AZED CROSSWORD 722

SUPERNACULUM

1.  D. F. Manley: Until disposal is 100% effective unending nuclear rumpus will brew (anag. less r; ref. Sellafield, etc.).

2.  W. Jackson: To the bottom, unmuscular, P.E.’s contortion (anag.).

3.  N. C. Goddard: ‘Un cru’ sample – the ultimate in chateau bottled? (anag. incl. u, & lit.).

VHC

K. Aaronovich: Un muscatel pur, drunk without a trace of taplash? (anag. less t, & lit.).

C. Allen Baker: For which the usual cup men take is bubbly (anag. incl. r, & lit.).

M. Barley: Bumper product of muscle and a run-up? (anag.).

Rev Canon C. M. Broun: A bumper has lifted, a cruel ’un, smashing Mike’s nose (’s up + anag. + M; ref. M. Gatting).

R. V. Dearden: This def. could read n. measured cupful (comp. anag. & lit.).

A. L. Dennis: Use calm run up for surprising bumper (anag.; surprise = confuse).

N. C. Dexter: It’s drunk as usual upon MC introducing ‘The Queen’ – nothing left over! (ER in anag. less 0, & lit.).

O. M. Ellis: Unseal rum? Cup drunk to the last drop (anag.).

D. S. Fielker: Use calm run up to disguise bumper (anag.).

H. Freeman: In Latin I am ‘ale-cup run over the edge’ (anag. in sum (L.); over the edge = breaking down).

B. Greer: To us introducing such a bumper somehow makes team unscrupulous (i.e. anag. is inside to us).

P. F. Henderson: I’m unmuscular, unco-ordinated round gym, becoming completely drained (PE in anag.).

M. Hill: Sort of nectar, dispensed per cm. Unusual! (anag.).

R. J. Hooper: It beats usual cup men take (anag. incl. r, & lit.).

G. Johnstone: Bumper rumpus! Clean up short pitching (anag. incl. u(p); ref. cricket).

R. Kimmons: Sample last of cru – un cru ‘exceptionnel’: a fine drink (anag. incl. u).

L. May: Drink clue, ‘rum’, ‘An odd nectar’ (sup + anag.).

T. W. Mortimer: I brim with health, having limbered up muscle with a run (anag.).

R. J. Palmer: It’s peer not to be found around in drink, the ultimate in fine liquor (Lucan (rev.) in sup e rum, & lit.; ref. Lord L.).

J. B. Sweeting: Mulled ales – ugh! Out! Rum punch could be this, though (comp. anag. & lit.).

M. H. E. Watson: Use calm run-up to disguise a bumper (anag.).

R. J. Whale: It will make ale-cup run out (in total) (anag. in sum, & lit.).

S. Woods: New form of champers, unusual, has gone – it’s too good to leave (anag. less has).

HC

R. H. Adey, W. Anderson, R. L. Baker, Mrs P. A. Bax, J. D. D. Blaikie, B. W. Brook, C. J. Brougham, E. J. Burge, C. Caveney, C. A. Clarke, Mrs J. M. Critchley, M. Davies, E. Dawid, Dr V. G. I. Deshmukh, P. S. Elliott, G. & J. Ferris, M. B. Fisher, Dr I. S. Fletcher, D. Gardiner, S. Gaskell, A. G. Greig, D. V. Harry, S. Henderson, V. G. Henderson, Mrs R. Herbert, P. Hudspeth, W. Islip, B. C. James, A. Lawrie, M. D. Laws, J. W. Leonard, H. R. Lockhart, A. Logan, J. Love, S. G. MacDonald, L. K. Maltby, H. S. Mason, J. P. Mernagh, D. P. M. Michael, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, J. J. Moore, T. J. Moorey, C. J. Morse, R. A. Mostyn, R. F. Naish, F. E. Newlove, D. R. Newth, S. J. O’Boyle, F. R. Palmer, G. Perry, Mrs A. Price, Miss I. M. Raab, G. E. Rawlings, D. R. Robinson, T. E. Sanders, W. J. M. Scotland, W. K. M. Slimmings, J. R. Stagles, D. M. Stanford, B. Stuart, F. B. Stubbs, D. H. Tompsett, Mrs M. Vincent, R. Walkley, Mrs M. P. Webber, Ms B. J. Widger, M. Woolf.
 

COMMENTS
437 entries, with very few mistakes (mostly RAMA for CAMA and LOCI for FOCI). I am somewhat shame-faced about the nonce-word ‘over-permiate’ used in my clue to EVAPORIMETER. Even if this existed it would have to be ‘over-permeate’, a point I totally overlooked in my eagerness to find a one-word anagram for a 12-letter word. I excuse myself on the rather thin pretext that since the word doesn’t exist some poetic licence is permissible. Does anyone remember Ximenes’s priceless creation SCHIZOTHECALS as an anagram of the intractable ESCHSCHOLTZIA?
 
SUPERNACULUM is one of those delightfully grotesque words which would probably sink without trace were it not for crossword competitions like this. Competitors clearly relished the not inconsiderable challenge of doing it justice (those three Us for a start!), understandably concentrating on the noun usage. A few spoiled otherwise excellent clues by treating the word as though it meant a bumper in cricket (‘Flighty ’un, lump-causer!’). The ambiguity of the word ‘bumper’ can only be exploited if the word itself is used in the clue, otherwise there is no definition of the answer, only a definition of its homonym (a sort of clue to a clue) which is quite unfair.
 
Many of you found the NUCLEAR RUMPUS near-anagram. Very few exploited it in a completely satisfying way. As I’ve remarked before the aim should always be to achieve a comfortable match (syntactically and semantically) between the cryptic part of your clue and the definition part. Not to spare Mr Manley’s blushes has here achieved an almost seamless fit. The definition part is cleverly disguised in the first five words, the cryptic part economically incorporated in the last five (with, for syntactic purposes, an ellipted ‘that’ or ‘which’ understood between the two parts), and the whole reads naturally and unforcedly like an item in a topical news report. Hardly anyone used the UNMUSCULAR PE anagram though I’d have expected more. I have no objection by the way to ‘unmuscular’ though dictionaries fail to acknowledge it. It strikes me as a perfectly feasible formation using the endlessly productive un- affix.
 
Nobody remembered, or said they remembered, that I’d included SUPERNACULUM in a puzzle not all that long ago (No. 677, 21 April 1985). I’d completely forgotten and only stumbled on it by chance when it was too late to change the clue-word. I do try as far as my imperfect memory permits to give you words I haven’t clued myself. This time I took care not to look at my clue until I’d finished judging the competition. And what was it, you ask? Word for word the same as Mr Ellis’s above, but with a colon for his question-mark.
 
The majority who commented said they would prefer three weeks between the monthly competition and the announcement of results for it if they could be sure of that period remaining constant. Regretfully I feel I must plump for that. The postal service is simply too unreliable for me to give due attention to all entries on a two-weekly basis. The wheels have been set in motion.