AZED CROSSWORD 473

HERRING-BONE

1.  C. G. Millin: Like a walk up a ski-slope – hard to take without backsliding (erring in H bone; bone = steal).

2.  D. F. Manley: B—— hard climbing without slipping? Then one is needed (erring in b H (rev.) + one, & lit.).

3.  C. A. Clarke: Singular result of German invasion? A certain type of strutting (i.e. Herr in GB + one; ref. goose-step; strut^1,2).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Goner in the briny (not tiny) after decomposition (anag. less tiny, & lit.).

W. A. Barnard: German, over here, with inclination towards English suiting (i.e. Herr in GB on E).

M. Barnes: Gee worked with Hern and O’Brien to get uphill in snow (anag. incl. g; ref. racehorse trainers).

H. J. Bradbury: To climb a slope on skis without slipping, here’s a lead for you to follow (erring in HB + one; HB = lead in pencil; you = one).

E. Chalkley: Jumping hero, being never disheartened, to make V-signs when remounting (anag. incl. n(eve)r; ref. Harvey Smith).

P. R. Clemow: Stitch that may cause distress in a mare (i.e. her ringbone; ref. ailment of horses).

R. Dean: Take ski-lift and start to climb with this – could be ticklish for beginner (comp. anag. incl. c, & lit.).

J. M. Gerard: Height gaining suitable for beginner following short ski course (h + anag. less f, & lit.).

N. C. Goddard: Here one’s after simple hemming loop (ring in herb + one, & lit.).

S. Goldie: In Henri Bergson’s evolution, society skips a pattern, progressing by alternatives (anag. less S; ref. French philosopher 1859-1941).

S. D. and E. J. Griew: How to get right ‘up the slippery slope’? It’s initially hard but, barring mistakes, one succeeds! (erring in h b + one; ref. puzzle).

Mrs N. Jarman: Complain about wrong starter to Bentley – it could end in the throttle getting stuck (erring B in hone²).

V. Jennings: Tweed, possibly, yielding fish finger (herring bone; finger, bone = steal).

R. J. Lawrence: Moan about straying bachelor, it’s the pattern of many suits (erring B in hone²).

C. Loving: Horner, being curious, finds on an inclination what’s left in crust (anag.; ref. Little Jack H.).

D. R. Marshall: To climb on skis in Britain, after slip, sharpen edges (err + in GB, all in hone; edges vb.).

D. P. M. Michael: Height’s wicked – taking lift or staggering up steps (h + erring + bone; bone = steal).

C. J. Morse: Non-U neighbour besotted with semi-modern style of fancy stonework (anag. incl. (mod)ern less U).

D. V. B. Unwin: Henry, straying from the right line, bowled one alternately in different directions, on the slope (H erring b one; ref. Omar H., SA cricketer).

R. J. Whale: Oo, been hurrying? Could have given you this stitch (comp. anag.).

HC

Mrs P. A. Bax, R. C. Bell, A. J. Bisset, Mrs K. Bissett, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, Mrs A. Boyes, R. Brain, E. J. Burge, C. J. & M. P. Butler, R. S. Caffyn, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, M. Coates, Mrs M. P. Craine, A. L. Dennis, N. C. Dexter, R. P. Dowling, D. S. Fielker, Dr I. S. Fletcher, F. D. Gardiner, S. C. Gilchrist, J. J. Goulstone, G. Gregory, B. Grimshaw, J. F. Grimshaw, P. F. Henderson, J. P. H. Hirst, J. A. Holden, A. W. Howe, J. G. Hull, D. A. Jessop, N. Kessel, A. Lawrie, M. D. Laws, J. H. C. Leach, S. M. Mansell, H. S. Mason, L. May, Miss F. McCluskey, A. C. Morrison, T. W. Mortimer, D. S. Nagle, Lt-Cmdr A. R. Nolan, F. R. Palmer, L. Paterson, W. H. Pegram, Mrs A. G. Phillips, C. Quin, C. P. Rea, J. H. Russell, N. G. Shippobotham, Mrs I. G. Smith, J. Sparrow, F. B. Stubbs, J. G. Stubbs, Mrs J. Welford, D. C. Williamson, L. C. Wright, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
382 entries, the commonest mistake being HELE for VELE. This can only have been guesswork, since there is no way I can see the subsidiary indication (‘half raised up’) fitting HELE, while elev(ated) (rev.) is pretty straightforward I’d have thought. I hadn’t intended the LASERS red herring for MISERS deliberately. As usual these things just happen. One day I suppose I must have a go at one of those puzzles with single clues leading to a complete double set of answers but I think it must wait until I have a great deal more spare time and/or my sado-masochistic tendencies have become very much more pronounced. I might add that ASLOPE and SLOPING also ‘just happened’ – I didn’t even notice their special relevance until it was pointed out to me.
 
Generally this seems to have been a popular if somewhat protracted uphill struggle. I’m soon going to run out of suitable central words but these special diagrams are amusing to construct. The triple checking of many of the letters makes it that much harder of course, hence the recourse to jumbled words, which in turn make you have to work out the theme-word. My first decision in judging this time was whether or not to accept HERRING-BONE as a noun. It didn’t take me long to decide that Chambers is much too restrictive in only giving it as an adjective or a verb. The O.E.D. and the C.O.D. between them give it noun status either as the bone of a herring or, absolutely, as an example of the herring-bone pattern in needlework, weaving, or masonry. The Oxford dictionaries don’t give the noun usage in the ski-ing sense but Webster does. Now as I’ve said before I can hardly ignore such eminent authorities and though I always recommend Chambers, I do not (and neither would they) claim that it has the last word on every word it contains. Let C. be our companion and friend, not holy writ. As a matter of fact if I’d disqualified all clues which defined HERRING-BONE as a noun I wouldn’t have been left with very many to judge!
 
As you can see from the above list, competitors used the full range of choice available in deciding which meaning(s) to clue, and none was more obviously favoured than the rest. This made for a good competition and extra fun for me. As a matter of interest I decided to use the word HERRING-BONE before discovering its ski-ing connotation (which in turn gave me the title for the puzzle). One competitor describes this particular method of uphill locomotion as ‘pigeon-toed’. I can say from personal experience that if you attempt to walk uphill on skis forming a V in front of you rather than behind you will soon collapse or dislocate both hips!