AZED CROSSWORD 1831

MARGINALIA

1.  Dr E. Young: Messages by text spell an end to posting airmail (anag. incl. g; spell = enchant).

2.  M. Barley: Anagram & lit. unfinished, one needs solution and notes beside (anag. less t, incl. I).

3.  M. A. Macdonald-Cooper: Lara, aiming cut, evoking observations from commentators? (anag.; ref. cricket, Brian L.).

VHC

D. Appleton: What might fill gutters, badly alarming those who calculate insurance premiums (anag. + IA).

C. J. Brougham: Problem nun takes spirits with a lot of beer and stuff on the side (gin al(e) in Maria; ref. ‘The Sound of Music’).

B. Cheesman: Making a hash of ‘anag. & lit.’ (almost), I mar the annotations alongside (anag. less t).

N. C. Dexter: They could give a reading, at the sides, in Lamia, perhaps (anag. incl. r, g, & lit.; ref. Keats poem).

C. M. Edmunds: Lollobrigida? – in Andrews Sister role? In a skirt, script notes (Gina L. in Maria; ref. Julie A. in ‘The Sound of Music’).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Result of editing à la main – pieces of red ink, generally? (anag. incl. r i g, & lit.).

J. F. Grimshaw: Damage mothers’ ruin brought to a person lying endless minutes in the gutter? (mar gin a lia(r)).

Ms S. B. Hart: Anagram & lit. I resolved with no time for scribbling on the side (anag. less t).

M. Hodgkin: Letters of anagram I scrawled either side of slip’s central text? (li in anag., & lit.).

Mrs S. G. Johnson: Ailing Marat, losing last drop of claret, collapsed writing on edge of sheet (anag. less t; ref. David picture).

G. Johnstone: Bits on the side denoting a ‘girl mania’ complex (anag.).

J. R. H. Jones: In writing fever, muddles left and right (having drink taken), and scribbles on either side (gin in malaria with l, r switched).

J. C. Leyland: Rain 1 a.m., gale blowing east veering a few points laterally (anag. less E).

P. W. Marlow: Baffling anagram? I left it lacking time as scribbles at side of paper (anag. incl. I l i(t)).

R. S. Morse: Imagine Arsenal matches seen being played with these additions to the side! (comp. anag.).

D. Price Jones: Mrs Simpson, we hear, at start of abdication trouble retorted, ‘More than a bit on the side!’ (‘Marge’ + in a + ail (rev.); ref. cartoon family and Wallace S.).

D. R. Robinson: Sideline commentary from Milan/Cagliari playing after sending off odd characters in ‘calcio’ (anag. less c l i; ref. Italian football).

V. Seth: Great man’s familiar puzzles: Fermat’s these? (comp. anag. & lit.; F.’s last theorem originally written as m.).

Mrs A. Terrill: Editorial comments, perhaps, in ‘Mail’, a rag needing editing! (anag.).

Ms S. Wallace: WS? The bard’s selected —— could be what are inscribed at MS edges all untidily (comp. anag. & lit.).

HC

T. Anderson, D. Arthur, D. & N. Aspland, M. Barker, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, Dr J. Burscough, C. A. Clarke, M. Coates, E. Cross, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, R. Dean, V. Dixon, W. Drever, A. S. Everest, A. G. Fleming, M. Goodliffe, G. I. L. Grafton, J. Grimes, W. Gundrey, R. Haddock, D. V. Harry, R. J. Heald, R. Hesketh, M. F. Hutchinson, Mrs S. D. Johnson, B. Jones, C. J. Lancaster, M. Livermore, P. R. Lloyd, P. Long, D. F. Manley, P. C. Matthews, P. McKenna, C. G. Millin, T. J. Moorey, C. J. Morse, T. D. Nicholl, C. Ogilvie, D. Parfitt, J. Pearce, M. L. Perkins, Dr T. G. Powell, D. Raine, D. Sargent, R. G. Smith, S. J. J. Tiffin, C. J. A. Underhill, Ms C. van Starkenburg, D. C. Williamson, J. Woodall.
 

ANNUAL HONOURS LIST (13 COMPETITIONS)
1. M. Barley (2 prizes, 9 VHCs); 2. D. Parfitt (2,7); 3 (equal). N. C. Dexter (1,8), R. J. Heald (1,8), D. F. Manley (2,6); 6 (equal). J. C. Leyland (2,5), A. J. Wardrop (3,3); 8 (equal). R. S. Morse (2,3), J. R. Tozer (1,5), D. C. Williamson (2,3); 11 (equal). D. Appleton (0,6), V. Dixon (0,6), Dr I. S. Fletcher (1,4), R. Hesketh (0,6), M. Hodgkin (1,4), C. J. Morse (2,2), N. G. Shippobotham (1,4), Ms S. Wallace (1,4), R. J. Whale (2,2), G. H. Willett (1,4); 21 (equal). C. J. Brougham (1,3), C. A. Clarke (1,3), E. Cross (0,5), J. F. Grimshaw (1,3), R. J. Palmer (0,5). 26 (equal). D. & N. Aspland (0,4), M. Goodliffe (1,2), J. Grimes (1,2), M. A. Macdonald-Cooper (1,2), P. W. Marlow (0,4), C. G. Millin (1,2), T. J. Moorey (1,2), P. L. Stone (1,2), Dr E. Young (1,2).
 
CONSOLATION PRIZES D. Appleton, V. Dixon, R. Hesketh, E. Cross, R. J. Palmer, D. & N. Aspland, P. W. Marlow.
 

 
COMMENTS
 
230 entries, no noticeable mistakes, apart from my own careless slip in defining GUSLAR as the instrument, not the player thereof. Favourite clue: ‘Arrows fired heavenward can be activated with bow’ (down clue) for STRAD, with HONGI in second place and FROGS and OHONE equal third in a field of 24 mentioned. One or two of you suggested that ‘miller’ in the SAWDUSTY clue should have had a capital initial. I thought about this and decided that both millers and Millers are often nicknamed ‘Dusty’ (for obvious reasons) and that the clue read better without the capital. There was also some head-scratching over my clue to LEADING CASE (‘Space between words, maybe, binding as legal precedent’), perhaps through failure to recognize ‘case’ as a definition for ‘binding’ in the sense of ‘the covering of a book’ and the ambiguity of ‘leading’, still a common term in the printing business though lead is rarely used nowadays.
 
A nice variety of ideas for dealing with MARGINALIA. I had quite forgotten, and was pleased to be reminded, about old Fermat and his ‘last theorem’, though I think to be strictly accurate his own marginal scribble indicated (possibly) that he had worked out a proof for his theory, without saying what it was. There also seems to be some evidence that Coleridge was the first to coin the term MARGINALIA: the first quote in the OED is by him, dated 1852. And I learn that Edgar Allan Poe published essays between 1844 and 1849 on various topics under the general title Marginalia. Finally, one competitor – I failed to note which – sent me photocopied pages of an edition of Chambers’s (as it then was) which he’d bought in a second-hand bookshop and which had clearly belonged to Ximenes as it is covered with his marginal notes relating to his puzzles Nos 256-677 – quite a find.
 
No time for more now, except to warn you that, because of planned holidays, I may have to delay the announcement of results in both the August and the September competitions, by not more than a week in each case. And congratulations to all those whose names feature in the 35th annual honours list above, especially to Mr Barley for retaining his first place overall. He was neck-and-neck with Mr Parfitt, who has had a quite meteoric rise to success, going into the last competition, where he just managed to pull ahead. My sincere thanks once again to Martin Perkins for his help in keeping the scores.