It is starting to feel like a privilege to have an Azed land on my rotation.
This was mostly straightforward, but I cannot quite make sense of 3D.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | SHRUBBINESS |
No feature of smart garden? Unkempt rubbish alongside cape (11)
|
| Anagram of (unkempt) RUBBISH + NESS (cape) | ||
| 11 | SAULIE |
One was paid to grieve, that is as follower of Scottish person (6)
|
| SAUL (Scottish person, i.e., Scots for “soul”) + I.E. (that is) | ||
| 12 | SLAP |
Rebuke learner stuck in drain (4)
|
| L (learner) inside (stuck in) SAP (drain) | ||
| 13 | PREMOVE |
Prompt intermediate class following page (7)
|
| P (page) + REMOVE (intermediate class) | ||
| 14 | THAGI |
Ruffianly behaviour with a girl, some of it (5)
|
| Hidden in (some of it) [WI]TH A GI[RL] | ||
| 16 | GOT ON |
Managed to break down weight (5 ,2 words)
|
| GO (to break down) + TON (weight) | ||
| 17 | TRANTER |
Hawker locally in Turkey trained a tern (7)
|
| TR (Turkey) + anagram of (trained) A TERN, listed in Chambers as “dialect,” thus “locally” | ||
| 18 | WHID |
Scots whisk women kept out of sight (4)
|
| W (women) + HID (kept out of sight) | ||
| 19 | TURNSTILE |
Tourniquet rarely damaged let in rust (9)
|
| Anagram of (damaged) LET IN RUST, listed in Chambers as “rare” | ||
| 23 | CORAL TREE |
Tropical shrub later transplanted in shift (9, 2 words)
|
| Anagram of (transplanted) LATER inside (in) CORE (shift) | ||
| 24 | RAMI |
Paper-making fibre formed in ceramics (4)
|
| Hidden in (formed in) [CE]RAMI[CS] | ||
| 25 | INGRAFT |
Cuckold as once engaging in river pastime, switching parts? (7)
|
| RAFTING (river pastime) transposing RAFT and ING (switching parts), listed in Chambers as “obsolete,” thus “as once” | ||
| 28 | DRAMA |
What gets large number in RADA involved (5)
|
| &lit and M (large number, i.e., million) inside (in) anagram of (involved) RADA | ||
| 31 | ARNUT |
Woodland plant? See number planted in a furrow (5)
|
| N (number) inside (planted in) {A RUT (furrow)} | ||
| 32 | TORTURE |
Sped round fixed course – turning, it’s agonising (7)
|
| TORE (sped) around (round) RUT (fixed course) reversed (turning) | ||
| 33 | SACK |
Fire? Rob ran away (4)
|
| [RAN]SACK (rob) minus (away) RAN | ||
| 34 | TEE-TEE |
Monkey runs out of palm twice? (6)
|
| T[R]EE (palm) minus (out of) R (runs), twice | ||
| 35 | MELANTERITE |
Ferrous sulphate, form of entire metal (11)
|
| Anagram of (form of) ENTIRE METAL | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 2 | HARN |
Coarse linen ma cut for copper (4)
|
| HAR[MA]N (copper, i.e., slang for constable) minus (cut) MA | ||
| 3 | RUEDA |
Street dance abroad? The sort of place it’s performed with father (5)
|
| I think this parses as: RUE (the sort of place it’s performed, i.e., “street” in French) + DA (father). Chambers describes this as “a Cuban street dance,” where they speak Spanish, so presumably here “abroad” means generically “non-English-speaking.” | ||
| 4 | ULMIN |
Forest exudation, part of culmination (5)
|
| Hidden in (part of) [C]ULMIN[ATION] | ||
| 5 | BIOG |
What may be potted I kept in can? (4)
|
| I inside (kept in) BOG (can) | ||
| 6 | INEBRIANT |
Ribena tin? Strange – it can’t be this! (9)
|
| Anagram of (strange) RIBENA TIN, “it” referring to the tin of Ribena, a blackcurrant soft drink | ||
| 7 | NUTGALL |
What wasp yields, showing strangely gaunt lines? (7)
|
| Anagram of (strangely) GAUNT + LL (lines) | ||
| 8 | SLATHER |
Plenty in American states showing agitation, bottom to top (7)
|
| LATHERS (states showing agitation) moving last letter to first (bottom to top), listed in Chambers as “especially North American and dialect,” thus “in American” | ||
| 9 | SAGOIN |
It’s similar to 34? Pity about past (6)
|
| SIN (pity) around (about) AGO (past), referring to the solution to 34A | ||
| 10 | SPINDLE TREE |
What produces axle to draw out Scotch to bear including permit (11, 2 words)
|
| SPIN (to draw out) + DREE (“Scotch” to bear, i.e., in Scots) around (including) LET (permit) | ||
| 11 | SPATTERDASH |
Tarts shaped roughly or untidily cast as in US (11)
|
| Anagram of (roughly) TARTS SHAPED, listed in Chambers as “US,” thus “as in US” | ||
| 15 | METRIC TON |
Male terribly contrite – some measure (9, 2 words)
|
| M (male) + anagram of (terribly) CONTRITE | ||
| 20 | ROMANCE |
Catholic? The opposite, fiction (7)
|
| ROMAN (Catholic) + CE (the opposite, i.e., of Catholic) | ||
| 21 | SOLATIA |
Sun above, a palm tree rises – we make up for disappointment (7)
|
| SOL (sun) + {A + ITA (palm tree)} all inverted (rises) | ||
| 22 | MARRAM |
Beach grass causing damage both ways (6)
|
| MAR (damage) + MAR reversed (both ways) | ||
| 26 | RATER |
Bottom’s up – it’s briefly swallowed – source of estimate? (5)
|
| ‘T (shortened form of [briefly] it) inside (swallowed [by]) REAR (bottom) inverted (up), defined in Chambers as “a person who makes an estimate” | ||
| 27 | AGUTI |
Fur pattern, excellent fringing belly (5)
|
| AI (excellent, i.e., stylized “A1”) around (fringing) GUT (belly) | ||
| 29 | GREE |
Prize amulet’s half fresh, but not new (4)
|
| Double wordplay: (1) half [of] GREE[GREE] (amulet); (2) GREE[N] (fresh) minus (but not) N (new) | ||
| 30 | FRET |
One of several on board to worry (4)
|
| Double definition |
I had to go hunting in Chambers for HARN since I didn’t know it or HARMAN, so it didn’t make any difference I was imagining that ‘ma’ was removed from ‘Coarse linen’ to give ‘copper’. I definitely didn’t know that ‘tourniquet’ could mean TURNSTILE and I also constructed PREMOVE, WHID, INGRAFT and SOLATIA just from the wordplay without knowing what they meant. I originally entered SACK thinking that ‘Fire’ and ‘rob’ could be two definitions but understanding what ‘ran away’ was for.
For 3d, I assumed we were supposed to take ‘The sort of place it’s performed’ to mean ‘a street abroad’ but didn’t like that Azed seems to be treating the world as having two parts: where he’s from and everywhere else.
Thanks, Cineraria and Azed.
Thanks for the blog , pretty good overall , I could not find RUEDA in Chambers93 but I know the term from Salsa classes so seemed close enough . SAULIE was in last year with a very similar clue .
SHRUBBINESS – not sure about the definition , I have visited many gardens that are very smart and formal and consist of shrubs .
I echo Matthew@1. For 1dn, I’d assumed it would be “coarse linen” minus MA to give “copper”. I think the clue is ill-formed; MA isn’t cut “for” copper, but “from” copper. It’s a quibble, perhaps, but I don’t think Azed would have awarded it any prize in a clue-writing competition! 33ac: I also thought initially that SACK = rob and wondered where the R for run came in (doh!). 3dn: definitely a bit odd to use the French for street in relation to a Cuban dance.
I also queried GO = “break down” in 16ac; that’s not a definition given in my Chambers ’98, but perhaps it’s in later editions.
MM@3: In Chambers 2016, “to break down, fail,” appears as approximately the 29th definition under the first entry for “go.”
Thanks, Cineraria! I have read through them all again in C98, in case I missed it, but no….that must be a more recent addition. One almost wonders why we have any other verbs….!