Notes for Azed 2,655

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Note: It’s been pointed out by a forum user that the online version of the puzzle doesn’t include instructions for submitting your entry. They should read:

Send correct solution (one only) and clue to replace definition asterisked (on separate sheet also bearing name and address, securely attached) to Azed No. 2,655, PO Box 518, Oxford, OX2 6WX. Entries should be received by Monday week at the latest. Emailed entries from overseas will be accepted, addressed to jcrowther2000@hotmail.com. £35, £30, £25 prizes and Azed bookplates for the three clues judged best.

You should include both your clue (ie the ‘devilled’ form, similar to the clues in the puzzle) and the undevilled form, with the spacing and punctuation that show each version in its best light, eg

Solution: HEARTSORE

Clue: As craftsmen they are trained in tally, well qualified

Original form: As craftsmen they are trained in the art, so really well qualified

Azed 2,655 Printer’s Devilry

Difficulty rating: (4.5 / 10)

I thought we were probably due a PD, and so it proved. With PD clues, you must forget about the usual rules, because there are no definitions, and no wordplay as such. Each clue tells a little story, but a sequence of letters has been removed and the gap closed up; punctuation may also have been altered, and on occasion spaces added or removed elsewhere. The removed letters will always form a word or phrase which can be found in Chambers. The key to solving a PD clue is to identify the word in the ‘devilled’ (shortened) version which is likely to contain the break. If we look at 32a, “Offered a better deal we pass (4)”, it look as though in order to complete the story we must do something with the word ‘pass’. By telling us the deal was a better one, Azed surely wants us to know that this improved offer was accepted. So if the deal was better than the one previously available, the price would have been lower than it was before, and therefore we will have PA?? ??SS than we would otherwise have done. Do those missing four letters spell out a word that is in Chambers? They surely do.

Remember that Azed will have chosen his words carefully, and each one will be there for a reason. Note also that the word in the devilled version which contains the break may also appear in the undevilled form, eg ma/in could be ‘main drain’ [Indra being the answer]. You may find that with some of the longer entries you have to work out the answer from the checked letters and then reverse engineer the undevilled version of the clue – this is quite normal.

I find Azed’s PD puzzles enjoyable to solve, presenting as they do a very different challenge from the standard crosswords. Below the notes I have included a checklist of the break points, indicating also those clues where a change of punctuation or spacing is involved. Apart from that, I’ve only included notes for a few clues, but I’ll happily provide hints (or confirmation of answers) for any others on request.

Clue Writers’ Corner: It took me a while to work out what makes a good PD clue, but in essence there are two key elements, and I would suggest that those who have not written PD clues before look at the successful entries from the last couple of competitions, for ERATHEM and TORSE.

Unlike conventional clues, where words cannot simply be added simply for the benefit of the surface reading and ‘telegraphese’ is entirely acceptable, the undevilled (full) form of the clue must read as a proper piece of English prose; the devilled version must make some sort of sense, but a cracking undevilled version and an ‘ok’ devilled clue will always beat a clue which reads reasonably well in both forms.

The clue must tell a single story, and there must be enough information to give the solver a reasonable chance of working out the answer – “Should wealthy patron list rooms to work in? (6)” is Azed’s clue for ENDART from the last PD puzzle […patron lend artist rooms…] and gives the solver plenty to work with, but “I list a room” would be both woefully inadequate and very dull.

Don’t forget the bit about the break not occurring at the beginning or end of words, so GO/ON being a contraction of GO AFTER SON or GOT ONE ON would be highly undesirable, while GOT ONE SON would be fine. Although the answer can simply be removed from the middle of another word (as in 11a here, or L[ACER]ATE), it won’t produce a prize-winning clue. And while clues which require wholesale modification, such as Norah Jarman’s remarkable winning entry for MINARET, ‘Bunter-whine starts with ja/w open: “Cease – condone – Wharton, please!’ [Bunter whines “Tarts with jam in are twopence – a second one, Wharton , please!”] were popular at one time, the great majority of successful entries in recent years have thankfully been much simpler in their construction.

Incidentally, for MINARET I preferred the clue that was placed second, Colin Dexter’s rather neat “I ran into a tree first time; examiner expressed hope I’d run into for/est”. I think it’s probably more to current taste.

Across

15a To feed your veg patch, be sure, that’s what you must apply (8)
Like me, your initial thought may be of ‘manure’, but it’s a different word for the same thing that’s involved in the last element of the insertion. A minor spacing change is also involved.

17a Expressing displeasure his voice carried very nasal whine (5)
Two commas feature in the undevilled version, one after ‘displeasure’ and the other following the first element of the insertion, wherein one word becomes three.

19a Such foul plans it’s possible dated over time (8)
One word becomes two here, the foulness of the plans suggesting who might originate such things and the ‘over time’ indicating that they were developed over a significant period.

28a Following cue is a told of how the tribe began (8)
The word that must be split isn’t hard to spot in this ‘one-becomes-three’ clue which suggests a bit of traditional story-telling around the campfire.

31a Forming part of their crest, sagged with heraldic devices (8)
A tricky one – the ‘gged’ turns into three words, the first being a term for ‘two lines drawn from the edge of the escutcheon and meeting at right angles in the fesse-point’, while the ‘sa’ is integrated with the text that precedes it.

Down

2d With new evidence coming to light, the police plan to release mail (5)
I originally thought of ‘bail’ here, and on reflection I wonder if something like ‘judge approves plan to release mail’ would have been more accurate.

7d Asked to recommend a holiday, resaid: ‘Such I’d go for every time’ (12)
Kudos if you worked the whole thing out from the clue, but the exact position of break does suggest itself, as does the the first word of the insertion, based on the three letters before the split and the ‘holiday’.

19d The cake’s nearly finished – who’s going to have thing on top? (7)
It isn’t the production of the cake (the wedding sort, perhaps) that’s nearly finished but the consumption thereof, so only a few final bits remain.

20d In versions affecting lakeside areas of New England (7)
An apostrophe must be inserted in the undevilled form of this one, and of course Azed wouldn’t mention New England unless it gave a very strong pointer towards the location that you’re looking for.

21d I like anything provide by the Taj Mahal but thy favourite (7)
Not hard to spot the break point, or the first and last letters of the answer (which combine with the split word to make two new words), so it’s just a matter of deciding what the Taj Mahal might serve up that could fit in the middle.

26d Are napkins the only way to stop baking everywhere? (5)
The key here is sussing out that ‘napkins’ are the sort usually referred to as ‘nappies’.

(definitions are underlined)

Break Points

[p] = clear punctuation change, [s] = spacing change

Across

1: pa/t [p]; 6: s/old; 11: tar/t; 12: pa/’s [p]; 13: pa/ts [p]; 15: s/ure [s]; 16: no/t; 17: ve/ry [p]; 19: d/ated; 22: se/aring [p]; 23: str/iving; 25: Be/th [p]; 28: cu/e; 30: ver/mination; 31: sag/ged [p,s]; 32: pa/ss; 33: lo/tion; 34: la/med [p].

Down

1: b/aking [p]; 2: ma/il; 3: b/rain; 4: rear/ed [p]; 5: th/en; 7: res/aid [p]; 9: dodg/y [p]; 10: mu/tters; 14: germ/anic; 18: Ger/ry; 19: th/ing; 20: ver/sions [p]; 21: th/y; 24: c/asing; 26: b/aking; 27: Fa/un [p,s]; 28: h/ome.