AZED CROSSWORD 2070

MISTREATMENT

1.  C. J. Butler: Abuse T. Emin’s art met? (anag. & lit.).

2.  M. Barley: Matter Amnesty is agitated about might be this, say (comp. anag. & lit.).

3.  C. G. Millin: What makes people in time start rioting? (men in anag., & lit.).

VHC

D. K. Arnott: In SM tarts mete out no end of this (anag. less s, & lit.).

C. A. Clarke: Team is furious about Terry’s innermost character and players getting caught in race abuse (r in anag. + men in TT; ref. John T. affair).

P. Evans: Initially, Tracey Emin’s art met terrible abuse (anag. incl. T).

R. Gilbert: Recollect onset of trauma, a first memento – of this? (comp. anag. incl. t).

D. Harris: Punishment martinets endlessly mete out? (anag. less e).

R. J. Heald: Hurt in film played man not outwardly pretty, with elephant’s head (mist + anag. incl. (p)rett(y), e; ref. John H. in ‘The Elephant Man’).

P. F. Henderson (New Zealand): Clobber in tatters about me following my – this? (m’ + me in anag., & lit.).

R. J. Hooper: What cannibals do in obscurity, right, must constitute this (eat men in mist rt, & lit.).

M. Lunan: Tart’s time wasted embracing her clients – this is what masochists want (men in anag.).

M. A. Macdonald-Cooper: On being dispensed, it means torment, potentially (anag. less on, & lit.).

D. F. Manley: Be suspicious of what cannibals could do for us, effecting this! (eat men for us in mistrust, & lit.).

T. J. Moorey: Boycott firm in commentaries, time and again bats getting abuse (anag. less co, incl. t, t; ref. England’s batting failures in test series v Pakistan).

M. L. Perkins: Newt-like Mitt’s team earn a short drubbing (anag. less a; newt-like = drunk; ref. N. Gingrich & M. Romney in US Republican contest).

Dr S. J. Shaw: This abuse of mongrel could reveal fearsome beast in mutt (comp. anag. & lit.).

P. Taylor: Abuse stock market’s banks with Main Street in disarray (anag. in m, t).

Mrs A. M. Walden: What’s met with martinets out of control? (anag. & lit.).

Ms S. Wallace: Nasty cut? Term-time sports injury (anag. less y).

A. J. Wardrop: Heartless men – rats – mete it out (anag. less e, & lit.).

R. J. Whale: S & M attire sported by chaps heading for this? (anag. + men + t, & lit.).

A. J. Young: T. Emin’s art met furious abuse (anag.).

HC

T. Anderson, M. Barker, P. Bartlam, Dr P. M. J. Bennett, T. C. Borland, K. Brough, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, B. Cheesman, S. L. Claughton, Dr P. Coles, N. Connaughton, T. & B. Coventry, V. Dixon (Ireland), J. Fairclough, D. D. Freund (USA), G. I. L. Grafton, J. Grimes, A. & R. Haden, D. V. Harry, Ms S. B. Hart, R. Hesketh, M. Hodgkin, J. R. H. Jones, M. D. Jones, E. C. Lance, G. Longbottom, E. Looby, W. F. Main, P. McKenna, Rev Prebendary M. R. Metcalf, J. R. C. Michie, Ms S. E. Mitchell, C. J. Morse, D. J. R. Ogilvie (USA), M. Ollerenshaw, M. F. O’Brien, D. Price Jones, W. Ransome, D. P. Shenkin, D. A. Simmons, C. M. Steele, P. A. Stephenson, M. Taylor, Mrs A. Terrill, K. Thomas, J. R. Tozer, L. Ward (USA), A. Whittaker, Ms B. Widger, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
223 entries, no mistakes that I spotted. I’m very sorry I gave the wrong word length for WIELD, especially irritating in a puzzle such as ‘Jigsaw’ in which finding where words are to go is part of the challenge. As soon as I discovered my mistake I corrected the online version (which a fair number of you now use) and DFM kindly posted a notice on Derek Harrison’s crossword website. (It’s always worth checking in these places if you suspect that I’ve made an error.) A few of you asked if this was my first ‘Jigsaw’. It was actually the tenth, the first being No. 1,316, when I acknowledged Araucaria as the source of the idea; he sets them regularly in the subscription crossword monthly One Across. I readily admit that (like ‘Carte Blanche’) they set solvers an additional problem while demanding no more from the setter than do normal Plains, but I see nothing wrong in that as long as they are enjoyable to solve. In this instance, the fact that there were only two 12-letter and two 11-letter words must have been an extra help in getting started. (I am not in general keen on puzzles which require many clues to be solved before anything can be entered in the grid with any confidence.)
 
Favourite clue of the month was a close-run thing this time. In the end ‘Yielding, Guy was nabbed before he ——’ (LITHE) polled just one vote more than ‘Punishments, having skipped PE for benders’ (NANCES), the latter’s being distinctly non-PC not seeming to deter voters. Nineteen clues received at least one vote. One regular commented (while still voting for the LITHE clue) that gunpowder probably doesn’t qualify as high explosive. He may well be right. Pure ignorance on my part.
 
MISTREATMENT was clearly a friendly word to clue, one that positively begged for some sort of self-referential treatment involving anagrams, especially those of the ‘& lit.’ variety. Competitors who deliberately sought a different approach, as some of those quoted above exemplify, are to be applauded. My three prizewinners gained pride of place in a generally excellent field by their simple economy of wording combined with the neatness that an ‘& lit.’ so often confers when it is skilfully handled.