Notes for Azed 2,729
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.
Azed 2,729 ‘Give & Take’
Difficulty rating: (6 / 10)
Note: 34a should be enumerated as (8, 2 words).
I think this sort of special is probably rather less Marmitey that Printer’s Devilry, Spoonerisms or Playfair. Today’s offering struck me as being quite tricky, though – while the clues may have been a little easier than in an average ‘plain’, the gimmick more than made up for it, so I’ve rated the overall difficulty comfortably above the plain puzzle range.
In all instances the wordplay leads to the grid entry, while the definition leads either to a longer word (across clues) or a shorter word (down clues). Examples (from the last ‘Give & Take’, in February this year) are:
Across: “Preserve youth in wild area (9)” – [M]AR[M]ALADE, LAD in AREA*, grid entry ARALADE, omitted letter M.
Down: “Seeks newts around Austria (4)” – AASKS, ASKS around A, grid entry AASKS, extra letter A.
Some other things to note. Firstly, the great majority of the entries will not be real words. Secondly, the cryptic indication (wordplay) can simply be a definition of the grid entry (assuming that it is a real word). Thirdly, the extra letter added to each down entry will always be checked by a crossing entry – however, the point at which you can confidently enter a down solution will depend on how precisely the wordplay indicates the entry, so 4d (for instance) can be filled in as soon as the clue is solved, while 18d is likely to require at least a couple of checkers.
The quotation isn’t in my copy of ODQ (7th edition, 2009), but it can readily be found online. Tim C has raised a question in the comments regarding the identity of the competition clue word. For the reasons that I state there, I am in no doubt that the instructions lead to a word that is 13 letters long (update on 11/10 – this has been confirmed).
After the notes I have included a checklist showing the locations in the defined words where letters are removed or added.
Clue Writers’ Corner: If you look at the clues in this puzzle, you will see that Azed has in general carefully avoided including any ‘linking’ words or phrases between wordplay and definition (eg ‘making’, ‘from’), although he’s nodded a couple of times (in 32a and 2d). The reason for avoiding such links is that in each clue the wordplay leads to the grid entry but not the word which is defined, so any wording which suggests that it does so is faulty. Even in the ‘hidden’ clues such as 28d he has been careful to ensure that the wordplay and the definition stand apart. When it comes to judging clues submitted for puzzles like this, Azed veers between disqualifying clues containing linking words and just marking them down, but I would strongly advise avoiding them in your submission.
Across
1a Overhasty outburst of ire? Jock’s is worthless (9)
A four-letter word for ‘overhasty’ is followed by an anagram (‘outburst’) of IRE. The defined Scots word is a noun (ie “Jock’s this is worthless”).
6a Ball right out of place in merry frolic (6)
A five-letter word for a merry frolic has the usual abbreviation for ‘right’ moved within it (‘right out of place’).
11a Fitting clothes pair can name belonging (11)
A three-letter word for ‘fitting’ contains (‘clothes’) the usual abbreviation for ‘pair’, a three-letter synonym for ‘can’, and the usual abbreviation for ‘name’.
16a Posterior? Countess exposing outer parts (5)
The ‘exposing’ here is used in the sense of ‘abandoning’, indicating the some of the outer letters (‘parts’) of COUNTESS must be lost.
20a Superfamily? Fellow’s back in seat with one (10)
The sort of fellow that might be found at a university is reversed (‘back’) inside a four-letter word for a seat in the sense of a place or region where a thing is native, and a single-letter word for ‘one’.
24a Like dressing for fish, left off? Stale crumbs! (6)
A six-letter term which might describe a dressing, perhaps for fish, perhaps for salad, has the usual abbreviation for ‘left’ removed (‘left off’). The defined word is an obsolete (hence the ‘stale’) expression of surprise, which I don’t remember previously coming across in this form.
27a Plaster, something for the tank (5)
Here the ‘cryptic indication’ is a slightly oblique definition of a proper name, the ‘tank’ being the sort that might be found on a fossil-fuelled car.
30a Saivaite symbol, fish with head of antelope (6)
A four-letter word for a fish much prized by crossword compilers is followed by the first letter (‘head’) of ‘antelope’, but the whole thing seems mildly unsatisfactory, given that it works perfectly well as a normal clue. Solving it here means choosing the alternative, six-letter spelling of the defined word and then somewhat perversely removing the letter which turns it back into the form that tallies with the wordplay.
31a Beef piece? Play about, rolling it, ignoring recipe (7)
A seven-letter word for ‘play about’ or ‘frolic’ is reversed (‘rolling it’, ie ‘rolling that word’) and the usual abbreviation for ‘recipe’ deleted.
32a Former king among crowds making official journeys (10)
The former king is one of the Georges, and his cipher is contained by (‘among’) a seven-letter word for ‘crowds’.
Down
1d Oppose naughtiness in base (6)
A three-letter word for ‘naughtiness’ (often indicated in cryptics by ‘wrong’) is contained by a word for a base, in the sense of a stand for something, typically intended for intermittent use..
5d Rubbings out enclosed in arts seem misguided (10)
The abbreviation for ‘enclosed’ (or ‘enclosure’) is contained by an anagram (‘misguided’) of ARTS SEEM.
7d Bone up on taking in harvest wing (6)
A reversal of a three-letter bone, followed by the letters ON (from the clue), are put around (‘taking in’) a two -letter word meaning ‘[to gather in] harvest’.
12d Original root twisted in hard seed to endure (10)
An anagram (‘twisted’) of ROOT is contained by a three-letter word for a hard pip and and a four-letter word meaning ‘to endure’.
21d Hungarian academic, dramatist etc less seen around in Hungary (6)
An anagram (‘seen around’) of LESS, the letters IN (from the clue), and the IVR code for Hungary combine to produce the surname of the ‘Hungarian-born British producer, dramatist, journalist, adaptor and translator, critic, academic scholar and professor of drama, known for coining the term “theatre of the absurd” in his 1961 book The Theatre of the Absurd’ [thanks to Wikipedia].
24d Public showing direct from capital orchestra (4)
A two-letter word meaning ‘direct from’ (usually followed by ‘works’) precedes the abbreviated name of an orchestra based in the capital of England.
26d Primal stage of decapoda, early on, primarily found among cereals (4)
The first letters (‘primarily’) of ‘early one’ are contained by (‘found among’) a three-letter word for the genus of which maize is the only species.
(definitions are underlined)
Deletions/Additions
In the across clues, the letters are deleted from the following positions:
1: 1 and 6; 6: 3; 11: 4 and 9; 13: 1; 14: 4; 15: 4; 16: 2; 17: 4; 20: 4 and 7; 23: 7; 24: 1; 27: 1; 29: 3, 8 and 11; 30: 6; 31: 7; 32: 3; 33: 1; 34: 5.
In the down clues, the letters are added in the following positions:
1: 5; 2: 5; 3: 5; 4: 1; 5: 9; 7: 5; 8: 5; 9: 2; 10: 3; 12: 6; 18: 5; 19: 5; 21: 7; 22: 3; 24: 3; 25: 1; 26: 2; 28: 3.
The quotation is in the 3rd ed of the ODQ, but it’s only indexed on the 13 letter word. I feel I’d have cracked the whole thing 3 days ago if it had been indexed on the 2nd significant word. Aargh!
😕
That’s very unfortunate. Better not to be there at all!
My fifth edition of ODQ doesn’t have the quotation. And isn’t 34 across two words ?
Edit. Sorry just read similar response.
Hi Daron
Yes, 34 should be (8, 2 words). I did mention that in my introductory comments, but the note was rather ‘buried’ – I have moved it to the top of the intro, where it belongs.
Azed has remarked in the past that he has a second edition of ODQ (dated 1953) and a third edition (dated 1979), although he expressed an intention to acquire a more recent version. The quotation certainly appears in the second edition (available online at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.133533/page/n1/mode/2up), but it must have been weeded out sometime before the fifth edition (and, perhaps unsurprisingly, it hasn’t made a reappearance in the seventh or eighth editions). It can be found using a web search, but I think we can expect an apology from Azed for the misleading preamble.
You seem convinced that the word to be clued is 13 letters, but couldn’t the instruction “clue to the last word in the quotation” refer to the last word (5 letters) of the quotation as is appears in the ODQ?
Hi Tim
That’s a very fair question. The preamble clearly states that the omitted/added letters ‘form a vaguely appropriate quotation’ and that competitors should submit a clue to the ‘last word in the quotation’. If the six-letter word at the end of the ODQ entry were the intended target, Azed would surely have written ‘form a vaguely appropriate part of a quotation’. Three other contraindications: (i) the start of the ODQ entry is also missing; (ii) with the extra word on the end, the quotation is not even vaguely appropriate; and (iii) I cannot remember Azed ever asking competitors to clue a word which could not be directly identified by solving the puzzle.
But of course I could be wrong! Any other views?
Your points are convincing, so I’ll go with the 13 letter word. I just went originally with the 6 letter word (not 5 as I incorrectly stated in the above question) once I’d found it in the ODQ (1st ed, 2nd impression is my copy), but I admit I hadn’t given it a great deal of thought until I read your post. It will be interesting to see if it’s mentioned in the slip.
I can’t say which word Azed intended to be used, only that the preamble as written leads (in my opinion) to the 13-letter one. I would have been happier if it didn’t say that the quotation was ‘in‘ the ODQ, but then again the notes for solvers say that every word in the puzzle is ‘in‘ Chambers, which is shorthand for ‘verifiable using’, since inflections such as that at 19d are not actually shown (the reason why some editors will not allow that wording).
My thought is that Azed’s instruction literally leads to the final 6-letter word in the quotation (which makes more sense as a competition word after the slog of this particular Special than the longer word does), but I agree that it would disqualify anyone who can’t get hold of the full quotation and who has to infer it from the grid.
Why didn’t Azed use ‘extract’ instead of ‘quotation’?
I know it’s just a game, but the real prospect of wasting time writing a clue for the wrong word is so annoying.
The five words generated by the puzzle form a ‘quotation’ on their own, just as ‘Get thee to a nunnery Shakespeare’ would be a quotation in the ODQ followed by the name of its author. I can’t see that solvers would be expected to choose SINNERS as the last word in that particular quotation.
But it is unfortunate that large chunks of the preamble have been copied and pasted from similar puzzles, leading to an instruction which is undoubtedly open to differing interpretations. I cannot see how Azed can realistically refuse to allow clues to either word.
You’re probably right, but my interpretation was that a ‘quotation’ is the full entry/sentence in the Book of Quotations, and anything shorter is an *extract* from the quotation. I also can’t help thinking that if the 13-letter word had been part of a normal grid, he wouldn’t have selected it as being full of potential for a competition clue. I’m clearly overthinking this now. 🤪
Sending all entrants £25 in book tokens is surely the only decent outcome.
That seems like a very fair solution 😉
Otherwise I think the situation requires us to decide not necessarily what Azed is saying but what he means, and I’m doubtful whether we can be sure of that.
The following has been posted on the Crossword Centre message board:
“I understand that the following message from Azed will appear in next Sunday’s Observer:
In case of any possible misunderstanding in the preamble to Azed Competition Puzzle No 2,729 last Sunday, the clue word is one of 13 letters. Publication of the competition results will be postponed by one week.
I also understand that the usual fifteensquared blogpost will be delayed by a week in consequence.”
Thanks for the heads-up. Not sure if that means people have an extra week to submit – most competitors would have posted by now. (Maybe it’s a second chance for people who’ve submitted a clue for the 6-letter word.)
For what it’s worth, writing a clue for an _ing participle seemed pretty difficult without resorting to another one for the definition. Presumably Azed would mark people down for that.
I feel sure that anyone who has already submitted a clue to the more tractable six-letter word will be allowed to submit another one for the much less friendly thirteen-letter one.
OED shows the latter word as both a verbal noun and a participle adjective, but Chambers gives neither usage. Bold competitors could try one of those senses, since Azed will (at his discretion!) allow meanings from other reputable sources, and I suspect he might be open to them here; rather surprisingly, C doesn’t explicitly give the eight-letter word that finishes off the competition word, and which surely would be allowed in its adjectival sense. There’s no direct precedent to go on – the nearest would be OUTSPREADING (AZ 384), but C does give that as an adjective. Regarding definitions of the present participle, it’s pretty tough to avoid the -ing suffix – clues won’t be marked down for that, I believe, as long as the definitions are inventive or the word defining the answer appears to be a different part of speech in the surface reading – eg for CHECKING a clue that uses ‘screening’ or ‘policing’ as a noun, ‘testing’ as an adjective, or ‘barring’ as a preposition.
Thanks for the update. I’d already submitted a clue for the 13 letter word (Friday morning UK time) before I read this so I will leave things as they stand. Being an overseas solver I’m allowed an email entry and I did mention in the email about the apparent ambiguity. I’m sure Azed must have had a few more comments that prompted such a response.
Hi Doctor Clue,
Could you help me out on 34 and 22? I thought your note that 34 was two words would help me but it hasn’t.
Ps coming here a great help as ever.
Hi Iain
Many thanks for the positive feedback – much appreciated!
34: Get fat with splurge including hot social gathering (8, 2 words). The wordplay involves an anagram (‘with splurge’) of GET FAT containing the usual abbreviation for ‘hot’. I don’t remember previously coming across the expression here, the version wherein the first word is BUN being much more common, I think.
22: During afternoon, watery, departs inside (6). I suspect that getting the last letter (from 34) and seeing the definition (whose accuracy is supported by OED, although it’s not quite the usual sense of the answer) will be enough, but I’ve added a further hint below if you need it.
Hope that helps
Drc
22 The usual abbreviation for ‘afternoon’ is followed by a word meaning ‘watery’ or ‘damp’ containing the usual abbreviation for ‘departs’.
A word of warning: the relevant quotation does not appear in the latest (ed.8) of the ODQ. It does appear in my 50 year-old ed. 2, but somewhere between then and now about half of the author’s quotations have been removed.
Thanks, Arcadia
That is a most helpful complement to my observation in the notes (I assumed from Azed’s preamble that it must have been in ODQ at some point), and confirms my suspicions that it was a quotation which had been included when its author was considerably more en vogue and then disappeared during a clear-out, rather than being a recent addition, and that is confirmed by the information you have provided.
A web search for the three ‘significant’ words in the quote will do the job.
Update: it’s in the 1954 2nd edition, 2nd impression, which can be found online at:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.133533/page/n1/mode/2up