AZED CROSSWORD 1667

CLARINI

1.  N. C. Dexter: Some brass monkey about with air nil C! (anag.; C = Celsius).

2.  D. F. Manley: Jericho walls being demolished – it could be e.g. —— Josh blew (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. Joshua 6).

3.  R. Perry: With first disengaged Sinclair’s buggy stops (anag. less S; ref. Sir Clive S.’s C5).

VHC

M. Barley: Corps left in Iraq not fully equipped embarrassed top brass (C l + anag. less q).

J. R. Beresford: Clear instruments on one dash in learner car (anag. incl. L + I).

D. C. Clenshaw: Short of money, criminal misappropriated some brass (anag. less M).

V. Dixon: In much of Iraq (not capital), rising stops with recall of top brass? (in Ira(q) lc (all rev.); lc = lower case).

T. Fell: Baroque air in C, Purcell’s last for trumpets (anag. incl. l).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Bands in coal industry initially are gone? Those of brass used to flourish (clar(a)in + i).

R. R. Greenfield: High wind in Ivory Coast, punctuated by a drop of light and patchy rain (l + anag., all in CI).

J. Grimes: Charlie in Busted – he pulls out the stops! (anag. less he; ref. rock band).

J. P. Guiver: In launch, RN official’s dropping off some top brass (anag. less off).

D. V. Harry: What’s a rufiyaa made of? Nickel not brass these days (i.e. C lari + Ni; Maldivian currency).

R. Hesketh: After playing principal parts with pedals, organ stops (anag. less P, P).

R. J. Hooper: Irenical winds? Not the first of epithets here (anag. less e, & lit.; wind²).

G. Johnstone: Lully’s first ‘Air in C’ arranged for trumpets (anag. incl. L; ref. J.-B. L., baroque composer).

J. C. Leyland: Extreme parts for trumpet such as might be scored in Scarlatti (comp. anag. incl. t, t, & lit.).

T. J. Moorey: Top brass in Iraq struggling with terms for strategic withdrawal, no question (anag. incl. c, l, less q).

C. J. Morse: See Gunners in one-nil reverse, and trumpeting stops (C + RA in I-nil (all rev.); ref. Arsenal’s aim to complete League without defeat).

F. R. Palmer: They’re deployed in miracle where perimeter falls away? (anag. of in (m)iracl(e), & lit.; ref. walls of Jericho).

W. Ransome: Hear it: shrill entrancing music comes from these high clear instruments (comp. anag. & lit.).

P. L. Stone: Trumpets sound not for Claudio Ranieri, sacked without hesitation (Cl(audio) + anag. less er; ref. Chelsea manager).

J. R. Tozer: Top brass denied element of military mistreated ‘criminal’ (anag. less m; ref. accusations of brutality in Iraq).

M. Wainwright: Trumpeters keying —— could be interpreting ‘early musick’ (comp. anag. & lit.).

HC

C. J. Anderson, D. Appleton, D. Arthur, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, C. J. Brougham, J. M. Brown, E. J. Burge, B. Burton, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, C. W. Clenshaw, M. Coates, R. M. S. Cork, Mrs F. A. Crawford, Mrs J. M. Critchley, E. Cross, G. Cuthbert, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, L. J. Davenport, W. Duffin, A. G. Fleming, H. Freeman, M. Freeman, C. R. Gumbrell, R. Jacks, W. Jackson, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, Ms J. E. Jesson, J. R. H. Jones, J. P. Lester, P. W. Marlow, R. J. Mathers, P. McKenna, C. G. Millin, W. Murphy, R. A. Norton, D. Parfitt, D. Pendrey, Mrs E. M. Phair, J. T. Price, D. Price Jones, Mrs J. Sawyer, N. G. Shippobotham, D. J. Short, P. Thacker, D. H. Tompsett, A. P. Vick, P. J. Wagstaffe, W. B. Wendt, G. J. Wenman, R. J. Whale, Ms B. J. Widger, D. C. Williamson, Dr E. Young, R. Zara.
 

Comments
280 entries, no mistakes. Favourite clue: that for OTALGIA (‘This spun out may give pains to a lug’), followed closely by those for FEATHERPATE and OCTAD, and with 24 clues receiving at least one mention. Thankfully there were no postal problems this month. The recent upheavals in Oxford seem to have been resolved, though deliveries are now even later than they were before. It is purely coincidental that our first two prizewinners this month are both Oxford residents. (Another beauty from Mr Dexter, none the worse for being mildly improper, and a clever composite anagram from Mr Manley with a biblical reference, an area he delights in exploring.) Incidentally, when the postal logjam finally worked itself free well over a hundred entries reached me in addition to those on which I based my judgement, a clear indication that I made the right decision. My commiserations again to the authors of any gems that went unnoticed.
 
I had some misgivings about giving you CLARINI, the second plural in a row and a word which I feared might offer only limited possibilities. I was quite wrong. It was a sparkling entry, with lots of punchy and/or topical entries, often featuring Iraq and top brass. Well done, everyone. I have only one specific criticism, and it’s one I’ve made many times before, though the message never seems to get across to everybody. I don’t accept (and never will) that a collocation such as ‘criminal activity’ can indicate an anagram of ‘criminal’. There are crosswords where this (to me) loose use of language is commonplace, but I remain unmoved. In the cryptic reading the phrase is required to mean ‘activity of (the word) criminal’ but this cannot be justified by any normal linguistic construct (i.e., in short, it makes no sense). You must say what you mean.
 
My thanks to those of you who commented on my 1666 puzzle, for the most part favourably. A few were mystified by the unclued lights (TANSY/PASSAGE and CUSTARD/ANGLE). Though historians are far from unanimous in accepting that Pudding Lane and Pie Corner were where the Great Fire of London actually began and ended (especially the latter), the names have surely passed into folklore (see Brewer, for example). It’s one of those bits of trivia I’ve had in my mental lumber-room since childhood.