*=anag, []=dropped, <=reversed

Eimi crosswords tend to send me scurrying for the reference books and there were quite a few words in this that were new to me (13 across being particularly obscure, I thought). Overall though, it was an enjoyable puzzle with some good surface meanings (21 across, 4 and 5 being excellent).

Across
9	Launder: foreign articles (la un der).
10	Rummage: Rum age around m.
11	Palominos: Pal o’ Minos.
12	Abyss: hidden.
13	Verst: Vest around r. Vest here means place in the legal sense and verst is apparently some sort of Russian distance measurement.
14	Scintilla: soundalike of “sin tiller”.
15	Razored: R + Azed around or.
18	Red Meat: Red Heat with h (hour) converted to m (minute).
21	Stratagem: (mega tarts)<.
24	Nisan: Nan around I s.
26	Lazio: (I Zola)*.
27,29	Yves Saint-Laurent: (anti slavery tunes)*.
28	Fermata: (Farm [m]eat)*. One of those obscure musical terms that fit neatly in crossword grids.
Down
1	Slip over: Pils<.
2	Curler: double def - Rhona Martin and a curler used to turn up one’s barnet (Barnet Fair = hair).
3	Odometer: Od + (meteor)*.
4	Uranus: U + RA + Sun<.
5	Trashier: (Are Hirst)*.
6	Impart: Imp art. Bosch painted lots of pictures of demons and the like.
7	Navy blue: navy + blue.
8	Geisha: GE is HA (chemical symbols).
16	Zero-zero: double definition (I assume Americans say zero-zero instead of nil-nil).
17	Doggy bag: cryptic def.
19	Dinosaur: (is around)*.
20	Tiny tots: double definition.
21	Spliff: SP + Liff[e].
22	Trocar: carrot*.
23	Muesli: Muse with last two letters reversed + L I.
25	Snivel: Levis< around n.

Apologies - I wrote this up last week and then forgot to publish it.

Across
9	(CULT AWARE)* - CATERWAUL. I liked “heated call” as the definition.
11	(ON ISLAM)* - OSMANLI
12/15	NOTHING LIKE THE SUN - 22a’s brilliant novel (more of a fictional biography really) about Shakespeare’s love life. The title is from Shakespeare’s sonnet “My mistress’s eyes are nothing like the sun”.
14	BRIDE,WELL - London’s first “house of correction”.
16	(THINK THAT GROCER)* - ON THE RIGHT TRACK.
19	KIN,KIN,E,SS - I thought this was a great clue with a nice surface reading and a clever bit of deception in “closer to some” for E.
21	HEART - “earth” with the H moved to the front.
22	URGES in BS - “nonsense” is B[ull]S[hit]. A reference to the marvellous Anthony BURGESS.
23	S,X in (I FEEL)* - great &lit for SEX LIFE.
24	RE,A,DS - DS (in music notation) stands for Dal Segno, literally “from the sign”. I think I only knew this because it appeared in a recent puzzle, somewhere.
25	MP,MP in (IN OUR)* - IMPROMPTU. Very cleverly worded clue for an unpromising looking word.
Down
1/3	A CLOCKWORK ORANGE - 22a’s novel and later an infamous film by Stanley Kubrick.
4	hidden in “bacK A LIttle” - in Hinduism, KALI and Durga are manifestations of the Mother Goddess Devi.
5	L in BAN,DISHES
7	VENI,CE - a reference to “veni, vedi, vici”.
17	PI in (SLEEPY)* - EPILEPSY.
18	NIP in A GAPE - AGANIPPE is a fountain and the naiad associated with it.
20	R in NO WAY - not sure I understand the definition: “Taters here”.
21	H,X in OT,ON - HOXTON is an achingly trendy area of East London, popular with media types.

Pretty good offering from Rufus: quite a few clues with a surprising twist in the surface. And not a cryptic definition in sight (OK, not many).

Across

1	LUCIFER - two meanings: a well-known match company thus “striking example”.
9	P,RESERVE - I liked the way “specially for game” defines RESERVE, however, didn’t know that P could abbreviate “perhaps”. Rufus himself points out that perhaps is part of the definition — and that as well as game reserves there are game preserves.  Same difference.
12	CHARTERHOUSE - HOURS* in TEACHER*. It’s a school I didn’t go to.
15	COPENHAGEN - OPEN in change*; interestingly “round” is the anagrind not “change”.
19	OWN - two meanings: my last clue (probably because I associate OWN up with concede rather than just OWN).
22	LANDED GENTRY - an amusing cryptic definition.
26	A,LB,I,ON
27	IM(MODE)ST - MODE in mist*
29	DETROIT=(tried to)* - another clever definition: “huge carport”.

Down

1	LAPS=”lapse”
2	CH[i]EF
3	FREE HAND - a fine surface
4	[d]RIVER - ref. RIVER Tees
6	CRECHE - a surprisingly clever clue that is sort of a double cryptic definition playing on the two meanings of “mind” (it’s a Brit kindergarten).
7	CO,RNUCOPIA=(our panic)*
13	SCHOOLDAYS - I fear I’m missing an allusion (e.g. Tom Brown’s SCHOOLDAYS — were they happy?)
14	OPENING BAT - requisite cricket cryptic definition
16	AVENGE - I think this is another (non-obvious) cryptic definition.
18	STAR,TOUT
21	RECOIL - definition is “kick” and I guess rewind and recoil are synonyms as well.
24	HE,[i]RO]n
25	STET - printing term (thus “impressive”) to reinstate something.

This was probably Azed at his toughest and I am grateful to Peter B and the Cryptonuts for helping fill-in my gaps.

First things first. As with all out-of-the ordinary puzzles, read and understand the preamble, it will give you all the information you need. One thing which sets apart Azed’s specials from the Listeners and suchlike is that the preamble always does say what it means - I have yet to meet one that is oblique or vague.

The first words: “All clues are normal” - that sends a frisson of relief down my spine. Then comes the rubric about the intersecting answers. I think for the purposes of this puzzle, we can leave that until after everything has been solved.

Armed with my trusty clutch pencil and rubber, I set off cold solving and whenever I find a clash, both letters are entered with a slash.

10 across seems a good place to start with an anagram and it comes out as OLIGOCLASE. The next clue looks good as well - a hidden answer - and CERRIS, which I knew to be a type of oak, was added to the grid.

A glance back at 6 across shows that is obviously an anagram too - SATYR.

21 across is a nice simple clue GENERATOR. Another hidden answer at 26 across. 34 across is a straightforward anagram as well.

After the initial inspection of the acrosses I have about eight or nine answers so time for a look at the downs. These clues don’t seem as obvious as the Acrosses, though 3 and 12 look good for starters.

It’s time for Chambers and Bradford’s to be wheeled out. Of course the difficulty here is that some interesting answers clash, so you can’t always assume that what you have willbe of help with the answer in the other direction. Anyway, here are the answers;-

 

ACROSS (*) = Anagram (R) = Reversal (CD) = Cryptic def

 

1 NACARAT N/A = not available A in CART

6 SATYR STRAY (*)

10 OLIGOCLASE e.g. COAL OILS (*)

11 CERRIS Hidden between fenCER RISkily

13 AZTEC AZ = 50% of me TEC (short for detective)

14 AL PASTO This threw me for a while but is in effect a nice simple clue. Azed often uses a bit of polysyllabic grandiloquence to spice up a definition and this is no exception. Trat = trattoria = restaurant in Italy. A L = One Lira PAST = ended Duck = O

16 BISH BISH(OP)

17 TRIED DIRT (R) with E (the ultimate in tolerance!)

19 LEGER LINE LEG + IN REEL (*)

21 GENERATOR GEN (Lowdown) + ERATO (The Muse of lyric poetry) + R

24 AREAR ARAR = The sandarach tree with E (back from glare) inside

26 MEOW Another favourite clue. Hidden between Romeo weeping.

29 OROPESA POROSE (*) + A

30 ARTEX This clue caused me a few problems. The solution seemed OK to me, but the indications are a bit odd. I presume it means “Is former husband” in the second person, as in ART + EX. Where the “in church” fits in, I’m not sure.

31 STATAL TA TA in SL (The heart of CzechoSLovakia - usually in hackneyed crossword clues OSLO is usually defined as found in the middle of Czecholslovakia, but not this time)

32 GUILLOTINE Not sure why “maiden” is in this clue. LOT + IN inside GUILE.. Nice clue if the maiden can be justified.

33 AUNTY A + UNT(ID)Y

34 DRY BEER RYE BREAD less A (*)

DOWN

1 NICAD AND (*) with I C inside. Azed uses the C = SEE device twice in this puzzle (at 20 down as well). However, I am left wondering whether there should be a homophone indicator or is there an abbreviation for C equalling SEE? Couldn’t see one in Chambers.

2 CHELICERA LICE in REACH(*)

3 CORPSE R in COPSE

4 ROISTER I inside ROSTER

5 TONOMETERS REMOTE (*) inside TONS

6 SCANT S + CANT

7 ALBE ABLE with centre reversed. I had ARTY here for a while, so was held up with intersecting clashes.

8 TATAMI TATAMI when reversed reads I’M A TAT which is also the definition. Very clever clue.

9 RECEDED Can reindeer be defined as DEER? DEC inside DEER (R)

12 STEGANOPOD SEAN GOT(*) + POD I knew that dolphins come in pods but not seals, I thought they came in rookeries, like penguins.

15 PENTOSANE P.E. + NOT SANE(*)

18 AGA SAGA Not Anthony but Joanna Trollope - the “Queen of the Aga Saga”. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGA_saga . A GAS + AGA. Another fine clue.

20 ROBOTIC B inside O C (see again) RIOT (*)

22 LECTIN C inside LET IN

23 TEEPEE Tp = Troop

24 REDLY D inside RELY

27 WALER A Rissaldar was a hussar in India who often rode a horse called a WALER, imported from New Zealand.

28 WEFT F inside WET

You can now see there are ten clashes.

 

A/C 1/2 B
I/O 10/4 L
B/Z 13/7 A
B/D 16/1 C
I/M 17/8 K

N/L 21/22 M
X/D 30/25 A
T/P 31/23 R
L/F 32/28 I
Y/C 34/20 A

 

So “la Femme” is Black Maria!

Very enjoyable, very tough and thanks to Azed.

I shall see you all in seven weeks.

 

Sorry for the delay - the crossword was only accessible to me this morning.
Rather a lot of anagrams, I thought.

ACROSS

1.    VISAGE  - (vie, to include sag)
4.    AMBIENCE  - (Ambi-val-ence - centre removed)
10.  CHATTERER - (*trace the)
11.  deliberately omitted
12.  LARK-  (dd)
13.  RESTRAINTS -( *transfer list without f,l.)
15.  SCENERY -(*screen plus y, last of play)
16.  LAMBDA - (innocent lamb plus DA)
19.  ALTAIR  -(alto  without o + air - altair is a star in the constellation Aquila)
21.  SHAMPOO - (sh-amp-oo - shoot without ending ,around ‘ a MP’)
23.  CORRESPOND- (dd)
25.  INFO - (in the Foreign Office)
27.  SATIE - (satire without ‘r’ - French composer)
28.  NAAN BREAD - (*arena band - accompaniment to 6 down, q.v.)
29.  PARADISE -( *a and despair)
30.  INSTIL-( hidden answer in pains till)

DOWN

1.   VOCALISE - (*voices a l)
2.    STAIRWELL-  (st-air- well)
3.    GITE - (g with ITE - various societies with these initials.  Not sure which is intended)
5.    MARITAL -(martial, with switch of two letters)
6.    INDIAN MEAL- (*maiden in LA)
7.    NOT ON - (slang expression for impossible - reads both ways.)
8.    EGOIST- deliberately omitted
9.    FREELY (f-ree-ly. I did not know that ‘ree’ was the female of the ruff bird, or reeve)
14.  SESAME SEED - (* seas seemed)
17.  DEPENDENT- (de-pen-den-t - use of Thailand for t is somewhat suspect.)
18.  TOROIDAL- ( * Dior a lot - I learnt a new word with this one.)
20.   REPENTS - (re-pe-nts - the record did not have to rise!)
21.  SUNTAN- (sunk without ‘k’, tan dd)
22.  ACTS UP - (catsup with first two letters transposed)
24.  RATER -( rafter with ‘f’ removed)
26.  OBAN - (o- ban.)  Quite liked this one. No ban