AZED CROSSWORD 1914

VE(S)TAL

1.  R. C. Teuton: —— chose career in chaste love (comp. anag. & lit.).

2.  R. S. Morse: The adjective for one in veil? (veil with t’ a for I, & lit.).

3.  D. H. Tompsett: Beguine, valeta are unremembered dances (anag. less a).

VHC

T. Anderson: Such ones have been badly corrupted if found knocked up in a love nest (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. K. Arnott: Like a Virgin and Eternal Flame use sample from Jive Talkin’ (hidden; ref. pop songs).

D. & N. Aspland: Virginal playing gavotte got intermittently lost and left behind (anag. less got + l).

M. Coates: Virgin trains late after electric power cut (V + anag.; V = volt).

J. A. Elliott: This darling fiancé is moved to give gal valentine card if no one’s given her one (comp. anag.).

A. S. Everest: Dancing a valeta twice, not a beguine (anag. less a a).

R. Gilbert: One with Abbey habit? Time he invested in Bulgarian currency after recession (t + a² in lev (rev.); ref. building society slogan).

R. J. Heald: Taking veil, one must yield to total abstinence primarily (veil with t a for I, & lit.).

P. F. Henderson: Maiden over’s centrepiece: one amongst weaker batsmen dismissed ((o)ve(r) + ta(i)l).

V. G. Henderson: Weather’s extreme leaving travel disrupted? Virgin could be the answer (anag. less r).

R. Hesketh: The reverse of some maculate venture? (hidden rev. & lit.; venture = prostitute).

R. J. Hooper: One having to check such as rumpy and lovers’ overtures (vet + a l, & lit.; rumpy = Manx cat).

J. C. Leyland: It’s ‘Vale’ to fooling around – no love for me (anag. less 0, & lit.).

K. Milan: Very confused tale – I don’t get it (v + anag.).

T. J. Moorey: I’m first and last for virtue, having rejected gents (v, e + lat (rev.), & lit.).

W. Ransome: Virgin olive oil’s last drops mixed with what’s in vat (anag. incl. e l).

Dr S. J. Shaw: Initially virgin in ancient Rome and elsewhere subsequently (v + et al., & lit.).

J. R. Tozer: I’ve renounced sex entirely … OK, almost entirely (vet + al(l)).

L. Ward: Who renounced what love arouses? (anag. less who, & lit.).

Dr E. Young: Verse on lying about departed girl consigned to fire (v + late (rev.); ref. Hilaire Belloc’s Matilda).

HC

D. Appleton, M. Barley, K. Brough, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, Dr J. Burscough, D. A. Campbell, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, C. A. Clarke, E. Cross, T. Crowther, N. C. Dexter, V. Dixon, W. Duffin, C. D. S. & E. A. Field, A. G. Fleming, H. Freeman, N. C. Goddard, D. Goldberg, M. Goodliffe, B. Grabowski, G. I. L. Grafton, C. & C. Hinton, M. Hodgkin, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, Mrs S. D. Johnson, J. R. H. Jones, C. Loving, M. Lunan, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, I. & G. Macniven, D. F. Manley, G. McStravick, C. G. Millin, C. J. Morse, R. Murdoch, T. D. Nicholl, D. J. R. Ogilvie, D. Parfitt, A. Plumb, D. R. Robinson, I. Simpson, K. Taylor, Mrs A. Terrill, A. Varney, Ms S. Wallace, A. J. Wardrop, P. O. G. White, G. H. Willett, N. Woolliscroft, A. J. Young.
 

Comments
259 entries, about a dozen having BESIT for NESI(O)T, which can only have been wild guesswork. A couple of competitors also mysteriously clued FE(B)RUARY by mistake. Favourite clue (of 25 mentioned): ‘I voic’d disapproval of enmity’ for I(LL) B(L)OOD. The fact that the quotation isn’t in the current edition of ODQ vexed some of you and I admit that I hesitated before going for it, knowing that it meant you’d have to work a little harder. As I’ve said before, I have several editions on my shelves but the second remains my favourite, partly because of its agreeable layout. Colin Leach wrote to say that he may have been partly responsible for the removal of this far from deathless bit of Coventry Patmore’s verse, having been taken on by OUP in the late 70s as a ‘redactor’ asked to recommend excisions and additions for the third edition. (Others similarly charged included such luminaries as Tom Driberg, Marghanita Laski, Noel Annan and John Sparrow.) Many of you resorted to Google to track it down, though I gather it still took some finding.
 
As many of you conceded, VE(S)TAL was quite a friendly word to clue (which was of course why I chose it!), being both a noun and an adjective with specific as well as general connotations. The overall standard of cluing was exceptionally high. Quite a lot of (even seasoned) competitors, however, fell foul of the need in ‘Letters Latent’ clues to avoid linking words, i.e. those suggesting that the full and the mutilated versions of the clue word are the same, which they clearly are not. I’m sure I have referred to this in past slips for LL competitions (of which there have been many over the years). ‘& lit.’ clues are of course acceptable in that they refer in their entirety to both mutilated and unmutilated versions of the clue word.
 
John Tozer reports that thanks to the generosity of a number of Slip regulars he was able to make a donation of £90 to the Shaw Society in memory of Anthony Ellis. This will go towards the development of a new website for the society.
 
And my thanks to those who enquired about my holiday in India, far away from the blizzards at home and the bush fires in Australia. It was, I’m pleased to say, an unalloyed success and leaves us with a multitude of colourful memories we’ll savour for a long time.