AZED CROSSWORD 84

MIRLIGOES / ILL-OMENED

1.  K. W. Johnson: Jock’s dizziness, caused by topless female in centre of motorway, sets off unfortunate, mile long, mostly end-on crashes ((g)irl in M1 + goes; anag. of mile l end-o(n)).

2.  E. Chalkley: Dizziness of Scots girl, one troubled with some unfortunate ailment, rambling about need to ring doctor up (anag. incl. I; ill + MO (rev.) in anag.).

3.  Mrs S. M. Macpherson: Sinister outcome of oilmen led astray staggers me – oil-rigs being sabotaged (anag.; anag.; giddiness = staggers).

VHC

Mrs A. J. Bell: Nasty old men lie with unfortunate girls – love ’em I mean. Such giddiness! (anag.; anag. incl. 0; mean = out of sorts).

R. S. Caffyn: Doom-laden, coming back from garden, emollients dispel soil, grime, vertigo (hidden rev.; anag.).

T. Dwyer: Unhappy, sick with prognosticated dizziness: some girl I got into trouble (ill omened; anag.).

Mrs W. Fearon: Unlucky ailment predicted – giddiness. Some upset going round whirligig, one party taken off (ill omened; whirligig minus Whig in anag.).

Dr B. Greer: Inauspicious, disorganized, disheartened Lenin model Russian community’s still without vitality in post-revolutionary state (anag. incl. Le(n)in; mir + go in lies; ’s still = lies).

P. Holtby: Damned silly old men lie absurdly grim lies about love experienced in the heather after a fling (anag.; 0 in anag.).

E. Hornby: Whirling some girl I vexed unhappy, queer “dollie-men” (anag.; anag.).

A. D. Legge: Some girl, I – liberated – a product of revolution; star-crossed, left with leaderless females, I showed the way around (anag.; l (w)omen in I led).

T. A. Martin: Dizzy dollie men? I’m filled with foreboding. For dizziness, some girl I fancy is the answer (anag.; anag.).

C. J. Morse: Some girl I wronged in a giddy spell – most unfortunate – has done me wrong after wrong (anag.; ill + anag.).

F. E. Newlove: Old men lie here distraught, doomed; lie so grim, so forlorn, they make the senses reel (anag.; anag.).

Dr R. J. Palmer: Effect of too much whisky? With a litre in drunken orgies, I’m hapless, sick, need MO badly (l. in anag.; ill + anag.).

W. H. Pegram: Giddiness troubling gomeril is unfortunate ailment – need MO badly (anag.; ill + anag.).

Mrs E. M. Phair: Unfortunate, this – crazy oil-men led ’em; oil rigs wrecked – a sympton of malaise in Scotland (anag.; anag.).

K. Reed: Old men lie injured – a disastrous result of some scrimmaging round middle of whirligig? (anag.; (wh)irlig(ig) in anag. & lit.).

G. D. Sanders: Dizziness created by some girl I fancy – unfortunate moll I need badly (anag.; anag.).

J. Steele: Vertigo affects some – one girl unlucky; Mollie sways, comes to sad end (anag. incl. I; anag. + anag.).

Brig R. F. E. Stoney: Confused state of some girl I wrongly made sick with love over me has bad end threatening (anag.; ill + 0 + me + anag.).

HC

C. Allen Baker, W. G. Arnott, A. J. Bulman, E. J. Burge, C. O. Butcher, A. H. P. Cardew, T. G. Cordes, Mrs M. P. Craine, A. J. Crow, G. Cuthbert, Flt Sgt J. Dromey, Mrs G. Ford, M. A. Furman, F. D. Gardiner, J. Goldman, J. J. Goulstone, F. Greener, R. B. Harling, D. V. Harry, J. G. Hull, H. W. Jenkins, R. E. Kimmons, Dr P. D. King, Mrs P. M. V. Lloyd, C. J. Lowe, R. M. Luty, Dr R. Majdalany, D. MalColm, D. F. Manley, S. M. Mansell, H. S. Mason, D. P. M. Michael, E. J. Miller, J. L. Moss, J. N. Nesbitt, M. Newman, J. T. Shaughnessy, F. B. Stubbs, D. J. Thorpe, G. A. Tomlinson, I. Torbe, J. F. N. Wedge, S. E. Woods, W. J. Youngson.
 

Comments
340 entries – a good effort for a harder-than-average puzzle – with 38 incorrect, quite a few through careless slips. The most common error was STEAD or STEDD for STEED. The first two spellings I simply couldn’t accept; for while any one of the three will do for a farm, only STEED also means a horse and therefore satisfies both parts of the clue.
 
Anagrams, understandably, were plentiful, but unfortunately produced very little variety. In addition to having numerous OIL MEN LED astray and OLD MEN LIE abominably, I was repeatedly being embarrassed by SOME GIRL I got into trouble! I have included above what I considered the neatest versions of these, and those which just couldn’t be separated had to be relegated to the long HC list.
 
There was far more unsoundness than usual this time – largely, I suspect, because many competitors, especially new ones (to whom a cordial welcome!) failed to grasp the essential requirement of this type of clue: that is, to have two complete clues side by side, but not joined by extra words which have nothing to do with either clue, such as ‘and’, ‘so’, ‘but’ ‘when’, etc. A fair number of solvers also seemed to think that, since the break between the two clues wasn’t necessarily indicated, this was an occasion for introducing misleading or incorrect punctuation elsewhere too. A careful study of the successful clues above will, I hope, be helpful on these points.
 
Finally, a note on the question of difficulty. A few very experienced solvers commented on 1 Across. One complained that its clue was so easy that it largely removed the ‘Right and Left’ problem; a second thanked me for my helpfulness in not making it too difficult: and a third said that 1 Across was one of the last that he solved. I’m sure there’s a lesson here somewhere!