AZED CROSSWORD 1134

TOVARICH

1.  R. S. Morse: The Russian guy Kasparov’s not half done in the Short guy (anag. of (Kasp)arov in tich; ref. Chess championship, Gary K., Nigel S.).

2.  R. K. Lumsdon: You could make this even cover Ivan the Terrible (comp. anag. & lit.).

3.  P. F. Henderson: Kasparov’s mate: this ends play as Short caved in? (comp. anag.; ref. Chess championship, Gary K., Nigel S.).

VHC

M. Barley: Party type: see one cavort wildly to No. 1 in hit-parade? (anag. incl. I + h).

R. C. Bell: Queer actor with HIV, intimate companion for Nureyev, perhaps (anag.).

J. R. Beresford: A Bolshevik at heart – victor in revolution (anag. incl. h, & lit.).

I. Carr: One in same mould as Soviet Chairman (comp. anag. & lit.).

N. C. Dexter: I could be at OR’s reunion with (hic!) drop of vodka (anag. incl. v, & lit.).

E. G. Fletcher: Processed hot caviar hasn’t a friend in Russia (anag. less a).

G. I. L. Grafton: Wanting feed, fetched round eggs laid by Rhode Island red’s mate (ova RI in (fe)tch(ed)).

R. J. Hooper: Short to play against one with superb ending – it’s mate for Kasparov (to(y) v a rich; ref. Chess championship, Gary K., Nigel S.).

G. Johnstone: Mate for Kasparov is playing Queen to a6, check! (anag. of R to a VI + ch; ref. Gary K.).

F. P. N. Lake: Might reforms make soviet chary of this term of address? Yes? Possibly (comp. anag. & lit.).

J. C. Leyland: Short being penetrated by Kasparov’s last four cunningly placed pieces gives mate to the latter (anag. of (Kasp)arov in tich; ref. Chess championship, Gary K., Nigel S.).

D. F. Manley: ‘——’ creates bond after revolution to mould Soviet character? (comp. anag. & lit.).

K. McDermid: Being against a king or queen, I can be found in comradely society (v a R I in Toc H, & lit.).

C. G. Millin: Mate for Kasparov, his second half burst opens up Short, losing final (anag. of (Kasp)arov in tich(y); ref. Chess championship, Gary K., Nigel S.).

T. J. Moorey: Latest bits coming out, Tory vice has involved Russian fellow! (anag. less last letters; ref. Profumo scandal).

C. J. Morse: Nureyev’s ‘friend’ typically could be actor with HIV (anag.).

F. R. Palmer: Mate for Kasparov? Yes, it could be he’s a victory (comp. anag.; ref. Gary K.).

M. J. E. Wareham: Opposing a King, I enter a society dedicated to comradeship (v a R I in Toc H, & lit.).

D. Williamson: Old bean, haricot vert, to begin with soaked (anag. incl. v; soaked = beaten).

Dr E. Young: Short has victor in trouble, but it’s mate to the Russian (anag. incl. ha(s); ref. Chess championship, Nigel S., Gary Kasparov).

HC

M. J. Bath, E. A. Beaulah, S. Best, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, M. J. Bland, H. J. Bradbury, Mrs A. R. Bradford, B. W. Brook, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, B. Burton, C. J. & M. P. Butler, M. Coates, D. B. Cross, R. V. Dearden, Ms P. Diamond, L. L. Dixon, V. Dixon, A. J. Dorn, C. M. Edmunds, R. A. England, Dr I. S. Fletcher, N. C. Goddard, H. J. Godwin, R. R. Greenfield, C. R. Gumbrell, I. F. & L. M. Haines, I. A. Herbert, L. M. Keet, J. F. Levey, A. Logan, C. Loving, Mrs J. Mackie, B. MacReamoinn, P. W. Marlow, H. W. Massingham, Dr E. J. Miller, I. Morgan, R. J. Palmer, J. Pearce, Mrs E. M. Phair, B. Pitt, Dr N. Smith, P. L. Stone, J. R. Tozer, A. J. Wardrop, R. J. Whale, G. H. Willett, W. Wynne Willson.
 

COMMENTS
322 entries, with no mistakes that I spotted, though several of you complained of failing to understand my clue to LASS (‘My letters could make lad sad’), which came to me in a flash of inspiration as (I think) an original treatment of a word that must have been more mundanely clued dozens of times. For those still baffled the letters of LASS give L as S and with L as S LAD becomes SAD. That apart, the main problems had to do with the number of new words from the 1993 Chambers I used, including the spelling of the clue-word itself. To be honest I did not check back in my copy of the old edition to see which of the words I’d included were new, and I doubt whether I shall do so religiously in future either. I hope you will understand.
 
TOVARICH was tricky. The absence of the indefinite article in the Chambers definition indicates a term of address and this is clearly how it is or was chiefly used. The OED and the new Shorter OED (a wonderful dictionary, by the way) hedge their bets by calling it ‘freq. as a form of address’, which just about allows one to contemplate its use as a normal noun. Either way it originated among revolutionaries in the Russian Revolution, though I dare say it is still used in post-USSR Russia in a non-political context. All of which made me broadly tolerant of certain less precise definitions used in clues submitted, though I applaud those who worked hard to be accurate by indicating the word’s Russianness, its use as a term of address, and its political origin. Mr Morse’s ‘Russian guy’, for instance, in an otherwise excellent clue, is only just inside the borders of acceptibility. The Kasparov-Short confrontation which he and others exploited certainly appealed to me most of the various different approaches to cluing the word that were tried. Two clues which failed to make the lists were ‘Red China?’ and ‘Communist China’. To me these are brilliant but incomplete, in that they cleverly disguise the definition of the clue-word but fail to give a subsidiary indication of its component parts. For all I know there may be several synonyms of TOVARICH in the dictionary and these clues could lead as they stand to any of them. Clues of this kind, relying solely on punning definitions, are not uncommon in published crosswords, but my reservations about them remain, for the reasons I have given. Another promising idea which didn’t quite work attempted to link the word with BOYAR and BOYER. Charles Boyer starred in the film Tovarich (but many of us are much too young to remember that!)
 
An interesting footnote from CJM, last month’s first prize-winner: a little research in the book which circulates with the prize-winner’s cup reveals that in approximately 285 competitions I have set you words to clue of every length from 3 letters (CAT) to 14 letters (CHRIST-CROSS-ROW), with a two-word phrase of 16 letters (CHRISTMAS PRESENT) and a three-word phrase of 18 letters (RUDOLPH THE REINDEER). I have also set you words beginning with every letter except Q, X, Y and Z. Inadvertence – or clemency, I wonder?