AZED CROSSWORD 2226

DOUBLE-PARKING

1.  J. C. Leyland: See plod rebuking a delinquent for what fouls up kerb-loading? (double anag. & lit.).

2.  L. M. Inman: Lying parallel, chief cause of congestion? (double par king; double = deceitful).

3.  T. Anderson: Six on short hole? One that’s pre-eminent driver shouldn’t be doing this! (double par + king; ref. golf).

VHC

D. K. Arnott: Loading up kerb inordinately? (anag. & lit.).

D. & N. Aspland: Silly bloke in a Romeo beginning to draw up alongside Golf, i.e. ——? (anag. incl. R, d, + G, & lit.).

T. C. Borland: Reprehensibly stopping card after six at short hole (double par + king).

R. Bowden: Silly berk loading up causes highway obstruction (anag.).

A. Brash: Loading up with kerb some way off? (anag. & lit.).

M. Coates: Hazard for drivers means triple bogey for short hole on card (double par + king).

V. Dixon (Ireland): Driver might be blamed for this quadruple bogey by leading man (double par + king).

J. Grimes: Transport loading up kerb? (anag. & lit.).

G. Johnstone: Berk uploading in bits clogging bus route? (anag.; ref. computers).

D. F. Manley: No kerbside gap left – you could naughtily create bit of obstruction, ——, yes? (comp. anag. incl. l, & lit.).

J. R. C. Michie: A large dram, gingerbread and a slice of gateau might result in arterial congestion (double parkin g).

K. Milan: Car inconsiderately ranged up along kerb: I’d make this out of order (anag.).

R. J. Palmer: It’s abusing kerb loading up? (anag. & lit.).

G. C. Rosser: Inconsiderate manoeuvre that’s brought about loud prang with bike (anag.).

T. Rudd: Wherein Cavalier might be trapped – man, short of time, pulling in parallel? (par. in doublet king, less t, & lit.; trap⁴).

Dr S. J. Shaw: Possible result of kerb being busy with loading up (anag. & lit.).

P. L. Stone: Customised Citroen —— may be blocking up entire road (comp. anag. & lit.).

R. C. Teuton: Leaving SEAT alongside PU at kerb? Possibly (anag. less SEAT; PU = pick-up).

Ms C. Thomas: Loud prang, bike crashing – causing obstruction in road? (anag.).

J. R. Tozer: An alternative if there’s no empty space up alongside kerb (anag. less s(pac)e, & lit.).

Ms S. Wallace: Obstructive positioning of vehicles loading up – kerb gets a pounding (anag.).

N. Warne: Possibly loading up kerb? (anag. & lit.).

G. H. Willett: Six at short hole? Men’s No. 1 cites driver’s troublesome alignment (double par + king).

A. J. Young: What berk loading up might resort to (anag. & lit.).

HC

P. B. Alldred, M. Barley, M. Bath, Ms K. Bolton, J. M. Brown, Dr J. Burscough, C. J. Butler, A. & J. Calder, C. A. Clarke, M. Clarke, C. Daffern, W. Drever, J. Fairclough, Dr I. S. Fletcher, Ms N. Fullarton, G. I. L. Grafton, D. Harris, R. Hesketh, W. F. Main, K. Manley, P. W. Marlow, C. G. Millin, T. J. Moorey, C. J. Morse, T. D. Nicholl, C. Short, C. M. Steele, P. Taylor, D. Thomson, Mrs A. M. Walden, L. Ward (USA), A. J. Wardrop, J. Waterton, T. West-Taylor, D. Whisstock (Italy), A. Whittaker, Ms B. J. Widger, G. Wiley.
 

Comments
Only 158 entries, but no mistakes. Favourite clue (by a long way, out of 17 nominated at least once): ‘Touring abroad (having left Britain), part needing to be plugged in?’ for ADAPTOR. I know some of you dislike Playfairs, especially the process of deducing the code word – ‘makes me realize I would never have been Bletchley Park material’ was one comment – but many love them, and they don’t come up all that often. One senior solver said he first learnt about the code when he was in the Scouts about seventy years ago. In more recent Playfair competitions I’ve given hints of some kind to identifying the code word to help you a bit, and though many of you expressed gratitude for the ‘double-p’ hint, I got the faint feeling that some thought it somewhat over-generous. Ah, well. In response to another query, there have been 20 Playfairs in the AZ series, 12 of them competition puzzles, but they were already well-established in the Ximenes repertoire (without hints!), and he may well have originated the idea.
 
I was pleased to chance upon DOUBLE-PARKING. There aren’t many of these extra-long words without recurrent letters which haven’t been used in Playfairs before. Though shorter words would do equally well, there’s something satisfying about such jumbos, especially ones with a decent set of letters. (Ximenes once, rather wickedly, used CAB, resulting in only one letter in the word square being misplaced!) As it turned out, only two approaches to cluing DOUBLE-PARKING predominated, with variations on the ‘loading up kerb’ anagram proving (understandably) so popular that neatness of wording became a crucial factor in the judging process. Mr Leyland’s double anagram proved especially attractive in this regard, and also because the first of the anagrams is far from obvious. I was also introduced by a few competitors to what I assume is a relatively new meaning of DOUBLE-PARKING, viz the practice of having a second drink waiting on the bar beside the one you are currently drinking. Since this seems not yet to have caught the attention of lexicographers, I couldn’t in all fairness place clues that exploited it higher than HC.
 
I am very grateful to those of you, who having heard of the recent death of my mother Joan (at 96), wrote to express their sympathy. It was a merciful release in many ways as she had being suffering from advanced dementia for some time, but it still feels strange to be without both parents for the first time at the age of 72.