AZED CROSSWORD 965

EARBASH def. NECKLET

1.  N. C. Dexter: Go on an endless time after managing to collar Australian (collar; A in er(a) + bash, & lit.).

2.  F. R. Palmer: For digger, jaw links remnants of bear with relics of fire (links; anag. + ash).

3.  E. J. Burge: To go on in the Snowy Mountain region he’s arranged to ‘chain’ the vehicle (chain; arba in anag.).

VHC

M. Barley: Share a drop of Bundaberg rum – that’ll generate chatter at the barbie! (drop; anag. inc. B).

C. A. Clarke: ‘Go on and on’ line repulsed attempt to drop leader of Conservatives (drop; ra(C)e (rev.) + bash).

R. Dean: Jaw round which develops rash under boa (boa; comp. anag.).

B. Franco: Yabber non-stop? English do after a drop of rum (drop; E + a r + bash (= party)).

N. C. Goddard: Share a drop of bonzer wild rabbit down under (drop; anag. incl. b).

P. F. Henderson: Negligée has bear or rabbit on (negligée; anag.; n. = necklet, careless).

V. G. Henderson: ‘Listen, party; drop Heseltine’s aspiration at the first opportunity. I’m to go on and on (drop; (H)ear bash; ref. Michael H.).

F. P. N. Lake: With a fab fur on she’d make fun of this – it’s rabbit (fur; comp. anag.).

J. C. Leyland: Gas and BA shares drop a bit then rally (drop; anag. less s).

D. F. Manley: Go on the wagon and belt up after end of carouse (belt; e + arba + sh).

C. G. Millin: Heartless boa swallowing poor hares? On the contrary – rabbit (boa; b(o)a in anag.).

T. J. Moorey: Run on lace bras, eh? Samantha’s last to be involved (lace; a in anag.; ref. S. Fox).

R. F. Naish: Rattling a sabre, Bush needs no coach to chain an audience (chain; anag. + (Bus)h).

D. Pendrey: Party following split: drop leader Mag, perhaps? (drop; (t)ear + bash; mag²; ref. M. Thatcher).

R. Phillips: What goes to fur transporters in the East? Neighbours’ rabbit? (fur; arbas in eh?; fur = coat).

R. I. Sutherland: Perhaps Darwin’s rabbit evolved from boa missing nothing in destruction of hares (boa; b(o)a in anag.).

Dr E. Young: Poll, if drawn out, might drop leader of split party (drop; (t)ear bash; Poll = parrot).

HC

M. Bath, J. R. Beresford, Mrs K. Bissett, Ms F. A. Blanchard, H. J. Bradbury, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, G. P. Conway, D. A. Crossland, V. Dixon, C. E. Faulkner-King, C. J. Feetenby, H. Freeman, D. R. Gregory, J. F. Grimshaw, R. J. Hooper, R. F. A. Horsfield, J. Horwood, P. Jewell, A. Lawrie, J. P. Lester, J. F. Levey, J. D. Lockett, R. K. Lumsdon, D. J. Mackay, Mrs W. J. Mahood, H. S. Mason, H. W. Massingham, Dr R. Moore, C. J. Morse, Mrs R. M. Newman, S. J. O’Boyle, G. Perry, C. P. Rea, H. R. Sanders, T. E. Sanders, Mrs E. J. Shields, W. K. M. Slimmings, D. M. Stanford, P. L. Stone, R. C. Teuton, K. Thomas, D. H. Tompsett, Ms J. Ward, D. Williamson, W. Woodruff.
 

COMMENTS
355 entries, over fifty having INKLE for INCLE. The two being variant spellings of the same word, I suppose INKLE was chosen in preference to, say, INGLE, but those who did this cannot have solved or understood the clue to INCLE (‘Old fashioned band: AB’s this as demonstration of cable’; i.e. AB in CLE = CABLE). I do urge all solvers before entering an answer for which various alternatives are possible to make sure they have fully understood how the solution fits the clue. If you haven’t, it’s a fair bet you’ve got the wrong word or spelling. This applies particularly to W. N. puzzles.
 
Wrong Number indeed! How ironical that the first and only time to date in the Azed series two consecutive puzzles have been inadvertently switched at the last minute it should be a W.N., and a competition to boot. Though it wasn’t my doing, I add my apologies to those the Observer printed and hope nobody was too inconvenienced.
 
Two other lapses are worth drawing attention to: one mine, the other affecting certain entries. I used the same one-word definition of ASSESSED (‘fixed’) in both places where it was defined, a silly slip I would never have done deliberately, though only two competitors mentioned it. Second, a number of the would-be definitions of NECKLET included in EARBASH clues submitted seemed rather to be definitions of PENDANT (e.g. ‘droopy’, ‘hanging’, etc). Again, I suspect inadvertence rather than a failure to understand the rules. The latter reason probably accounts for the fact that some less experienced solvers simply added definitions of NECKLET in their clues as extra items unconnected to the cryptic treatment of EARBASH. The whole point of this type of puzzle is to include the definition of one word as part of the full treatment of another - not always easy to do naturally. In this case, I think NECKLET offered a reasonable range of alternatives to work with.
 
EARBASH was a bit trickier than I’d expected. I applaud those who managed to indicate the word’s Australian origin but didn’t insist on this. The OED labels it ‘chiefly Austral.’ (careful people, lexicographers!). Not knowing or being able to check Bundaberg, I had to accept Mr Barley’s assurance that it is ‘a spirit famous in Australia’. And I thought long and hard before accepting Mr (P.F.) Henderson’s ‘negligee’ as both noun and adjective. On balance I’d have preferred it without the final ‘e’ (an alternative spelling for the noun in the Reader’s Digest Universal Dictionary, for example, which however omits both the adjective and the ‘necklace’ sense of the noun).
 
Much the commonest treatment involved boas, usually of the constricting type, doing at times absurdly unlikely things with hares and rabbits. As a general rule I’m not very fond of surrealistic clues, preferring ones with a firm foothold in the real world.