AZED CROSSWORD 1879

LITTER BASKET

1.  M. Barley: See best & lit. take first place in results slip … and worst end here? (anag. incl. r; slip vb.).

2.  Dr J. Burscough: Transfer ‘Battlestrike’ to Recycle Bin? (anag.; ref. computer game).

3.  R. J. Heald: Garbo can work better with talkies, letting out a bit of emotion (anag. less e; garbo = rubbish; ref. Greta G.).

VHC

R. D. Anderson: What can make blatherskite hard going by middle of lecture? Rubbish can (anag. less h + t).

J. Baines: Refuse place in Bardot’s bed? Better off accepting invite! (lit (Fr.)+ ask in anag.; Brigitte B.).

Rev Canon C. M. Broun: Blatter’s kite flying – it contains rubbish! (anag.; ref. Sepp B.’s UEFA proposals).

Mrs M. J. Cansfield: Given title ‘Baker St Irregular’, I help to keep place tidy (anag.; ref. S. Holmes stories).

P. Coles: Bin this 7 down, right? ‘And lit’ works even better, done with a bit of style (comp. anag. incl r, s).

E. Cross: Rambling blatherskite, hour wasted, has time and place for rubbish (anag. less h + t).

N. C. Dexter: Untidy bit of bumf? Let’s take it right here! (anag. incl. b, r, & lit.).

J. F. Grimshaw: Bin set fire to? Better ask ruffian (lit + anag.; ruffian adj.).

P. F. Henderson: Drunk on back-street, not caught staggering, showing attachment to lamp-post? (lit + anag. less c).

R. J. Hooper: Hendry drops red in here, carrying frame; next shot takes black (litter + anag. incl b; red²; Scottish snooker player).

G. Johnstone: Let opening in receptacle take bits for recycling – this does (anag. incl. r).

T. J. Moorey: After constant leaks, plastic sack inside left it better ordered? (anag. less c in l it + anag.; & lit.).

C. J. Morse: It takes bits of light rubbish, bottles, everything that’s broken (anag. incl. first letters, & lit.).

D. R. Robinson: Place for tucking away one’s ‘bits and pieces’ – funnily, a kilt’s better (anag.).

I. Simpson: Cast here might be empty beer bottles abandoned by a couple of boozers, and one half-eaten takeaway (anag. of b(ee)r (bo)ttles I take(away), & lit.).

J. R. Tozer: New talks re Tibet could be where fractured China is headed (anag.).

A. J. Wardrop: I take bottles right for ordinary recycling (anag. with r for o, & lit.).

R. J. Whale: You’d take best & lit. – remainder’s ending up here (anag. incl. r, & lit.; up = excited).

G. H. Willett: Garbo’s in it? Ecstasy! This could make talkies better (anag. incl. E; garbo = rubbish; ref. Greta G).

HC

T. Anderson, D. Arthur, M. Barker, J. Biggin, R. E. Boot, T. C. Borland, C. J. Brougham, J. M. Brown, D. A. Campbell, P. Cargill, B. Cheesman, M. Coates, N. Connaughton, Dr I. S. Fletcher, J. Glassonbury, G. I. L. Grafton, R. Haddock, N. Hadlow, R. Hesketh, W. E. Johnson, E. C. Lance, J. C. Leyland, T. Locke, D. F. Manley, P. W. Marlow, P. McKenna, D. S. Miller, C. G. Millin, R. A. Norton, F. R. Palmer, D. Parfitt, G. Parsons, M. L. Perkins, R. Perry, Ms F. Plumb, Dr T. G. Powell, A. M. Price, D. Price Jones, W. Ransome, V. Seth, J. M. Sharman, D. P. Shenkin, N. G. Shippobotham, D. J. Short, J. Spencer, P. L. Stone, Mrs A. Terrill, D. H. Tompsett, L. Toole, C. J. A. Underhill, D. Veal, L. Ward, A. J. Young.
 

Comments
226 entries, no mistakes. Favourite clue of the month by a long way was ‘We all pass this joyless trip, myself included’ for URINE, though there was one dissenting voice, on the grounds that the letters to be omitted (those of JOY) are not consecutive in ‘journey’. I am not troubled by this; the important thing for me is that they occur in the correct order. Twenty-five clues got at least one mention in a puzzle that was generally well received. A regular query surfaced again this month, with regard to proper names. I do include these quite often, of course, and don’t draw attention to them unless I regard them as being unusually obscure. (Note that I merely ‘recommend’ Chambers, without as a rule stating that every answer may be found in its pages.) A case in point this month was DINAH, although this does appear in the appendix of proper names in C. I thought the actress Dinah Sheridan would be sufficiently familiar, especially to solvers of a certain age, not to require my giving you extra help. (I discover, incidentally, that this quintessential ‘English rose’ – remember her in Genevieve? – was actually born Dinah Mec, with a Russian father and a German mother. And at a sprightly 87 she’s still with us.)
 
Another small but significant cluing point arose, which deserves mention. Several clues submitted included wording such as ‘Refuse to go into this …’ as the definition for LITTER BASKET, playing on the ambiguousness of ‘refuse’ as both a noun and a verb. I am unhappy with this form of wording when what is meant, in the literal reading, is ‘Refuse goes/can go/should go/is to go into this …’. As so often in such cases, the wording of clues can be tweaked to make them grammatically and syntactically sounder.
 
I am grateful to those of you who responded to my point about the printing in the paper of the full addresses of first prize-winners. The consensus was overwhelmingly in favour of the status quo, most saying that any misgivings about having their address published were far outweighed by their pleasure at winning and seeing this acknowledged in print (and that in any case such details are easily obtainable by other means). I shall therefore continue with the present procedure; if anyone has strong objections to the disclosure of their address in this way, can they please let me know and I shall make alternative ad hoc arrangements? I might add that the printing of full addresses in the paper and in the slip is also intended to encourage correspondence between Azed solvers, a point that several of you also made.