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D |
R WATSON noticed a large
number of clues in this month’s competition puzzle that start with a question; eleven
in all, and another that ends in a parenthetical question. One (17 across)
indicates a definition by example; two (11 and 28 down) indicate some uncertainty
in the definition; and the rest are all or partly wordplay. It’s a perfectly
good way to construct a clue, but Dr Watson found with so many of them the
cadence of the clues became a bit repetitive. With the
exception of a literary lover, a biblical mountain and an Italian
football club, everything required is in Chambers. The competition word BILBO
provides at least two routes to definition (or a double if one remembers Sting).
13. Knight,
formally clad? Something in wool SUINT (N in suit) Allusive wordplay,
with ‘formally clad?’ suggesting something in ‘suit’. Suint is a fatty substance
found in wool.
14. ‘Would-be
literary so-so’? Oscar’s chum’s stuck with that BOOKSIE (OK in Bosie) BOOKSIE was the
competition word in Azed
No 340, and elicited several references to Wilde’s lover Lord Alfred Douglas,
nicknamed Bosie. Azed hasn’t borrowed one of the competition clues here, but has gone for a rather complicated wordplay that
pulls ‘OK’ for ‘so-so’ across from the first sentence.
15. Aristophanes?
Poet’s played about with his Frogs like this RANA (comp.
anag.) A well-spotted wordplay combining the
playwright and one of his best-known
plays in a compounded anagram. ‘Aristophanes’ can be rearranged into ‘poet’s
his Rana’, the genus of frogs.
24. Ball not
quite hitting target? End almost cut off, willingly BON GRÉ (b(all) + on green less en(d)) There are so many
subtraction indicators here that it’s hard to know where to start: ‘not quite’
indicates ball minus ‘all’; ‘almost’ removes the end from ‘end’; and ‘cut off’ removes
the result from ‘on green’. Of course a ball that finds
the green but misses the pin might be seen as ‘not quite’ hitting the target.
Anyway, the definition, as you might have gussed, is
the slightly egregious ‘willingly’.
6. Bully waste,
light brown at the edges TAUREAN (urea in tan) Azed takes a
liberty with the meaning of ‘bully’, as Chambers doesn’t support it in the sense
of ‘like a bull’. Putting it in quotes might have been fairer, though it’s
unlikely to have held up solvers.
8. Regional
Spanish clubs superior to Italian one? No thanks CATALAN (C + Atalan(ta)) Solvers
familiar with Serie A football should recognise the Bergamo club, who have
had several successful domestic seasons recently.
18. Bout?
Losing out, brained badly – something needed to protect loaf BREAD BIN (b(out) + anag.) A nice pun on ‘loaf’ completes this
subtraction-anagram-charade, and it’s easier to get from ‘bout’ to B than it
was from ‘ball’ in 24 across.
19. Clishmaclaver
hangs out clutching muscle GABNASH (ab1
in anag.) ‘Clishmaclaver’ and
‘gabnash’ are both Scottish terms for a gossip.
Chambers gives both ‘gabnash’ and ‘nashgab’ as alternatives, one being ‘a cheeky chatterbox’,
the other ‘a pert chatterer’.
20. Like
Hooray Henry’s girl, certainly uppish, pocketing debt SLOANEY (loan in yes, rev.)
Dr Watson recalls Sloane Rangers
and Hooray Henries from Peter
York’s 1980’s satires, before they began to take themselves seriously and enter
the political arena.
26. Ritual drink:
state portions to be exchanged HAOMA (parts exchanged in Omaha) Misquoting
Bosie’s other half, to mistake the city of Omaha, Nebraska, once for a state may
be misfortune, but to do it twice looks like carelessness. The Slip for Azed No 564 reveals
the same error, Azed assuming then he confused it with Oklahoma. J. F. Grimshaw
exploited the error with his clue to PARAMENT: “American state or
city intended? Not Azed’s first slip, it deserved
hanging! (Parà me(A)nt)”.
It remains to be seen if Azed is taken to task again in the BILBO clues.
27. Dug a bit of
Swedish money up NORK
(kron(a), rev.)
‘A bit of’ is a loose way to
indicate all but the last letter, but the pun on ‘dug’ makes it forgiveable.
30. Logician
finding link in even numbers (or consecutive odd ones?) VENN (hidden, twice) The originator of the Venn diagram
is referenced in this double hidden clue. The first in ‘even numbers’ is easily
spotted, but the second is indirect, being hidden, presumably in ‘seven, nine’.
Other solutions:
Across: 1. BOSSYBOOTS (bo! in anag.);
10. SACRARIA (air a + c. in ras, all
rev.); 13. LORAL (L oral); 16. OB-GYN (n in anag.); 17. DJEBEL (d + b in je(rboa)
el(and); ref. Mount Ararat); 22. ALIGARTA (tragi(c), rev., in Ala); 23. ALIENATE (lien in anag. less m); 25. SHANG (s to start in hangs); 29. NAPA (nap + a); 31. MIRADOR (mir2 ado + R); 32. ANISE (hidden rev.); 33. DOBRO (do + orb, rev.); 34. SEA SNAIL (seas(o)n + ail); 35. PENETRANCE (anag.
in prance).
Down: 1. BILBO; 2. SCROGGIN (scrog + gin); 3. SHAKY (ha(t) in sky); 4. BACILLAEMIA (anag.); 5. OR SO ((t)orso); 7. LINNETS (inn in let’s); 9. DOOB (hidden); 11. CREDIT LIMIT (anag.); 21. MEGASSE (e.g. in masse(s)); 28. GROPE (i.e. grope(r)).
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