AZED CROSSWORD 208

RALPH

1.  Dr G. B. Greer: What makes ‘poetic river’ appear as ‘poetic rover’? (i.e. R. Alph as Ralph, & lit.; ref. Coleridge, ‘Kubla Khan’ and Southey, ‘R. the Rover’).

2.  J. J. Goulstone: With letters in wrong, he creates hell at printers (comp. anag. & lit.).

3.  F. R. Palmer: Reader, for one, needs to make good to get right arrangement of letters (r alph(abet); ref. Ralph R.).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Take ‘Lofty Peak’ – the lightest element for the pie-maker (r alp H; ‘L. P.’ popular brand of flour).

N. S. Barrett: He’s a literal phantom, scattering letters right-and-left (hidden & lit.).

J. C. Brash: Take all the letters and hide half of ’em? That’s what I’ll do! (r alph(abet), & lit.).

C. O. Butcher: Reader? Could be – one surely can’t help reading (2 mngs.; Ralph R.).

C. A. Clarke: Take A to M? I might, mischievously (i.e. r. + half of alphabet, & lit.).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Azed uses me to make oral phrases, say, or – as essay in crossword-making (hidden & lit.; cf. Printer’s Devilry type clue).

D. Evans: Pie-maker’s recipe: hard on the outside, almost completely soft inside (al(l) p in r H; pie²).

Mrs N. Jarman: Devil condemned in chapel over the font – give him a torrent of holy water (i.e. R. Alph; ref. printing terms and Coleridge, ‘Kubla Khan’).

L. W. Jenkinson: Immoral philandering provides a source of consternation to chapel members (hidden; chapel = printers’ union).

R. E. Kimmons: Holy water? It confuses chapel types (i.e. R. Alph; ref. Coleridge, ‘Kubla Khan’; chapel = printers’ union).

A. Lawrie: Reader of ‘The Rover’? (2 mngs.; ref. Ralph R., Southey ‘Ralph the Rover’, and comic).

J. H. C. Leach: Sacred stream might make scared scream when I get to work (i.e. misprints, R. Alph, & lit.; ref. Coleridge, ‘Kubla Khan’).

J. P. Lester: I’m likely to make my constituents run down to a bunless tea (i.e. ‘sunless sea’ misprinted, R. Alph, & lit; ref. Coleridge, ‘Kubla Khan’).

L. K. Maltby: E.g. Richardson, brilliant star appearing endlessly after his initial opening (R + alph(a); Ralph R.).

D. P. M. Michael: Reader responds to this pressman’s mischief (2 mngs.; Ralph R.).

J. D. Moore: He, (——), gets paper garbled: ‘Telegraph’, perhaps? (comp. anag. & lit.).

J. J. Moore: He could cause the hapless printer to lose false teeth in press (anag. less anag., & lit.).

A. J. Redstone: He makes pie following recipe: basic ingredients, no egg (r + alph(abet); pie²).

Rear Adm W. T. C. Ridley: In general phonotypy can mar the printed page (hidden).

F. B. Stubbs: Take all our letters, losing half – that’s his nature (r alph(abet), & lit.).

J. C. P. Taylor: Aged 80, father being reactionary about latitude and hard could be upsetting type (R + l in pa (rev.) + H; R (medieval) = 80).

J. Webster: Confusing type, he might make this run ‘down to a bunless tea’! (i.e. ‘sunless sea’ misprinted, R. Alph; ref. Coleridge, ‘Kubla Khan’).

B. A. Wright: Field up, right hand round, he adds to the impressing slips (alp in RH).

HC

D. R. Appleton, F. D. H. Atkinson, M. J. Balfour, T. E. Bell, A. G. Bogie, Rev C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, P. Cargill, P. R. Clemow, G. H. S. Crosby, A. B. Crow, S. Goldie, N. Hankins, R. B. Harling, E. M. Hornby, G. Johnstone, A. H. Jones, Miss I. M. Kemp, J. R. Kirby, M. D. Laws, A. D. Legge, H. R. Lockhart, M. J. Lunan, Mrs S. M. Macpherson, D. F. Manley, H. W. Massingham, J. P. Mernagh, C. G. Millin, R. J. Palmer, R. F. Pardoe, M. L. Perkins, H. L. Rhodes, H. R. Sanders, T. E. Sanders, W. J. M. Scotland, Dr W. I. D. Scott, Mrs I. G. Smith, G. Snowden-Davies, K. Thomas, L. E. Thomas, G. A. Tomlinson, D. H. Tompsett, Mrs M. P. Webber.
 

COMMENTS
294 entries and not many mistakes. I suspect that the smaller-than-average entry resulted from the dispute among wholesale distributors which made the Observer hard to come by in London. I pondered whether to declare the competition null and void but concluded that numbers were not sufficiently reduced to warrant this. I was sorry that this competition particularly was so affected, the clue-word being, I thought, a natural for playful inventiveness. As it turned out fewer competitors than I’d hoped took the opportunity presented. Perhaps it was inevitable that Ralph Reader should figure so prominently and Ralph the Rover only marginally less so. Certainly a large number of clues using them were perfectly unexceptionable – I was just looking out for more examples of Ralph the printer’s devil having been at work. Hard to please, that’s me. Incidentally, does anyone know why he was christened Ralph?
 
Some news items: The Azed Book of Crosswords is shortly to be published in America by Pantheon Books under the somewhat extravagant new title of The World’s Most Difficult Crosswords. Since this is believed to be only the second English crossword book of any standard to make the transatlantic crossing from east to west I find this extraordinarily pleasing, though I can’t help wondering what on earth the unsuspecting American public will make of it. Sales of the English edition are progressing unspectacularly, so if any of you are still stuck for Easter presents and have difficulty ordering it from your local bookseller (which you shouldn’t have), do please write direct to the publishers, Latimer New Dimensions Limited, 14 West Central Street, London WCIA IJH. The price is £2.
 
Secondly, I’ve moved to a new home near Abingdon, Oxon., a rustic spot more conducive to feverish mental gymnastics than the roar of the capital. I like to hear from solvers at any time on specific or general topics, with the usual (I hope pardonable) proviso that I cannot guarantee to answer every letter individually – not immediately anyway.