AZED CROSSWORD 1663

ARMAMENTARIA

1.  J. P. Guiver: What’s all that’s needed to heal limb? Answer: a term in a cast (arm + A + anag.).

2.  P. L. Stone: GP’s gear changing meant strain on arm (arm + anag. + aria; GP = general practitioner, Grand Prix).

3.  T. J. Moorey: American Marines strain to contain combatants getting little thanks for everything provided in ops (men ta in A RM aria; ref. Iraq).

VHC

D. Anderson: Materia medica (contents missing) ran out? Fit gear left (anag. less edic).

M. Barley: Apparatus used by the Doctor could rematerialise in a Martian mare (anag.; ref. Dr Who).

Dr J. Burscough: All doctors’ resources required to purge extremes of perspiration from parliamentarian (Liberal one taken as movement’s leader) (parliamentarian less p, n and with L I for m; ref. Charles Kennedy at Lib Dem party conference).

D. C. Clenshaw: Collections of drugs, syringes, needles, etc spoil a smart, English marina, no longer special (anag. incl. E, less s).

R. Dean: Fleet has dead replaced by soldiers, and sailor with one complete medical kit (armada with men tar I for d).

C. M. Edmunds: Operating gadgetry etc, the stock prerequisite for a Napoleon Solo (armament aria; ref. former TV series ‘The Man from UNCLE’).

H. Freeman: Pieces Shipman’s branch nurse carried around? (men tar in arm aia, & lit.; ref. murderer Dr Harold S.).

R. Gwilt: A nightmare: train crash as night becomes morning. A lot more than first aid box will be needed! (anag. with am for night).

C. G. Millin: Weapon in the morning, Spain, wrecked a train – medical supplies are needed (arm am E + anag.).

C. J. Morse: Air force equipped for war switches to deliver medical kits (aria armament switched).

M. L. Perkins: Theatre work may require such ability to throw someone backward, but strain follows (arm ament aria).

Mrs E. M. Phair: All doctors’ resources directed at American army, cut down, caught out (anag. less c, y).

N. Roper: Marina master all at sea changing bit of sail for a resident’s rig? (anag. with a for s).

P. Thacker: Doctors’ resources strengthen people gripped by a temperature, pain removed from fever (arm + men in a t (mal)aria).

L. Ward: Old lady’s broken arm, torn retina start to absorb doctor’s entire resources (ma in arm + anag. + a).

R. J. Whale: Bring ‘materia medica’, ulna needs resetting: include big —— perhaps? (comp. anag.).

D. C. Williamson: Fittingly treating a marine, a matron would bring this equipment on (comp. anag. & lit.).

HC

D. & N. Aspland, Mrs K. M. Austin, E. A. Beaulah, J. R. Beresford, R. E. Boot, Mrs A. Boyes, C. J. Brougham, G. P. Brown, E. J. Burge, C. A. Clarke, A. S. Everest, A. G. Fleming, N. C. Goddard, Mrs B. E. Henderson, R. Hesketh, J. C. Leyland, D. S. Miller, F. R. Palmer, R. J. Palmer, G. Perry, D. Price Jones, M. Sanderson, Dr I. Torbe, M. Wainwright, Ms S. Wallace, M. R. Whiteoak, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
148 entries received, with no mistakes. As you will probably all know by now, the competition was seriously affected by a lengthy dispute (still not fully resolved) at the Oxford postal sorting office. Many entries never reached me in time for the extended deadline, and many still have not arrived. Whether they ever will now I cannot say, but in the circumstances the fairest thing seemed to me to be to award prizes as normal (with VHCs and HCs) but to exclude the competition from the annual honours list, which will be extended by an extra month accordingly. This will be a disappointment to some who felt they had a good chance of making the lists, and it will leave many not knowing whether their entries reached me or not. (Please don’t write to ask; I wouldn’t be able to tell you now.) The whole thing has been deeply irritating. I can only ask any disgruntled parties to recognize my dilemma.
 
That said, I suspect there was a certain relief at the outcome of the competition. ARMAMENTARIA was by general agreement a brute to clue (all those ‘a’s for a start), and especially difficult to clue succinctly. One entry ran to 25 words, far too long for serious consideration. Some of you expressed uncertainty about indicating its plural form, given that in the singular it is a collective noun (i.e. conveying plurality). I tended towards the somewhat tolerant view that pluralizing ARMAMENTARIUM does not significantly affect its meaning for cluing purposes. Semanticists may quibble. Overall you coped with a difficult word very creditably. Only two competitors tried to do something with Maria Marten (of Red Barn fame) who only needs one extra ‘a’ to turn her into a promising anagram, but linking that to an effective definition proved more problematic. Favourite clue of the month was the one for PLATH by a short head from that for LE MONDE, nineteen receiving at least one vote.
 
One nearly excellent clue raised a point that crops up often enough to warrant special comment: ‘ER team in a US drama used —— liberally’. This is an attempted ‘comp. anag. & lit.’, the first six words (including the two abbreviations) being an anagram of ‘used armamentaria’. Where it falls down, I think, is in the absence of any indication of this. The space between ‘drama’ and ‘used’ cannot on its own perform this function: ‘has’ or (better) ‘can be seen as having’ would do the trick, but without some such link the clue is flawed.
 
And now, ‘possibly’ and ‘perhaps’, as anagram indicators. I’m grateful to the solver who identified the slip for No. 508 (January 1982), where I first gave my views on this. This is what I wrote then: ‘... “perhaps” and “maybe” can in context be synonymous with “possibly” but this does not in my view entitle the clue-writer to use them as equivalents of “possibly” to indicate an anagram. “Possibly” suggests to me “having the potential of becoming”; “perhaps” and “maybe” do not, being altogether more static in connotation.’ My views on this have not really changed. The whole area of what does and does not constitute a fair anagram indicator is a broad one. I tend to be conservative in requiring something that clearly indicates a disturbance or rearrangement of the letters or words in question, and resist attempts to push the bounds of normal language too far, which some of you do occasionally. It is difficult to be more prescriptive than that. As always, the best advice I can give is that you be your own severest critic, asking yourself whether in its cryptic reading your clue really means what you intend it to mean.