Azed No 2248 Plain (4 Jul 2015)

reviewed by Dr Watson for & lit. – The Azed Slip Archive

Reviews index  |  & lit. homepage  |  Try the puzzle

A

ZED’S clues seem to be a little shorter than usual in this competition puzzle, as he finds mostly straightforward ways to clue his solutions. The puzzle shouldn’t present any major hazards to newer solvers, unless their first serious crossword investment was in Chambers’s 13th edition, in which case 10 down could prove elusive. References to a ‘Troika’ at 18 and a misanthropic Athenian at 33 don’t appear to be intentionally topical.

Notes to the clues:

ACROSS

12.     Sleep that’s rapid coming upon the old  SHUT-EYE (shute ye)  A subtle switch of ‘rapid’ from adjective to noun in the cryptic reading provides a natural surface and clever wordplay.

17.     Intrinsic part of erotica, mainly?  CAMA (hidden & lit.)  Dr Watson was thinking of the Spanish for ‘bed’, but Cama or Kama is of course also known for his Sutra.

20.     A pointilliste may spatter tile with these  OIL PAINTS (comp anag. & lit.)  Very satisfying to see a compounded 9-letter anagram with so little excess material. Dr Watson hasn’t seen any pointilliste tile paintings, but no doubt they exist.

23.     Sob freely, fit when interring one – in such   OBSEQUIAL (anag. + I in equal)  The meat of the definition lies just beyond the ellipsis, in the next clue.

26.     Funeral rites, led by priest? Statistician’s unit  PROBIT (Pr obit)  Sharing material between clues can give the solver extra entertainment, but creates a rather disconnected surface reading here.

30.     Druggie’s back to front dodge  RUSE (r to front in user)  Look, no hyphens: it’s not ‘back-to-front’ but an instruction to move a letter from back to front.

DOWN

2.       Clip joint? Money raised before installing one  NITERIE  (tin, rev. + I in ere)  Azed hasn’t revived any of the clues from competition no. 1290, in which this word elicited ‘Dive made from upturned punts’ (Eire tin, rev.) from R. J. Hooper. It would be ‘upturned euros’ nowadays – another topical reference, perhaps.

5.       Small freshwater fish, otherwise found under the sea  MEDAKA (Med + aka)  A simple but very nicely realised surface.

10.     Foster-mother abroad, mobile, given rations permit  METAPELET (m + étape + let)  This is one of the words carefully highlighted as ‘interesting’ in Chambers’s 12th edition and then carelessly omitted from the 13th. Its Hebrew plural ‘metaplot’ looks like it might offer even better clue-writing possibilities.

24.     Sharp turn fastening cable  BITTER (2 mngs.)  The second meaning of ‘bitter’, and the source of ‘bitter end’, is a nautical term for a twist of rope round a bitt or fastening post.

31.     Ballet character, cunning, escaping home of fabled monster  WILI (wili(ness))  A reference to the popular ballet Giselle (full title Giselle, ou les Wilis) in which the supernatural creatures dance their victims to death.

 

Other solutions:

Across:  1. INTIMISTE (anag. in in time);  11. BIRSE (anag.);  13. STEAD (stead(y));   14. PERIDOT (I do in pert);  18. TROIKA (oik in art, rev.);  19. RIP-RAP (rip + rap);  29. SUTTLE (2 mngs.);  32. ELASTIN (anag.);  33. TIMON (mo in tin);  34. SEGMENT (G-men in set);   35. CLINK (C + link);  35. TREPHINER (pert, rev. + in in her).

Down:  3. TREMOLO (REM in tool);  4. I SAY (is ay);  6. SHEERNESS (she ernes S);  7. TURBIT (turbi(d) + t);  8. CEDAR (C + anag. of (g)arde(n));  9. MYOMA (hidden);  15. STOP-PRESS (st! + oppress);  16. WAISTLINE;  21. VITAMIN (ta M1 in vin);  22. PALLONE (pal lone);  25. QUATCH ((s)quat + Ch);  27. RULER (ule in (ca)rr(el));  28. OSAGE ((d)osage).

 

Reviews index  |  & lit. homepage  |  Try the puzzle