Notes for Azed 2,744

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 2,744 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

The needle on the difficulty meter certainly reached the mid-point of the range; part way through the solve I thought it was going to go significantly higher, but in the final analysis there seemed to be several tricky clues but nothing exceptionally difficult. In those clues where the wordplay included an obscure word, the solution didn’t, and vice versa. Generally an entertaining solve, with just a couple of minor issues.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 25a, “Theatrical entertainment? Take a tipple before one (5)”. A four-letter word for a tipple is followed by a single-letter word for ‘one’, but the point of interest is the definition. In this clue – and in those at 36a, 24d, 27d  and 30d – Azed has used a device which which he frequently calls on, splitting the clue into two sentences, with one sentence constituting the definition and the other the wordplay. The first of these ends with a question mark, thus establishing a connection between the two without requiring any further integration in the surface reading. This can come in handy when alternative single-sentence phrasings don’t work well, or where you want to reverse the order of definition and wordplay – Azed could have worded this clue as “Take a tipple before one theatrical entertainment”, but the ‘one’ then doesn’t make much sense; the best option, surface-wise, would be “Take a tipple before a theatrical entertainment”, but the ‘a’ in the clue is the same as the A in the answer. It’s a useful tool to have in one’s armoury, but I would suggest reserving it for special occasions.

Across

1a Put out about underwear once split from below? (7)
An anagram (‘out’) of PUT contains (‘about’) a four-letter plural describing items of underwear sometimes obliquely indicated by ‘supporters’, and on occasion by Azed as ‘at least four cups’.

13a Carriage, one strong wind overturned (5)
A single-letter word for ‘one’ and the name of a strong north-east wind in the upper Adriatic (etymologically linked to the Greek god of the north wind) are reversed (‘returned’) to produce one of three possible spellings for the Asian wheeled carriage.

17a Damn Highlander plotted cunningly? (8)
A three-letter euphemistic (and decidedly dated) substitute for ‘damn’ is followed by the word for a long piece of tartan cloth applied, by association, to a person who would have worn it. The answer is hyphenated, 4-4.

18a Dead-head around entry to cottage, neat (6)
You could well find yourself working back from the answer (a familiar word) to the five-letter element of the wordplay which surrounds (‘around’) the first letter of (‘entry to’) ‘cottage’, although if you start by looking up ‘dead-head’ in Chambers all will quickly be revealed.

19a Vocalize from bottom, cutting up (5)
As with 18a, you are much more likely to know the word which forms the answer than the obsolete seven-letter word for the derrière which must be deprived of (‘cutting’) the consecutive letters UP – it sounds rather like something that you might use to get money off at the supermarket.

28a Carp, English, no good in water (6)
The usual abbreviations for ‘English’ and ‘no good’ are contained by a three-letter word for the sort of water which is likely to be made or passed but, unless you’re Bear Grylls, not drunk. The answer is a nicely expressive Scots word.

29a Small distorted crystal struck in a jiffy (8)
A three-letter word meaning ‘struck’ is contained by a five-letter word for a ‘jiffy’.

36a Set with stones? Almost half disappear from the back (4)
The first four letters of a nine-letter word meaning ‘disappear’ (ie ‘almost half disappear’) are reversed (‘from the back’). I had assumed that Azed’s definition was based on a word taken directly from the French language, where it has the necessary meaning; in English it can only be a noun, which would make the definition faulty. However, as correspondent Matthew points out, there is a familiar verb with the same spelling which could, on a good day, satisfy the definition here, particularly given the question mark.

37a Wary regarding most people turning weird inside (7, 2 words)
A reversal (‘turning’) of a four-letter word for ‘people’ missing its last letter (‘most’)  contains a four-letter word meaning ‘weird’ or ‘creepy’ (‘weird inside’). For the wordplay to work, there really should be a comma (or a ‘with’) after ‘turning’.

Down

2d Zealot does without brown bread, fried (4)
A seven-letter zealot is relieved of (‘does without’) a three-letter word for ‘brown’.

3d Wild bush, old, live, about erect (6)
A two-letter word for ‘live’ contains (‘about’) a verb meaning ‘[to] erect’ or, more commonly, ‘bring up’.

8d Fix with lashes following criminal charge (4)
The usual abbreviation for ‘following’ precedes a slang word for a criminal charge, of the sort that a miscreant might ‘take’.

10d Philanthrope keeps this anteater in hut (5)
An eight-letter word for a philanthrope constitutes the solution contained by the letters HUT.

11d Rarely favoured Communist dividing fortune before court (9)
The three-letter word which usually answers to ‘Communist’ in a cryptic puzzle is contained by a slang term for a fortune, paradoxically more desirable in the singular than the plural, the combination being followed by the standard abbreviation for ‘court’.

14d Large bowl to spoil pet Spooner-wise? (9, 2 words)
Other than in his ‘Spoonerisms’ specials, Azed rarely has recourse to the device (also known as a marrowsky, although the 18th century Polish count is rather overshadowed cruciverbally by his 19th century Oxonian pountercart). Here a six-letter word meaning ‘to spoil’ and a three-letter word for a young pet have their initial sounds swapped over to yield a (6,3) solution.

22d American bluish cloth – it’s uniquely excellent (6)
The usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘American’ is followed by a word for a dark blue or bluish-grey cloth. The solution is hyphenated, 1-3-2.

27d Gadget? Force opening for one (5)
A four-letter ‘informal, chiefly US’ word for ‘energy’ or ‘force’, often spelt with a ‘j’ at the start, combines with the first letter of (‘opening for’) ‘one’.

31d Jumbled mess cheap paper abandoned – it’s a betting game (4)
A seven-letter word for a jumbled mass has a term either jocularly or derogatorily applied to a newspaper removed. The solution is a gambling game involving cards and a bank, the name deriving from the French word for an ancient Egyptian king, subsequently shortened. Popular in France – and, for a while, England – in the 18th century, the game spread to America in the early 1800s. The ‘edge’ for the bank was very small, the result being that games were almost invariably rigged; editions of Hoyle’s Rules of Games began their section on the game with a disclaimer, warning readers that an honest bank could not be found in the United States. Playing the game became known as “bucking the tiger” or “twisting the tiger’s tail”, apparently from early card backs that featured a drawing of a Bengal tiger. Places that boasted several gambling halls were often called ‘tiger town’ or ‘tiger alley’. The game’s popularity faded during the first half of the 20th century, largely because of those small margins for the house in a fair game, and by the 1950s it was virtually extinct.

(definitions are underlined)