AZED CROSSWORD 1232

The world is too much with us; late and soon (Anagram)

1.  Rev Canon C. M. Broun: “Deus Homo Natus Est” – choir will do that now.

2.  M. J. Bath: Odd, William, how that sour sonnet touches.

3.  P. White: O, who wouldn’t shout a Christmastide ‘Noel!’?

VHC (extra prizes)

M. Barley: Son – out in some low hut to which star’d lead?

Mrs A. Boyes: Rude hotel to oust woman with child on ass.

Mrs A. R. Bradford: ‘White Christmas’ won’t do – shout a loud ‘Noel’.

E. J. Burge: O star! Was it thou who so led men unto Child?

Mrs M. J. Cansfield: At Christmas, should we do without Noel? No!

P. A. Cash: To clue this, should I do harm to a W. W. sonnet?

C. A. Clarke: Nicholson must hate what Tories would do.

J. Crampsey: Christmas to dawn white; O shout loud Noel!

D. B. Cross: Who’ll suit red costume with hood on – Santa?

G. Cumming: We should do without Noel on at Christmas!

N. C. Dexter: Inn without dual rooms has to let cowshed.

R. R. Greenfield: Who aims not to salute the wondrous child?

J. F. Grimshaw: White-out around Scottish lowland homes.

C. R. Gumbrell: A wise lot must not show a child unto Herod.

J. Harrington: We should not do Christmas without a noel.

V. G. Henderson: Old ode – I show Man’s lost touch with Nature.

E. M. Holroyd: Now dosh-mad toil with nature loses touch.

J. C. Leyland: Holiest child, thou wast wonderous to man.

D. F. Manley: Mother-in-law would toss Di out – can she, tho’?

H. W. Massingham: How starlit – an outhouse – ’mid the cold snow!

C. J. Morse: O how ‘I want to sell’ hounded out Christmas!

Mrs H. Rogers: Honour two old lines that teach us wisdom.

P. L. Stone: Di let us in on lots; how that charm wooed us!

J. R. Tozer: We should not do without a Christmas ‘Noel’.

A. P. Vincent: Cows out in the stall adore him – now do thus.

P. J. Wagstaffe: Shout loud ‘Noel’; ‘A White Christmas’ won’t do!

HC

E. A. Beaulah, R. C. Bell, C. J. Blanks, C. Boyd, H. J. Bradbury, B. Burton, C. J. & M. P. Butler, D. A. Campbell, L. J. Cartlidge, W. R. Chalmers, M. J. Clarke, G. P. Conway, C. J. Cox, E. Cross, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, R. Davenport, E. Dawid, J. Dorey, C. M. Edmunds, P. S. Elliott, R. A. England, Dr I. S. Fletcher, G. A. Fowler, P. D. Gaffey, D. Gauge, D. A. Ginger, H. J. Godwin, E. Gomersall, G. I. L. Grafton, D. W. Grice, R. S. Haddock, D. A. Harris, I. A. Herbert, R. Hesketh, Dr T. O. Hughes, R. Jacks, W. Jackson, J. I. James, J. S. Johnson, G. Johnstone, R. E. Kimmons, E. C. Lance, D. T. R. Lawson, M. C. Leaf, C. J. Lowe, R. M. Luty, Mrs J. Mackie, P. W. Marlow, C. G. Millin, J. E. Moore, T. J. Moorey, G. M. Neighbour, Ms A. M. B. Pennington, G. Perry, Mrs E. M. Phair, K. Razey, D. R. Robinson, G. Robinson, B. Roe, R. Rogan, Mrs E. J. Shields, D. J. Short, A. J. Sobey, Ms M. Stokes, J. B. Sweeting, A. W. Taylor, Miss D. W. Taylor, A. J. Wardrop, P. H. Watkin, Mrs M. P. Webber, A. West, M. & T. Wetherfield, R. J. Whale, Ms B. J. Widger, W. Wynne Willson, Dr E. Young, R. F. Zobel.
 

Comments
About 420 entries, 20 or so arriving after the (extended) deadline and therefore disqualified. Virtually no mistakes. There were lots of nice comments on the puzzle as being about the right level of difficulty for the Christmas season. The quotation – a well-known one to most, I guess, which is in all editions of the ODQ so I didn’t specify – came to me out of the blue one day as something to base a Christmas puzzle on. The idea of giving you a long anagram came later and most of you seemed to relish the special challenge. There were some who were unsure what to aim for with the anagram, but I gave no guidance on this deliberately and approached the judging process with an open mind. Most of you produced something with a Christmassy flavour or on a topical news theme (the weather, Princess Di, Emma Nicholson, etc) or picking up the tone of Wordsworth’s poem. All were quite acceptable, and choosing the best became a difficult and protracted matter of deciding which were most felicitously or naturally or amusingly worded. Anagrams with no particular theme failed to impress the judge, and any that contained more than one of the words in Wordsworth’s line (preferably a ‘minor’ function word at that) got nowhere. I checked all the quoted anagrams for accuracy, but not, I confess, the HCs. Both lists are longer than average because there were so many good entries and it was correspondingly harder to reject anagrams submitted. One entry was accompanied by a delightful parody written by its author and entitled ‘Wordsworth Reviews the Situation’. It begins ‘The world is too much for me. Pretty soon,/Taking a razor, I’ll lay waste my powers.’ I haven’t room to quote more, sadly. Anyway, well done everybody!
 
Alas, it’s been a wretched month for your setter, and not because I was laid low with a nasty dose of flu on Christmas day. (I’m much better now, thanks.) In the first place I must apologize abjectly for my comments last month about the use of ‘grace’ to mean a group of grace-notes, which I now admit were plain wrong. At a critical late stage of the judging, when I was down to the likely prize-winners and VHCs, I only had access to the previous edition of Chambers, which doesn’t give this sense, and the authorities I consulted, including the Oxford Dictionary of Music, seemed to confirm its unacceptability. As a number of you have since pointed out, several other works of reference, not least Grove, think otherwise. Fortunately, only two competitors were directly affected (by being demoted at this stage to HC status). They were Messrs C. R. Gumbrell and D. F. Manley, who I’m happy to reinstate as VHCs for the competition. If they’ll remind me of their clues to GRUPPETTO some time, I’ll print them in a future slip.
 
Howler No. 2: giving you AVANT-PROPOS to clue in the January competition when I’d given you the same word just five years before (No. 974 in January 1991), an idiotically forgetful thing to do which I can only put down to pressure of work, including much foreign travel, during the past six months. In the circumstances I’ve decided that prizes will be awarded for the best three clues as usual, but the competition as a whole will not count in the annual honours list contest, which will be extended by one month accordingly. Again, my apologies for any disappointments. I’m not losing my grip – honestly! And a very happy new year to you al