AZED CROSSWORD 1207

EPOCH-MARKING

1.  N. C. Dexter: Chap at odds with Rome – one named Martin Luther – signalling new era (anag. + King).

2.  C. Loving: Rome’s broken with chap by name of Martin Luther. What describes the event? (anag. + King).

3.  M. Barley: Changeover for HK – with start of Peking era coming – is seen as this? (anag. incl. P, & lit.).

VHC

Mrs E. Allen: Mobile mini-krypton phone – magic! – heralding a new age? (anag. incl. Kr).

E. A. Beaulah: Signalling start of era Philip’s first, followed by turbulent macho king – one preeminent among men (e + P + anag. + R + king; ref. P. of Macedon, Alexander the Great).

J. R. Beresford: Record Chopin waltzes with piece in G major (EP + mark in anag. + G).

Mrs F. A. Blanchard: Park echoing with a thousand revels, like VE observance (anag. incl. M).

C. J. Brougham: What could ‘Beijing, Switching Leaders, Has Nothing Against The Odd March’ be? (0 + anag., all in Peking with Pe switched, & lit.).

D. B. Cross: Indicating new era with march round Peking to square? (anag. incl. O; square = adjust).

R. Dean: Mad K. G. epic – no harm of historic significance (anag.; ref. ‘The Madness of King George’ film).

R. R. Greenfield: HMG back in power, reorganized, chucking out leaders of barmy wing. That could be (anag. less b, w, & lit.).

C. R. Gumbrell: See graphic in comic dealing with Mekon as characterizing an era? (anag.; ref. Dan Dare in the former ‘Eagle’ comic).

P. F. Henderson: Chief male on ship getting pigeon flapping round? Such is the way we remember the great in history! (Ch m + ark, all in anag.; ref. Nelson’s Column).

R. Hesketh: Traffic cop making her signal (anag.).

E. M. Holroyd: Like Virgil’s epic? It sends Homer packing (anag.; ref. The Aeneid, celebrating the founding of Rome).

J. D. Lockett: Champion Greg getting a bit of kudos for good play. Indicative of a new era? (anag. with k for g; ref. G. Rusedski).

Mrs J. Mackie: Like original ‘Marathon’? (Greek champion’s run passing extreme of endurance previously) (anag. less e; ref. Pheidippides).

D. F. Manley: Like change iron PM forced with no turning line? (anag. less anag., & lit.; ref. Mrs Thatcher, 1980 Conservative Conference).

T. J. Moorey: Famously weighty tenor might pack up (after cancelling time and time again) (anag. less t, t; up = in an excited state; ref. Pavarotti).

C. J. Morse: I’m revolutionary: I’m pro change with a bit of killing involved (anag. incl. k).

P. L. Stone: Embattled PM in charge OK – July 4th declaration had such effect (anag.; ref. vote for Tory leadership and American Declaration of Independence).

R. C. Teuton: Major could be home packing accepting Redwood’s leader (R in anag.; ref. Tory leadership, John M., John R.).

R. J. Whale: PM KO’ing each Right alternative is presaging a very long term? (anag. incl. r).

HC

D. R. Appleton, F. D. H. Atkinson, R. C. Bell, R. E. Boot, H. J. Bradbury, B. W. Brook, E. J. Burge, C. J. & M. P. Butler, A. G. Chamberlain, C. A. Clarke, M. J. Clarke, D. C. Clenshaw, M. Coates, G. Cumming, R. A. England, S. Goldie, Mrs B. E. Henderson, I. A. Herbert, T. Jacobs, F. P. N. Lake, J. C. Leyland, R. K. Lumsdon, D. J. MacKay, B. McCarthy, G. L. McStravick, C. G. Millin, D. Mitchell, C. J. Napier, Mrs A. Price, D. Price Jones, H. R. Sanders, D. P. Shenkin, J. B. Sweeting, R. N. Taylor, C. W. Thomas, D. H. Tompsett, J. R. Tozer, A. J. Wardrop, I. J. Wilcock, D. Williamson, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
Only 149 entries. A major miscalculation on my part, it seems, in that everyone found the Playfair clues difficult to solve and many were forced into attempting to solve the code on the basis of only two or three pairings. I thought I’d given extra help by increasing the usual number of Playfair clues, though making them overlap in the corners was not as helpful to you as it might have seemed. That said, there were many expressions of satisfaction from those who persevered and relished the extra challenge. Plenty of you do still like Playfairs - two puzzles for the price of one, as someone commented. One or two asked for guidance on the best approach to cracking the code. I know of no magic formula and always have to use trial and error myself, but the following two tips may be useful. Start with pairings in which one letter occurs in both the coded and the clear form. This must indicate that the three letters involved all appear in the same row or column of the word square. There were several such pairings this time. And try assuming that the codeword will not include more than one of the last 5 letters of the alphabet (i.e. those which would appear on the bottom row of the word square). It may include more, especially if I’m feeling particularly devilish when choosing the word, but it’s worth a try. This time none were in the codeword, as it happened, so the bottom row of the square was VWXYZ.
 
And then there was MEAT, which caused (by me) unexpected problems, with a number of you having MEAL or MEAD instead. The clue exploited the sporting term ‘sweet spot’, given in Chambers as a compound at sweet, which signifies the ideal place on a golf club, racquet, cricket bat, etc. for striking the ball. The meat of a cricket bat etc. (note the ‘etc.’ in C.) is the same thing, more or less. For those not interested in sport I think Chambers gives enough information to justify the clue, and I can see no alternative answer fitting it, despite the potentially misleading definition of the Shakespearian verb meal³ (‘to stain or spot’). And I don’t regard ‘the sweet spot’ as an over-fanciful description of the dessert course of a meal.
 
It is strange and tiresome of Chambers not to define EPOCH-MARKING specifically, the implication being that it is synonymous with EPOCH-MAKING. The OED, which seems to be the only other dictionary to include the word, calls it ‘a journalistic alteration’, whatever that means. Given journalism’s fondness for loose hyperbole, I take it that the word is applied to events etc. which the writer regards as highly significant in some way. So I tended to be fairly liberal in accepting any definition that implied this.
 
I must, in conclusion, confess to two recent errors. The first was in according Mr Gumbrell, our new champion, 9 VHCs instead of 7 in the last slip but one (though his placing remains unaffected). More seriously, in AZED No 1208, one of the answers was EDGEWARE, a careless misspelling of the London district of Edgware of which I am deeply ashamed. Apologies to outraged Londoners and o