AZED CROSSWORD 216

SCANTITY

1.  R. J. Hooper: You’re sure to get it in a second lean year (it in s cant² y, & lit.).

2.  Rev C. D. Westbrook: May tap before end of July show this? If sun goes on, yes (S + can tit² + y, & lit.).

3.  G. B. Greer: Cup Final goal situation? Stokes upset its balance before end of play (s. + cant² it + y; ref. Bobby S., 1976 FA Cup Final).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: ‘Look at the birdie’ … snap youngster’s head and supply pretty negative (scan tit + y; snap = secure, supply noun).

A. J. Bulman: The pattern of industry in, say, Coventry after ending of strikes is material shortage (s + ant in City).

C. O. Butcher: On girl in St. Tropez what is there to view? – Not a great deal (scan + tit y; y (Fr.) = there).

E. Chalkley: Not much talk of thieves getting it in Saint McMenemy’s Final (cant¹ it in S, y; ref. Lawrie M., manager of Southampton (Saints) in 1976 FA Cup Final).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Need new cast in tragedy – Edgar, anyway, must go (comp. anag.; ref. King Lear).

A. L. Dennis: City tans United – this upset in form is a rarity (anag.; ref. 1976 FA Cup Final).

S. Goldie: In miniskirts, can’t I typify the soul of wit? (hidden; ‘brevity is…’).

D. V. Harry: It’s no pig, certainly – can it live in a sty? (anag. in sty; pig = feast, live adj.).

G. Jones: This means that one must go without at once (sc. + tit⁵ in any, & lit.).

D. F. Manley: It can jar in a place accustomed to gluttony (anag. in sty, & lit.).

D. P. M. Michael: That’s to say, reduced quantity, without question short (sc. + (Qu)antity, & lit.).

C. G. Millin: Déshabillé? Sounds like an invitation to the voyeur (‘scan titty’).

J. D. Moore: It’s being topless (concerning a term of clothing) (c in SA (e)ntity, & lit.).

C. J. Morse: Cover with beaming girl’s the ultimate in sexy bareness (scan tit + y).

F. R. Palmer: Half fearing being topless, modern girl seeks this in swim-wear (sca(red) (e)ntity).

S. L. Paton: Within second lean year it must be (it in s cant² y, & lit.).

A. J. Redstone: Within confines of ‘solitary’, jail bird suffers unusual privation (can tit in s, y; suffers = permits).

H. L. Rhodes: Could godliness be a rare deficiency as Canon becomes ancient? Just the opposite (i.e. anc. for Can. in sanctity).

W. J. M. Scotland: Rare defect – namely one’s conclusions from: ‘Bat: I cut rashly …’! (sc. an + last letters).

W. K. M. Slimmings: ‘Where my charges are eating may not I?’ was prodigal’s plight (can’t I? in sty; ref. Luke 15:16).

HC

R. B. Adcock, R. H. Adey, T. Anderson, M. J. Balfour, Mrs A. Boyes, J. C. Brash, Rev C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, R. Burrell, D. A. H. Byatt, R. S. Caffyn, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, M. Coates, Mrs R. Cullinane, J. H. Dingwall, P. Drummond, Mrs W. Fearon, J. A. Fincken, A. G. Fleming, J. J. Goulstone, N. W. Granville, S. Holgate, P. Holtby, E. M. Hornby, B. Jackson, Miss E. H. C. Jenkins, G. Johnstone, R. E. Kimmons, M. D. Laws, A. D. Legge, J. P. Lester, I. M. K. Lowe, P. Machin, L. May, Dr E. J. Miller, W. L. Miron, W. H. Pegram, C. Quin, E. R. Riddle, Rear Adm W. T. C. Ridley, E. G. Riley, A. Rivlin, W. Rodgers, T. E. Sanders, N. G. Shippobotham, M. D. Speigel, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, F. B. Stubbs, J. G. Stubbs, L. E. Thomas, G. A. Tomlinson, M. J. Tyler, Rev K. R. Upton, M. A. Vernon, D. B. Wedmore, Dr R. L. Wynne.
 

COMMENTS
Just over 250 entries and no mistakes that I could see except for a few misplaced bars – and of course my own ‘batty’ definition of NOCTUID, which must I think have resulted from some kind of subliminal double-think associating it with NOCTULE, a word I’ve used before. A bit of gentle ribbing was the most I had to face. Thank you for that, and apologies. I hope it didn’t account for the low entry. I suspect not, since it was a pretty difficult puzzle anyway, made even more so by my closing up the division between acrosses and downs (though nine times out of ten, as here, there is the same number of each). Some of you dislike Carte Blanche because it involves extra work for you and less (but very little less) for me. Others (of course) prefer it to all other specials. I remember that as a solver I always found it essential to have a squared exercise book to experiment in before daring to sully the printed diagram.
 
Judging clues this month was abnormally tough. The word offered quite a number of possibilities all of which were used, often most effectively. Mr Hooper’s clue was primus inter pares when I got down to my final short list, and won primarily on neatness and brevity. If he will accept a minuscule criticism it would be even better, I think, without the ‘a’. Mr. Paton, who used the same idea, didn’t achieve quite the same felicity of wording. I hope he agrees. I was greatly amused by Mr. Scotland’s effort, my only reservation being that you can’t really talk of a one-letter word having a beginning and an end. But it was too good to omit from the list on those grounds alone.
 
Many of you worked hard to indicate the rarity of SCANTITY in your clues and may feel a little aggrieved that awards and mention have gone to some who did not. I thought about this quite hard and decided not to penalize the latter. Rareness isn’t the same as obsoleteness or archaicness. If used in conversation, SCANTITY would certainly be understood (though perhaps regarded as slightly arcane or conceited). Also I didn’t indicate its rarity in my asterisked definition.
 
An interesting postscript on RALPH, whose etymology I’ve been trying to trace. My colleague John Sykes on the Oxford English Dictionary staff says: ‘This existed as early as 1841 (Savage’s Dictionary of the Art of Printing), and in Barrère & Leland’s Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant (1897) one is referred to Dr. Franklin’s Waps (1819), p. 56.’ No one, however, seems to have a clue why this particular name was chosen. Any suggestions?