◀  No. 14195 Sep 1999 Clue list No. 1428  ▶

AZED CROSSWORD 1424

HEIST

1.  F. R. Palmer: Briefly, it’s forbidden to the believer, one constrained by ancient commandment ((’t)heist, i in hest, & lit., ref. 8th commandment).

2.  P. W. Marlow: Leads to the security industry employing heavies if recurrent? (first letters rev., & lit.).

3.  P. L. Stone: Slippery thieves may make Spain very shortly if mixed up with this (comp. anag. incl. E, v, & lit.).

VHC

E. A. Beaulah: One featuring in ‘Stand and deliver’? (I in hest, & lit.).

J. R. Beresford: Sting itches terribly, wanting a bit of calamine (anag. less c).

D. A. Campbell: Is he in trouble at t’ mill? (anag. + t; mill = rob).

M. Casserley: (Clue lost, see Slip no 1463).

M. Cutter: Intensive police search is taking place for a robber (heat with is for a).

N. C. Dexter: This breaking and entering ending in porridge? (e in anag., & lit.).

C. D. S. & E. A. Field: Smart robbery job – thief’s cunningly shaking force off (anag. less F).

C. R. Gumbrell: Job? He knew no end of sorrow (he (w)ist).

R. J. Heald: Whip? Fetishist grasps it tightly in fist (anag. of (f)etish(ist)).

N. J. Hitchins: Nick is in the rough (is in anag.; ref. N. Faldo).

F. P. N. Lake: One who doesn’t believe in missing a crafty bit of thievery ((at)heist).

C. Loving: He’s old J. James for example (he + I + St, & lit.; ref. Jesse J.).

Mrs J. Mackie: Given toothache is treatable, find the filling that’s appropriate (hidden; appropriate vb).

K. McDermid: Bungling this brought about the end of Bonnie and Clyde (e in anag. & lit.).

T. J. Moorey: The mobile ringing is getting one steaming on trains for example (is in anag.; steaming, recent coinage for robbery, esp. on trains by gangs of youths).

C. J. Morse: ‘He is one who believes in God’ – that’s your prig twice over (i.e. he is theist).

D. H. Tompsett: Early pieces taken from Hellas: Elgin initiated superior this? (first letters & lit.; ref. E. Marbles).

J. R. Tozer: Thé dansant is held: a caper involving tea leaves? (is in anag.; rhyming slang for thieves).

Dr E. Young: Kelly? If it’s true, Shearer’s the one looking hard (i.e. if he is t, Shearer is starer; ref. Ned K. and Graham K.’s criticism of Alan S.).

HC

W. G. Arnott, D. Ashcroft, M. Bath, J. Blake, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, J. M. Brown, E. J. Burge, Dr J. Burscough, C. J. & M. P. Butler, J. & B. Chennells, C. A. Clarke, S. Collins, N. Connaughton, E. Cross, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, E. Dawid, R. Dean, H. Everett, R. P. C. Forman, H. Freeman, M. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, D. Gould, R. R. Greenfield, R. B. Harling, D. A. Harris, Mrs B. E. Henderson, P. F. Henderson, R. Hesketh, Mrs N. Hobbs, G. Hughes, G. Johnstone, M. D. Laws, H. M. Lloyd, W. F. Main, Mrs M. D. Maitland, D. F. Manley, R. J. Mathers, J. R. C. Michie, C. G. Millin, J. Mortleman, R. A. Norton, R. J. Palmer, S. Phillips, D. Price Jones, J. H. Russell, H. R. Sanders, M. Sanderson, R. G. Smith, J. B. Sweeting, C. W. Thomas, B. W. Tilling, Mrs J. E. Townsend, Dr A. J. Varney, R. Veall, A. P. Vick, A. J. Wardrop, M. J. E. Wareham, P. H. Watkin, Ms B. J. Widger, M. Zeegen.
 

Comments
367 entries, with no noticeable mistakes. My clue to PROSTHESIS drew appreciative remarks, but there were puzzled comments about Akbar (the greatest Mughal emperor of India and not too obscure, surely) and Sur, as in the Big Sur, an area and town in coastal California where many Hollywood stars live and therefore moderately well-known, I’d have thought. I was taken to task over my clue to ACYL, which is not, it appears, a ‘type of acid’ but is rather used as a modifier ‘of, denoting or containing the monovalent group of atoms RCO-’. As a non-scientist, I approach the cluing of these scientific terms with extreme trepidation and am happy to be corrected by those in the know. I dare say I shall err again ere long. My clue to TEAR caused problems too, apparently, though to tell the truth I was moderately pleased with it and still think it was a perfectly fair if unusual treatment of a colourless word.
 
HEIST offered lots of possibilities. There were plenty of nearly-excellent would-be &-lit. clues which made use of the THIEF anagram with a change of letter. All too often these just failed to work grammatically, as with ‘Thief is in trouble if this goes wrong’ in which there is a missing link between the first four words and the last four. Apart from the fact that two anagram indicators are not needed, the writer has not quite said what he means for the cryptic reading, viz, that ‘thief is’ is an anagram of ‘if heist’. ‘If this is perpetrated, thief is involved’ suffers from similar faults. More acceptable wording might be something like: ‘You may find thief is involved in this if active’. On the question of grammar, I was slightly troubled by the lack of a main verb in NCD’s otherwise neat ‘& lit.’ and wonder whether he was too.
 
One solver queries my regular use of ‘l’ as an abbreviation for ‘long’, which is not given in Chambers. It was in previous editions, and I confess that I hadn’t noticed that it had been dropped and cannot explain why. It seems not to be given in most standard-sized British dictionaries, though I see it’s in the big Webster and a couple of abbreviations dictionaries I have. All very puzzling. I suppose I ought to stop using it but can’t 1 sure that I’ll remember to.
 
Mr Derek Harrison tells me that he is currently trying to put together a database of 1st prizewinners in Azed competitions His work in progress can be seen on http://home.freeuk.net/dharrison/puzzles/azclues He hopes that ‘crossword fans will help me complete the listing by sending me the missing clues in this (far from complete) listing.’
 
Finally, Anthony Ellis has asked me to say how grateful he for the many appreciative messages he has received from subscribers to the slip renewing their subscriptions. He hope you will understand that he cannot reply to each of these individually, but greatly enjoys hearing from solvers in this way. I should also add my own thanks for all he is doing for us.
 

 

The Azed Cup

Dr S. J. Shaw wins First Prize in competition 2603.

TERAS def. PRATT (Wrong Number)

After dismissing jolly, Starmer’s ordered to reveal what could lie behind dreadful Labour experience

This year’s honours table

The next Azed competition puzzle will be on


Latest  AZED  No. 2,701  24th Mar

All online Azed puzzles

Dr Watson reviews Azed 2603

From the archive

Man sent packing, sort of a ‘male’ order! (9)

Second prize winner by T. J. Moorey in competition 922

Solution