AZED CROSSWORD 891

CAT

1.  R. Phillips: It’s lashed trunks afloat (double mng.; cat-o’-nine-tails, catamaran).

2.  B. Franco: A fellow could become hurt if she got hold of him (i.e. cat in she = scathe, & lit.).

3.  J. F. Grimshaw: My eyes light on the central line – about time! (ca. t; cat’s eyes; ref. puzzle).

VHC

D. W. Arthur: I’m musical, but no square (Cat(S), & lit.).

M. Barley: See rat run off – here’s why! (c (r)at, & lit.).

R. C. Bell: What sailors could expect, caught doing unnatural act (c at, anag., & lit.).

Mrs F. A. Blanchard: Bring up shelter for attackers – repulsed, they need it (hidden rev., 2 defs.).

R. V. Dearden: Drop upwardly mobile member from cabinet? Spiteful lady! (ca(bine)t; ref. M. Thatcher).

R. A. England: One that wants room to swing? (double mng.).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: I may be wild about a spot of trad (c. a t, & lit.).

R. J. Hooper: Dandy lion? (2 mngs.).

D. F. Manley: This companion could give you a snag (cat(CH), & lit.).

T. J. Moorey: Penthouse pet? (2 mngs.; ref. adult magazine).

C. J. Morse: Bits of commentary amount to enough obfuscation to make a chap sick (first letters, hidden, 2 defs.).

S. J. O’Boyle: I make tracks – I’ve two, four, or six legs (4 mngs.).

F. R. Palmer: E.g. Korky’s comic act in ‘The Dandy’ (anag., 2 defs.; ref. K. the Cat).

D. Price Jones: Penthouse pet (2 mngs.; ref. adult magazine).

A. J. Shields: Partly domesticated creature (hidden).

D. M. Stanford: Fellow could be caught, Azed wanting three letter finish, theme wanting four (c. A(zed) t(heme); ref. puzzle).

K. Thomas: What might be familiar part of domestic atmosphere (hidden).

J. F. N. Wedge: When I’m de-bagged the world knows I’m a sharp dresser! (2 mngs.; ‘let the cat out of the bag’).

R. J. Whale: Is this Tom I’d feed? Could be if domesticated (comp. anag. & lit.).

M. G. Wilson: What, leading a chorus, can cause distress? (cat(a strophe), & lit.).

HC

F. D. H. Atkinson, E. A. Beaulah, E. J. Burge, C. J. & M. P. Butler, C. A. Clarke, G. H. Clarke, K. W. Crawford, E. Dawid, Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh, H. F. Dixon, H. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, F. D. Gardiner, B. Greer, P. F. Henderson, V. G. Henderson, R. Jacks, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, A. Lawrie, J. W. Leonard, J. F. P. Levey, D. J. Mackay, H. S. Mason, R. J. Palmer, D. R. Robinson, T. Russell, W. J. M. Scotland, A. D. Scott, A. S. Sessor, M. J. Tomkinson, Mrs J. Waldren, S. Williams, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
A major miscalculation on my part, clearly. Of the 305 entries, only 111 spotted the theme and the clue-word. Of the rest, most submitted clues to LIFE, either in desperation or assuming that my arithmetic was worse than usual and that I had (twice!) miscounted the number of letters in a four-letter word – surely an unlikely event even for me. Then there was a large number of alternative three-letter ideas, viz. COS, BIO-, VIE, ZIP, LIE, LAW, DIE, GUN, CUT, RIP, MAN, ZOE, EGG, ART, TOP, SET, SKY, SEE, AND, DNA, ENS, AGE, SEX and OUT. Now that the cat is out of the bag (pace JFNW) I trust everyone concedes that CAT was the uniquely correct clue-word. My carefully and unusually worded preamble was intended to indicate (albeit obliquely) that the linking word for the unclued answers was not itself the theme-word, and that the theme-word was there to be seen in the finished diagram. (The fact that TIGER and TIB were also there, similarly hidden, was entirely fortuitous – I hadn’t even noticed them.) But the results show that I was being a bit too subtle. Many of those who saw the light said they thought it was far from obvious, though fair. I remain largely unrepentant but think perhaps I could have worded the preamble a bit more explicitly without giving the game away too readily. It was in the event a salutary reminder that what seems obvious to oneself as the setter may create unforeseen problems for the solver.
 
I had wanted to give you a very short word to clue for some time but this one only occurred to me when I was idly thinking about a ‘Spot the Theme’ puzzle one day. Nine being a manageable number of special words to build into a puzzle, the nine lives of a cat sprang to mind and the idea started to take shape. Without the double link the puzzle would have been pretty lame, I feel, another reason for not accepting LIFE as the clue-word, but again it’s easy to be wise when one knows what’s going on. Still, congratulations to those who did tumble to it. CAT was a nice word to play around with, having a large number of meanings, and I greatly admired all the quoted clues, especially the top three which are anything but obvious.
 
A final word of apology to Messrs Barley and Ford whose names were unaccountably omitted from the Honours List last month though they rightly appeared in the list of consolation prize winners for each gaining four VHC’s.