AZED CROSSWORD 1194

DONET

1.  T. J. Moorey: Latin title one favoured after breaking Priscian’s head? (Don (P)et, & lit.; see Priscianist).

2.  C. R. Gumbrell: What introduced one to cases, and noted imperfect and perfect tense? (hidden, anag., done t, & lit.).

3.  E. Dawid: ABC and what follows on to the ends of the alphabet (D on e, t).

VHC

W. G. Arnott: What used to give the tense after UT and NE? (do ne t, & lit.; ut^1,2).

M. Barley: For Latinists, I give numerous expressions and translations (beginners only) (do + first letters, & lit.).

S. J. Best: The personification of Mr Chips, acting away and introducing English grammar (E for a in Donat; ref. Robert D., star of classic film).

Mrs A. Boyes: ’E don’t is bad grammar (anag.).

E. J. Burge: Whacked culprit’s rear? Many a schoolboy learnt from it (no longer fashionable) (done + t).

L. E. Ellis: Primer specially painted – no trouble spared (anag. less pain).

P. D. Gaffey: Is Fowler one to be apt to bag a duck rising? (0 in tend (rev.); ref. F.’s Modern English).

R. R. Greenfield: ‘Ut’ (as in Latin) used with difficulty? This could provide the answer (do net, & lit.; ut^1,2).

P. F. Henderson: Historic primer? ‘X on …’ would get held up as such (ten o’ ’d (all rev.); ref. ‘Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword’).

J. F. Jones: It conjugated verb, set in order noun, and in Latin too (do n et, & lit.).

R. K. Lumsdon: ABC (DE … not carrying on) (anag.).

H. W. Massingham: Course for a novice chaser, say, entered in the jumps (one in DT; one = any drink).

C. J. Morse: Sad end to Kennedy’s great early example (anag.; ref. K.’s Latin Primer).

Mrs M. Pepin: Construe ‘Timeo Danaos’? I am as nought struggling with this funny old grammar (comp. anag. incl. 0).

G. Perry: Did it show practice to avoid where English is concerned? (E in don’t, & lit.).

R. C. Teuton: Partially undone trousseau provided some assistance to the inexperienced Latin lover (hidden).

A. P. Vincent: Appropriate advice about Ecstasy – this will help you decline (E in don’t).

G. H. Willett: It’s acceptable to the leader of taste but an old fogey’s primmer (done t; primmer = primer).

D. Williamson: Flaky undercoat a mangy cur scratched, revealing old primer (anag. less anag.).

HC

D. Ashcroft, F. D. H. Atkinson, J. R. Beresford, C. Boyd, H. J. Bradbury, C. J. Brougham, J. M. Brown, D. A. Campbell, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, Ms C. Chamberlain, C. A. Clarke, D. B. Cross, E. Cross, R. V. Dearden, A. L. Dennis, N. C. Dexter, V. Dixon, R. A. England, C. J. Feetenby, Dr I. S. Fletcher, H. Freeman, S. Goldie, G. I. L. Grafton, D. R. Gregory, D. W. Grice, A. J. Guy, R. Hesketh, A. Hodgson, E. M. Holroyd, J. Horwood, W. Jackson, F. P. N. Lake, C. J. Lowe, W. F. Main, D. F. Manley, G. D. Meddings, L. Mestel, C. G. Millin, D. Mitchell, C. J. Napier, R. J. Palmer, J. Pearce, Mrs E. M. Phair, D. Price Jones, D. R. Robinson, H. R. Sanders, W. J. M. Scotland, A. Scott, Mrs E. J. Shields, Dr G. A. Styles, D. H. Tompsett, J. R. Tozer, A. J. Wardrop, Dr E. Young, M. P. Young.
 

Comments
338 entries, with a fair number of errors, mainly SUGEE for SUJEE (clearly guesswork by those not in possession of Chambers 1993) and CREASE for PREACE (‘Press no longer presenting end of war in its appropriate setting’). Even if one accepts that ‘crease’ and ‘preace’ are synonymous (which they aren’t really) and that a cease might he construed as a cessation of war (which is pushing it), the words ‘no longer’ have still to be accounted for and only the obsoleteness of PREACE does this. Otherwise a relatively straightforward plain (I hope I never become too straightforward!).
 
DONET is one of those handy little words I’ve probably tried myself more than once, though I cannot recall cluing it which means no doubt that my clues were unmemorable. But Azed competitors can always be relied on to rise above the pedestrian, and this month was no exception. One reservation, however. Quite a number or you were seduced by the phrase ‘done to a T’ to define DONET with wording like ‘perfectly executed/cooked/performed’. This won’t do. The solver is being asked to solve clue to a clue (‘perfectly cooked’ = ‘done to a T’ = done + T = DONET), a two-stage process which isn’t fair. (To be frank, I’m not terribly enamoured of the use of ‘to’ to mean ‘next to; beside’ despite the Chambers definition, though I have never disqualified anyone using it – can anyone think of a convincing example of its use with this meaning?) I have similar views on the use of homophones in clues as in the following example whose author asked for guidance: ‘Party reported Webb’s principles of clause construction now antiquated’. Here ‘reported Webb’ is intended to suggest WEB which (sort of) defines NET, another two-stage solving process. As always in such situations, my advice is ‘Put yourself in the solver’s shoes, and remember that clues are there to be solved.’
 
I’m grateful to the competitor who drew my attention to the Concise Latin Grammar by H. L. O. Flecker and D. S. Macnutt (Longman 1939), in which, apparently, Latin nouns were colour-coded according to gender – an imaginative idea well ahead of its time, I’d say, though I don’t think the book remains in print and it is rather unfair to expect solvers to have heard of it. I knew Ximenes (DSM) was a classics teacher at Christ’s Hospital School, where Flecker was headmaster) but this was the first I’d heard of his donet.
 
Finally, a word about the lateness of the last two slips. The fault is entirely mine and not that of Anthony Ellis, who looks after the mailing and the mailing-list with great enthusiasm arid commitment. My professional life as a lexicographer with OUP has been particularly demanding of late (promotional overseas tours for a new dictionary) and this has taken its toll. Things will revert to normal shortly.