AZED CROSSWORD 1355

DIACATHOLICON

1.  J. R. Beresford: Versatile colonic aid that time forgot (anag. less t, & lit.).

2.  H. Freeman: Cloaca it (honied) loosened (not a 90s drug!) (anag. less E (= Ecstasy), & lit.).

3.  N. C. Dexter: Ingredients of a ‘no-ail’ chit doc concocted? (anag. & lit.).

VHC

M. Barley: Would one with a tummy-ache swallow a couple of drops of this, of old? (a th(is) in ’d l a colic + on, & lit.).

Dr J. Burscough: Terminally constipated? I act and loo-chain rattles! (d + anag., & lit.).

B. Burton: In effect, it had a colonic loosening? (anag. & lit.).

R. Dean: Catch Aids in loo? Possible hint of salvation with this (anag. less s, & lit.).

D. A. Ginger: This enters, and thereby you may find a constriction healed with treatment (comp. anag. & lit.).

G. I. L. Grafton: Exercising to get thin, with diet Coca-Cola, skipping etc – this is purgatory! (anag. less etc).

R. R. Greenfield: Do not part with this; it could be an old cathartic potion (comp. anag. & lit.).

C. R. Gumbrell: Had it a colonic’s outcome if drunk? (anag. & lit.).

J. Harrington: It had a colon in spasm getting one caught short (anag. + I c, & lit.).

R. Heald: A colonic aid, taste initially disguised with a drop of honey (anag. incl. t, h, & lit.).

M. Jones: What you can get from a colonic, it had (anag. & lit.).

C. J. Morse: From a cold to endless aching I constitute the answer (anag. less g, & lit.).

F. R. Palmer: Variety of ache treated with old medication? Could be this remedy which has no limits (comp. anag. incl. (r)emed(y), & lit.).

R. Phillips: It had a colonic licked (anag. & lit.).

T. G. Powell: Accidental whoopsies may be rendered as it sweeps out! (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. P. Shenkin: My enteral —— is made with colocynth (inter alia) in mixture (comp. anag. & lit.).

P. L. Stone: Sanitary cleanser, a remedy for everything nasty I’d catch in loo (anag.).

R. S. Sullivan: A treatment for alcohol addiction might be this old panacea (comp. anag.).

J. R. Tozer: Having swallowed it, shortly I had a colonic spasm? (’t in anag., & lit.; spasm vb).

A. J. Wardrop: A ——’s forte might be as antidote for colic (mixed with a bit of honey) (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. Williamson: It had a colonic licked! (anag. & lit.).

HC

D. Appleton, D. Ashcroft, Mrs P. A. Bax, S. Best, P. Biddlecombe, A. Booth, C. Boyd, Mrs A. Boyes, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, D. A. Campbell, R. M. S. Cork, E. Cross, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, V. Dixon, A. G. Fleming, M. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, P. Giaccone, N. C. Goddard, D. Godden, J. E. Green, D. Harris, R. Hesketh, A. Hodgson, T. M. Hoggart, R. Jacks, J. E. Jesson, A. D. B. Jones, L. Killip, M. D. Laws, P. R. Lloyd, C. J. Lowe, Mrs J. Mackie, W. F. Main, D. F. Manley, J. McDermott, G. D. Meddings, Dr E. J. Miller, M. A. O’Hagan, R. J. Palmer, J. Pearce, Mrs E. M. Phair, Mrs D. M. C. Prichard, D. Pritchard, H. L. Rhodes, D. R. Robinson, H. R. Sanders, M. Sanderson, J. B. Sweeting, G. Telfer, S. J. J. Tiffin, Ms B. J. Widger, J. S. Witte, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
318 entries, with very few mistakes, mostly UPTO for UPGO and EMOTE for EMOVE (which is in Chambers, tucked away at the end of the entry for emotion, rather unkindly). Most of you seem to have found it a relatively straightforward Plain and to have enjoyed the challenge of having to clue a 13-letter word. A few younger competitors had clearly never heard of ITMA (which stood for ‘It’s that man again!’ and was a radio comedy show starring Tommy Handley during and just after the war). I myself am too young to have actually heard it being broadcast, but I remember my parents telling me about the regular characters and their catchphrases. Mona Lott moaned a lot and said, ‘It’s being so cheerful that keeps me going,’ or it might have been ‘as’ instead of ‘that’. Several of you drew attention to the unusually large number of references to the demi-monde in the grid and the clues. ‘With all the opprobrious expressions featured in this puzzle’, ran one comment, ‘I was quite surprised that ‘trollop’ didn’t appear in the clue to 18 Down [ROLLTOP]. Has your secretary upset you lately?’ No, I do assure you. One-track mind, more likely.
 
Though DIACATHOLICON seemed to offer plenty of scope, in practice relatively few different ideas were used, albeit with many slight variations of wording. The best of these, involving an ‘& lit.’ anagram of ‘an aid to colic’ with a bit of honey, was sadly just too oversubscribed to gain better than an HC. (Incidentally, the mention of ‘honey or syrup’ in the Chambers definition of DIACATHOLICON seems to be redundant, since ELECTUARY is defined as a medicine mixed with honey or syrup.) The difference between a VHC and a HC was often a matter of preferred wording. I was not too keen on clues which involved CATHOLIC in some way, since the CATHOLIC bit of DIACATHOLICON is identical etymologically to the word CATHOLIC itself. Most clues submitted failed to indicate the obsoleteness of the clue word, so I was favourably disposed to those that made the effort. It’s not that hard to do, when all’s said and done. A past tense instead of a present tense is sometimes all it takes.
 
And finally, there was the splendid, if invented, one-word anagram ANTACIDOHOLIC, which one competitor found but didn’t use. Would I have accepted it in a clue, he asked? By all means, if it could be worked into something convincing. I seem to recall Ximenes once producing a clue to the unpromising word ESCHSCHOLTZIA which involved the bogus scientific term ‘schizothecals’!