One of Azed’s easier puzzles.
By Azed standards, this was quite straightforward.
I judge difficulty of barred crosswords by how far I get before I have to resort to dictionaries. In this case, after two comparatively short sittings, I was left with only three incomplete entries (COURB, BANTENG and ANACOLUTHA), all of which were words I had never heard. There were others that needed checked, of course, but they were all right when I came to check them for parsing purposes (for example, I had guessed OPOTHERAPY was more likely than OBOTHERAPY, although I had never heard of the former).
My favourite clue by far was MINIATE which elicited a chuckle when I looked up what MINIATE meant, “miniate” being the only possible word that would fit with crossers and make sense of the wordplay”).
Those who follow my weekday Guardian and FT blogs will be glad to know I could find no fault with this puzzle.
Thanks, Azed.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | BOBADIL | One showing off pustule, festering inside (7) |
| BOIL (“pustule”) with BAD (“festering”) inside
A bobadil was a showy braggart, after the character Captain Bobadill in Ben Jonson’s play Every Man in His Humour (1598). |
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| 6 | COURB | Round check collars, bent in the old style (5) |
| O (“round”) collared by CURB (“check”)
“Courb” is an old word for curved, rounded or bent. |
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| 10 | ANACOLUTHA | One given a clout roughly – what a surprise! – for ungrammatical constructions (10) |
| AN (“one”) given *(a clout) [anag:roughly] + HA (“what a surprise!”)
An “anacoluthon” is a sentence in which the expected grammatical sequence is absent, eg “while in the garden, the door banged shut” |
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| 11 | ROCH | Seabird revealing sample of petrochemicals inside (4) |
| Hidden in [revealing sample of] “petROCHemicals” [inside]
“Roch ” is another word for the little auk. |
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| 12 | AMATION | I’ll replace Rex in an old lady’s embrace, making love rarely (7) |
| I [‘ll replace] R (rex) in A MAT(I>r)ON | ||
| 14 | STAY ON | Always welcomed, tons moved to extend visit (6, 2 words) |
| *(tons) [anag:moved] with AY (“always”) welcomed | ||
| 16 | THROB | Pulse requiring short time, put in to boil initially (5) |
| HR (abbreviation for hour, so “short time”) put in TO + B(oil) [initially] | ||
| 17 | APOGEE | Work over? Jock’s hardly open about that as culmination (6) |
| <=OP (opus, so “work” over) with AGEE (Scottish word for ajar, so “Jock’s hardly open”) about | ||
| 18 | MEDIATRIX | Die wretchedly in bed? She interceded (9) |
| *(die) in MATRIX (“bed”)
“Mediatrix” is an old archaic term for a female mediator. |
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| 20 | PREDATING | Coming before activity of lions on the prowl (9) |
| Double definition | ||
| 22 | RAMROD | Part of sleeping quarters army regulation brought back for strict disciplinarian (6) |
| <=(DORM(itory) (“part of sleeping quarters”) + AR (army regulation)) [brought back] | ||
| 24 | LUNGI | After breather I put on simple wraparound (5) |
| [after] LUNG (“breather”) I [put on]
A lungi is a simple piece of cloth wrapped around the bottom half of the body, similar to a sarong. |
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| 27 | CURIOS | I scour in jumble for bric-à-brac (6) |
| *(i scour) [anag:in jumble] | ||
| 28 | LYMITER | Mendicant old friar, termly struggling, I let in (7) |
| *(termly) [anag:struggling] with I let in
A “lymiter” was a friar who had licence to beg within a certain area. |
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| 29 | DAIS | Flower cut for altar canopy (4) |
| DAIS(y) (“flower”, cut) | ||
| 30 | EVANESCENT | Smell alongside eastern fan you’ll find in passing (10) |
| SCENT (“smell”) alongside E (eastern) + VANE (“fan”) | ||
| 31 | DINER | Dollar is not exorbitant rate (starters only) … for customers here? (5) |
| D(ollar) I(s) N(ot) E(xorbitant) R(ate) [for starters] and &lit. | ||
| 32 | SOLFEGE | Exercise for chanteuse from France, say, unaccompanied round (7) |
| F (France) + E.G. (“say”) with SOLE (“unaccompanied”) round | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | BURST | Middle of bra in its place gave way suddenly (5) |
| [middle of] (b)R(a) in BUST (“it’s (a bra’s) place”) | ||
| 2 | OPOTHERAPY | Special treatment year after senior citizen admits commotion (10) |
| Y (year) after OAP (old aged pensioner, therefore “senior citizen”) admits POTHER (“commotion”)
“Opotherapy” is another word for organotherapy (the treatment of disease with extracts of animal endocrine glands) |
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| 3 | BACARDI | Something to mix with coke making graduate woolly (7) |
| BA (Bachelor of Arts) + CARDI(gan) (“woolly”) | ||
| 4 | DAGOBA | Expert one receiving turn in hallowed dome (6) |
| DAB (“expert”) + A (“one”) receiving GO (“turn”)
A “dagoba” or “dagaba” is a dome-shaped Buddhist shrine. |
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| 5 | LOMBARDIC | Tortuous road climb, typical of N. Italian region (9) |
| *(road climb) [anag:tortuous] | ||
| 6 | CLAMP | Stack of bricks left in permanent depot (5) |
| L (left ) in CAMP (“permanent (military) depot”) | ||
| 7 | OUTBOX | Tricky bout circumvented by neat defeat in ring (6) |
| *(bout) [anag:tricky] circumvented by OX (“neat”) | ||
| 8 | UTIS | Awful old racket from flautists (4) |
| Hidden in [from] “flaUTISts”
“Utis” is an old word for “commotion” |
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| 9 | BANTENG | Wild ox – number, specific one, in total caught (7) |
| N (number) + TEN (“specific one” i.e. a specific number) in BAG (“total”) caught | ||
| 13 | OCEANGOING | Tackling the drink, love ace noggin, getting sloshed (10) |
| *(o ace noggin) [anag:getting sloshed] where O = “love” in tennis | ||
| 15 | NOTEDNESS | Dispatch written up in jottings for celebrity (9) |
| <=SEND (“dispatch”, written up) in NOTES (“jottings”) | ||
| 18 | MARBLED | Mottled or streaky lamb half reared, wild (7) |
| *(lamb red) [anag:wild] where “red” is [half-] (rea)RED | ||
| 19 | MINIATE | Wild celebrants treat the town so? Small model was upsetting (7) |
| MINI (“small”) + ATE (“was upsetting”)
To “miniate” is to “decorate in red”, and wild celebrants are often described as “painting the town red”. |
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| 20 | PRUINE | Speciality of Agen once, long fed on contact sport? (6) |
| PINE (“long”) fed on RU (rugby union, so “contact sport”)
“Pruine” is an old word for “prune”, a foodstuff for which Agen is particularly noted. |
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| 21 | ALUDEL | Chemist’s pot, quite filled with due liquid (6) |
| ALL (“quite”) filled with *(due) [anag:liquid]
An aludel is a pear-shaped pot.
|
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| 23 | OUTER | Shot worth little, moving first to last of course (5) |
| (r)OUTE-R (“course” with its first (letter) moved to last) | ||
| 25 | ISSUE | Profits, something to argue about (5) |
| Double definition | ||
| 26 | G-MAN | Some aspiring manager, one employed by Hoover? (4) |
| Hidden in [some] “aspirinG MANager”
A G-man is an FBI agent and J Edgar Hoover was the FBI’s first Director. |
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Thanks loonapick,
I had to pattern-search OPOTHERAPY, ‘pother’ just not coming to mind. A big smile for MINIATE too.
Thanks as ever to Azed.
It all seems a long time ago now, but I reckon I also found this pretty easy. Had to look up plenty – unlike loonapick I always reach for the Chambers early on. Having found Azed impossible for some years, I now find I usually finish them (or almost), except the special ones. Many thanks to Azed and loonapick.
Thnks to loonapick and Azed
I had a few things a little differently
12a “making” as part of the def
30a “in” as a link word
9d “bag” = “total caught”
13d o *(ace noggin)
Many thanks to Azed and loonapick. The thing I love about Azed crosswords is that there is seldom any doubt as to what the answer is, even if it is a word that is completely outside your ken. Many are for me so it is a reference use time. I find myself in agreement with Dansar@3, concerning the method of finding those answers.
Dansar
You’re right, of course. I should have revisited this before posting, but time just got away from me this week.