AZED CROSSWORD 926

NERD

1.  A. J. Shields: With update, ‘——’ replaces ‘dunderpate’ (comp. anag. & lit.).

2.  R. S. Morse: A simple spinner dries clothes (hidden).

3.  T. W. Mortimer: ‘Dunderhead!’ (Abuse this fool had due!) (comp. anag. & lit.).

VHC

D. Ashcroft: Irritating chap makes even bits of knees red (alternate letters).

M. J. Barker: Eastender’s volte face about end of affair? A graceless fellow, he! (r in (Dirty) Den (rev.); ref. soap opera storyline).

C. J. Brougham: Pained rear implicates me, potentially (hidden anag., & lit.; pain in the backside).

C. A. Clarke: An annoying drip – turn water completely off with both taps (drench (rev.) less H, C).

Mrs D. M. Colley: Pain in the neck starts in nerve ends right by back of head (n, e, r, d).

R. V. Dearden: Type of disparagement centred on Lada owner-drivers? (central letters of phrase).

N. C. Dexter: One lacking headpiece to take degree? ((o)ne r d., & lit.; to = in contact with).

P. S. Elliott: I’m miscast in part of Cinderella – Dopey or Grumpy might suit me (hidden anag.).

H. Freeman: Rowan’s leading part (incorporated in new edition) (R in n ed., & lit.; ref. R. Atkinson role in W. End play ‘The N.’, and Chambers 1988 edition).

F. D. Gardiner: Pain in the neck’s not gone – get the doctor back (ne + Dr (rev.)).

D. A. Ginger: Sap causes some adrenaline to flow back (hidden rev.).

S. Goldie: Our country embodying name abroad in drunken lout (anag. less n in UK).

V. G. Henderson: Smartie? No (no way!) (ne Rd; ref. brands of sweets).

G. Hughes: ‘A stupid person’ is the clue for this, so I put ‘sap’ perhaps (comp. anag.).

D. F. Manley: I will be endeared? The odds are non-existent (alternate letters & lit.).

H. W. Massingham: Adrenaline keeps the sap circulating (hidden rev.).

C. G. Millin: Norman’s principal character, blundered for the audience (N + ‘erred’, & lit.; ref. N. Wisdom).

T. E. Sanders: Watch out for one among learner drivers (hidden & lit.).

W. K. M. Slimmings: One who’d gravel a shortcut to Blaydon races, say? (i.e. NE Rd; races held in Newcastle; gravel = irritate).

A. J. Wardrop: Pain in the neck not uncommonly noted by reversing driver (ne + dr (rev.)).

D. Williamson: Backward wet? Not half! (dren(ched) (rev.), & lit.).

HC

W. G. Arnott, D. W. Arthur, M. Barley, W. Barrow, F. Bastian, P. F. Bauchop, R. C. Bell, Mrs K. Bissett, H. J. Bradbury, E. J. Burge, J. E. Cartmel, P. T. Crow, G. Cuthbert, R. Dean, Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh, C. J. Feetenby, Dr I. S. Fletcher, G. Floyd, P. D. Gaffey, J. F. Grimshaw, R. S. Haddock, P. Henderson, W. Islip, F. P. N. Lake, C. W. Laxton, J. F. P. Levey, B. MacReamoinn, C. J. Morse, J. J. Murtha, R. F. Naish, R. O’Donoghue, F. R. Palmer, R. J. Palmer, C. Pearson, Mrs E. M. Phair, J. T. Price, N. J. Reed, M. C. C. Rich, D. R. Robinson, W. J. M. Scotland, N. Smith, M. C. Souster, D. M. Stanford, F. W. R. Stocks, D. H. Tompsett, J. D. Walsh, J. F. N. Wedge, R. J. Whale, Ms B. J. Widger, G. H. Willett, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
327 entries, not many mistakes, though the clue to SARSENET clearly puzzled many. Arsène Lupin was the fictional creation of Maurice Leblanc (1864 – 1941); he was a master detective who started out as a criminal. Leblanc’s stories were, I believe, very popular at one time but perhaps they are not much read nowadays. Maybe Lupin is a candidate for rediscovery in a TV series. He’ll certainly go on being useful to crossword setters from time to time. I was asked why I used a 13 x 11 grid for this Carte Blanche puzzle. No special reason – I just thought it would make a change. Perhaps I was being overgenerous telling you where the downs began since it enabled you to put ABSQUATULATED straight in once you’d solved it, but I was in no mood to be extra-difficult just for the sake of it. The lowish entry is proof enough that many were defeated or deterred as it is. Nevertheless there is a satisfaction in reconstructing a complete grid from nothing and a number of you went so far as to declare this to be their favourite type of special.
 
I’m not so sure about NERD. Some dismissed it as a paltry word, uninteresting to clue, and it’s certainly true that very short words pose special problems, especially ones with no very precise definition like this. The clue-writer finds he or she wants extra letters to play with, so composite anagrams, hidden, initial and alternate letter answers tend to be resorted to. No harm in this. As I’ve said before, the composite anagram, well handled, can be very neat, provided (a) the wording indicates clearly and accurately how the solution is to be arrived at, and (b) the extra letters to be discarded are not too numerous, swamping the key residue as it were. The two prize-winning composite anagrams above are clever, economical and perfectly fair. And Mr. Morse’s clue is a lovely example of how to disguise a hidden word clue with no superfluous wording (‘clothes’ functioning as a verb in the cryptic reading).
 
But inspiration was in short supply this month. Both the VHC and the HC list are shorter than usual as a result, and even some of the VHCs have minor blemishes. The wording of Mr. Clarke’s requires a slightly uncomfortable pause before ‘off’, and Mr. Henderson’s ‘ne’ = ‘no’ really needs qualifying (though that apart it’s in the alpha class, even if puzzling to those unfamiliar with modern confectionery).
 
A final footnote to the REFORMADO slip. An anonymous correspondent has drawn my attention to the entry for Skimmington in Brewer’s Phrase and Fable which contains an illuminating quotation from Butler’s Hudibras. My thanks for that.