October 2008
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Archive for the 'Azed' Category

Azed 1,888 - Printer’s Devilry

Posted by Andrew on 10th August 2008

Printer’s Devilry puzzles are an interesting and enjoyable change that Azed produces from time to time. I thought we’d had one fairly recently - it turns out I was thinking of the 2007 Christmas puzzle, which had some PD clues. Solving PDs requires different skills from other types: for a start there’s no definition in the clue to latch on to (perhaps a small flaw in the format?). My usual two-pronged approach for getting started is (1) try to find a word in the clue that is obviously out of place; and (2) look at rest of the clue to try to get hold of a sensible meaning. (The rubric “every passage, when completed, makes sense” is important.) I usually start off on the shorter answers, as they are often easier to detect, leaving the longer ones until a few crossing letters, especially at the start or end, are available. The first few answers I found in this puzzle were 7ac, 15ac, 17ac, 23ac, 34ac and 17dn. I think there was a mistake in 26ac.

For the details of each clue below, I’ve shown the answer, followed by the “undevilled” passage with the answer capitalised, and then sometimes an additional comment.

Across
1	REWAREWA	It’s ‘All Systems Go’ as the cREW ARE WAiting for Countdown	Rewarewa is a tree in New Zealand (Maori word)
7	CUPID	She lay in the sunny meadow, chewing a butterCUP Idly
11	TELEVERITE	In my search for the best hoTEL EVER I TEsted lots for the tourist guide
12	ASSISI	Given come-hither looks it’s surely not forward to make a pASS, IS It?	This is the “familiar place name” that doesn’t appear in Chambers; most familiar, at least to me, when preceded by the words “St Francis of”.
14	ENDRIN	Lifelong teetotallers won’t succumb to aliEN DRINking habits
15	ROSEATE	In Polynesia taRO’S EATEan with many meals	Taro is “a plant of the Arum family widely cultivated in the islands of the Pacific for its edible rootstock”
17	ANIS	My new air-con system replaces the fAN I SOld
18	STERNER	That monSTER NERo comes to mind when a classical fiddler is mentioned
19	INTERTARSAL	Hauling on the paINTER, TARS ALl helped to make her fast	The painter here is a rope, and “her” refers to the ship that the tars are working on
23	ATELIER	Uneaten meals on many a paper plATE LIE Rotting
26	CYAN	I like the look of the soup - do you FanCY ANy?	I presume this is a slip-up - there’s one N too many in the devilled version.
29	INSTATE	AgaINST A TElling remark an effective riposte is difficult
31	AGOUTI	Stewing steak in a rAGOUT, It’s best simmered with spice and veg
32	UTOPIA	Drug-dealers toUT OPIAtes for the wretched addict
33	SALMANASER	Producers give specialized role reverSAL MAN A SERies of female parts	A large wine bottle named after an Assyrian king mentioned in 2 Kings 17-18
34	EXIES	Putting her sEXIESt robes on increased her allure, she knew
35	ASTRINGE	The trawlers fished off the coAST, RINGEd with nets
Down
1	REAR	His skill with the ball is puRE ARt in motion	This should have been easy, but somehow I had a blind spot with it and it was the second last one I got
2	ESSONITE	Going to pot, lESSON I TEach degenerates into bedlam
3	WESSI	One with money-making proWESS Is personally enriched	An inhabitant of former West Germany, in contrast to an OSSI from the East
4	RESALE	Outraged reader fiRES A LEtter off to the press
5	ELITE	As often in a second reEL IT Ends with our hero in trouble	A reference to movie cliffhangers
6	AVESTA	Young rebels often hAVE STAid parents they want to escape
7	CENSE	Does a supersoniC ENSEmble produce inaudible results?
8	URDU	Careless cleaners poUR DUst all over the place
9	PIRANA	I had to sell the shoP I RAN At a loss
10	DENDRON	If you want to gladDEN DRONes, suggest days of idleness
13	TESTRIL	Underhand tactic evident in conTEST RILes affected drivers	An obsolete name for a sixpence
16	RELATING	Venus was given orders by Jove, and many moRE LATIN Gods likewise
17	ANATASE	Deb met her dream mAN AT A SEAson’s top event	The first one I got: after seeing “deb” I spotted the end of “season” and the rest followed easily, even though it’s not a common word (it’s a mineral, and not, as I first guessed from the ending, an enzyme)
20	NEROLI	I have never been offered fiNER OLIves at a cocktail party
21	RETINA	There’s nothing like opening good claRET IN Amorous twosomes	The last one I got: I puzzled over it for ages with no success, then left it for a couple of hours. As often happens in such situations, the answer was then completely obvious.
22	RASTER	(The competition word)
24	IOTAS	At start of a rIOT A Stone was thrown
25	INUST	Having persuaded our friends to their cause they hope to wIN US Too
27	YAPON	There’s many a young girl wants daddy to buY A PONy for her	This follows all the rules, but it seems a slight blemish the way “buy” appears in both versions
28	RUME	For big fellows forming scRUM, Ears will often get mangled	The big fellows turn out to be Rugby players
30	EALE	Those going to sEA LEave loved ones at home

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Azed 1887: Calling a spade a spade (or a foot plough)

Posted by jetdoc on 3rd August 2008

A more demanding puzzle than some of Azed’s recent ones; and, to me, all the better for that. As usual, I learnt a few new words, though I’m not sure when I’ll ever use them.

My favourite clue this week is 12a, because it is so concise and has a deceptive surface reading. I like the wordplay in 8d, too.

Across
1	CASCHROM	SUCH minus U; in CAROM = ‘short form of carambole, a cannon in billiards’. A caschrom, according to Chambers, is a sort of spade with a bent handle, formerly used in the Scottish Highlands for tilling the ground (also ‘cas crom’). Wikipedia has it as foot plough. In any case, it could be a useful word for crossword setters wanting a slightly unusual sequence of letters.
7	CHAI	CHA = tea; I = ‘number one’ (dominant place). A slightly strange clue (is it an &lit? it doesn’t feel quite right). I don’t like tea anyway, but I will assume that chai tastes very different from rooibos, which is not tea at all, despite being know as ‘bush tea’.
10	PRE-EXILIAN	PREEN (clean and arrange); about X = ten; ILIA =bones. ‘Before the exile, used of Old Testament writings prior to the Jewish exile (c.586–538BC).’
11	WEEM	WEE; M = marks (former German currency). A weem, in Scotland, is a subterranean dwelling.
12	ACINUS	Nice clue. An acinus is a pip (in a fruit). AC (= bill, account) IN US.
14	KOCHIA	(a hoick). Kochia scoparia* is the burning bush.
16	SPINAL	SPIAL (old word for ‘scout’), penning N. Refers to the spinal column.
17	KANGHA	Hidden in ‘sleek Angharad’. One of the Five Ks, worn by baptised Khalsa Sikhs as items of faith.
18	ICE-ACTION	*(SIATIC ONCE) — ‘not as’ indicates that AS must be removed to get the anagram.
19	EGOMANIAC	OMANI = Gulf Arab; in ‘cage’ reversed.
24	EIDENT	DEN = study; in ‘tie’ reversed. Another Scottish word, meaning ‘busy, diligent’.
25	TROUSE	T = end of belt; ROUSE. Irish close-fitting breeches.
27	HABITS	BIT = part of tackle, in the sense of a horse’s harness — specifically the part of the bridle that goes in the horse’s mouth (though Chambers does not actually give this sense under ‘tackle’); HAS = gets (which rings BIT).
29	LEPERS	Hidden in ‘despisable persons’. An &lit clue, though I find it a bit offensive that those unfortunate enough to be inflicted by Hansen’s disease should be used metaphorically for people to be despised.
30	SHEA	‘SHEAthing’ minus ‘thing’. Butyrospermum parkii is a very useful tree.
31	EVITERNITY	(Ivy in tree t). A new word for me, with no real etymological explanation in Chambers*.
32	GAEA	A = dialect personal pronoun; in *(AGE). The Greek goddess personifying the Earth.
33	SIGNLESS	*(s Lessing), with ‘novel’ as the anagram indicator. Doris Lessing is a much-esteemed Nobel Laureate whose works I have always found almost completely unreadable. Apologies to her admirers, who greatly outnumber me.

Down
1	CAWK	Cawk is ‘an opaque, compact variety of barite, or heavy spar’, a definition I got via Google rather than in Chambers. It also sounds a bit like ‘cork’, which can be used to seal bottles (though I reckon screw-tops are much better). The implication of ‘we heah’ is that people who talk posh might pronounce it like that (see the very wonderful Steve Bell’s phonetic renderings of the way the British royal family talk).
2	AREOPAGITE	*(OPERA); on A GIT E. The Areopagus functioned as the chief homicide court of Athens. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is also worth a look.
3	SPECIE	*(pieces), with ‘minted’ as the anagram indicator. A concise example of an &lit clue — ‘specie’ is ‘coined money’.
4	HELIAC	ELIA (= essayist); in H C (+hot and cold). In crossword clues, ‘essayist’ more often than not refers to Charles Lamb, best known for his Essays of Elia (‘Elia’ being the pen name Lamb used as a contributor to the London Magazine).
5	REVALENTA	‘laver’ (edible seaweed) reversed; *(a net). Revalenta is lentil-meal
6	MICMAC	Hidden in ‘totemic mackinaws’. A Native Canadian people of eastern Canada; a member of it; the Algonquian language of this people.
7	CLIENT	LIEN = right; in CT (first letters of ‘commercial textbooks’).
8	HING	[w]HING[e] — edges cut from ‘beef’ in the sense of ‘complaint’. Hing is asafoetida, which does smell a bit alarming, but is surprisingly useful in cooking.
9	INSTANCE	STANCE = posture; after IN = wearing. ‘Instance‘ can mean ‘law suit’
13	UPHOLSTERS	*(poultr she’s), ‘whacked’ being the anagram indicator. ‘Supplies e.g. stuffing’ is the definition, as upholsterers supply, among other things, stuffing for furniture.
15	SKAITHING	*(gas I think). ‘Skaith’ is another Scottish word, meaning ‘to injure; to blast; to scorch with invective’.
16	SHEER-LEG	SHEER = vertically; LEG = ‘gel’ (set) reversed.
20	MESETA	E = Spain; SET = arrayed; in MA = borders of Murcia. A meseta is ‘a plateau, specif that of central Spain’ so there’s an element of &lit in here.
21	ANTRES	Hidden in ‘unpleasant residences’. A poetic word for ‘cave’.
22	ARABIN	RABI = the spring grain harvest in India, Pakistan, etc.; in AN. Arabin is the essential principle of gum arabic, used as a thickener.
23	QUI-HYE	QUI = French for ‘who’ (a relative pronoun); HYE = obsolete form of ‘high’. A prosperous Anglo-Indian, especially in Bengal, during British colonial rule.
26	SPIE	Initial letters of ‘some passionate intercourse eventually’. ‘Spie’ is an old word meaning ‘look’ (spy).
28	SANS	Double definition — ‘without’ (as in sans-serif) = ‘save’; short form of ‘sanatoria’ = hospitals.

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Azed 1886

Posted by bridgesong on 27th July 2008

Solving time : about a day (but it was my birthday, so I was distracted). Loads of unfamiliar words this week, and some excellent surface readings (e.g. 19 across). I found the south-west corner particularly difficult, with doubts over 30 and 34 across. Apologies for any formatting oddities: I composed the blog on one computer and then emailed it (in two sections) to my home computer, and something odd appears to have happened en route. I’ll be away and without access to the net when this blog appears, so won’t be able to respond to any comments for a few days but please don’t hesitate to write in with any comments.

Across

KHODJA - a simple anagram with which to start

PELOPID - pole in dip (all rev.), a descendant of Pelops, who was the grandfather of Agamemnon, and Electra was Agamemnon’s daughter

HOSANNA - an(imals) in Noah*

BEMIRE - emir in BE; “dirty” is here used as a verb, not an adjective

ALIT - Alit(alia); this is the past participle of the verb to alight. Although this is an intransitive verb, and the surface reading suggests a transitive use, this is deliberately misleading, and an aircraft can be said (intransitively) to have put down

ROMAUNT - Rom + aunt; an old word for romance

DOMANIAL - mania in dol(lar); the word is in Chambers under domain

ELAN - an eland is a South African antelope

OSIER - (h)osier(y). More usually found as a noun, it is also an adjective, justifying the clever use of “Twiggy”, although perhaps it might be argued that the words “full range” add nothing to the clue?

CORONAL SUTURE - na in true colours*

SIEGE - hidden and reversed in college I see

TOEA - 0 in tea; a toea is a Papua New Guinea monetary unit, 1/100 of a kina; kina and china are alternative names for quina, and china of course can refer to tea. Very clever

OPERA HAT - h in PE aorta*

AQUEOUS - the word play is relatively straightforward: a(dvance) + que (French for that) + ous (sou*). What I have difficulty with is the definition: aqueous can mean “deposited by water” but it seems to me that “let down” is some distance from this as a definition

LORY - hidden and reversed in captivity rolled

GUIROS - Rio* in G US; a guiro is a gourd used as a percussion instrument in Latin America

INTERIM - I in “in term”

EXTINES - another clue that gave me difficulties. The word is plural, so the definition must be “film covers”; you then have exes round tin, and I suppose that “opening” implies that the word “tin” is within “exes”. Not a usage I remember coming across before, but perfectly fair.

SERRAE - arres(t) + E; they’re a zoological term for sawlike organs

Down

1	KHADI - a compound anagram. Take the letters of “linge” from “like Gandhi” and you have an anagram of the answer, an Indian word for home-woven linen
2	HOLOZOIC - an anagram of zilch and three o’s
3	DATA LOGGER - a lot* in dagger; the phrase is in Chambers under its second element only
4	JNANA - it’s a Hindu term
5	ANGINA - in (which can mean “on the spot”) inside an anagram of a nag
6	PARABLEPSIS - psi in parables
7	EBOLA - a lobe (rev.); the Ebola virus is well known
8	LEME - hidden
9	PIUPIU - piu is Italian for more; a piupiu is a Maori skirt
10	DETER - (Sovie)t in deer: an axis is a type of Indian deer
13	MANSTEALER - ante meal’s* + r
17	HERBARIA - the reference is to Herb Alpert
21	REQUIT - r + equit(y)
22	STEANS - as nest*
23	SWAGE - swag + (blad)e; a swag can mean a depression
24	TOUSE - to use
26	ORATE - O + rate
27	STYME - hidden; it’s a Scottish word meaning a glimmer of light
28	POON - 0 in pon(d); it’s an Indian tree, funnily enough

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Azed 1885: A distraction from the cricket

Posted by jetdoc on 20th July 2008

I managed to solve most of this one while multi-tasking at Lord’s last Sunday (otherwise known as looking up each time an England bowler sent down a delivery which failed to take a wicket, then back at the crossword while he walked disconsolately back to the start of his run-up). As I write this blog, with Test Match Special from Headingley in the background, the sense of déja vu seems painfully inevitable. That said, it’s good for the brain, from time to time, to tackle an Azed without so much as a printed copy of Chambers.

There are some lovely words in this — always a plus with Azed puzzles. The clues, I think, are pretty straightforward. So what’s my fave for this week? 17a, I think — AU for ‘one king’s offering’ in the context of Christmas, is neat.

Across
2	PTOCHOCRACY	Wonderful word! P = pastor; TO = with; CH = church (Christian organisation); *[See comments below]* OC = officer commanding; RACY = spirited. Ptochocracy is ‘the rule of beggars or paupers, wholesale pauperization’ (with a z, apparently).
10	MARBLE	MALE = man; taking in BR= brother, backwards. A plonker (or plunker) is a large marble.
11	XOANON	X = cross (I think I originally thought this was an alternative spelling of the hybrid also known as a zo, dzo, jomo, etc.; see 14a); O = on (?); ANON = unnamed (anonymous) in short. A xoanon (another wonderful word) is a primitive statue, said to have fallen from heaven, orig of wood, later overlaid with ivory and gold.
13	PRUINA	RUIN = collapse; in PA = personal appearance. Pruina, a botanical term, is a powdery bloom or waxy secretion.
14	JOMO	JO = endless joy (delight); MO = second (moment). These crossbred domestic cattle, dzo or whatever, make frequent appearances in crosswords, with their many alternative spellings.
16	DROMON	Anagram of ‘oars on med’ minus ‘sea’. A dromon (or dromond) was a a swift medieval ship of war.
17	DECAUDATE	AU = gold (‘one king’s offering’); in DEC[ember] DATE = ‘particular day around Christmas’. Decaudate means ‘to cut off the tail of’.
18	IN ANTIS	‘inanities’ minus ‘ie’ (‘that is’). ‘In antis’ = ‘(of a portico) not framed by columns but having antae terminating the side walls; (of a portico) recessed in a façade’.
20	SESE	*(‘Shakespearean’ minus ‘hark a pean’). A variant reading for ‘sessa’ = ‘enough said’.
21	MAKO	MA = Malta; KO = knockout, stunner. A small, evergreen tree of New Zealand with red berries that turn purple as they ripen (also called wineberry).
24	GELADAS	DALE = depression, reversed; in GAS = chatter. A species of baboon
27	CANELLINI	CAN = tin; ELLINI = ‘diner’s insides (INE), ILL’ upset.
28	NUNCIO	C = conservative; in *(union). A papal nuncio is an envoy.
31	TIAR	Hidden in ‘Marinetti a Roman’. Poetic form of ‘tiara’.
32	EPOPEE	OP = work; in EPEE = fencing sword. An epopee is an epic poem, so an ‘extended work’.
33	ALKENE	L = little left; in AKENE (also achene) = ‘a dry, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit, formed of one carpel, the seed separate from the fruit wall’.
34	MESSAN	*(manses). Scottish word meaning a lapdog, a cur.
35	FASTERNSEEN	This is one I got from the wordplay, with no idea whether it was actually a real term or not; and, sure enough, I found that it is. F = female; ASTERN = behind; SEEN = observed. Fasterns-een is Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent, otherwise known as Pancake Day.

Down
1	IMPEDIMENTA	*(dime tip mean).
2	PARPEN	PEN = writer (as it so often is in crosswords); below PAR = paragraph. A parpen is ‘a stone passing through a wall from face to face; a wall of such stones; a partition; a bridge parapet’.
3	TRUG	T = the (or t’, as we northeners are reputedly wont to say); RUG = runner. One might collect beans in a trug, ‘a shallow wooden basket with a handle, used for carrying flowers or fruit’.
4	OBI-MAN	IM = I’m; in OBA, a W African chief; N = note.
5	HEAP	Hidden in ‘the apocalypse’.
6	OXIDASE	OX = neat (an ox, cow, bull, etc.); *(ideas).
7	COURTELLE	CO = company; URE = obsolte form of ‘use’; TELL = order. A synthetic acrylic wool-like fibre, proprietary, I think, to Courtalds.
8	ANOMIE	I; in AN ’OME (a home being a hostel for the afflicted). Anomie is ‘a condition of hopelessness caused or characterized by breakdown of rules of conduct and loss of belief and sense of purpose’.
9	COMOUS	Perry Como was an Italian-American singer and television personality. US = American. ‘Comous’, from ‘coma’ = ‘a tuft of hairs attached to the testa of a seed; a crown of leaves on certain trees; the nebulous envelope of the head of a comet’.
12	NON-RESIDENT	*(note dinner’s).
15	OUTRAIGNE	Another one I deduced from the wordplay but needed to check once I had access to Chambers. *(I urge on at). Spenser used ‘outraigne’ to mean ‘reign to the end of’. I’m not too happy with the surface reading of this one, but maybe I have missed some subtlety.
19	IGNORER	[S]IGNORE = plural of ‘signora’; R = right.
22	AQUILA	IL = one left, short; in AQUA = water. The golden eagle genus; the Eagle, a constellation north of Sagittarius.
23	KANAKS	A = one; in skank reversed. The description given by Wikipedia doesn’t sound much like any kind of dancing I’ve ever done to reggae music (or maybe it really was ‘frantic skipping in a circle’).
25	ALDOSE	AL = not quite ‘all’; DOSE = portion.
26	ANDEAN	A DEAN = ‘a faculty head’; including N = ‘new’. Macchu Picchu, which I visited about 20 years ago, is in the Andes and is wonderful.
29	NEMN	NEM = ‘men’ (‘troops’) reversed; N = ‘ending of conscription’. Obsolete word meaning ‘name’.
30	APSE	‘lapse’ minus L.

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Azed 1884/AE AE AE

Posted by ilancaron on 13th July 2008

At first I found this fairly easy going - in particular, several rather obvious anagrams (34, 28, 20…) were my way in, so that I swiftly filled in the bottom half. I was then pulled up short by some very obscure vocabulary and wordplay (e.g. 24, 22, 10…).

The last Azed triggered a discussion about lowering standards in Azed surfaces. Same applies here — not all surfaces are equally coherent. DHM’s comment was that one couldn’t expect uniformly high quality week in and week out. I think it’s interesting to note if there’s a trend however…
Across

1	AB(SORB,ED DO)SE - SORB (ref. ’service’ tree), EDDO (’tuber’) in base*. I cheated a bit on this — at some point, I noticed that I had DOS? at the end, guessed a 2-word phrase with DOSE, and went to Chambers since the preamble indicated that the term was to be found under the 2nd word.
10	SO(KAI)YA - well, it’s a Japanese ‘extortioner’ and KAI is a Maori ‘food’.
12	P(OE)T
13	ONE-ACTER=carotene*
14	A,HEN,T - it’s Scots for AHINT which is Scots for AHENT which is Scots for AHINT which is Scots for ‘after’.
15	ANK(O)LE - a kind of Ugandan steer.
16	TI(MET,AB)LE - many kinds of TIMETABLE in our world, and so is a ‘tide chart’. Ref. TILE hat (Scots top hat), MET is “experienced” and AB is our able-bodied seaman.
17	NIFF - hidden in “biN IF Festing”, Brit smell.
19	S(END)AL[e] - it’s a thin silk.
21	B,ARRET - it’s a biretta (clerical square cap) and ARRET is a “tribunal’s judgement”.
23	TODO - Spanish for ‘everything’ and shemozzle is a mess in Yiddish thus a TO DO.
25	REPECHAGE - (preach e.g., [lif]e)* — it’s a way to let losers compete to regain a place in a competition.
28	IMPELS=simple*
30	A,BO(R)D - means “gone astray” to our poet Spenser.
31	CURS,ITOR=rev(roti) - archaic term for vagrant, thus “old tramp”.
32	[g]OOSE - Scots for fluff, thus down.
33	MODUL(A)R - A in (old rum)* and def is “in standard units”.
34	HEPATOMEGALY - (at my age? O help)*, sounds unpleasant (distention of the liver).

Down

2	BOO[r],HAI[r] - tough clue: obscure word and complex misleading wordplay. Def is “backwoods” (in some parts of NZ!) and I guess “uniformly cut” is telling us to remove the same thing from each wordplay component.
3	SKEER=”skier” - it’s a dialect form (in NZ??) of scare, i.e. ’shock’.
4	RIOT(I)SE - I in sortie* — archaic noun for ‘extravagance’.
5	BY,N,EMPT[y] - another tough clue (obscure, complex). The definition is archaic ‘mentioned’.
6	D(RAN)T - means drone and def is ‘hum’. RAN (’was current’) in DT=Data Transmission.
7	DUC(K,AN)T - K for ‘grand’ (1000) and it’s a kind of Jamaican termite.
8	OTTO[man] - alt. attar (’perfumed stuff’) and ottoman is also a ‘corded silk’.
9	STELLA - At first I thought Sheila (ref. oz) but couldn’t make it work. At some point, it was clear that only STELLA fit, but I needed an email friend for the explanation (PB): it’s TELL (’order’) in SA (sex appeal==’it’) and ref. Sir Phillip Sidney (aka Sydney) who wrote “Astrophel and Stella”.
10	S(PAWN,BR)ICK - PAWN (’pop’), BR[other) in SICK ('mortified'): fertiliser for growing mushrooms.
11	FREELOADER - it's the competition word...
18	FREESIA=faeries* - my first clue
19	SEA(ROO)M - ROO's our 'jumper' in SEAM.
20	EN GARDE=grenade*
22	AE,MULE - AE! another obscure tough clue: it means emulate according to Spenser (thus "lost") which is 'match'. AE is Scots 'very' and a 'mule' is a hybrid thus a 'cross'.
24	D(OR)SAL - same as dossal which is an altar cloth OR ('gold tincture') in (lad[ie]s)*
26	CLINT[on] - it’s a ‘rocky outcrop’.
27	MOOL=rev(loom),A - slang for money as is ‘dust’.
29	P,REP[echage] - it’s homework: P for ‘page’ and then the first 3 letters of 25A (REPECHAGE).