AZED CROSSWORD 982

ALMANAC

1.  B. Greer: List of year’s events must include Azed’s first thousand and a clan regathering (anag. incl. A, M; ref. forthcoming AZ 1000 celebration).

2.  V. Dixon: May one (the way Bottom concludes) look here for reflected light? (can a m la (rev.), & lit.; ref. MND III.i).

3.  K. Thomas: What royal man acceding cites (hidden & lit.).

VHC

D. Ashcroft: Star forecasters’ textbook? It takes an Ian McCaskill to become slick in that! (comp. anag.; ref. TV weatherman).

M. Barley: Annual: lunar months and noteworthy anniversaries could provide entries for it (first letters & lit.).

D. Bickford: E.g. Wisden – in which book A. Lamb can possibly appear (anag. less b; ref. Alan L., cricketer).

C. A. Clarke: Annual grant to charities cut throughout by capping of council (alm(s) + ana + c; see ana in C.).

M. Coates: So serene an achievement when not caught on the boundary may be found in e.g. Wisden ((c)alm an ac(t)).

Mrs D. Colley: Where to ‘find out moonshine’ – in essence a nice trick, we’re told (alma + ‘knack’; ref. MND III.i).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Dig this annual up for Campanula? (comp. anag.).

N. C. Goddard: The yearbook that is still a collection of gossip – first to last? (calm ana with c to end).

G. I. L. Grafton: Remove extremities from palm – an act that’s bound to provide dates? ((p)alm an ac(t)).

J. F. Grimshaw: Date container?… Fruit tin? … Both terms are in circulation (amla (rev.) + can (rev.)).

R. E. Kimmons: Top class, this race is in the big money list of events (A + man in lac; see lakh).

D. F. Manley: Ineffectual man, a competitor in the Annual List? The opposite! (hidden; ref. AZ’s Annual Honours List).

Mrs E. M. Marlow: In an exemplary way, Whitaker’s extraordinarily calm about a horse refusing the last (a na(g) in anag.; ref. John W., showjumper, and W.’s A.).

H. W. Massingham: Eventful table involving e.g. Virgo, showing he’s blocked a source of reds (man in a lac; ref. John V., snooker player).

C. G. Millin: What details every quarter of the moon in the year current? (al(l) m an. AC, & lit.).

T. J. Moorey: What’s composed first to last about one new year? (a n a in calm with c at end, & lit.).

C. J. Morse: Calendar has dancing-girl on front of cover – and one inside (an in alma + c).

R. Phillips: May East Indian fruit brought to the West furnish a date roll? (can amla (rev.)).

W. J. M. Scotland: Supply a tome astronomical – this to Moore’s it (comp. anag. & lit.; ref. Old M.’s).

G. A. Tomlinson: Motions of astronomical nature can appear in this: Saturn, Orion, etc (comp. anag. & lit.).

A. J. Wardrop: In which one finds early intimations of anniversaries, lunar movements and notable astronomical changes (first letters & lit.).

Mrs M. P. Webber: What may be used in making this ready? A calendar may (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. Williamson: Hunt this out, when rearranging annual matches? (comp. anag. & lit.).

Dr E. Young: Wound drum with fruit: a date roll? (can amla (all rev.)).

HC

J. Abernethy, L. H. Adams, C. Bagnall, Mrs G. M. Barker, M. J. Barker, R. C. Bell, Dr P. M. J. Bennett, Mrs K. Bissett, H. J. Bradbury, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, B. Burton, E. Chalkley, Ms S. Cockburn, B. Costin, R. Dean, N. C. Dexter, R. P. Dowling, M. Earle, C. M. Edmunds, S. C. Ford, B. Franco, H. Freeman, F. D. Gardiner, S. Goldie, R. R. Greenfield, D. Harris, D. V. Harry, P. F. Henderson, A. Hodgson, R. J. Hooper, L. M. Inman, J. F. Jones, A. Lawrie, J. P. Lester, J. C. Leyland, C. J. Lowe, R. K. Lumsdon, P. W. Marlow, Dr E. J. Miller, J. J. Moore, I. Morgan, J. L. Morse, R. S. Morse, B. Noble, R. O’Donoghue, M. O’Hanlon, F. R. Palmer, D. Pendrey, D. Price Jones, Miss I. M. Raab, H. L. Rhodes, D. R. Robinson, J. H. Russell, Mrs K. M. Russell, T. E. Sanders, M. Sanderson, W. K. M. Slimmings, F. W. R. Stocks, J. G. Stubbs, P. Thacker, D. H. Tompsett, A. R. Trowell, Ms J. Ward, J. F. N. Wedge, R. A. Wells, M. G. Wilson.
 

COMMENTS
485 entries, 20 or 30 with CLANSMAN for CLASSMAN (‘Manuscripts one turned up kept by family, one with honours’). One or two were also puzzled by my clue to FILICIDE, which another competitor described as ‘wonderfully awful’. It involved a (possibly laboured) pun on ‘filly side’, intended to suggest the distaff side of a family, i.e. the women who traditionally do all the spinning, etc and leave the macho stuff to the men. See the slip for Azed No. 956 (SPEAR-SIDE). These two words apart I don’t think the puzzle presented any exceptional problems. The clue word was a bit tricky but as usual you rose to the occasion. Defining the word satisfactorily wasn’t too easy. ‘Calendar’ and ‘annual’ I could accept as near-definitions but not ‘book’ – too general, I felt. Reference to Whitaker was OK since although it calls itself an almanack it’s still an almanac. The full quotation from A Midsummer-Night’s Dream referred to by Mr Dixon and Mrs Colley is ‘A calendar, a calendar! look in the almanack; find out moonshine, find out moonshine,’ said by Bottom.
 
A recurrent fault in cluing cropped up again with ALMANAC. When dealing cryptically with the last three letters, many used such wording as ‘is able to return/turn/get back, etc’. What is meant here is ‘is able to returns, etc’ which is grammatically unsound, so some other means of cluing a reversal of CAN must be found. You cannot match a singular word (which is what ‘is able to’ means in the cryptic reading) with a plural verb – or vice versa, come to that.
 
Mr Greer’s nice prize-winner prompts me to urge all of you who want to come to the Azed 1,000 lunch on 6 July in Oxford and haven’t yet booked to do so soon. The tireless Don Manley tells me that tickets are selling fast. For details please send a large s.a.e. to Don. And the publication date for Observer Azed Crosswords has been set for 23 May.