◀  No. 17151 May 2005 Clue list No. 1724  ▶

AZED CROSSWORD 1719

ANHELATION

1.  C. J. Morse: Happiness starts with an H – a rough breathing to the likes of Hippocrates (an H elation: ref. Greek ‘h’).

2.  N. C. Dexter: Heal it on termination of Craven ‘A’, possibly? (anag. incl. n, & lit.; ref. cigarettes).

3.  C. J. Brougham: Ailment: one a hospital treated with Intal? (anag. incl. H; asthma medication).

VHC

D. Appleton: It’s endless misery in a race (hel(l) in a nation, & lit.).

D. & N. Aspland: One has to inhale with difficulty to show this (an + anag., & lit.).

M. Barley: Rugged Latino he-man leaves maiden in a state of breathlessness (anag. less m).

J. R. Beresford: One struggling to inhale shows it (an + anag., & lit.).

Mrs A. Boyes: What one struggling to inhale exhibits (an + anag., & lit.).

C. A. Clarke: Needing a pee, relief in a race leaves us gasping (hel(p) in a nation; ref. Paula Radcliffe).

D. C. Clenshaw: Male, left behind in a race, exhibits breathing difficulty (he l in a nation).

M. Coates: It makes one inhale not freely (a + anag., & lit.).

E. Cross: Halt this respiring condition? National Health could give it treatment (comp. anag.).

C. Daffern: Is struggling to inhale an indication of this condition? (anag. & lit.).

A. G. Fleming: What gets a number to inhale with difficulty (a n + anag., & lit.).

J. E. Green: It causes one to inhale with difficulty (an + anag., & lit.).

R. R. Greenfield: This will give agony when contracted in a race, maybe (hel(l) in a nation, & lit.).

J. Guiver: Striving for inspiration, Man City put in non pro at centre forward (he LA in anti + on).

R. J. Hooper: A new short skirt worn in a hotel – it makes pants noticeable, climbing stairs (anag. in a, n).

F. P. N. Lake: It could cause one to inhale with difficulty (an + anag., & lit.).

J. C. Leyland: Inspiration maybe coming hard, A. Sullivan finally pens orchestration of Iolanthe (anag. in A, n).

D. F. Manley: Problem with breathing awkward in ‘a/an hotel’ (anag.).

R. J. Palmer: What gets one to inhale irregularly (an + anag., & lit.).

D. P. Shenkin: Cancer cells within resisting oxygen and nitrogen, giving breathing difficulty (HeLa in anti O N; see HeLa cell in C.).

D. H. Tompsett: Dyspnoea’s advanced – new hospital – joy! (a n H elation).

P. O. G. White: What might make one halt in a run? (anag. & lit.).

HC

D. Anderson, D. Arthur, D. J. Bexson, R. E. Boot, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, J. Brydon, E. J. Burge, D. A. Campbell, P. Cargill, B. Cheesman, R. M. S. Cork, G. Cuthbert, D. J. Dare-Plumpton, R. Dean, C. D. S. & E. A. Field, Dr I. S. Fletcher, P. D. Gaffey, A. & B. Harris, P. Heffernan, R. Hesketh, W. Jackson, G. Johnstone, W. F. Main, J. McGhee, P. McKenna, J. R. C. Michie, C. G. Millin, A. J. Moore, Ms M. Moore, T. J. Moorey, R. Murdoch, W. Owen, E. Powell, D. Price Jones, H. L. Rhodes, N. G. Shippobotham, P. L. Stone, M. Taylor, R. J. Whale, G. H. Willett, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
195 entries, a few having BIRD for JIRD and even fewer having BRUT for BRUM. Favourite clue of the month: ‘Where one takes water with wine? It affects hock badly’ for SPAVIN, with ‘A sin that grabs a leader in rapacity’ for AVARICE coming second and 24 clues getting at least one mention. AYIN caused some perplexity, though no one got it wrong. The Russian-born US novelist Ayn Rand may not be much read these days, but some of her books are still in print. TAHR also gave trouble. The clue, a somewhat involved complex anagram, could, I admit, have equally well yielded the alternative spelling THAR. It’s a word I’m sure I’ve clued several times before, so one gets a little desperate searching for a new treatment each time.
 
It was a popular clue word this month, another of those obscure medical terms that Chambers seems to specialize in. (‘Rasping’ again, one of you commented!) Dr Young informs me that he has never used or heard the word in fifty years of medicine and that it appears in no modern medical textbook and does not show up on Medline, the Internet medical literature search engine. It is in the OED, labelled ‘archaic’, so perhaps this is not surprising, even if news of its datedness has not yet reached Chambers. Using ‘to inhale’ in some form of ‘& lit.’ construction must have been very tempting; the best clues using it are quoted above, as are a number of very good alternative ideas. The total number of entries was disappointingly low. I am reminded that I never came back to the subject of ‘surface reading’, which I mentioned in passing in a recent slip. Actually my views on this can be briefly summarized. I believe quite strongly that every clue should make a modicum of sense when read simply as a small piece of prose. Its ‘surface reading’ should therefore convey something that the solver can relate to in the real world, even (crucially) if this may turn out to be misleading. Clues whose wordplay (the term now widely used to mean the cryptic treatment of an answer) is sound but which overall make little sense or convey a weird or unrealistic image are as a result generally second-rate for me.
 
More on the dinner planned to mark Azed No. 1,750. As I’ve said, this will be held at St Catherine’s College, Oxford, on Saturday 17 December 2005, and all are welcome. Would anyone interested in coming please contact Tim Moorey, either by email or by letter (enclosing an sae) for full details? The sooner you can do this the better, as it’s important to get a rough idea of numbers well in advance, so please indicate when you contact Tim whether you’re a probable or a possible and how many of you there are likely to be. Accommodation will be available at the college, and there is plenty of parking space.
 

 

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