Notes for Azed 2,719

There are usually one or two points of interest in an Azed puzzle, and here we pick them out for comment. Please feel free to add your own questions or observations on any aspect of the puzzle (including clues not listed below) either by using the comment form at the bottom of the page or, if would prefer that your question/comment is not publicly visible, by email.

Azed 2,719 Plain

Difficulty rating: (2.5 / 5)

This one seemed neither particularly hard nor particularly easy, so it gets a rating right in the middle of the range. It was a reasonably enjoyable solve, although the wording of some clues was a tad tortuous.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clue 30a, “Member of family, one Tantalus initially cursed terribly (all in it) (6)”. The parsing of the clue is discussed below, but the issue I want to raise here concerns timing. You might feel that this is important in comedy and internal combustion engines, but not in crossword clues, but I see it differently. Consider the clue “Market large spoons returned without notice” for SELL [(L(ad)LES)<]. There are two operations to be performed on LADLES. The indicator which is next to the operand takes precedence, so LADLES must be reversed, producing SELDAL. Now we need to remove the word for ‘notice’, AD. But it’s not there any more, and the timing in this clue is out. It must be rephrased as (say) “Large spoons without notice returned to market”.  Containment combined with reversal can also present a hazard. For instance, ‘x holding y up’ can meant that both x and y are reversed (x-holding-y up) or just y (x holding y-up), but it cannot mean that x is reversed while y is not – so ‘canine holding game up’ (DOG/RU) could indicate DUROG or GOURD but not GORUD. In Azed’s clue, ‘cursed terribly (all in it)’ appears to say that the letters of CURSED must be rearranged and then the first and last letters removed, which isn’t correct. When writing clues which involve two operations being carried out on the same element, make sure that the intended sequence of events is consistent with the cryptic reading.

Across

10a Infatuation to follow clubs, a longing (5)
A four-letter word for an infatuation (or a drug-fuelled party) follows the usual abbreviation for ‘clubs’.

13a See individual scratching on desktop supports (6)
A two-letter interjection meaning ‘see!’ combines with a six-letter word for an individual from which the consecutive letters ON have been omitted (‘scratching on’).

14a Gossip displaying disposition right for husband (6)
There’s something of a punctuation shortfall here, as a comma between ‘disposition’ and ‘right’ is really needed by the cryptic reading. A word for ‘disposition’ has the usual single-letter abbreviation for ‘husband’ replaced by the one for ‘right’.

15a Favourite clue spoilt if once included in it is peevishness (9)
A three-letter word for ‘favourite’ is followed by an anagram (‘spoilt’) of CLUE into which an archaic form of ‘if’ (‘if once’) has been inserted (‘included in it’).

20a A container in Adelaide’s place displays this WI evergreen (6)
The letter A (from the clue) and a three-letter word for a container (eg for a plant) is put inside the abbreviation for the state of which Adelaide is the capital.

30a Member of family, one Tantalus initially cursed terribly (all in it) (6)
This self-referential, or ‘offshoot &lit’, clue seems a little strained to me. A single-letter word for ‘one’, the first letter (‘initially’) of ‘Tantalus’, and an anagram (‘terribly’) of CURSED without the first and last letters (‘all in it’) combine to produce the name of the grandson of Tantalus after whom the house which began with Tantalus is named. His very existence was something of a miracle, given that his father had, during an Olympian food shortage, been served by Tantalus to the gods as fils bourguignon. By the time anyone noticed, Demeter had eaten his shoulder (it could have been much worse), and he had to be rebuilt with the inclusion of a bit of ivory. Tantalus got the blame, and was condemned to forever hold decanters containing fortified wine and other alcoholic beverages. Our hero, demonstrating his commitment to uphold the family traditions, subsequently cooked the two sons of his brother Thyestes (except for their hands and feet) and served them up to him for dinner, the irony being that on this occasion it was Thyestes who got into trouble because ‘eating people is wrong’. Moral: don’t mess with the Greek gods.

32a Return of old style topping janitor making comeback (5)
A six-letter word for a janitor is deprived of its first letter (‘topping’) and then reversed (‘making comeback’). Note that, with reference to the discussion of timing in Setters’ Corner above, the janitor could also have been reversed before the first letter was removed, since the order of the words makes either interpretation valid.

33a Changing liras to …? This is likewise (5)
A composite anagram &lit from outside the Premier League (in truth, we can probably expect to see it in the first round of the FA Cup). The letters of LIRAS TO can be rearranged (‘changing’) to form the solution (‘this’) and IS, also changing (‘likewise’).

Down

5d Farewell to Barcelona conveys bit of rhythmic music introducing scene (12, 3 words)
A charade of a three-letter word meaning ‘conveys’, a four-letter ‘traditional rhythmic pattern in Indian music’, and a five-letter view or prospect results in the (5,2,5) answer.

8d There’s nothing in grand lady forsaking steamer for jet (6)
A nice clue, where the usual single-character representation of ‘nothing’ is contained by a seven-letter word for a grand lady missing (‘forsaking’) the two-letter abbreviation for steamship.

9d Money owed on going into gum trees? (7)
That ubiquitous piece of commercial jargon meaning ‘concerning’ (‘on’) is contained by two or more sandarac trees.

12d Lander in Sydney, name admitted by local informer? (4)
The usual abbreviation for ‘name’ is contained by an Australian (‘local’, ie ‘in Sydney’) term for an informer. The ‘lander’ here is an informal word for a heavy blow, and it featured in TE Sanders’ winning clue for PADDY-WHACK (AZ 221), “Ire-lander”. I believe this is the only winning clue which was shorter than the answer itself, although I think that the shortest winner of all is H Freeman’s “B-r-ag?” for CROW (AZ 788). 

18d Geological period wherein you’ll find seabird, one inhabiting Pyrenean area (7)
A three-letter term for a geological period contains a four-letter seabird of the large and predatory kind. If, like me, you use an electronic version of Chambers then you shouldn’t have any problem locating the solution; in the printed edition (as Azed notes) it can be found under the very different entry for the French form of the word, which is also the name given to a close-fitting under-bodice (ooh la la!)

25d Strong drink? 9 and, in short, I’ll be sozzled! (6)
The fodder for the anagram (‘sozzled’) here comprises the word equivalent to the number ‘9’ and the short form of the name of our setter (‘in short, I‘, the ‘I’ being italicized in the clue). Is this an indirect anagram? Technically yes; morally, no.

26d Drove to Scotland for something to wear men’ll be out of (4)
A seven-letter word for ‘something to wear’ has the consecutive letters MEN removed (“men’ll be out of it”). I can’t help feeling that ‘to Scotland’ isn’t quite the same as ‘in Scotland’ or ‘to Scots’, but I’ll let it pass.

28d Sailor’s left … his unnamed starting point? (5)
I can’t understand why this clue doesn’t simply read “Sailor’s left his starting point?”, since that wordplay would seem to lead very nicely to the required (1,4) expression.

(definitions are underlined)