For the benefit of solvers new to the rigours of the Advanced Cryptic, Dr Watson provides a monthly review of the Observer’s Azed competition puzzle. Dr Watson is a regular Azed competitor. Please post any comments on this review to the Crossword Centre’s message board.
‘Up and Down’ is Azed’s variation on the ‘Right and Left’ puzzle format inherited from Ximenes. Both types of puzzle involve double clues whose respective solutions need to be entered in different halves of the grid. While ‘Right and Left’ consists of two identical grids side-by-side, joined at the top by a single light, this variation has a symmetrical grid in which no down clues extend across the long central light. The solving is slightly easier, as which solution fits in which half of the grid can be deduced from the checked letters without necessarily solving the central light. But the setter still has two challenges left for the solver. The first is to separate out each clue pair (the setter takes care to join them as seamlessly as possible). The second is to solve the central light, whose clue is usually something to the effect of: ‘The solution refers to the theme of the puzzle’. Solvers who get as far as completing the puzzle and entering the clue writing competition will appreciate the work involved in creating double clues that are as fluent and seamless as Azed manages here – though 3, 28d does highlight the need to double-check that both clues in a pair stand scrutiny in their own right!
In the notes below the solutions are given in the order they are clued. The solution that goes in the lower half of the grid is indicated with an asterisk. The join between the clues is shown by a stroke.
Notes to the clues:
10, 35a: Gulls turned over bit of plastic / barrel after singular shock AMEX (Xema, rev.), STUN* (s + tun). Chambers gives ‘American Express (card)’ as its definition of Amex.
13, 33a: Horribly strong tea mostly for guild member / has not once included tea in cups. TONGSTER (anag.), CANTHARI* (an’t in char + i’). It took Dr Watson a while to find ‘tongster’ under tong1. The second clue involves some convoluted grammar in the cryptic reading, but the join is well disguised as a result.
19a: What this occupies is voyage for slavers. MIDDLE PASSAGE (2 meanings). Solvers shouldn’t expect this clue to give away much more than its thematic link to the style of the puzzle. Azed has used ROLLERCOASTER in this position previously, the clue referring to its ‘up and down’ connotations.
1, 30d: Stain fashionable in junk / an absent landlord received in post as top person in Malaysia. TAINT* (in in tat), DATUK (tu(an) in dak). No one can envy Azed the near-impossible task set by this pairing. Watson gave up trying to explain DATUK until writing this review.
3, 28d: Estonians may be rolling in this as no / monks limited by stiff rationing. SENTI (comp. anag., & lit.?), FRATI* (hidden). The double-clue structure can sometimes be used to the setter’s advantage, and here Azed has been tempted to ‘& lit.’ the clue to SENTI. However he appears to have got it wrong. The ‘as no’ required for the compound anagram is surplus to the definition, and so the clue does not work as intended, regardless of whether its surface reading makes sense or not.
12, 20d: Grist pounded to remove stalk from / below, grinding farina endlessly. STRIG (anag.), INFRA* (farin(a)anag.). Another concealed join. It needs a second or third read-through to realise that ‘from’ belongs to the first clue.
14, 23d: Satellite dishes are out? Perhaps this side’s / wrong in Europe (as once) for top businessman. RHEA (comp. anag.), EXEC* (X in EEC). The first clue seems to counter Azed’s edict that there should be something to indicate that the solution and surplus letters are derived from the rest of the clue. The compounding is also disguised by ‘dishes’, which could well have been part of the anagram indicator, rather than the anagram itself.
Other solutions:
1, 36a: DEIPNOSOPHIST* (anag.),
DISAGREEABLES (anag.) (table, / i.e.);
11, 34a: RASPING*, RELEASE;
15, 32a: ARAK* (hidden), ACTA (Ct. in AA) (kind / court); 16, 31a: PRELATE* (p + relate), STACHYS
(anag.) (discourse / acts); 17,
26a: KEIREN (ire in ken), FARFET* (anag. in fat) (house / ref); 18, 24a: ANANA* (a nana), ERNIE (hidden
rev.) (under / random); 2, 29d:
EREUS* (usure(r), anag.), I-MODE (mod. in i.e.) (blower / that); 4, 27d: GESTE (st in gee), ATTAP* (a TT
a p) (US / roofing); 5, 26d: FANGO*
(fan go), RATAN (Ra tan) (stake / climber); 6, 25d: SLAGS* (anag.), ERECT (hidden
rev.) (waste / some); 7, 22d:
ALEYES (ley in sea, rev.),
LARKIN* (lark in, ref. Philip L.) (once / bird); 8, 21d: DALASI* (D alas I), LACUNA (u in
anag.) (I / used); 9, 19d: SEABEE
(be in anag.), MAZARD* (m + (h)azard) (deviously / marks).