Azed 2233

by

My apologies: I had intended to do this blog today, using the nice software that gives you the clues, but when I came to do so I found that this week’s puzzle was already there and I didn’t know how to do the one I wanted to do. So I had to use the old format, which doesn’t give you the clues. However, I console myself with the thought that the only people who read these Azed blogs are the diehards who have struggled through the crossword, so they will have the clues to hand anyway. Perhaps I’m wrong and a whole lot of passers-by look at the Azed blogs and try to solve the clues there and then. To them I can only say I’m sorry. You won’t be able to this week.

The usual pleasant Azed workout, with plenty of difficult words in both clue and solution.

Across
1 PADSAW — “adze” in paw
7 LEDUM — Hidden in seaKALE, Dumose
11 MATELOTE — M(ate lot)E
12 SAJOU — jo in (USA)*
13 AMIDOL — (loma)rev. around i.d.
14 SPENCE — s [abbreviation in Chambers for stokes] pence
17 CARRAGHEEN — car(rag h)een
18 CUTTO — (t{u}c{k} out)*
19 CRAMBO — cram bo — crambo is a rhyming game and lie rhymes with guy
20 UPBEAT — (pub)* eat
23 SMALM — Hidden in moderniSM ALMost
26 MERCERISER — mer(c)e riser
28 FETICH — this looks as if it’s fet(I)ch, but I’m not sure as I’ve never before seen an Azed clue of the form [wordplay) by [definition] — [To be effective I must be gripped by an obsession]
30 INDEED — inde{x}ed
31 DISHY — d I shy
32 SLAMMERS — (malmse{y})* r{um} s{oda}
33 HULAS — a shul with the first two letters switched with the last three
34 MURANO — (on a rum)rev.
Down
1 PUSS presumably, although I can find nothing in Chambers to equate puss with mug
2 ΐ LA POUPΙE — a lap OU pee
3 DEJECT — dejeuner with its second half replaced with c{rus}t — to produce crab is to make crabby
4 SOON AT — sat round (0 on) — def ‘about in Shakespeare’
5 WATER STRIDER — (writer’s tread)*
6 STALACTIFORM — (act if) in (Mortals)*
7 LEME — Hidden in GentLEMEn
8 ELISHA — {r}elish a — ref. Elisha Cook
9 DODGEM — (Odd)* gem
10 MELANOMA — (a mole man)*
15 REBLOCHON — (r{ind} ebon) round fine — ref. Loch Fine
16 SCUMFISH — I don’t quite get this: the definition is ‘Disgust north of the border’ and ‘carp perhaps’ is fish, but how scum = mother (or making mother) I just can’t see [Disgust north of the border making mother carp perhaps]
21 BRIDAL — (rib)* dal
22 ECZEMA — e{ffective} (c{r}eam)* round z
24 MΙTIER — if you include A in this, you get meatier
25 ARISTA — a{dulthood?} R{azor} i{s} s{having} t{hese} a{s}
27 TEMS — t{r}e{e} m{o}s{s}
29 HYPO — {W}hy PO

4 comments on “Azed 2233”

  1. Thanks John. I suspect the mother in 16d is short for a longer and more offensive word for “an extremely objectionable, unpleasant, etc person or thing (sometimes shortened to mother, mutha or mofo)”.

    In 28a, “by” is part of the wordplay: “I” is “gripped by” FETCH.

    I see the link to the PDF version has failed to appear on the web site again for the second week in a row – I hope this isn’t going to be a permanent feature.

  2. Mother is not the rude phrase Andrew refers to, it is a word for various unpleasant things found in or on liquids: dregs, sediment; scum; mould; esp. the lees or sediment of wine; the scum rising to the surface of fermenting liquors.

    The ghastly bacterial slime that forms on alcoholic drinks is a mother of vinegar.

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