{"id":3739,"date":"2023-08-06T11:38:33","date_gmt":"2023-08-06T10:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clueclinic.com\/?p=3739"},"modified":"2023-08-20T12:06:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-20T11:06:24","slug":"notes-for-azed-2668","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/06\/notes-for-azed-2668\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes for Azed 2,668"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

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<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Azed 2,668 Plain<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Difficulty rating: \"2 (2 \/ 5)\r\n

A significantly easier puzzle this week, with just a few longer entries that could pose a few problems. I note that Azed has got his way regarding the ‘Rules and requests’ section, which has been restored to its earlier form, minus the bits that had been included without his agreement. I think it’s a shame that email entries are not allowed from UK competitors, but there we are.<\/p>\r\n

Nowhere in the online version of the puzzle does it say that the requirement is to write a clue for the word indicated by the asterisked clue at 5d, but that is what (as usual) is required. Unusually, the definition which Azed has provided for the competition word is not explicitly given by Chambers, but he didn’t have much choice without almost giving the answer.<\/p>\r\n

Clue Writers’ Corner<\/em><\/strong>: The top-notch setter Monk was the subject of a ‘meet the compiler’ article published on the FT website<\/a> in May this year. In the interview he is kind enough to mention this site in favourable terms, but there are other reasons to recommend the article – not only is it an entertaining read, but Monk makes a number of points about setting with which I almost entirely concur. A relevant observation that he makes about clue writing is: “Be objective: if a clue idea looks like it is leading you into an increasingly convoluted execution, back out and pursue another, simpler path.” This is a lesson that I learnt the hard way, on several occasions spending a long time working on what originally seemed like a brilliant idea before ending up with a clue that was horribly stretched, and then when I used the clue feeling as though I’d totally wasted the idea. No matter how good the concept, if you can’t make it work, give up and try something different – you may even be able to use a variation on the original idea on another day for another word. This is particularly relevant to clues for competitions, because if you, the writer, know that you haven’t done justice to the concept, then the judge or judges certainly aren’t going to be wowed by it. As soon as you find yourself thinking “I just can’t make this work”, it’s time to cut your losses and try a completely different tack.<\/p>\r\n

Across<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n

11a<\/strong> Student gaining qualification, part of reading list unfinished, only partly educated<\/span> (5)<\/span>
A bit of a ‘sound and fury’ clue, where a familiar-two letter abbreviation designating a person who has achieved a particular degree is followed by the word for the sort of thing that would be on a reading list, without its last letter (‘unfinished’).<\/p>\r\n

13a<\/strong> Fashionable idols<\/span> I embarrass leaving train (5)<\/span>
The letter I (from the clue) is followed by a nine-letter word meaning ’embarrass’ (in its sense of ‘impede’ or ‘encumber’) from which the consecutive letters TRAIN have been removed (‘leaving train’).<\/p>\r\n

14a<\/strong> Mime urbanites? Mixing in a \u2014\u2014 set possibly<\/span> (7)<\/span>
A composite anagram &lit, albeit perhaps one drawn from somewhere closer to the trousseau than the top of the chest. The letters of MIME URBANITES when rearranged (‘mixing’) can potentially (‘possibly’) produce IN A, plus the solution (represented by the blank), plus SET.<\/p>\r\n

16a<\/strong> Lose head in sin \u2013 hateful<\/span> (4)<\/span>
The name of a deadly sin (the one that hangs upside down) loses its head (first letter). The ‘hateful’ sense of the solution is given by Chambers as ‘obsolete’, so the definition here really should have been qualified by something like ‘once’ or ‘abandoned’.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

18a<\/strong> Israelite maybe chopping tree, half tubular in shape<\/span> (10)<\/span>
The term for a person descended from a specific son of Noah, possibly the eldest and possibly not depending on how you read Genesis 10:21, is followed by an anagram (‘chopping’) of TREE.<\/p>\r\n

20a<\/strong> Neckband securing fidgety mule, touching on small ear bone<\/span> (10)<\/span>
The wordplay here has a familiar six-letter word for a neckband containing (‘securing’) an anagram (‘fidgety’) of MULE. The answer exemplifies the sort of words that I try to avoid in my own puzzles, horribly difficult to define accurately let alone interestingly.<\/p>\r\n

22a<\/strong> Flowering bulbs<\/span>, for instance fringing seascape (8)<\/span>
A two-letter word meaning ‘for instance’ is put around (‘fringing’) a term for a seascape which is often seen indicated (somewhat inaccurately) in cryptics by ‘jolly’. The plants in question are recent hybrids of nerine bowdenii and amaryllis ‘Belladonna’. As advertised, the solution is not to be found in Chambers.<\/p>\r\n

26a<\/strong> Vandal<\/span> turned bloodshot going round snack bar (7)<\/span>
A three-letter word for ‘bloodshot’ is put outside (‘going round’) a term for a snack bar and the whole lot reversed (‘turned’).<\/p>\r\n

Down<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

4d<\/strong> Chest without central square beam<\/span> (4)<\/span>
The word ‘central’ is not necessary here, but it specifies the position in the word for a chest (in a human context) whence the usual abbreviation for ‘square’ must be removed.<\/p>\r\n

7d<\/strong> ME island<\/span> dwelling (small) protected by rail (7)<\/span>
An ‘archaic and poetic’ three-letter word for a small dwelling is contained (‘protected’) by a name for the sort of rail that might be observed walking or swimming through the marshes of North America. The island is part of the Republic of Yemen and is to be found in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\r\n

12d<\/strong> Scuttled round mine entrance, unable to see<\/span> (10)<\/span>
A seven-letter word meaning ‘scuttled’ (in the way that Alexander presumably went about) contains (’round’) a three-letter word for a mine entrance (or a wire ring for a hook), the result being a 6-4 hyphenated solution.<\/p>\r\n

15d<\/strong> Kay\u2019s neighbour sitting on strange secrets \u2013 she has voting rights<\/span> (9)<\/span>
“Kay’s neighbour” is to be found in the alphabet, and is followed by (‘sitting on’) an anagram (‘strange’) of SECRETS.<\/p>\r\n

21d<\/strong> Change characters in<\/span> company appearing in old tale (6)<\/span>
The usual two-letter abbreviation for ‘company’ is contained by (‘appearing in’) an archaic term for advice or a tale. The answer is a transitive-only verb, presenting a trap which Azed has neatly sidestepped by the addition of ‘in’ to the definition.<\/p>\r\n

23d<\/strong> A member of the herd has dropped in as mentioned before<\/span> (5)<\/span>
A (from the clue) is followed by a six-letter word for a beast that might be a member of the herd, missing the consecutive letters IN (‘has dropped in’).<\/p>\r\n

25d<\/strong> Saucy ex not appearing in buff (4)<\/span>
Similarly to 23d, here a six-letter word for a ‘buff’ has the consecutive letters EX omitted (‘ex not appearing’).<\/p>\r\n

(definitions are underlined<\/span>)<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\t\t\t\t<\/span> Post Views:<\/span> 817<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A competition puzzle that brings a run of pretty tricky offerings to an end<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"yasr_overall_rating":0,"yasr_post_is_review":"","yasr_auto_insert_disabled":"","yasr_review_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-azednotes"],"yasr_visitor_votes":{"stars_attributes":{"read_only":false,"span_bottom":false},"number_of_votes":0,"sum_votes":0},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3739"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3746,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3739\/revisions\/3746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clueclinic.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}