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D |
RY January is here for some,
and perhaps clear heads are ready for a tougher challenge, while a rest from
Christmas’s cruciverbal glut suits others. Azed caters to the latter group with
this puzzle, providing, as he has for a few months of regular competition
puzzles, a selecton of reasonably easy clues. There’s
a good sprinkling of straight anagrams and not-too-heavily disguised hidden
clues. One geographical excursion takes us beyond the covers of Chambers, and some literary knowledge is
needed to identify a titular heroine. A few of the clues mentioned below caught
Dr Watson’s eye for their especially elegant wording. Competitors will
hopefully embrace the competition word CLERIHEW, as the verse form gives a rare
opportunity for creative definition by example.
11. Fellow,
before turning over, rises from bed GUYOT (guy + to, rev.). ‘Before’
indicates ‘to’ in the sense of e.g. quarter to three.
14. Congo river:
a broad segment flowing east-west EBOLA (a lobe, rev.) Not the River
Congo, and not the disease ebola, but the Ebola River, a tributary of
the Congo that flows through (the Democratic Republic of) Congo.
17. Tyrannical –
and no nicer after reforming
NERONIC (anag.). A superb anagram
to go with a solution that relates to the Emperor Nero.
23. Obsessively
obstinate heroine in the solarium?
ANALEMMA (anal Emma). Jane Austen’s Emma Woodhouse couldn’t
be described as an anal obsessive in the Freudian sense, and was a century
ahead of Freud in any case. The solution is a sundial, not a solarium you could
inhabit, unless you’re a tove gyring and gimballing.
34. Latin?
Progress being retrograde I’ll attend college for science LOGIC (L + go, rev. + I + C). A lot of
construction is required for a short solution in this elaborate charade.
1. Architectural
decoration such as flying dragon round a new church EGG-AND-ANCHOR (e.g. + a n Ch in anag.). Dr Watson couldn’t find any examples of this
style of moulding online. It’s a variant of egg-and-dart decoration.
3. Milkmaid
involved in opening up what used to be shed, sadly EYE-DROP (dey
in pore, all rev.). A great surface reading in support of a punning
definition that leads to the old meaning of eye-drop as a tear.
4. Weathered
Ring? You’d need a good seat for that!
RODEO (rode O). And another fine string of puns leading to a
ride unlike that of the Valkyrie. ‘Rode’ and ‘weathered’ are synonymous in
relation to a storm.
8. A
club admits balance sheet being worthless AMBS-ACE (bs
in a mace). The solution is gambling
slang for double ones in a dice game, and by extension something of no value.
20. Set up
poor rickety houses, causing head complain PORRIGO (rig in anag.).
Several ambiguous words here could be either a synonym or an instruction to
manipulate the letters, so the solution takes some finding.
27. Instruction
manual? Time put in reversed major setback TUTOR (t in rout, rev.). Not especially
difficult but the elegant phrasing of the wordplay is the sort of thing Azed’s competitors must aspire to.
Other solutions:
Across: 2. MERCAPTAN (anag.); 12. LARMIER
(arm in lier);
13. GLEDE (hidden); 15. PRESSMEN
(MSS, rev., in preen); 17. ARCS (scra(p), rev.); 18.
DROPWORT (Dr + anag.); 24. NAIR (anag.); 26. AMATEUR (mate in aur(a)); 29. CLERIHEW;
31. HASID (as in hid); 32. STARN
(tar in S, N); 33. OLIGIST (anag.); 35.
CO-STARRED (costar(d) + red).
Down: 2. MULSE (s in mule); 5. ALERION (ER in
a lion); 6. PACE (p + ace); 7. TREST (hidden); 9. TELECOM (anag.); 10. TRANSPARENCY (anag.
inc. p in tray); 19. REAL ALE (re + a in all E); 21. RAMENTA (RA menta(l)); 22. AMENAGE (A men age); 25. BIDIS (bid + is); 28. UNRID (anag. +
d.); 30. HIST
(hidden).
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