Azed 2513

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Quite a tricky one this week I thought, with a lot of unfamiliar words in both answers and wordplay. Everything worked out soundly in the end, of course, with just a slight niggle about 26a. Thanks to Azed.

 
 
 
 
 
 
Across
1. BACKSTABBING Support police trap involving yarn or treacherous activity (12)
BACK (support) + ABB (yarn) in STING (device used by police to stop cars police operation)
9. OP ART Circle, a constituent in illusory paintings? (5, 2 words)
O + PART
11. BULGAR SE European as is common having leader replaced by British (6)
VULGAR with its first letter replaced by B
13. BARBOLA Floral decoration in pub a lout knocked over (7)
BAR (pub) + reverse of A LOB
14. TOPE Work in tea cropping advanced plantation (4)
OP in TEA less A
15. IN-TRAY Fashionable, arty works – one receives mail arriving first (6)
IN + ARTY*
16. CARK The old get anxious, it being missing from motorist’s tools? (4)
CAR KIT less IT
17. DISPLE Poet’s train is led astray about opening of poem (6)
P in (IS LED)* – Spenserian word for “to discipline [presumably related], chastise”, which I suppose is a kind of training..
19. SPODOGRAM Botanist examines it minutely – dog romps excitedly round it locally (9)
A (dialect “it”) in (DOG ROMPS)*
21. DRYASDUST Dreary pedant – one confined to study’s working after small dram (9)
DR[am] + A in STUDYS* – Dryasdust is “an imaginary and tediously thorough literary authority cited by Sir Walter Scott“ (not, as I guessed, from Pilgrim’s Progress or Dickens or some such)
24. RODMAN One of the anglers upright on sides of Dee (6)
D (dee) with in ROMAN (upright type, as opposed to italic) around its “sides” – I was thinking “sides” was a typo for “side”, but I think the explanation I give is better
26. SNAG Stump made of different metals (4)
SN (tin) + AG (silver) – perhaps rather vague when there are so many metals to choose from, and the definition isn’t much help (at least to me), so you can only guess it from the crossing letters and work backwards
28. UNSAFE With lack of good evidence thus lots’re set free – as true felons? (6)
Composite anagram: (AS TRUE FELONS)* = UNSAGE + LOTS‘RE – as in an “unsafe conviction”
30. PIPE Means to drain measure of port? (4)
Double definition
31. PARELLA Lichen yielding dye? Cut the lot back (7)
PARE (cut) + reverse of ALL (the lot)
32. CANOLA Cooking oil, one contained in nut tree (6)
AN in COLA
33. INLET Feature of coastline where imp goes ford seashell? (5)
The letters “imp” go IN LET to give “limpet”
34. HYSTERECTOMY Mothers etc with yen twice suffering what no husbands can undergo (12)
(MOTHERS ETC Y Y)*
Down
1. BOBAC Marmot that’s died in overturned old carriage (5)
OB (died) in reverse of CAB
2. CART-ROAD Motor vehicle on old track, a passable country lane? (8)
CAR + TROAD
3. STOP-GO Togs changed when operation’s involved? Such a policy varies a lot (6)
OP in TOGS*
4. TELERGY Poet’s ultimate rule with poem penning – does it facilitate meeting of minds? (7)
[poe]T + R in ELEGY
5. BUNNIA Indian merchant? One favoured tree climbing (6)
Reverse of A IN (popular, favoured) NUB (gallows, “tree”)
6. BLOTS Spots weak points in book – plenty (5)
B + LOTS
7. IGOR Sung prince, I succeed king (4)
I GO R – from Borodin’s opera Prince Igor
8. GREYEST Former monarch watches tons, duller than the rest (7)
GR (King George, take your pick from any of I to VI) + EYES + T[ons]
10. PARAPHONIA Papa, on hair appearing in a new way: ‘It’s a sign of puberty’? (10)
(PAPA ON HAIR)*
12. ANALYSABLE A friend, one left out before dark? That can be explained (10)
AN ALLY less one L + SABLE (black, dark)
18. PRUNELLO Material for milady’s shoes, range in hide once old (8)
RUN (range) in PELL (obs. word for skin or hide, related to “pelt”) + O. Variant form of “prunella” – “a strong silk or woollen material formerly used for .. women’s shoes”
19. SCRUNCH Crush, constant with race getting into school (7)
C + RUN (again!) in SCH
20. RAMPAGE Storm: what’ll one do about damaged map? (7)
MAP* in RAGE (what storms do)
22. RAFALE Sound of guns, worrying rattle one with frequency apprehended (6)
A F in RALE
23. SPIRIC Curve like this limits rising rent (6)
Reverse of RIP (rent) in SIC
25. MAGOT Rock resident, ancient character brought up on principle of thrift (5)
Reverse of OGAM (Pictish/Celtic character) + T[hrift]. I briefly, though implausibly, suspected Azed of confusing “principle” and “principal”, but Chambers gives “a source, root, origin” as its first definition of the former
27. GOATY Lecherous attempt aiming for lady’s rear (5)
GO (attempt) + AT (aiming for) + [LAD]Y
29. SANS Indicating a complete lack of hospitals (4)
Double definition

7 comments on “Azed 2513”

  1. Thanks Andrew. I think the device for puncturing tyres is a ‘stinger’, ‘sting’ rather being an entrapment operation.
    Thanks Azed as ever.

  3. A DNF for me–two wrong guesses and four with blanks. I guessed 33, but could not parse. I ought to have guessed 27, 30, and 31, but had 23 wrong. I have never seen “lob” for “lout,” so was stumped on 13–must be a UK thing. Except for 33, I suppose the clues were relatively straightforward again. Working these Azeds is like rummaging through the junk drawer of English vocabulary. Lots of interesting abandoned items in there that I will never need again, but because of inertia or sentiment, there they remain.

  4. Whenever I see “metal” in a clue, I give a little sigh, as that could be most of the periodic table — even when the setter has restricted themself to the well-known ones (as here, sticking to the 7 metals of antiquity).  The short-list before I had any crossers was “snag” and “crag”.

    I left “SANS” out as I couldn’t connect it to hospitals.  The only possibly-relevant thing I could find was one Sydney hospital nicknamed “The San”.

  6. Enjoyed this and finished on the Sunday (not this week though). Azed does find the weirdest words and SPODOGRAM did raise a smile. Sounds quite Pythonesque. Thanks to Azed and Andrew. Biglynifty @4 mentions the 7 metals of antiquity and posed me the foolow-up of deciding which were the other 5? Cu, Fe ,Au, Hg and ?

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