AZED CROSSWORD 1611

LEISLER

1.  C. R. Gumbrell: It’ll need sonar to get about, fluttering and not going astray (anag. less anag., & lit.).

2.  Mrs E. M. Phair: Strip willow of bark, see? Craft it right for a bat (anag. incl. willow less wow + r).

3.  J. C. Leyland: Hammer Horror’s latest is Lee with his leading part in Cousin of the Vampire (anag. incl. r, L; ref. Christopher L.).

VHC

D. Appleton: Man typically sheltered by the French resistance is a night flier (isle in le R).

W. G. Arnott: A chap learning to drive relies on wildly swinging the bat (L + anag.).

D. Arthur: This bat and pad if together confuse a slip fielder (comp. anag.).

M. Barley: With me, you could be playing leisurely round – Belfry’s where I hang out (comp. anag. incl. O; ref. ‘bats in the belfry’ and golf course).

L. K. Edkins: Ill-seer, fluttering? (anag. & lit.; ‘blind as a bat’).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Re spell brewed, one for bit of pelt? (anag. with I for p; ref. Macbeth 4, i, 15).

Mrs E. Greenaway: I’ll see badly, right? (anag. + r, & lit.).

R. J. Hooper: A tea-tray in the sky? I may be taken for one by nonsense versifier (Lear with Isle for a; ref. L. Carroll, ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little bat’; I = Isle).

G. Johnstone: Alice’s tea tray? What could be sillier English for one in flight? (anag. with E for I; ref. L. Carroll, ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little bat’).

D. F. Manley: ‘Fledermaus’? Bubbly is recalled with cad being taken away (anag. less cad; ref. last scene of opera).

C. J. Morse: With high squeak and round bat’s tail, it gets mistaken for pipistrelle (anag. less pip and t, & lit.).

R. J. Palmer: I’ll see poorly, right? (anag. + r, & lit.).

R. Phillips: Confusing it with barbastelle confounds this bat and another (comp. anag. incl. bat, bat).

P. L. Stone: Poor lie troubled Els getting right flier at The Belfry (anag. + anag. + r; ref. Ernie E., golf course).

R. C. Teuton: Belfry being traditionally troublesome riles Els no end? (anag. less final s).

A. J. Wardrop: Sellers, clipping heads of Spike and Secombe, is performing something truly batty (anag. less S, S; ref. Goon Show).

R. J. Whale: I’ll see poorly and take no central part in Carroll – teller half dropped off (anag. + r, Le(w)is (tel)ler, & lit.; ref. dormouse’s ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little bat’).

Dr E. Young: With poor lie, Els strays right: is it in The Belfry crowd? (anag. + anag. + r; ref. Ernie E., golf course).

HC

J. Ailman, E. A. Beaulah, J. R. Beresford, L. W. Blott, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, Dr J. Burscough, B. Burton, C. J. & M. P. Butler, D. A. Campbell, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, P. Cargill, P. D. Chamberlain, D. C. Clenshaw, R. Coben, E. Cross, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, R. Dean, N. C. Dexter, W. Duffin, C. M. Edmunds, A. Everest, R. Ford, H. Freeman, R. R. Greenfield, J. Grimes, R. B. Harling, Ms A. Harris, R. Hesketh, A. Hodgson, Mrs D. B. Jenkinson, B. Jones, J. Knott, F. P. N. lake, W. F. Main, P. W. Marlow, P. McKenna, C. G. Millin, T. J. Moorey, W. Murphy, F. R. Palmer, D. Pendrey, G. Perry, R. Perry, D. R. Robinson, J. H. Russell, M. Sanderson, W. J. M. Scotland, D. P. Shenkin, D. J. Short, C. M. Steele, Ms M. Stokes, C. W. Thomas, Dr I. Torbe, J. R. Tozer, A. P. Vick, M. J. E. Wareham, D. C. Williamson, K. Wilson.
 

Comments
 
280 entries, no mistakes. Lots of clues were mentioned as having given pleasure, the favourites overall probably being those for TIPT, OVERACT, BED-TABLE, VELL and OOMPAH, in no special order. Stinker of the month was the clue to LAPP, which I described as an Asian language, wrongly I now see (though the Lapps came originally from Mongolia). Sorry about that. I’m always hazy about just where Europe becomes Asia, especially since the break-up of the Soviet Union. (Two further corrections, while I’m about it: the note I added to Mrs Blanchard’s VHC clue to FENESTRA two months ago should have read simply anag. less i.e. And Eric Chalkley was of course awarded an MBE, not a CBE.)
 
Well, I suppose cricketing clues aplenty were to be expected, but golf was also much in evidence, what with The Belfry and (Ernie) Els asking to be exploited, not to mention Maud (not Maude), Ariel and Die Fledermaus. My choice of clue word prompted one regular to make a list of common British bats not included in Chambers and to speculate on why the leisler had got in ahead of them. TJM discovered that bats hang upside down because their feet are not very strong, that they are not actually blind, and that it is ill- advised to try to handle a bat. All very educational. In general it was a most enjoyable competition to judge; thank you for the fun. The next special competition, by the way will be in June, a ‘Printer’s Devilry’(which fans have been complaining they have been denied for too long!).
 
With much sadness I have to report the recent death of David Ashcroft, a keen Azed competitor for many years and an old friend. When I was a boy at Rugby, David was my house tutor and also taught me classics in the Lower Bench (Rugby’s name for its lower sixth form). He went on to be headmaster of Cheltenham, and was one of the best and wittiest of men. He spoke at the lunch for AZ No. 1,000 at St Hilda’s, Oxford, in 1991. Unable because of ill health to attend the dinner for AZ No. 1,500 at St Catherine’s, Oxford, in 2001, he wrote to mark the event an Ovidian Azode at MD, which I here reproduce in full. Translations for non-Latinists available on request.

• Tu decies centum quinquaginta arte iocosa
• Crucidicos’ludos composuisse potes.
• Hen, quoties ‘cellas’ illas perstringere gaudes,
• Si forte invenias rara ubi verba latent!
• Indicia struimus nos exquisitaque signa:
• Aequo tu tdbuis praemia iudicio.
• Nonne putet nactum te Torquemada nepotem?
• Nonne etiam cedat ars Ximenaea tuae?
• Hinc igitur laudis summam nostram accipe paimam;
• Necdum deficiat gratus, amice, labor.