AZED CROSSWORD 2257

BUST-UP / PIT-PAT

1.  R. J. Heald: Quarrel with Republican candidate shortened odds of Trump beating frontrunner for presidency spreading sanctimonious rubbish ((Jeb)Bus(h) + alternate letters; p in pi tat; ref. US politics).

2.  T. Anderson: Split bosom’s prominently displayed oomph gets the old man in a little bit of a flutter (bust up; it + pa in pt).

3.  Mrs A. M. Walden: Row at school after police raid set teachers’ union aflutter (bust up; pit PAT).

VHC

M. Barley: Flapping PM’s apparently backtracked in row: admitting migrants ultimately is aim ahead (ap. (rev.) in Pitt; s in but + up).

T. C. Borland: Likely to be back nesting in hole, fluttering tits raise commotion (apt (rev.) in pit; bust up).

R. Gilbert: Effect of certain lingerie’s a disturbance of passions, beginning with sex appeal hitting spot, generating singular palpitations (bust up; p + it + pat).

D. V. Harry: Recommended runner backed by Paddy produces thrilling finish crack riding can provide (tip (rev.) + Pat; bust up).

R. Hesketh: In a flutter old man in prison, tense in court after a couple of boobs, spat (pa in pit + t; bust up).

J. C. Leyland: Needing data circuit and RAM, scrap laptop, it’s mad spending 50 with disk also rattling (bus tup; anag. less L, O).

M. A. Macdonald-Cooper: Row boat backwards, then ram palpitating old man in Chatham (sub (rev.) + tup; pa in Pitt (the Elder, Earl of Chatham)).

W. F. Main: Disturbance in chest at an end – for palpitations pressure has been applied to it at the right time (bust up; p + it + pat).

D. F. Manley: Row puts British into confusion about EU’s ultimate settlement with PM going round thumping a bit (U in anag. incl. B; pa in Pitt).

C. J. Morse: Repair station’s rightly placed for quivering jalopy getting driven back for scrap (pit + pat; bus + put (rev.)).

T. Rudd: Rebellious Brutus, unleashing Rome’s first power clash, cut down friend, piercing political dynast with a succession of low blows (anag. less R + p; pa(l) in Pitt).

Dr S. J. Shaw: Disturbance in chest excited heart of victim to keep it pathologically palpitating (bust up; hidden centrally).

P. L. Stone: Having a flutter backing top tip at Ayr, placed second, overhauled in run-in (tap tip (rev.); put sub (rev.)).

A. Varney: Return to station by public transport – scrap car repair place has run out of part needed to resolve possible pinking (bus + put (rev.); pit + pa(r)t).

J. Vincent & Ms R. Porter: Palpitating sensation resulting from grave stroke – spat blood initially then mostly sputum in a distressed state (pit pat; b + anag. less m).

L. Ward (USA): No energy at all … reduced appetite … palpitating chest: first signs of ulcerative pulmonary disorder (anag. les e e; bust + u, p).

Dr E. Young: Burrell say goes after coach starts row playing ‘suitable’ back in match (bus tup; burrell sheep; ref. Luther B., Rugby World Cup player; apt (rev.) in pit; play = flutter).

HC

D. Appleton, D. & N. Aspland, M. Barker, J. G. Booth, J. M. Brown, Mrs S. Brown, Dr J. Burscough, C. J. Butler, A. & J. Calder, D. Carter, A. Chamberlain, C. A. Clarke, V. Dixon (Ireland), W. Drever, C. M. Edmunds, A. S. Everest, J. Fairclough, J. Grimes, C. Loving, Rev Prebendary M. R. Metcalf, J. R. C. Michie, C. G. Millin, T. J. Moorey, D. J. R. Ogilvie (USA), J. Parke, J. & A. Price, T. J. Railton, A. D. Scott, D. P. Shenkin, N. G. Shippobotham, C. Short, Dr G. Simpson (Australia), P. A. Stephenson, Ms M. Stokes, P. Taylor, R. C. Teuton, J. R. Tozer, Ms S. Wallace, A. J. Wardrop, T. West-Taylor, R. J. Whale, G. H. Willett, K. J. Williams, A. J. Young, and an unnamed entry from 82 Fitzjohn Avenue, Barnet.
 

Comments
150 entries, no noticeable mistakes. Favourite clue, of 12 nominated once or more: ‘Coup converts Chinese VIP, one with blinkered view bagging power’ (PUTSCH/BIG POT). In this double clue the division occurs at the comma, and though there is nothing intrinsically wrong with this I do try where possible to disguise the join by avoiding punctuation at that point, as many of those quoted above have done. This was partly the reason for my adding (for the first time) to the preamble the note that the individual clues forming part of each double clue may not make much sense. It occurred to me that this may well happen when one is striving for free-flowing wording in the double clue as a whole. The point is that when this does happen I do not regard it as a weakness. It’s just that I have sometimes expressed the opinion that single clues are better if they have a meaningful surface reading. When they are half of double clues this seems to me less crucial – though I’d welcome your views on this.
 
I don’t know where and when ‘Right & Left’ originated (and why it isn’ t the more logical ‘Left & Right’), but it was certainly part of the regular Ximenes repertoire. I’ve given you many of them over the years (plus variants such as ‘Up & Down’). I’ve also always tried, as I think Ximenes did, to make the single clue word vaguely relevant to the idea of double-sidedness, though I suspect I’m running out of suitable vocabulary for this. Many said they solved CROSS-BENCHER quite quickly, making the positioning of entries that much easier, at least in the top half of the grid. The pattern of bars, however, with only the four 8-letter words extending from the top to the bottom half of the grid, made the bottom half a lot more challenging in this respect. The reason for this was my (perhaps perversely masochistic) determination to make all the across entries 6-letter words. I do like to set myself these little challenges!
 
No time (or space) for more, except to mention the latest from John Tozer: ‘Solvers and competitors may like to know that the andlit.org.uk homepage now has a link to the latest Azed puzzle in its printable form. The link updates automatically each week when a puzzle is published on the Guardian website.’