AZED CROSSWORD 1419

SPLODGE

1.  R. K. Lumsdon: Tie could come to get spoiled with this (comp. anag. & lit.).

2.  C. A. Clarke: Good-for-nothing poodles being incontinent – this could be the result! (anag. with g for 0, & lit.).

3.  E. Dawid: Steaming dog’s pile I cleared leaves large stain! (anag. less I; steaming = drunk).

VHC

Mrs F. A. Blanchard: Tramp in a patch of soggy earth (plod in s Ge, & lit.).

H. Bradbury: No light passing from sun to earth: big dark patch (plod between S and Ge; ref. eclipse; passing n.).

Dr J. Burscough: Traverse slowly between Sun and Earth, perhaps, creating blot? (plod between S and Ge).

S. Collins: Hint of stir-fly left in fatty stain (s + l in podge).

N. Connaughton: A ——’s rinsed out? Persil’s a godsend! (comp. anag. & lit.).

M. Cutter: Is this setting of gospel, about the Lord’s end, Stainer’s magnum opus? (d in anag.; ref. John S.’s ‘Crucifixion’).

N. C. Dexter: Cause of Constable, say, turning back of canvas to front (s + Plod + e.g. (rev.), & lit.).

V. Dixon: In swampy ground, walk heavily, not softly forward (sponge with plod for p on, & lit.).

A. G. Fleming: Use odds and ends of wool to mend clothing and disguise stain (SP + last letters).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Quelch long constrained by Greyfriars’ ultimate fatso? (l in s podge; ref. Billy Bunter).

P. D. Gaffey: One’s left from nasty dog’s pile (anag. less I, & lit.).

G. I. L. Grafton: A big mark regularly results in supply of degree (alternate letters).

C. R. Gumbrell: Spa – place for a splash? (spa with lodge for a).

G. Johnstone: Is Blyton PC with good English? Or is this a big blot on her copy-book? (’s Plod g E; ref. Toytown).

Mrs J. Mackie: Mark that pedants plod, genius bounds (hidden).

D. F. Manley: Stainer’s legacy? Composition to disseminate gospel, based around Lord’s end (d in anag.; ref. John S.’s ‘Crucifixion’).

G. R. Mason: Use odds and ends of wool to avoid suffering possible result of spillage (SP + last letters).

C. G. Millin: Big mark in GCSE (not 100) after revision including children’s PC (Plod in anag. less C; ref. Enid Blyton).

R. A. Norton: A messy distribution and South’s lead promise nothing for East (S + pledge with 0 for E).

J. B. Sweeting: See some cows plod, generating, say, lumps all around. Look out! Tread gingerly! (hidden, e.g. dol(lo)ps (rev.)).

HC

D. Appleton, W. G. Arnott, E. A. Beaulah, J. R. Beresford, P. Biddlecombe, Mrs K. Bissett, C. J. Brougham, E. J. Burge, D. C. Clenshaw, E. Cross, P. Crozier, R. Dean, Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh, R. P. C. Forman, H. Freeman, M. Freeman, E. Gomersall, R. R. Greenfield, J. Grimes, R. B. Harling, R. J. Heald, A. Hodgson, Mrs S. G. Johnson, I. H. Jones, F. P. N. Lake, C. J. Lowe, W. F. Main, P. W. Marlow, W. Murphy, F. R. Palmer, R. J. Palmer, R. Parry-Morris, S. L. Paton, J. Pearce, C. Pearson, G. Perry, D. Price Jones, D. R. Robinson, N. & M. Sharp, N. G. Shippobotham, D. J. Short, P. L. Stone, C. W. Thomas, J. R. Tozer, L. Ward, A. J. Wardrop, P. O. G. White, I. J. Wilcock, M. J. Wright.
 

Comments
314 entries (including the first ever from Finland) and no mistakes that I spotted. Many apologies for the late announcement of the results and this slip, but even crossword setters must take holidays, and this year’s (in the Casentino region of north-east Tuscany) was a cracker. A little desultory cluing was done but it was hastily put away when other attractions called, including frequent swims in an idyllic lake nearby (which we christened Jacob’s Creek for complicated reasons), a trip to poor battered Assisi and the local mushroom (porcini) festival complete with limitless free wine and grappa, dancing in the village centre, and the parading of the church madonna through the streets to the accompaniment of a brass band. Magic.
 
Back in the real world, SPLODGE was welcomed by some as offering many possibilities, reviled by others as a brute. Mark and his gospel were understandably popular but required outstanding treatment in dealing with the extra ‘d’ to rise above the ordinary. I was interested to learn for the first time of the Guardian setter Plodge, though no one seriously tried to work him (or her) into a clue. In general there was much ingenuity in dealing with a fairly colourless word.
 
A couple of solvers rose to my challenge to improve on my rather feeble PD clue to ARBITRAL. Neither, I have to say, is in the alpha class, but here they are: ‘“Glamorous Mona, Cost/ly Driver” is a good “Sport” story’, and ‘Barbershop quartet sings Ade/line!’. And WGA followed up my comments on AEON in the last slip by referring me to his Loeb edition of Menander (Volume II, page 363) in which he annotates the poet’s mention of Aeon as ‘one of a complement of thirty divinities with this name in a form of Gnostic belief formulated by Valentinus and attacked here as heretical by Irenaeus’. Deep waters, and fascinating for the classically committed, I’m sure. My thanks for all these contributions, which help to broaden the focus of AZ puzzles. Please keep them coming.
 
A final abject apology for my misspelling of BUTADIENE in No. 1,421, which elicited several puzzled letters and was pure carelessness on my part. My sister’s name is Deborah so my sons have an Auntie Deb (an anagram I was delighted to find) but I still failed to spot that I’d misspelled the word in the diagram. How blind can you be!