AZED CROSSWORD 2244

AVANT-GARDISTE

1.  R. J. Heald: Who might make devastating crack about RA retrospective, styling vintage art ‘sad’? (RA (rev.) in anag., anag., & lit.).

2.  J. C. Leyland: I’d savage what’s central to conventional art with abandon (nt in anag., & lit.).

3.  T. C. Borland: One that could deliver shock to e.g. staid art circles (van in anag., & lit.).

VHC

T. Anderson: Following a wandering star I’d get wagon coated, being a pioneer (a + van in anag.; ref. song ‘Wand’rin’ Star’ in musical ‘Paint Your Wagon’).

D. Appleton: Somehow vintage ‘trad’ art’s not right for this person (anag. less rt, & lit.).

M. Barley: A very innovative artist, e.g. an originator of Dada (a v + anag. incl. D, & lit.).

J. G. Booth: One producing new-fangled art ideas, including Van Gogh originally – that’s about it in brief (Van ’t G in anag., & lit.).

C. A. Clarke: I could produce deviant art as Goebbels, primarily, held (G in anag., & lit.).

C. Daffern: A wild extravagant id’s not unknown in a fashionista (anag. less x).

V. Dixon (Ireland): Initiator of trend, raved against if revolutionary (anag. incl. t, & lit.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: One’s very daring with taste for change (a + v + anag., & lit.).

M. Hodgkin: Early adopter tried satnav, losing way around outskirts of Geneva (G, a in anag.).

E. C. Lance: One such as Paul Gauguin, mouldering in a distant grave (anag.).

D. F. Manley: Awfully staid art a given? I must break away from that (anag. less I, & lit.).

T. J. Moorey: One could have slammed vintage art as beginning to date! (anag. incl. d, & lit.).

C. J. Morse: I get excited with V and A’s art: he prefers Saatchi’s (anag.).

S. Randall: One revolutionizing sad vintage art? (anag. & lit.).

P. A. Stephenson: One may construe vintage art ‘sad’ (anag. & lit.).

P. Taylor: She’s daringly innovative playing a vintage strad (anag.).

R. C. Teuton: Term for improv artist with agenda to stray from the norm (anag. incl. v, & lit.).

J. R. Tozer: ‘Gent as art diva’ could be one description of Grayson Perry? (anag.).

A. J. Wardrop: Devastating RA, potentially? (anag. & lit.).

R. J. Whale: I might be exhibited by daring Tate: V & A’s wavering (anag. incl. V, A’s, & lit.).

G. H. Willett: This trendy lady head of university may discover graduates very anti being reformed (anag. incl. v less u; ref. Louise Richardson, new Oxford VC).

Dr E. Young: Form of Verdi’s new tag at opening of Aida (anag. incl. n, A, & lit.; ref. world premiere in Cairo).

HC

P. B. Alldred, D. & N. Aspland, C. J. Brougham, Mrs S. Brown, C. J. Butler, P. Cargill, D. Carter, M. Coates, N. Connaughton, W. Drever, C. M. Edmunds, G. I. L. Grafton, J. Grimes, Dr C. P. Hales, P. Halse, A. H. Harker, D. V. Harry, R. Hesketh, J. R. H. Jones, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, W. F. Main, P. W. Marlow, P. McKenna, Rev Prebendary M. R. Metcalf, C. Ogilvie, D. J. R. Ogilvie (USA), G. S. Parsons, D. Pattenden, M. L. Perkins, T. Rudd, A. Scott, Dr S. J. Shaw, D. P. Shenkin, Dr G. Simpson, P. L. Stone, S. J. J. Tiffin, D. H. Tompsett, J. & R. Vincent, L. Ward (USA), M. H. E. Watson, G. Wiley, R. Zara.
 

Comments
188 entries, no noticeable mistakes. Favourite clue (of 17 nominated at least once) was – a bit surprisingly to me – ‘One among contemporaries of Auden, W. H.? They’re exhausting’ for SPENDERS, well ahead of ‘Example of the blues is devastating to the ear’ (SAXE), and four others in equal third place (those for DELTAS, HUSTLER, PIN-UP and THAUMATURGIST). The clue word was predictably popular, with a nice set of letters and good opportunities for ‘& lit.’ clues, which many seized on. I haven’t enjoyed the judging process so much for a long time. Special mention must be made of Mr Heald’s outstanding first prizewinner. Double cryptic indicators must be handled with care as they tend to result in longer-than average clues and can be rather easy to solve. Neither of these criticisms can be applied to RJH’s clue. I had to read it a couple of times to see how it works, but when the penny dropped I was at once struck by its brilliant wording and construction. A real gem.
 
A few otherwise sound clues – and there was a marked lack of unsoundness this month – were weakened by too vague a definition of AVANT-GARDISTE. And while a person of this description could well be a woman, I suspect that some of you thought that it always refers to one, presumably on the basis of that final -e and because Chambers also gives the Anglicized AVANT-GARDIST spelling. The French word, with final -e, is of course non-gender-specific.
 
John Tozer has reminded me that 24 June (yesterday as I key this) was the 70^th anniversary of Ximenes No. 1. Do keep an eye on John’s wonderful website www.andlit.org, which he is constantly adding to in order to facilitate ever more interesting searches in the X/AZ archive. This now, John tells me, contains 22,319 clues from 1,013 competitions, contributed by about 2,500 competitors, with records for a further 3,000 or so who only received HCs.
 
My wife and I are much looking forward to meeting many of you at the lunch on 18 July to mark Azed No. 2,250 at Wolfson College, Oxford, followed by a tea party at our home a stone’s throw away. It’s not too late to sign up for these: contact Will Drever for details, enclosing sae, at Azed 2,250, Shekinah, 60 Beaks Hill Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham B38 8BY.