Azed gives us our weekly trawl through some of the little-used words in Chambers Dictionary.
I found this puzzle a bit harder than many Azeds I have blogged, but I got there in the end.
Azed’s allusions in the clue are very good. examples this week link include the first three across clues with Quasimodo and bell-ringing at 1, Libra and constellations at 7 and Arabs and horses at 12.
My Spanish needed a bit of boost at 14 across where I could see the entry was going to be TIA MARIA. Discovering TIO PEPE as a sherry, pushed me in the direction of seeing if TIO and TIA were related. Indeed they are as Uncle and Aunt.
PERIWIG-PATED was a completely new word to me. I wonder when it was last in regular use. The wordplay was clearly an anagram so the entry wasn’t too difficult to deduce once a few crossing letters were in place.
The word play for TINEA with the reference to a Greek letter held me up longer than it should
The competition word UPBEAT at 8 down has no wordplay and solvers are invited to write a clue for the entry.
| Across | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Clue | Wordplay | Entry |
| 1 |
Such as Quasimodo producing ring in big belfry’s No. 1, swinging (5) |
Anagram of (swinging) O (ring-shaped character) and BIG and B (first letter of [no 1] BELFRY) GOBBI* |
GOBBI (hunchbacks, like Quasimodo)) |
| 7 |
Constellation as above alongside Libra aloft (5) |
L (libra) + UP (aloft) + US (ut supra; as above) L UP US |
LUPUS (constellation in the southern hemisphere) |
| 12 |
Mount horse with Arab leading, please, in the old-fashioned way (6) |
AR (Arab) + RIDE (go on horseback; mount horse) AR RIDE |
ARRIDE (archaic [in the old-fashioned way] word for ‘to please’) |
| 13 |
Seizure: without doctor, more pain needing treatment (6) |
Anagram of (needing treatment) RAPINE* |
RAPINE (seizure) |
| 14 |
Liqueur for Pepe’s other half? (8, 2 words) |
TIO PEPE (Spanish for Uncle PEPE ) is a sherry – TIA MARIA (Spanish for Aunt MARIA, possibly Uncle PEPE‘s wife [other half]) TIA MARIA |
TIA MARIA (a coffee flavoured liqueur) |
| 15 |
Snap, right inside barge, showing young fish (8) |
PIC (picture; snap) + (R [right] contained in [inside] KEEL [barge]) PIC KE (R) EL |
PICKEREL (young pike; young fish) |
| 16 |
Odoriferous section of school entry (5) |
OLENT (hidden word in [section of] SCHOOL ENTRY) OLENT |
OLENT (having a smell; odoriferous) |
| 17 |
Hear this for anguish, Charley? (5) |
HEAR + TACHE (the entry; this) form the word HEARTACHE [anguish]) TACHE |
TACHE (moustache; Charley can also be defined as a small moustache, resembling that worn by Charlie Chaplin) |
| 19 |
I’d tea with vicar, flourishing fork (10) |
Anagram of (flourishing) I’D TEA and VICAR DIVARICATE* |
DIVARICATE (to fork) |
| 20 |
Like a trap catching tailless blindworm, bloodthirsty (10) |
SNARY (like a SNARe; like a trap) containing (catching) ANGUI S (ANGUI) NARY |
SANGUINARY (bloodthirsty) |
| 22 |
Jock’s suppressed giggle passing triplets back (5) |
TRINS (triplets) reversed (passing … back) SNIRT< |
SNIRT (Scottish word for a smothered laugh; Jock’s suppressed giggle) |
| 25 |
Robot to follow course with moon landing craft (5) |
GO (follow course) + LEM (Lunar Excursion Module; moon landing craft) GO LEM |
GOLEM (robot) |
| 27 |
Toe part’s misshapen – it’s prone to the big C (8) |
Anagram of (misshapen) TOE PART’S PROSTATE* |
PROSTATE (a gland in males at the neck of the bladder, an element of the body prone to cancer [big C]) |
| 29 |
Plant ovaries, end buried in earmarked areas (8) |
TIP (end) contained in (buried in) SITES (areas set aside for some specific purposes) S (TIP) ITES |
STIPITES (plant ovaries) |
| 30 |
Bits of bardic verse sung initially with German dances (6) |
S (first letter of [initially] SUNG) + TÄNZE (German for dances) S TANZE |
STANZE (Shakespearean [bardic] word for a group of lines of verse forming a definite pattern) |
| 31 |
One must follow scent to find this mineral (6) |
NOSE (scent) + AN (one) NOSE AN |
NOSEAN (a cubic mineral, aluminium sodium silicate and sulphate) |
| 32 |
Skin disease represented by Greek letter? (5) |
The Greek letter ETA could be described as (represented by) T IN EA T IN EA |
TINEA (any of several skin diseases caused by fungi) |
| 33 |
Recurrent sins involving stimulant drug? Press close (5) |
ERRS (sins) reversed (recurrent) containing (involving) E (ecstasy; stimulant drug) S (E) RRE< |
SERRE (press close) |
| Down | |||
| 1 |
Tool like this? It’s designed to help speed cops (5) |
GAT (gun; tool) + SO (like this) GAT SO |
GATSO (brand name of an automatic photographic device used to identify vehicles exceeding the speed limit; speed camera) |
| 2 |
Projection to protect defensive weapons, badly installed by hunter (8) |
ILL (badly) contained in (installed by) ORION (a great hunter in Greek mythology) OR (ILL) ION |
ORILLION (semicircular projection at the shoulder of a bastion intended to cover the guns and defenders on the flank) |
| 3 |
Defy Aviemore slope, very wrapped up (5) |
BRAE (Scottish [Aviemore] hill slope or bank) containing (wrapped up) V (very) BRA (V) E |
BRAVE (meet boldly; defy) |
| 4 |
Very ancient people from Namibia denied independence, vagrant (6) |
Anagram of (vagrant) NAM BIMANA* |
BIMANA (obsolete [very ancient] name for mankind) |
| 5 |
Dapper git we spotted swaggering round Italy in a hairpiece (12) |
Anagram of (swaggering) DAPPER GIT WE containing (spotted around) I (International Vehicle Registration for Italy) PERIW (I) G-PATED* |
PERIWIG-PATED (wearing a WIG; in a hairpiece) |
| 6 |
Small branches about closed in green activity – part of trade war? (12) |
(RICE [small branches] + C [circa]) contained in (closed in]) PUTTING (activity undertaken on a green in golf) P (RICE C) UTTING |
PRICE-CUTTING (lowering of PRICEs to secure custom., something possibly done as part of trade war) |
| *8 |
Optimistic (6) |
This is the competition clue – definition only, no wordplay UPBEAT |
UPBEAT (optimistic) |
| 9 |
Punch holes in article about what’s central for Boris (6) |
PIECE (single article) containing (about) R (middle letter of [what’s central to] BORIS) PIE (R) CE |
PIERCE (punch holes in) |
| 10 |
Pound extracted from moneylender – or only a fraction of that in Scotland (4) |
UNC UNCE |
UNCE (Scottish form of ounce; fraction of a pound [weight]) |
| 11 |
Eels mixed with ray where sea creatures breed (7) |
Anagram of (mixed) EELS and RAY SEALERY* |
SEALERY (place where SEALs are raised for commercial purposes) |
| 18 |
Umbellifer mostly replaced when there’s raw mist around (8) |
HAAR (raw sea-mist) containing (around) RESE HA (RE’S E) AR |
HARE’S-EAR (umbelliferous plant (Bupleurum, various species) with yellow flowers) |
| 19 |
Remove from position those with a drink problem, central pair having changed places over time (7) |
DIPSOS (people with intermittent pathological cravings for alcoholic stimulants) with the central letters PS changing places to form SP + T (time) DISPOS T |
DISPOST (remove from position) |
| 20 |
Like some American natives roaming in USA, Omaha initially (6) |
Anagram of (roaming) IN USA and O (first letter of [initially] OMAHA) SIOUAN* |
SIOUAN (relating to the SIOUX native American people) |
| 21 |
Poisonous gas in war’s inexcusable (6) |
ARSINE (hidden word in [in] WAR’S INEXCUSABLE) ARSINE |
ARSINE (the poisonous gas, hydride of arsenic) |
| 23 |
Interference involving women? Indication of firm denial (6) |
NOISE (interfernece) containing (involving) W (women) NO (W) ISE |
NOWISE (in no way, manner or degree; firm denial) |
| 25 |
Musician not following another (5) |
LUTE |
LUTER (musician playing a LUTE) |
| 26 |
The old complain about introduction of shortage – law’s intervening (5) |
MENE (Shakespearean [old] word for lament or moan; the old complain) containing (about) S (first letter of [introduction of SHORTAGE]) ME (S) NE |
MESNE (a legal term for intermediate; intermediate can be defined as intervening) |
| 28 |
Bread showing sign of going bad – it’s half off (4) |
ROT (decay; go bad) + I ROT I |
ROTI (in Indian and Caribbean cooking, a cake of unleavened bread) |
Thanks duncanshiell for the parsing of TACHE – I was thinking a homophone of ‘tash’ (to soil, blemish, disarray) without confidence.
Pleased to remember trin and olent from previous puzzles.
Thanks Azed as ever.
Just couldn’t get 17ac so DNF this week. Thanks for putting me out of my misery. Obvious now that I know the answer.
Also couldn’t parse 15ac, even though I knew a keel was a barge.
I don’t know much Spanish but many years ago someone did tell me that TIA MARIA was Spanish for Aunt Mary. Didn’t know Tio Pepe though and had to google it.
Didn’t make it over the line this week. Glad I wasn’t alone in getting stuck on 17ac. I thought it might be TACHE but just couldn’t figure it out. Also fell down on 18d.
Thanks for the explanation of TINEA. Had the answer but couldn’t work out the wordplay
Periwig-pated is a glorious word.
Thanks for explaining 14 Ac. I found this a puzzle of two halves. The entire left-hand side fell quickly and the right-hand side took the whole next evening. Didn’t help myself by getting fixated on guine[a] worm at 20 Ac and how on earth SANGUINELY could be explained. Excellent clueing this week from Azed.
Stefan
Thank you to Azed and duncanshiel
I surprised myself by making quite a quick start – my definition of a quick start with Azed is getting two or three clues straight away. I don’t always understand the parsing, especially with some of the more sophisticated anagrams, so I appreciate the explanations in the blog.
I first came across Tio Pepe at school – not drinking it, but at a school jumble sale. There was a pile of old 78s (which shows how long ago it was), and one the sleeve of Tippett string quartets was written “for a girl who likes Tio Pepe, and may like Tippett too”. I have often wondered what happened to the couple.
It might be worth pointing out that ‘Pepe’ and ‘Maria’ are the Spanish equivalent of ‘Joseph’ and ‘Mary’
There was a trap for the unwary at 1 across, where both GOBBO and GOBBI would fit, but only the plural version made sense of the wordplay.
5d. “Periwig-pated fellow” is in Hamlet Act 3 Scene 2 (The Players’ scene)
Just last week while browsing http://www.andlit.org.uk/azed/puzzles.php, I printed off Azed #1980, which includes an almost identical clue for GOLEM.