AZED CROSSWORD 95

THUNDERCLAP

1.  S. Goldie: Levin gave warning of this crash – a report in The Times? (2 mngs.; levin = lightning; ref. ‘The Thunderer’, Bernard L.).

2.  Mrs M. P. Webber: Electricity going off suddenly – get chandler and put in another order (anag.).

3.  M. Coates: Bewildered U.D.R. can’t help this sudden explosion (anag.; Ulster Defence Regt.).

VHC (extra prizes)

C. Allen Baker: This may turn what’s in a plated churn (anag. & lit.; thunder said to turn milk sour).

C. J. Anderson: Launch petard without one? It’s unusual (anag. less a, & lit.).

T. Anderson: Disruption following electrical strike put chandler’s production up (anag.; up = in an excited state).

G. Aspin: Curdles contents of plated churn? (anag. & lit.; thunder said to turn milk sour).

J. Coleby: Lightning strike report – noisy meeting of hands after vehement denunciation (thunder + clap).

J. Cordery: Pound heavily hit – sudden crash associated with fall in liquid reserves (thunder + clap).

R. V. Dearden: Rail strike follows electricity strike (thunder + clap).

K. J. Ferguson: Punch dealt out with end of hammer, by Jove! (anag. incl. r, & lit.).

P. D. Gaffey: Put chandler to redress one effect of an electricity strike? (anag.).

L. W. Jenkinson: Herd at odds with Pan-cult gets omen from Zeus (anag.).

Sir S. Kaye: Careless punch dealt around back part of ear could deafen one (r in anag.).

A. Lawrie: Have lunch and depart tipsy – a heavy fall is likely after this (anag.).

A. D. Legge: More than a rumble after lightning lunch – depart in confusion (anag.).

D. F. Manley: Report of electrical power strike put chandler to work (anag.; work = ferment etc.).

F. R. Palmer: The country’s down with a strike – there’ll be a mighty clash (th’ under clap).

D. Rawson: Rumblings lead to meeting of hands and report of lightning strike (thunder + clap).

W. G. Roberts: TUC handle PR ineptly – this is usual after lightning strike (anag.).

W. K. M. Slimmings: I’ll cut short picnic lunch – depart pell-mell (anag.).

L. E. Thomas: Jovial noise as characters from tipsy lunch depart (anag.; Jovial = of Jove).

Dr P. W. Thompson: Crash that curdles contents of plated churn (anag.; thunder said to turn milk sour).

J. F. N. Wedge: Crack hunter placed unhappily last of nine going (anag. less e).

HC

R. H. Adey, F. D. H. Atkinson, E. E. Bailey, Col P. S. Baines, H. D. Baker, E. A. Beaulah, Mrs K. Bissett, R. H. Boden, Rev C. M. Broun, J. M. Brown, R. Bryan, C. O. Butcher, R. S. Caffyn, L. Campbell, A. H. P. Cardew, E. Chalkley, D. P. Chappell, J. G. Chilvers, E. S. Clark, A. J. Crow, D. M. Devine, D. M. Duckworth, M. A. Furman, P. R. Garlick, Mrs G. M. Gibbins, R. R. Greenfield, D. V. Harry, Miss S. M. Hartigan, P. R. L. Heath, G. B. Higgins, P. J. Higgins, E. L. Hillman, Mrs E. J. Holmes, R. E. Kimmons, Dr P. D. King, J. R. Kirby, G. A. Linsley, H. R. Lockhart, D. W. Mason, D. P. M. Michael, C. J. Morse, Rev A. Reed, B. D. Smith, T. A. J. Spencer, Brig R. F. E. Stoney, G. J. Wheeler, G. H. Wilde, Dr R. L. Wynne.
 

Comments
A splendid Christmas entry, over 660, with very few mistakes. Which all goes to show that it takes more than an unworkable anagram and a printer’s devil in the Playfair example to deter an Azed solver (Azedian? Azeddite? Azedder?).
 
If my RANUNCULUS clanger caused any of you undue vexation over the holiday period I can only apologise once again and assure you that you cannot possibly have been as vexed as I was when my father, a regular non-competing solver, pointed it out to me. I do hope as many of you as possible saw the correction the following week. A few brave and honest souls admitted to having failed to notice the blunder in the first place, though I suspect they were only being kind.
 
With electrical power dwindling all around us I suppose it was inevitable that clues would be mainly about electricity strikes and chandlers. Once again it was a tricky business picking out those who used these and other ideas most effectively. I can’t expect everyone to agree with my choice, of course, but hope most will.
 
A word or two in general about the Playfair code, largely for the benefit of newcomers. It’s not an easy code to describe briefly in a preamble. The best detailed analysis of it I know is in Dorothy Sayers’ The Nine Tailors, where solving it is a key feature of the plot. From my own experience I know of no other way of working out the code-word from the letter pairings except trial and error. Clearly, however, the best way of starting is to concentrate on those ‘equations’ wherein the same letter recurs in both clear and coded forms, thus indicating that all the letters in both forms fall in the same row or column of the word-square. (I always try to include two or three such equations, though some of you regard this as unnecessarily generous.) Then it’s simply a question of juggling around with the possible positions until all the other letters fall satisfactorily into place.
 
There were a couple of quite unintentional red herrings: KIRIMON for KISSING and (less convincing) CHIPS for CRAPS. I am not so Machiavellian as to insert these deliberately, as some of you suspect; in fact I rarely notice them myself at all. They are pleasing none the less in that they prove (if further proof were needed) what a fascinatingly intricate pastime this is.
 
A final acknowledgement, with thanks, to the kind competitor whose clue to THUNDERCLAP earned him no mention above but made it all seem worth while: ‘Thanks to Azed for a heavenly waste of energy.’!