AZED CROSSWORD 14

Terrapin, hermit, elephant, armadillo, rhesus (Anagram)

1.  N. C. Dexter: Rain-storm plashed; all animals, put hither, keep drier.

2.  C. W. Willink: That Ur-ship: her sailor implemented ranks, all paired.

3.  Mrs J. E. Townsend: This shelter kept animal pairs unharmed – all rode rip (rip⁴).

VHC

W. G. Arnott: Animals packed, till drier. Mr. Noah. P.S. Let earth perish.

F. D. H. Atkinson: Ark-master hero shipped animal herds till rain let up.

Col P. S. Baines: Animals all in purported pairs. The mere elk’s hard-hit!

Rev C. M. Broun: Ham: ‘Let rain lash, tides sink earth – I’m prepared – roll up!’

C. O. Butcher: Did all animals put here perhaps trek miles thro’ rain?

R. S. Caffyn: Noah kept all animals (pairs) sheltered, drier – triumph!

Cdr H. H. L. Dickson: Mount Ararat thrilled a skipper; less rain helped him.

S. Goldie: His ark prompted smiles; unparalleled rain hit earth.

J. P. H. Hirst: Tell Papa real putrid here – animal stink’s horrid – Shem.

W. Hornsey: Help the animals in pairs; all risk the damp terror due.

J. Houghton: Rail poll result hard – strike ahead, perhaps imminent.

A. H. Jones: Peril! Peril! Under Noah’s skill the ship made Mt. Ararat.

A. Lawrie: Trains held up. ‘Oh Mr. Marsh!’ I appeal, let rail strike end!’ (William M., BR Chairman).

A. D. Legge: Skipper Noah triumphed – all animals at shelter, drier.

H. W. Massingham: Like-pairs herded in, her ample hull spins to Mt. Ararat.

Mrs E. McFee: Mount Ararat – skipper led ship here – animals thrilled.

C. J. Morse: Animals in peril pair up at threshold marked ‘shelter’

F. Moss: Pairs? Super-skilled in the art Mr. Noah paired them all.

W. G. H. Myles: Similar animal pairs trod up the plank – shelter’d here.

Dr R. J. Palmer: Tutankhamen laid horrid spell – tamperers ail, perish.

M. L. Perkins: Prim Noah apart, all misuse Me – kinds that erred, perish!

M. G. Rupp: Remit the rains, Lord. Spare the animals parked up hill.

J. P. Smith: Noah’s hull made trip. Shelter kept animal pairs drier.

L. J. Wayman: That elk! He’s rompish intruder in parallelism-parade.

HC

R. Adey, Mrs Eileen Allen, C. Allen Baker, G. Aspin, J. W. Bates, E. A. Beaulah, T. E. Bell, Mrs F. Blanchard, Mrs Anne Boyes, J. Brooks, J. Caulfield, R. A. Chiverton, Mrs M. P. Craine, A. E. Crow, K. David, R. V. Dearden, L. A. Diehl, P. Drummond, Mrs W. Fearon, J. S. Fowlie, M. E. Francis, Miss J. Fry, P. D. Gaffey, Mrs E. A. George, D. A. Ginger, R. Glew, G. P. Goddard, N. C. Goddard, D. V. Harry, T. D. Hemming, D. J. Hemmings, N. L. Hindley, S. Holgate, E. M. Hornby, D. G. Huckle, P. Hurst, Miss J. Hutt, M. H. Johnson, G. Johnstone, H. V. Keegan, R. E. Kimmons, J. R. Kirby, L. F. Leason, Mrs S. M. Macpherson, D. F. Manley, B. Manvell, J. Martin, B. Mason, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, D. G. C. Mockridge, J. L. Moss, R. A. Mostyn, G. W. Mott, F. E. Newlove, S. L. Paton, Mrs E. M. Phair, Mrs J. Pharo, B. A. Pike, T. L. Price, E. J. Rackham, R. G. Rae, D. S. Robertson, W. Rodgers, J. R. Scarr, Sir W. Slimmings, D. H. Smith, J. Smith, S. R. N. Smith, W. Spendley, P. H. Taylor, D. J. Thorpe, Miss M. E. Tompson, Miss (?) R. Turner, M. E. Ventham, S. M. Waddams, E. F. Watling, Rev C. D. Westbrook, A. R. Wheatley, N. E. Wheatley, J. B. Widdowson, P. B. G. Williams, D. L. Winn.
 

COMMENTS
About 570 entries, virtually no mistakes (as one would expect), though a few solvers disregarded the instructions and wrote clues to ELK or a brand new set of animals whose initials spell THE ARK. I’m glad so many of you seem to have enjoyed the zoological excursion. The large entry and longer-than-average lists would tend to indicate that composing anagrams is a popular pastime. I certainly found picking the winners extremely difficult. What finally brought them out on top was the fact that they managed to produce anagrams which defined THE ARK, a variety of the ‘& lit’ type of clue. I also favoured those who were able to exclude the word ARK from their clues.
 
As many of you surmised the diagram took longer than usual to compose. Most ‘Special’ puzzles do (though this one was harder than most) and this is partly why there aren’t more of them. The other reason is that I believe most of you prefer a regular diet of ‘plains’ with the occasional ‘special’ to currant the cake, say every six or seven weeks. Those who like a weekly surprise must turn to the Listener. We’ll have another Noah’s Ark before too long, but not just yet awhile.
 
The vast majority of clues were about the Flood, many of them very amusing. Those which were not were either topical – the rail dispute or preservation of rare animals being the most popular themes – or just plain scatty. Since the latter category I had eventually, and regretfully, to exclude from the lists, here are four of the best which bravely scorned all relevance: ‘Aunt Philippa’s dream-man likes to read her thrillers’, ‘Rare leopard kills the plump Irish dean in Streatham’, ‘A paper on the turret hid Maid Marian’s helpless krill’, ‘Dear Parson, return Das Kapital. (Himmel – hellish tripe!)’. Another solver cleverly spotted an unintentional red herring (oh dear!); SEA-SLUG/RHESUS might have been REGULUS/SHE-ASS (though I avoided using birds elsewhere).
 
No time or space for further expatiation on clue-writing this month. I want to say something next time about the ‘& lit’ clue, perhaps the most widely misunderstood of all. Thank you for your very appreciative comments and for an excellent entry.
 
P.S. – I’m sorry about the printing error which produced a superfluous s in the clue to LUSS. I don’t think anyone was seriously misled.