Posted by petebiddlecombe on 27th April 2008
If you would like to write an Azed report about once a month, there’s a space going - one of our current bloggers wants to drop out. If you’d like to have a go, drop me a line - peter at biddlecombe dot demon dot co dot uk.
Update:
We’ve now had three volunteers, which seems enough. I’ll let them introduce themselves when they appear.
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Posted by petebiddlecombe on 27th April 2008
Solving time: not recorded
I can’t remember how long this took or how much I used Chambers. But I made a wrong guess at the first letter of 17D, which suggests that the rest was solved without Chambers.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SUFFRUTESCENT - (turf fuse)*, scent - herbaceous, with a woody stem-base |
| 12 | IN ONE - (NO.,N) in i.e. |
| 13 | IVOR(y) - ref. Ivor the Engine |
| 14 | RO(q)UE |
| 18 | HE,A,R.(TIKI)N. - “a little heart, used euphemistically in an old oath”, says C. |
| 19 | TAKE TEN - a longer version of “take five” |
| 20 | A.,ESC - “the rune for a, used in Old English for ae; the ligature ae used in Old English for the same sound (that of a in Mod Eng RP cat).” |
| 22 | ABD=bad*,OMEN |
| 25 | HEYS = “haze” = rag in the ‘play jokes on’ sense |
| 27 | PIROGUE = (I go up R.,)*,E |
| 30 | TRANSMUTE = (UN matters)* |
| 32 | D.E.,MOB - D.E. = Dept of Employment |
| 33 | DAFF - hidden reversal, - to put by (Shak.) |
| 34 | SAND = to polish with a sander, and the female novelist known as George Sand’s lover was Chopin, who was Polish. |
| 35 | MOWER - W. in Rome* |
| 36 | GULE - glue with its centre reversed, and Sots for ‘marigold’ |
| 37 | TRANSGENDERED - strange*,redden* |
| Down | |
| 1 | SCRATCH-TEST - scratchiest with T for I. Nice easy one if you’re married to an immunologist! |
| 2 | FLUNK(y) - to flunk = to faiil an exam, which is also ‘plough’ |
| 3 | F,LEG - a Scotticism for ’scare’ |
| 4 | RICH T(ea.) - sound = correct = right = richt. |
| 5 | UN,FEED |
| 6 | ENTRY = a field. I suspect the wordplay is Y = young. following something, but I can’t see what |
| 7 | SEE THE |
| 8 | EVOKES - OK in Seve rev. - ref. Olazabal and Ballesteros |
| 9 | NONISSUE - O = centre of ‘October’ in (suns(h)ine)* |
| 10 | TRENCHER-FED = separate from the pack, of hounds. (here FC)* in trend |
| 15 | CAN,OPUS - an urn for mortal remains |
| 17 | TABERDAR - beard* in tar = to incite = egg (vb.). I made a wrong guess at DABERDAR |
| 21 | HYAENA - A after AY rev. in HEN |
| 23 | BOSOMS - MO rev. in BOSS |
| 24 | MI(TT)EN - slang for ‘dismissal’, type (employment or cricket?) not specified in C. |
| 26 | E.,M.(BO)G. |
| 28 | REIRD = drier rev. |
| 29 | GLAUR - hidden - Scots for a mire |
| 31 | E(D.G.)E - the BBC = Auntie is headed up by the DG = Director General |
Posted in Azed | 2 Comments »
Posted by Colin Blackburn on 26th April 2008
For a blog of the puzzle see Duncan’s comment below. Many thanks Duncan.
Posted in Inquisitor | 4 Comments »
Posted by rightback on 26th April 2008
Solving time: 11:58
The clueing in this puzzle was more ‘down the line’ than normal for Araucaria, I thought. Nothing too obscure either, although a couple where the wordplay helped me out.
3dn and 19/20dn have the same definition (’in a state’) but there were no cross-clue references in this - all the more surprising, as DOODAH (20dn) is the main bit of the chorus to CAMPTOWN RACES (16dn/9ac), which you’d think was deliberate on the setter’s part.
Music (1ac): Jupiter from Gustav Holst’s suite The Planets.
* = anagram, “X” = sounds like ‘X’.
| Across | |
|---|---|
| 1 | JUPITER; “JEW PITTA” |
| 5 | SIDECAR (double definition) |
| 10 | FOREST + ALL |
| 11 | HUM + ANGUINE + A + PIG - I didn’t know ‘anguine’ (meaning ‘of a snake’) or ‘pig’ (= ‘a segment of an orange’). |
| 14 | AIR (= ‘melody’) + TIGHT (= ‘one over the eight’) |
| 17 | STEELMAN; (MALTESE + N[ame])* - this took a bit of fathoming after stopping the clock. It turns out that Corus is one of the world’s largest steel producers. |
| 21 | PRINCIPAL FOCUS; (FOR PUCCINI’S PAL)* - sadly I had to write the letters out to spot this; I’d probably have got it instantly during my GCSEs. |
| 23 | LA(C + RIM)OS + O - a musical term. |
| 24 | DE(S)POT |
| 25 | SUSTAIN (double definition) |
| 26 | ASHTRAY - “ASTRAY” said with a slur. Another I didn’t get when solving. |
| Down | |
|---|---|
| 1 | JERK[in] |
| 2 | PICK UP + THE PIECES |
| 3 | TIS + WAS - my last entry, having tried to justify ‘Tasman’ for a while. |
| 4 | RE + FUG + E |
| 5 | SARDINIA; (AND AIR IS)* |
| 6 | DIS + KETT[l]E |
| 7 | CHAMP + AGNES + UPPER - nicely split up. |
| 8 | REL*G*T**N; ELEG[y] in RATION - this is a sore subject at the moment so no comments on this clue please (unless Leicester ensure safety by beating Sheffield Wednesday this afternoon - not likely, I fear). |
| 12 | PER SE + POLIS - I wasn’t familiar with Marlowe’s Tamburlaine or his destination, but the wordplay got me there. |
| 15 | OLD CHINA (double wordplay) - this is a bit naughty as there’s no proper definition. The phrase ‘old china’ can mean a mate, but not a former mate. |
| 16/9 | CAMPTOWN RACES; CAMP + (C TO ANSWER)* - ‘Plantation song’ because this was originally published in Stephen Foster’s Plantation Melodies. |
| 19/20 | ALL OF A DOODAH; (FOOD)* around ADO, all in ALLAH |
Posted in Guardian | 2 Comments »
Posted by nmsindy on 25th April 2008
As usual, an excellent puzzle from the ever-reliable Phi. Solving time, 21 mins.
* = anagram < = reversed
ACROSS
1 (PIPPED) (AT THE POST) Tempted at first by the 15 letters after ’stoned’ which suggested an anagram.
9 L ((r)A SCAL) A
10 P (ROT E.G). E
11 COO (l)
12 A U CONTR (AIR) E (counter)*
13 COR ROSION (so iron)*
15 P (AYE) E Complicated. A couple of pence = PEnce AYE = certainly. On the contrary = rather than put PE inside AYE, do the opposite.
16 Thomas N ASHE(s) from the late 1500s
18 TRUCELESS (ulcers set)*
20 TREAC (HERO) US (act sure)* Join at deceitful/act was cleverly misleading.
22 GYM Cryptic definition (More to it than this, thanks, Rayfolwell for comment 2 below)
23 B (ALAN) CE BCE = Before the Common Era, same as BC
24 A MATE (yoU) R Tip-top surface
25 ESCHERICHIA COLI (choice chilis are)* Better known as E COLI
DOWN
1 POL (lop<) ICE CONS TABLE
2 P IS SOIR (evening in French)
3 ERA Hidden Another good join period/furniture
4 AN (ARCH IS) T
5 TA P-IN
6 E GO TRIPPERS
7 OBE (SIT) Y
8 THE S (EVEN S) AMURAI (amateurish)* nmsindy is normally weak on films, but, not only knows this one but saw it around 1960, I think.
12 A DOLE SCEN (C) E
14 NEUROPATH (upon earth)*
17 S (HELL) AC
19 EL G(a)R Exciting CO
21 ELEMI hidden< Ain’t seen this word, so familiar in crosswords, for quite a while now.
25 ADA I think this appears in datA DAta i.e. repeatedly
Posted in Independent | 3 Comments »