AZED CROSSWORD 1628

ENCOMION

1.  J. P. Guiver: Reckless CO’s mention in dispatches isn’t ground for high commendation (anag. less anag.).

2.  J. C. Leyland: Plonk importer’s first into inferior Macon, one lacking a bouquet (i in anag. less a).

3.  R. Phillips: In come larks leading elevated exaltation (anag. + on; elevated = tipsy, see exaltation).

VHC

J. R. Beresford: When one sadly departs, a moving —— could be seen as nomic (anag. less anag., & lit.).

C. J. Brougham: High commendation (without hint of misdeeds and a little overblown?) (anag. less m and tad (rev.), & lit.).

E. J. Burge: Order men in circle round CO for a speech of conmmendation (CO in anag. incl. O).

R. Dean: Complimentary remarks involved in come-on? (anag.).

N. C. Dexter: It’s encompassing foremost feature of individual on passing away (encom(passing) + i + on, & lit.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: One in slips written about compiler’s first three? (com in anag., & lit.; ref. AZ slip).

R. R. Greenfield: Payment of tribute can bear grievously on income (anag.).

J. Grimes: Show love for maiden in mnemonic moving tribute (anag. with 0 for m).

C. R. Gumbrell: See cracking person recalled by flatterer, in bidding farewell, with this? (C in one (rev.) + m(in)ion, & lit.).

P. Heffernan: Once broken down on motorway, no reversing will get praise (anag. + M1 + no (rev.)).

Dr A. J. Howie: Praising Monica L., one upset ex VP Gore (anag. less Al; ref. M. Lewinsky, Al G.).

D. F. Manley: Number one, second, …? See name? Ecstasy! ‘High commendation’ brings the reverse! (No. I mo C n E (all rev.); ref. AZ results).

P. McKenna: Icon with endless money being wasted, Lady Pecunia’s remembered here? (anag. less y; ref. satirical poem, ‘The Encomion of Lady Pecunia’ by R. Barnfield).

C. G. Millin: Frantic women headed with coin for the old loos (anag. less w; loos = commendation, see los).

T. J. Moorey: Marks once in middle of floor gone, a tribute to Ajax? (anag. incl. M, o; ref. Greek hero and cleaning fluid).

C. J. Morse: The leader apart, people with case for commendation will get it ((m)en + com(mendat)ion; ref. Prescott’s vain plea for recognition of Blair’s achievements).

W. Murphy: Nice broadcast at the occasion of pinning badge of distinction? (OM in anag. + on, & lit.).

T. D. Nicholl: No second century for comic buried amongst ‘none so funny’ praise (comi(c) in anag.; ref. Bob Hope).

D. H. Tompsett: In brief, it’s Oliver Mellors wreathing with Connie that’s Lawrence’s for nature (anag. incl. O. M.; ref. ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’).

J. R. Tozer: ‘Come on in leaps and bounds.’ This is praise indeed (anag.).

R. J. Whale: No income, poor and cracking up (anag.; crack up = praise).

HC

R. D. Anderson, D. Arthur, D. & N. Aspland, B. Balfour, A. Barker, E. A. Beaulah, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, R. E. Boot, C. Boyd, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, J. M. Brown, Dr J. Burscough, B. Burton, C. A. Clarke, D. C. Clenshaw, Mrs J. Critchley, E. Cross, T. J. Donnelly, L. K. Edkins, C. M. Edmunds, H. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, G. Goodwin, R. Haddock, J. Hastie, J. Hawkins, R. Hesketh, A. Hodgson, Mrs S. D. Johnson, G. Johnstone, D. C. Jones, F. P. N. Lake, J. P. Lester, P. Lloyd, Mrs J. Mackie, W. F. Main, P. W. Marlow, K. E. Milan, P. M. Navin, F. R. Palmer, Mrs E. M. Phair, A. Plumb, E. Powell, J. T. Price, M. Sanderson, W. J. M. Scotland, D. P. Shenkin, N. G. Shippobotham, T. Smith, R. Stocks, P. L. Stone, J. B. Sweeting, Ms S. Wallace, A. J. Wardrop, W. B. Wendt, Ms B. Widger, G. H. Willett, A. J. Young, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
 
268 entries, almost no mistakes. Favourite clues (in order): those for THRIFTY, STUCCO and JOCKETTE/JUVE/TAPE (third equal), with eighteen in all getting at least one mention. By general consensus a relatively straightforward puzzle, though a fair amount of correction fluid was noticeable on the last two letters of the clue word. TETON was a little obscure, admittedly, but only a little. The Teton Mountains are perhaps better known than the river that winds among them, but the latter features in good atlases. (A friend of mine who has a flat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, says he looks out from his balcony on the Tetons, which apparently take their name from a Native American word for ‘breast’ because of their shape.)
 
I’m sorry the results and the slip have been late this month. The reason wasn’t, as you may have supposed, that I was on holiday, but rather that I have been embroiled in the traumatic business of moving house. After nearly 28 years in The Thatched Cottage, Lower Radley, we have moved into Oxford, to a house in which my wife spent part of her childhood, so it is a sort of homecoming for her. We have builders in doing a fairly extensive modernization, so things are still pretty chaotic, though the end is in sight. There will be a new box number and postcode for competition entries: PO Box 518, Oxford OX2 6WX.
 
I now have a copy of the new (ninth) edition of Chambers and will start recommending it from November onwards (since September and October puzzles are already ‘in the can’ having been compiled from the 1998 edition). It has a new larger format and a new sanserif typeface throughout, and boasts 6,000 new ‘references’ and 10,000 new definitions, but I haven’t yet had time to explore it further. My thanks to Dr K. P. Hart and Mr W. Wynne Willson, both mathematicians, who put me straight on my inadequate definition of TOTIENT (the sort of word I dread having to clue) in No. 1,626 recently, though their explanations are largely beyond my unscientific brain; and to Mr D. V. Harry, who has returned to the fold after some years’ absence and makes some interesting comparisons between current slips and those of 19 years ago. He also suggests that the word ‘slip’ (a Ximenean coinage) is no longer an appropriate name for something that has grown over the years, but can’t think of what else it might be called. Any ideas? Or stet?