Notes for Azed 2,693

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 2,693 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

I thought this was far from easy. The clues for the two entries on the top row were straightforward, but plenty of others were not. After last week’s courtesans we have another, rather less elegant, pair of filles de joie, but at least one of the indications has nothing to do with the oldest profession.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 23a, “Swarm maybe circling island that’s most local”. There are two points to make regarding this clue, where NEST (‘swarm maybe’) containing (‘circling’) I (‘island’) produces NEIST. The first is that although the Chambers entry for ‘nest’ explicitly mentions a swarm, it is as an example – ‘the occupants of a nest, eg a brood, a swarm, a gang, etc’. Their relationship is not therefore symmetric, so whilst a nest could indicate a swarm, a swarm cannot be used on its own to indicate a nest, hence Azed has correctly added a ‘by example’ indicator,  ‘maybe’. The second point relates to the definition – the solution is shown by Chambers as being either a dialectal form of ‘next’ or an obsolete dialectal form of ‘nighest’. The ‘most local’ here is surely directing us towards the former, and both words are required to indicate ‘nearest’, so there is no qualification of the definition. It is generally accepted that obsoletisms should always be flagged in some way, and it is unusual for Azed not to do so, which makes me wonder if he may have misread the entry in Chambers.

Across

13a Without involving iodine shield old joint (5)
The name given to the sacred shield of the ancient Romans, said to have fallen from heaven, and on the preservation of which the prosperity of the city was supposed to depend, has the chemical symbol for iodine removed (‘without involving iodine’) to produce an obsolete (‘old’) spelling of a familiar joint.

14a Fool’s invention is holding together tip come adrift (9)
The letters IS (from the clue) are bookending (‘holding together’) an anagram (‘adrift’) of TIP COME. Rather differently to 23a (see above), although the definition doesn’t explicitly suggest that the word is a Shakespearean one-off, I think there is sufficient implication in there. As the Fool in Twelfth Night has it (interpretations on a postcard, please):

I did ????????? thy gratillity, for Malvolio’s nose is no whipstock, my lady has a white hand, and the Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses.

15a Such as Derrick making contribution to horological repairs? (7)
A seven-letter chunk of a (5,7) term for ‘[the making of] horological repairs’ provides a term for the people following in the professional footsteps of Thomas Derrick. a famous executioner of the early seventeenth century. It wasn’t a job for which there were typically many applicants, since reprisals from the friends and families of one’s victims were only too likely. Derrick was pardoned of his own crime by the Earl of Essex on condition that he took the job at Tyburn; during his career, he despatched more than 3,000 individuals, amongst whom, somewhat ironically, was the Earl of Essex. He gave his name originally to a type of tackle used on the mizzen-mast of a ship, and subsequently to several other similar contrivances, such as the structure which supports the drilling equipment over an oil well. The answer, in the required sense, is given by Chambers as both Scottish and obsolete; the obsoleteness is covered by the fact that Derrick and his like operated in the distant past, although being Scottish wasn’t (as far as I know) a requirement for his role.

21a Old Dobbin with a touch of tussis? Vet may prescribe this (6)
A five-letter word for a horse, found in 17th/18th century poetry but now only in regional use, is followed by the first letter (‘a touch of’) TUSSIS, forming a word which will be familiar to regular purchasers of paracetamol in an easy-to-swallow form.

22a One third of eglise its vicar assured (6)
Two consecutive letters from (ie ‘one third of’) EGLISE are followed by the term for a parish priest in the country with which you would associate an eglise (ie ‘its vicar’).

25a Place to set a trap – gunners (especially Scots) endure (7)
The ‘gunners’ deliver a familiar two-letter abbreviation, while the rest of the wordplay leads to a verb meaning ‘to endure’ shown by Chambers as ‘chiefly Scot’, hence the qualification. Chambers has the solution as a single word, although the OED has it hyphenated, 3-4. I think that the definition is rather vague, and would have benefited from a question mark or a ‘perhaps’.

28a One puffing away on a last bit of bowl, fragrant stuff (9)
The ‘one puffing away’ could be greeting the arrival of the haggis at a Burns supper; he or she is followed by ON A (from the clue) and the last letter (‘bit’) of BOWL.

29a Club for golfers in Argentine? (5, 3 words)
The two letters which are associated with perhaps the world’s most famous golf club when joined together produce the IVR code for Argentina.

30a Small amount of money, very small, last in purse (4)
The first element provided by the wordplay would perhaps be better indicated by ‘very small, small’, as it is the three-letter abbreviation of a ten-letter word meaning ‘very small’. The second element is the last [letter] in PURSE.

33a To build on, lop off stone strip (6)
Be careful here if you haven’t already got 16d – two words differing by one letter fit the definition, but only one satisfies the wordplay, where a seven-letter word meaning ‘to build on’ with the consecutive letters LOP omitted (‘lop off’) is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘stone’.

Down

1d I.e.Hyman’s lingo, tortured? I moan this maybe (8)
A composite anagram &lit, where the letters of IE HYMANS LINGO can be rearranged (‘tortured’) to produce I MOAN and the solution. The whole clue stands as an indication of the solution, ‘Hyman’ being a name of Yiddish origin.

3d Left municipality on the way up, far from critical (5)
The usual abbreviation for ‘left’ is followed by a reversal (‘on the way up’) of a familiar word for a municipality. The definition might seem a bit strange, but in the context in which the solution is normally used ‘critical’ is, if not its polar opposite, at least a radically different alternative.

5d Edible lichen, mature, used to stuff three cod cooked (12, 3 words)
The four-letter word which is used to ‘stuff’ an anagram (‘cooked’) of THREE COD might describe a lump of brie which has achieved seniority. The solution is French, divided 5,2,5, and even in that language doesn’t sound awfully appetising.

6d Lives in wretched place, celebrated, embittered (12)
A two-letter word for ‘lives’ is put inside a three-letter word for a wretched place, often associated with vice or thieves, and the combination is followed by a word meaning ‘celebrated [in song]’ or ‘intoned rhythmically’.

8d Conveyance, half to do with the kitchen, we’ll collect in the vestibule (7)
Plenty of misdirection going on here – the ‘conveyance’ relates not to transport but ancient English law, while the vestibule is in the general region of the stirrup and the anvil. The second part of the wordplay is probably the most accessible part of the clue, involving an eight-letter word meaning ‘to do with the kitchen’ from which half (the latter half, as it turns out) has been lost.

9d Emerges as is not seen in form of isosceles (7)
I initially thought that it would be SO (‘as’) which would be removed from an anagram (‘form’) of ISOSCELES, but in fact the bit that must go is IS, which isn’t quite what the clue says.

10d Pip displaying depression when book opens (4)
Another word for a rather nasty disease (see pip⁵ in Chambers) which when preceded by the usual abbreviation for ‘book’ (ie ‘when book opens’) would produce a five-letter term for depression.

16d Part of kitchen furniture maybe displaying slipper (8)
A slightly whimsical  (3,5) phrase describing somewhere that you might place particular items of kitchenalia leads to a variant spelling of the term for a slipper having its origins in the French language.

17d As in Rome when going round street diverted à l’outrance conveys what’s this? (8)
The two-letter Latin word for ‘as’ containing (‘going round’) an anagram (‘diverted’) of STREET produces a word which is roughly suggested by the definition.

19d People will accept a tax rising with time – it’s within scale (7)
A three-letter word for ‘people’ contains (‘will accept’) a reversal (‘rising’) of a three-letter word for a tax, with the usual abbreviation for ‘time’ bringing up the rear. Unfortunately, ‘will accept’ only works grammatically if that single-letter is attached to the tax, not the combination of the people and the tax – in order to legitimately indicate the arrangement required here, it would either need to be ‘accepting’  or the words would need to be reordered as ‘People with time will accept a tax rising’.

26d What covers ’eifer in compound? (5)
A (2,4) phrase which describes what covers a heifer must have the aitch dropped from the the second word (analagously to “‘eifer”) in order to produce the answer. Nice clue.

27d West Indian is hanging around for boundary (5)
A double definition clue where the ‘boundary’ goes right back to Roman times but the West Indian slang term meaning ‘loiters’ or ‘hangs about’ is a relatively recent addition to Chambers.

28d No cons here giving cheers? It’s banned (4)
A six-letter salutation uttered during the drinking of toasts has the consecutive letters IT remove (“it’s banned”).

(definitions are underlined)