AZED CROSSWORD 1853

ANTIQUITARIAN

1.  T. J. Moorey: Fan of The Good Old Days on once, can put across Desert Song (quit aria in an³ tin; ref. TV variety show).

2.  T. Anderson: I behave archaically – boring ‘old cove’? Yes, and ‘retro’ (I quit in antar + I³ an², & lit.).

3.  J. R. Tozer: I struggle with progress translating letters from an Inuit and Qatari (anag.).

VHC

R. D. Anderson: He’s told it’s crazy to become quaint traditionalist (comp. anag. & lit.).

M. Barker: I ain’t tranquil with changes, left appearing as a traditionalist (anag. with a for l).

M. Barley: Being old-fashioned, aren’t I left with a bewildered air by what’s new? (an’t I quit + a + anag. + n, & lit.).

T. C. Borland: Persist, perhaps, in dancing with quaint tiara (anag.; Persist = expert on Persia).

Rev Canon C. M. Broun: Conservative, one remarkable for love of Labour, independent and free, with heretical views (ant I quit + Arian).

E. Cross: My beliefs are old-fashioned, quaint, eccentric, heretical … That’s about it! (it in anag. + Arian).

N. C. Dexter: Against changing ain’t I – square at heart (anti + anag. incl. (s)quar(e), & lit.).

J. Fairclough: Ain’t I quaint, a right peculiar fuddy-duddy (anag. incl. r).

J. Glassonbury: Dressed in quaint tiara with a fan of the old-fashioned style (anag.).

G. I. L. Grafton: Declan D’s parting words to colleague: Operatic solo number? Status Quo suited me better! (‘Ant, I quit’ + aria + n; ref. Ant and Dec, TV personalities).

D. V. Harry: Conservative opposition member adopts face of indignation in question time in the House (anti + i in Qu. t + Arian²).

M. Hodgkin: Old-fashioned, am not one free of ancient doctrine (an’t I quit + Arian, & lit.).

J. R. H. Jones: I love the old bat in quaint tiara (anag.).

J. C. Leyland: Least suggestion of insulting Qur’an with a little teddy ain’t on, I held (I in anag. incl. i and t, & lit.; ref. Gillian Gibbons affair).

M. A. Macdonald-Cooper: Unusually quaint old hostelry retaining touch of Tudor air – I like it! (anag. + T aria in in).

D. W. Mackie: For whom others innovate as an irritant? Oh, quite (comp. anag. & lit.).

C. J. Morse: With first signs of any new tenet I’m off, following older doctrine (a n t + I quit + Arian, & lit.).

T. G. Powell: One with quaint inertia to change (if not with eccentricity) (a + anag. less e, & lit.).

D. Sargent: Past lover re-kindles it in a quatrain (anag.).

Dr A. J. Varney: Not one relating to New Age environs, encompassing computers, etc? (n’t I and IT in Aquarian, & lit.).

A. J. Wardrop: One who opposes almost completely a new attitude going round (anti quit(e) a + n air (rev.), & lit.).

HC

D. Appleton, D. Arthur, D. & N. Aspland, C. Boyd, C. J. Brougham, E. J. Burge, C. J. & M. P. Butler, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, B. Cheesman, C. A. Clarke, P. Coles, N. Connaughton, C. Daffern, R. Dean, V. Dixon, T. J. Donnelly, W. Drever, C. M. Edmunds, A. G. Fleming, R. Gilbert, M. Goodliffe, J. F. Grimshaw, R. J. Heald, G. Hearfield, P. Heffernan, R. Hesketh, L. M. Inman, R. Jacks, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, Mrs S. D. Johnson, G. Johnstone, L. Keet, T. Locke, E. Looby, D. F. Manley, J. R. C. Michie, C. G. Millin, R. S. Morse, F. R. Palmer, D. Parfitt, R. Perry, D. R. Robinson, D. H. Tompsett, A. Wallace, R. Warren, G. H. Willett, D. C. Williamson, J. S. Witte, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
218 entries, no mistakes. I’m very sorry about the duff clue to ROTE. I tried to limit the damage by correcting the online version and mentioning the error in The Observer the following week, but that won’t have helped most of you. I also gave you a wrong definition for YONT, so it wasn’t one of my best weeks. Your favourite clue, of 25 mentioned, was ‘Fun and games? You’ll get piles e.g. swimming in lake’ (for ESPIEGLERIE, a word several of you recalled as a favourite of P. G. Wodehouse’s). ‘A side-step by Jonny W, maybe? Very precise’ for PERJINK gave problems, partly through not recognizing Jonny Wilkinson, golden boy of the English world champion rugby team but partly also, I suspect, because of failure to spot ‘per = a’, though I’ve used this handy equivalence often enough in the past. The lack of a dummy entry in Chambers for BANIA (see banyan) also proved troublesome.
 
The clue word (new to me) was generally popular and inspired a generally excellent set of clues. Several spoiled their chances by defining it as an adjective, which Chambers fails to acknowledge, and I was underwhelmed by treating it as ‘it’ inside ‘antiquarian’, a word of which it is clearly a close cognate. In contrast, oldies prancing around in quaint tiaras made me smile. One nearly-good clue submitted was ‘One can disregard what’s new displaying quaint air’ (an ti(n) + anag., & lit.); I couldn’t accept the use of the transitive ‘displaying’ as an anagram indicator here.
 
There were a couple of errors in last month’s slip, for which I apologize. Mr D. C. Williamson’s VHC for AUXESIS (which I can no longer quote – can he?) was mysteriously dropped from the slip though his name appeared in the paper. And Mr Parfitt’s VHC should have begun ‘I sex up boring …’.
 
John Tozer has sent me some interesting statistics drawn from his andlit.org.uk website. Up to this competition I have awarded 1,390 prizes, 9,930 VHCs and 26,099 HCs. It isn’t possible to be precise about the number of individual competitors that have appeared in the lists as the names don’t always match, but it’s approximately 2,900, including (as another competitor tells me) surnames with every initial letter except X.
 
A happy and peaceful Christmas and new year to you all.