AZED CROSSWORD 1143

DEATH (Printer’s Devilry)

1.  B. Burton: His partner’s large-size ma/res hold a problem for the groom (threshold).

2.  C. Hobbs: Does gaucho need schooling on way to Ri/o, rough bred?

3.  M. Earle: Animal farm had initi/ator well-developed.

VHC

M. Barley: Guzzling mars bar’s ma/in tot, stout.

P. F. Bauchop: At football match – P.C. May, faceti/ous and strong.

M. Coates: Flowers from bri/ers, end off, are tossed to guests.

N. C. Dexter: Many mums roast children, though it’s only inhuman me/at butchers issue (Medea).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: There, soften protest or stir a/unt.

S. Goldie: Trusting any me/an do you forge the best urn? (Ganymede, Hebe).

C. R. Gumbrell: Was he, who’s given the world’s pa/in, Man’s creator? He was (ref. D. Hammett).

A. J. Guy: For a super model to make, the gra/in figure’s important.

P. F. Henderson: Horses, we learnt at school, make a whinnying sound (a ‘n/ay’?).

R. Hesketh: Sandy ma/re at Ascot’s one that’s intimidating.

P. D. Hinchliffe: Gourmet cookery can make a person plum pi/e slimmers dislike.

P. W. Marlow: ‘In’ al/ehouses should not have fake Spanish atmosphere (aldea).

T. J. Moorey: Overworked stud may trot out a n/ay!

C. J. Morse: Female body-builder advised to go for a lean/er beef.

S. J. O’Boyle: Growth drug (ma/le): test all for the high jump.

F. R. Palmer: Isn’t til/ing used in baños (‘bathrooms’)?

R. J. Palmer: To get into the model tra/in figure is needed.

S. L. Paton: To make small chil/is green, soften up sets, mum.

H. R. Sanders: Consort’s overexposure: ‘Help, Ed, I’m pe/eling!’ (atheling; ref. Lady Godiva).

P. L. Stone: EC’s ma/in governor seen trying rand market (ref. Norway’s EU referendum).

J. R. Tozer: In ‘complementary diet’ arrangement, sprat coul/is partners lean meat.

R. R. Tyler: Sudden change in weather conditions – ma/in-sheet quite inadequate.

Mrs J. Waldren: Farmer’s too busy to take out his bri/ar; vesta (match) must wait.

A. J. Wardrop: To revive England’s fortunes selectors need a more inspired I/an Botham.

D. Williamson: Though with Wings, members of the group ar/rive by water (Ardea).

HC

D. Ashcroft, G. D. Bates, J. R. Beresford, S. Best, Mrs K. Bissett, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, J. Butcher, I. Carr, E. Chalkley, Mrs T. M. Cheek, C. A. Clarke, M. D. Cooke, K. W. Crawford, F. H. Cripps, E. Dawid, R. Dean, A. L. Dennis, W. E. Dillon, V. Dixon, M. A. Elder, R. A. England, P. Eustace, E. G. Fletcher, H. Freeman, R. R. Greenfield, B. Heaton, I. A. Herbert, J. Hetherington, A. W. Hill, R. Jacks, G. Johnstone, J. F. Jones, F. P. N. Lake, C. Lees, J. P. Lester, J. C. Leyland, J. D. Lockett, R. K. Lumsdon, R. D. Lyall, S. G. G. MacDonald, Mrs J. Mackie, L. K. Maltby, D. F. Manley, H. W. Massingham, K. McDermid, D. J. Meadows, Rev M. R. Metcalf, C. G. Millin, D. Mitchell, I. Morgan, J. Pearce, A. F. Pearse, C. Pearson, D. Pendrey, Mrs E. M. Phair, Dr T. G. Powell, D. Price Jones, D. R. Robinson, W. J. M. Scotland, W. K. M. Slimmings, Mrs I. G. Smith, Dr N. Smith, J. B. Sweeting, A. R. Thomas, Dr I. Torbe, Mrs M. P. Webber, R. J. Whale, Ms B. J. Widger, Sir David Willcocks, Ms S. Wise, K. J. Wright.
 

COMMENTS
A disappointingly small entry – only 274, though with no mistakes. Clearly most found this an unusually difficult puzzle. The average P.D. produces a much larger entry. Just why this one was more challenging than most I don’t know, though the two clues which presented most difficulty were those to RACONTEUSE and HEAD-SET. It is no coincidence at all that these two words gave me the most difficulty in cluing: In case anyone is still baffled, the full undevilled versions for each were ‘Pastels are also useful for a conté user, giving a wider range of choice’ and ‘In story, always having to look ahead sets Lot stiff challenge’, neither, I think too fanciful or forced, though neither, I concede, a masterpiece. Can anyone suggest a better P.D. treatment for either of these not very P.D.-able words? My clue to ANONA could have been easily improved, I must say. Bishops are much more likely to ask for an extra canon than vicars are.
 
I retain Printer’s Devilry as part of the repertoire because so many of you like it (though a minority dislikes it intensely). But a P.D. puzzle is tough to produce, taking much longer to devise than most other types of ‘special’. This time many of the words seemed to lend themselves to more elaborate devilry than usual. Perhaps it was just my mood at the time. Judging the clues to DEATH submitted proved exceptionally tricky despite the small entry, with no clear winners emerging until late in the sifting process. In the end it came down to the clues which created for me the most striking mental images. I also expected DEATH to yield a wider range of possible treatments than in fact proved to be the case. It turned out to be rather trickier than I’d thought. Quite a lot of you wrestled with a cricketing theme, lured no doubt by the first three letters of Atherton’s name, but the rest proved stubbornly awkward and none of the resulting efforts scored higher than an H C.
 
I almost always mention the three commonest ‘don’ts’ in P.D. clue writing, but for the benefit of newer solvers/competitors I’ll do so again. Don’t sacrifice the sense of the undevilled version for the sake of the devilled or to make it read better. Ideally both versions will make good sense but if one of the two has to sound slightly odd it should always be the devilled version. Don’t allow a break between words to occur before or after the clue-word in either the undevilled version or (where it has been removed from) the devilled version. The preamble explicitly warns against this. Don’t get carried away by devilry simply for the hell of it, especially when this merely detracts from the sense of the devilled version. Remember the poor solver!
 
Finally, for amusement only, I quote in full the clue submitted ‘in jest’ by a regular who thinks it is high time Bunter and his tarts were laid to rest (perhaps he’s right!): ‘Boys of Greyfriars remove one thousand nine hundred and fifty cherry stones as jam sets. Chums arrive, suggest an orgy. Tarts! “Hurree, Harry, hurry! Bunter, hasten!” (A zeal for the Five’s tales, told long ago, will never disappear.)’ Work that out.