AZED CROSSWORD 2599

DESIDERATA

1.  A. Gerrard: ‘A hated read sprinkled with platitudes’ - could be this poem with Latin put at head (comp. anag. incl. L, & lit.; ref. Max Ehrmann poem).

2.  Mrs A. M. Walden: All one really wants: novel idea Azed finally rates (anag. incl. d).

3.  Ms K. Bolton: Needing to shed a bit of flab, are diet fads bogus or must-haves? (anag. less f).

VHC

M. Barley: What you want clued is ID’d with a star - entries from everyone encouraged! (anag. incl. e, e; ref. ‘definition asterisked’).

Dr J. Burscough: Wanted list crook, readiest for District Attorney to imprison (anag. in DA).

A. & J. Calder: Compiling wish-list I add Easter Parade (anag.).

J. Doylend: What’s needed is a dead cert but it has missed the start at Cheltenham, unfortunately (anag. less C).

R. Emerson: What are needed are cheers in support of Stokes for century in critical match (decider with S for C + a ta).

P. Finan: Authentic Indian cooking, A-rated - that’s what you want (desi + anag.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Environmentalist’s no. 1 dread is failing to contain temperature one wants (e in anag. + t + a).

H. Freeman: Mixed salads to a dieter (lotsa fancy leaves)? (anag. less anag. & lit).

R. J. Heald: What’d cause itchiness? Onset of acarids I erase with DDT sprayed liberally (anag. incl. a; itch = strong desire).

J. C. Leyland: Diamonds, fooling around aside, are starlet’s ultimate essential? They are that (d + anag. incl. t).

D. F. Manley: ‘Essentials’ Asda tried launching to be spiked by Waitrose ultimately? (e in anag.; ref. threatened legal action).

A. Plumb: Azed entries graded regularly poorly? Application, primarily, is what’s required (anag. of alternate letters + a).

N. G. Shippobotham: Wandering around Asda, dieter longed for things (anag.).

R. C. Teuton: Are ‘needs’ said to possibly translate from one’s such? (comp. anag. & lit.).

K. & J. Wolff: Requisites in hippie poster: rambling sad tirade, drug induced (E in anag.; ref. Ehrmann poem).

A. J. Young: Duke, scattering readies, soldiers on, wish list items in mind (d + anag. + TA).

HC

T. C. Borland, C. J. Brougham, Mrs S. Brown, J. A. Butler, P. Cargill, D. Carter, Ms U. Carter, C. A. Clarke, N. Connaughton (Ireland), W. Drever, J. Duggan, C. M. Edmunds, J. Fairclough, R. Griffiths, M. Hodgkin, M. Lloyd-Jones, P. W. Marlow, P. McKenna, K. Milan, C. G. Millin, T. J. Moorey, T. D. Nicholl, C. Ogilvie, P. Pasupathy (India), D. Price Jones, T. Rudd, Dr S. J. Shaw, D. P. Shenkin, J. Smailes, P. L. Stone, J. R. Tozer, J. Vincent & Ms R. Porter, Ms S. Wallace, J. D. Walsh, A. J. Wardrop, R. J. Whale, R. Zara.
 

Comments
151 entries, no discernible mistakes. Favourite clue, of 15 voted for: ‘By the sound of it, make bacon from a pig in liqueur’ (CURAÇAO), some way ahead of ‘Quickie during lunch break? Not a soul having run!’ (NOONER). I’m sorry the wrong note about Chambers was used below the grid, suggesting that some misprints were involved in the puzzle. As I think most of you realized, this was mistakenly copied from the previous competition puzzle. Tiresome, nevertheless.
 
DESIDERATA proved a popular clue word, though tricky to deal with imaginatively. Quite a few submissions indicated singular usage, but I decided that it could probably be used to refer to a singular collection of things desired (though probably not as the subject of a singular verb, as ‘data’ often is). I was not familiar with the poem Desiderata by the American Max Ehrmann, though from your comments I learn that it is commonly quoted (e.g. on cards, tea towels and suchlike). Most of you who expressed a view clearly regard it as rather trite, and having Googled it in full I’m inclined to agree. The poem apparently only became famous after Ehrmann’s death (in 1945).
 
I was sad to learn of the recent death of (Dr) Eddie Young, for many years a regular Ximenes and Azed solver and competitor. He was educated at Christ’s Hospital School, where Ximenes and my wife’s father (Noel Sergent, whom I never knew) both taught, and was a keen X/AZ competitor for many years. He apparently took special delight in his 1^st prize-winning clue for ROUGH-AND-READY in 2006: ‘A hard tussle with Dr E. Young plainly winning?’, taking advantage of one of those opportunities that rarely occur. Eddie was clearly a much-loved family man, and I greatly enjoyed meeting him at several AZ get-togethers.