AZED CROSSWORD 165

Lance, pompano, bonito, porbeagle, thornback, menhaden, albacore, huso (Anagram)

1.  Dr G. B. Greer: People can catch ‘em, hook ‘em, one and all, using a net, bob, barb, or harpoon.

2.  P. Drummond: Each booboo planned. Untangle a marine troop. Chambers’ book can help.

3.  G. H. Clarke: Oh help! Benn on B.B.C. shook me! Anagram dealt boon – a real preoccupation.

VHC

R. Abrey: Bombard back-bencher, a palaeontological phenomenon (Eoanthropus).

G. Aspin: Phenomenal ocean scrabble to bring me honour and poach a book plate?

F. D. H. Atkinson: Launched on anagram alone, hopes ebb. Pro bono meo catch pink bloater!

M. J. Balfour: To pooh-pooh Callaghan in European market, comrade Benn nobbles B.A.C.

C. O. Butcher: An anagram can be a pronounced problem – a shibboleth to help cook one.

R. S. Caffyn: Problem can take age… No, no – probable hunch, amenable, too… Ah, coin drops!

R. O. Calder: Problem:– To do anagram chaos. One hint:– No U.K. ocean can be probable help.

M. Coates: ‘Ombrophobous’, ‘ancon’ and anagram can help keep bonce lithe or able.

Mrs C. E. Constable: Bandage on poor knee can push a noble compiler to march on at a hobble.

Mrs M. P. Craine: An anagram, eh? O.K. – E.E.C.? A poll – a bold act. On B.B.C. P.M. hopes ‘In’ or hero Benn ‘Out’

A. L. Dennis: Can that improbable bore U. Geller make a spoon bend? Oho no! No chap can.

J. R. du Parcq: Go plumb the ocean deep, an A.B. can; / Or look in Chambers (boo!) – another plan.

S. Goldie: Can one harpoon, net, and hook be ample, catching us? A probable bloomer!

R. H. F. Isham: An angler on a bank, complete in bobble-hat and cape; our composer? Ho, ho!

A. B. Jones: No paragraph on us? Oh! handbook (bible on ocean realm) can’t be complete.

J. R. Kirby: To them home’s a purple open ocean, cool and babbling reach, or on a bank.

Mrs S. M. Macpherson: An anagram can hobble poor boob like me, and the top cluers can hope on.

D. F. Manley: Keen angler can blab, ‘I made an enormous catch’. Not probable – pooh-pooh.

C. G. Millin: Maroon kippers can’t nobble me – blue cod, an orange loath? Bah! Not a hope.

P. G. O’Gorman: Ombrophobous and ancon – no bookplate. Hell! Anagram can be the recipe.

F. R. Palmer: Hooha (Market debate looming up – Barbara, Benn, H. Scanlon, Co. con people).

M. L. Perkins: Labour boob: Benn and Callaghan oppose each other on Market – P.M. on ice.

R. G. Rae: One notable band these… no common bag like a loath, pope, chub… nor a parr!

C. G. Shepherd: A bream, a chub, a pollock or an ablet can be ‘shod’, no? Ponder on phonemes!

M. D. Speigel: European economic problems bother bank – Callaghan to abandon hope?

Mrs S. M. Williams: England ban on Europe? Mob can choose. Each mark ballot paper in booth.

HC

R. H. Adey, C. Allen Baker, D. W. Babbage, S. Barnett, J. W. Bates, T. E. Bell, P. Berman, E. C. Bingham, Mrs A. R. Bradford, D. A. H. Byatt, P. A. Cash, E. Chalkley, A. E. Crow, A. J. Crow, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, A. J. Duncum, E. G. Durham, M. A. Elder, J. A. Fincken, Mrs E. A. George, N. C. Goddard, Mrs R. Harvey, Mrs R. Herbert, Miss A. Hopkin, Dr T. O. Hughes, W. Islip, B. Jackson, P. H. D. Jones, A. D. Legge, H. R. Lockhart, C. J. Lowe, D. P. M. Michael, C. J. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, D. S. Nagle, T. N. Nesbitt, E. G. Noble, J. O’Hagan, M. O’Sullivan, R. J. Palmer, S. L. Paton, W. H. Pegram, Mrs G. Rajkowska, W. Rodgers, M. G. Rupp, J. Shaughnessy, W. K. M. Slimmings, G. Snowden-Davies, F. W. R. Stocks, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, J. G. Stubbs, G. A. Tomlinson, R. D. Vaughan-Davies, M. H. E. Watson, T. Wightman, H. W. Wood.
 

Comments
About 330 entries. The only mistake I spotted was EYNE for EINE, due, I imagine, to ignorance of the French ‘reine’= queen. About 25 made this error. It was pure chance, or perhaps some subconscious mood of francophilia, that the puzzle contained a second usage of a French word (‘nus’ = naked (pl.)). I try not to overdo this use of foreign languages, and to stick to pretty simple words when I use them at all, since I regard it as unfair to expect solvers to be fluent in other languages than their own. I remember once being deeply disappointed that a clue of mine which depended on a knowledge of Latin failed to find favour with Ximenes. (I even remember the clue: ‘It’s enough to go to Juvenal for this’, the answer being SATIRE.) I can’t say I wouldn’t use a similar clue again myself, but it would be only once in a blue moon, and I do see the objection. As I’ve said before elsewhere, you never know exactly how much other people know. ‘That’s common knowledge’ is a dangerously assertive expression, so clues which depend to some extent on specialised knowledge of some kind should be handled with kid gloves.
 
I’m glad so many of you seem to have enjoyed ‘Red Herrings’. I enjoyed making it up, once the idea had occurred to me. Eight unclued words (with a pretty wide range to choose from) is not too difficult a number to fit into the standard format and one saves oneself that number of clues at the end. Making up long anagrams is not everyone’s cup of tea, I know, but it is popular enough in many quarters for me to use it in a competition puzzle from time to time. The selection above is proof enough of just how inventive it’s possible to be with seemingly intractable letters. I included Mr. Abrey’s anagram out of sheer admiration that he’d managed to reduce them to only six words (and one of those ‘a’).
 
Many thanks for all your kind messages of sympathy about my op. A nasty complication in the form of a pulmonary embolus kept me ‘off games’ longer than anticipated. I am, it appears, a very ready clotter! All’s well again now, I’m happy to say, and I’m back at work once more.