AZED CROSSWORD 2309

GLOBETROTTER

1.  Mrs A. M. Walden: Cricketer on tour, possibly Root, unwound with treble G&T (anag.; ref. Joe R.).

2.  J. Grimes: Role of Jason going after Golden prize in film? ((Golden) Globe + Trotter, & lit.; ref. film ‘Jason and the Argonauts’, David J. in TV comedy series ‘Only Fools and Horses’).

3.  T. Rudd: Reform bet got capital character from London to run right round earth – as this? (E in anag. incl. L, R, r, & lit.; ref. Phileas Fogg & R. Club in ‘Around the World in 80 Days’).

VHC

D. K. Arnott: Dud left with e.g. Bo Derek? Cook sent him packing (anag. incl. l + (D. ‘Del Boy’) Trotter; D. Moore & P. Cook).

D. & N. Aspland: Get rotor belt fixed – one may need to do a lot of flying (anag.).

M. Barley: Term for Fogg, fellow collecting wager after travel finally over (l o bet in g rotter, & lit.; ref. Phileas F.; fellow = worthless person).

T. C. Borland: Regular migrant to get trouble working, losing universal right (anag. less u + r).

C. A. Clarke: Drop English batsman suffering from stress, last to score runs as tourist (glob E Trott + e, r; ref. Jonathan T.).

M. Coates: E. g. Cook (Captain) getting ball on foot (globe + trotter; ref. Alistair/James Cook).

J. Doylend: Runner after ball is often found on the wing (globe + trotter).

A. S. Everest: One moving all over the place in world football, right half, then left (i.e. ball foot/football).

G. I. L. Grafton: Maybe run with Bolt, together? Not the slightest hope – he really travels! (anag. incl. r, less h; ref. Usain B.).

R. J. Heald: Richard Burton role sees Hal abandoning marriage-contract in grand plot against Queen (betrot(hal) in G lot + ER; ref. R. B., explorer and film, ‘Anne of the Thousand Days’, starring R. B., actor).

M. Hodgkin: One moving round earth better root hollow log out (anag. incl. l(o)g).

C. G. Millin: Universal tourist has exotic log book on Spain, Turkey and Old Testament territory (anag. incl. b + E TR OT ter.).

T. J. Moorey: One in the country rarely heads for grazing land occupied by bull, preferable to go around it (g, l, o + rot in better; by = beside).

Dr P. W. Nash: He roams the world, regret to blot out (anag.).

R. Perry: Belt Root and get run out. Was he on tour with Cook? (anag. incl. r; ref. Thomas C.).

A. Plumb: Left to get orbiter redeveloped, wanting current one to round the world (anag. incl. l, less i).

D. P. Shenkin: Traveller who might produce blog or letter, with time for length? (anag. with t for l, & lit.).

J. Smailes: Classic theatre role for Jason? The world is his lobster (Globe + (Derek) Trotter; ref. character’s catchphrase).

R. C. Teuton: I may be right into touring Togo, Tebet and Luxor on vacation (r in anag. incl. L(uxo)r, & lit.).

A. J. Wardrop: Ball, testing type, too much for international tourist (globe + trier with OTT for i).

HC

T. Anderson, J. & J. Barnes, Dr J. Barnett, J. G. Booth, Ms L. Broadfoot, C. J. Brougham, Dr J. Burscough, J. A. Butler, M. Cantley, P. Cargill, R. M. Carson, N. Connaughton, J. Denness, V. Dixon (Ireland), J. Fairclough, R. Gilbert, D. V. Harry, P. J. Hartley, R. J. Hooper, J. R. Howlett, J. R. H. Jones (Mexico), J. P. Lester, J. C. Leyland, C. Loving, S. G. G. MacDonald, I. Mackintosh, D. F. Manley, K. Manley, P. W. Marlow, P. McKenna, J. R. C. Michie, T. D. Nicholl, D. J. R. Ogilvie, S. J. O’Boyle, K. Parekh (USA), M. L. Perkins, M. J. Pursey, C. Reid Dick (Germany), S. Reszetniak, R. J. Sharkey, Dr S. J. Shaw, N. G. Shippobotham, C. Short, I. Simpson, A. J. Smith (USA), P. A. Stephenson, P. Stone, M. Taylor, P. Taylor, K. Thomas, L. Toole, J. R. Tozer, A. J. Varney, T. West-Taylor, G. H. Willett, J. Woodall (France), A. J. Young, Dr E. Young, R. Zara.
 

Comments
183 entries, some mistakes. The first of these was caused by not spotting that ‘Man!’ can mean ‘How surprising!’ in the clue to ZAMAN, with ZAMIA also being a tree. (But I would never use ‘surprising’ to indicate an anagram, surely stretching its meaning too far.) The other error was CIDER for CYDER, despite my hint in the clue as the spelling required: ‘One heading left or right, we hear, for strong drink (beware second!)’. Failure to see how the clue to GOOLY worked (go (to p)oly) added to the confusion, no doubt. Favourite clue, of 21 nominated at least once, was ‘Take ill? Doctor enters’ (RESENT), with ‘Spring, time to follow love in frivolity’ (FOUNT) one vote behind.
 
Perhaps surprisingly, GLOBETROTTER proved tricky to clue well, though I guess it was the first word to occur from the asterisked definition. This can of course happen from to time, but I’m not averse to giving you an easy start, even when, as many of you commented, the puzzle as a whole is seen as easier than average (though there are always some taking the opposite view!). It was perhaps inevitable that David Jason and Only Fools and Horses should prove popular. His catchphrase as used in Mr Smailes’s VHC is on the borderline of acceptability as a definition, but I found it too funny to resist. A few of you resorted to ‘Lemon’ as a definition, with reference to the enticingly named Meadowlark Lemon, a star player, I learn, in the Harlem Globetrotters. I judged this as on the wrong side of familiarity to earn high marks, my guess being that it would fail to pass as acceptable by crossword editors in other papers. I have to make such judgements unaided, being subjected to no such scrutiny by the Observer, so it interests me to read recent correspondence in the Guardian about the perceived increase in difficulty of its crosswords of late. I suspect this results from the desire among regular setters to push back the boundaries of ‘crypticity’ rather than from any deliberate intention to make life more difficult for solvers. My own aim is always to maintain a consistent standard of difficulty, but innovative approaches will inevitably occur from time to time. Your reactions usually tell me when I’ve gone too far!