AZED CROSSWORD 379

SCYTHEMAN

1.  N. C. Dexter: The doddery can’t shy me! (anag. & lit.; ref. Old Father Time).

2.  H. L. Rhodes: Death – metaphorically, that is to say – Thy Name is Awful (sc. + anag.).

3.  J. W. Bates: Many’s the hundred odd he’s clocked up at Lord’s (anag. incl. C; ref. Father Time figure at Lord’s).

VHC

Mrs K. Bissett: Possibly the originator of most hay scent (m + anag., & lit.).

A. J. Bulman: Haymaker – man’s techy swing (anag.; cricket delivery).

E. J. Burge: Old-timer at Lord’s? Many’s the century re-created (anag. incl. c; ref. Father Time figure at Lord’s).

Mrs M. P. Craine: He diffuses hay scent with start of mowing (anag. incl. m, & lit.).

A. L. Dennis: What finished off big stand at Lord’s – a daisycutter? (2 mngs.; ref. Father Time figure at Lord’s and cricket delivery).

B. Franco: I eschew modern mowers. My, can these cut bent! (anag. incl. thes(e); bent² = dry grass).

M. Furman: E.g. Father Time? (Close analysis holds `Thyme’ wrongly spelt) (anag. in scan).

E. H. Furnival: He does the mowing without hiring newfangled machinery things (anag. less hiring, & lit.).

O. Greenwood: He disperses hay scent with the beginning of mowing (anag. incl. m, & lit.).

D. Harrison: See me wielding my snathe round about (c. in anag., & lit.).

R. J. Hooper: Grotty chem; nasty maths: I get exercise in them (anag.; math = mowing).

Mrs N. Jarman: Millet, for example, has been known to come under my stay (double mng.; ref. J.-F. M., painter of agrarian scenes, and m. grass).

B. K. Kelly: Old Father Time? Beginnings of new year celebrations seem to mean his end, alas, in confusion (anag. of first letters).

C. Loving: Mechanist with latest in hay making? Not I! (anag. incl. y less I, & lit.).

D. J. Macleod: Many hectares’ cutting are involved for him (anag. less are, & lit.).

Dr R. A. Main: Father Time, or possibly Thyme in one reading (anag. in scan).

D. F. Manley: A —— does a swing as any death comes (comp. anag. & lit.).

R. J. Palmer: One who works in midst of newmown hay scent (anag. incl. m, & lit.).

D. P. Shenkin: He coordinates many Techs – he’s responsible for maths (anag.; math = mowing).

Mrs E. J. Shields: One to leave nasty machine abandoned in shed (anag. less a in, & lit.).

Mrs B. Simmonds: In ghastly hymns etc. a symbol of mortality (anag. incl. m, & lit.).

Dr G. A. Styles: Many acres are cut with the combined harvester (anag. less are).

Dr E. Young: Ask me out to lay in haystacks, men! (comp. anag. & lit.; lay in = get in supply of).

HC

Miss M. R. Adcock, Dr P. M. J. Bennett, G. T. Berryman, P. Best, A. G. Bogie, E. W. Burton, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, E. Chalkley, C. A. Clarke, Mr A. Deas, G. W. Dowell, S. F. Edwardson, M. G. Elliott, Dr I. S. Fletcher, E. A. Free, F. D. Gardiner, Miss W. Gardiner, J. A. Gill, N. C. Goddard, S. Goldie, B. Greer, R. B. Harling, A. O. Harries, N. W. Harris, P. F. Henderson, V. G. Henderson, Mrs R. Herbert, J. P. H. Hirst, A. Hodgson, R. H. F. Isham, G. Johnstone, R. E. Kimmons, F. P. N. Lake, A. Lawrie, M. D. Laws, B. Leahy, J. P. Lester, C. J. Lowe, L. K. Maltby, D. P. M. Michael, C. H. Miller, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, J. D. Moore, J. J. Moore, D. O’D. Newbery, F. E. Newlove, Dr W. D. Oliver, L. W. G. Oxley, N. O’Neill, M. Palles-Clark, T. Parry, W. H. Pegram, M. L. Perkins, R. Prebble, G. S. Prentice, D. E. Rae, Rev A. Reed, J. Richardson, E. R. Riddle, Rear Adm W. T. C. Ridley, C. W. Robins, W. Rodgers, P. C. Rushton, B. F. Russell, A. J. C. Saunders, Mrs J. Saunders, C. A. Sears, Mrs C. Shaw, W. K. M. Slimmings, G. Snowden-Davies, F. B. Stubbs, H. Tinier, I. Torbe, J. C. Tuffield, M. J. C. Walker, Mrs M. P. Webber, J. F. N. Wedge, Mrs L. Williams, Dr R. L. Wynne, N. D. Young.
 

COMMENTS
About 490 entries (a fine turnout for July which usually shows a marked dropping off) with very few mistakes, mostly FRANKNESS for CRANKNESS which I can only ascribe to blind guesswork since there is no way it will fit the clue. By almost unanimous verdict this was an easier competition than usual. It certainly elicited entries from a whole crop of new competitors whom I’m delighted to welcome. What determines the easiness or difficulty of my puzzles is usually not deliberate planning so much as other factors over which I have less control, viz. the general tractability of the words to be clued (some can be real brutes) or, more intangibly, my general state of mind when compiling the thing, something that can in turn be influenced by quite unrelated things – the weather, pressure of work, children’s health etc. So whereas I strive for consistency I cannot guarantee the same level of difficulty week in, week out.
I don’t recall whether I have stumbled on the SCYTHEMAN/YACHTSMEN anagram before. I certainly didn’t think of it when I gave you this month’s word to clue. A large number of you, understandingly, had yachtsmen scuttling, overhauling, steering, upset by, adrift in or otherwise playing about with a cutter. The best of these are among the H.C.s, a longer list than usual for this reason. It is certainly a neat anagram but with no outstanding clue in this large group I had no alternative but to do as I did.
Picking the winner this month was easy. Special congratulations to Mr. Dexter for his second brilliant ‘anag. & lit.’ in a row, a simple idea but by no means an obvious one (either to think of or to solve). Picking second and third from the rest of the clues quoted was less easy. In the end I went for elegance of wording combined with a reasonable degree of difficulty. I would marginally prefer commas where Mr. Rhodes has dashes (which always seem to involve a longer pause) but regard this as a very small quibble. I had similarly vestigial doubts about Mr. Bates’s use of the word ‘clocked’ in the sense of (I suppose) `ornamented with a clock or clocks’. If anything it’s Old Father Time who does the ornamenting at Lord’s. (N.B. positioning of apostrophe in Lord’s, incidentally. Many left it out as though it were the upper house of Parliament. The cricket ground originally belonged to a gentleman called Lord )
 
Two other points from the V.H.C.s are worth making. Mr. Loving’s (otherwise excellent) clue uses ‘making’ intransitively to indicate an anagram. I’ve said on an earlier occasion that I don’t care terribly for this and I still don’t. The meanings given in Chambers that are relevant are, I suppose, ‘to flow’ and ‘to behave in order to deceive’ and it’s reasonable to allow it on those grounds. My point is that I can’t imagine a context in which one would actually use ‘making’ in speech or prose to mean what the clue requires it to mean. Secondly, in Mr. Macleod’s clue, ‘are’ might as doing double duty. For the cryptic reading of the clue it should read ‘Many hectares’ cutting are is (or are again) involved for him’. To make it work as it stands one must regard the clue as without a main verb in its cryptic sense, thus rendering the wording a little strained but not unacceptably so.
 
Incidentally I was reminded that I used SCYTHEMAN myself, in puzzle No. 94. My clue was ‘Time? Or Thyme, possibly? Take a close look round.’ No prizes, I think.
 
I’m very sorry about the continuing unavailability of the tie. I’ve been swamped with orders, particularly since the feature article appeared in the Observer Magazine. Over 550 orders received to date. Fresh stocks are now promised in ‘early August’. Just in case some slip-readers are still unaware of it, the tie is available in three colours (maroon, dark blue, dark green) at £2.30 each. Please specify colour and quantity required and enclose a large (i.e. long) stamped envelope with your name and address on. You wouldn’t believe how small and flimsy some of the envelopes I’ve received have been!