AZED CROSSWORD 384

OUTSPREADING

1.  Dr E. Young: As girt done up loosely? (anag. & lit.).

2.  R. J. Palmer: Puts a girdle on tight – must shed pounds – if figure’s this? (anag. less L; tight = drunk).

3.  S. Goldie: How the Empress kept her figure, doing rambles round rough pasture (anag. in anag.; ref. Wodehouse’s E. of Blandings).

VHC

C. Allen Baker: Getting fat? That’s duff or spud-eating (anag.; duff adj.).

F. D. H. Atkinson: Characteristic of middle age – can lead to stupor in aged (anag.).

M. Barnes: Sickly pseudo-grin at appearance of famous chestnut (anag.; ref. Longfellow: “Under the spreading c. tree”).

J. M. Brown: Like antlers, in proud English stag, extravagantly displayed (anag. incl. E).

Mrs M. J. Cansfield: Various points argued in broadcast (anag.).

A. J. Crow: I’m bulging – bit of paunch – on diet – sugar’s out (anag. incl. p).

A. L. Dennis: Eating spuds or putting away seconds possibly produces this sort of figure (anag. less s).

N. C. Dexter: Like an old chestnut or aged pun – it’s corny (anag.; ref. Longfellow: “Under the spreading c. tree”; corny = tipsy).

P. Drummond: Country rates and taxes 50% up with town sprawl (outs + (u)p + Reading; outs n. = payment of rates).

E. A. Free: Extending our span with diet – adding bit of girth, that is? (anag. + g, & lit.).

H. Hancock: Like a tree pigs eat round freely (anag.).

J. A. Holden: Unfolding, airing, folding a bedcover (spread in outing).

W. Islip: Big spanner’s feature does grip a nut awkwardly (anag.).

D. F. Manley: Honey’s ——: is she pregnant do you fancy? (comp. anag. & lit.).

D. P. M. Michael: Stretching the marge (double mng.; marge^1,2).

C. G. Millin: Diet with the minimum of protein, and no sugar, reduces such a figure (anag. incl. p).

T. J. Moorey: Growing adipose grunt horridly (anag.).

C. J. Morse: Expanding pound’s a tiger let loose (anag.).

D. A. Nicholls: Pound is great abroad: going even further (anag.).

H. Rainger: Wrestling grip used to an increasing extent (anag.).

H. L. Rhodes: That which is grandiose, put all over the place (anag. & lit.).

D. R. Robinson: Welcoming arms are – having a guest drop in on the hop (anag.).

Mrs E. J. Shields: Sound pair get runs – producing such a field? (anag.).

B. D. Smith: Blow-out in the middle of a day trip? That’s just like a spare tyre! (spread in outing).

Mrs J. Welford: This canopy needs well-hammered pegs around it (anag.).

M. G. Wilson: Broadcast praise unto God without love? That can’t be right! (anag. less 0).

HC

Dr K. W. Andrews, A. Bottoms, Mrs A. Boyes, Rev C. M. Broun, E. J. Burge, E. Chalkley, M. Coates, Mrs D. M. Colley, L. J. Davenport, R. Dean, Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh, C. M. Draper, O. M. Ellis, J. S. Fowlie, F. D. Gardiner, M. Graham, O. Greenwood, B. Greer, A. A. J. Griffiths, J. F. Grimshaw, A. Hall, Mrs P. C. Hawker, E. M. Holroyd, R. J. Hooper, J. I. James, Miss E. H. C. Jenkins, P. Jubb, M. D. Laws, C. W. Laxton, C. Loving, Mrs S. M. Macpherson, A. E. Mann, H. S. Mason, R. G. Massey, H. W. Massingham, L. May, A. J. McLean, J. J. Moore, R. S. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, F. E. Newlove, Dr J. D. Ogilvie, L. W. G. Oxley, N. O’Neill, F. R. Palmer, M. L. Perkins, A. Rivlin, T. E. Sanders, A. J. C. Saunders, Mrs J. Saunders, W. J. M. Scotland, Mrs J. Seville, S. B. Sidney, F. B. Stubbs, J. G. Stubbs, M. E. Ventham, S. B. Webb, C. E. Williams, D. B. Williams, G. Willmott, Dr L. Wynne.
 

COMMENTS
About 390 entries for a hardish puzzle. There were a few mistakes, mostly MUTE for LUTE (‘Stopper? It’s removed at start of greeting’) and BATHOLITE for BATHOLITH (‘A really solid lump, Vera, not one to abandon bithcuitth’). The latter was, I admit, a pretty outrageous clue but the idea of dealing with this awkward word in this way tickled me and I still feel it’s perfectly sound. It was objected to by some on the grounds that ‘bithcuitth’ should have been ‘biscuitth’, but surely someone with a lisp would pronounce s as th and th also as th. So faced with Bath Oli(ver)s he’d say Bath Oli(ver)th. Similarly he would hardly produce a lisped version of one s in ‘biscuits’ and not of the other. Those solvers who had MUTE for LUTE must have chosen it in the sense of a stop-consonant such as the g of greeting. But in what sense it is ‘removed’ I don’t follow. What of course I had in mind was SA (sex-appeal, ‘it’) being removed from the start of SALUTE.
 
I fancy that most solvers familiar with the Playfair code found this a relatively easy one to crack. I leaned over backwards to make the italicised clues easy (though it seems that LEAGUE still gave trouble) and gave plenty of helpful pairs for constructing the word square. The code word itself also was one that offered a very wide variety of clueing possibilities. Although Chambers only gives it as an adjective I’m quite sure its use as a verbal noun (or gerund) must be allowed (given, in any case, by the O. E. D.). Apart from anagrams (including some marvellous ones) the most popular one was SPREAD in OUTING but although this yielded many sound and neatly worded clues I always find a bit unsatisfactory clues of the charade type (breaking a word into parts to be treated consecutively or inserted one within the other, etc.) where one of the constituent parts is the same root as the whole word, however different their individual meanings may be. Thus a spread in the sense of a feast or lavish picnic is something that’s spread out, so clueing one by means of the other becomes a little colourless. Mr. Smith’s clue gets round this neatly by means of two nice puns, which immediately add that extra touch of sparkle (even if his exclamation mark adds little more than that he knows it!). But thank you all for a very stimulating and amusing entry. I only wish all those references to expanding waistlines hadn’t been so close to home!
 
A final apology to Mr. A. L. Dennis for a misprint in last month’s (SCYTHEMAN) slip. For ‘of’ read ‘off’.