AZED CROSSWORD 187

POWDERING-TUB

1.  D. V. Harry: ‘God, I burn!’ wept rakes in this (anag. & lit.; rake⁴).

2.  Rev C. M. Broun: Treatment big prude won’t have needed (anag. & lit.).

3.  D. C. Williamson: Big undertow swirling abaft stern of ship. Salt maintains course of junk in it (p + anag.; junk = salt meat).

VHC

T. Anderson: Wherein you may find pickled rib, e.g. put down (anag. & lit.).

R. Brain: Where old sweat lost affection, but returned after a making up (powdering + but (rev.)).

E. J. Burge: Wept big round tears, whereby flesh could become salty? (anag.; tears vb.).

C. O. Butcher: Container of e.g. rib put down in pickle (anag.).

Mrs M. J. Cansfield: Old sweater got up new – bird looks different (anag.).

Mrs M. P. Craine: Pork-salting vat? Unhappy pig, wert bound for this? (anag.).

S. Goldie: Where you find mart for junk – Edinburgh two p stall – no end of rubbish (anag. less h; mart²; stall = lose control, junk = salt meat).

Mrs N. Jarman: Ow! pig! Bunter snarled, pinching a penny – that’ll cure the bully (d in anag.).

A. D. Legge: E.g. rib put down in pickle. In this? (anag. & lit.).

D. F. Manley: Herein dip new grub to get pickled (anag. & lit.).

C. J. Morse: Special bath that helped sufferer with broken rib get up and down (anag.).

Dr J. D. Ogilvie: For past hypothermic therapy: charge – less than half a shilling (plus VAT) (powder (shill)ing tub).

F. R. Palmer: Jar, say, we’d pot grub in (anag. & lit; jar vb.).

R. J. Palmer: Pot we’d grub in, getting pickled (anag. & lit.).

W. H. Pegram: Butchered pig: wert bound to end up in it (anag. & lit.).

M. L. Perkins: Wept big round tears – for bully’s treatment? (anag.).

T. E. Sanders: Perhaps we’d put grub in this (anag. & lit.).

W. K. M. Slimmings: Where to see well-preserved bit of skirt having bath – after applying make-up? (powdering + tub; skirt, cut of meat).

D. A. Smith: Brine pot dug out around beginning of winter (w in anag. & lit.).

B. Stubbs: Big pot we’d run for pickling – if we had no deep freeze (anag.).

Dr P. W. Thompson: In it meat can be kept pickled, e.g. rib put down (anag.).

J. A. Tyrrell: Diseased rip won’t de-bug in this – any more (anag. & lit.).

Rev C. D. Westbrook: Put down rib e.g. to season here (anag. & lit.).

Dr R. L. Wynne: Put big new rod in pickle. Here? (anag. & lit.).

HC

R. Abrey, C. Allen Baker, G. Aspin, F. D. H. Atkinson, J. Blackburn, D. A. Blackledge, E. J. Bushell, E. Chalkley, M. Coates, J. Cordery, R. G. Crosland, A. L. Dennis, P. S. Elliott, J. A. Fincken, B. Franco, C. C. M. Giffin, A. Henrici, Mrs S. Hewitt, Mrs E. J. Holmes, C. H. Hudson, G. Johnstone, N. Kemmer, R. E. Kimmons, J. R. Kirby, Dr E. B. Kraus, A. Lawrie, C. J. Lowe, M. J. Lunan, Lieut Col D. Macfie, H. S. Mason, H. W. Massingham, L. May, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, R. S. Morse, L. W. G. Oxley, Mrs G. Rajkowska, P. A. Rook, W. J. M. Scotland, T. A. J. Spencer, J. G. Stubbs, J. C. P. Taylor, G. A. Tomlinson, J. M. Turner, Mrs M. P. Webber, T. Wightman.
 

Comments
Just under 300 entries, the only mistake (which nevertheless was quite common) being STAP for STAW, which won’t do. The clue was ‘Surfeit of Scotch? Glasgow drunk stokes up’. It’s a reversal of WAT S (see Abbreviations); for STAW sv. STALL¹. In general, a smallish entry; Playfair is terrifically popular with a good number of you, but it’s anathema to plenty of others, I know, so fans will have to be content with one a year approximately. Finding appropriate code-words grows increasingly difficult too, of course. X used many of the best ones. There’s nothing to stop me using shorter words, mind you, though you might feel a little cheated. Incidentally I only discovered I’d used the -ER letter-pairing twice (in ULSTER and CYPHER) when I’d completed the diagram and though I tried hard I wasn’t able to change it. Quite possibly it proved helpful but normally I would avoid such repetition.
 
Several newcomers sought guidance on solving a Playfair code. As I’ve said before I know of no easy way. I’ve always found it a case of trial and error, and a large piece of paper. The obvious place to start, however, is with pairings wherein one letter recurs (e.g. SH = PS in this puzzle) since this must mean that all the letters in a pairing occur in the same row or column of the word square. I am most grateful to Mr. T. E. Sanders for sending me an explanation of how Playfair got its name, which I didn’t know before. To quote him verbatim: ‘The “Playfair” code was invented in 1854 by Sir Charles Wheatstone, a scientist widely known in his day for secrecy in telegraphy. It carries the name however of his friend Lyon Playfair, first Baron Playfair of St. Andrews – a scientist and public figure in Victorian England, one-time deputy speaker of the House of Commons, Postmaster General and president of the British Association. Playfair demonstrated Wheatstone’s cypher at a dinner given by Lord Granville in January 1854 at which Prince Albert and Palmerston, then Home Secretary, were present as guests. Playfair urged its use by the War Office at the time of the Crimean War and, although there is no evidence that it was so used, it came to be known in the War Office as Playfair’s cypher and the name has stuck to this day. It was the first literal code in cryptologic history to be digraphic.’