AZED CROSSWORD 814

SPOUSAGE

1.  M. S. Taylor & N. C. Johns: What’ll break down as one ups and goes (anag. incl. a, & lit.).

2.  T. W. Mortimer: For which misogamists’ term’s ‘potty institution’? (s po usage, & lit.).

3.  D. M. Stanford: President goes gallivanting round States. It’s not for Nancy (USA in anag. incl. P; ref. N. Reagan; see Nancy in C.).

VHC

M. Barley: You’d lay short odds on a ring being used here (SP O usage, & lit.).

Mrs A. R. Bradford: Unpleasant matter without love – wise man comprehends that (0 in pus in sage, & lit.).

C. J. & M. P. Butler: Union practice supports operations being held up (ops (rev.) + usage).

C. J. Feetenby: Something for better etc. – old custom (SP o usage, & lit.; ref. wedding vow).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: For example, since being split up so, is this over? (e.g. + as + anag. (all rev.), & lit.).

H. Freeman: Wanting kids before the ring? The done thing’s after – in this (sp + O + usage, & lit.).

N. C. Goddard: The tying of the knot could be that of Gordius, initially…, so pause! (anag. incl. G).

P. F. Henderson: What’s customary after love (and with no kids beforehand!) (sp + 0 + usage, & lit.).

J. G. Hull: Marriage without issue? Love needs practice (sp + 0 + usage).

A. Lawrie: For example when ‘Unionist’ operations arise? (e.g. as U ops (all rev.), & lit.).

D. F. Manley: Such may include page – then our objective’s to get on through lifetime? (p in so + us + age, & lit.).

L. May: Old custom to follow on wanting children (sp + o + usage, & lit.).

T. J. Moorey: Combination often arranged in Pakistan? Gripping appeal, finger goes up! (SA in anag.; finger vt; ref. arranged marriages, umpiring rumpus).

C. J. Morse: Old custom – and without having children beforehand (sp + o + usage, & lit.).

R. F. Naish: Just a bit of outdated convention, having no kids before this? (sp + o + usage, & lit.).

R. O’Donoghue: Love interest faded after childless marriage (sp + 0 + usage).

L. G. D. Sanders: Marriage without issue? Love requires practice (sp + 0 + usage).

W. J. M. Scotland: Without offspring? Generation needs love and endless ‘practice’ in bed? (0 us(e) in sp age; marriage bed).

A. J. Shields: Match goes up in chaos about first signs of Shakoor’s arbitrariness (anag. incl. S a; ref. umpiring rumpus).

Dr N. Smith: Where bridesman holds ring before us on Sabbath? (S + O us in page, & lit.).

R. J. Whale: Healthy institution having exchange of ring for a custom (spa with O for a + usage, & lit.).

HC

K. Aaronovich, S. Armstrong, R. L. Baker, F. Bastian, E. A. Beaulah, J. D. D. Blaikie, Mrs F. A. Blanchard, R. Brain, C. J. Brougham, J. M. Brown, Mrs M. J. Cansfield, P. Cargill, C. A. Clarke, J. H. Dingwall, G. F. Drabble, D. M. Duckworth, M. Earle, C. M. Edmunds, 0. M. Ellis, O. M. Ellis, G. & J. Ferris, S. Goldie, R. R. Greenfield, J. F. Grimshaw, M. W. Innes, R. H. F. Isham, W. Islip, W. Jackson, Mrs M. Kissen, F. P. N. Lake, C. J. Lowe, R. K. Lumsdon, P. W. Marlow, H. W. Massingham, I. Matthew, H. J. McClarron, C. G. Millin, W. L. Miron, H. B. Morton, R. A. Mostyn, F. E. Newlove, Mrs S. M. Odber, R. J. Palmer, N. H. Parmee, W. H. Pegram, P. H. Ransom, H. L. Rhodes, H. R. Sanders, T. E. Sanders, A. D. Scott, Dr W. I. D. Scott, D. P. Shenkin, D. D. R. Sibbald, W. K. M. Slimmings, B. D. Smith, J. B. Sweeting, D. H. Tompsett, Dr I. Torbe, V. C. D. Vowles, E. Ward, A. J. Wardrop, M. J. Watts, Mrs M. P. Webber, D. Williamson, Dr E. Young.
 

COMMENTS
About 350 entries, with the biggest crop of mistakes for some time, almost all them STERN for STARN (‘Sailor’s back in equivalent of slough’). The clue is certainly no masterpiece (s + lough = (approximately) s + tarn, both lough and tarn being lakes) and employs a not particularly familiar device, but I stand by its soundness and fail to see how STERN could he arrived at from the wording. The whole puzzle struck many as of above-average difficulty and I must accept this verdict. As usual it is not easy for a setter to be objective in assessing the overall level of difficulty of any single puzzle. Clues come out the way they do for all sorts of reasons (a significant one being the need to find a new way of dealing with an oft-treated word). Another clue which came in for criticism this time was that for CUTEY (‘Streetwise chick unobtrusively is on it, we hear’), the reference being to ‘on the Q.T.’ (lurking in Chambers at quiet), the difference in stress-pattern (trochee versus spondee) making a homophone-type clue questionable. I take the point; the thought occurred to me when I wrote the clue but I reckoned that the two were near enough in sound – many people naturally lengthen a final y anyway – and let it stand. Solvers may like to bear this in mind for the Spoonerisms competition puzzle coming up in (I think) April.
 
SPOUSAGE, perhaps surprisingly, proved an awkward customer to clue in an original way, though no one complained about its intractability. The abbreviation sp (= sine prole) clearly came in handy and threw up some interesting evidence on changing social attitudes to children born out of wedlock.
 
No time for further comment on this puzzle as Christmas and January competitions are both looming large. Many thanks to all who sent Christmas cards and greetings to myself and my family. May I in turn wish you all good health and happy solving in 1988.
 
A final thank you for the appreciative comments on the recent non-competition Playfair. I think DERMATOGLYPHICS is the longest Playfair-type word in Chambers. Can anyone beat it? My friend Will Shortz of Games magazine in New York tells me he has been searching for years (and so far in vain) for a product called SCHULTZ BAKING-POWDER!