AZED CROSSWORD 600

Into the jaws of Death / Into the mouth of Hell (Anagram)

1.  P. Cargill: Too lethal? What, then, justified them on hoof?

2.  Mrs E. M. Phair: Hot fool, ain’t he just, who led men that foe hit?

3.  N. C. Dexter: Jonathan? How oft he doth toil! Let us fête him!

VHC

D. W. Arthur: Halt the mad hot hoof, just too few in the line.

F. D. H. Atkinson: Who joineth in the hot oft-mouthed tale (Alf’s)?

T. H. Ayre: To the men who joined! Oh, faithful to the last!

E. A. Beaulah: Jonah left this whale he met: found it too hot!

J. D. D. Blaikie: Jonathan, who set the lot, I hie to doff the lum.

Rev C. M. Broun: Life to Jonathan! His the flow outdoeth them.

Mrs D. M. Colley: Oh what faith led them on to the line of joust.

R. Dean: Oh Jonathan! Thou oft hidest theme of it well.

P. Drummond: Who told those faithful men to join the hate? (h. = enemy bombardment, OED Suppt.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Jonah not the food to suit, the whale left him.

D. V. Harry: I fool with these, tho’ Jonathan flouted them (i.e. latent letters.).

V. G. Henderson: Would ‘To the Foolish’ fit the theme, Jonathan?

K. Hunter: I duel with Jonathan tho’ the theme oft fools.

M. Jellis: Fish out oft told O.T. theme – Jonah in the whale.

J. Kremer: To the toothful jowl? Then I’m in the heat of Hades.

A. Lawrie: Who led them to the foe in that foolish jaunt?

C. W. Laxton: The foolish feel Jonathan doth outwit them.

G. Leversha: So futile of Jonathan to withhold the theme!

D. J. Mackay: Oh, ‘Alf T.’ (who jotted the lines), thou hit on fame!

D. F. Manley: Oh, I fete toilful Jonathan, who doth set them!

D. P. M. Michael: Ah, just then the foe that line of doom hit low!

C. J. Morse: How that famous ‘thin line’ jolted the hot foe! (ref. W. H. Russell’s ‘thin red line’, see ODQ.).

J. Osmond: Ho! Shout of the men who joined the fatal tilt.

F. R. Palmer: How hale the faith of just men not loth to die!

R. J. Palmer: Host who made hot jaunt into the foe fell hit.

Mrs D. M. C. Prichard: Just a howl to the fiend of the month I loathe.

A. Scott: O how the men hied off into that lethal joust!

Mrs E. J. Shields: Oh Jonathan, the thief of time, thou dost well!

W. K. M. Slimmings: Thou, Matthew – John, too – on His death felt life.

G. Stubbs: Lines Alf doth jot out. Oh how fine that theme.

R. T. Taylor: Woman he jilted to haunt the life of hot shot? (ref. C. Parkinson affair.).

S. Woods: A lot of fit men who just heed not the hot hail.

HC

D. Ashcroft, F. B. Atkins, Mrs G. M. Barker, N. S. Barrett, Mrs P. A. Bax, J. Beastall, F. Benson, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, Mrs A. R. Bradford, C. Brougham, S. V. Brown, E. J. Burge, C. J. and M. P. Butler, R. S. Caffyn, G. Cannon, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, E. Chalkley, R. L. Chambers, Mrs W. Cheek, J. H. Chinner, C. A. Clarke, G. P. Conway, F. Craig, Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh, J. Dromey, C. J. Feetenby, M. B. Fisher, B. Franco, O. H. Frazer, M. Freeman, S. J. French, D. A. Ginger, S. Goldie, M. Goodyear, J. J. Goulstone, B. Greer, J. F. Grimshaw, A. Hall, P. Heap, P. F. Henderson, A. W. Hill, E. M. Holroyd, W. Jackson, J. I. James, Mrs M. Jarvis, S. H. Jarvis, R. Jones, F. P. N. Lake, J. Lawrence, J. H. C. Leach, Dr R. A. Main, L. K. Maltby, W. P. Manahan, S. M. Mansell, B. Manvell, W. F. Martin, J. P. Mernagh, J. D. Moore, D. I. Morgan, F. E. Newlove, W. H. Pegram, Mrs A. G. Phillips, D. Price Jones, Mrs E. J. Roberts, C. W. Robins, Mrs E. Rudoe, Mrs J. Seaman, T. A. J. Spencer, D. M. Stanford, J. B. Sweeting, K. Thomas, D. Tompsett, A. P. Vincent, Ms M. Vincent, P. J. Wagstaffe, J. Walton, Mrs M. P. Webber, J. F. N. Wedge, Mrs J. Welted, J. B. Widdowson, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS
480 entries, no mistakes. Many of you thought the theme predictable and the puzzle on the easy side. I make no apologies for this. Ximenes used a similar idea for his six hundredth and it’s certainly an attractive one to choose, especially with that nice 36-letter (18+18) quotation beckoning, but it still needed to be solved and the anagram wasn’t an easy one to concoct. Perhaps I did seek to eschew undue tortuousness in the clues but then on ‘milestone’ occasions like these I like to attract as large an entry as possible.
 
I also know that making up big anagrams is not everyone’s cup of tea but once in a while it makes a change, and it’s a long time since the last one. It also gives an opportunity for the less able cryptic clue writers to shine. As you’ll appreciate the judge’s task is formidable, with virtually nothing immediately disqualifiable except gross obscenity or ungrammatical nonsense. Most competitors went for either (i) a comment on the Charge of the Light Brigade itself, or (ii) a celebration of the 600th puzzle, or (iii) reference to Jonah and the Whale (to which the quotation might have referred), or (iv) something topical such as the Parkinson resignation. Many of those in category (ii) were very flattering to myself and used by Christian name or an abbreviation of it freely. I hope I shall be forgiven for including a number of these in the lists, with the assurance that they got there on merit alone. Sycophancy is no guarantee of preferment; and I hope that Mrs Prichard’s success above is sufficient proof of my magnanimity!
 
It was an awkward group of letters to juggle with – all those Os, Hs and Ts and not a single R. But I reckoned that if Tennyson could manage it so could you, and I wasn’t disappointed. There were many oohs and ahs, naturally, and even an ohhh, which had the ring of desperation to it. A few, including the three prize-winners, achieved the difficult task of not repeating any of the words in the quotation. While being more tolerant towards the reuse of ‘the’, ‘of’ and ‘into’, I tended to disqualify anagrams which included any of the four nouns. Mr Atkinson can regard his clue as having squeezed in by a whisker!
 
I received many comments and separate letters expressing various degrees of disapproval of the idea that the solution diagram might be replaced. I’m glad to say that I’ve had comforting assurances that this is not now contemplated whatever other minor layout adjustments may be made.
 
And on a lighter note I’m pleased to note that W. & R. Chambers have moved their offices to a new address in Edinburgh. The new post code is EH7 4AZ.