AZED CROSSWORD 1707

GALENA (Definition of Anagram)

1.  D. F. Manley: What was assessment of lawn? Good, given a nitrogen-enriched tract of grass (alnage; g + a + N in lea; lawn² = fabric).

2.  C. A. Clarke: End of voyage, Ellen finally cracks celebratory bottle (lagena; e, n in gala (adj); ref. E. MacArthur).

3.  P. McKenna: Lansbury, say, a chap accepting a leading part in Labour (Angela; a L in gena; ref. George/Angela L., Labour politician/American actress).

VHC

M. Barker: First signs of growth appearing – lichen’s elementary new archegonium? (anlage; first letters, & lit.).

J. R. Beresford: Bottle with a narrow neck – a small space one gets a half-finished ship over (lagena; gal(ley) + en + a).

N. Connaughton: Girl with feminine name? (Angela; gal + Ena, & lit.).

H. Freeman: Girl’s name (Angela; gal + Ena, & lit.).

P. D. Gaffey: Wind one must get up after bottle (lagena; gale + an (rev.); ref. baby-feeding).

R. J. Heald: Hollow area around inner part of ear (lagena; a in glen a, & lit.).

Mrs B. E. Henderson: Brazil perhaps disqualifying married men entering a special sporting event (Angela; (m)en in gala; ref. novelist).

R. J. Hooper: Tempest with ultimate in rotten acting? It was a fiasco (lagena; gale n a).

Dr P. D. King: Bottle of old beer is in good nick – if lacking Boddington’s head (lagena; ale in g na(B); ref. beer brand).

M. D. Laws: Rejecting whiskey, have nibbles holding beer bottle (lagena; ale in gna(w)).

J. R. C. Michie: Ancient Greek bones found with a bottle from antiquity (lagena; Galen a).

R. Murdoch: Answer in depression: a bottle! (lagena; a in glen + a).

W. Murphy: Constant drinkers tackling endless days of going without a bottle (lagena; Len(t) in g AA).

C. Ogilvie: One resident in Border valley with a view of the Tweed (alnage; a in glen + a).

R. J. Palmer: A lobe’s first appearing in side of face could be this (anlage; a l in gena, & lit.).

W. Ransome: Beer in gallons not available – outdated form of measurement (alnage; ale in g n/a).

H. R. Sanders: Foaming ale naturally shows up this ancient bottle (lagena; hidden).

HC

G. Alderman, T. Anderson, F. Anstis, W. G. Arnott, D. Arthur, M. Bath, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, B. Burton, P. Cargill, B. Cheesman, R. M. S. Cork, T. Coventry, C. Daffern, R. Dean, P. Dendy, N. C. Dexter, V. Dixon, T. J. Donnelly, A. G. Fleming, Dr I. S. Fletcher, R. R. Greenfield, P. Hall, M. J. Hanley, D. V. Harry, M. T. Hart, W. Jackson, A. Lane, J. C. Leyland, P. W. Marlow, G. L. McStravick, K. Milan, C. G. Millin, T. J. Moorey, G. S. Parsons, J. Pearce, M. L. Perkins, G. Perry, D. Price Jones, D. P. Shenkin, D. Shiell, D. J. Short, P. Thacker, C. W. Thomas, D. H. Tompsett, J. R. Tozer, A. P. Vick, P. J. Wagstaffe, Ms S. Wallace, A. J. Wardrop, R. J. Whale, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
222 entries, almost no mistakes. Favourite clue, by quite a margin: that for TSOTSI (STOITS) (‘Staggers after the Scotch? It’s crazy, drunkard admitted’), with 24 getting at least one mention. This was the third time I’ve given you this type of special (the title this time – ‘Rum Exits’ – being an anagram of ‘mixtures’), and I still have some misgivings about it. It’s a challenge to construct the grid, and I’m running out of long single-word anagrams, but it’s still a challenge I relish. The problem is that solving often involves guessing the answer and then working backwards to confirm it by identifying the anagram involved. Failure to do this may leave the solver feeling dissatisfied despite having completed the puzzle. I confess to using Chambers Anagrams (1994), especially for the long words, but since this is based on an earlier edition of the parent dictionary its value is limited. (Several of you queried the fact that I cited Chambers (1998) in the preamble. I can’t begin to explain this weird mental glitch, and apologize for the inadvertence.) I accept that, unlike some other specials, this one is more difficult for the setter than for the solver (‘the ultimate in masochism’, as one of you put it), but the low entry must also indicate that some were put off by its apparent complexity. Ah, well.
 
A number of you pointed out, in connection with the clue to TROIC (TORIC), that Helen was not strictly Trojan, having been born (and married) in Sparta. Well yes, I did know that – a classical education leaves you with all sorts of snippets of knowledge like this – but as she’s always ‘Helen of Troy’, I thought this bit of artistic licence would pass muster. No one can have been seriously misled.
 
There were, I think, four anagrams of GALENA: ALNAGE, ANGELA, ANLAGE, and LAGENA. All were used, though LAGENA was probably the most popular. It was important to observe two major factors when writing a clue of the type required: (i) a straight anagram forming the cryptic part was unacceptable since it could ambiguously indicate any of the possible answers; and (ii) linking words between the cryptic part and the definition part suggesting that the two referred to the same word were also unacceptable as this was clearly not the case. A fair number of entries contained one or both of these faults. However, ‘& lit.’ clues which when read cryptically indicated GALENA and when read literally indicated its anagram, were perfectly acceptable.
 
A handsome sum was donated by subscribers and duly presented to Anthony Ellis to thank him for looking after the slip for so many years. Part of the money was spent on a pewter tankard, which was engraved ‘ANTHONY, with grateful thanks from Azed “Slippers”’. Anthony (who was 84 earlier in the month) wrote: ‘please pass on my thanks and best regards to all my friends out there. A most unexpected and most attractive memento.’ I must add my own sincere thanks to Tony Beaulah who once again arranged the collection.