AZED CROSSWORD 1454

GET-UP

1.  R. Haddock: Rig: half-gelt ram? (ge(lt) + tup.; rig⁵).

2.  E. J. Burge: Reduce gut with PE equipment (anag.).

3.  M. D. Laws: Doctor admits case for stitching one wanting dressing (etu(i) in GP).

VHC

M. Barley: Rustic viol’s a little alien in piano ensemble (ET in gu + p).

J. R. Beresford: Go faster, having little time for third gear (t for e in gee up).

B. Cheesman: Clue to sheep’s clothing (i.e. get up = teg).

E. Dawid: Woollen coat could represent this! (i.e. get up = teg, & lit.).

A. J. Dorn: Could this indicate a fleece? (i.e. get up = teg, & lit.).

A. S. Everest: Clobber: (colloq) to strike with increasing vigour (get up).

P. D. Gaffey: Fig: this variety is purgative yet settling (comp. anag.; fig²).

N. C. Goddard: Turnout or turn out (2 mngs.; t. o. = get out of bed).

R. R. Greenfield: Gear? Use first and second to drive uphill (g, e + put (rev.)).

Mrs D. B. Jenkinson: Reveille call for dress parade? (2 mngs.).

F. P. N. Lake: Gear action in Peugeot’s tops for ease of shifting (anag. less e, o).

W. F. Main: You have to prepare yourself to drive, for instance, in reverse gear (put e.g. (rev.), 2 defs.).

C. J. Morse: To make out at college, you need outfit and you have to cram (get up, 2 defs.).

D. R. Robinson: Costume from ‘Hit the Deck’ (2 mngs.; ref. musical by V. Youmans).

D. H. Tompsett: Letter leads to garters embellishing Twelfth-Night’s unsuspecting patsy’s —— (first letters & lit.; ref. Malvolio).

J. R. Tozer: Weeds in the earth old Hodge turned (Ge + put (rev.); see putt³).

A. J. Wardrop: Excellent return on high investments (get (n) + up).

D. C. Williamson: Fashion plate in Vogue to display novel A1 —— (comp. anag. & lit.).

W. Wynne Willson: Energy and go absent from this outfit (get-up(-and-go)).

Dr E. Young: Doesn’t it tell shift from sack? (double mng.; s. from s. = get out of bed; shift, sack, types of dress).

HC

D. Appleton, W. G. Arnott, A. Barker, M. Bath, Mrs P. A. Bax, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, C. Boyd, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, B. Burton, S. Collins, E. Cross, M. Cutter, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, N. C. Dexter, K. ffiske, C. D. S. & E. A. Field, M. Freeman, G. I. L. Grafton, Mrs E. Greenaway, J. Grimes, C. R. Gumbrell, R. Hesketh, A. Hodgson, C. J. Lowe, Mrs M. D. Maitland, D. F. Manley, P. W. Marlow, R. J. Mathers, J. Moore, P. M. Navin, Mrs D. M. C. Prichard, D. Pritchard, M. Robinson, A. Roth, M. Sanderson, P. L. Stone, J. B. Sweeting, C. W. Thomas, Mrs J. E. Townsend, A. P. Vincent, D. J. Ward, L. Ward, R. J. Whale, G. H. Willett.
 

Comments
261 entries, no mistakes. Rather disappointing for a puzzle which apparently gave few real problems. The number of unchecked letters (60) was somewhat less than average, and four 6-letter words had none at all, an inadvertent oversight I only noticed when the diagram was complete. I do prefer to make you solve every clue! Several of you also pointed out that EHEU is in Chambers, lurking in the appendix of foreign phrases and quotations on page 1973. I must say I think it would be rather unfair if I used words from this part of the dictionary on a regular basis. If I ever have recourse to it, I’ll try to make a point of telling you what I’m doing.
 
It was an interesting competition to judge. Shorter words present special problems, and should in my view ideally have shortish clues. This one has many synonyms, which you took full advantage of. I was not well disposed towards clues to GET UP as distinct from GET-UP, having specified a 5-letter word (though cluing GET UP in the cryptic part of the clue was entirely acceptable). Most played safe, remembering perhaps my comments in the Slip for LET-OFF (No. 1,026). Several of you were attracted to the (nice) idea of TEG as the reverse of GET, ‘up’ serving to indicate reversal in a Down word, but in some cases this was used to produce over-condensed clues (e.g. ‘Sheep’s clothing’ and even ‘Fleece!’), where what we have is essentially a clue to a clue, a two-stage process which is, I maintain, unfair to the solver. Another clue I liked but had reluctantly to mark down was ‘Good tune, not new, rendered on penny whistle’. The definition is ‘whistle’, short for ‘whistle and flute’, rhyming slang for ‘suit’, probably not that well known to those outside the Bow bells brigade, and certainly not in Chambers, so difficult to check.
 
You will have noticed the change of addressee for competition entries. I have never made any secret of my own name but it seems more appropriate that entries should be addressed to me under my pseudonym. It’s still me, anyway! And can anyone cast light on the word ISOTHENURIA, which I used in this puzzle, as it appears in Chambers (1998) though not in earlier editions? One competitor says he found it in the Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary, but spelt ISOSTHENURIA. Which is right?