AZED CROSSWORD 844

THEOLOGASTER (Misprints)

1.  J. B. Sweeting: No toper he, so large tot is out (Soper; anag.; ref. Lord S., popular preacher).

2.  C. J. Morse: As to those large cracks, a divide may appear (but not a deep one) (divine; anag.).

3.  D. Price Jones: ‘There’s loads to go wrong without Sod being involved’, reveals dabbler in Sod’s law (God’s; anag. less sod).

VHC

R. L. Baker: Lightweight canoeist lets go the oar in maelstrom (canonist; anag.).

M. Barley: A deficient SDP set right – the Owenites’ no 1 goal after regrouping (STP; anag. incl. r O; STP = Prof. of Theology).

Mrs K. Bissett: Cleric who’s quite potty? There’s a lot go like that (petty; anag.).

R. E. Boot: Stricken healer’s got to become a poor purveyor of relief (belief; anag.).

B. W. Brook: O, lor. ‘A’ set eight down overlooking one. Solvers need an apology for a pardon (parson; anag. less I; ref. puzzle; A = Azed).

E. J. Burge: ‘Lost heart … ego shattered …’ (Hardly material for hope!) (pope; anag.).

R. R. Greenfield: Not a deep divide? Without a bit of sounding I might be loth to agree (divine; anag. incl. s).

P. F. Henderson: Three goals to do it? My players need to show more application (prayers; anag.; do = beat up).

G. B. Higgins: To egret, shoal in turbulence means shallow diving (divine; anag.).

Mrs D. B. Jenkinson: One might teach with faith, hope but little charity: ‘Grottoes heal sick’ (clarity; anag.).

F. P. N. Lake: He hasn’t mastered the canoe, and there’s a log to dodge (canon; anag.).

J. C. Leyland: Lather stooge in slapstick? Lather soon washes off him (Luther; anag.).

D. F. Manley: Characters giving hotel rest a go will reform? One may have superficial understanding of players! (prayers; anag.; ref. England test team ‘curfew’).

J. R. C. Michie: Sample divine cooking of star hotel, Egon, without using name (simple; anag. less n; ref. E. Ronay).

T. J. Moorey: Bust altogether outsize, Parton needing firmer foundation? (Parson; anag. incl. OS; Dolly P.).

T. W. Mortimer: So-called canoeist? After short time he lets oar go, capsizing (canonist; t + anag.).

W. J. M. Scotland: See, throat is rough without the best part of a pint – swallow DD! (shallow; log³ in anag.; DD = Double Diamond beer).

M. C. Souster: Add together and also, getting muddled, divide: not very scholarly! (divine; anag.).

F. B. Stubbs: Ground hogs tolerate inept rooter among traditional worms (words; anag.).

K. Thomas: Subject of Gray poem – time’s ghost o’er lea winding (Bray; t + anag.; ref. ‘The Vicar of B.’ and G.’s Elegy).

M. H. E. Watson: Relax – forget R.I. – let go – to err is ah (swallow) divine (shallow; anag. less RI).

M. G. Wilson: Holy man whose death is questionable, playing hostage role after onset of turmoil (depth; t + anag.; ref. Terry Waite).

HC

C. J. Anderson, D. Ashcroft, J. D. D. Blaikie, H. J. Bradbury, Mrs A. R. Bradford, C. J. Brougham, S. Butterworth, E. Chalkley, C. A. Clarke, G. P. Conway, E. Dawid, Mrs P. Edwards, C. J. Feetenby, Dr I. S. Fletcher, H. Freeman, D. V. Harry, Mrs S. Hewitt, R. J. Hooper, E. M. Hornby, G. Johnstone, R. E. Kimmons, A. Lawrie, J. P. Lester, C. Loving, R. K. Lumsdon, Mrs J. Mahood, L. K. Maltby, H. W. Massingham, L. May, C. G. Millin, C. T. Milner, R. A. Mostyn, J. J. Murtha, D. F. Paling, F. R. Palmer, A. Rivlin, D. R. Robinson, M. G. Rupp, A. D. Scott, W. K. M. Slimmings, M. J. Tomkinson, D. Tompsett, G. Vinestock, J. F. N. Wedge, M. Whelan, Sir David Willcocks, D. Williamson, W. Woodruff.
 

COMMENTS
Only 226 entries. A hard puzzle, clearly, and not made any easier by my stupid slip in the preamble. There were of course eight misprinted down clues, not seven. Experienced solvers were probably not seriously misled as in ‘Misprints’ puzzles I always have a symmetrical arrangement of misprinted clues and solutions, viz, half of each in both across and down answers, with in competition puzzles the final misprinted clue supplied by you. On this occasion I foolishly copied word for word the preamble for the last previous Misprints competition (No. 757) in which, unusually, there were only 16 down words. I’m terribly sorry for all the prolonged hours of frustration I must have thus unwittingly caused, and hope that meets the requirement stipulated in Mr. Brook’s nice clue above. (I was a bit dubious of his use of ‘down’ as an anagram indicator, I suppose in the computer sense of ‘broken’, but accepted it as a sign of my contrition.)
 
Clues were nicely varied. THEOLOGASTER is a natural for anagrams (see above, where every quoted clue contains one), but settling on the word to misprint wasn’t quite so easy. Many of you used ‘parson/person’ which I wasn’t keen on, since apart from the fact that the two words are etymologically the same a parson is also a person, so that many such misprinted clues could read as if not misprinted, a weakness I feel.
 
Looking back at my comments on puzzle No. 757 I see I expressed disapproval of misprinting a lower-case letter as a capital (and vice versa), precisely what Mr. Sweeting has done in his admirably concise prize-winner. This time it caused me only a moment’s hesitation before deciding it was acceptable. I must be becoming more tolerant with the passing years.
 
A new edition of Chambers (entitled simply Chambers English Dictionary) is published on 1st August, price £15.95. I shall start using it in November but shall draw attention to words from it which I use that are not in the 1983 edition for several months thereafter. Azed solvers may like to start dropping hints about birthday or Christmas presents!