◀  No. 10262 Feb 1992 Clue list No. 1034  ▶

AZED CROSSWORD 1030

PASTILLE

1.  D. F. Manley: Action by sucker may give this reduced radius (pas tille(r), & lit.).

2.  E. Chalkley: ‘Sweet white wine’ – line (abbreviated) in Poet Laureate’s ending of verse! (asti + l in PL + e; ref. John Masefield’s ‘Cargoes’).

3.  M. D. Jones: What’s turning fiery wheels… wheels in Hell? It’s a punishment (hidden rev.).

VHC

C. A. Clarke: Take out Trollope’s first Palliser novel for something soothing to savour (anag. incl. T minus r).

V. Dixon: What a guy is with Illinois built in: a sucker! (Ill in paste; see sucker in C.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Via this, form of palliative’s provided (comp. anag. & lit.).

S. C. Ford: Paddy: ‘Sun contained heartless and outrageous libel – I’m incensed (S in Pat + anag.; ref. P. Ashdown ‘Pants Down’ headline).

H. Freeman: ‘Flash’ paper reported liberal leader’s liaison with secretary (PA + ‘Steel’; ref. D. Steel, P. Ashdown scandal).

R. S. Haddock: Drawing carelessly spilt ale (anag.).

L. W. Hill: Drop off L-plates – I passed! (with difficulty, by the sound of it) (anag., past + ‘ill’).

R. J. Hooper: Hardly contributes to cause of cleaner teeth (ill in paste, & lit.).

F. P. N. Lake: Palliates suffering if one’s sucked? (anag. less a, & lit.; suck = extract).

J. P. Lester: Bendy pale slit lozenge (anag.; heraldic terms).

Mrs J. Mackie: Jumbly composition, lines written for child, is acknowledged thing for tickling palates (ll for ch in pastiche).

H. W. Massingham: A photograph occupying page three ultimately symbolises a tabloid (a still in p e; see etym. of tabloid in C.).

T. J. Moorey: This word alternatively? Well, it’s ‘a drop’ (comp. anag. & lit.).

R. S. Morse: A sweetened pill? It could be this we need (comp. anag. & lit.).

S. J. O’Boyle: Fisherman’s friend maybe, ill at sea – porthole’s opening needed for one heaving! (anag. with p for a; brand of lozenge).

F. R. Palmer: For which you’ll find pallet is not in order? (anag. & lit; pallet = palette).

R. Phillips: Wherein sweet’s centre will succeed over sickness? (e after past ill, & lit.).

N. Roper: Drawing by Millet (unframed)? (past + (M)ille(t), & lit.).

Mrs E. J. Shields: Gum to limit pain? (ill in paste & lit.).

R. C. Teuton: Starts to emit aromatic tang if lit with spill (anag. incl. e, a, r, & lit.).

Dr E. Young: Gum to suck in poor health? (ill in paste & lit.).

HC

M. Barley, E. A. Beaulah, R. C. Bell, J. R. Beresford, Mrs K. Bissett, H. J. Bradbury, Mrs A. R. Bradford, B. W. Brook, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, B. Burton, E. Dawid, A. L. Dennis, N. C. Dexter, M. Earle, C. M. Edmunds, R. A. England, D. S. Fielker, M. Freeman, J. F. Grimshaw, D. V. Harry, P. F. Henderson, E. Hornby, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, W. F. Main, Rev M. R. Metcalf, C. G. Millin, C. J. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, R. J. Palmer, J. Pearce, C. Pearson, D. Price Jones, G. A. Quinn, M. Sanderson, W. K. M. Slimmings, P. L. Stone, R. I. Sutherland, J. B. Sweeting, K. Thomas, D. H. Tompsett, A. J. Wardrop, B. D. Wesson, P. J. Wexler, Mrs H. D. Williams, D. Williamson, and an unnamed entry from Marlborough – Mr and/or Mrs J Price?.
 

COMMENTS
395 entries, very few mistakes, mostly to do with SQUAMATA, which I misleadingly and incorrectly defined as ‘scales’ rather than ‘scaly things’, carelessly treating it as a sort of plural of SQUAMA. Who ever met a Greek word with a ‘q’ in it?!
 
It was a welcome return, it seems, for this type of special. I’m never sure how much I enjoy Eightsome Reels, to be honest. The grid construction can be a bit of a battle, and having only 8-letter words to clue gets rather boring after a while. On the solving side I suspect that such puzzles are hard to get started on but get increasingly easy as the grid fills up. I was asked how I construct the grid. The best way, I’ve found, is to start somewhere near the middle and proceed spirally outwards, always keeping a weather eye open for awkward letter combinations which may be fine for one word but impossible for the one or two other words they may contribute to. This time the whole thing came out quicker than usual (and with no desperate borrowings from the OED!).
 
PASTILLE offered a wide range of possibilities, having several distinct meanings and a shape that lent itself readily to many different due types – anagrams, container and contents, charades, hidden (forwards and backwards), and so on. There were several variations on the ‘sucker’ theme (with SAP and TILLER there for the taking), but only Mr Manley – on cracking form of late found surely the best way of dealing with that superfluous ‘r’. Overall, an excellent competition – a pity the entry wasn’t a bit bigger.
 
I’m asked if I could give solution notes to all clues. Would that meet with general approval? I’ve always been selective (though less so than Ximenes was) on the grounds that I don’t want to insult your intelligence where the more straightforward clues are concerned, but I can quite see that my choice could occasionally be the wrong one. I suspect that space considerations might mean you could only have a full set of notes if you sacrificed the solution diagram. How would you feel about that?
 
My apologies to Mr N.C. Dexter for omitting his V.H.C. clue to SCHAPSKA/PEARMAIN in the slip for AZ No. 1,017 (though his name was listed in the announcement of the result in the paper). As far as he and I can recall, his clue was: ‘Military cap Pole has issued with pack often gets blown off in the wind: take Pole’s cap a degree in round ear (S + anag.: P MA in incl. ear).
 
I learn with sadness of the recent and sudden death of Mr T. E. Sanders. He had been competing regularly since the Torquemada era and his clues, always sound, had a rare elegance and wit. His clue to PADDY-WHACK (‘Ire-lander?’) must be one of the all-time greats and another first-prize-winner of his which I particularly enjoyed was (for UNBOSOMER) ‘Bust-reducing agent? Rub some on bust – it gets a lot off the chest’. He was again a prize-winner, in the LET-OFF competition, shortly before his death. I never met him but always appreciated his friendly, courteous and impeccably written comments on every competition. He and his contributions will be greatly missed.
 

 

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