Notes for Azed 2,768

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 2,768 Plain

Difficulty rating: (3 / 5)

Important note: several clues in the PDF differ from the (seemingly revised) versions in the interactive version of the puzzle and the one printed in the paper (which are very similar). If you are solving the PDF, the following clues need to be corrected:

24a : Clever clogs? One often goes with pants or boots (6)
17d: Unusual goat-trap displaying detachable cover (8, 2 words)
25d: The N. English thoroughfare? A path of yesteryear (5)

Conversely, the interactive version shows 10a as ‘(10)’,  28a as ‘(7)’, and (17d as ‘(8)’; the printed and PDF forms correctly show them all as being ‘2 words’.

In 8d (PDF version), Catch-22 should be italicized.

This puzzle represents a landmark in the Azed series, with all solvers being invited (and, indeed, encouraged) to submit their competition entries electronically. I am also given to understand that, once the grids have been checked and those with errors disqualified, the clues submitted by the remaining solvers will be anonymized and sent to Azed for his consideration. Once the judging is complete, the clues will be reunited with the names of their authors in order that the results can be published. I’d like to think that this move (and I’m sure that it will need a little while to ‘settle down’, so please be patient with the Tortoise) will satisfy those who, like myself, have long wanted to see both electronic submission as an option for all competitors and ‘blind’ judging – the latter not because I think that Azed shows conscious bias towards particular competitors, but because all suspicion can only be eliminated if the authorship of the clues at the time of judging is unknown. This is the ideal time for solvers who haven’t submitted clues before to have a go (once the clue submission mechanism is working) – it would be great to see some brand new names in the lists over the coming months.

As far as this puzzle was concerned, it was another in the sequence of relatively tricky ‘plains’, with very few easy starters. There were some nice clues in there, and a few little bits and pieces for me to quibble with! I’m sure that ‘over’ in 17d should read ‘cover’, and I suspect that the second ‘clogs’ in 24a ought to be ‘boots’ (the enumeration in this clue is missing an opening bracket).

Clue Writers’ Corner: A correspondent recently raised the subject of ‘link words’ in competition clues, ie those words (or phrases) which connect the definition to the wordplay, such as ‘[wordplay] in [definition]’ or ‘[definition] from [wordplay]’. Azed often uses link words in his clues  (eg 5a, 10a, 12a, 15a, 16a and 27a in the current puzzle for starters); there is nothing unsound about this, and Azed has never suggested that normal competition clues containing a link work would be marked down. In the slip for 1,814, he wrote:

“So now to my views on ‘linking words’ in cryptic clues. Leaving aside ‘& lit.’ clues (to which I shall return, but not this month), I suppose the simplest form of cryptic clue is the one in which the definition (one or more words) and the cryptic indication of it (sometimes called ‘wordplay’) stand side by side, either preceding the other, with no intervening verbiage, i.e. with no linking words. It is however entirely legitimate to indicate by means of such linking words that the wordplay stands for or leads to the definition, i.e. the solution to the clue. I am far less happy about clues based on the reverse process, i.e. those that imply that the definition stands for or leads to the wordplay, which I find counter-intuitive [clues such as 10a and 16a in the current puzzle suggest that his view on this point may have changed – DC]. What linking words are acceptable, then? I have no intention of attempting a definitive list, but I regard as acceptable anything that clearly and grammatically indicates the process involved. So ‘for’ (meaning ‘in reference to’, etc) and ‘in’ (meaning ‘consisting of’, etc) are clearly acceptable, as well as a wide range of other words and phrases which have the same or similar meanings. As so often in these matters, I urge you to ask yourselves whether the clues you construct include clear (albeit veiled) instructions to the solver how to proceed from the wordplay to the target solution.

That said, one of the most pleasing forms of misdirection involves the break between the definition and wordplay being heavily disguised, and both link words and punctuation tend to militate against this. Given the choice between a link word and a comma to connect wordplay and definition, I would favour the link word, because while both are likely to make the ‘join’ fairly obvious, the surface reading will almost certainly flow better without a pause. Ideally, a competition clue should contain a definition, a wordplay, and nothing else, but if your best clue will only work with a link word, then you should have no hesitation about submitting it.

A couple of additional points regarding this month’s competition: (i) there are some words of advice (‘wisdom’ would be putting it a bit strongly) for newcomers to Azed clue writing at https://clueclinic.com/index.php/writing-azed-clues, and (ii) when clueing a word which appears as a subhead in Chambers (eg ‘crossword’), you should avoid using the headword (in my example, ‘cross’) in the wordplay, in particular with a similar sense to that which it has in the subhead (eg ‘oblique’ or ‘transverse’).

Across

1a Old person, carelessly lax inside, snuffed out taper (5)
A (3,5) term for a candle or taper has a rearrangement (‘carelessly’) of the letters LAX inside removed (‘snuffed out’).

10a Whortleberry, source of an idea when opening grapery (10, 2 words)
An anagram (‘opening’) of AN IDEA and a word for something which produces grapes (I’m not sure that it can truly be described as a ‘grapery’) combine to produce the (6,4) answer.

12a Greek character, see, in boom making lolly (8)
The name of the penultimate letter of the Greek alphabet and the single letter called ‘see’ are contained by a word describing the sort of boom that controls the position of a sail.

15a 3-part area, tons in brick-earth (5)
The 3-part area was made up (according to Julius Caesar, and he would know) of Gallia Celtica, Belgica, and Aquitania. Its name is followed by the usual abbreviation for ‘tons’.

19a Apple sauce? Nothing replaces second ingredient (7)
There is a ‘sauce’ (although its not usually referred to as such) for which there is no substitute on treacle sponge, and which, when mixed with bananas, allowed to cool, and topped off with a glacé cherry, is a source of great joy. Its second letter (‘second ingredient’) is replaced by the usual representation of ‘nothing’.

24a Clever clogs? One often goes with pants or boots (6)
I solved the clue from the PDF, where the last word is a repeat (or, if you’re Richard Heald, a palillogy – who knew?) of ‘clogs’. This revised clue, which puts me in mind of Ian Dury’s finest album, suggests two possible compounds starting with the answer, both of which are confirmed by Chambers.

27a Salmon in group with similar character? Not right (4)
A six-letter statistical term for a group with a shared characteristic (or a word for part of a Roman legion) is deprived of the two-letter abbreviation for ‘right’.

31a Trouble in evidence of overweight, hence thresh around (10, 2 words)
A three-letter word meaning ‘[to] trouble’ (as in ‘What troubles you?’) is contained by a four-letter word for something that provides evidence that a person is overweight and a three-letter interjection similar to ‘Clear off!’ or, for those of a more classical disposition, ‘Hence!’, which was memorably addressed to the damned dog of a Shakespearean anti-heroine.

Down

2d Fish bearing live young? You’ll find us in African country (8)
The consecutive letters US (from the clue) are contained by the name of an African country which, strictly speaking, includes a definite article.

3d Spread by the sound of it what’s often attached to loom (4)
A homophone (‘by the sound of it’) for a three-letter word meaning ‘[to] spread’ or ‘[to] broadcast’ produces a word which is often prefixed to ‘loom’ (the latter in the sense of ‘utensil’).

4d Type of rabbit – what might that be in Pacific tree? (6)
A (1,3) expression for what a rabbit might be is contained by a two-letter Pacific tree (regular solvers will know the one).

8d Therapeutic exercise, such as Catch-22? (10)
The wordplay leads to a (6,4) expression which could certainly describe Catch-22, or indeed Something Happened, where not much did till the end. The answer, a technique invented by another Joseph, and apparently based on Rolfing (don’t ask), is given by earlier editions of Chambers as (6,4) but is now shown as a single word.

9d First player is on my left? Perfect (5)
Azed is clearly a devotee of poker or the like, where if the first player who will bet is on my left, that means ? ????.

11d Freshwater fish? Not what angler displays! (10)
An example of the sort of angler that Azed is referring to is to be found at 1d, where what he does display is clearly described in terms that leave little to the imagination.

18d Taking gee out flexed legs round old track, i.e. part them wide (7)
A bit of a convoluted one, where the letter called ‘gee’ is removed (‘taking…out’) from an anagram (‘flexed’) of LEGS, which is then put round a four-letter archaic word for a track (cf 25d) to produce an obsolete form of a familiar eight-letter word.

21d Busy, in brief, sent abroad, we’ll regulate strikes (7)
The three-letter abbreviation for the sort of ‘busy’ whose appearance at Arthur Daley’s car lot would have presaged trouble is followed by an anagram (‘abroad’) of SENT.

23d Distant source of radiation in the capacity of timeless heavenly body (6)
A three-letter Latin word meaning ‘in the capacity of’ is followed by a four-letter ‘heavenly body’ from which the usual abbreviation for time has been omitted (‘timeless’).

(definitions are underlined)