AZED CROSSWORD 1910

BARPERSON

1.  R. C. Teuton: This one may serve beers with apron on (comp. anag. & lit.).

2.  N. C. Dexter: I’ll get a bit of rollicking with no spare barrel around (anag. incl. r, b, & lit.).

3.  R. E. Boot: Silly ass pouring beers could be tipsy —— I guess (comp. anag. & lit.).

VHC

T. Anderson: Bass bitter plant stopping apron supply? I may be exposed (b + ers in anag., & lit.).

D. Appleton: Supply —— is here, cretin can furnish neither a beer nor crisps (comp. anag. & lit.).

M. Barley: What I provide is reason regulars in pub are sozzled (anag. incl. alternate letters, & lit.).

C. Boyd: I.e. —— could be one busy with apron and beers (comp. anag. incl. I, & lit.).

C. J. Brougham: But for a child I might mix a mocktail (bar per son).

Dr J. Burscough: Beer’s on apron? One —— sports, perhaps (comp. anag. & lit.).

P. Coles: One of indeterminate gender pouring out Britney Spears’ songs could be this sissy gent (comp. anag.).

T. Crowther: With tubes this drink dispenser can be surprisingly superabsorbent (comp. anag.).

C. J. Ellis: Boreas heads from northern polar regions, windy supplier of cold draughts (anag. incl. n p r).

J. Grimes: One’s found working right poser in Prohibition (anag. incl. r in ban, & lit.).

J. F. Grimshaw: Take period as encountered during Prohibition – that could do for me! (r per. so all in ban, & lit.).

R. B. Harling: Give this servant due, s/he works and pours beer (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. V. Harry: Server of sherry, perhaps QC? (i.e. Bar person; ref. British sherry brand).

R. J. Heald: Who’s seen as regulars in pub are served a round getting tipped? (anag. of alternate letters, & lit.).

J. R. H. Jones: ‘Born tapster’: no TT applied for this post (anag. less TT).

D. F. Manley: Sot being unwanted, sober patrons may turn to me (anag. less sot, & lit.).

P. W. Marlow: Fonda might employ such acting in case of blockbuster (a piece of superlative performing) (a in b, r + per s on; fonda = tavern).

T. J. Moorey: Who’s replaced wench serving Bass for clubs, knockers only half concealed? (carpers with b for c + on(ly), & lit.).

R. J. Palmer: Who could get sober patron drunk if wanting to (anag. less to, & lit.).

D. Parfitt: Under prohibition, active one heads for stern police reprimand (bar + anag. incl. s p r, & lit.).

Dr S. J. Shaw: This politically correct s/he could serve up beer or schnapps (comp. anag. incl. PC, & lit.).

A. Varney: PC server, prone to crash, stalling seconds after saving (bar + s in anag.).

J. West: One serving half of complete sentence in centre for ASBOs over malicious crime (per(iod) in B arson).

HC

G. Alderman, R. D. Anderson, D. Arthur, D. & N. Aspland, J. Baker, M. Barker, M. Bath, K. Brough, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, B. Cheesman, C. A. Clarke, D. C. Clenshaw, V. Dixon, W. Drever, C. M. Edmunds, J. Fairclough, C. D. S. & E. A. Field, A. G. Fleming, Dr I. S. Fletcher, P. D. Gaffey, N. C. Goddard, G. I. L. Grafton, R. W. Grant, R. J. Hannam, V. Henderson, R. Hesketh, Mrs P. E. Howe, Mrs S. D. Johnson, M. D. Laws, J. C. Leyland, E. Looby, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, Ms R. Macgillivray, K. Manley, P. Martin, L. F. Marzillier, P. McKenna, H. Meltzer, J. R. C. Michie, C. G. Millin, C. J. Morse, R. S. Morse, T. D. Nicholl, D. J. R. Ogilvie, F. R. Palmer, Mrs J. Parsons, M. L. Perkins, A. Plumb, D. Price Jones, W. Ransome, D. R. Robinson, R. Stocks, P. L. Stone, K. Thomas, J. R. Tozer, L. Ward, A. J. Wardrop, R. J. Whale, P. O. G. White, Ms B. J. Widger, G. H. Willett, D. C. Williamson, J. Woodall.
 

Comments
256 entries, no mistakes that I spotted. Favourite clue (of 26 receiving one or more mentions): ‘For P. Domingo, N. American as part of two tenors?’ for NORTENO, with those for SCEPTIC and SILAGE equal second. The only clue to give real difficulty was ‘Plush with this old mould turns to pulpy stuff’ (PLASM), i.e. ‘plush’ with pl as m becomes ‘mush’. I use this device from time to time and it always seems to cause problems, though I regard it as quite fair. There was also some dissatisfaction expressed over ‘What elm root becomes when affected by this?’ (TREMOLO) in that it contains no obvious definition beyond the implied one, i.e. that ‘elm root’ when appearing ‘tremolo’ becomes TREMOLO – acceptable as a self-referential clue, I’d say. CJM drew attention to the fact that the two unlikely currency words RUFIYAA and KOPIYOK in the puzzle both include the rare digraph IY, noting that Chambers hyphenates BI-YEARLY. Are there any other words that include it?
 
I’ve never actually come across the awful word BARPERSON being used in a pub, but it is curious that BARWOMAN is not cited, BARMAID being the (admirably non-PC) preferred term. The definition in Chambers which deals with barmaid, barman and barperson all together includes the unfortunate phrase ‘woman, man or person…’, a case of political correctness getting tangled up in its own vocabulary. Anyway it was quite a nice word to clue, with plenty of ‘& lit.’ and ‘comp. anag.’ opportunities (see above for the best of these). Many entries defined the ‘person’ element in the clue word too literally, which struck me as a weak cop-out, and variations on the ‘excluding a child’ idea for bar per son were just too numerous to gain preferment.
 
I must sign off in haste as my trip to India is now imminent. One quick footnote: T. (for Trevor) Crowther among the VHCs is no relation!