| Comments on the clues |
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| 2. Absolutely the wrong season to experience the beauty of Niagara Falls? |
| 1. | Where is this one going? | | 2. | There's nothing to indicate this leads to 'springtime' rather than 'spring' |
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| 3. Adjustment per timings occurs annually here? (10) |
| 1. | Adjustment <fodder> does not quite indicate rearrangement. That is the problem with nounal anagrinds when used inappropriately. |
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| 4. April playfully trips me in passing, after all |
| 1. | April too loose a def. Springtime is surely March + April + May, a whole season not a single month. |
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| 5. Arise with life's annual rebirth |
| 1. | Arise=spring is fine – but I don't see life=time as OK. A pity, because the clue is otherwise very neat. |
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| 6. Book of the Bible that follows trap set by snake, finally, 6 months before “ the Fall” |
| 1. | Ingenious and enjoyable |
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| 7. By arrangement prints images shot as winter ended (10) |
| 1. | 'winter ended' as def. seems a bit awkward | | 2. | I wish I could accept "winter ended" as a defn. |
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| 8. Comet season? |
| 1. | I like the succinctness of the clue.It is apparent that 'season'' is the definition part but fun is in solving the comet mystery. | | 2. | I think it's unreasonable to expect the reader to split words in the clue, unless it's clearly indicated | | 3. | I like the innovation in 'Comet'. But come for spring is very weak. |
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| 9. Crossing the Channel "Printemps" somehow acquires German influence at first but loses power |
| 1. | 'Printemps' is doing double duty as anagram fodder and part of the definition. | | 2. | An interesting clue – but the anagram indicator should include the G and I |
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| 10. Dawn, what are you doing inside? It's warming up outside, now |
| 1. | Nice idea though 'what are you doing inside?' is awkward for 'time'. In crosswordese, 'you' is the solver! |
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| 11. During this season, Astaire enjoyed his Easter Parade premiere and Rogers first took the leading woman's role in another of his films. |
| 1. | I'm not too worried by long clues, but at over 100 letters this is pushing it. Reference to 'Swing Time' is too obscure for me. | | 2. | Too long (clue and explanation) | | 3. | A nice idea…but I feel that 22 words is much too long for a clue. | | 4. | Nice idea, but 22 words is overelaboration |
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| 12. Emerging flower! Bird on the wing! |
| 1. | Probably needs a question mark at the end, but clever | | 2. | Nice ideas, especially wordplay on "flower". Not convinced by &Lit; these things may happen around springtime but don't define it. | | 3. | I like the idea, but not sure it quite defines a noun |
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| 13. First period, first exchange (10) |
| 1. | This is expecting too much of the solver | | 2. | I thought exchange = RING TIME as quite far-fetched! |
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| 14. Gin permits Wilder to produce this for Hitler |
| 1. | Clever anagram indicator | | 2. | I enjoyed this very neat clue – perhaps rather easier than one would expect in these competitions |
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| 16. In which we might see cuckoo priming exposed nests |
| 1. | Well primed! | | 2. | Ingenious – but I'm not sure that "exposed" is a fair indicator for omitting extreme letters. |
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| 17. In ——— you could find temp. rising |
| 1. | Anagram indicator is missing? |
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| 18. It grips men tempestuously when the sap is rising |
| 1. | Interesting anagram, but not quite right in surface reading and definition I feel |
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| 19. It grips men with fresh excitement |
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| 20. Lent season permits gin to be abandoned |
| 1. | Not sure "lent season" properly defines "springtime". Else I like the clue. |
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| 21. Mad misprint, e.g. May? |
| 1. | An original idea, nicely executed | | 2. | Novel idea in the context of crosswords |
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| 23. "May hurt – Prepare," says Dean out of the Blue |
| 1. | May too loose a def. Springtime is surely March + April + May, a whole season not a single month. | | 2. | 'Dean' maybe too obscure..it may have been best to put 'Rev.Spooner'. | | 3. | "say Dean out of the Blue" is an insufficient indication of Spooner. "As Spooner might have said", perhaps |
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| 24. May release forwards and backwards |
| 1. | May too loose a def. Springtime is surely March + April + May, a whole season not a single month. |
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| 25. May schedule end of sentence |
| 1. | May too loose a def. Springtime is surely March + April + May, a whole season not a single month. |
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| 26. May, with previous spells, develop rising temp. |
| 1. | May too loose a def. Springtime is surely March + April + May, a whole season not a single month. |
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| 27. Nervy men grip it slowly at first when there's arousal (10) |
| 1. | Some may say it's risqué, but I like it! |
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| 28. Odds on head of employment taking on bell-boy for the season |
| 1. | Clever but the surface reading does not make sense to me |
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| 29. Peach covers empty platter, then porridge; now for the sprouts! |
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| 30. Re-emergence of prime nights when hour lost (10) |
| 1. | lovely, says it all – wish I could come up with clues like this | | 2. | Anagram indicator? |
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| 31. Renewal period… Get spin from a rim? |
| 1. | This appears to be meaningless. And where is the anagram indicator? | | 2. | What's the anagram inidicator? The extraneous words 'from a' are problematic. | | 3. | I can't see an anagram indicator | | 4. | Needs anagram indicator; interpolation of "from a" in anagram makes the clue unreasonable, I'm afraid. |
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| 32. Rising temp? Doctor to find remedy for winter ills. |
| 1. | The rearrangement indicator, when is a transitive verb, has to precede the fodder. | | 2. | Starts very well, but I would have struggled with this definition | | 3. | Very appropriate treatment! |
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| 33. Season well before meat is grilled, as for the chop |
| 1. | I like the use of "well" + "season" together; it's a more developed image than the other "season well" clue |
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| 34. Season well, with herb, we're told. |
| 1. | The "we're told" makes it terribly clunky! | | 2. | Neat – but the season is "spring" rather than "springtime" | | 3. | I like the combination of "season well" for definition and "spring", although a bit obvious |
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| 35. Season well with thyme picked up by Mike! |
| 1. | No need for exclamation mark, in either surface or cryptic reading – it says: Look at me, aren't I clever? (Still a good clue, though.) | | 2. | Neat – but the season is "spring" rather than "springtime" | | 3. | I like the idea of "picked up by Mike" as a homophone indicator and "season well". Unfortunately surface reading is too strained. |
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| 36. Season with salt and pepper initially and combine with herb we're told |
| 1. | This would be my first without "initially", S & P being standard, clue more elegant & lean |
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| 39. Sprout season (10) |
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| 40. Stretch well before warming-up period |
| 1. | This surface would be so much more sound if STRETCHING and WARM-UP were not really the same thing! | | 2. | Arguably the best among non-&lit clues! |
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| 41. Temp. rising about now (9) |
| 1. | Solid and compact but not much joy in surface. | | 2. | Temp standing for temperature makes this explicit as an anagram clue. | | 3. | Anagram indicator? |
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| 42. Temp rising around this period? |
| 1. | Well composed with smooth surface. The . after temp is missing though. | | 2. | Temp standing for temperature makes this explicit as an anagram clue. | | 3. | Anagram indicator? |
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| 46. Well…I give up ! |
| 1. | I like it but would have trouble solving. Can't see a definition and it is hardly &lit. Is it a humorous comment on the clue-writing comp? | | 2. | So do I – where's the definition? | | 3. | While give=emit, I don't think "I give" does, and I do not see any definition for springtime… | | 4. | The good idea is undermined by lack of a definition | | 5. | Good that you did! But even for a clue with no definition, why is "I give = emit"? Even give as such is pretty weak. | | 6. | Definition? | | 7. | Where's the definition? |
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| 47. What's the betting the barman will do this when things kick off? |
| 1. | Doesn't a barman *call* time? | | 2. | Like the image, but not the definition |
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| 48. When branch gets new shoot at its tip, I'm finally here! |
| 1. | Well composed clue again. Surface better than 42. | | 2. | Good attempt at an & lit., but as with 49 'gets' should be 'holds' or similar |
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| 49. When bud gets new life (10) |
| 1. | Excellent but as in case of some &lits it can work as simple/direct clue . | | 2. | Neat clue but 'holds' would be better than 'gets' cryptically | | 3. | Not happy about "life" in the cryptic indication since it's too close to the actual meaning in the definition |
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| 50. When couple briefly might be entertained by dawn chorus? |
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| 52. When Nature's vernal spirits wake
And simpering suitor's heart doth break |
| 1. | Would be lovely if 't' was actually suitor's heart! Suitors' would work. | | 2. | Not only the best clue this month, but the best clue I've seen here since joining in 2008! Bravo! | | 3. | I like the poetic wording and sentiment of this clue, though it should strictly be 'suitor's's heart' | | 4. | Justification of the "t"? | | 5. | Interesting novel treatment |
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| 53. When there's a leap year, for example, it's around Easter. |
| 1. | Clever, but the surface reading does not make sense to me; the schedule for Easter is not correlated with leap year. | | 2. | Leap year's day is always before Easter, so the surface doesn't ring true |
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| 54. When we see sun start to prevail and bird call is beheld? |
| 1. | Slightly strange surface reading but nice idea |
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| 56. Wrongly misinterpreting, having knocked out Milan team, "This is the season of rebirth" |
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