AZED CROSSWORD 243

OLYMPIC

1.  C. G. Millin: We have such champions, nearly all on water and ice (o(n) lymp(h) ic(e), & lit.).

2.  C. O. Butcher: So-called sports imply running in elevated company (anag. in Co. (rev.), & lit.; sports vb.; Mt. Olympus).

3.  L. May: Having purest serum, unapproachable, never ending once (o(f) lymp(h), ic(y), & lit.).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Such a dedicated type, covering a mile, admits no limits (m in holy pica less h, a, & lit.).

D. R. Appleton: Heavenly moly prepared Greek character before Circe’s onset (anag. + pi + C; ref. Odysseus; see moly in C.).

R. S. Caffyn: Airline sacks myopic pilot – ’op it, out, out! (comp. anag.; O. Airways).

J. H. Dingwall: Moscow’s beginning to get involved in intricate policy – concerning such matters? (M in anag.; ref. next O. Games).

D. M. Duckworth: Set up this variety of a torch in a certain way and the result will be polychromatic! (comp. anag. & lit.).

Mrs W. Fearon: Metric unit introduced in new policy to do with running business (m in anag.).

H. Hancock: X’s successor gets complimented half crazily for setting of contests (Y in anag. of compli(mented); X = Ximenes).

D. V. Harry: At historic summit, Smith’s No. 2 is absorbed in reformulation of policy (m in anag.; ref. Ian S., Rhodesia talks).

R. J. Hooper: Description of sacred mountain-top elite, knowing no limits? ((h)oly M pic(k), & lit.).

C. Loving: Polychromic O’s seen fluttering could bring —— cheers soon (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. F. Manley: Originally of land containing Pisa, its meaning shifted around end of century (y in anag. of initial letters, & lit.; ref. city of Peloponnese).

J. D. Moore: A ruinous policy: Jim’s latest this year could be so described (m in anag.; ref. J. Callaghan and 1976 Olympics).

J. J. Moore: Such was the success of Fox – a change of policy ending in reform (anag. incl. m; ref. Jim F., gold medallist in Modern Pentathlon and George F., Quaker).

C. J. Morse: Monopoly (sic) might make this rating soon (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. proliferation of ‘Olympic’ events).

F. R. Palmer: Of sport in which politics may become involved – its one defect (anag. less its a, & lit.).

S. L. Paton: I comply with regulation A (anag.; A = amateur; ref. IOC regulation).

W. H. Pegram: Concerning games there’s nothing an old dog needs to gather (almost) (0 lym pic(k)).

M. L. Perkins: Concerning leap-years? (double mng.).

A. J. Redstone: Policy shifts encompassing ultimate in fascism; such events are anticipated in 1984 (m in anag.).

W. K. M. Slimmings: It’s uncommonly heavenly love … not quite the best ambience for a little devil, we hear (i.e. ‘limb’ in 0 pic(k)).

R. L. Vincent: Myopic, crazy, about fifty – hardly the qualifications for this team! (L in anag.).

Rev C. D. Westbrook: Out of bounds sacred mountain-top best described thus? ((h)oly m pic(k), & lit.; out of = without).

M. Woolf: Such a committee should have a fixed policy about lead in medals (m in anag.).

HC

M. Adams, G. Aspin, F. D. H. Atkinson, R. L. Baker, M. J. Ball, E. C. Bingham, Rev C. M. Broun, J. M. Brown, A. J. Bulman, D. L. L. Clarke, R. M. S. Cork, Mrs M. P. Craine, Mrs J. M. Critchley, A. E. Crow, P. Drummond, C. J. Feetenby, J. A. Fincken, Rev S. W. Floyd, B. Franco, S. Goldie, J. J. Goulstone, N. Hankins, D. Hawson, E. M. Hornby, J. M. Houghton, R. Jacks, D. E. Jackson, G. Johnstone, J. R. Kirby, A. Lawrie, M. D. Laws, C. J. Lowe, D. J. Mackay, R. Majdalany, M. Mallett, L. K. Maltby, B. Manvell, G. J. Mortimer, J. J. Murtha, D. S. Nagle, F. E. Newlove, R. O’Donoghue, M. O’Hanlon, R. J. Palmer, C. J. B. Powell, C. Quin, R. G. Rae, T. E. Sanders, W. J. M. Scotland, C. C. D. Shute, M. C. Souster, M. D. Speigel, J. G. Stubbs, G. A. Tomlinson, D. H. Tompsett, D. C. Williamson, S. E. Woods.
 

COMMENTS
About 350 entries, a number of which were disqualified for having ISTLE instead of IXTLE. It’s not perversity on my part that makes me resort to variant spellings – simply the fact that I have almost certainly clued the first spelling before, if it’s a short word, which it usually is. That the variant letter was also unchecked in this instance was pure chance. Tough luck.
 
Not an inspired month on the whole. Adjectives always give trouble, especially ones with pretty specific meanings. They tend to produce clues which either give inadequate indication of the part of speech clued or are rather easy to solve, or both. As someone pointed out OLYMPIC doesn’t strictly mean ‘of games’ but ‘of the Olympic Games’ but to insist on such precision in the wording of clues would have been over-particular on my part. I was therefore disposed to allow vaguer definitions than is my wont. Mr. Paton’s clue is a case in point. A = amateur = Olympic is a pretty tenuous connection (particularly if one takes a cynical view of the level of shamateurism now reached by the Games), but the simplicity of the rest of the clue and the neatness of the whole tipped the scales in its favour.
 
For GUACHARO I must apologise. My ‘sugar’ word was actually GUR – there’s an ‘& lit.’ lurking there somewhere – but in between finding it, linking it mentally with CHAR and putting the idea into words, I must have confused it with GUAR. The simple insertion of ‘a’ or ‘one’ before ‘tea’ would have done the trick. I’m sorry. Brain fever is a cruel affliction. No one got it wrong, at least.
 
There were also some murmurings about cr. = credit = tick on the grounds that it was an unfair ‘double-jump’ and that in any case tick really means the opposite of credit. Not in Chambers, say I, and wouldn’t e.g. M.O. = Medical Officer = doctor be acceptable? I think so. In principle I would agree that abbreviations ought to be indicated by using in the clue the exact word which is abbreviated, but in the case of common abbreviations an exact equivalent should suffice.
 
The Dinner for Azed No. 250 is now well and truly on. All those who have expressed interest as a result of announcements in these slips will have heard direct from Mr. May, who is manfully shouldering all the admin burdens. Suffice it to say that Oxford has won the day as regards choice of venue, that day being Saturday 22 January 1977.