AZED CROSSWORD 323

(C)U(C)KOO

1.  C. Loving: What’s gouk on flying awa’ frae the Borders? (anag. of (g)ouk o(n), & lit.).

2.  T. J. Moorey: Cup licking for Scots – midfield selection daft (middle letters; ref. World Cup).

3.  T. E. Sanders: Call being sent out from a gouk we as Scots say ((go)uk + oo², & lit.).

VHC

E. Akenhead: One of those singing their hearts out from our sky for joy (middle letters; cf. Wordsworth’s ‘To the Cuckoo’).

C. Allen Baker: A proper fool, a bit wanting (U koo(k), & lit.).

E. Chalkley: Putting our country first, the first of our opening bats (UK + initial letters).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Some bird! Classy – a real stunner, what! (U KO O!).

R. Cullinane: Hardy agreed with him about the weather this country loves (UK 0 0; ‘This is the weather cuckoos love – And so do I.’).

F. E. Dixon: Look up, not all there; look up: not all there (hidden rev.).

B. Franco: Look up skyward. See it there? (hidden rev., & lit.).

A. L. Freeman: Look up! What do you see there, ascending? It’s not the lark, silly (hidden rev.; ref. G. Meredith).

F. D. Gardiner: Bats 1 and 3 are out of luck getting ducks ((l)u(c)k + 0 0).

A. H. Harker: Bird you rarely see even parts of but know of (alternate letters).

P. Holtby: Britain ducks the issue of immigrant fostering (UK 0 0 ).

R. J. Hooper: Take a look up: you could see me soaring in a high place (i.e. rev. in alp, & lit.).

M. D. Laws: Type of usurper, primarily – also kind of oaf (initial letters & lit.; type = lettering).

W. F. Main: Rough makes Rioch shout: ‘Find the centres, fool!’ (middle letters; ref. Alan Rough, Bruce Rioch, Scottish football).

D. F. Manley: One unwanted by another bird with eggs? ((a)uk + O O, & lit.).

H. W. Massingham: Unionist on strike, we hear – NUT? (U + ‘coup’).

C. G. Millin: Bird, not one to sit on eggs ((a)uk + O O, & lit.).

R. S. Morse: Look up skywards – you might see me there (hidden rev., & lit.).

J. B. O’Kane: Look up! there – hanging upside-down! Bats! (hidden rev.).

R. J. Palmer: Subject of letters in the paper of Top People, eccentric mostly (U koo(k); ref. ‘first cuckoo’ correspondence in The Times).

G. S. Prentice: Bird – upper class circle admits stunner (KO in U O).

H. L. Rhodes: Bats hook up, overturning what the wings enfold (hidden rev.).

Rev C. D. Westbrook: Bird ejecting a different one’s eggs ((a)uk + 0 0, & lit.; i.e. duck’s eggs).

D. C. Williamson: Bird’s call we hear after letter related to Top People? (U + ‘coo’, & lit.; ref. ‘first cuckoo’ correspondence in The Times).

HC

R. H. Adey, F. D. H. Atkinson, Mrs B. Aze, M. J. Balfour, P. Berman, Mrs K. Bissett, Mrs F. Blanchard, A. G. Bogie, J. M. Brown, A. J. Bulman, E. J. Burge, R. S. Caffyn, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, J. Caulfield, A. R. Chandler, G. H. Clarke, G. Cuthbert, R. Dean, R. V. Dearden, A. L. Dennis, J. W. Elven, Mrs W. Fearon, C. J. Feetenby, A. G. Fleming, S. P. Flitton, R. P. C. Forman, J. Gill, N. C. Goddard, S. Goldie, E. M. Holroyd, M. W. Innes, R. H. F. Isham, Mrs N. Jarman, R. E. Kimmons, A. D. Legge, Mrs J. Mahood, L. K. Maltby, B. Manvell, C. J. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, D. S. Nagle, R. F. Pardoe, W. H. Pegram, D. R. Robinson, W. K. M. Slimmings, T. A. J. Spencer, R. Stocks, F. B. Stubbs, P. C. Thornton, I. Torbe, J. Walton, D. O. Williams, M. G. Wilson, Dr R. L. Wynne, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
360 entries and no mistakes that I could see. One or two absent-minded competitors clued CUCKOO as if O were the latent letter and a couple of others produced straight cryptic clues with no hint of latency. A pity, I always think. The general reaction to the puzzle was very gratifying. Thank you for the complimentary remarks. It certainly took a lot longer than usual to construct. Apologies for the silly slip that gave SYSTEMLESS eleven letters (especially irksome in an ‘L.L.’ puzzle); no apologies for the alternative anagrams for FREECOST (SCOT-FREE and COST-FREE).
 
Although this was not deliberate playfulness on my part I don’t think the alternatives answer the definition (‘not having to foot bills’) as effectively as the correct answer.
 
A number of you agonized over the acceptability of an ‘& lit.’ clue in a ‘Letters Latent’ puzzle. The first prize above should indicate my views clearly enough. I see no reason at all why the whole clue should not refer as a definition to the unmutilated word and at the same time as a cryptic reference to the mutilated form. I am less happy about oblique references to one part of a non-‘& lit.’ clue in the other part, or in other words treating the mutilated and unmutilated forms as both distinct and identical. I would welcome views on this. I’m also, while we’re on the subject, averse to supplementary linking words between the two parts of an ‘L.L.’ clue. They detract from the neatness of the thing, a large part of the skill being in effectively disguising the join.
 
A few competitors asked how I set about a special of this kind, with its added difficulties. The first stage is of course to choose the quotation or whatever message is to be contained in the latent letters. This should have some relevance or topicality and the right number of letters to go into the standard grid (or thereabouts). I didn’t know the Tennyson quotation (which is in the ODQ incidentally) but it seemed quite suitable and offered the opportunity of fitting the competition word into the diagram (as I’ve done previously, with CORPULENT and AUGUST, in ‘L.L.’ competitions). At this point I designed the pattern, making sure of course that CUCKOO came in the right place. (There was only one C in the cuckooless quotation so it had to be there because I was much less keen on CUCK.) And then the diagram. Difficult, you might think. Well, yes, but don’t forget that one’s range of choice is widened beyond the normal, since one or more of the latent letters may be excluded from any part of the word, so apparently hopeless situations may be rescued. It does mean going into a special gear, as it were, so that you see words in their mutilated form rather than (or as well as) in their full form. It also requires an extra degree of caution in cross-checking – before you enter a mutilated word you must check that none of its component letters is the latent one at the point of intersection. Failure to do this is utterly heartbreaking, and usually means going back to square one. Another warning to would-be ‘L.L.’ compilers: beware of changing your pattern during diagram construction. It can easily throw out the order of letters in your quotation.
 
As for the clues they present no special problem. I always aim to make my ‘L.L.’ clues fractionally easier than normal (though opinions may differ on how successful I am at this!). One owes it to the solver, I think, who likewise has to don a special solving cap to adjust to the different approach. Otherwise there’s nothing to it!