AZED CROSSWORD 306

DICKENS

1.  W. J. M. Scotland: I cook, without soul, in pit (term in exclamations) (I c(oo)k in den + s, & lit.).

2.  A. J. Crow: Who the —— has got involved? Do we think he’s Chas? (comp. anag.).

3.  E. Chalkley: The writer is awfully sick with last characters in Azed puzzle unknown (anag. incl. d e n).

VHC

Miss M. R. Adcock: D——! ’e’s Nick in disguise (anag. & lit.).

Mrs K. Bissett: A mild oath – about wot’s in Hell? (c. ken in Dis).

C. A. Clarke: This author’s characters which recur in his Papers are found in haunts of misery (ick (from Pickwick) in dens, & lit.).

J. A. Fincken: Being after Datchery? Not in my canon (Dick + ens; Dick D, last character to appear in ‘Edwin Drood’).

S. P. Flitton: C’s inked novel? This may suggest him (anag. & lit.).

N. C. Goddard: Deuce in deck’s wild (anag.).

E. M. Holroyd: Any trading with him could give you a darn sticky ending (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. Faust, etc.).

R. J. Hooper: In revolution Sydney cops chopped neck, you’ll read in me (anag. in Sid (rev.), & lit.; ref. S. Carton in ‘A Tale of Two Cities’).

E. M. Hornby: Deuce, and Rosewall’s in the throes of a slipped disc (Ken in anag.; ref. Ken R., tennis player).

R. E. Kimmons: Bucket, for example, being the link here (but strangely without a clue!) (dick ens; Inspector B. in ‘Bleak House’).

J. H. C. Leach: It’s the devil, Richards catching England’s openers (en in Dicks; ref. Viv R.).

C. Loving: He’s king amongst hot cinders where right does not prevail (K in anag. less r, & lit.; hot = excited).

D. F. Manley: Behind my fine words lay actuality (dick² + ens, & lit.; lay, imperative).

C. G. Millin: My characters include a reactionary hero of the poor house (Cid (rev.) + ken’s, & lit.; ref. Oliver Twist; ken²).

J. D. Moore: Scratchy pen? (2 mngs.; Scratch = the Devil).

B. A. Pike: My characters include wretched Smike and co., deprived of mother-love (anag. less ma 0, & lit.; ref. ‘N. Nickleby’).

Rear Adm W. T. C. Ridley: Detective being in Union, my last mystery wasn’t solved (dick + ens; ref. ‘Edwin Drood’ unfinished).

A. D. Scott: Mephisto type, dictionary being required (dick² ens; ref. S. Times crossword).

M. Woolf: Wrote a Cricket Book: ‘Snicked Through The Slips’ (anag.; ref. ‘Cricket on the Hearth’).

Dr E. Young: Amiss snicked one that conjured up ‘Slasher’ (anag.; ref. Dennis A., Ken ‘S.’ Mackay, Australian cricketer, and Surgeon S. in ‘The Pickwick Papers’).

HC

M. Adams, C. Allen Baker, J. W. Bates, Mrs F. Blanchard, Miss P. A. Boyington, Mrs A. R. Bradford, E. J. Burge, C. O. Butcher, R. S. Caffyn, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, P. Cargill, A. E. Crow, A. G. Fleming, Dr I. S. Fletcher, F. D. Gardiner, Dr J. M. Gerard, J. J. Goulstone, H. Hancock, D. V. Harry, A. Hodgson, S. Holgate, Miss E. H. C. Jenkins, V. Jennings, A. H. Jones, J. R. Kirby, M. D. Laws, C. J. Lowe, H. S. Mason, H. W. Massingham, L. May, D. P. M. Michael, Dr R. G. Monk, C. J. and R. S. Morse, D. S. Nagle, D. A. Nicholls, C. Oliver, L. W. G. Oxley, F. R. Palmer, R. J. Palmer, M. L. Perkins, T. Proctor, Miss I. M. Raab, N. Roles, T. E. Sanders, W. K. M. Slimmings, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, F. B. Stubbs, D. H. Tompsett, R. VanLangen, A. J. Wardrop, Dr R. L. Wynne.
 

COMMENTS
About 280 entries, 20 or so incorrect, mainly through failure to identify all the Dickensian characters, though one competitor thought MILLAIS was the theme-word and another mysteriously clued FILACER all over again. It was a tough puzzle, as I foresaw, but I think I gave enough (some said too much) extra help in the subtitle (What the...?) and the unchecked letters to make it solvable without having to spend long hours in the local library. A few of the characters I used were very obscure, particularly Tootle who appears briefly at the bar of the Six Jolly Fellowship-Porters in Our Mutual Friend (p. 66 in my edition), but I would remind those who resolutely entered Toodle and accused me of getting my unches mixed up that I specifically said that all unclued answers were to be found in Chambers. That was the real point of the puzzle: not simply Dickensian characters but ones which were and are also, as one might say, ‘household words’, like the theme-word itself. I’ve been rediscovering Dickens recently (a very great joy) and was amused by the idea of basing a puzzle on his creations whose names could equally well stand as ordinary dictionary words. For the record, I used to help me an invaluable book called The Charles Dickens Encyclopedia by Michael and Mollie Hardwick. And since there wasn’t room for a list of sources with the solution notes, here’s a quick check-list. Stables: Bleak House; Veneering, Headstone, Tootle: Our Mutual Friend; Pocket: Great Expectations; Grinder, Slum, Nubbles: Old Curiosity Shop; Omer: David Copperfield; Twist: Oliver Twist; Slasher, Raddle: Pickwick Papers; Knag: Nicholas Nickleby.
 
I had forgotten (if I ever knew) that ‘the Devil’s books’ are playing cards, which sent some of you off on the wrong track. It certainly wasn’t deliberate – I tried to give extra help if anything knowing that it was a more difficult special than most. (Plea from one young solver: ‘Please make your crosswords easier’!) The majority of you however seemed to enjoy the extra challenge. The main problem with cluing DICKENS (as the author, not the Devil) was to avoid making the clue too obvious. A number of quite good and sound entries were demoted from higher honours by producing clues which gave away the answer from the start. As I’ve remarked before I prefer simplicity to complexity in clues (always think of the solver!) but it can be overdone and given the invariably stiff competition of our monthly contests it is a point to bear in mind.