AZED CROSSWORD 336

ELF-ARROW / CUTHBERT

1.  D. F. Manley: One who has got out of fighting splashes the Brut about – supposed means of enchanting women for real thrills (anag. incl. c.; anag. incl. w.; ref. Henry Cooper after-shave ad.).

2.  F. R. Palmer: What M.P. may look for – arrangements to cut the bank rate (a relic of the gnomes) – it could be far lower (anag. incl. br; anag.; M.P. = military police).

3.  K. Reed: Mine’s a kind of duck I don’t serve rare. Wolf freely! – shooting it was magic (2 mngs.; anag.).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Much noise on the railway being high, here’s a tip for the passenger: give the corridor a wide berth (el¹ + far + row; cut + anag., wide = erroneous).

E. J. Burge: It’s time butcher, getting order wrong, a slacker, was shot (as in earlier times) i.e. for real, fellow’s end being arranged! (anag. incl. t; anag. incl. w).

A. Clarke: No fighter he – queer butch, Queen, primarily transvestite fairy – no matter which, according to provincial relic of earlier conflict (anag. + ER + t; elf arrow²; see ary).

F. D. Gardiner: Fowler gets mad about a king producing ancient weapon to butcher wild duck left for ducker (a R in anag.; anag. less 0).

Dr J. F. Grimshaw: Draft dodger stayed away from assigned place (hospital up at the front line) after the Spanish once advanced old missile (cut + berth with H to start; el far + row).

E. M. Holroyd: One that does not work could be chert but trouble after erratic flare indicates flint (anag.; anag. + row).

E. M. Hornby: Trebuchet lacking energy damaged one who dodged projectile tossed far lower (anag. less e; anag.).

N. N. Inglis: I dodge the round tip of bronze in short missile head, very much on line on the wing (b in the in curt; el¹ + far + row).

R. E. Kimmons: The wing, to produce a shot – one that might do just enough – put over the cross (el² farrow; 2 mngs.; put over the cross, i.e. preached).

R. J. Lawrence: Clicker cut round the brown untidy pile of old half-heel litter (anag. incl. br. in cut; (he)el, farrow; ref. Wodehouse; ‘Clicking of Cuthbert’; c. = leather-cutter).

M. D. Laws: The French brought up a dispute supporting a rise for air men – it was crude, but could hurt someone taking time off work, perhaps; in short, the British needing to fly (le (rev.) + RAF (rev.) + row; cut + anag. incl. Br.; ref. air traffic controllers’ dispute).

C. G. Millin: Tip of dart gives physical condition, says Cockney shirker, absent from place of employment with bottom uppermost (i.e. Cockney pron. of ‘health harrow’; cut + berth with h to start).

C. J. Morse: Old flint, symbol of long distant strife, shaped to cut and butcher early saint (el far row; anag. + t(o); el = l = long ).

R. J. Palmer: A reluctant soldier wounded by old weapon – one long discarded – it could have been used in warfare – old, not A.D. (cut + h(al)bert; anag. less AD).

H. L. Rhodes: Old weapon is activated for real start of war – but the credit’s rightly for one who plays the old soldier (anag. + w; anag. incl. cr.).

T. E. Sanders: Primitive missile shot from a string far lower in flight but the arc without one could be slacker (anag.; anag. less a).

J. B. Sweeting: Flint’s following in the Spanish main shoot non-combatant island dweller (f in el arrow; 2 mngs.; ref. Treasure Island; arrow = main shoot).

J. Walton: Fairy shot rare wolf in struggle right after the cub mangled saint (anag.; anag. + rt).

J. F. N. Wedge: Milksop in short, born in the arm of old fairy, one in a quiver (b. in the in curt; elf arrow).

HC

D. W. Arthur, R. L. Baker, E. A. Beaulah, Mrs K. Bissett, Mrs A. R. Bradford, A. J. Bulman, R. S. Caffyn, M. Coates, Mrs M. P. Craine, A. J. Crow, R. Dean, J. H. Dingwall, F. E. Dixon, H. F. Dixon, P. Drummond, H. W. Evans, A. G. Fleming, S. P. Flitton, B. H. Ford, A. L. Freeman, D. A. Ginger, S. Goldie, J. P. H. Hirst, R. J. Hooper, J. G. Hull, Miss E. H. C. Jenkins, K. W. Johnson, A. H. Jones, J. R. Kirby, A. Lawrie, Mrs M. Lazarides, A. D. Legge, W. F. Martin, L. May, D. P. M. Michael, H. B. Morton, W. H. Pegram, M. L. Perkins, Rear Adm W. T. C. Ridley, D. R. Robinson, W. J. M. Scotland, A. D. Scott, W. K. M. Slimmings, Mrs I. G. Smith, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, J. G. Stubbs, Mrs M. P. Webber.
 

COMMENTS
About 325 entries, only one that I spotted incorrect. Quite a tough competition, partly I suspect because the clue words, neither of them very familiar (to me at least), probably hindered solving of 1 across until late in the day. This was deliberate, I confess, but I hope it added to the pleasure of solving, not the opposite. The other problem was the evident difficulty of cluing ELF-ARROW and CUTHBERT together in a satisfactory way. This too I foresaw to some extent but I thought I’d put your ingenuity to a stern test. The main points to strive for in a good R & L clue, apart naturally from soundness and accuracy, are continuity, a fair degree of brevity, and effective disguise of the ‘join’. A very large number of entries fell down on one or more of these aspects of their clues. Even the list quoted above is not entirely free from blemish in one department or another. The object is to find a theme for one’s clue which links the two words, however tenuously, word it in a way that runs smoothly from one half to the other (preferably with no intervening punctuation and certainly with no intervening and otherwise non-functional words) and keep the whole thing to a reasonable length. I personally try to avoid running over into a third line of type if I can help it. And incidentally I plead not guilty to the charge of using an extra linking word myself in my clue to ROLL-ON / LITTLE: ‘Something for the trimmer figure; I can’t wait for it and deviously tell about it hardly at all.’ The division occurs after the second ‘for’, ‘Roll on…’ being a reasonable synonym for ‘I can’t wait for…’ The second ‘it’ refers back to the first one, again quite fairly, I think. Perhaps this clue (not outstanding, but not to be sniffed at) illustrates what I’ve said about disguising the join as well as any.
 
One error that a few unwary competitors succumbed to was to clue ELF-ARROW as an adjective. I imagined this was because it is defined in C. as ‘elf-shot’ which itself is both a noun and an adjective. I’m perfectly certain however that ‘elf-arrow’ equals ‘elf-shot’ only in its noun sense (the definition is ‘an elf-shot’ after all) and would never have been used adjectivally.
 
One final point. In my comments in a recent slip about letters and queries you may wish to send me, of course it’s perfectly all right to append these to your monthly competition entries rather than sending them separately by post. I was merely trying to make sure that letters sent to me c/o the Observer do not get thrown away unopened (the fate of all but the first three correct entries for each of the non-competition puzzles). Also it’s not easy to enclose back-numbers of slips in the stamped envelopes you send for the current one because these envelopes are extracted from your entries at the Observer before your diagrams and clues are forwarded to me, to be filled later with the printed slips by the Observer staff. It would be better, if you can bear the expense, to enclose a second s.a.e. with a specific request for the back-numbers you want. Either I from my limited supply or the Observer from theirs can then deal with your requests directly.