◀  No. 15446 Jan 2002 Clue list No. 1550  ▶

AZED CROSSWORD 1546

TRANSPARENT

1.  M. Barley: After ‘Devilry’, entrants must tackle standard ‘Plain’ (par in anag.; ref. AZ comp. puzzles).

2.  R. K. Lumsdon: Plain canvas skirts belted to fasten (ran spar in tent).

3.  J. C. Leyland: Seeded entrant, Rafter’s in open (spar in anag.; ref. Pat R., tennis).

VHC

M. Bath: The rail system has sacrificed its independence to the maintainer of the line – as all can see (tra(I)ns parent; ref. Railtrack, etc.).

Mrs P. A. Bax: Operated health-giving waters in river – very clear (ran spa in Trent).

C. Boyd: Excavating explosive’s spread thinly like golden syrup, perhaps (ran spare (adv.) in TNT).

G. Clyde: Frank managed to box ten rounds with Tyson losing most (ran spar in ten T; ref. F. Bruno).

N. Connaughton: New entrants might accept average round in Open (par in anag.; ref. golf).

Mrs E. Greenaway: Author’s after passage without sexual activity – understood? (trans(it) + parent).

M. T. Hart: Frank partners Nat in medley (anag.; ref. (say) F. Sinatra, N. ‘King’ Cole).

R. J. Hooper: Ingenuous Stan and partner, gotten into a fine mess (anag.; ref. Laurel and Hardy).

J. P. Lester: See-through patterns ran when laundered (anag.).

D. W. Mackie: Explosive rounds smuggled to avoid being easily detected (ran spare in TNT).

W. F. Main: Naive Stan and partner getting into another fine mess? (anag.; ref. Laurel and Hardy).

D. F. Manley: Star indication finally ditched, sire? The definition’s unambiguous! (anag. incl. n + parent; ref. abandonment of troublesome asterisk in AZ comp. puzzles).

G. T. McLean: Ingenuous Stan and partner in ‘another fine mess’ (anag.; ref. Laurel and Hardy).

C. J. Morse: Time’s long since passed to leave leaders of new terrorism unpunished, that’s clear (t + ran + spare n t).

R. Phillips: Frank hit body of Grant’s partner, Tiffany (anag. of central letters, 2 defs.; ref. G. Mitchell, F. and T. Butcher in ‘EastEnders’).

M. Sanderson: Naked, open to rays, partner’s tan develops (anag., 2 defs.).

J. R. Tozer: Model pants and bra, little of body covered, cleavage evident (anag. less b + rent).

L. Ward: Pants designed to hold toddler’s poop aren’t (we hope!) (r in anag. + aren’t; poop1,5).

M. J. E. Wareham: Frank Sinatra and partner implicated, but not with IRA (anag. less IRA).

D. C. Williamson: Rays penetrate, then scatter, making the eye this (comp. anag. & it.).

Dr E. Young: As a ghost to be knocked, partner wasn’t headless! (anag. less w; ref. Marley’s head as doorknocker in ‘A Christmas Carol’).

HC

W. G. Amott, D. Appleton, D. W. Arthur, I. M. Barton, E. A. Beaulah, J. R. Beresford, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, R. E. Boot, J. G. Booth, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, Dr J. Burscough, B. Burton, D. A. Campbell, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, B. Cheesman, D. C. Clenshaw, M. Coates, S. Collins, R. M. S. Cork, K. W. Crawford, G. Cuthbert, P. Dauncey, L. J. Davenport, R. V. Dearden, N. C. Dexter, V. Dixon, Mrs D. I. Fenter, H. Freeman, M. Freeman, Mrs C. George, G. I. L. Grafton, R. R. Greenfield, D. W. Grice, J. Grimes, J. Grimshaw, C. R. Gumbrell, W. Gundrey, D. A. Harris, Mrs B. E. Henderson, R. Hesketh, A. Hodgson, T. Humphries, W. Jackson, Ms M. Janssen, J. S. Johnson, F. P. N. Lake, C. J. Lowe, Mrs J. Mackie, P. W. Marlow, J. R. C. Michie, Dr E. J. Miller, C. G. Millin, J. Moore, T. J. Moorey, I. Morgan, T. D. Nicholl, R. J. Palmer, J. Parke, S. L. Paton, D. Pendrey, R. Perry, Mrs E. M. Phair, Dr T. Powell, D. Price Jones, H. L. Rhodes, D. R. Robinson, Mrs E. Shields, D. J. Short, S. J. J. Tiffin, Mrs J. E. Townsend, A. P. Vincent, A. J. Wardrop, W. B. Wendt, R. J. Whale, A. R. Whelan, Dr M. C. Whelan, P. B. G. Williams, J. S. Witte, R. Zara.
 

Comments
Another good postbag, 320 entries. The only mistake, affecting about 25 entries, was CANZONE for CANZONA. There was no way that this could fit the clue (‘Italian air suiting “lily”, hybrid kept inside’), but I probably made things unnecessarily awkward by referring to ‘lily’ instead of simply ‘plant’. I know a canna isn’t a lily, but it is often called a canna lily (see the New SOED, where this is give as a variant name): hence the inverted commas, which should perhaps have alerted literal-minded waverers. It was a pity perhaps that DROSS and TROCHE, the clues to which both used the same idea, should have appeared in the same puzzle and adjacent to each other, but I couldn’t resist them. For those still puzzled, Diana Ross and the Supremes and Gladys Knight and the Pips were hugely successful black female groups in the Motown era. Tony Roche and John Newcombe are Australian tennis players, still I think to be seen trundling round the seniors circuit. In their glory days they formed a very fine doubles partnership, though the right-handed Newcombe outshone the left-handed Roche as a singles player and won many more tournament. Favourite clue this month was that for CHAMBERTIN. Sometimes (but not often) these ‘it-has-to-be’ & lit. clues just fall into one’s lap, and very satisfying it is too! The wooden spoon went to my AREG clue, with its cod scientific wording. Apologies for my ignorance, as always, to the proper scientists among you.
 
I hope the scrapping of the asterisk has not upset too many. (One or two of you expressed slightly wistful nostalgia at its passing.) It was clearly becoming a liability though, so this seemed the most sensible thing to do. Mr Manley’s nice VHC clue above can stand as its epitaph. There was a wide range of ideas on display for TRANSPARENT, with see-through frilly pants in various designs the most popular. I also liked ‘Stan and partner’ as an anagram, especially in the context of the ‘fine mess’ Laurel and Hardy so often got into. Mr Barley’s first prize winner stood out a mile for its originality. It might mean little to solvers unfamiliar with our competitions, bi that in no way detracts from its neatness and succinctness (the latter quality shared by Messrs Lumsdon and Leyland. Ximenes said he always tried to construct his clues to fit into one line of type. The puzzle’s layout was of course different in those days - and the type size smaller but as general rule it is a good thing to avoid wordiness and to keep clues as concise as possible. Very many of the clues read could benefit from being tightened up in this way.
 
An apologetic footnote. I used the word PRUHED in a recent non-competition puzzle, having put it in while constructing the grid without checking its acceptability. Despite my increasingly frantic dictionary searches at the cluing stage, there is no evidence for PRUH being used a anything other than an interjection. Rejigging the grid proved out of the question in the time available so I had to let it go, while acknowledging that it was a nonce-word in the line below the clues. I really should have known better than to trust to my hazy memory of the pruh entry in Chambers. Very remiss of me.
 

 

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Solution