AZED CROSSWORD 735

MALIGN

1.  D. F. Manley: What a gremlin could be with regard to flying (anag. less re, & lit.).

2.  P. F. Henderson: Foul lying may, repeatedly detracting the same character (anag. less y y, & lit.).

3.  F. P. N. Lake: Wanting love (and how!), see me go roaming in gloaming (comp. anag.).

VHC

K. Aaronovich: Blaming indiscriminately without a hint of benevolence (anag. less b, & lit.).

D. Ashcroft: Get nothing out of the gloamin’ roamin’? Old Lauder certainly didn’t (anag. less 0; ref. Harry L.).

M. Barley: With reference to flying, could a gremlin appear as such? (anag. less re, & lit.).

N. C. Goddard: Form ranks after the end of grim offensive (m + align).

E. M. Hornby: Run down? Worse, lingam’s out of order (anag.).

R. E. Kimmon: Cram’s in this race, which could result in injury (lig in man; cram = lie; ref. Steve C.).

A. Lawrie: Knock Fell (2 mngs.; Pennine peak).

C. G. Millin: Make false statements to break a person? (lig in man, & lit.).

J. J. Moore: Black African nation on the borders of Gabon (Mali + G, n).

T. J. Moorey: Wrong start in Mexico, nought-one upset’s about ultimate in bungling (M + g in nil-a (rev.); ref. World Cup).

C. J. Morse: McEnroe’s first to get in a row – and run down as a result (M + align; ref. John M.).

F. E. Newlove: Villain’s tying maiden to line! (M + align; villain adj.).

E. Nicholson: Denigrate male dress as tending to go from bad to worse (m + align, 2 defs.).

F. R. Palmer: Cut a person with a crude lie? (lig in man, & lit.).

Miss I. M. Raab: Devilish using Botham’s extremity to create a row! (m + align; ref. Ian B.’s cannabis admission).

D. R. Robinson: Badly run down Cavalier with rear tray missing (Malign(ant); car make; tray = set of 3).

G. C. Rosser: What’s to be penned by Friday? Odd articles of lying slander (l i g in Man).

T. E. Sanders: The kind of effect on name a dam lie has (ma + lig + n, & lit.).

W. J. M. Scotland: Lam in slurs without a hit of goodness (g in anag., & lit.).

W. K. M. Slimmings: Mum’s first to dress wound, with action following words? (m + align; i.e. action for slander).

J. F. N. Wedge: Mile line up run down (m + align).

M. R. Whiteoak: Give a bad press? This taint could he produced by Wapping NGA militant (comp. anag.; wap v.i.; ref. printing disputes).

HC

Mrs E. Allen, C. Allen Baker, S. Armstrong, E. A. Beaulah, J. D. D. Blaikie, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, C. J. Brougham, E. J. Burge, C. J. & M. P. Butler, J. Cartmel, C. A. Clarke, Mrs M. P. Craine, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, R. V. Dearden, N. C. Dexter, D. S. Fielker, Dr I. S. Fletcher, M. Freeman, F. D. Gardiner, G. Gargan, M. Goodyear, Dr J. F. Grimshaw, S. Holgate, R. J. Hooper, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, D. K. Jervis, M. S. Taylor & N. C. Johns, A. H. Jones, C. L. Jones, J. H. C. Leach, C. J. Lowe, R. K. Lumsdon, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, L. K. Maltby, H. S. Mason, H. W. Massingham, L. May, J. R. C. Michie, Dr R. G. Monk, R. A. Mostyn, Lieut Cmdr A. R. Nolan, S. L. Paton, P. A. Ransom, J. H. Russell, A. Scott, G. L. Scullard, D. M. Stanford, F. B. Stubbs, R. C. Teuton, Mrs J. Waldren, A. J. Wardrop, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
Just 300 entries, no mistakes and no real problems, it seems, though a few of you commented that the puzzle was harder than usual. Clues submitted were on the whole pretty good this month, for a word that perhaps at first sight looked a hit uninspiring. There was a roughly 50-50 split between those opting for the adjective sense and those who preferred to doe the verb. Anyone choosing one of the obsolete senses of the verb without indicating this I marked down at this level of competition such an omission cannot be overlooked. I was more tolerant (but may not be again) with those who obscured the transitivity of the verb sense by including a direct object in their clues, especially where an ‘& lit.’ reading of the clue was involved. Thus the clues of Messrs Millin and Palmer above read like definitions of intransitive verbs. In each case the words ‘a person’ should, strictly speaking, be in brackets or omitted for the sense to indicate a transitive one, and this would not be possible for the cryptic reading to work. Contrarily the transitivity of a transitive verb does not necessarily require the existence in a sentence of a direct object. This can be understood – hence the acceptability of Mr Henderson’s clue, which for its literal reading requires us to imagine ‘Foul lying may malign (‘someone’ understood)’. I don’t think this is nit-picking. It’s important to play fair by the solver even when using other means to bamboozle and mislead (him).
 
A repeat of last month’s announcement for any who may have missed it: there will be a dinner to mark Azed Crossword No. 750, on Saturday 13 September at the Randolph Hotel, Oxford, price £15 a head. Will anyone interested in coming please contact Mr D. F. Manley (sae please) for further details.