AZED CROSSWORD 1494

MARATHON

1.  J. R. Beresford: Licking for Persians is a prolonged exercise (2 mngs.; ref. cats and battle).

2.  D. Ashcroft: Compo’s heart a tense Norah Batty makes race (anag. incl. m, t; ref. ‘Last of the Summer Wine’).

3.  Dr E. Young: Presented by David, stiff run through hard going? (Marat h on, & lit.; ref. J.-L. David painting, D. Coleman & London M.).

VHC

E. A. Beaulah: Israeli bitterness about Arafat’s last call to progress fuels a long, gruelling ordeal (t in marah + On!).

Mrs K. Bissett: Race such as this is needs stamina – or hospital possibly? (comp. anag. incl. H).

K. A. Brough: Mass race that only half complete? (halves of first 4 words, & lit.).

C. J. Brougham: Revolutionary sweetie lasting ages (Marat hon).

E. J. Burge: In which we work more than a bit of energy off (anag. less E, & lit.).

Dr J. Burscough: Snickers, once Graham Norton is performing (not without a groan!): (anag. less gro(a)n; ref. chocolate bar formerly called M.).

C. J. & M. P. Butler: Revolutionary drama tipped for extended run (Marat + Noh (rev.)).

N. C. Dexter: A run taking around a month possibly – for me! (a r in anag., & lit!).

V. Dixon: In this one quick earlier on gets miles ahead (like you, doing the fifteen hundred?) (m + a + rath + on, & lit.; ref. AZ series).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Train on tarmac mostly pounding hard for this (H in anag. less c, & lit.).

C. R. Gumbrell: In this you’d find Mota ran fantastically, capturing hearts (H in anag., & lit.; ref. Rosa M., former Portuguese marathon runner).

R. Hesketh: All bar tail of once dominant West Indian cricket side spun out (Marath(a) + on).

P. R. Lloyd: Mass amateur run one gets blasted hot in? (M a r + anag. in an, & lit.).

D. F. Manley: Man perishing in bath wants ‘hot’ functioning? One runs it without getting heat to come through (Marat h on).

P. W. Marlow: Mobile R. Mota, a name associated with such at finish? (anag. incl. a, n, h, & lit.; ref. Rosa M., marathon runner).

C. J. Morse: Major run to hell’s mouth and beyond (ma. r at h on, & lit.; see OED for abbr.).

R. J. Palmer: What requires a man to run hard briefly? Quite otherwise (anag. incl. r, h, & lit.).

K. Thomas: Re-cast ‘Art’’s caught by Synge’s ‘Playboy’ in long run (anag. in Mahon; ref. Christy M. in ‘Playboy of the Western World’).

D. H. Tompsett: Many race this only half-length each time (halves of first 4 words, & lit.).

A. P. Vincent: New cast for Norma at opening of House will lead to a long run (anag. incl. H).

L. Ward: Mass race that only half finished? (halves of first 4 words, & lit.).

HC

D. Arthur, A. Barker, M. Barley, C. Boyd, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, B. Burton, M. Casserley, C. A. Clarke, E. Cross, G. Cuthbert, M. Cutter, P. A. Davies, P. Dendy, A. J. Dorn, C. M. Edmunds, R. Fentem, C. D. S. & E. A. Field, R. Fishleigh, A. G. Fleming, H. Freeman, M. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, D. Gould, D. Harrison, R. J. Heald, A. Hodgson, W. Jackson, T. Jacobs, G. Johnstone, F. P. N. Lake, J. C. Leyland, H. M. Lloyd, C. J. Lowe, D. W. Mackie, Mrs J. Mackie, W. F. Main, G. T. McLean, J. R. C. Michie, K. E. Milan, C. G. Millin, T. J. Moorey, D. Newbery, T. D. Nicholl, T. D. Nute, F. R. Palmer, J. Pearce, G. Perry, A. Pinel, J. D. Plummer, J. T. Price, D. Roseveare, A. Roth, H. R. Sanders, W. J. M. Scotland, V. Seth, D. P. Shenkin, N. G. Shippobotham, D. J. Short, R. G. Smith, B. Stannard, P. A. Stephenson, P. L. Stone, J. B. Sweeting, J. R. Tozer, A. J. Wardrop, R. J. Whale, Dr M. C. Whelan, Ms B. Widger, G. H. Willett.
 

Comments
309 entries, almost no mistakes. Are numbers creeping up again, after a leanish spell? I hope so. The main problem this month seems to have been over ARAME, though no one got it wrong. I thought Eugene Aram was one of those hoary old crossword stalwarts, along with Dean Inge and Marshal Ney, but clearly I was wrong. He was an 18th-century Yorkshire scholar, schoolmaster and fraudster who murdered an associate in crime and was executed in 1759. He was the subject of a novel by Edward George Lytton and a romantic poem by Thomas Hood. Further details may be found in Brewer and biographical dictionaries. Favourite clues this month inclued those for EUTEXIA and AFRIKANERDOM, though I confess that the former was flawed. ‘Money-takers’ should of course have been ‘money-payers’ to correspond with the saying ‘You pays your money and you takes your choice’. To be honest, the clue was a hurried last-minute replacement for something more mundane, and I failed to take sufficient care over it. I was also asked why I chose AMAL in preference to the more accessible (i.e. in Chambers) AMYL. The reason is that I’ve used AMYL before, probably more than once, and it’s one of those unappealing scientific words which are devilishly difficult to clue interestingly. And I did give you chapter and verse for AMAL. Incidentally the three proper names not in C. (referred to, somewhat experimentally, below the clues) were AMAL, OSRAM and PERON. Peron is of course referred to in the entry for Peronism, and herein lies one of the problems of saying that this or that name does not appear in the dictionary, i.e. it’s there but not as a headword. I can only say to those get worked up about these things that I shall use my discretion in the amount of guidance I give you on proper names included in puzzles and not appearing prominently in Chambers.
 
MARATHON proved a popular word but, as it turned out, a difficult one to do anything really original with. Mr Beresford’s (on the face of it) simple but effective cryptic definition plus straight definition was exceptional in this regard. Those of you who have been listening to the radio series Cross Talk, chaired by Colin Dexter, will have heard Colin discussing double definitions and cryptic definitions with Vikram Seth and myself in the last programme of the current series. The best clue-writers have a talent for producing these ‘penny-dropping’ definitions which we should all try to emulate. They are at the very core of the cruciverbal art. That said, I don’t want to sound disparaging about the many sound and serviceable clues submitted this month. The extra-long HC list is testimony to the wealth of ‘good-but-not-excellent’ clues submitted beta-double-plus material, as my old Classics teacher would have called them!
 
Apology time, I’m afraid. In the 1,489 slip (FRONT-BENCHER) the names of E. J. Burge and B. Burton were unaccountably omitted from the list of VHC clues. And back in November a misprint distorted the clue to FIFING in which ‘mounting’ (duplicated from the following clue) should have read ‘flute-playing’. I do hope this will head off queries in the Crossword Club magazine feature in which the resident ‘Cluru’ explains clues which have baffled correspondents!