Notes for Azed 2,659

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 2,659 Plain

Difficulty rating: (1.5 / 5)

Firstly, my thanks to crossguesser for providing a scanned copy of this puzzle which was not (and still isn’t at the time of writing) available on the Guardian web site – the PDF produced from the scan can be found here.

Secondly, I was delighted to see the names of some regular correspondents in the slip for 2,655 (the Printer’s Devilry comp). Well done to them! Knowing where the break is in a PD clue doesn’t always make the undevilled version obvious; a question was asked on another post regarding the ‘podium’ clues, and I will repeat below the full versions which I believe the authors intended:

1. The meal served was so unfit – and a trifle cold.

The meal was soup, a confit, and a trifle (cold).

2. I feel busts a lot, but I know I need treatment so I’m willing to pay for it.

I feel BUPA costs a lot, but I know I need treatment so I’m willing to pay for it.

3. Hillary expertly wound up several guys – that one she riled badly.

Hillary expertly wound up several guys that one sherpa coiled badly.

Thankfully, when I was eventually able to get started on today’s puzzle it proved to be one of Azed’s less demanding offerings. The competition word is an interesting one, and I see that Azed has included in the instructions for entrants a list of the criteria by which he judges a clue; I don’t think these will come as any surprise to regulars or to those who have read the hints for writing Azed competition clues on this site. It would also appear that emailed entries will now be accepted from all solvers (previously this option was only available to competitors outside the UK), which is welcome news, far be it from me to add “if, like today’s puzzle a little overdue”.

Clue Writers’ Corner: Competition clue words of ten or more letters usually produce a very high number of anagram clues. Although BOTTLE-WASHER (AZ comp 2524) lent itself quite well to other treatments, all but three of the published clues involved anagrams; the problem with the alternative approaches is that they tend to be either too obvious or too long-winded, while a long word offers all manner of anagram-based options which a shorter word does not. Some of the successful clues will undoubtedly be ‘&lit’s, but there is no problem with a conventional definition + wordplay clue – as long as the definition part is original and interesting; the definition given by Chambers is unlikely to cut it (reading through the BOTTLE-WASHER clues will show you what I mean).

Across

6a United lead, a work of art to seethe from below? (6)
A (1-2-3) charade of the usual abbreviation for ‘united’, the chemical symbol for lead, and a word for a work of art created using a specific medium.

12a One old Scottish bird wraps wimple perfectly (10, 2 words)
A single-letter word for ‘one’ is followed by a five-letter word for a blackbird which contains (‘wraps’) an alternative word for a wimple. The ‘old Scottish’ bird word is indeed given by Chambers as ‘archaic and literary Scot’, but it perhaps should be ‘archaic Scot and literary’, since the OED says that “in the 19th c. [it] often appears in English and American poetry from imitation of Scott or Burns.” ‘Wimple’ is close to being a definition by example, but we’ll let that pass. The answer is (1,9), and there is an accent on that first word.

13a Dress machine’s cut in length of thick cotton (7)
A three-letter word for ‘dress’ or ‘equipment’ is combined with a six-letter word for a machine from which the consecutive letters IN have been removed (“‘s [ie ‘has’] cut in”).

14a Unwillingness to speak, ignoring extreme limits…of this once? (4)
A six-letter term describing an inability or an unwillingness to speak has its first and last letters removed (‘ignoring extreme limits’), to produce a Shakespearean (‘once’) word for the sort of thing that a person affected by the condition would certainly not contribute to verbally.

15a Duck flesh parcelled by mum (6)
A four-letter word for ‘flesh’ is contained (‘parcelled’) by an interjection which equates to ‘mum!’ when used as an instruction.

25a Modest about ride with ‘ounds, being gentrified (6)
A three-letter word for ‘modest’ is put around (‘about’) a four-letter word for ‘[to] ride with hounds’ which has been  cocknified analogously to “‘ounds”.

29a Leg with last bit of gangrene requiring operation (4)
A word for a leg, which may or may not be the same as the heraldic term ‘gamb’, describing a beast’s whole foreleg, is followed by the final letter (‘last bit of’) ‘gangrene’. The ‘requiring’ is there simply to link the wordplay to the definition, although it comes close to what Azed describes in his judging criteria as ‘superfluous wording’.

31a Bowled in first stages, going back having received painful blow (7)
The standard (cricketing) abbreviation for ‘bowled’ is contained by a reversal (‘going back’) of a six-letter word for ‘first stages’ or ‘initial appearances’.

33a Oily paste absent in watery iftar’s starter (6)
The single-letter abbreviation for ‘absent’ is to be put inside a four-letter word for ‘watery’ followed by the first letter (‘starter’) of ‘iftar’.

Down

1d NZ bird sounding (almost) like a dove (4)
The pronunciation which Chambers gives for the NZ bird is slightly different to that which it shows for the sound made by doves, which when repeated therefore almost constitutes a homophone.

7d One writing about bit of rock, object turning up in prehistoric time (7)
A three-letter word for an author (‘One writing’, the meaning being transferred from the implement with which one writes) contains (‘about’) both the first letter (‘bit’) of ‘rock’ and a word for an object or goal which has been reversed (‘turning up’).

8d Pale blue pants concealing worker’s muscle (6)
A four-letter word for a pale blue or green paint (try asking for it in B&Q and see where it gets you) is followed by the letters PANTS from which a word for a ‘worker’ seen almost as frequently in crosswords as in my lawn has been removed (‘concealing worker’).

10d Abuse male patients having to stand inside with temperature (12)
A (3,3) phrase that might describe male patients contains (‘having…inside’) a word meaning ‘stand’ (in the sense of ‘offer and pay for’), the whole lot being followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘temperature’. The solution is hyphenated, 3-9.

16d Chap getting drunk in group devouring like carnivores (8)
The combination of a three-letter dialect word for a chap (and also the name of a fish) and a two-letter word meaning ‘on the way to being drunk’ (ie ‘getting drunk’) is put into a word for a group.

20d Part of e.g. lobster I peer nervously over, gracing menu? (7)
The word ‘over’ sits a little uneasily in this clue, where the wordplay needs to be read as ‘[with] I peer nervously over, gracing menu?’ in order to accurately indicated that a two-letter word for ‘gracing [the] menu’ (last seen in 16d) has an anagram (‘nervously’) of I PEER above (‘over’).

21d Melodious snatch taken in a rush (7)
A three-letter word meaning ‘[to] snatch’ is contained (‘taken in by’) the sort of rush which has nothing to do with haste and everything to do with water plants.

23d Source of Asian timber, 75% dehydrated outside (6)
An eight-letter (hyphenated) word that means ‘dehydrated outside’ (given suitable weather conditions) is reduced by 25%, its last two letters being deleted.

(definitions are underlined)