Notes for Azed 2,766

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 2,766 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3.5 / 5)

First of all, it’s a ‘woo-hoo!’ and a big 👍 to the Tortoise for the announcement that “As of 6 July 2025, solvers will be able to submit their completed grids for all Azed competitions online at www.observer.co.uk/crossword. Paperless entry is encouraged; postal entries will still be accepted.” It remains to be seen how that’s going to work for the monthly comps, but it’s real progress.

This puzzle was the hardest ‘plain’ that’s been served up for quite a while. Nothing unfair, but some cunning wordplays that needed to be carefully teased out. I was hard pressed to select just sixteen clues for comment; if there are any others that you’d like me to cover, just let me know. Note that the enumeration ‘(9, 2 words)’ for 15d in the PDF is correct, but the ‘(9)’ in the interactive version is not.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look back at a clue from 2,764, “Dye incorporated in blue ribbon?” for TINCT. The wordplay has INC (‘incorporated’) contained by TT, the ‘blue ribbon’ relating to the badge of the North American temperance movement of the 19th century; there was speculation elsewhere that it might have something to do with the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy, but a look at Azed’s comment on his clue for STORIETTE in the slip for Azed 2,642 should put that one to bed. The question, though, is how many solvers entered TINCT as their answer without being sure where the TT came from? It has been said many times, many ways, that the job of the setter is to do battle with the solver and lose gracefully; this means the solver having – eventually, and perhaps accompanied by a groan or two – having decoded all the clues to their own satisfaction. This must happen based only on what is in the clue, since there is no further communication between setter and solver. A brilliant reference in a clue is only brilliant if the great majority of solvers (with help from printed or online references if need be) are likely to understand it. Sometimes ‘clever’ can be ‘too clever’, particularly when it comes to wordplay elements – there is a lot more leeway with tricky definitions, because the focus for the solver is clearer. I once wrote a clue, “What you find in midst of gaggle and skein (5)”, for GEESE [GEES (in the middle of ‘gaggle’) + E (in the middle of ‘skein’), &lit]. I was awfully pleased with it, and the editor was impressed, but when the puzzle was published a number of solvers suggested that a non-cryptic clue had been included in error. In a clue writing competition, you can explain to the judge(s) why your clue is a thing of wonder, but when writing clues for puzzles, ask yourself, “Is the solver going to feel that they have vanquished a tough and worthy opponent, or that they aren’t sure whether it’s all over.”

Across

5a Old poet a monarch’s left enthralling us, held back as before (7)
The surname of an ‘old poet’ (known as Ed to cruciverbalists as well, no doubt, as to his chums Bill Shakespeare and Chris Marlowe), missing the cipher of Queen Elizabeth II (“a monarch’s left”), contains (‘enthralling’) the letters US (from the clue). The ‘as before’ in the definition tells us that the answer is no longer in use; with the sense of ‘held back’ or ‘restrained’ it seems to have appeared only once, in Johnny Milton’s Paradise Lost:

And the great Light of Day yet wants to run
Much of his Race though steep, ??????? in Heav’n
Held by thy voice, thy potent voice he heares, [ 100 ]And longer will delay to heare thee tell
His Generation, and the rising Birth
Of Nature from the unapparent Deep

10a Jewish foster-mother, married, with rations allowed (9)
A charade of the usual abbreviation for ‘married’, a 5-letter French word for ‘rations’ or “a day’s march”, and a familiar word meaning ‘allowed’. The answer sounds vaguely as though it might describe one of those information sheets that come with a pack of prescription tablets, designed to convince you that the disease is less dangerous than the cure, thus saving money for the NHS.

12a He’s expelled from chorus in a paddy (5)
‘Chorus’ here has the sense of ‘a composition sung by a chorus’, a 7-letter word for such a song in a Greek play being deprived of the consecutive letters HE (“He’s expelled from…”). Since the letters HE are at the end of the word, one might question whether they can be ‘expelled’, but I think that would be nit-picking, which should be left to…

13a Dainty to free of infestation, one might suppose? (6)
…a whimsical (‘one might suppose?’) term where a real 7-letter word that suggests the removal of a singular parasitic insect becomes a 6-letter word that suggests their elimination en masse. The answer is shown by Chambers as ‘obsolete’, although this isn’t indicated in the clue.

16a Wharf detail, might one suppose (4)
The companion piece to 13a (even down to the ‘one might suppose’ / ‘might one suppose?’), the whimsical verb here being not the answer, but the ‘detail’. I suspect that we have all at some point come across ‘detailed’ in a cryptic as a somewhat whimsical indication that the last letter of a word should be deleted, often without so much a question mark.

17a Milt’s almost all found alongside Nile, working (6)
The wordplay is straightforward, the word ALL without its last letter (‘almost all’) following (‘found alongside’) an anagram (‘working’) of NILE. You may not, though, be familiar with the original meaning of the word ‘milt’, the key to a definition which raises the perennial question, “Is x’s the same as of x, for example is “spring’s” valid for VERNAL?” Personally, I think that it’s ok.

18a T-topper isn’t curved round peak? I do regret it! (11, 3 words, apostrophe)
The letter T (from the clue) and a 3-letter word for something exemplified by a ‘topper’ (there were plenty on view at Ascot last week) are followed an anagram (‘curved’) of ISNT around a 3-letter word for a peak or rocky height (an old favourite of setters). I do feel that the definition could have been improved on. Chambers has it as an ‘expression of annoyance’, but in practice it’s more likely to be used as a slightly jokey way of venting mild irritation at a circumstance outside one’s control which has derailed one’s plans. I don’t believe that it carries any sense of regret. Something like “That’s us scuppered” would be on the right lines.

20a Scoundrel pitched tent around river, causing scraping of tissue (11)
A 3-letter scoundrel often seen lurking in cryptic clues precedes an anagram (‘pitched’) of TENT,  put around the name of one of the fastest-flowing rivers in Europe (so I understand), rising in Mid Wales and proceeding (apace) into England, joining the Severn to the south of Worcester.

28a Post-mortem payments in Scots law, tons not left in records (6)
A 6-letter word for ‘records’ in the archive sense contains the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘tons’, replacing the one for ‘left’ (‘tons not left’).

32a Competed in equestrianism, just 50% boredom (7)
A 4-letter word for ‘just’ or ‘fair’ is followed by a 6-letter word for ‘boredom’ from which the second half has been omitted (ie ‘50% boredom’).

Down

3d Running over beaches causes obese such wrack! (6)
A composite anagram, where the letters of OVER BEACHES can be rearranged (‘running’) to produce (’causes’) OBESE plus the solution (‘such wrack’).

5d Confined to port once, maybe, rages with date spoiled about year (11)
A 6-letter word meaning ‘rages’ and an anagram (‘spoiled’) of DATE are put around (‘about’) the single-letter abbreviation for ‘year’, the result being hyphenated, 5-6. Despite the ‘once’ in the definition, Chambers doesn’t actually give the term as being obsolete or even archaic, though I don’t recall hearing it on the BBC travel news recently. It seems to belong to regions which experience severe winters, such as Canada and Scotland, and would typically be used in relation to, say, heavy snow, but the Chambers definition is compatible with a broader interpretation.

6d Fatty bacon doesn’t go off when turned over with centre removed (4)
A 5-letter word meaning “doesn’t go off” (or, at least, ‘remains fresh’, which isn’t quite the same thing, but is close enough) is reversed (‘turned over’) and loses its middle letter (‘with centre removed’).

8d Typical of Charles, trusty when outsiders are absent (5)
A 7-letter word meaning ‘trusty’, like the company vehicle of Trotters Independent Traders, is shorn of its first and last letters (‘when outsiders are absent’); the Charles is specifically Charles Lamb.

25d First in rank demoted somewhat, an unpleasant Scot (5)
The first letter of a common word for ‘rank’ or ‘class’ is moved downwards (‘demoted somewhat’).

27d Drunk not accepting a disgrace (4)
A 5-letter word for a drunkard (or a verb meaning ‘to swell or puff out’) is deprived of the letter A (‘not accepting a’). The answer could be a noun or a verb, although it is the verb which Chambers explicitly shows as being synonymous with ‘disgrace’.

(definitions are underlined)