Notes for Azed 2,751

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 2,751 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

We’re back to a simpler formula this week: solve, enter, repeat. That’s not to say that this was a simple puzzle – plenty of obscurities and a few tricky wordplays seemed to elevate it a little above the middle of the difficulty spectrum. One or two repetitions of cryptic elements, and a couple of dodgy definitions, but generally an enjoyable solve.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 11a, “Variable computer program: essential part includes excursion mostly (9)”. A four-letter word for the essential part of something (which could be a CPU) contains a six-letter word for an excursion from which the last letter has been omitted (‘mostly’). The point of interest here is the definition; solvers with experience of computing will be aware that the indication of the (2-7) answer here is somewhat off the mark. From time to time we all see definitions in puzzles which our knowledge tells us are inaccurate. However, if such a definition is found in the standard reference (for Azed, Chambers Dictionary) that is not the setter’s problem. They cannot be expected to check every meaning given by Chambers, but – more importantly – even if they did, and thus came up with an accurate ‘real world’ definition, it would confuse all those solvers without the subject matter expertise who are reliant on the definitions given by Chambers. This instance is a little different, though, because the setter has tried to interpret the Chambers definition but gone astray. When in doubt, it’s best to play safe and stick closely to what is in the dictionary, so here something like ‘element of computer program’ could not be wrong.

Across

1a Female veil Islamic leader surrenders if attending wild party (8)
A five-letter Islamic leader gives up (‘surrenders’) the consecutive letters IF and is followed by (‘attending’) an anagram (‘wild’) of PARTY. If you choose the wrong alternative spelling of the leader (the one that begins with C), you will end up with a word which is in Chambers but doesn’t fit the definition – if you look at its etymology, you will see that derives from the correct answer.

14a Enfold prize in Cape cloth (6)
A charade of a three-letter word for ‘enfold’ (or the sort of thing that Lewis Hamilton might complete every couple of minutes) and an informal term for ‘a welcome luxury, prize, or spoil’ (which might suggest niceness and easiness) leads to a South African (‘Cape’) word for a rag.

16a Old poems to learn taking turn round school (6)
A three-letter word meaning ‘to learn’ or ‘to understand’ is reversed (‘taking turn’) round a word for the sort of school attended by whales or seals.

19a Hanging garland in honour of local prince (6)
A two-letter word for ‘in honour of’ is followed by a word for a prince; the ‘local’ is there because both the garland and the prince are of Indian origin.

20a What groundsmen will look after, object of many examinations (5)
A double definition clue which most of us will get from the second def (although US solvers may feel that it shouldn’t have an ‘S’ on the end, and teachers may feel that it’s a subject rather than an object). A consultation with Chambers may be required to check the first def.

21a Sweet gets half put away? It may call for diet (5)
A clue that might appear at first sight a little trickier than it really is. A three-letter word for a sweet is followed by GETS (from the clue) missing one half (‘half put away’).

30a Suppose problem is in 26, possibly? (6)
A three-letter word for a problem of the sort that might be encountered in one of those exams at 20a is contained by an anagram (‘possibly’) of the second half of the answer to 26a. I can’t help feeling that while the clue is inventive it would have worked better without the word ‘in’, the presence of which means that the answer to 26 as a whole doesn’t quite fit.

31a Trite remark that’s right within apostrophe (6)
I got this from the definition rather than the wordplay, which involves the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘right’ being contained by (‘within’) a word for ‘apostrophe’, ie the ‘sudden turning away from the ordinary course of a speech to address some person or object present or absent’.

32a Score 1,000, returning hard ball (4)
A word for a ‘unit of scoring in cricket’ (ie ‘score’), and the single-letter abbreviation for ‘1,000’ that might be associated with metres or grams, are reversed (‘returning’).

33a Inks start flowing, about to conclude (9)
An anagram (‘flowing’) of START contains (‘about’) a word meaning ‘to conclude’, often indicated in cryptics by ‘last word’.

Down

1d Infant feeding loaf to small horse? (6)
A four-letter word meaning ‘[to] loaf’ is contained by a two-letter abbreviation from the world of chess. I was at school with Tony Miles, and I remember that he used to call the piece in question a ‘horse’. I played him once. You can probably guess the result.

2d A church plate lying around, unexpectedly trouve with welcoming gesture (12, 3 words)
An anagram (‘unexpectedly’) of TROUVE has the letter A (from the clue) and a five-letter word for a memorial plate in a church (from the material from which it is made) outside (‘lying around’), producing a (1,4,7) expression which for some inexplicable reason makes me think of Charli XCX at the Brit Awards.

4d Prescribed dose is lifted out of place (6)
A reversal (lifted’) of the word IS (from the clue) is removed from (‘out of’) an eight-letter word for ‘place’ (noun or verb).

5d King in being ready to drive off, like Charles evading his pursuers? (5)
The monarchical abbreviation for ‘king’ is contained by a word meaning ‘ready to drive off’, as Tommy Fleetwood might be.

9d Box for rappee stirred sense with liquid measure to ponder (12)
An anagram (‘stirred’) of SENSE is followed by a three-letter Hebrew liquid measure and a word meaning ‘to ponder’, usually seen in a compound with ‘over’. The answer is hyphenated, 8-4, and is a Scots word, although this is neither indicated nor implied in the clue (‘rappee’ has nothing to do with Scotland).

10d US oak rising thus, slip planted (6)
A reversal (‘rising’) of a word meaning ‘thus’ (almost invariably seen, like the Irish in 1066 and All That,  living in brackets) has a three-letter word for ‘slip’, in the ‘mistake’ sense, inserted (‘planted’). Quercus laevis, called the ‘turkey oak’ because its leaves resemble turkeys’ feet, is sometimes referred to as the American turkey oak, to differentiate it from the Turkey oak, native to several countries in south-east Europe including…yes, Turkey. The tree here is of the latter type, so the ‘US’ in the definition should be ignored – Azed may have been hoodwinked by the entry in Chambers, which should, I think, read ‘Turkey oak’ rather than ‘turkey oak’.

22d Totty at St Andrew’s getting easy putt, right? (6)
A five-letter word for the sort of putt that you hope that your opponent will concede is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘right’. A regular correspondent asks if a collective noun can be used to describe a single member of the group. The answer is ‘no’, and it seems like a strange choice of word anyway.

24d No longer makes a fool of copper once holding jerk up (6)
A two-letter word for a Roman copper coin contains (‘holding’) a reversal (‘up’) of a word meaning ‘jerk’ or ‘throw lightly and carelessly’.

25d Pigmen denied wine or scraps (6)
A ten-letter archaic word for people who look after pigs is deprived of (‘denied’) the consecutive letters WINE.

27d This old stoop to take food around afternoon (5)
A four-letter word meaning ‘to take food’ (probably not in the afternoon) contains (‘around’) the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘afternoon’. The answer is a Shakespearean form of a familiar word meaning ‘stoop’ or ‘condescend’. What the word ‘This’ is doing at the beginning of the clue I don’t rightly know.

(definitions are underlined)