AZED CROSSWORD 310

STERNFAST

1.  Mrs E. J. Shields: What attaches fleet to hard? (stern fast, & lit.).

2.  L. May: It’s unyielding, sailors pushing out notice (steadfast with RN for ad, & lit.).

3.  E. J. Burge: I offer ropy play at end of pier – with old star, unlikely to run? (stern³ fast).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Tackle RN sets aft, coiled (anag. & lit.).

N. S. Barrett: I’m attached to the land; commercial for the Navy makes me resolute! (steadfast with RN for ad).

Rev C. M. Broun: What’s after Lent? I’m set free to push the boat out! (stern fast).

A. J. Bulman: Painter’s tight after getting society prize for three drawings (S tern² + fast).

C. O. Butcher: When sailing it’s let go aft and RN sets out (anag.).

C. J. and M. P. Butler: Bottom rash could stay tender (stern fast).

M. Coates: Rash on rump may restrict movement in riding (stern + fast).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Guy, to stay lighter, needs rigorous diet (stern fast).

H. Dingwall: Strict observance of Lent, perhaps, represents obstacle to pushing boat out (stern fast).

A. Dyson: As used when fleet is tied up by ropy sets aft? (RN in anag., & lit.).

J. J. Goulstone: Rigorous abstinence stops you pushing the boat out (stern fast).

H. Hancock: What’s tied up to posts near wharf? A prow. Oh! With this rope? (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. V. Harry: Tackle RN sets aft (anag. & lit.).

G. Johnstone: Line RN sets aft (anag. & lit.; line = align).

J. P. Lester: It’s austere, an occasion for abstinence – not a bow-tie affair (stern fast; bow³).

D. F. Manley: Austere time like the present can stop one pushing the boat out (stern fast).

J. D. Moore: For a guy to keep ‘tub’ in check, strict diet is needed (stern fast).

F. Moss: Hard diet? As salt’s docked it restricts one on water (stern fast).

G. B. Patrick: Strict abstinence? It certainly stops one ‘pushing the boat out’! (stern fast).

T. E. Sanders: After lashing strict refusal of food will secure the end of a tub (stern fast).

F. B. Stubbs: Holding under severe restraint in the dock (stern + fast).

J. C. P. Taylor: Warp RN sets aft (anag. & lit.).

D. H. Tompsett: Rump-rash after lashing (stern fast).

C. E. Williams: Strict dieting? This will stop you pushing out the boat! (stern fast).

M. Woolf: Ties up RN – sets aft (anag. & lit.).

HC

M. Adams, P. Berman, G. Blunden, R. S. Caffyn, P. Cargill, W. Carter Wigg, J. Cartmel, D. L. L. Clarke, P. R. Clemow, M. A. Cooper, R. M. S. Cork, H. A. C. Darwen, C. J. Feetenby, Dr I. S. Fletcher, J. D. Foster, A. L. Freeman, F. D. Gardiner, N. C. Goddard, S. Goldie, J. Grainge, I. D. Hall, M. J. Hickman, C. N. Hodges, A. Hodgson, E. M. Holroyd, E. M. Hornby, J. G. Hull, R. H. F. Isham, A. H. Jones, C. L. Jones, F. P. N. Lake, A. Lawrie, M. D. Laws, P. W. W. Leach, A. D. Legge, C. Loving, Lieut Col D. Macfie, D. P. M. Michael, C. J. and R. S. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, D. A. Nicholls, M. L. Perkins, T. Proctor, R. W. Purnell, H. L. Rhodes, Rear Adm W. T. C. Ridley, A. Rivlin, B. H. Sammons, W. J. M. Scotland, A. D. Scott, T. A. J. Spencer, F. W. R. Stocks, R. C. Teuton, K. Thomas, A. Turner, W. A. Tweddle, A. J. Wardrop, J. W. Welford, Rev C. D. Westbrook, T. Wightman.
 

ANNUAL HONOURS LIST (13 COMPETITIONS)
1. C. J. and R. S. Morse (3 prizes, 5 VHCs); 2 (equal). R. J. Hooper (2, 6), D. F. Manley (0, 10); 4 (equal). C. O. Butcher (2, 5), J. D. Moore (1, 7); 6 (equal). E. J. Burge (2, 4), C. Loving (1, 6); 8 (equal). F. R. Palmer (1, 5), F. B. Stubbs (1, 5); 10 (equal). E. Chalkley (2, 2), M. A. Cooper (0, 6), M. D. Laws (1, 4), C. G. Millin (0, 6), W. K. M. Slimmings (0, 6); 15 (equal). C. Allen Baker (0, 5), Mrs R. B. Hunt (2, 1), Mrs N. Jarman (1, 3), L. May (1, 3), Brig R. F. E. Stoney (1, 3). Consolation prizes to D. F. Manley, M. A. Cooper, C. G. Millin, W. K. M. Slimmings, C. Allen Baker.
 

 
COMMENTS
 
Another big entry – about 520 – for a puzzle variously described as ‘your easiest for a long time’ and ‘quite the most difficult plain for some time’. My own opinion, for what it’s worth, is that it was a little easier than average, but I’ve more or less abandoned any sort of mental yardstick for these things, as being pretty meaningless or at best unreliable. That is not to say that I don’t still keep a close and constant eye on fairness and solvability (as I am always urging you to do!). Incidentally, my apologies to Mr. C. E. Williams for not including him in the VHC list in the Observer.
 
I spotted only one mistake in the whole entry, and that was what I took to be an inadvertent failure to write in one unchecked letter, the G of DANG. Do please check your diagrams before sealing the envelope. It only takes a couple of minutes but I’m sure they’re well spent. My heart always bleeds for competitors disqualified on minor technicalities of this kind. In case this particular offender genuinely couldn’t solve the clue to DANG (is it insecurity that gets one mouthing this oath?’) – and there were a few puzzled comments from other quarters – it was based on the idea that a person saying ‘Dang!’ might be (though he isn’t) called a DANG-ER, danger being ‘insecurity’. Fair, I think. Oh, and by the way, I do require a completed solution as essential with competition entries. Obvious, perhaps, but people do ask.
 
I don’t know if it was Ximenes who coined the name ‘unches’ for unchecked letters (those which appear in one diagram word only and are not cross-checked by a word going the other direction), but I apologise for the uncalled-for appearance of my mixed-up unches in their place in the DICKENS slip last month! I was on holiday and the slip proof was checked by someone innocently unaware of our arcane jargon. Again, the printer must be blamed, not me, for causing chaos for chaps (I hope not too literally) in No. 309.
 
Lots of nice clues to STERN-FAST, keeping me up late several nights running, and very little unsoundness, perhaps the commonest cause being the old one of using the wrong part of speech in the definition. To my way of thinking a noun (the easiest) may be defined by (of course) another noun, or a noun phrase, or a verb, with it (the word clued) as the subject understood. I am less than happy about an adjective used to define a noun, and can only really accept it as defining another adjective.
 
Many congratulations to the Morses for heading this year’s honours list. I don’t know whether other competitors will be glad or sorry to hear that they will hereafter be reverting to separate entries! I’m sure the competition will remain as keen as ever though. My sincere thanks, finally, to Mr. Allen Baker, for providing me with a valuable checklist of the points table. My own unaided efforts in this area have proved notoriously suspect in the past!