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ZED starts the new
competition year with a puzzle containing a lot of straightforward wordplay and
just one historical reference that should be widely known. It shouldn’t tax the
brainpower of regular solvers too much. The grey cells will be exercised more,
though, creating a clue to BRAINPOWER. Dr Watson found a few solutions
reminiscent of earlier Azed and Ximenes competitions
– with 1,071 of these now in the Archive it’s not surprising that such words
crop up regularly.
12. Member of
famous trio, artist appearing in cloak ARAMIS (RA in amis) The trio are of
course the Musketeers. ‘Amis’ is found in Chambers under amice1, a
type of cloak.
16. What may be
trained as pet within year? YAPSTER (anag. in yr, & lit.) Azed set YAPSTER as the competition word for puzzle no 1165 in 1994,
but this clue is not one of the entries.
22. Crazy (if
not OTT), like Nero – first clue, maybe, ...
PYROMANIAC (p(ott)y Roman + 1 ac, & lit.) ‘First clue’ for
IAC (one across) is a piece of wordplay that many setters use now and then, and
regular solvers will have seen it quickly. The clue’s wording is a little
contorted to achieve the & lit. and the link to …
26. … Playing
this (dress in fashion)? TRIGON (rig in
ton2) … the lyre that Nero reputedly played.
1.
What tidy
clues about dead former yuppie for Morse!
IDDY-UMPTY (d yump in anag.) Lots to enjoy
here in this apparent reference to our house detective. The solution is a slang
(onomatopoeic?) term for Morse code, and ‘yump’
(under yumpie in Chambers) is a throwback to the
1980s: this more precise acrostic of ‘young upwardly mobile professional’ was
coined before social commentators settled on ‘yuppie’.
7. Zap,
using loud artillery grenades initially FRAG (f RA + g) ‘Zap’
is certainly a euphemism for what fragging involves, namely killing with a
fragmentation grenade.
14. Intellectual
ability BRAINPOWER Longer serving
solvers and students of the & lit.
Archive may look back to 1973 and Azed
no 92 for ideas for this month’s competition word. BRAINWASH inspired many
fine clues, including Les May’s famous ‘Bust down reason?’.
23. E.g.
chicken cut up, obstruction being small bone RIBLET (bir(d),
rev. + let2) Azed disguises the wordplay well, with ‘cut up’ concisely
indicating truncation and reversal, and ‘obstruction’ looking like it points to
a container and contents device.
29. Tailor
I consult has this for lining leather cuirass
LORIC (hidden) Nothing
difficult here, and an original hidden indication, but Dr Watson was reminded
of Ximenes’s early competition for LORICATE (no 163).
Other solutions:
Across: 4. SCAFF-RAFF (s caff RAF f); 11. DRACO (card,
rev. + o); 12. DELISH (el2 in
dish); 15. ATONY (a tony1); 18. UTIS ((fla)utis(t)); 19. ALLELE
(hidden); 20. CHEMISETTE (hem in anag.); 28. ALGA (anag. of alt. letters); 31. COPIOUS (CO pious); 32. ABLOW (L in a bow1); 33. WORRIT (OR in writ); 34. DIESEL (dies + el1); 35. SEISE (hidden); 36. INTERPRET (in + p in terret).
Down: 2. BREATH (re in bath2); 3. PALPI (pal + (sh)ip, rev.); 5. COSTAE
(Co. + eats, rev.); 5. ATHERMANCY (m in anag.); 8. RAT-FLEA
(anag.); 9.
AMORET (E in amort); 10. FINAL (f in a
l); 17. BEE-MASTER (anag.
in beer); 21.
HOGNOSE (song, rev. in hoe); 24. IMPOSE
(I + anag.);
25. AGUISE (is in ague); 27.
RUBIN (rub in); 30. EWER ((h)ewer).
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