AZED CROSSWORD 504

SIMMENTHALER

1.  Dr E. Young: Style me Hitler’s man: I could die for the bully of Europe (anag.; i.e. bully-beef).

2.  M. Woolf: Harm Nestlé? Absurd! I’m providing an essential ingredient (I’m in anag., & lit.; milk chocolate).

3.  E. Chalkley: Sort non-English meat-men relish? (anag. less E, & lit.).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Its yield will make the milkman sore when it’s not OK, being turned (anag. less KO, & lit.).

Dr J. K. Aronson: This could be the source of meat in Helvetian realms, yielding veal (m in anag. less veal, & lit.).

E. A. Beaulah: Working men, short of energy, relish meat: we may supply it (anag. less E, & lit.).

P. Cargill: Stampede ran miles with them – a race of cattle! (anag.).

Mrs D. M. Colley: Himmler’s neat? Could be (anag. & lit.).

H. F. Dixon: Strain of cattle giving men ham and litres, when milked (anag.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Neat, Alpine strain – Hammerstein involved with lyrics initially (anag. incl. l; ref. Oscar H., ‘The Sound of Music’).

O. H. Frazer: OK! So this could provide shoes, or milk’n meat (comp. anag. & lit.).

P. F. Henderson: Butchering these market animals could provide you with a —— steak (comp. anag. & lit.).

J. P. H. Hirst: Products of this can make a man rich – M. Nestlé for example (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. chocolate maker).

Mrs D. B. Jenkinson: Inspired tintinnabulous sound in his 6th maybe – but, sorry, Mahler isn’t me (anag.; ref. cowbells in M.’s Symphony No. 6).

C. W. Laxton: New fashion for Mrs T. – a hemline that’s lower, Continental style? (anag.; one that lows; ref. M. Thatcher).

D. J. Mackay: What’s produced from her’s meat’n’ milk mostly (anag. incl. mil(k)).

D. F. Manley: ‘Hitler’ means ‘leader of men abnormally bossy’ (anag. incl. m; bossy = cow (OED)).

C. G. Millin: Sources of meat and milk, in Switzerland initially – leather too, possibly (anag. incl. m m in S, & lit.).

F. E. Newlove: Marleen Smith can be a real cow! (anag.).

R. J. Palmer: Ends in sirloin and meat fit to go into stew, perhaps (n t hale in simmer, & lit.).

M. G. Payne: Moving star ‘in Himmel’ leads to stable dweller (anag. (?)).

A. R. Rudge: Sort of neat container that keeps milk fresher than mere slim churns (anag.).

T. E. Sanders: The fashionable smart hemline will be lower (anag.).

W. J. M. Scotland: Neat meths? I’m nearly delirious suppressing yen! (anag. less y).

Dr W. I. D. Scott: This could provide meat men relish, needing a little energy – for mountainous terrain? (anag. less E).

W. K. M. Slimmings: A neat type, Swiss in origin… I’m of mind to get spliced with her (S I’m + mental overlapping her).

P. W. Staff: Himmler’s neat? Might have been (anag. & lit.).

J. G. Stubbs: Himmler’s neat? Could be! (anag. & lit.).

L. M. Sturges: A neat strain from Hammerstein orchestrated and winning film-lover’s heart (l in anag.; ref. Oscar H., songwriter).

J. F. N. Wedge: Geneva neat? Mix minerals with them (anag.).

R. J. Whale: In herds: meat’n’ milk may be obtained from this kind (comp. anag. & lit.).

HC

Miss M. R. Adcock, M. Barley, Mrs K. Bissett, J. M. Brown, E. J. Burge, E. W. Burton, C. J. & M. P. Butler, R. S. Caffyn, C. A. Clarke, G. Clyde, Mrs M. P. Craine, P. W. Davenport, N. C. Dexter, P. Drummond, P. S. Elliott, R. A. England, B. Franco, A. L. Freeman, E. H. Furnival, S. R. Gibbs, N. C. Goddard, S. Goldie, R. Grainger, J. E. Green, J. F. Grimshaw, B. Hancock, I. A. Herbert, A. Hodgson, Miss E. H. C. Jenkins, G. Johnstone, B. K. Kelly, Mrs J. K. Kennedy, R. E. Kimmons, F. P. N. Lake, Ms E. Langley, M. D. Laws, K. H. Lewis, K. M. Long, C. Loving, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, S. M. Mansell, T. A. Martin, H. S. Mason, H. W. Massingham, L. May, P. F. McGoldrick, D. P. M. Michael, J. D. Moore, T. J. Moorey, A. C. Morrison, C. J. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, D. S. Nagle, K. T. Norcott, Mrs A. J. Odber, N. O’Neill, S. L. Paton, C. P. Rea, P. Rhodes, D. R. Robinson, N. Roles, G. C. Rosser, M. A. Sargisson, A. D. Scott, N. E. Sharp, Mrs E. J. Shields, G. Snowden-Davies, T. A. J. Spencer, R. C. Teuton, P. Thacker, A. J. Wardrop, J. Watson, Mrs M. P. Webber.
 

COMMENTS
412 entries and no mistakes. A really first-class entry, full of good ideas and very little unsoundness, which accounts for the extra-long lists above. In my copy of The Observer a nasty splodge obscured much of Dr Young’s excellent first-prize clue, but it deserves special attention for what can be done to disguise both the cryptic part of a clue (here a straight anagram) and the definition part amusingly and cleverly without in any way lapsing into unfairness. A beauty.
 
Anagrams naturally predominated this month – this usually happens with long words – though there were a fair number who used the nearness in form of EMMENTHAL(ER) to go for dairy-style ‘& lit’ clues. I wasn’t too keen on this, partly because of the very close derivational similarity of the two words (both named for river valleys in Switzerland) and partly because the solver would need to know of Emmenthal even after arriving at the answer to understand how he got there. I’m not saying this is unfair or unsound, merely that other ideas were better.
 
I must be brief this month as Christmas looms. Time must be found however to admit to and apologise for a grotesque solecism I perpetrated in early August (No. 487), which has only just been pointed out to me. I included the word TROI, the clue having to do with the Three Musketeers, under the dotty misapprehension that troi is French for three. How I made such a basic howler I cannot now begin to fathom. I don’t think that my list of errors since Azed No. 1 has ever intentionally included a non-existent word. I see the ghost of my wife’s late father, who taught French at the same school where Ximenes taught, wagging a reproving finger and am duly humble.
 
A final word of thanks for the many Christmas cards and seasonal greetings I and my wife have received from you this year. They were particularly welcome during the bitter cold, with burst pipes to contend with, and we both in turn wish you all the very best in 1982.