AZED CROSSWORD 434

JARDINIÈRE

1.  G. M. Hornby: Le début de jeunesse – rien à dire: translated – quite a dish (j + anag.).

2.  N. C. Dexter: ‘Grace before me?’ Ire roused in another English cricket captain (anag. in Jardine; ref. Douglas J.).

3.  A. J. Crow: Dish that is grasped by improvident diner – mess of pottage? (jar + i.e. in anag.; ref. Jacob and Esau).

VHC

T. Anderson: I display a variety of vegetables – row upon row I cultivate (jar din I ere²).

P. R. Clemow: Minor flap before in parliament radical forces government to rise (ere in id raj (all rev.)).

M. Coates: Feature of florid Chelsea display causes uproar in the air, jeer that is coarse (din in anag.; ref. C. Flower Show).

R. Dean: Vessel that is seen here and there embellishing a restaurant (jar + diner with i.e. separately added, & lit.).

R. V. Dearden: You could put an arrangement of Iris and Red Jasmine in this, Miss (comp. anag. & lit.).

J. H. Dingwall: Protective adjunct to headgear that’s right for adoption by English cricketer (i.e. r in Jardine; ref. Douglas J.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Pot that’s served in diner on the move, perhaps (jar + i.e. in anag., & lit.).

V. G. Henderson: ——’s embellished with flowery artistry (might serve as a jerry, in dire straits) (comp. anag. & lit.).

E. M. Holroyd: Type of vessel – with fancy reed in one? (jar + anag. incl I, & lit.).

M. D. Laws: Shock is followed by uproar and anger about Coe’s last lap (jar + din + e in ire; ref. Seb C., Olympic final).

J. H. C. Leach: Make discordant hubbub – that’s Royal Exchange stock-holder, typically (jar din i.e. RE; stock = flower).

C. G. Millin: Vessel with small diameter at home one has to cultivate (jar d in I ere², & lit.).

W. L. Miron: Jeer Indira? Wrong! I can display flags (anag.; flag = flower; ref. I. Gandhi).

C. J. Morse: Two rows I cultivate as of old, one with vegetables in and one for flowers (jar din I ere²).

N. O’Neill: Mobs jeer Indira: you might find Indian shot for this (anag.; I. s.= flower; ref. I. Gandhi).

R. J. Palmer: Arrangement of irid near heads of jonquil etcetera may go in here (anag. incl. j e, & lit.).

J. T. Price: Excited juniors read tripe (not including Proust’s letters) – making head flap (comp. anag.).

C. P. Rea: Rose may well be contained by this body-line merchant – that is right, contained (i.e. r in Jardine; ref. Brian R., Douglas J.).

T. E. Sanders: Display what by the beginning of January are in dire conditions (J + anag., & lit.; conditions vb.).

B. D. Smith: Holding flags? It could be – former England leader snatches a single with hesitation (I er in Jardine; ref. Douglas J.).

F. B. Stubbs: I render j’ai clumsily; bloomers may be commited here (anag.).

G. R. Webb: Pot with one reed in? It could be so arranged (jar + anag. incl. I, & lit.).

D. B. Williams: J. R.’s a big noise; getting leader of Ewings in rage causes a flap (J + ar + din + E in ire; ref. ‘Dallas’).

Dr E. Young: Rose may be picked for it – that test player’s admitted that’s right (i.e. r in Jardine; ref. Brian R., Douglas J.).

HC

D. R. Armitage, D. W. Arthur, M. J. Ball, S. J. L. Ball, E. A. Beaulah, P. R. Best, Mrs A. Boyes, E. J. Burge, E. Chalkley, D. P. Chappell, A. L. Dennis, J. D. Foster, B. Franco, F. D. Gardiner, N. C. Goddard, R. S. Haddock, R. B. Harling, P. F. Henderson, J. P. H. Hirst, R. A. Hutchinson, G. Johnstone, A. H. Jones, J. R. H. Jones, A. Lawrie, A. D. Legge, J. C. Leyland, C. J. Lowe, L. K. Maltby, D. F. Manley, C. S. Marcus, T. J. Moorey, T. W. Mortimer, F. R. Palmer, W. H. Pegram, P. Rhodes, Mrs J. Saunders, N. E. Sharp, J. Sparrow, J. B. Sweeting, H. Tillier, D. H. Tompsett, J. F. N. Wedge, D. C. Williamson.
 

COMMENTS
Only 386 entries, fewer than average, perhaps because of holidays. There were a few mistakes. A smallish number essayed TROOP for TROON, not knowing their (golf) courses, and an even smaller number had BAKE for FAKE, not seeing what I thought was a pretty obvious hidden answer. Otherwise, it would appear, relatively plain sailing.
 
I fancy JARDINIERE was one of those words that seem fairly promising (several distinct meanings, quite long, a reasonable range of letters) but which in the end turn out to offer disappointingly few real opportunities for inventive clue-writing. For some reason the letter j is a curiously awkward customer – the best that could be said of it here being that it appears as part of a JAR, thus immediately suggesting ‘& lit.’ possibilities. But I found that the whole entry yielded no more than about half a dozen ideas, which probably means that there simply weren’t any more to be had. In such circumstances choice of wording becomes crucial, and the gentle art of the pun assumes a special significance.
 
Apart from the usual unsoundnesses (with ‘I am in’ meaning ‘the letter I is in’ featuring strongly this month), there were two ways of dealing with JARDINIERE which I found instantly unappealing, with banishment to my wastepaper-basket as the inevitable result, viz. defining it as a female gardener (which is of course precisely what it is in French), and using a reference to the French word jardin (= garden) as part of the cryptic indication of the word. The first of these won’t do because we’re dealing with the word as it is used in English and defined in an English dictionary, should be. If it becomes legitimate to define words according to their derivation alone, we are letting ourselves in for a lot of unfairness and obscurity that we can well do without. The second ploy isn’t exactly wrong; it’s just rather unimaginative to break up a word for cryptic cluing purposes along its natural etymological divisions and then join them together again for the purposes of definition. Only in the sense of ‘lappet’ can the word be said to have no directly obvious connection with gardens, French or otherwise. (Indeed I’m curious to know how this particular sense originated. Neither the O.E.D. nor Webster mentions it at all.)
 
As I write the future of The Observer seems assured, for which we can all be duly thankful. I was greatly touched by the many gestures of support for the Azed series and was starting to give serious thought to ways of keeping going if the newspaper did not. I hope the situation will never recur.