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Azed 1,888 - Printer’s Devilry

Posted by Andrew on 10th August 2008

Andrew.

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

jetdoc.

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

bridgesong.

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
1 KHODJA - a simple anagram with which to start
6 PELOPID - pole in dip (all rev.), a descendant of Pelops, who was the grandfather of Agamemnon, and Electra was Agamemnon’s daughter
11 HOSANNA - an(imals) in Noah*
12 BEMIRE - emir in BE; “dirty” is here used as a verb, not an adjective
14 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
15 ROMAUNT - Rom + aunt; an old word for romance
16 DOMANIAL - mania in dol(lar); the word is in Chambers under domain
18 ELAN - an eland is a South African antelope
19 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?
20 CORONAL SUTURE - na in true colours*
23 SIEGE - hidden and reversed in college I see
25 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
29 OPERA HAT - h in PE aorta*
30 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
31 LORY - hidden and reversed in captivity rolled
32 GUIROS - Rio* in G US; a guiro is a gourd used as a percussion instrument in Latin America
33 INTERIM - I in “in term”
34 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.
35 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

jetdoc.

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

ilancaron.

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).

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