AZED CROSSWORD 1804

CLOTHES SENSE (Spoonerisms)

1.  R. S. Morse: Getting rare white Noel, chess set’s being played with (wear right; anag.).

2.  P. L. Stone: Galvanised steel’s chosen to make great wheel for fair (feel for wear; anag.).

3.  C. G. Millin: What handy Daz, with which one could make sheets so clean! (dandy has; anag. with a).

VHC (extra prizes)

M. Barley: Behold the special Son in happy scene – it’s displayed in site of stall (sort of style; lo + the + s s, all in anag.).

N. C. Dexter: Fear glare after onset of cataracts? Get those lenses changed! (gear flair; c + anag.).

V. Dixon: Going best near end – inserting letters, in short, with a certain dash (knowing best gear; Thess. + en, all in close).

R. Hesketh: Adrift when guessing wrongly he loses scent (a gift when dressing; anag.).

M. Hodgkin: Such civvies seen on trannies show one with chest less developed (savvy’s seen on Trinny’s show; anag.; ref. TV show ‘What Not to Wear’, with Trinny and Susannah; tranny = transvestite).

M. Jones: Tear in a flier’s carbon steel nose leads to Hurricane spiralling out of control (flair in attire; C + anag. incl. H, s).

L. Keet: Shot is weak ’cos the lenses are broken (what is chic; anag.).

C. Loving: Cook sees to lunches (non-U) – fancy serving dank chips! (dink chaps; anag. less U).

P. W. Marlow: Feel for wit fair game around group being close to abusive (fit wear; lot in chess + ens + e).

N. McHale: Choosing guest beer he’s sent reeling in the end (best gear; anag. in close).

G. McStravick: It’s throwing Ned’s intros to Loose Ends with host cracking up in odd scenes (knowing threads; anag. incl. L, E in anag.; ref. radio show with N. Sherrin).

T. J. Moorey: The closeness in gay relationship is shown by adopting two sprogs (spruce togs; anag.).

A. Morgan-Richards: Upstart teaches lesson, ignoring active disapproval of Crown boards for formal events (brown cords; anag. less a).

R. Perry: Cold and unwilling; being, in essence, cunning in the face of passion (pace of fashion; c loth + ens in esse).

P. Pridmore: Penning of a carol about Noël set off round pianist (kenning of apparel; c. + Hess in anag.; ref. Myra H.).

D. P. Shenkin: Select noshes (assorted) knowing the guest beer (best gear; anag.).

R. C. Teuton: Hostel’s scene stimulated taste for guest beer (best gear; anag.).

C. W. Thomas: High wheel for fair: forged steel’s chosen (feel for wear; anag.).

K. Thomas: Bright mum’ll have epitomised this essence – ‘sloth abandoned’ (might Brummel; anag.; ref. Beau B.).

D. H. Tompsett: Belch’s last scenes stole play: this Twelfth Night’s lured stacks (steward lacks; anag. incl. h; ref. Malvolio, Sir Toby B.).

J. R. Tozer: Fowl four eat fits special order of ‘select noshes’ (feel for outfits; anag.).

A. J. Wardrop: Blair foes show Gordon Brown’s possibly less honest at heart (flair beaux show; anag. in CE; ref. PM and Chancellor’s rivalry).

Dr E. Young: Arrange the lessons alternately, each matching a carol with pair? (apparel with care; anag. incl e(a)c(h)).

HC

W. G. Arnott, D. & N. Aspland, P. Bartlam, D. J. Bexson, T. C. Borland, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, C. J. & M. P. Butler, A. & J. Calder, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, P. Cargill, C. A. Clarke, D. C. Clenshaw, M. Coates, E. Cross, A. J. Dorn, C. M. Edmunds, J. Fairclough, W. P. Field, Dr I. S. Fletcher, H. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, R. Gilbert, J. Gill, R. Gizzi, D. Goldberg, M. Goodliffe, J. Grimes, J. F. Grimshaw, R. Haddock, A. & R. Haden, D. Harris, D. V. Harry, R. J. Heald, V. G. Henderson, G. Johnstone, E. C. Lance, J. P. Lester, J. C. Leyland, N. MacSweeney, D. F. Manley, P. McKenna, C. J. Morse, R. Murdoch, W. Murphy, R. J. Palmer, M. L. Perkins, A. Plumb, D. Sargent, D. Shiell, N. G. Shippobotham, D. A. Simmons, I. Simpson, J. Tebbutt, Ms S. Wallace, L. Ward, M. H. E. Watson, J. West, G. H. Willett, D. C. Williamson, A. J. Young, M. P. Young, R. Zara.
 

Comments
274 entries, very few mistakes (mostly through filling in the Playfair pairs incorrectly) Favourite clue (of many mentioned): ‘Why birds mope as air becomes turbulent’ for PAROEMIAS, not a word I’d come across before. In terms of overall difficulty, the puzzle was I think one of my gentler offerings. This was deliberate – I don’t think you want a real snorter at Christmastime – and if the preamble appeared a bit daunting at first it really did give quite a lot of help. Knowing from the start which clues contained Spoonerisms meant you could look for them straight away, and most will have been relatively easy to spot. This also made life easier for me too, of course, in that I didn’t have to worry about including ‘Spoonerizable’ words in the grid. I’d been meaning to give you a Spoonerisms puzzle for some time, but for the Christmas competition it needed an extra dimension. I can’t now recall when turkey and chips occurred to me but it immediately gave me the idea for the Playfair element. (I spent ages searching for ‘cherqui’ as an alternative spelling, and also considering ‘chicky and turps’, before accepting that I’d have to make do with an inexact Spoonerism.)
 
There were many different Spoonerisms for CLOTHESSENSE, which pleased me since I chose the clue word on the basis that it was likely to offer a wide range of possible treatments. A few Spoonerisms were a bit too approximate for acceptability (e.g. ‘coat you tore’ for ‘haute couture’) but in general I erred on the side of generosity when judging entries. This made my final decision very difficult to reach. Most of you understandably used anagrams for the cryptic part of your clues, and some of these cropped up quite often. Only Mr Morse used his anagram, and I was immediately taken by the image of Christmas games of chess been used to pass the time as the snowdrifts pile up outside. But the high level of inventiveness all round was very cheering to me during the rather flat period that always follows the traditional festivities. Thank you all for that.
 
I don’t have time for more (having the January competition to deal with) but must just mention a delightful, and supposedly true, Spooner story (new to me) included with his entry by Mr Jack Gill. ‘Dr S. cycled to Greenwich to meet a colleague at a pub called the Dull Man only to be told by his wife, when he phoned in some distress, that he was supposed to be at the Green Man in Dulwich.’