AZED CROSSWORD 543

STAYING POWER

1.  A. J. Redstone: Product of a rowing type’s training (anag. & lit.).

2.  D. M. Stanford: Got weary pins? Develop this (anag. & lit.).

3.  E. A. Beaulah: It’s typical of Tavaré to thwart bowlers: in Test star we have opener of pertinacity (stay in + p in Gower; ref. Chris T., David G.).

VHC

M. Barley: What could make you stop wearying? (anag. & lit.).

E. J. Burge: Pony with grit and energy was broken – a requirement for keeping on! (anag. incl. E).

F. Chaplin: What you need to make rowing and P.T. easy (anag. & lit.).

C. A. Clarke: What one needs to finish race in sporting way, struggling? (e in anag., & lit.).

M. Coates: This will make one stop wearying, if developed (anag. & lit.).

B. Franco: Ow! Nasty gripe – upset guts (anag.).

S. Goldie: The attribute of the long-distance runner that’s shared by a pigsty owner?! (anag.; share = plough).

J. J. Goulstone: What a top swinger could show round end of party? (y in anag. & lit.).

B. Greer: E.g. rip won’t last in Derby, as it’s deficient in this (anag. & lit.).

V. G. Henderson: It could make you stop wearying (anag. & lit.).

J. P. H. Hirst: Qualification for wearying post (anag. & lit.).

R. Hooper: It could make you stop wearying (anag. & lit.).

M. Jones: Wearying? Stop straggling! We’ll have no flagging here (anag. & lit.).

M. D. Laws: With this, Playfair solver may succeed, yet gaps in row need juggling (anag. & lit; ref. puzzle).

G. Leversha: What might give T & G pay-rise now? (anag. & lit.).

D. F. Manley: Won’t Ray I’s peg out? (anag. & lit.; ref. R. Illingworth, Yorks captain at 50).

L. May: Grows in peaty ground, producing ample stamina for continuing strain (anag.; stamina = stamens).

M. R. Metcalf: What will make you stop wearying (anag. & lit.).

W. H. Pegram: Forcefulness one’s seen in rugged rowing types (a in anag., & lit.).

Mrs A. Price: Got weary pins? Shape up and stamina will be yours (anag.).

E. R. Riddle: What makes Daley athletics’ greatest living exponent? (staying power; ref. D. Thompson, champion decathlete; power in maths).

T. E. Sanders: It needs must stop wearying (anag. & lit.; must⁴ = frenzied).

A. Scott: Got weary pins, running? You need more of this! (anag. & lit.).

W. K. M. Slimmings: What a guy batting with grit – not having to score – might show? (stay in g(rit) + power, & lit.).

HC

J. K. Aronson, P. Ashcroft, M. J. Balfour, P. F. Bauchop, Mrs K. Bissett, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, A. G. Bogie, R. E. Boot, Rev C. M. Broun, C. J. and M. P. Butler, R. S. Caffyn, Mrs M. P. Craine, Mrs J. M. Critchley, G. Cuthbert, R. V. Dearden, N. C. Dexter, Ms J. Drinkwater, P. Drummond, E. H. Furnival, N. C. Goddard, E. Gomersall, A. Hall, S. Holgate, A. H. Jones, M. P. Jones, R. E. Kimmons, A. Larie, M. D. Leach, J. W. Leonard, J. P. Lester, C. Loving, N. K. Mackley, S. M. Mansell, E. W. Merryweather, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, C. J. Morse, F. E. Newlove, Ms H. Ougham, D. E. Poole, D. R. Robinson, W. J. M. Scotland, A. D. Scott, G. Snowden-Davies, T. A. J. Spencer, J. B. Sweeting, I. L. Thurlow, J. Treleaven, Mrs M. P. Webber, R. J. Whale, Ms B. J. Widger, D. C. Williamson, M. G. Wilson, L. C. Wright.
 

COMMENTS
303 entries, the only mistakes being the occasional failure to encode the unchecked pairs in encoded words and GREER for FREER (about 30 of these). I was alive to the fact that the unchecked letter in this word (Clue: ‘One for liberation? Ditto, following taking her lead’) might give difficulty and changed the wording more than once to achieve minimum ambiguity, being reluctant to abandon a rather attractive idea. I still think FREER fits the clue far better than GREER but in any case the note under the diagram stating that every word was in Chambers clinched it.
 
I’m sorry for the delays with results and slip this month. These have been caused by inescapable commitments which have meant my being overseas at the crucial time. The same will happen again next month, I’m afraid, but thereafter normality will be restored. It will certainly not become a habit.
 
STAYING-POWER provided a feast for anagrammatists, if that’s the word, very often with the bonus of an ‘& lit.’ besides (see above). CJM produced the lovely one-word anagram TOP-SAWYERING for which, alas, I could find no authority even in OED. There has never, it seems, been a verb to top-sawyer. The instances of ‘stop wearying’ were just too numerous to justify prizes for all despite being so very appropriate. As usual there were a number of newcomers asking for tips on solving a Playfair code. As I’ve said before I know of no foolproof quick and easy method and have always myself relied on trial and error and a fair amount of scrap paper. Many regulars I know use Scrabble tiles, which certainly saves on the scrap paper! My decision in compiling this puzzle to give no pairs in the same row or column was deliberately experimental. Oddly enough it seems if anything to have made the cracking of the code easier – for the majority at least. Would any expert code-breaker care to suggest why this should be? One thing is certain: for anyone compiling a Playfair puzzle it is essential to make the encoded clues pretty easy to solve, since they have to be solved ‘blind,’ i.e. without the help of any intersecting words. In addition, of course, where they do intersect with other words the letters at the crossings are effectively extra unches in those other words, so clues to them should not be to difficult either. Unless the compiler is feeling particularly devilish, that is!
 
I’m asked again for advance warning of forthcoming specials. Apart from the Christmas puzzle, which will remain a surprise, the next three specials will be Spoonerisms, Misprints, and Definition and Letter-Mixture. Does anyone object to being told like this?