A night at the local bar is but a distant memory for Dad now.
28. Was
the Ramsbottom lad prodding that, li/ve? Mistake ONAGRA Dr Watson so hoped the
undevilling would separate ‘Ramsbottom’ into ‘ram’s bottom’, but instead we get
an equally clever reference to Albert Ramsbottom’s
provocative behaviour and just reward, courtesy of Marriott Edgar and
Stanley Holloway.
29. We
go out for meals occasionally but avoid pos/ies HEATER One of those words that’s very
versatile for devilry, and has been extracted from many passages over the
years.
30. Is
T/ony (popular in British jokes) less familiar to US audiences HEIR Hopefully this won’t be lost on US solvers.
31. ‘In my opinion, Boris benefits the country,’ b/y Hardliner ESTIMATOR With E-TIMA--- in place it was clear where this one was going, but it took Dr Watson an age to find the correct insertion point. Very well disguised.
32. A well-informed person can grasp such things while ignora/nt MUSCA
33. Delicate nymphs find the attentions of oversexed si/ting their tolerance LENITES ‘Sileni’ were new to Dr Watson, who was looking for a suitable faun or satyr to insert.
DOWN
1.
During space
odyssey would astronauts ever need to? Re/al! BOOTH
2001:
A Space Odyssey being one of Dr Watson’s favourite films
helped pin down this reference to the Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer very quickly.
2. Highland stalkers on all sides coming in wav/er ESTRAPADE
3. It’s a bar – many have ‘wine/ry’ – often wish I owned it DATIVE Dr Watson initially entered SATIVE here, which works, though the correct solution gives a marginally better undevilled reading.
4. Should
wealthy patron l/ist rooms to work in? ENDART The second reference to artists’ accommodation after 19 across, or perhaps
the third (“Will make up your mind about that bloody light!”).
5. Wretched folk with the sun blazing; for all it’s wor/ry, spell continuing endlessly THUNDER-GOD The longest, and Dr Watson’s favourite, clue of the puzzle looks like it caused Azed a few problems, but fitting ‘undergo’ into the undevilled reading is quite a triumph.
6. A
heraldic wreath TORSE
A generous competition word that should generate a good variety of devilry.
7. Make sure you pick the right m/en in the woods! OR ELSE It’s not at all obvious that the undevilled version involves mushrooms, but ‘the right morel seen’ makes full sense once spotted.
8. For an inexperienced surgeon setting a shattered bo/ard NESH
9. Yon
bonnie laddie will surely get l/ed up ASSIEGE There’ll siccar
be roamin’ in the gloamin’ afore
lang wi’ yon lassie sae geed up!
12. Stethoscopists can detect even a min/e ORCHESTRAL Derivatives of ‘orchestra’ are another P.D. staple for the long lights. A rale is a rattling cough.
15. These are tired old jokes from the p/ast, admired UNSTERILE Azed spots ‘punster’ and works wonders on an unpromising word.
18. In
Mozart’s op/inion, Figaro must outwit his master ERATHEM If this looks familiar, it’s
because it’s E. C. Lance’s winning clue from the last P.D. comp, Azed No
2443. A nice tribute from the setter.
20. Party
activist has wor/ker to demonstrate
affiliation NASTIC
21. Who took control after shocking event in the senate that wa/y? SANTON Dr Watson thought at first this must be a reference to recent events in Washington. But Azed would have written the clue well before Jan 6, 2021, and well after Ides of March, 44 BC.
22. In
the class, w/ry attempt to close ranks if threatened ARGENT Class
war follows the insurrection.
24. Thi/n of yore, has gone to seed physically SHEMA
26. Our director’s unrelenting – he never gives his cas/t TARES This is really the only clue of the puzzle that’s a little weak, repeating ‘cast’ in the same sense in both versions.
27. I’ve solved crosswords for years – is this my first g/etting up to scratch? OATS Dr Watson was reminded of crossword editor Hugh Stephenson’s comment that he dreads the letter that reads: “I’ve been a Guardian crossword solver for many years, and now I’ve retired, I thought I should try my hand at setting. I’d be grateful if you would consider the enclosed for publication…” Azed need have no such qualms.