It’s the first Sunday of the month, so it’s Azed’s turn to provide our weekly barred puzzle.
Lots of anagrams and part-anagrams made this a fairly easy solve, although there were several unfamiliar terms. There were also quite a few Scottish usages, not all of which were indicated. There’s just one clue I can’t completely parse, at 21 down, but no doubt others will be able to explain it.
Thanks to Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | HUFF-CAP |
Stirred chaff up, like old liquor (7)
|
| *(CHAFF UP). A nice easy anagram to start with, although the answer is an unfamiliar word. | ||
| 7 | PENT |
A lean-to with five columns in front, a style disregarded (4)
|
| PENT(astyle) (having five columns in front). | ||
| 10 | LOAN-HOLDER |
Place for milkmaid with husband, not so recent – one holds security (10)
|
| LOAN (a Scottish term, not indicated as such, for a milking-place) H(usband) OLDER. | ||
| 11 | SNUCK |
Number in drain was cringing (5)
|
| N(umber) in suck (drain). | ||
| 12 | ARMOIRE |
Branch I got in tangle making large wardrobe (7)
|
| ARM (branch) I in ORE (a tangle). | ||
| 14 | STERIGMA |
Stalk to check, one circling equipment (8)
|
| RIG (equipment) inside STEM (check) A. | ||
| 15 | FAND |
The old proceed, fluttered by the sound of it (4)
|
| Sounds like “fanned”. | ||
| 18 | STENO |
Secretary reproduced notes (5)
|
| *NOTES. | ||
| 20 | GYROIDAL |
Spun gold, airy and spiral (8)
|
| *(GOLD AIRY). | ||
| 22 | CHELIPED |
Bit of crab? That was useful round island (8)
|
| C(rab) I(sland) inside HELPED. The initial C seems to be doing double duty as both part of the definition and part of the wordplay. | ||
| 24 | REBUS |
Problem to do with transport (5)
|
| A simple charade. | ||
| 26 | SYCE |
Groom, bashful husband leaving church (4)
|
| S(h)Y, CE (Church of England). | ||
| 27 | BROMINES |
Chemicals gypsy found in hop stems (8)
|
| ROM (Romany man, or gypsy) in BINES (hop stems). | ||
| 29 | TERROIR |
Distinctive character of wine I fed to rogue (7)
|
| I in TERROR (a rogue). | ||
| 30 | SCENA |
Operatic episode presented by clubs in Indian army (5)
|
| C(lubs) inside SENA (in India, an army). | ||
| 31 | CALUMNIOUS |
A cousin messed around chimney causing injury? (10)
|
| LUM (chimney) inside *(A COUSIN). | ||
| 32 | HAEM |
Blood pigment creating energy in meat (4)
|
| E(nergy) inside HAM. | ||
| 33 | HANDSET |
Day in Athens, wandering remote (7)
|
| D(ay) inside *ATHENS. | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | HOSS |
Cavalry essential? Armies short of tons (4)
|
| HOS(t)S (armies). | ||
| 2 | UINTATHERE |
Huge old fossil in Spanish country house, headless, look yonder (10)
|
| (q)UINTA (Spanish country house) THERE. | ||
| 3 | FLUENCE |
Uncle trained in further education displaying volubility (7)
|
| *UNCLE inside FE (Further Education). | ||
| 4 | CAKING |
Forming packed mass about royal on board? (6)
|
| CA (circa, about) KING (chess piece). | ||
| 5 | ANAGLYPH |
Gay plan formed with hearts – it consists of two prints (8)
|
| *(GAY PLAN) H(earts). | ||
| 6 | NOMA |
Affliction of starving kids – lack of parent (4)
|
| NO MA. | ||
| 7 | PLOTTIES |
Mulled wines scald with matches (8)
|
| PLOT – Another unindicated Scottish (or N England) term for scald, TIES (matches). | ||
| 8 | EDILE |
Old magistrate to cut off, rising (5)
|
| ELIDE (rev). | ||
| 9 | TREMOLO |
Quivering, having drunk Merlot with duck (7)
|
| *MERLOT + O (duck, or a score of nought for a batsman). | ||
| 13 | RENASCENCE |
Earn renewed activity around century, being born anew (10)
|
| *EARN, C(entury) inside SCENE (activity). | ||
| 16 | DELUBRUM |
Font, sort of barrel with tarnished blue within (8)
|
| *BLUE inside DRUM (barrel). This is the sort of font you find in a church, not a typeface. | ||
| 17 | PRETORIA |
Soak in foreign river and atmosphere climbing in SA city (8)
|
| RET (soak) in PO (Italian river), AIR (atmosphere) (rev). | ||
| 19 | SCRITCH |
Comment in school – owlish observation? (7)
|
| CRIT(icism, comment) inside SCH(ool). | ||
| 21 | DRYNESS |
Once almost got up in clothes displaying sobriety (7)
|
| YN inside DRESS (clothes). I can’t explain how YN equates to “almost got up”. Note the similarity of construction to the clue at 3 down. | ||
| 23 | DAMSON |
Fruit like this is bottled in what has little value (6)
|
| SO (like this) inside DAMN (of little value). | ||
| 25 | BIRLE |
Pour out Scotch, recipe in aid to digestion (5)
|
| R(ecipe) inside BILE (aid to digestion). | ||
| 27 | BOMA |
A crowd turning up in fenced enclosure (4)
|
| A MOB (rev). | ||
| 28 | SAUT |
What’s in Jock’s cellar? 50% sweet wine (4)
|
| SAUT(ernes) (a sweet wine). Cellar in the clue refers to a salt cellar. |
I agree that 1a is an easy anagram that I entered early on but, since I was trying to fill as much as I could without using Chambers and I didn’t know HUFF-CAP was really a word, I started to doubt it was correct when 2d heeded to start U_NT. I eventually found 2d in Chambers and I think I have seen it before and probably UINTAITE also, so I probably should have remembered there was a word that starts like that.
I addition to the lack of indication of Scottish terms, I expected SNUCK to be indicated as American (but Chambers also says it can informal) and when I checked in Chambers I noticed that FLUENCE is given as Miltonian.
I thought it was customary to not repeat words from the answer in the definition, so I didn’t think ‘one holds security’ was a good definition for LOAD-HOLDER, but I suppose I could charitably see it as a double bluff. I’ve sometimes wasted time trying to think of a synonym for a word in part of a wordplay before realising that the literal word is what is needed, eg ‘style’ in 7a.
In 22a, I though ‘That‘ was intended to refer to ‘Bit of crab’, so the clue means ‘Bit of crab? Bit of crab was useful round island’ and then there is no double duty.
For 21d, NY is an obsolete spelling on NIGH, so it once meant almost, and got up indicates reversal.
In 28d, I assume the spelling Sauterne is intended so that SAUT uses half of its letters.
Thanks, bridgesong and Azed.
Comment #2
Thanks for the blog , not sure about PENT , the definition in Chambers93 does not seem to match with lean-to , the wordplay did makes things a little over obvious .
Roz @3: I agree with you and suspect that the current edition is the same as your 1993 version. “A sloping or overhanging covering” is presumably what Azed had in mind, but a lean-to is an actual building of some kind, not just a roof.
Bridgesong@4 exactly . I have seen this type of roof across a drive to keep the rain off a car but as you say , not a building .
The first definition given for PENT (in my C88) is a penthouse, which is itself defined as “a shed or lean-to…”
I agree with Matthew at 1 about the “That” reference for Cheliped and NY in Dryness.
Well spotted, MunroMaiden @6! It’s not the first definition of penthouse, but it is there, so I withdraw my quibble.
Bridgesong@7, I rarely look up words like penthouse that I think I know and regularly get caught out by that in crosswords. I bet folk living in a penthouse flat would be horrified to be told it meant a lean-to!
Wow , great spot MunroMaiden@6 , I did not think to check . I will start tellig people that our guinea-pigs live in a penthouse .
Thanks for the blog, bridgesong. As you say, on the easier end of the Azed spectrum, with our old friend SOAK=>RET giving me a quick start in 17d.