AZED CROSSWORD 478

BIBLIOPEGIST

1.  R. J. Palmer: I put protective cover on work in press – that’s the general idea (bib + op in lie + gist, & lit.).

2.  Mrs A. Boyes: Pout goes lip – with it in a pucker I’ll follow fanfare (bib + anag.; fanfare style of binding).

3.  N. O’Neill: Big BP oil site has possibilities for one who fancies working in Morocco (anag.; M. leather).

VHC

Mrs E. Allen: Being one involved in books, I work for example with catalogue covering (I in bb + I op. e.g. in list, & lit.).

M. Barnes: Backing my fancy, I spoil big bet – ruined! (anag.).

E. Chalkley: Among books one bound will one include ‘The Heart of the Matter’ (I in bb + I in lope + gist, & lit.).

C. A. Clarke: I’d be involved in books on mounting work which includes page protection (I in bb + p egis in toil (rev.), & lit.).

G. Clyde: One in books literally surrounds work with protection (I in bb + op egis in lit., & lit.).

N. C. Dexter: In books I toil getting pages fixed? I for one, yes (I in bb + anag. with I for a, & lit.).

D. A. W. Diaper: After drink opener of innings gets in run over point, and one into covers (bib + i in lope + gist; into = interested in).

B. Franco: I love to slog away, pressing into protective cover with a roll (I 0 peg in bib list, & lit.).

F. D. Gardiner: Surrounded by books I spoil I get demoralised (I in bb + anag., & lit.).

J. F. Grimshaw: One found among books, I work on protection in leather and textiles primarily (I in bb + I op egis in l t, & lit.).

B. Hancock: I cover book with drink (fruit juice overturns) – one page gets spoilt (bib + oil (rev.) + anag. incl. I p).

J. P. H. Hirst: After I’ve finished the books, they’re bound to fix prices; it’s daft with first drink then oil going up (bib + oil (rev.) + peg + anag.).

M. D. Laws: I, being into books, like binding a single work, for example (I in bb + I op e.g. in list³, & lit.).

D. F. Manley: I get books I spoil recovered – I’d like my Chambers leather-bound (anag. incl. bb).

J. J. Moore: Drink and oil going up? Maggie, it’s disastrous. My work’s bound to be shelved (bib + oil (rev.) + Peg + anag.; Peg, Maggie = Margaret; ref. M. Thatcher).

F. R. Palmer: One involved in books – essential part’s binding work in press (I in bb + op in lie² + gist, & lit.).

S. L. Paton: One enthralled by books I work, for example in distinctive edging (I in bb + I op e.g. in list², & lit.).

A. J. Redstone: I bet BP Oil is only first to go up; but I’m always binding (anag. incl. g; up = in revolt).

P. Rhodes: Perhaps, on protective cover, I gilt Poe’s works (bib + anag., & lit.).

D. R. Robinson: One absorbed by covering of books. I work with for example catalogue binding (I in bb + I op e.g. in list, & lit.).

Mrs K. M. Russell: Wanted – small page covered with fancy bits – I oblige (anag. incl. p, & lit.).

H. R. Sanders: I like covers to be big – I slip otherwise (anag.).

T. E. Sanders: I oblige beginner to betting with tips – shattering for the book-maker (anag. incl. b).

M. G. Wilson: One with work for example in catalogue under protective cover? (bib + I op e.g. in list, & lit.).

HC

C. Allen Baker, Rev C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, C. J. & M. P. Butler, D. Fielker, Dr I. S. Fletcher, P. F. Henderson, J. I. James, C. W. Laxton, C. Loving, Dr R. A. Main, S. M. Mansell, J. McBreen, H. J. McClarron, C. G. Millin, W. Murphy, J. Nicholson, R. F. Pardoe, J. T. Price, D. Price Jones, C. P. Rea, J. H. Russell, Mrs E. J. Shields, K. Short, T. A. J. Spencer, D. M. Stanford, F. B. Stubbs, J. G. Stubbs, L. M. Styler, J. B. Sweeting, N. W. Ward, D. Williamson.
 

COMMENTS
426 entries, at least a quarter of which bad NITRE for NITRY, making that particular clue the biggest single stumbling-block for some time. The clue was ‘Alight after climbing experience of air, once’ which I thought at the time did not need a note with the solution. IN (= alight, burning) ‘after climbing’ gives NI in a down word; TRY = experience, admittedly in a Miltonic usage, but the ‘once’, which qualifies ‘of air’, might just be seen as doing double duty here. ‘Of air, once’ must be the definition part rather than ‘air, once’ which would leave ‘of’ with nothing to do (and ‘once’ too, since in its obsolete sense NITRE is not air itself but a supposed substance in it). I can’t accept ‘of’ as some vague connecting word linking definition and cryptic part. For a clue to be sound every word of it must have meaning and function, which is not to say of course that’s its meaning and function may not be different in the definition and the cryptic parts. My NITRY clue was intended to suggest, perhaps, an early aviator coming to earth after discovering what it feels like to soar in the bright cerulean. I did not set out to trap the unwary though this seems to have been the result.
 
Quite a number of you complained that though the puzzle was on the easy side the clue-word was a stinker. Whether they feel differently after reading the clues quoted above I don’t know but I really do think the word has enough potential for this sort of exercise. Granted its meaning is fairly well circumscribed, the subtle manipulator of language should have no difficulty in avoiding direct reference to bookbinders or fanciers of bookbinding. As it turned out BIBLIOPEGIST proved to be a natural for ‘& lit.’ treatment (vide supra passim), though I tended not to favour ‘& lit.’ clues which used bible (= book, books, good book or whatever) as part of the cryptic reading, on the grounds that BIBLE and the first part of BIBLIOPEGIST have the same etymological and semantic derivation. I shouldn’t say that to do this is wrong or wholly unacceptable, merely that I find it uninspired.
 
For those who have not yet heard, may I repeat the announcement that a dinner is planned for Saturday 7 November 1981 at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford, to mark the appearance the following day of Azed No. 500. The price will almost certainly be £10 per head. For further details send s.a.e. to D. F. Manley.