Notes for Azed 2,681

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 2,681 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

When I started on these notes, I realized that the single ‘hidden’ and most of the anagrams were in the down clues, with the across clues being quite a bit trickier (and quite a bit longer as well). I’d say that the acrosses were somewhat above mid-range difficulty and the downs somewhat below, so that overall the difficulty was pretty close to the middle of the spectrum. The clues were generally entertaining, although a couple struck me as slightly unsatisfactory.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 27a, “Group poetical effort created by children gathering (5)”. The answer is concealed within the last two words of the clue, being a Japanese verse form where successive half-tankas (full tankas being too heavy to turn around quickly) are contributed by different poets. The ‘hidden’ is potentially the easiest type of clue to solve, the answer being in plain view, which is why setters are always on the lookout for ways to make them less obvious. One way is to use an indicative verb following the hiding place, as in ‘Giant dog removes sandwiches’ for OGRE, another is to use a less common selection indicator such as ‘quantity of’. A further approach is to separate the two words in the clue, as in ‘Libertine trapped between table and chair’ for LECH. Here Azed has tried something different again, suggesting that placing the words CHILDREN and GATHERING next to each other ‘creates’ the solution. Is that true? Not strictly, perhaps, but I think for this type of clue the setter can be given a fair bit of cruciverbal licence.

Across

12a Grumbles when having to return nosh (5)
The solution (a favourite word of mine, along with ‘snap’) has two alternative spellings, but the word meaning ‘grumbles’ which must be reversed (‘having to return’) has only one. Azed’s occasionally verbose linkage between definition and wordplay would have allowed room for ambiguity had it not been for the inclusion of the word ‘when’, which makes it clear that it is the grumbles rather than the nosh which must return.

13a Grand foreign lady (with no trace of accent) very much withdrawn in Geneva (6)
Azed is a lexicographer by profession, so I’ll take his word for it that an umlaut can be described as an accent. A three-letter word for ‘very much’ is reversed (‘withdrawn’) inside the name of a drink – the last word of the clue has been deceptively capitalized to suit the needs of the surface.

14a Get high round hostelry with wife in light jumper (9)
A three-letter word meaning ‘to hit high into the air’, for which I suppose ‘get high’ is just about ok, is put round a three-letter word for a hostelry, and the combination is followed by a facetious term for a wife, the reference being to the origin of Adam’s good (for a while anyway) lady. The solution is hyphenated, 6-3, and sounds rather American, although the example of its use in the OED taken from the Tucson Daily Citizen is balanced by one from the Milton Keynes Express.

15a Maiden, one responding to appeal, displaying sulk (4)
A cricketing theme runs through the wordplay, the usual abbreviation for ‘[a] maiden [over]’ being followed by an informal shortening of the name given to a person to whom appeals relating to potential dismissals on the cricket field are directed.

16a Intimidating display from African chief once, not his first (4)
The African chief who must lose the first letter of his name (‘not his first’) is ????? Zulu, the most powerful king in southern Africa in the early nineteenth century. Having orchestrated the assassination of his half-brother, he took over from him as leader of the Zulu clan, and proved himself a ruthless leader and skilled tactician as he expanded his kingdom. Demonstrating that what goes round comes round, he was eventually himself assassinated by a couple of other half-brothers.

19a Set of principles Liz admitted, marked with notches? (9)
A five-letter word for a set of principles or a system of belief has a four-letter word inserted (‘admitted’) that is indicated by…well, surely not Liz? Ellen, Helen or Eleanor, yes. Even Gwyn, though ‘famous Eskimo’ might be a step too far in these enlightened times. But I don’t see how ‘Liz’ works.

24a Bantu speaker, last to establish settlement (4)
One of those clues where you either need to know the answer or the name for the Maori settlement which is to be put after the last letter of ESTABLISH. Otherwise, having got the checked letters, you will (like me) need to refer to the dictionary to confirm your suspicions.

26a Put up with wind as unseen nuisance (4)
Two definitions sandwich a wordplay which has the the Greek name for the north wind losing the consecutive letters AS (‘as unseen’).

30a I’ll be involved in 50% of bunkum, being crowned as Pope (6)
The letter I (from the clue) is contained by (‘involved in’) a ten-letter word (also spelt on occasion with eleven letters) for ‘nonsense’ from which the last five letters have been lost (ie ‘50% of bunkum’). The answer contains an apostrophe.

31a Complex organic compound – it’s stupidity disposing of outer elements (5)
A nine-letter word for ‘stupidity’ loses its first two and last two letters (‘disposing of outer elements’) to produce the name given to a particular class of organic compounds. Whilst there is room for debate about precisely what constitutes a member of this class, they are very definitely not complex compounds, the key feature of which is a central metal atom.

32a Was at table in e.g. Oxford and dined, with room for more? (9)
A three-letter word meaning ‘was at table’ is contained by a three-letter informal term for the sort of thing exemplified by the seat of learning at Oxford (where they “know all there is to be knowed”), with a word meaning ‘dined’ bringing up the rear. As Richard III has it:

Tell them, when that my mother went with child
Of that ????????? Edward, noble York

Down

2d Short poem, endless claptrap king penned (5)
A five-letter North American slang word for pretentious rubbish or claptrap without its last letter (‘endless’) has the chess or card player’s abbreviation for ‘king’ inserted (‘penned’).

5d Multiplex, showing such as the Hydra (10)
Unless I’m missing something, this is a strange sort of clue, where the two definitions lead to the same (4-6) word. Incidentally, the 2009 low-budget horror film Hydra gets a rating of 3.1/10 of IMDb, which is impressive, but not in a good way.

8d Dried salt-free meat hung by way of being stuffed with egg-free food (5)
The Latin word meaning ‘by way of’ is put around (‘stuffed with’) FOOD from which the letters shaped like hen’s eggs have been removed. The answer is one of those rather unlikely words brought to us from Shetland.

10d Granted bit of cash in eastern Europe (4)
I don’t immediately associate ‘grant’ with the verb that appears in the past tense here, but it’s there in Chambers and relates to things granted as from a distant place – as Sir Walter wrote: “I‥.appoint thee to be kept in ward in the western tower, till God ???? us relief.” The solution is a former currency unit of Estonia (one hundredth of a kroon), now superseded by the euro cent.

22d Fancy fish tasted for supper (6)
There was a time when this fish, in both its two and three letter guises, appeared more often in crosswords than Alan Titchmarsh appeared on TV. It seems to have suffered a decline in recent times, perhaps as a result of overfishing, but here its longer embodiment is followed by the same three-letter word that popped up in 32a (indicated by ‘tasted for supper’, which probably ought to be followed by a question mark).

25d Treat changes to seat with this cement (5)
Those who recall Azed’s classic “My letters could make lad sad” for LASS (LAD with L AS S being SAD) will not have had much trouble with this rather more explicit variation on the theme.

(definitions are underlined)