Reviews
index
| & lit. homepage | Try the
puzzle
|
N |
OT for the first time, Dr Watson has
experienced a change of view of an Azed puzzle by
working on a review of it. Despite taking longer than usual to solve it he felt
somewhat underwhelmed initially. An extra pair of longer lights in the grid
might have lifted his mood. For consolation he was able to muse on a life in
red, all back to front, and other delightful nonsense.
9. It included tachisme a long
time back, about shipshape, right? ART AUTRE (taut, r, all
in era (rev.)) This witty opener gives a rough
whole-clue summation (the allusion to ship shapes very amusing) of an eclectic mix of artistic styles suggested as a
school by Michel Tapié.
The cryptic indication, however, does not include the phrase: ‘It included tachisme’, which must be regarded as the definition. Watson
has noticed that the portrait by Toulouse-Lautrec at the link above cannot be of the same Michel Tapié. It is actually of Dr Gabriel Tapié.
14. Fluctuate irregularly in grotesque gyrations.
SQUEG (hidden) The first of three clues
with hidden indications, remarkable for its apt surface reading and the fact
that the solution is derived by back-formation from ‘squegging’
(q.v.).
19. Dry-eyed aristo given run-around by tragic
heroine. TEARLESS (earl in Tess) The
reference here is to the heroine of Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy.
26. Slight strain shown by porcelain getting ’eated inside. ARIETTA (’et in Arita) The two-word definition: ‘Slight strain’ is
delightfully and doubly misleading in the ‘antiques’ context of the surface. The
Japanese town of Arita
lends its name to its locally produced porcelain.
29. Instruction activating others buried in
conundrum (a crossword?) MACRO (hidden) Another gem, being both a clue
to ‘a clue’, ‘others’ being solvers, but being ‘other instructions’ for the
purpose of defining our solution. Many solvers will have used macros, most
typically in word-processing to avoid repetitious typing of addresses and the
like.
31. Aussie cowboys using nets with 1,000 head
of cattle, OK? Not OK. STOCKMEN (anag. inc. M, c(attle),
OK) ‘Not OK’ indicates the
anagram whereas ‘using’ is just a link-word.
33. Old age indicating an end of hygiene? HORE
(i.e. ‘h’ or ‘e’) Another
of those clues where the explanation is found by scanning the solution, rather
than the clue.
34. Alternative to bridge shows signs of wear –
more than one period of origin. VINTAGES (vint1, ages) Mug
up on vint with a drink.
35. Emirates unusually caught by rigged vote –
it errs on the high side. OVERESTIMATE (anag. in anag.) The
only long light clued cryptically in this puzzle is easily solved by reducing
the two nested anagrams into one. It might have been much trickier to solve if
one or other part had been indicated by a synonym.
2. Early
artistic ornament from Turkey quite bamboozled artist. TRIQUETRA (TR, anag, RA) Azed
has achieved an apt surface by linking Turkey, where one might expect not to find such a runic symbol, with
our artist being puzzled about it. In the cryptic indication it’s ‘quite’ that’s
being bamboozled.
6. ‘Crazy’
path through what fixes cloche’s position? HATPIN (anag,
in) ‘Through’ is found among the
many listed definitions of ‘in’.
7. Reclaim
difficult child gaining in years. IMPOLDER (imp, older) Our
solution means to reclaim land from the sea by building dykes around it and
pumping the water out.
10. Indiaman summoning up colourful pictures?
TRADER (red, art (all rev.)) Sadly,
few of the Indiamen listed here
summon up colourful pictures of them.
17. Siren,
one in devious chorale. HALICORE (i
in anag.)
Our solution is another name for the dugong, supposed to be the ‘original
of the mermaid’ as Chambers’ entry has it.
21. Jock’s
disfigured his slates covering house. CAMSHO (cams, ho;
s.v. cam3) Azed has achieved an economy of Jocks here,
indicating both the Scots solution and ‘cams’ in the cryptic part.
22. Ten
of a kind taking part in summer ceremony. MERCER (hidden) Making
‘Ten of a kind’ fit the only possible solution here is troublesome until one
notices, or has it pointed out, that 10 (Down) is TRADER.
25. Does
it give one temperature, with dissipated zest and energy? TZETSE (t, anag, E &lit) Without
a distinct definition, this clue must define the tzetse
fly by reference to the symptoms of Sleeping Sickness. Solvers may judge
whether Azed has accurately summarised its symptoms here.
Other solutions:
Across:
1. STUFFED SHIRT (The Competition Word) 11. AMLA (alma1
(rev.)) 12. WILD (l in wid(e)) 13. DRIFTPIN (rift, P, all in din)
15. SPORT (s, port) 18. DEFILER (life in red
(all rev.)) 23. PROSPECT (anag, (bea)t) 30. ALURE (i.e
‘a lure’) 32. HIPT (p in hit; s.v. hip1)
Down:
1. SAW-SET (anag.) 3. FADEUR (fad, Eur) 4. FUDGE (anag. in FE) 5. DRICE (D, rice2)
8. TANTRA (hidden) 16. RED
CARPET (Redcar, pet) 20. SOAKEN (s, oaken) 24. PELHAM (PE, L, ham) 27. TAMIS (i in tams) 28. FANTI (F, anti)