AZED CROSSWORD 922

REFORMADO

1.  R. F. Naish: With bent forearm and old racket I lacked command in service (anag. + do).

2.  T. J. Moorey: Man sent packing, sort of a ‘male’ order! (anag. incl. m; sort vb.).

3.  C. A. Clarke: Type active in left-wing circle? (form a in red + O, & lit.).

VHC

W. G. Arnott: A former discharged party (anag. + do, & lit.).

M. J. Barker: Unruly RAF demo involving other ranks? They made me leave the service (OR in anag.).

Mrs P. A. Bax: Unusually for OR, made officer, but not in command (anag.).

B. W. Brook: I’ve given up messing about. Open road for me! (anag.; ref. Toad).

Rev Canon C. M. Broun: From active doer in wars… to this? (anag. incl. a, & lit.).

E. J. Burge: I lost control of company ‘E type’ in winding road. (No longer in service?) (E form in anag., 2 defs.).

B. Burton: Old campaigner having manipulated ramrod, encompassing discomfiture of foe? (anag. in anag.).

G. Cuthbert: Joiner, being commissioned, repaired door frame (anag.).

N. C. Dexter: Sick of ramrod, one’s finishing? (anag. + e, & lit.).

M. Earle: ‘Fear doom! Right wrong!’ say I (anag. incl. r, & lit.).

S. Goldie: Rode sadly around estranged from unit? (anag. + a, all in anag., & lit.).

J. F. Grimshaw: Moor fared ill about from ‘O dear Cassio’? (double anag.; ref. Othello 4, 1, 136).

R. E. Kimmons: Progressive type in study circle (form in read + O, lit.).

R. D. Lyall: Like Cassio, fared badly in mix-up with Moor! (anag.; ref. Othello).

D. F. Manley: A soldier from conflict with no corps finally left, I? (anag. less s, l, I, & lit.).

C. J. Morse: Progressive judge briefly imprisoned mother in gold swindle (ref + ma in or do; ref. Pickles controversy).

D. Norwood: Top class but kept in to repeat exercise; one aims for improvement (form A in redo).

F. R. Palmer: Whistleblower or passionate initiator of ‘openness’? (ref or mad o, & lit.; ref. glasnost).

E. R. Riddle: Getting class involved in study of Luther is an example of this (form in read o’).

D. M. Stanford: DA treated with Rome for ousted general? (anag.; ref. Noriega).

R. C. Teuton: He could have reflected ‘O, for armed conflict’ (anag.).

C. W. Thomas: Liberal? More of a Dr. Owen, perhaps (anag.; ref. Robert O., socialist reformer, and David O.).

R. J. Whale: End of war: for me a sad event? (r + anag. + do, & lit.).

HC

W. Anderson, D. Ashcroft, M. Barley, R. C. Bell, Mrs A. R. Bradford, C. J. Brougham, Dr J. Burscough, C. J. & M. P. Butler, P. Cargill, E. Chalkley, G. H. Clarke, D. A. Crossland, E. Dawid, R. V. Dearden, J. H. Dingwall, J. D. Doggett, J. R. du Parcq, Dr I. S. Fletcher, M. Freeman, A. B. Gardner, R. S. Haddock, D. V. Harry, R. W. Hawes, P. F. Henderson, V. G. Henderson, Mrs S. Hewitt, T. M. Hoggart, R. J. Hooper, K. M. Howarth, P. L. G. Hubbard, F. P. N. Lake, A. Lawrie, R. Lawther, C. W. Laxton, J. H. C. Leach, Mrs E. M. Lee, J. C. Leyland, A. Logan, R. K. Lumsdon, D. J. Mackay, L. K. Maltby, H. W. Massingham, C. G. Millin, R. S. Morse, T. W. Mortimer, J. J. Murtha, S. J. O’Boyle, S. L. Paton, C. P. Rea, W. Rodgers, W. J. M. Scotland, D. P. Shenkin, W. K. M. Slimmings, I. C. Snell, D. J. Starck, J. B. Sweeting, K. Unsworth, A. P. Vincent, Mrs M. Vincent, A. J. Wardrop, M. H. E. Watson, J. P. Wheatcroft, Sir David Willcocks, G. H. Willett, M. G. Wilson, Dr E. Young, and an unnamed entry from Plaistow (Mr McClarron?).
 

COMMENTS
459 entries, almost no mistakes. The easiest competition puzzle for some time, by common consent (but if so, why not a bigger entry, I wonder?). There was a loud chorus of approval for the increased size of type-face and diagram (3½ in. square instead of 3 in.). The message has got home at last, I’m pleased to say – let’s hope The Observer keeps its new year resolution.
 
Two clues of mine in particular caused a little trouble – those to NETTLES and IRON-ORE. John Nettles is the actor who plays the detective Jim Bergerac in the Jersey-based TV series ‘Bergerac’, consistently one of the most popular programmes on television according to the audience rating figures in The Listener (and therefore, I reckoned, fair game – apologies to non-telly-watchers). As for IRON-ORE, the trouble was caused by a curious misprint in Chambers. which defines BAIT as (among other meanings) ‘a range (slang)’. This should clearly be ‘a rage’ since at BATE₄ we find ‘Same as bait, a rage (slang.)’, with, incidentally, an unnecessary full stop after the word ‘slang’. Had I looked up BAIT itself I’d have spotted this, but I only consulted BATE to check that both spellings were acceptable in this sense.
 
REFORMADO offered a wealth of possibilities. especially for anagram-lovers. (To emphasize the point I received a 9-line letter from Ventnor composed entirely of anagrams of the word, beginning ‘Dear Mr Foo’ and ending ‘from a doer, Dr Orfeo (MA)’!) The wide range of meanings also appeared to offer the clue-writer abundant choice, but in practice this sheer diversity made it difficult to pin the word down and do it with wit and originality. Variations on the ‘new road for me’ formula, though pleasing, were just too numerous; and rather too many clued the ‘reform’ element of the word in the sense of ‘change, improve’ which is more literal than cryptic. I liked the Cassio reference, with the Moor begging to be worked in. Mr Grimshaw’s double anagram is particularly clever and would have won a prize but for the slightly unnatural use of ‘about’ as an anagram indicator before the words to be jumbled (why not ‘roughly’?).