AZED CROSSWORD 135

GABIONADE

1.  C. O. Butcher: I form bulges erected on a defence’s sides (I bag (rev.) on a d, e, & lit.).

2.  C. Allen Baker: Turn-up collar – one aid possibly in protection against storm (bag (rev.) + anag.).

3.  C. J. Morse: One container piled up on top of another – a segment of defence (I bag (rev.) on a de, & lit.).

VHC

E. A. Beaulah: Earthy old bags perhaps love getting involved in improper badinage (0 in anag.).

T. E. Bell: There may be a big one surrounding a donjon’s entrance (a, d in anag., & lit.).

E. Chalkley: One will have to steal up on a couple of defenders in this (I bag (rev.) on a de, & lit.).

P. R. Clemow: You need a bit of guts to stick around on a parapet (g + on a in abide).

A. J. Crow: West Brom., conceding second one, get some stick about crude defence (A(l)bion in gade).

Cdr H. H. L. Dickson: Faulty big end; ring A.A. It’s no insurance against a charge, these days (anag. incl. O).

Mrs J. O. Fuller: One secure bank on a sector of defence (I bag (rev.) + on a de, & lit.; bank v.i.).

P. D. Gaffey: Go topless and have rude badinage about neat breastwork ((g)o in anag.).

R. Greenfield: Sconce, perhaps, passed round in a bodega (anag.; sconce = earthwork).

A. H. Jones: After Golombek’s opening, a bad one, I moved, finding defence against knights’ attacks (G + anag.; ref. Harry G., chess).

J. R. Kirby: What, when erected, may provide secure cover to aid one under attack (bag (rev.) + anag., & lit.).

A. D. Legge: Basketwork bar becoming in a bodega (anag.).

L. E. Lodge: Guard against grape fermented in a bodega (anag.; grape = grapeshot).

D. F. Manley: Begad – Ai collapsed with no defence against invaders (anag.; ref. Joshua 8).

T. A. Martin: Abandoning last bit of cover, reform brigade on a sort of rampart (anag. less r).

H. W. Massingham: A bottomless protection, round and worked in earth (a bi(b) O + anag., all in Ge, & lit.).

L. May: Bunker hill had a big one, with no end of earth, overthrown (anag. less h; ref. American War of Independence).

S. L. Paton: One topless girdle without build-up supporting with uplift blowzy female’s breastworks (bag (rev.) + ad in I (z)one).

F. B. Stubbs: System using reinforced earth could take a big anode in circuit (anag.).

M. J. Suckling: Brighton and Hove lose league in old style defence (A(l)bion in gade).

Rev C. D. Westbrook: One would shelter in one with a big shot coming over perhaps (anag. + a ’d in one, & lit.).

D. C. Williamson: Igloo an abode with no W.C. – dashed for baskets of earth (no seats) (anag. less loo).

HC

R. B. Adcock, Col P. S. Baines, J. Baker, M. J. Balfour, J. W. Bates, Mrs F. Blanchard, F. L. Boot, Mrs A. Boyes, R. Brain, S. J. Branson, Miss E. Browett, E. J. Burge, E. W. Burton, D. A. H. Byatt, R. S. Caffyn, E. Davies, R. Dean, A. L. Dennis, J. D. Ede, P. S. Elliott, Miss L. Eveleigh, M. A. Firman, M. Forrest, E. A. Free, C. C. M. Giffin, G. P. Goddard, N. C. Goddard, S. Goldie, J. J. Goulstone, D. V. Harry, S. Holgate, E. M. Hornby, C. L. Jones, H. R. Lockhart, L. K. Maltby, D. McLaren, D. P. M. Michael, J. T. Milton, W. L. Miron, D. S. Nagle, P. M. Newey, F. E. Newlove, P. G. O’Gorman, Dr R. J. Palmer, Mrs E. M. Phair, Mrs D. M. C. Prichard, E. W. Richart, T. A. Simmerson, J. R. Stocks, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, R. H. Tillcock, G. A. Tomlinson, R. D. Vaughan Davies, Mrs M. P. Webber, L. C. Wright, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
About 470 entries in what many of you thought was the easiest competition for some time. The only difficulties were over EAST and ENDGAME, and perhaps I was partly at fault here. ‘Scud’ East was Tom Brown’s great chum at Rugby in that rather turgid novel by Thomas Hughes which I don’t recommend to the uninitiated but which was more or less prescribed reading for me as a Rugbeian. It has of course been televised and filmed (twice, I think). ENDGAME is a play by Samuel Beckett and, as two words, the denouement of a game of chess. As such it doesn’t appear in C surprisingly and I should perhaps have mentioned this, though it was the proper name I had in mind as the answer to the clue, the other as the subsidiary indication, and I don’t normally include proper names in the general recommendation about Chambers. ‘Exit the King’ is of course another play, by Ionesco.
 
There was also a query about the clue to FREECOST, ‘failure after entering Common Market …’, which is intended to indicate E.E.C. inside FROST. The verb ‘enter’ is here used transitively, not intransitively, as a gerund not a participle, so the grammar, though a little contrived, is sound enough.
 
Lots of fun with GABIONADE and much carousing in a bodega. I hope the prizewinners will not accuse me of churlishness or lamentable punning if I say that no clues were particularly outstanding, and there was a sudden upsurge of unsoundness from, mainly, less experienced competitors. Here are a few random examples. ‘Earthworks made by crazy soldier and sailor on the start of a demo’ (G.I., A.B. (anag.) on a de). The first four letters constitute an indirect anagram, and I’m not very keen on ‘start of’ to indicate ‘first two letters’. Would ‘dem’ be ‘start of demo also? ‘Spike with point, Britain left out in fortification!’ (A(l)bion in gad-E). I’ve said often enough that I don’t like ‘point’ for any of the many compass points (it’s not just the four main ones). That apart I don’t see that this clue makes any sense at all. ‘Gee, a sailor on a monastic island of France, found protection in the olden days!’ (G-A.B.-Iona-de) ‘Of France’ should be ‘of French’ for grammatical soundness, ‘found’ makes no sensible contribution to the clue, and the exclamation mark is totally superfluous. ‘It almost sounds fun being “help”’ (i.e. gay being aid). I’m afraid the homophony of this one is nowhere near close enough to justify ‘almost’, and anyway shouldn’t it be ‘sounds like…’? Also ‘fun’ and ‘gay’ are nowhere near synonymous. And the clue as a whole contains no indication of GABIONADE at all. Enough for now; sorry to carp.
 
A word about Mr. Massingham’s clue. I’ve always been a bit nervous about Ge (or Gaia) for earth (or Earth, better). She isn’t in Chambers like Mars and Ra and the rest, though she is in Brewer. However, I can see no logical reason to disallow it in the way it’s been used, as personifying the earth, and it is pretty widely used by other specialist crossword compilers. Does anyone object?
 
Finally, I’m enclosing with this slip a general letter requesting contributions or suggestions for an Azed Book of Crosswords. The letter is self-explanatory and I await your reactions with great interest.