Notes for Azed 2,741

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 2,741 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

This puzzle struck me as being close to the middle of the difficulty spectrum. There were quite a few obscure answers, but (as usual with Azed) the wordplays for these led straight to the solution, and there were a fair number of ‘gimmes’ thrown in. It seemed to me that Azed had been in good form and enjoyed writing the clues; I had a couple of minor quibbles, but nothing that seriously affected the entertainment provided by the puzzle.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 14a, “Scots pickled cheesecake maybe I have stuffed (7)”. The wordplay here has a four-letter term which might be applied to a cheesecake (at least if it were one with a pastry base – a quiche might be a better example) containing I’VE (‘I have’), and the solution is a Scots word for ‘fuddled’ or drunk, ie ‘Scots pickled’. The point of interest here is the way in which the insertion of IVE is specified. Indicators in the past active tense are not considered acceptable in clues, so ‘French I have bored’ would not work as a wordplay for FIVER; it requires a verb form which suggests that the result of the ‘boring’ can still be seen, so ‘French I have bores’, ‘French I have has bored’ or ‘French bored by I have’ would be fine (‘French I have will bore’ is also permissible, though one could reasonably ask why). Here it looks at first blush as though the stuffing happened at some point in the (possibly distant) past, and that the clue should read ‘…I have has stuffed’ rather than ‘…I have stuffed’, but a look at the meanings for the transitive verb ‘stuff’ in Chambers reveals ‘to thrust in’. Thus the ‘stuffed’ can be a past participle, and the clue can be read as ‘cheesecake maybe [with] IVE [thrust in]’. I would have liked to see a comma between ‘maybe’ and ‘I’, but clearly I’m not going to get one.

Across

10a An addict that is given preference to wife? It’s no joke (9, 2 words)
A (1,4) phrase equating to ‘an addict’ is followed by a pair of two-letter abbreviations from Latin, the first for ‘that is’ and the second for ‘wife’. The answer is a (2,7) expression taken directly from a more modern European language.

12a Applies poultice to chaps in soft liquid (7)
The usual three-letter word for ‘chaps’ is contained by a cunningly-disguised anagram (‘liquid’) of SOFT. The answer is a transitive-only verb, which is why Azed has been careful to include that ‘to’ in the definition.

15a One often portrayed in kirk, special one often sainted? (5)
Azed often takes the chance to flag words which are geographically qualified in Chambers by including something similarly qualified in the definition. Plenty of opportunities are offered by Scots words such as ‘wee’, ‘bairn’, or – as here – ‘kirk’. The wordplay has the usual abbreviation for ‘special’ being followed by a word which forms part of a ‘trivial’ and rather dated expletive, a favourite of PG Wodehouse:

“Oh, my sainted ????!” he moaned, clutching at the banisters. “Now I am in the soup!”

The use of the word ‘sainted’ in the wordplay is slightly unfortunate in the light of the answer.

19a Piece of church music, end bit, hard, soon coming round (8)
A three-letter ‘end bit’ (eg of a snooker cue) and the usual abbreviation for ‘hard’ are contained by an ‘archaic or literary’ word meaning ‘soon’ (ie ‘soon coming round’). In contrast to 14a, the comma here preceding ‘soon’ nicely indicates the pause required in the cryptic reading.

24a What angler fixes to hook, making contact from behind line (5)
A four-letter word for a particular sort of ‘contact’ (which could be hard or soft) is reversed (‘from behind’) ahead of the usual abbreviation for ‘line’.

28a What’s this, involving a bit of rapacity? (7)
The first of two clues in this puzzle where the wordplay directly references the solution. Here a possible (1,4) answer to the question, “What’s this?”, where ‘this’ is the grid entry, contains (‘involving’) the letter A (from the clue) and the first letter (‘bit’) of ‘rapacity’. The whole clue serves as an indication of the solution – note that in &lit clues the setter is granted rather more leeway than in conventional [wordplay + definition] constructions.

32a Styles e.g. fence round pricey motor? (5)
Good to see that Azed is totes down with the kids, since putting an archaic word for a hedge (or a non-archaic one for dried grass) around the two-letter abbreviation for a particular marque of car takes us in just One Direction…

Down

1d See band turning to round of applause in this informal do (4)
The second of the two solution-referencing clues, this one requires us to break the answer (????) into parts, so the word BAND with ? ?? ? turns into a word for a round of applause. A device which will not be unfamiliar to hardened Azedistas, but surely that ‘in’ in the wordplay needs to be ‘with’ or ‘having’?

6d Indian manager, one from Chennai, say, first off, receiving upper class (5)
A five-letter word for a member of a people from Sri Lanka and south-east India (the name of the state containing Chennai is relevant) loses its first letter (‘first off’) and is put around (‘receiving’) the single letter originally used in 1954 by Alan Ross to designate upper-class pronunciation, writing style and vocabulary, popularized by Nancy Mitford in her essay The English Aristocracy, published later the same year. The assertion was that certain elements of your vocabulary would reveal whether you were upper class or middle class (perhaps with pretensions). Mealspeak was a dead giveaway – “U-speakers eat luncheon in the middle of the day and dinner in the evening. Non-U-speakers (also U-children and U-dogs) have their dinner in the middle of the day. Greens
is non-U for U vegetables. Sweet is non-U for U pudding.”

8d One making inferences, unusually inferior, about karzy (12)
A five-letter word meaning ‘unusually’ is followed by a four-letter word for ‘inferior’ containing (‘about’) a bit of military slang for a communal lavatory, a shortened form of a seven-letter word of Latin origin.

9d Five years denied strong drink, one shares quality with 28 (4)
A seven-letter term for a period of five years is deprived of a three-letter ‘strong drink’ (not gin, the other one) to produce a word that does indeed share a quality with the answer to 28a. I’m not sure, though, that ‘one shares quality with 28’ quite works in the cryptic reading; something like ‘I share quality with 28’ would be preferable (although such ‘first person’ definitions seem to be falling out of favour with editors).

13d Surgical transplant, with the author’s own hand, we hear? (9)
A single-word homophone (‘we hear’) of unusual length, the answer sounding like a word that means ‘signed by the writer’.

15d Green and tasty, possibly with a bit of grey in? (4)
A three-letter word meaning ‘possibly’ or ‘for example’ has the first letter (‘a bit’) of ‘grey’ inserted.

16d Keep what’s appropriate to part of coiffure (8)
A three-letter word meaning ‘appropriate to’ is followed by a term for a plait, braid, or lock of hair, which I think could reasonably be described as ‘part of coiffure’.

20d Good car model in centres of activity (7)
The usual abbreviation for ‘good’ is followed by a model of Ford car slightly less pricey than the one in 32a, which is why my parents were able to afford one in 1964.

25d Picnic party without cake outside? There’s meat (4)
An eight-letter word for an informal party (not necessarily involving shellfish) has the containing letters CAKE removed (‘without cake outside’) in order to produce the answer.

27d Magic herb making one relax, life mostly passing (4)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘to relax (in severity)’ or ‘to appease’ has the first three letters (‘mostly’) of ‘life’ omitted.

(definitions are underlined)