AZED CROSSWORD 2105

TITANIC / ICEBERG (Overlaps)

1.  M. Barley: It being knocked back with curry, extra-large beer is dashed good – cold one required (it (rev.) + tan; anag. + g).

2.  L. Ward: Whale carrying one ton monster calf maybe starts to give birth, experiencing rather excruciating spasm (I t in tan; anag. of first letters).

3.  R. Fentem: Prodigious drunk pronounced a North American cold fish stew ‘good with beer’ (‘tight’ a N; anag. incl. g).

VHC

D. Carter: Colossal movement – it animates to some extent an unemotional person. Ecstasy to a composer! (hidden; E + Berg).

C. A. Clarke: Time one beat stupendous Wimbledon champion, not defeated initially, an undemonstrative character (t I tan; (Stefan) E(d)berg).

P. Coles: Showing sex appeal in leather, very large bird knocked back cold fish (it in tan; grebe (rev.)).

N. Connaughton: Frigid American bird repelled very big name bonking around (grebe (rev.); n at it (rev.)).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Cold leaving intact woolly mammoth calf around middle of Siberia, for example (anag. less c; ber in e.g.).

R. J. Heald: Lacking ingredient central to intoxicants, Red Bull leaves beer gut not as wobbly (Tit(i)an; bull (adj.); anag. less ut²).

R. Hesketh: Huge boob by one cold and unemotional person for example embracing British Queen (tit + an; B ER in e.g.).

Miss M. Irvine: Small bird hits an enormous hazard at sea – bird goes west (tit + an; grebe (rev.)).

J. C. Leyland: Boob, an enormous one – calling copper ‘pleb’: Dave finally treated comrade to a rocket (tit an; anag. of last letters; ref. salad veg & Andrew Mitchell affair).

D. F. Manley: Tom initially ain’t somehow very great diver somersaulting – woeful sinker in the water? (T + anag.; grebe (rev.); ref. T. Daley’s poor start in Olympics diving event).

P. W. Marlow: Obama’s an aloof sort? Polls in electoral battlegrounds evidence Romney gaining considerable national appeal on reflection (first letters; nat. it (rev.); ref. US presidential election).

M. Owen: Tug accompanies an enormous cold fish diver brought back (tit⁴ + an; grebe (rev.)).

D. Pendrey: Lettuce heart – it’s one great salad ingredient, green mostly, tossed with a drop of balsamic (t + it + an; anag. incl. b).

Mrs A. Terrill: Film person of exceptional importance, English composer, one with a reserved manner (titan; E Berg).

J. R. Tozer: Whaling vessel boarded by irregular force of greens, a variety turned rebel in protection of Earth (TA in tin; reb in Ge (all rev.); ref. Greenpeace; for reb = rebel see SOED etc.).

Mrs A. M. Walden: Terrific finale for concert – it’s by a North European composer, one who’s very cool (t + it + a N; E Berg).

A. J. Wardrop: Giant bird, one from the east, a diver, a bête noire for mariners (tit an; grebe (rev.)).

G. H. Willett: Wretch with endless tales of legendary power recalled bird, mariner’s nemesis when fatally struck (tit³ + an(a); grebe (rev.); ref. Ancient Mariner).

HC

T. Anderson, D. & N. Aspland, M. Barker, C. J. Brougham, C. J. Butler, Ms U. Carter, E. Dawid, I. Doak, W. Drever, C. M. Edmunds, J. Fairclough, J. Glassonbury, G. I. L. Grafton, J. Grimes, J. Guiver, D. V. Harry, P. F. Henderson (New Zealand), R. J. Hooper, D. Hubble, G. Johnstone, E. C. Lance, J. P. Lester, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, W. F. Main, K. Manley, D. S. Miller, T. J. Moorey, C. J. Morse, J. Pearce, T. Railton, B. Roe, T. Rudd, P. Sant, N. G. Shippobotham, C. M. Steele, P. L. Stone, R. C. Teuton, K. Thomas, J. Vincent & Ms R. Porter, T. West-Taylor, R. J. Whale, C. Williams, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
195 entries, no mistakes. As a new special, ‘Collisions’ seems to have been well received. Of course, it contains elements of ‘Overlaps’ and ‘Right and Left’, but with an original slant. I don’t suppose I’m the only setter to have noticed the Titanic/iceberg overlap but once it occurred to me it gave me the germ of an idea for this puzzle, especially in the centenary year of that famous collision. I wasn’t sure at the outset how tricky it would be to construct the grid but in the event it came out reasonably smoothly. I had to have a large number of 12-letter across entries in order to avoid too many unches in the downs, though the effect of this was to produce a lot of down words with no unches at all – good for you but tough for me. Favourite clues of the month were, of 16 nominated at least once, ‘More than one such old taxman could be terribly strict with the poor’ (TITHE-PROCTOR) from the downs, and ‘Crusader hero, captive of Sultan, causing state of readiness for e.g. war, later released’ (TANCREDALERT) from the acrosses.
 
As with other types of double clue, the challenge for you was to produce a complete clue in which the ‘join’ was well disguised and the whole read seamlessly, with more than a modicum of sense overall. This meant eschewing linking words between the two parts and also between the definition and subsidiary elements within each component of the collision. I regarded the latter as important, and avoided such links in my own clues, because the full form and the truncated form are different, so the one cannot be seen as standing for or leading directly to the other. Another point worthy of mention (because it came up quite often) was the use of ‘growler’ or ‘calf’ as definitions for ‘iceberg’. They are certainly types of (small) iceberg, but whereas all growlers and calves in this sense are icebergs not all icebergs are growlers or calves. So, as in Mr Ward’s clue above, some qualifier such as ‘maybe’, ‘perhaps’ or ‘possibly’ is required. I allowed Dr Fletcher’s clue into the VHCs (just) despite its failing in this, on the grounds that it is very clever in other respects.
 
Other comments on competition entries in general: some of the definitions chosen for TITANIC were on the distinctly weak side, e.g. ‘big’, ‘fat’, large’; likewise treating TITANIC as ‘of or relating to Titans’ struck me as a bit uninspired; and for some reason there were several instances of ‘a’ being used as a definition of ‘an’, which I can’t accept. Equivalent yes, definition no. And several competitors made the mistake of presenting the four elements of their clue in more-or-less random order, instead of with both elements of one part preceding both those of the other part.
 
In conclusion may I say that I was very touched by and am extremely grateful for the many messages of sympathy I have received from solvers about the recent death of my father. I hope you will understand if I don’t respond to them all individually.