AZED CROSSWORD 45

NEMORAL

1.  L. F. Leason: Learn manoeuvres clumsily with second lining of the brakes (mo in anag.; brake²).

2.  A. L. Dennis: Nightclub opening with topless ‘thighy’ displays of shady nature (n + (f)emoral).

3.  E. R. Riddle: Trim form, lean but feminine. Twiggy, perhaps (anag. less f; but = except).

VHC

E. Akenhead: Men put up covers near the mouth of a wood (men (rev.) + oral).

C. Allen Baker: Shaw’s adjective is not disfavoured now – quite acceptable in fact (ne + moral; ref. Pygmalion, ‘not bloody likely’; shaw = wood).

M. Barnes: ‘Within a Budding Grove’ – that’s our version of le roman (anag.; ref. Proust, ‘A la Recherche…’).

E. J. Burge: ‘Woody’ is normal England opener abroad (anag. incl. E; ref. B. Wood, cricketer).

R. S. Caffyn: Le roman en traduction: Within a Budding Grove? (anag.; ref. Proust, ‘A la Recherche…’).

E. Chalkley: Look! – Soldiers, about half an army, coming up like Birnam Wood (ar(my) in lo men (all rev.); ref. Macbeth).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Like places retaining the birch – not old-fashioned, merely principled (ne moral).

A. J. Crow: Merry role-man of Sherwood? (anag.).

E. R. Evans: Traduisez le roman forestier en anglais (anag.).

J. A. Fincken: Bosky mean rolling more than half cut? Not right? (anag. incl. rol(ling); bosky = slightly tipsy).

J. P. H. Hirst: It’s historically not a certainty what dryads were (ne moral).

Mrs B. Lewis: Bosky, renders ‘Ole Man R’ off-key (anag.).

D. F. Manley: Adults worked up and vocal, like the pantomime kids at the Palladium (men (rev.) + oral; ref. ‘Babes in the Wood’).

D. McCallum: If otherwise, no realm of dryads (anag.).

C. J. Morse: Shooting men have spoken of a wood or an elm covert (men (rev.) + oral and anag.).

W. G. H. Myles: Such surroundings caused the lone ram’s confusion (anag. & lit.; ref. sacrifice of Isaac).

F. R. Palmer: Source of most of modern ethic? Shaw’s so described (ne(w) moral; ref. G. B. S.; shaw = wood).

W. H. Pegram: Belonging to an orange grove? Strangely the answer’s a lemon, right? (anag. incl. r).

E. J. Rackham: Concerning woodland, people must rise up and get vocal (men (rev.) + oral).

T. E. Sanders: Shaw’s adjective – before the end of Victorianism not previously uttered (ne + m + oral; ref. Pygmalion, ‘not bloody likely’).

W. K. M. Slimmings: Get hands up, before examination of shady character (men (rev.) + oral).

HC

R. Abrey, Mrs W. J. Anderson, F. D. H. Atkinson, G. Blunden, Mrs A. Boyes, R. Brain, Mrs M. E. Britton, E. W. Burton, C. O. Butcher, N. C. Dexter, Cdr H. H. L. Dickson, L. L. Dixon, Grp Capt G. H. Du Boulay, D. M. Duckworth, A. L. Freeman, S. C. Gilchrist, J. A. Gill, S. Goldie, E. Gomersall, Mrs R. Harvey, Miss M. E. R. Henderson, J. Horwood, Miss F. S. Kemp, D. P. Laurie, A. Lawrie, P. W. W. Leach, P. Leather, J. P. Lester, D. J. MacKay, Mrs E. McFee, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, P. M. Newey, Dr R. J. Palmer, J. W. Parr, L. S. Pearce, Miss I. M. Raab, J. Revill, S. V. Riordan, M. G. Rupp, L. G. D. Sanders, T. A. J. Spencer, J. G. Stubbs, D. J. Thorpe, G. A. Tomlinson, A. Turner, G. H. Willett, C. E. Williams, S. E. Woods.
 

COMMENTS
About 420 entries, no noticeable mistakes. I was relieved at the size of the entry for this competition, having feared that the tough Christmas puzzle might have discouraged competitors. Clearly I needn’t have worried; solvers are a hardy breed. Inventive, too. Despite an unexciting word to clue – and adjectives are always less easy to define effectively – the standard was high and ideas numerous. I hope you will agree with my choice of prizewinners. I had tiny reservations about Mr. Dennis’s ‘nightclub opening’ and Mr. Riddle’s ‘but’, but both survived the final analysis and are in all other respects excellent clues. I also had some difficulty deciding whether ‘nemoral’ could be applied to a single tree, rather than to a group of trees, finally convincing myself that it could but that clues suggesting more than one tree were in general better. Variations on the ‘or an elm’ anagram emerged as the single most popular idea by far.
 
Much the most common unsoundness in cluing this month was the old one of using ‘back’ to indicate ‘up’ in a down word. Like Ximenes, I cannot accept this. Clues should always refer to words as they appear in the diagram, and in normal parlance ‘back’ does not denote movement in the vertical plane. ‘Back up’ does, but not ‘back’.
 
Some of you were perplexed by the clue to OTALGIA. I wasn’t very proud of it, I do admit, but it represented a slightly contrived ‘& lit’ clue. ‘Recurrent affliction, one to’ gives AIL A TO reversed (ail, noun). ‘Ultimate in suffering’ is G. ‘Include’ is plural verb (plural allowed because AIL A TO are three words). Question mark indicates that OTALGIA may not be (indeed is not) the most painful disease there is.
 
Two more queries need answering. Some of you accused me of unfairness in not including ABRIN as one of the answers in the Christmas competition not in Chambers. It is there, under ABRUS, in both old and new editions. Secondly I’m asked (by a Scot, of course) to give poor Jock a rest, and to be more careful in homophone-type clues when Scottish words are involved. Specifically I am criticised for AWMOUS, GAWCY and YAUDS in recent weeks. Well, yes, I suppose Jock does work rather hard, but he’s a versatile fellow, not to mention his chums Ian, Sandy and Mac, and as I’ve remarked before, Chambers abounds in Scotticisms. I take the point, though. As for ‘we hear’, I concede that Scotsmen pronounce the pre-consonantal ‘r’ far more frequently than we Sassenachs do and that their pronunciation of ‘enormous’ would not be identical to their pronunciation of ‘in awmous’, but I don’t concede that their pronunciation is any more correct than the English. And if Chambers indicates that YAUD can be pronounced in the same way an Englishman would pronounce ‘yard’, as it does, that’s good enough for me. But, again, I take the point.