AZED CROSSWORD 1849

AUXESIS

1.  Dr I. S. Fletcher: A change from six EU’s shown? (a + anag., & lit.; ref. enlargement of EU/EEC from original number).

2.  C. J. Brougham: Active wife, taken with Bayeux’s art, lives for embroidery (a ux. + es (Fr.) + is).

3.  R. J. Heald: Such a trope placed artfully could make a prosaic tale ‘sexed-up’ (comp. anag. & lit.).

VHC

W. G. Arnott: Going over the top, Australia’s opening pair smashed sixes (Au + anag.).

D. Arthur: Article I sex up to feed under-secretary extravagant claims (a + I sex (rev.) in US).

D. & N. Aspland: Sex up bit of intelligence as fodder for awful USA exaggeration (sex (rev.) + I, all in anag.).

E. J. Burge: Unsettled tax issue – taxpayer initially rejected increase (anag. less t).

Mrs M. J. Cansfield: USA confused about uprising in Congress? That’s an exaggeration (i’ sex (rev.) in anag.).

C. A. Clarke: A universal result of mounting libido is in tumescence (a + U + sex (rev.) + is).

R. M. S. Cork: Guenon afflicted with this growth may become exsanguineous (comp. anag.).

J. Grimes: Uranium treasure site in waters up north of Iceland will produce growth (U ‘X’ in sea (rev.) + IS).

R. B. Harling: Bosom fully developed with this augmentation makes lousy falsies buxom (comp. anag.).

R. J. Hooper: What brings one to the art at Bayeux is more than just embroidery (aux es (Fr.) + is).

Mrs S. D. Johnson: Incomplete axe issue compounded overgrowth (anag. less e).

E. C. Lance: Expansive embroidery: Bayeux’s is blighted by being neglected (anag. less by).

J. C. Leyland: With Heather finally gone, what breaks Sir Paul’s heart, ex’s exorbitant claim? (anag. less r incl. au; ref. Mills / McCartney divorce settlement).

G. McStravick: Dodgy dossier was sexed up i.e. rewrites were disposed with exaggeration (comp. anag.).

T. J. Moorey: Enlargement or unchanged encapsulates EU binding vote coming up (X in EU (rev.) in as is; ref. e.g. Croatia entry).

C. J. Morse: To the French their art is an extension from the Greek (aux es (Fr.) + is).

R. S. Morse: Australia’s openers clobbered sixes, ‘going over the top’ in a manner of speaking (Au + anag.).

D. Parfitt: I sex up boring and uninspired speech, primarily (I sex (rev.) in first letters, & lit.).

M. Sanderson: English second XI made mincemeat of in Australia? That’s pure exaggeration (anag. of E s XI in AUS).

S. Saunders: Axe is u/s for chopping old growth (anag.).

D. C. Williamson: Leaving the egg, developing “oiseaux” primarily show this? (anag. less O + s, & lit.).

HC

D. Appleton, J. Baines, M. Barley, P. Bartlam, C. Boyd, Dr J. Burscough, C. J. & M. P. Butler, D. A. Campbell, B. Cheesman, M. Coates, E. Cross, R. Dean, N. C. Dexter, V. Dixon, C. M. Edmunds, M. Freeman, A. Gascoigne, R. Gilbert, M. Goodliffe, A. & R. Haden, M. Hanley, D. V. Harry, P. Heffernan, R. Hesketh, T. Jacobs, Mrs S. G. Johnson, M. Livermore, S. G. G. Macdonald, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, W. F. Main, D. F. Manley, P. McKenna, K. Milan, C. G. Millin, W. Murphy, D. J. R. Ogilvie, F. R. Palmer, M. L. Perkins, R. Perry, D. Sargent, J. M. Sharman, N. G. Shippobotham, D. J. Short, C. M. Steele, P. L. Stone, R. C. Teuton, K. Thomas, J. R. Tozer, Ms S. Wallace, A. J. Wardrop, R. J. Whale, G. H. Willett, W. Wynne Willson, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
211 entries, no mistakes that I spotted except for a couple of incomplete grids. I’m sure these were the result of carelessness (not much point sending them in otherwise) and I do urge you all to check that you’ve completed the puzzle before you send it off. It breaks my heart – I’m speaking ‘auxetically’, you understand – to see a promising clue disqualified (as it must be) for this reason. Easily your favourite clue of the month was ‘Bacon and mushrooms served up, centrepiece of breakfast’ for SPECK with those for TOMAN and PROTEUS some way behind in second and third places and 22 mentioned at least once. TOMAN puzzled a few who didn’t know the quotation that includes ‘man’s inhumanity to man’, almost a cliché, I’d have thought. The clue for HOUR, popular with some, also gave trouble because (as I failed to notice) ho meaning ‘prostitute’ only appears for the first time in the current (10th) edition of Chambers, published in 2006. I think I’m going to have to start recommending this from the start of 2008.
 
I suppose I asked for it with AUXESIS. Sex loomed large (as one might say), some of it pretty explicit. But I’m a broad-minded fellow and not particularly averse to this sort of thing if it’s wittily handled. The more metaphorical ‘sexing up’ of that infamous dossier was also understandably a popular theme. In general clues submitted exploited an admirably broad range of ideas (as I hope those quoted demonstrate) for what may have looked at first sight an unpromising word. The commonest fault was failure to indicate clearly the correct part of speech, i.e. a noun. Let me just quote two nearly-good clues, both from seasoned campaigners. (i) ‘Article’s uninteresting at first – exaggerate claims (as in Dodgy Dossier) – one has…this?’ (a + u + ‘sex up’ + I + ’s, & lit. ) This tries a bit too hard to achieve an ‘& lit.’, I suggest, and the part within the dashes is in effect ‘a clue to a clue’, which I don’t care for. (ii) ‘Gascon’s trademark: his guts (stand off half) – unresisted at centre’ ( (vit)aux + (unr)esis(ted) ). Very clever, but surely too abstruse, requiring the solver to know the French for ‘entrails’ (I didn’t).
 
John Tozer reports that he has now, with help from several other Azed solvers, completed the Herculean task of loading all the slips onto his excellent website (www.andlit.org.uk), a total of (to date) 463 slips and over 11,000 clues. He has also added extra cross-references and each competitor’s annual honours record, making it a superb resource for anyone interested in the whole Azed series. I am deeply grateful to John for undertaking this huge (and ongoing) task, which I could never have done myself.