AZED CROSSWORD 750

SALMAGUNDY (THLMAGUY/OULMAGUY)

1.  W. K. M. Slimmings: A spicy jumble this type of square with happy laugh about thousand by X’s successor (T + M in anag. + Y; X = Ximenes).

2.  F. P. N. Lake: Looking for odds? Nae argument! Fifty to one the chap’ll encompass 1,000 (ou + M in L a guy; ref. AZ series).

3.  N. C. Goddard: Ugly hat with a touch of mildew should be thrown out for jumble (anag. incl. m).

VHC

W. G. Arnott: Burlesque after Corelli’s favourite (but not English) medley (Th(E)lma + guy; see names in C).

Mrs A. Blanchard: Bearing off unusual seat, soul mate Azed’s capital chap, a tasteful dish (anag. less anag. + A + guy; ref. presentation at 750th dinner of antique chair to AZ).

J. M. Brown: A medley with nothing lacking from a mogul – You! (anag. less 0).

E. J. Burge: Odd characters in hotel out to mark one chap’s miscellany of offerings (anag. of h t l + m a guy; ref. AZ dinner).

E. Chalkley: Section of colourful magazine you worried about had to have its parts chopped and mixed up (ul mag in anag.; ref. theme of puzzle).

C. A. Clarke: Taking off cap to Azed, laugh at my faltering pastiche (anag. less A).

N. C. Dexter: Gaily one leaves Randolph (finally!) with tum well treated – tasty dinner (anag. less I incl. h; ref. AZ dinner at R. Hotel, Oxford).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Botham the man dropped being mixed up with ugly hash (anag. less bo).

M. Goodyear: Perhaps a goulash may have been stirred. Has this its makings? (comp. anag. & lit.).

J. F. Grimshaw: You want a meal where diverse elements meet. Time’s hard and long before 1000 – that’ll take an age coming around! (t H l M + yuga (rev.)).

G. Johnstone: Without hesitation my laughter hailed Azed’s savoury offering (anag. less er).

D. F. Manley: Not even bits of an hotel’s grub may supply what Azed 750 solvers must relish! (anag. of odd letters; supply adv.).

H. W. Massingham: A blend, unco malt Scotch, ultimately has one on fire (anag. incl. h + guy).

C. G. Millin: Three quarters of a person’s thousand: one man’s miscellany ((s)oul M a guy).

D. R. Robinson: This fairly translated could give you gallimaufry (comp. anag. & lit.).

T. Russell: The short/long, old woman/young man – what a mixture! (th(e) l ma guy).

W. J. M. Scotland: Taking over a minute to consume bull’s eye, who could possibly fancy a dolly mixture? ((b)ul(l) in a mo (rev.) + guy).

Mrs E. J. Shields: Open University graduate (a Fellow) enrols student for a diversified course (L in OU MA guy).

D. M. Stanford: Offering that’s involved Ophelia’s heart being lost to Hamlet, deranged chap (anag. less e + guy).

R. J. Whale: Mainly tough puzzling found between No. 1 and this! (comp. anag. incl. I, & lit.; ref. AZ series).

D. Williamson: This fairly freely gives you gallimaufry (comp. anag. & lit.).

M. G. Wilson: Glum Athey missing English tour selection (anag. less E; ref. Bill A., cricketer).

HC

D. R. Appleton, E. A. Beaulah, Mrs A. R. Bradford, C. J. Brougham, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, Ms A. Brown, C. J. & M. P. Butler, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, S. D. Chalk, E. S. Clark, Mrs D. M. Colley, Mrs J. M. Critchley, W. Davies, R. V. Dearden, P. Drummond, M. Earle, C. Edmunds, O. M. Ellis, C. J. Feetenby, H. Freeman, F. D. Gardiner, J. Gill, S. Goldie, R. R. Greenfield, O. Greenwood, E. J. & S. D. Griew, D. V. Harry, P. F. Henderson, V. G. Henderson, C. Hobbs, T. M. Hoggart, S. Holgate, Dr J. M. Hutchinson, J. I. & B. C. James, M. S. Taylor & N. C. Johns, A. H. Jones, Mrs M. Jones, A. Lawrie, C. J. Lowe, Miss J. S. Lumsden, R. K. Lumsdon, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, J. McKee, T. J. Moorey, F. Moss, R. J. Palmer, L. Paterson, R. Phillips, D. Price Jones, B. Roe, R. Rogan, Ms N. Rowlinson, T. E. Sanders, A. D. Scott, J. M. Sharman, R. W. Smith, J. R. Stagles, F. B. Stubbs, J. B. Sweeting, C. M. Tatham, K. Thomas, Mrs J. E. Townsend, A. J. Wardrop, M. H. E. Watson, Mrs M. P. Webber, J. Webster, D. Willcocks, G. H. Willett, M. A. L. Willey, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
323 entries, almost no mistakes. Though the theme (and my not too explicit preamble) foxed a few, the penny seems to have dropped at about the right time for most, with subsequent solving proving not quite to arduous as might at first have seemed likely. Knowing that certain answers might contain TH, OU, SA or a combination of these, and that certain others must contain ND, must have helped considerably, even though the distortions produced some pretty grotesque non-words. The grid was devilishly difficult to construct and I came near to abandoning the idea several times; what kept me persevering was the inability to think of any other way of marking the 750 milestone. (The title ‘Commuter Special’, by the way, was meant to suggest a special puzzle for seven-fifty – a time when many out-of-town commuters catch their daily up-train – involving the commutation of certain component elements. SALMAGUNDY – replete with Ximenean echoes – contained two relevant elements and fitted the mood of the piece.) If your comments are anything to go by the whole mélange seems to have suited the occasion quite well. I suspect that the clue-writing part of the exercise proved considerably tougher than the solving, notwithstanding the extra element of choice involved, and though I read many acceptable entries I was hard pressed to decide on the leading contenders. I hope I will be forgiven for going, in many cases, for clues which acknowledged the special nature of the occasion, sometimes with complimentary reference to myself.
 
The occasion was also marked, of course, by a special dinner at the Randolph Hotel in Oxford, kindly and efficiently organised by Don and Sue Manley and attended by some 150 solvers and friends, including the new Editor of the Observer Magazine Ms Jo Foley. The sumptuous meal, with wines supplied by The Observer, was followed by speeches from Richard Palmer, John Silverlight, Colin Dexter and myself, all of which were faithfully recorded by David (D. V.) Harry who has offered to copy his recording for anyone who sends him a C90 tape and stamped addressed envelope for its return, and he asks people to specify Dolby or non-Dolby. The dinner was a very happy occasion for myself and my family, three generations of which were present, and my wife and I were extremely touched by all the messages of goodwill from solvers both present and absent. In particular I am enormously grateful for the large cheque that was presented to me, to which so many of you contributed. Part of the money was spent on an antique beechwood desk chair of the ‘smoker’s bow’ variety, something that I have long coveted and on which I now sit as I write. I hope it will give me fundamental support in the creation of many more crosswords yet
 
I must finish on a sad note. As many of you will already have heard Allen Baker (better known, perhaps, as C. Allen Baker) died some weeks ago in hospital after a short illness. Over the years since the start of the Ximenes series he was a phenomenally successful competitor in Ximenes and Azed competitions, maintaining in addition a wonderfully detailed set of records of his own and others’ performances. In recent years he helped me by checking the yearly results for the annual honours lists, as an invaluable long-stop behind my unreliable wicket-keeping. Many will miss his brilliant clues; I shall miss him as a friend and the most courteous of competitors, and I shall treasure the large thesaurus-type crossword dictionary belonging to CAB that I have been asked to accept in memory of him.