AZED CROSSWORD 887

MONSTER

1.  Dr G. B. Greer: Some in Commons term Mrs. T. one, abusively (hidden, anag., & lit.).

2.  A. Lawrie: I make strong men both stop short and tremble (anag. less g n, & lit.).

3.  J. R. C. Michie: Demon doctor reconstructed man from butchered remnants (MO + anag. less anag.).

VHC

D. W. Arthur: ‘Dr’, new recipe set out, becomes ‘Mr’, on changing to one (MO + anag. incl. n r, monster with I for on = mister, & lit.; ref. Jekyll and Hyde).

H. J. Bradbury: Hunchback or similar required: one to ring changes in large cathedral (minster with O for I).

C. J. Brougham: Try ‘enormous’ reformulated … it could be your answer! (comp. anag. & lit.).

E. J. Burge: One ‘getting away’ in stream, on being put around becomes ‘a whopper’! (anag. less a; ref. fishermen’s tales).

C. A. Clarke: ‘No end to mandate’, Mrs T resolved – it’s dreadful! (anag. incl. e).

R. Dean: One that is deficient from aberrant enormities? (anag. less I i.e., & lit.).

R. V. Dearden: Product of a Modern Prometheus – hero made up this (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. Frankenstein).

N. C. Dexter: Mrs T one to Labour? (anag. & lit.).

B. Franco: Titanic – Monumental disaster – Most on board lost (mon(umental disa)ster).

H. Freeman: Gorgon? Mrs T’s one in disguise! (anag.).

R. R. Greenfield: Oh, this is what no mothers ought to bear (comp. anag. & lit.).

R. J. Hooper: No little creature in mass – ‘enormous-est’ brute! (m + anag. less mouse, & lit.; brute adj.).

R. Jacks: Man with a heart made of stone, perhaps (anag. in Mr, & lit.).

J. C. Leyland: Sabbath tormentor’s two thirds solved in minute? Hardly! (anag. of S tormen(tor)).

D. F. Manley: Designation for man with heart of stone becoming horrible (anag. in Mr, & lit.).

H. Massingham: Mutation in set norm? (anag. & lit.).

C. G. Millin: Frightful tele ——, on Elm Street possibly (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. ‘Nightmare on E. S.’).

C. J. Morse: It requires some distortion to make Mrs T one (anag. & lit.).

F. R. Palmer: Grotesque vision of ten more with Mrs T, no term in sight (anag. less term; i.e. years in power).

D. Price Jones: Stupendous composition of W. A. Mozart’s one that’s ignored by Ozawa, surprisingly (anag. less anag.; ref. Seiji O., conductor).

T. E. Sanders: A whopper as expressed in Commons terminology (hidden; ref. Churchill’s ‘terminological inexactitude’).

D. P. Shenkin: Mrs T, one for turning? It may seem incredible (anag.).

J. P. Wheatcroft: Eton’s Mr Chips – one you’d be glad to say goodbye to! (anag.; ref. novel ‘Goodbye, Mr C.’).

Dr E. Young: I could be ET’s norm! (anag.).

HC

S. Armstrong, R. L. Baker, M. Barley, R. C. Bell, Mrs K. Bissett, B. W. Brook, J. M. Brown, Dr J. Burscough, C. J. & M. P. Butler, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, M. Coates, Mrs M. P. Craine, P. W. Davenport, J. V. S. A. Davies, H. W. Evans, C. J. Feetenby, E. G. Fletcher, Dr I. S. Fletcher, G. Floyd, S. C. Ford, M. Freeman, A. K. Gregory, A. O. Harries, P. F. Henderson, J. P. H. Hirst, J. Horwood, W. Jackson, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, A. H. Jones, C. L. Jones, R. E. Kimmons, F. P. N. Lake, C. J. Lowe, P. W. Marlow, Rev M. R. Metcalf, J. J. Moore, T. J. Moorey, H. B. Morton, J. J. Murtha, R. F. Naish, Mrs P. Norman, W. M. Orriel, R. O’Donoghue, L. Paterson, G. Perry, R. Phillips, W. S. Rankin, H. L. Rhodes, P. Rhodes, A. Rivlin, D. R. Robinson, L. G. D. Sanders, W. J. M. Scotland, A. D. Scott, P. D. Stonier, J. B. Sweeting, G. A. Tomlinson, Dr I. Torbe, R. J. Whale, M. G. Wilson, B. K. Workman.
 

ANNUAL HONOURS LIST (13 COMPETITIONS)1. D. F. Manley (2 prizes, 10 V.H.C.’s); 2. C. J. Morse (2,7); 3(equal) NC. Dexter (1,8), P. F. Henderson (1,8); 5. E. J. Burge (1,7); 6(equal) C. J. Brougham (2,4), C. G. Millin (2,4); 8(equal) F. P. N. Lake (1,5), T. W. Mortimer (0,7), F. R. Palmer (1,5); 11(equal) H. J. Bradbury (1,4), J. C. Leyland (0,6), D. Price Jones (1,4), Dr B. Young (2,2); 15(equal) Dr J Burscough (2,1), C. A. Clarke (0,5), Dr I. S. Fletcher (1,3), H. Freeman (1,3), R. R. Greenfield (0,5), D. V. Harry (1,3), T. E. Sanders (0,5); 22(equal) D. W. Arthur (1,2), M. Barley (0,4), S. C. Ford (0,4), R. J. Hooper (0,4), T. J. Moorey (1,2), H. W. Massingham (0,4), W. J. M. Scotland (0,4), R. J. Whale (1,2). CONSOLATION PRIZES:- T. W. Mortimer, J. C. Leyland, C. A. Clarke, R. R. Greenfield, T. E. Sanders, M. Barley, S. C. Ford, R. J. Hooper, H. Massingham, W. J. M. Scotland.
 

 
COMMENTS
 
350 entries, a handful with LAOS for LAON. An amusing and varied selection of clues this month. Poor Mrs T came in for a fair old pasting but I dare say that was only to be expected, given her letters. Another popular but (to me) less interesting treatment was ONST in MER with whales and the like being sighted off the French coast. Here are two examples of unsound wording picked more or less at random: (i) ‘A virago perhaps, who could sort men out’. Here the writer has telescoped the phrasing; what he means but doesn’t say is ‘… could sort sort men out’. (ii) ‘In retrospect, obviously, one regrets nomination of this multiple murderer’. The clue is based on a hidden reversal of the answer, but this is only loosely hinted at in the first three words, not explicitly stated; what’s more ‘one’ and ‘of’ are functionless words in that they belong neither to the cryptic indication of the answer nor to the definition part of the clue. And a monster is not necessarily a multiple murderer or even a murderer of any description. More such examples in future months.
 
Congratulations to those on the roll of honour above and especially to Mr Manley for regaining pole position, which he last held five years ago, and for scoring in every competition but one this year. I am also very grateful as usual to Mr Dearden for keeping a detailed tally of prizes and V.H.C.’s awarded during the year. Up to (but not including) the May competition 142 people had clues printed on the slips: of these 77 scored 1 point, 26 2 points, 11 3 points, and 28 4 points or more. Finally, apologies to Mr Greenfield for omitting him from the list of Consolation Prize winners printed in The Observer. My mistake, not RVD’s.