Notes for Azed 2,778

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 2,778 Plain

My difficulty rating: (2 / 5)

This puzzle can be found at https://content-api.slowdownwiseup.co.uk/api/mobile/v1/puzzle-data/9c8786e7-9a44-491b-bc15-36e5af2dadbc/file/puzzle.pdf

Rather like the curate’s Easter egg, this puzzle had parts which, sadly, had never seen the inside of the Cadbury factory. I’m not against anagrams (in fact, I think they are an important part of a well-balanced puzzle), but 15 in 36 clues is a heck of a lot. In all too many clues there was no evidence of Azed’s trademark misdirection, and the less said about 11d the better. In amongst it all, there were a few little treats  (Lindt Mini Gold Bunnies?) such as 33a which harked back to Azed’s glory days, and to be fair the puzzle as a whole was reasonably entertaining.

Setters’ Corner: This week I’m going to look at clues 14a, “The first person in Paris to enter court? One’ll clear the decks (5)”, and 24a, “Bread loaf, square, very small (6)”. In 14, the French word for “I” (‘first person’) is contained by (‘to enter’) a word meaning ‘[to] court’; in 24, the usual abbreviation for ‘square’ is followed by a word meaning ‘very small’. The point of interest is that the ‘court’ sense of the word in 14 is shown by Chambers as ‘archaic’, while the ‘very small’ word in 24 is shown as ‘dialect’. Should both clues have included appropriate indicators, eg ‘old’ in 14 and ‘local’ in 24?

This is a subject on which there is a difference of opinion even among ‘Ximeneans’. There is general agreement that an answer which is shown as ‘archaic’ or ‘dialect’ should be suitably qualified within the definition. However, when it comes to the use of similar words in the wordplay of a clue, there are those who believe that no such qualification is required, that is to say that any sense of any word in Chambers can be used without the need for it to be flagged. I have never understood this distinction, and it seems to me unreasonable that a setter should simply be able to use, for instance, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ or ‘they’ to indicate the (dialect) word A. Gemelo, however, is clearly aligned with this view, as he regularly (for instance) uses the unqualified preposition ‘without’ in its archaic sense of ‘outside’.  In my experience, Azed has usually, though not invariably, flagged such words, and I am a little surprised that he did not feel the need to do so with the ones here.

Across

8a He avoids hoaxes – it’s just luck (4)
The consecutive letters HE are removed from (‘avoids’) a word meaning ‘hoaxes’ (noun) or ‘teases’ (verb). I associate the answer with sticks and thence the 1970s.

15a Edges, outsides trimmed, useless (4)
A six-letter word meaning ‘edges’ as in “He edges towards the door” is deprived of its outer letters (‘outsides trimmed’).

16a Where music appears mostly to tear away with love, gliding (9)
A five-letter word for ‘an arrangement of music on a number of staves’ without its last letter (‘mostly’) is followed by a four-letter word meaning ‘to tear away’ or ‘to tear apart’ and the usual single-character representation of ‘love’.

25a What often leads me round centre of garth, doleful? (6)
The five-letter version (longer and shorter forms are available) of a word which often precedes ‘me’ in a (frequently jocular) expression of dismay (ie ‘what often leads me’) contains (‘around’) the middle letter (‘centre’) of ‘garth’.

31a Loose blouse, cheerful, French, low inside (9)
The three-letter French word for ‘cheerful’ has a six-letter word meaning ‘low’ or ‘coarse’ inside. The blouse was originally called a ‘????????? jacket’ and made of a bright red stuff, in imitation of the shirt worn by a particular general and his followers, but was later also made of material in other colours. If you were setting out to buy one these days, you’d probably be heading for the biscuit aisle of the supermarket rather than the clothing section.

33a What may accompany French ladies’ underwear badly cut? (5)
An eight-letter informal word for ‘light and pretty’ ladies’ underwear has a three-letter word meaning ‘badly’ removed (‘cut’).

34a Excessive round pillar, wavy (8)
A five-letter word meaning ‘excessive’ (often used to describe attention at a level which is inappropriate) contains (’round’, making another appearance) a three-letter word for an isolated pillar often seen in India and crosswords.

36a Catching line wild pass, powerful? Puck is dispatched with it (8)
An anagram (‘wild’) of PASS around (‘catching’) the usual abbreviation for ‘line’ is followed by a three letter word meaning ‘powerful’ or ‘ardent’. I associate the answer with an entertaining 1970s comedy film about ice hockey starring Paul Newman, though I suspect it wasn’t as funny as it seemed back in the day.

Down

3d It’s played out in the ring? Copy in France I turned up within (7)
The two letter French word for ‘I’ makes a second appearance, this time reversed (‘turned up’) within a five-letter word meaning ‘to make a copy of’, this being the name of a famous brand of duplicator. My mother was the secretary at the local junior school, and after I left the school I fondly remember helping (well, I thought I was helping, but perhaps I was just being kept out of mischief) by running off multiple copies from a typed stencil on just such a machine, in particular the annual school magazine. Let’s just say that it was a little more ‘hit-and-miss’ than the modern photocopier, a common issue being ink splodges which (just like stray blobs of marmalade) mysteriously managed to transfer themselves to everything within a ten-foot radius. The definition seems a little loose – something like ‘displayed’ would surely be better than ‘played out’, which suggests a performance rather than an art.

4d Active worshipper absorbing potential energy (7)
A five-letter word for ‘an image or artistic representation of a worshipper praying with outstretched arms’ (‘worshipper’ strikes me as being a rather inadequate indication) contains (‘absorbing’) the usual abbreviation for ‘potential energy’

9d Fungal phases? One’s twice penetrated gynaeceum (5)
The Roman numeral representing ‘one’ is twice (and separately) inserted (“‘s…penetrated”) into a three-letter word for a room in harem.

12d Like impertinence in US big’un put about, irritating non-person? (11, 2 words)
A two-letter word meaning ‘like’, a North American informal term for impertinent talk or behavio[u]r, and an anagram (‘put about) of BIG UN combine to produce the (8,3) answer, of which ‘irritating non-person?’ is a very strange definition indeed.

17d Tripe as before requires involving recipe (8)
A seven-letter word meaning ‘requires’ contains (‘involving’) the usual medical abbreviation for ‘recipe’; the answer is not itself superannuated, but the required meaning of ‘tripe’ is shown by Chambers as ‘archaic’.

27d Fate coming up around end of fever (5)
A four-letter word meaning ‘coming[!]’ (in the sense of “I’m on my way”) is reversed (‘up’) around the the last letter (‘end’) of ‘fever’.

28d What slices blubber without ovaries, we hear (5)
A homophone (‘we hear’) for a six-letter word which describes a female animal whose ovaries have been removed. The answer is a name given to various knives used by whalers.

(definitions are underlined)