AZED CROSSWORD 1250

SONEOCARDIA (STENOCARDIA)

1.  M. D. Laws: Reason a doc’s worried about patient’s heart (i in anag., & lit.).

2.  C. M. Edmunds: ER and Co., so distressed with Diana – ‘pain of hearts’ (anag.; ref. Princess D.’s self-proclamation as ‘Queen of hearts’).

3.  C. Loving: Isadora, once dancing, could bring a pang to the heart (anag.; ref I. Duncan).

VHC

W. Anderson: This disorder with years may lead to a coronary disease (comp. anag. & lit.).

J. R. Beresford: Once a road is snarled up, this calls for a bypass (anag.).

R. E. Boot: A severe pain in the chest area – no disco dancing advised! (anag.).

H. J. Bradbury: Heart trouble calling for qualified paramedic – soon, not post mortem! (anag. less pm).

B. Burton: Local secondaries could result from cells with this serious disease (comp. anag.).

P. Cargill: Radio One’s Conservative broadcast – a source of pain to the Left? (anag. incl. C + a).

Mrs C. Davis: Arterial trouble once a road is under repair (anag.).

N. C. Dexter: Once a road is jammed, a bypass could be its answer (anag.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: I do lead to coronary – reason exercising accepted in reduced form? (anag. incl. c + a, & lit.).

P. F. Henderson: Heart trouble’s represented as ‘ado in core’? (anag.).

R. Hesketh: A stab in the chest – sort to finally do Caesar in (anag. incl. o).

D. F. Manley: Reason doc ordered sloth, lying up? (anag. + ai (rev.), & lit.).

J. R. C. Michie: A1 strewn with road cones causing arterial congestion (or something similarly painful) (anag.).

T. J. Moorey: Sore Diana’s in distress about ‘love’ with Charlie – it pains the heart (0 + c in anag.; see Charlie in C.).

C. J. Morse: To identify this disease in a blurred radio-scan is a chancy game (EO in anag.).

R. J. Palmer: Heart may be troubled with this – then a death with coronaries could result (comp. anag. & lit.).

H. L. Rhodes: Type of ticker malfunction – alternately A1 or a second out (anag.).

D. H. Tompsett: Seedy raspberry-tart or a nice soda pop (anag.; raspberry-tart, rhyming slang for heart; see Brewer).

A. J. Wardrop: This condition can kill, said a coroner almost casually (anag. less r).

S. Woods: Heart trouble, complicated case – A1 donor required (anag.).

HC

W. G. Arnott, M. Barley, E. A. Beaulah, R. C. Bell, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, A. G. Chamberlain, B. Cheesman, M. Coates, K. W. Crawford, E. Cross, E. Dawid, A. J. Dorn, W. Duffin, S. Goldie, D. W. Grice, C. R. Gumbrell, R. S. Haddock, F. P. N. Lake, J. P. Lester, J. C. Leyland, E. Looby, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, D. J. MacKay, Mrs J. Mackie, Mrs M. D. Maitland, P. W. Marlow, H. W. Massingham, Dr E. J. Miller, C. G. Millin, G. M. Neighbour, T. D. Nicholl, Dr T. G. Powell, D. Price Jones, D. R. Robinson, H. R. Sanders, J. R. Tozer, Mrs J. Waldren, R. J. Whale, Dr M. C. Whelan, Mrs S. Wise, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
243 entries, almost no mistakes. A small but highly appreciative entry for this latest milestone, Perhaps the puzzle was a bit on the hard side (though one or two of the wolves claimed it was a doddle), and I might have been more explicit abou the non-English words involved in the special clues, but at least I didn’t go trawling among the world’s less familiar languages. To my surprise it was IXION that seems to have given the most trouble. I’d thought of him as a hoary old crossword favourite, along with Tantalus, Procrustes, Sisyphus and similar characters from Greek and Roman legend, so I apologize if he was unknown to many. Perhaps it was those three I’s in a row that caused such perplexity. Once I’d had the idea for the theme (and it wasn’t quick in coming) constructing the diagram wasn’t as tough as you might imagine. Ideally I’d have liked to restrict the substitutions to ONE and equivalents replacing TEN and equivalents, but this proved too limiting in practice.
 
I haven’t much to say about the puzzle in general except to thank all those who sent generous cards and/or messages to acknowledge my reaching the 1,250 mark. One regular said: ‘Congratulations on getting half-way to your 2,500.’ Now I know how Sisyphus must have felt! Never mind, shoulder to the stone. Clues generally were of a high quality this time, with anagrams understandably to the fore. The clues quoted show what a wide range of these was possible. The simple brilliance of Mr Laws’s ‘& lit.’ made it an immediate winner. It’s perhaps surprising that no one else thought of using ‘heart’ in such an effective way. It’s also nice to welcome Mr Laws back as (I hope) a regular competitor after a lengthy lay-off.
 
It is now possible to announce competition and other results two weeks after the puzzles themselves, and this has already started to happen. The slip too should reach subscribers a week earlier, and all this will be generally welcomed, I’m sure. Further fine tuning of the crossword layout continues, in particular fitting it into a quarter page for easy folding, so you won’t have Omar Sharif’s grim stare to contend with while solving unless you really want it. Just be grateful that no one has suggested an inquisitorial likeness of your setter to adorn his weekly offerings. I’ve had one complaint about AZ being on the same page as Everyman causing ructions because different members of the family like solving different puzzles. I can only suggest that you resolve such a conflict of interests by taking it in turns to be first with the page – that, or a pair of scisso