AZED CROSSWORD 314

MERIL (Spoonerisms)

1.  R. A. Mostyn: Maud Barker married Eric, Conservative turned Liberal (board marker; m + l for c in Eric).

2.  R. J. Palmer: Plan made on board for Morris, etc., marks beginnings of Michael Edwardes’ reign in Leyland (man played; first letters; ref. carmaker).

3.  D. C. Williamson: Awkward letters bind me up, and tricky limericks make me sick (betters lined; comp. anag.).

VHC

C. O. Butcher: Some charmer I like – one of the sort for a bed-game (set for a boardgame; hidden).

P. A. Cash: None of the wine men take in lime cocktail (one of the nine; r in anag.).

A. L. Dennis: Chip grooved on mound – club used with violence – end of golf-ball! (moved on ground; meri + l).

J. H. Dingwall: Miller, put out, missing first sign of leaven – one of three risks in dough? (disks in row; anag. less l).

A. G. Fleming: Planes used to sway with me on board – almost bound to get sick, almost (swains … play; mer(e) il(l); mere⁴).

M. A. Forman: Maud Barker in village pub swirls round last drop of lager and lime (board marker; anag. incl. r).

J. J. Goulstone: Bloomer, ill-adjusted, reveals a chick’s hip (hick’s chip; hidden).

J. F. Grimshaw: Maying plan starts in March extending right into Lent (playing man; first letters).

D. V. Harry: King Edward in 1049, a man boozing lord deprives of function (losing board; ER in MIL; ref. Edward the Confessor, Earl Godwine).

E. M. Holroyd: None of the wine men would make a miler (one of the nine; anag.).

G. Johnstone: Barbaric Emir with tip of lash tames galley (game’s tally; anag. + l).

M. D. Laws: Songster interminably belting first part of it leads to ban on ‘Maud’ (man on board; i(t) in merl(e)).

J. H. C. Leach: ‘Take in diseased lime’: rural mayors may use plea (players … me; r in anag.).

A. C. Morrison: Done in miler gives a starker moan (marker stone; anag.).

C. J. Morse: ‘Geese that pose in triple rows’ – from naughty limerick (end censored) (piece that goes; anag. of limer(ick)).

D. S. Nagle: Poor miler might win point-to-point contest with use of light rein (right lane; anag.).

F. E. Newlove: It’s mumpin’ Doris, an idiot – go away! (dump in morris; (go)meril; dump⁴ = a counter).

F. R. Palmer: For countrymen, force of sun’s contribution to summer ills (source of fun; hidden).

Mrs M. P. Webber: Larker moved along mine, merrily ignoring railway (marker … line; merrily less ry).

J. F. N. Wedge: Ban on Maud in Morris 1000 – danger – no parking (man on board; M + (P)eril).

Dr R. L. Wynne: Style or tone suited to Arcadian contest in Homer (Iliad) (tile or stone; hidden).

Dr E. Young: May this plan in a competition stick – long! (play this man; meri l; ref. Azed comp).

HC

Mrs E. Allen, C. Allen Baker, M. J. Balfour, M. Barnes, A. G. Bogie, Mrs A. R. Bradford, J. M. Brown, E. J. Burge, E. Chalkley, D. P. Chappell, C. A. Clarke, Mrs D. Colley, A. E. Crow, G. Cuthbert, P. Drummond, D. M. Duckworth, A. Dyson, L. K. Edkins, E. A. Free, A. L. Freeman, G. J. Gostling, A. H. Harker, M. J. Hickman, G. Hobbs, R. J. Hooper, E. M. Hornby, C. H. Hudson, Miss E. H. C. Jenkins, K. W. Johnson, A. H. Jones, N. Kemmer, Prof N. Kessel, J. R. Kirby, Mrs M. Kissen, A. Lawrie, A. D. Legge, J. P. Lester, Mrs J. Mahood, L. May, Dr E. J. Miller, J. D. Moore, J. J. Moore, C. Oliver, M. O’Hanlon, J. P. O’Neill, H. L. Rhodes, M. C. C. Rich, E. R. Riddle, Rear Adm W. T. C. Ridley, A. Rivlin, T. E. Sanders, D. Shroff, W. K. M. Slimmings, M. D. Speigel, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, J. G. Stubbs, M. Thornber, D. H. Tompsett, A. Turner, M. A. Vernon, Rev C. D. Westbrook, A. J. Young.
 

COMMENTS
375 entries, with a fair number of mistakes, mostly around GALLICE (spoonerised as ‘sally gee’, the gee in question being the second listed in Chambers, the only one with a hard g). My clue to this word was a hasty last-minute replacement made when I noticed that GALLICE was not, as I had at first assumed, pronounced ‘galley say’, but it was quite sound despite slightly odd wording. A surprisingly large number of entries also had FOUTRAS for FOOTRAS, an unaccountable aberration. But in addition to the literal errors in the diagram, quite a number of you spoiled your chances by submitting straight cryptic clues to MERIL, or clues with a spoonerism in the subsidiary indication as opposed to the definition part, or clues which included a ‘clear’ definition of MERIL plus a subsidiary spoonerised definition for good measure. The explanatory preamble to this new ‘special’ may have been a bit involved – it took some time to compose – but solving the clues themselves should have made it easy enough to differentiate the two different types and thus determine the type required for MERIL.
 
I’d wanted to do something with Spoonerisms as a theme for quite some time but hadn’t previously seen a way of working them into every clue. Even after I’d thought of how to do it both diagram and clues took considerably longer than usual, so I’m particularly relieved and gratified that so many of you seem to have enjoyed the fun of it. A lukewarm response might have made one think of the puzzle as a wearisome waste of time and not worth repeating, but it can clearly now take its place among the regulars in the repertoire. ‘A pud guzzle’, as someone commented! I was taken to task by two solvers on the pronunciation of ORCINE. I’d assumed, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that it rhymes with ‘wine’ and my spoonerised definition was to ‘ire sawn’ (‘paddy cut’). I’m reliably informed that it does in fact rhyme with ‘morphine’, so ‘listener cut’ would have been more correct. I’m sorry about that.
 
Judging the competition gave me a lot of amusement. There were many very ingenious spoonerisms, some involving more than two words, others involving two words separated by a large amount of intervening verbiage. Quite a number of you took full (excessive?) advantage of my note in the preamble about changes in punctuation. Since this was a new special competition I tended to be extra-tolerant of such practices and did not disqualify anyone on these grounds alone. After reading through all the entries, however, I’m bound to say that the more effective ones were those which kept manipulation of punctuation to a minimum and did not indulge in over-elaborate Spoonerisms which would be difficult to say at all, let alone as the result of a slip of the tongue. I hope my choice above shows what I mean.
 
Sorry about the delay in announcing the results this month. I was abroad on business, unavoidably, during the crucial week. For those who like to know these things, a ‘Letters Latent’ is on the way, and further ahead a ‘Carte Blanche’ and a ‘Right and Left’. I haven’t abandoned the old standards.