AZED CROSSWORD 1792

APPALOOSA / ESTAMINET

1.  Dr I. S. Fletcher: Alarm raised when those packing food spotted grey mould in meat set for café (appal + as (f)oo(d) (rev.); anag.).

2.  N. Lusted: Matins, tee off, bar, horse race: father John has a pleasant Sunday afternoon all round (anag.; pa loo in a PSA).

3.  T. J. Moorey: Equine circles in dismay say endlessly horse’s rump isn’t meat to he butchered for a bistro (OO in appal sa(y); anag. incl. e).

VHC

T. Anderson: Apparently, they of abandoned repute gathered in cocktail site Manet painted (loos in app a a; anag. & lit.; ref. M. painting, ‘A Bar at the Folies-Bergères’; cocktail²;).

M. Barker: Site meant for redevelopment as ‘Café Paolo’ unexpectedly cased by a public authority – a breed normally spotted taking someone for a ride (anag.; anag. in a PSA).

M. Barley: Apparent as one heads inside the Spotted Horse bar is its name, quirky and a little alien (app. + loo in as a; anag. + ET).

T. C. Borland: Rendition of tame set in bar, comprising a couple of empty numbers, dismays a type usually fond of bluegrass (anag.; 00 in appals + a).

R. Dean: Pair in shock – it spotted horse meat dished out with stein in bistro (00 in appal SA; anag.).

N. C. Dexter: Almost all in a racy soap op nag tipsily at ‘Time!’ closures of the Rovers Return bar (al(l) in a + anag.; anag. incl. e, s, n; ref. ‘Coronation Street’).

M. Goodliffe: Apparently Dad’s eating potatoes – horse meat isn’t remarkably full of energy for a diner (ap. + aloos in Pa; E in anag.).

R. J. Heald: Parisian friend following French art is enthralled by canvas put up in local café – it’s mounted before a meal, and friend loves it (es + ami in tent (rev.); ap pal 00 SA).

P. Heffernan: Staggering! A Salop OAP spotted horse in meat set out for little café (anag.; anag.).

P. F. Henderson: French café beginning to experiment – it’s meant to be Crazy Horse – apparently almost everyone loves it (e + anag.; app al(l) 00 SA; ref. Paris cabaret).

R. J. Hooper: Equus to shock circle, in due course springing up before matinee’s done and heading for theatre bar (appal + O + so (rev.) + a; anag. + t).

P. McKenna: Nag’s Head to open on second afternoon after dim inmate set alight a bar (appal o(pen) o’ s a; anag.).

C. G. Millin: An addicts’ association stocking alcopops surprisingly, not cocaine or horse – i.e. a TT man’s dodgy bar (anag. less C in AA; anag.; horse = heroin).

R. J. Palmer: Wherein meat’s cooked trendily and French giving shock to those starting orders of steak and getting horse (anag. + in + et; appal + first letters).

D. Parfitt: I am tense performing gymnastics on the bar, horse and rings after shock on second piece of apparatus (anag. + t’; appal + OO + s a).

N. G. Shippobotham: ‘Pale with hints of oriental oolong,’ says advert for transporter of Indian mint teas some Europeans order here? (appal + first letters; anag. incl. E, & lit.).

P. L. Stone: Bistro’s casseroled meat is pure horse – apparently spiced potato goes with it (anag. + net; app. aloo SA).

D. H. Tompsett: I’m Steen at work – here perhaps paint’s applied by one privy to it (anag. & lit.; app. a loo SA; ref. Jan S., painter of tavern scenes; paint = piebald horse).

A. J. Wardrop: Wherein you might see men sit and eat horse, a very soft potato with it (anag. & lit.; a pp aloo + SA).

M. Welsh: Horse play as pa and a polo set met in a rough bar (anag.; anag.).

Dr M. C. Whelan: Mashed pap, potato with it, horse meat’s cooked in alien café (anag. + aloo + SA; anag. + in + ET).

HC

D. Appleton, D. & N. Aspland, T. Blightman, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, B. Burton, D. A. Campbell, D. Carter, C. A. Clarke, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, E. Dawid, V. Dixon, C. M. Edmunds, C. J. Ellis, A. S. Everest, G. I. L. Grafton, D. Harris, D. V. Harry, C. & C. Hinton, B. Hitman, E. C. Lance, B. J. Leatherbarrow, J. C. Leyland, P. Lloyd, I. & G. Macniven, D. F. Manley, P. W. Marlow, C. J. Morse, R. S. Morse, C. Ogilvie, G. Perry, W. Ransome, M. Sanderson, Dr S. J. Shaw, D. P. Shenkin, I. Simpson, A. Streatfield, K. Thomas, Ms S. Wallace, R. J. Whale, D. C. Williamson.
 

Comments
A low entry: 183. but with almost no mistakes (one incomplete entry and one competitor who got in an awful tangle through having CLABBER for CLOTBUR). In my Ximenes-solving days I think I regarded ‘R & L’ as one of the less challenging special types. once one got past the initial problem of identifying which side each part-solution had to go. (One could then leave the decision of placing each of the two blocks until the end if one worked in pencil or in a rough book.) But as some of you pointed out this time there were as many as ten instances of identical letters falling in matching squares on either side (not a deliberate plan on my part. but probably something that would have given me quiet satisfaction had I noticed it!). The favourite clue this month was actually 1 Across (‘Right and left here? It’s about working partners out’) but in the context that hardly qualifies; of the double clues. ‘Bread for birds one lodged in (old US) gum tree’ (PITTA/CARAP) and ‘Unbroadcast romance, love for a flighty air-hostess ignoring landlord in harems’ (OFF-AIR/SERAIS) shared first place.
 
Constructing double clues for two totally unrelated words presents a special challenge. Writers should have three main (and often difficult) aims, it. seems to me. in addition to the standard ones of accuracy and structural soundness: (i) to achieve an overall surface reading that makes a modicum of convincing sense; (ii) to disguise as far as they can the division between the two parts. whether or not this is marked by punctuation; and (iii) to do this a succinctly as possible. Double clues running to twenty words or more immediately strike the judge as weak. If less successful competitors closely examine the clues quoted above, they will find that they all fulfil these basic criteria. I suppose the most promising way of linking these two words was the Gallic fondness (at least in days gone by) for eating horsemeat. It is my impression that horse butchers are less a feature of French towns than they used to be. though they have not completely disappeared by any means. You just don’t see horsemeat on menus much, I guess. (I remember being disturbed and puzzled as a very young boy when my grandmother spoke of having personally made the ‘horsemeat balls’ that were a feature of her stews. when what she actually said was ‘forcemeat’.) But enough of these culinary digressions.
 
I have two errors in last month’s slip to correct: (i) Mr Cross’s VHC should have read ‘I see the allegro is transposed ...‘: and Mr D. (Dafydd) Price Jones should have appeared thus in the HC list. not as ‘D. Dafydd Jones’. My apologies to both gentlemen. who pointed out my errors with the courtesy that is typical of Azed solvers.