Notes for Azed 2,677

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 2,677 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

This struck me as being the toughest plain puzzle for a while – there were several clues which I felt were quite tricky to parse fully. That said, the straightforward ‘starters’ at 1a and 2d were a big help, so it’s possible that I have overstated the difficulty – all views, as always, welcomed! There were some nice clues in there, and I found it an enjoyable solve – with Azed, when you’ve found the right explanation of the clue you are rarely, if ever, in doubt that you have the right answer; if you can’t explain the answer satisfactorily, then it may well be wrong.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 24a, “Sausage? Individual leaves second tucking into minced pie”. The wordplay here has a six-letter word for an individual losing the usual abbreviation for ‘second’ and going inside (‘tucking into’) an anagram (‘minced’) of PIE, the answer being a type of sausage. I believe that the term ‘minced pie’ is still in use in the US, though originally I mistakenly read ‘mince’ for ‘minced’ (oops!). But would that more familiar ‘mince pie’ work here? It’s certainly possible to use ‘mince’ as an anagram indicator in the imperative form, but that only works at the start of a clause (eg ‘Mince pie with a bit of cream – great’ for EPIC). Otherwise, the word ‘mince’ would have to be a noun, and Azed has an oft-stated intolerance of noun anagram indicators, eg

The most frequent fault, which spoilt many otherwise respectable entries this month, was the old one of indicating an anagram by means of a solitary noun. Thus many clues included the phrase ‘in grave trouble/mess/distress/pickle etc. to suggest an anagram of ‘in grave’. There is no grammatical or syntactical justification for this; ‘a grave pickle’ is not ‘a pickled grave’, toothsome though the idea may seem. The only instances where such a juxtaposition may fairly be said to indicate an anagram are phrases like ‘train crash’ or ‘gin cocktail’ which actually mean ‘a crashing train’ or ‘a mixed gin’ respectively.

I share his view, and given that a mince pie is not a pie which is minced, the noun ‘mince’ is no good as an anagram indicator. So the imperative verb is the only option, which would mean the clue being written as something like “Sausage? Mince pie individual leaving second’s tucked into”.

Across

13a Small swelling turning up in an earlobe (6)
UP is put inside A and a word for an earlobe, and the whole lot is then reversed (‘turning’).

14a Art forgery getting you reverse of short time (7)
A reversal (‘reverse’) of a four-letter word meaning ‘short’ or ‘brusque’ is followed by a word for a period of time.

15a Layer of humus not advantageous for fruit trees (5)
A three-letter Danish word for humus which forms a discrete layer on top of the soil with little or no mineral soil mixed with it is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘unserviceable’ (ie ‘not advantageous’).

17a I shoot from behind piercing one boozy light horseman (8)
I (from the clue) and a four-letter word meaning ‘shoot’ or ‘dash’ are reversed (‘from behind’) inside a word for a drunkard often seen inhabiting cryptics.

18a Bird offering sex behind bit of furniture (5)
A two-letter slang term for sexual activity follows a word for a bit of furniture particularly associated, slightly incongruously in the context of this clue, with churches.

19a Home of large bedroom furniture, finely wrought merchandise (4)
A clue featuring two definitions, the first of which refers to one of the V&A’s greatest treasures, a spectacular four-poster bed which is famously over three metres wide. According to their website,

[It is] the only known example of a bed of this size, and reputedly able to accommodate at least four couples!The gigantic bed carries a reputation which is a little racier than most historic furniture in the museum. Constructed around 1590, it was most likely made as a tourist attraction for an inn in ????, Hertfordshire. ???? was a day’s journey from London and a convenient overnight stop for travellers going to Cambridge University or further north. Guests carved their initials into the wood, or applied red wax seals to mark their night in the bed, still visible on the bedposts and headboard today.

25a Aged hound lost glow (4)
Another double definition, the first word being archaic (and having a similar meaning to a familiar word with a G tacked on to the beginning), and the second being a variant form of an obsolete word for a leash, although I’m doubtful whether this spelling was ever applied to a type of hound.

30a Windows, round, belonging to the kitchen, half blacked out (5)
The letter indicated in crosswords by ’round’ because of its shape is followed by an eight-letter word meaning ‘relating to the kitchen’ from which one half has been lost (‘blacked out’).

31a Solid bit of fat Arab served in mugful (7)
The usual two-letter abbreviation for ‘Arab’ is ‘served’ in a term used to describe a large beer mug, often with a hinged lid, or the amount which such a mug can hold.

33a Tenderfoot, reverse of godsend (4)
The reversal of a word for a godsend produces a word which is only to be found in relatively recent editions of Chambers 

34a Aaron’s converted and no longer bears name as part of old Jewish sect (10)
If you were seeking justification for acquiring one of the electronic forms of Chambers, here it is. Those blessed with the technology will have been able to look up the answer to this clue – an anagram (converted) of AARONS followed by a Shakespearean (‘no longer’) word for ‘bears’ or ‘gives birth to’ – without the need to rearrange the letters of AN ANADEM (I can’t remember Azed ever directing solvers to a headword in this way, but those with only the paper dictionary would otherwise find the word almost impossible to locate). The definition is frankly, well, unconvincing.

Down

5d Dress with pedigree? It could cover embarrassment for many (7, 2 words)
A three-letter word for ‘dress’ only seen these days in the expression ‘in full ???’ is followed by a word for a pedigree or a branching diagram. The definition bears the clear stamp of Azed.

6d Impressionist art? Flimsy, lacking initial power (5)
The impressionist art produced when the abbreviation for ‘power’ is removed from the start of a six-letter word that can mean ‘flimsy’ or ‘thin’ is the sort associated more with Mike Yarwood than Claude Monet.

8d Rising flatus with brownish outside? Its awful smell is misleading (6)
A three-letter word for a light wind is reversed (‘rising’) inside a word normally used to describe horses or cows of a particular greyish brown colour. The fruit which provides the answer apparently has ‘a luscious cream-coloured pulp, of a strong civet odour, but agreeable taste’. I’m not sure I could get past that ‘civet odour’.

9d Treatment with chemical, foul spread in dividing portion (12)
An anagram (‘spread’) of FOUL is followed by IN (from the clue) inserted into (‘dividing’) a word for a portion.

12d Poet’s rubbed out two thirds of scanning lines in set (4)
A six-letter word for the whole group of scanning lines in the sort of set that contains a cathode ray tube (hands up those who remember fruitlessly twiddling the ‘vertical hold’ knob before managing to stop the picture from ‘slipping’ by giving the TV a good thump on the top) is deprived of its last two letters (such that two thirds remain) to produce a Spenserian past tense of a word meaning ‘to rub out’.

16d Horse a sap crazily fed with soft potato (9)
An anagram (‘crazily’) of A SAP contains (‘fed with’) the usual single letter indicated by ‘soft’ and a word for a potato taken from Indian cookery and often paired with ‘sag’.

23d One presiding over golden age was model on vase (6)
A charade of a three-letter word meaning ‘was [a] model’ and a word of the same length for a vase produces the name of the Roman god who, having been deposed as ruler of the Universe, fled to Rome and established the Golden Age. This was

a time of perfect peace and harmony, which lasted as long as he reigned. In memory of the Golden Age, the Feast of Saturnalia was held every year in the winter at the Winter Solstice. During this time no war could be declared, slaves and masters ate at the same table, executions were postponed and it was a season for giving gifts. This was a time of total abandon and merry making. It refreshed the idea of equality, of a time when all men were on the same level. Christians adopted the feast and renamed it Christmas. When the festival ended, the tax collectors appeared and all money owed out to government, landlords, or debtors had to be accounted for.

Which just goes to show that there’s no such thing as a free festival.

26d Ace? It’s enough when one’s despatched for nothing (5)
A Shakespearean interjection meaning ‘enough’ has the A at the end replaced by the usual single-letter representation of ‘nothing’ (“when one’s despatched for nothing”). The answer is the name given to the ace of clubs in the games of quadrille and ombre.

27d Great Scot, filled with love, enterprising (4)
I’m rather doubtful whether ‘Great Scot’ can legitimately indicate a Scots word for ‘great’, but that is exactly what it does here, the resultant three-letter word containing the single letter which, as in the previous clue, represents ‘love’ or nothing.

(definitions are underlined)