AZED CROSSWORD 195

SHILLY-SHALLY

1.  F. D. Gardiner: Scanty clothing producing evil gibe about every wobble! (ill in shy¹ + all in shy², & lit.).

2.  D. C. Williamson: Waffle cake with hard filling – try biting on each side (H in silly + all in shy²; cake = fool).

3.  F. R. Palmer: What’s doubly involved hospitals in senseless issue? (H H in silly sally, & lit.; ref. junior doctors’ and consultants’ dispute).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Crackers must contain the ultimate in rubbish, all wrapped in skimpy trimming (h in silly + all in shy¹; trim = fluctuate).

A. G. Bogie: Moving slowly, with difficulty in cast ; everyone in the same position shows this (ill in shy² + all in shy²).

A. J. Bulman: Hamlet, perhaps, is perversely shy to pursue fell kinsman (’s + hill + anag. + ally).

Mrs G. M. Gibbins: Leap without a bit of hesitation? Incorrect – one’s chary about it, at first (ill in shy² + h in sally, & lit.).

S. Goldie: What did Hamlet do, being chary about outrageous fortune – shun getting all involved? (ill in shy¹ + all in shy¹).

G. B. Greer: Indecisive type, starting off in one direction, going up and down, then backward, circling completely (S + hilly + all in shy¹).

A. O. Harries: Hesitate badly in the first attempt? Put everything into the second (ill in shy² + all in shy²).

R. J. Hooper: Foolish type – no leader – wanting will often and outwardly unconfident ((s)illy shall in shy¹).

R. Jacks: Close run out twice getting in horrific dither (H H in silly sally; ref. Brian C.; H, former film certificate).

G. Johnstone: Amiss caught well down pitch completely circumvented by throw – result of this? (ill in shy² + all in shy², & lit.; ref. Dennis A.).

A. Lawrie: I show badly over will – reluctant about it (illy shall in shy¹, & lit.).

M. D. Laws: Amiss must, in retiring, be caught in two minds (illy shall in shy¹; ref. Dennis A.).

D. P. M. Michael: I’ll boggle before and after and even in the attempt (I’ll in shy² + all in shy², & lit.).

J. D. Moore: An extreme of hesitancy in one who’s foolish and diffident about everything (h in silly + all in shy¹, & lit.).

C. J. Morse: Stupid swaying – drunk and sober (drunken pronunciation of ‘silly sally’).

R. J. Palmer: One like Grand Old Duke of York? – leader of horde in senseless excursion round top of hill (h in silly + h in sally).

T. E. Sanders: Waffle? Try eating one with a double slice of lemon, do. (I l l in shy² + a l l in shy²; do. = ditto).

Dr W. I. D. Scott: No decision here, from inept attack, with hard going in each half (H H in silly sally).

W. K. M. Slimmings: To boggle about ‘I will’ you initially must —— (I’ll in shy¹ + shall + y, & lit.).

HC

R. H. Adey, D. Ashcroft, J. C. Barnes, Mrs P. A. Bax, G. Blunden, C. Bradley, J. M. Brown, E. Clark, E. A. Clarke, M. A. Cooper, A. E. Crow, A. J. Crow, D. H. Curzon, R. Dean, A. L. Dennis, A. J. Duncum, A. B. Gardner, J. Goss, Mrs L. F. Hallen, C. Hemming, A. Hodgson, S. Holgate, J. Hopkinson, E. M. Hornby, F. P. N. Lake, C. W. Laxton, P. W. W. Leach, D. P. Leggatt, A. D. Legge, P. Machin, D. F. Manley, L. May, R. S. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, D. A. Myles, D. S. Nagle, Mrs B. Old, R. F. Pardoe, M. L. Perkins, R. C. Reeves, W. Rodgers, H. R. Sanders, A. D. Scott, Miss M. Smith, M. D. Speigel, F. B. Stubbs, L. E. Thomas, P. C. Thornton, E. Tingle, G. A. Tomlinson, Rev C. D. Westbrook, P. J. Woods, M. Woolf, N. C. Wormleighton.
 

COMMENTS
About 430 entries and virtually no mistakes. A handful couldn’t find SONNITE (sv. SUNNA in C) so it’s worth making the point that Chambers doesn’t invariably cross-refer alternative spellings and I don’t regard it as incumbent on me to sign-post these omissions. I always recommend Chambers to solvers and it is certainly the dictionary I use when compiling puzzles. When I use an ordinary (or extraordinary?) word not in C I say so and usually say where I found it, but I don’t think it necessary or desirable to pinpoint proper names as such, even when they’re not in C. So if a word looks like being correct but doesn’t appear in C where you’d expect, look around for possible variant spellings before leaping into print to tell me I’m a stinker!
 
A difficult word to clue, clearly. I confess I wearied a little of all the stupid swaying drunks, preferring subtler treatments of an obstinate word. The fact that it may be used as verb, adverb or noun made things a bit easier, but not much.
 
I’m terribly behindhand this month but hope I will be forgiven, having the best of excuses. My new wife utterly refused to allow me so much as to look at a crossword on our honeymoon (in Paris) so everything had to be done between the turkey and the mince pies. However, both she and I are deeply grateful for all the kind wishes we received from so many of you. May we both in turn wish all of you a very happy 1976.