◀  No. 12 Apr 1972 Clue list No. 10  ▶

AZED CROSSWORD 5

SCEUOPHYLAX

1.  P. R. Clemow: Adult executive involved with holy cups (anag. incl. A, ex., & lit.).

2.  C. Allen Baker: Cheap, lousy ‘X’ flicks? I watch the blessed things (anag.; flicks = flutters).

3.  C. J. Morse: A cox helps you at sea – missing nothing, he keeps an eye on vessels (anag. less 0).

VHC

Miss M. R. Adcock: Foul, sexy chap, promiscuous but not loud, in charge of vessels (anag. less f).

R. H. Adey: Versatile playhouse accommodating a hundred gets unknown to produce ‘The Caretaker’ in Greek (anag. incl. C + X).

S. Barnett: Church official rudely presented shy couple with chopper (anag. + ax).

Mrs K. Bissett: Puzzled soul with cypher incomplete needing A. and X’s orthodox Greek (anag. incl. cyphe(r) + A, X; ref. Azed, Ximenes; ’s = is).

Rev C. M. Broun: Smash holy cups with axe! He certainly wouldn’t (anag.).

R. A. Chiverton: Sex play? Ouch! That’s unorthodox for an orthodox sexton (anag.).

Mrs J. B. Coltham: Chop-suey bad with slack man minding special vessels (anag. + lax).

H. A. C. Darwen: Shy couple, getting spliced, have a kiss at last. I assist in church (anag. + a X).

N. C. Dexter: Lose a pyx and church superior has me sacked (anag. incl. ch., U, & lit.).

D. V. Harry: Eastern holy cups are laid out by one before a cross (anag. incl. E + a + X, & lit.).

L. W. Jenkinson: Holy cups smashed with axe could be my undoing (anag. & lit.).

Sir S. Kaye: He’s left care of a top quality pyx, perhaps (anag. incl. l c/o U, & lit.).

Mrs B. Lewis: He served old papa chop-suey – that’s chow, soft and flabby (anag. + lax; papa (obs.) = Gk. Orth. priest; chow = mixed).

Mrs E. McFee: To break up holy cups with axe would upset him (anag. & lit.).

Dr R. J. Palmer: I’m responsible for miscellaneous eastern holy cups and a cross (anag. + a X, & lit.).

P. G. Purtell: Substitute for X lousy, cheap? Yes and no. He guards a sacred trust (anag.; ref. Ximenes, Azed).

Mrs E. M. Simmonds: One involved with holy eastern cross and cups (anag. incl. E, X, & lit.).

Mrs C. Theodorson: He organises use of pyx, of chalice, but not if C. of E. (anag. less if C. of E., & lit.).

J. Walton: I am responsible for the arranging of ouch, seal and pyx (anag. & lit.; ouch2).

HC

W. G. Arnott, F. D. H. Atkinson, J. W. Bates, R. C. Bell, J. C. Brash, D. J. A. Brown, C. O. Butcher, L. Campbell, R. G. Cleaver, Mrs M. P. Craine, P. Drummond, E. G. Fletcher, Rev S. W. Floyd, N. C. Goddard, S. Goldie, J. Goldman, J. Green, R. J. Green, R. R. Greenfield, G. S. Halse, R. Hitchcock, Dr D. E. G. Irvine, Mrs N. Jarman, J. H. Jones, J. R. Kirby, A. Lawrie, A. D. Legge, F. Mackenzie, D. F. Manley, D. P. M. Michael, A. H. T. Midlane, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, D. I. Morgan, R. A. Mostyn, T. N. Nesbitt, A. C. Netherwood, M. Newman, R. F. Pardoe, M. L. Perkins, E. J. Rackham, G. J. H. Roberts, T. E. Sanders, Sir W. Slimmings, J. G. Stubbs, B. D. Tarr, M. Thurston, R. H. Tillcock, L. J. Wayman, Miss M. E. Weighill.
 

Comments
365 entries, 26 with errors of various kinds, about half with a mistake of a single letter in one of the encoded answers. X used to remind us periodically to check our solutions carefully, and I can’t do better than repeat this sound advice. Playfair isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but its many avid supporters are entitled, I feel, to their turn, which doesn’t come round often. Most solvers found the codeword without too much difficulty, but thought the word to be clued rather a hard one. Anagrams were the norm, and as a result this month witnessed an appalling outbreak of vandalism, with holy cups being smashed with an axe all over the place. The perpetrators were too numerous and similar to be distinguishable, but a few rose above their companions by virtue of just that extra neatness in wording. Many, however, were too good to go unmentioned, and the long HC (Holy Cups) list testifies to their skill as well as others’.
 
For the benefit of newcomers I might mention that anagrams must be indicated in order to be fair. One example should suffice. ‘A shy couple kiss the sacristan’ was offered as an anagram of A SHY COUPLE + X. But it simply isn’t true that A SHY COUPLE equals SCEUOPHYLA, unless the letters are jumbled, and we must say precisely what we mean. If the clue had said, for instance, ‘A shy couple awkwardly kiss the sacristan’, then the solver would know that A SHY COUPLE must be written ‘awkwardly’, i.e. out of its normal order, followed by X (kiss), to make SCEUOPHYLA-X.
 
Finally, a personal note. I find your comments interesting and instructive, but if I were to answer them all individually, I fear that there’d be no time for composing the crosswords! So may I thank here, collectively, all of you who kindly sent complimentary remarks, and plead for patience from those to whom I hope to reply as soon as possible?
 

 

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