AZED CROSSWORD 788

CROW

1.  H. Freeman: B-r-ag? (i.e. r in bag, & lit.; bag, cow (derog.)).

2.  Dr E. Young: Dexter possibly could do about how neatly he’s clued (r(ight) in cow, & lit; ref. N. C. D., Azed annual honours).

3.  R. A. Wells: His retreat’s high trees in town (Worcester (rev.) less anag., & lit.).

VHC

M. Barley: Unwelcome noise after drinking-bout (arousal not required)? (c(arousal) + row, & lit.).

E. A. Beaulah: Will Tories stomach it if Welsh ogre is returned? (W orc (rev.); ‘eat c.’; ref. Gen. Election, Neil Kinnock).

H. J. Bradbury: He virtually puts a ruler on the grid (crow(n) & lit.; ‘as the c. flies’; crossword grid).

C. J. Brougham: What comes from Dexter on appearing in the two firsts in clue writing (r(ight) o’ in c w, & lit.; ref. N. C. D., Azed annual honours).

P. A. Bull: One often stoned in the bar (2 mngs.; ‘stone the c.s’).

M. Clarke: Cry of triumph: two-thirds of puzzle knocked off by start of Wednesday (cro(ssword) + W).

M. Coates: Crack clues’ initial sequence and finish – name concealed (c + row, crow(n); ref. AZ’s name in diagram).

G. P. Conway: Appearance of monstrous one put back onset of warning? (orc (rev.) + w, & lit.; ref. Tweedledum, -dee).

L. J. Davenport: T. Hughes’ volume is about Brown, centrally (c + (B)row(n); ref. Ted H., Thomas H.).

N. C. Dexter: One that follows a bee line (i.e. C row, & lit.).

R. P. C. Forman: Triumph in a range of Tory seats? (i.e. C row).

S. Goldie: What follows bee-line? (i.e. C row, & lit.).

W. Jackson: James, alias Jim (2 mngs.; james = jemmy; Jim C.).

G. Johnstone: Jimmy or Jim? (2 mngs.; jimmy = jemmy; Jim C.).

R. E. Kimmons: Grandstand featuring Slack and Bird (3 mngs.; g. = show off; ref. Wilf S., cricketer and Dickie B., umpire).

C. W. Laxton: Opening bar exposes clubs to disorderly conduct (C row).

J. C. Leyland: Prize with this? Wouldn’t I ——! (double mng.).

D. F. Manley: What follows beeline? (i.e. C row, & lit.).

C. G. Millin: I get lots of corn breaking heart of sower (anag. less n + w, & lit.).

L. Paterson: Does this flier follow a bee-line? Yes (i.e. C row, & lit.).

W. H. Pegram: As a child, utter joy it was to crack nuts (3 mngs.).

B. A. Pike: Disturbance after dawn in country? (c + row, & lit.).

C. P. Rea: Azed missing out the fifth letter of anagram. Amazing – he must be stoned (Crowther less the r; ref. Azed’s blunder, see comments; ‘stone the c.s’).

A. J. Redstone: Labour’s come-back cut short by Conservative triumph (C + wor(k) (rev.); ref. Gen. Election).

R. C. Teuton: The principles of Cluedo – room, occupant, weapon and an element of murder? (first letters; m. collective noun for crows).

HC

R. Abrey, M. J. Balfour, Mrs A. R. Bradford, R. Brain, B. W. Brook, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, C. J. & M. P. Butler, C. A. Clarke, E. A. Clarke, A. J. Clow, Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh, C. M. Draper, P. Drummond, Mrs P. Edwards, F. D. Gardiner, D. A. Ginger, J. F. Grimshaw, D. V. Harry, R. J. Hooper, J. H. C. Leach, C. Loving, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, S. M. Mansell, H. S. Mason, L. May, C. J. Morse, T. W. Mortimer, D. S. Nagle, A. J. Odber, F. R. Palmer, Mrs A. Price, R. F. Ray, Mr & Mrs A. Rivlin, D. R. Robinson, L. G. D. Sanders, T. E. Sanders, W. K. M. Slimmings, F. B. Stubbs, K. Thomas, Dr I. Torbe, D. Trace, R. J. Whale, M. R. Whiteoak, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS
473 entries, no mistakes – none, that is, except my own stupid blunder in the clue to SIGIL involving a composite anagram with a C unaccounted for, and the typo which produced the schoolboy howler of ‘seige’ for ‘siege’. My apologies for these lapses, both tolerantly accepted, and for my little jeu d’esprit in introducing my own name into the first three across clues. There was no particular excuse for this (it wasn’t my 788th birthday!) but after lighting on JONATHAN for 1 Across I decided playfully to put the rest of me into the grid if I could, manipulating the patterning of the bars as I went along. Only when it was too late to do anything about it did I notice that I’d included two 5-letter words with no unchecked letters, contrary to my normal practice. That one of these was the offending SIGIL proved quite fortunate in that no other solution was possible, but it was careless of me nevertheless.
 
Having a short word to clue made a welcome change, especially as this one clearly offered a wealth of possibilities. The election inevitably loomed large, with Tory cries of triumph, etc audible on all sides. Something a bit more subtle was necessary to make the quoted lists. The simple neatness of Mr Freeman’s one-worder was particularly satisfying and made him for me the clear winner. It was very hard to choose between the rest, especially those with only minor variations on the same good idea. And I can see that it was very tempting for those who know my name and spotted it in the diagram to involve me in their clues in some way, even to the extent of chiding me for my faulty anagram elsewhere in the puzzle. I hope those who remained unaware of the whole bit of nonsense and don’t know me by name will not feel unfairly disadvantaged. I was certainly pleased at the size of the entry.
 
After my remarks last month about props mistresses, it’s been pointed out to me that PROPERTY-MASTER is in Chambers and PROPERTY-MISTRESS is not. Apart from deploring this blatant example of sex discrimination I am genuinely surprised at what runs quite counter to my own experience of the relative frequency of the two terms. Ah, well!