AZED CROSSWORD 683

BANISH

1.  N. C. Dexter: Make inhabit abroad – it being the end of Alcibiades (anag. with s for it, & lit.; ref. exiled Athenian statesman).

2.  Dr J. Burscough: Refuse truck with ash-bin’s debris in? (anag.).

3.  S. Woods: Punish by expulsion, so thug’s posterior escapes awful bashing (anag. less g).

VHC

D. W. Arthur: Arrest following overthrow and ship off bereft of power (nab (rev.) + anag. less p, & lit.).

M. Barnes: Has bin affected what bad bread does to good? (anag.; ref. Gresham’s Law).

C. A. Clarke: Transport strike off (2 mngs.).

E. Dawid: Boycott is bowled taking a wee liberty (b an ish; ref. Geoff B.).

P. Drummond: If one goes in for forest clearing in a country, one gets order to leave (Bangladesh with I for glade).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Slip catches one out (an in bish; out vt).

D. V. Harry: What leads to exile? Rioting in Belgium has (anag. incl. B; ref. Heysel Stadium riot).

P. F. Henderson: Aspirins have been changed – there’s a new formulation to —— severe pain (comp. anag.).

S. Holgate: Curse! Sliced his drive out of bounds? (ban + anag.).

R. J. Hooper: Transport strike off (2 mngs.).

W. Jackson: Reaction of some mullahs in a Baghdad bar? (hidden rev.).

F. P. N. Lake: Treat like Prospero (ref. his ban in ‘Tempest’) (anag.).

A. Lawrie: If in error don’t admit – do the opposite! (an in bish; an² = if).

P. W. W. Leach: Alien inhabits it being unwanted exile (anag. less it).

D. F. Manley: Exile? Riverside situation curtailed his playing (ban(k) + anag.; ref. Ps. 137: 1-4).

D. P. M. Michael: After Belgium, Italy gets short answer about end of English – ‘Out!’ (B + I in ans + h; ref. ban following Heysel Stadium riot; out vb.).

T. W. Mortimer: Exile shows offence rebounding hard on those responsible for starting Brussels aggro (initial letters + sin (rev.) + H; ref. Heysel Stadium riot).

F. Moss: Throw out British! (Italy in an appeal for order) (B + I in an Sh!; ref. England’s UEFA ban).

R. F. Naish: Expel British and one is hitting hooliganism at source (B + an + is + h; ref. England’s UEFA ban).

F. R. Palmer: What UEFA’s decided to do to English clubs, an expression of disgust about recurrent criminal behaviour (sin (rev.) in bah; ref. England’s UEFA ban).

D. Price Jones: Ash-bin on fire (anag.; on = drunk).

W. J. M. Scotland: Bevs’ original: one beating his drum out (B + an + anag.; ref. Beverley Sisters’ song ‘Little Drummer Boy’).

HC

R. Abrey, M. J. Balfour, M. Barker, M. Barley, E. A. Beaulah, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, M. J. Brown, E. J. Burge, S. Collins, Mrs M. P. Craine, H. Freeman, M. Freeman, N. C. Goddard, S. Goldie, E. L. Hayward, C. Hobbs, Mrs E. L. Jobling, G. Johnstone, A. H. Jones, M. D. Laws, J. H. C. Leach, J. F. P. Levey, C. J. Lowe, R. K. Lumsdon, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, G. Maker, Rev W. P. Manahan, S. M. Mansell, H. S. Mason, H. W. Massingham, C. G. Millin, F. E. Newlove, Dr P. Owen, P. G. O’Gorman, R. J. Palmer, S. L. Paton, W. H. Pegram, B. A. Pike, J. J. Reay, E. W. Richart, J. H. Russell, L. G. D. Sanders, T. E. Sanders, W. K. M. Slimmings, F. B. Stubbs, J. B. Sweeting, M. H. E. Watson, R. J. Whale, Mrs B. Wharf.
 

COMMENTS
365 entries, no noticeable mistakes. There were a few puzzled comments about the clue to CRIT (‘Review quality of the fleet? No one lay around’ ) and I have to confess that it was rather a contrived clue to an uninteresting word (ALACRITY without A LAY round the outside) though not, I think, unsound. BANISH itself is a pretty colourless word to have to clue. I foresaw this but felt that for once I’d give you a word which seemed at first sight to offer few opportunities for inventiveness. (I have to wrestle with five or six a week, after all!) I think the list quoted above shows what can be done even with unpromising material to lift clues above the workaday level. It was perhaps inevitable that football hooliganism should loom large as a theme and the number quoted above is indicative of their proportion of the total entry.
 
I am prompted by a letter from a keen regular to modify what I said in the last ship about RICES as an alternative P.D. solution to RICEY (the clue being ‘We can’t afford to raise our new carpet – too much competition’). I described this as a mistake, and though I would still defend the ‘correct’ solution RICEY as making more sense in the undevilled reading as well as producing more natural English, I do acknowledge that ‘set’ for ‘yet’ is conceivable and therefore, in the context of a P.D. puzzle, not strictly a ‘mistake’. I still can’t help wondering whether anyone would have plumped for RICES if I’d said nothing about the ‘questionable’ plural. It never, I confess, crossed my mind that anyone would seriously entertain RICES as an acceptable form, an oversight I regret.I don’t think anyone got HERMAS wrong in this puzzle though one or two may have wondered who he was. I must own up to the fact that he was a last-minute expedient, for which I was profoundly grateful. Without thinking too much I’d meant the word to be a plural of HERMA and it was only when I came to write the clue that I discovered that as such it was highly questionable! The entry in Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable got me off an awkward hook since I was unable to find another word that would fit without large-scale reconstruction of the SE corner. I wouldn’t normally include such a relatively obscure proper name.
 
I am told by The Observer that they have decided not to run a second Crossword Superbrain Competition – not this year at least. It is possible that the event may be repeated on some future occasion.