AZED CROSSWORD 974

AVANT-PROPOS

1.  H. B. Morton: Preliminary one learned before popping the question – sal volatile! (savant proposal less sal).

2.  G. H. Clarke: Could consist of five paras on top (anag. incl. V, & lit.).

3.  A. Lawrie: See one in part Poos played? (v. an in anag., & lit.; ref. steps by Jacques Poos towards EC-Iraq talks).

VHC

C. J. Brougham: It’s before start of volume, or not a PPS, abroad (a + v + anag., & lit.).

P. Cargill: Story heading a front page with troops mobilising (a van + anag. incl. p).

E. Chalkley: The opening that shows neighbours of Queensland’s capital in a fantastic soap on TV? (P, R in anag.).

W. Chandler: A TV soprano fiddled with piano part beforehand (anag. incl. p).

E. Dawid: Prelude No. 5 in A one played troppo at beginning of suite (V in A an + anag. + s).

N. C. Dexter: Possibly couple of pages or so at the front for introduction (van in anag. incl. pp, & lit.).

C. J. Feetenby: Soft soap patron’s written about volume? (v in anag., & lit.; soft = diffused, etc.).

H. Freeman: Post-volume para? No, au contraire (anag. incl.v, & lit.).

B. Greer: It could be five or so pages at a novel’s start (anag. incl. V and pp, & lit.).

J. F. Grimshaw: ‘A volume needs one present in earliest part’… that’s well got over! (a v an + pr. in top + so (rev.), & lit.).

R. J. Hooper: This kind of thing has been dashed off by scholar for Chambers! (i.e. (s)avant pro pos, & lit.).

D. F. Manley: A soprano going out with Pavarotti brings to aria such an upfront presentation (comp. anag.; ref. Joan Sutherland’s farewell concert).

H. W. Massingham: TV soap op ran prodigiously from opening script (anag.).

T. J. Moorey: Forward in Aston Villa ground conceding foul – that’s too often put before play (prop in anag. less ill).

C. J. Morse: French scholar wanting opening for elevated work has short —— ((s)avant pro + op (rev.) + ’s, & lit.).

R. S. Morse: What’s player’s object in performing Rachmaninov’s last sonata as a prelude? (prop in anag. incl. v).

S. J. O’Boyle: Supply naval troops with power for long prelude (anag. with P for l; supply adv.).

R. O’Donoghue: This introduces Origins of Virgil’s Aeneid in a series of books for Part II of tripos (VA in a NT + pro + (tri)pos).

F. R. Palmer: Something to start with – a pepper, its centre mixed with bits of rice and nuts, and spices too (ava + anag. of (pe)pp(er) r n s too).

R. Phillips: Mustered up after dormancy, part of navy’s not completed preparatory stuff (sopor pt nava(l) (rev.)).

Rev A. Reed: Top Shavian prose – capable of producing this he is (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. Shaw’s ‘Prefaces’).

Mrs M. P. Webber: Average worker for sure a bit ahead of the rest (av. ant pro pos.).

HC

M. Barley, Mrs P. A. Bax, J. R. Beresford, Ms F. A. Blanchard, E. J. Burge, C. A. Clarke, F. H. Cripps, D. A. Crossland, A. E. Crow, R. V. Dearden, J. C. Dixon, D. M. Duckworth, M. Earle, G. & J. Ferris, Dr I. S. Fletcher, S. Gaskell, R. R. Greenfield, G. N. Guinness, Mrs B. E. Henderson, P. F. Henderson, G. B. Higgins, R. H. F. Isham, R. Jacks, W. Jackson, Mrs H. Jolliffe, F. P. N. Lake, J. F. Levey, J. C. Leyland, D. J. Mackay, P. W. Marlow, A. R. N. Matthews, J. R. C. Michie, Dr E. J. Miller, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, R. A. Mostyn, R. J. Palmer, Mr & Mrs F. Pender, G. Perry, Mrs A. Phillips, Mrs A. Price, B. Roe, H. R. Sanders, T. E. Sanders, A. D. Scott, A. J. Shields, D. M. Stanford, R. C. Teuton, G. A. Tomlinson, Mrs M. Vincent, D. A. T. Wallace, A. J. Wardrop, M. H. E. Watson, D. Williamson, M. G. Wilson, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
413 entries, several with one or more mistakes. These were mostly NEEDLE for NEEDBE (oNE EDBErg) and MANA for KANA. Neither remotely fits the clue and both must therefore have been wild guesswork. NEEDBE actually took me ages to clue and I only thought of Stefan E after rejecting several less promising ideas. These two apart, the puzzle seems to have been relatively straightforward if on the difficult side. One competitor commented that it was ‘a difficult grid structure, not giving the solver much assistance’, but looking at it again I don’t see that it was a particularly unhelpful diagram. The top left and bottom right corners are a little isolated from the rest but are still connected to other areas by three openings each. And the number of unchecked letters (unches) is about average. You may like to be reminded that I deliberately restrict these, as follows: in 3 letter words, no unches; in 4- and 5-letter words, no more than one unche; in 6-, 7- and 8-letter words, no more than 2 unches; in 9-, 10- and 11-letter words, no more than 3 unches; and in 12-letter words, no more than 4 unches. I will never normally depart from this self-imposed rule in plain puzzles. I will also avoid consecutive unchecked letters in any word. You’ll have noticed a couple of 13 × 11 plain puzzles recently. There’ll be more of these in the future since they give me extra opportunities for new grid designs and allow me to trawl for 13-letter words in Chambers (4 unches maximum, I think). Unless I’m trying to fit a certain number of specific words into a grid (e.g. for a Theme & Variations puzzle), I always construct the pattern of bars first and start on the words only when it is complete. This is a different method to the one Ximenes used but I much prefer it.
 
AVANT-PROPOS was a distinctly awkward customer, as many of you clearly found. Mr Morton’s winner made me laugh out loud, though it’s not entirely clear which of the two parties involved the sal volatile’s for - both perhaps! And I hesitated a bit over Mr Freeman’s ‘au contraire’ as an anagram indicator, though it’s a clever way of showing the word’s French origin. The Chambers definition of ‘on the contrary’, i.e. ‘far otherwise’, just tipped the balance in his favour, but it’s borderline and not to be seen as a precedent. Because ‘on the contrary’ means ‘far otherwise’ and ‘otherwise’ can mean ‘in another way or manner’, it doesn’t follow necessarily that ‘on the contrary’ (even in a foreign language!) means ‘in another way or manner’. I have spoken.