AZED CROSSWORD 952

STAR (Spoonerisms)

1.  R. S. Morse: One blessed with a Pierrot’s heart? (hero’s part; St a r, & lit.).

2.  V. G. Henderson: It’s blazing hot in Devon and there’s rush for the seaside in Caithness (dot in heaven; star²).

3.  R. Phillips: Phrase on the blunt side’s initial spur to fighting (blaze … front; s + tar³).

VHC

M. Barley: It’s hot in Devon: rush for the seaside! (dot in heaven; star²).

C. J. Brougham: Perhaps a ten-pack’ll make fiery throats less hot (pentacle; anag. less hot).

Mrs M. J. Cansfield: Tea-shop’s bill has egg on (she tops; ’s tar³).

R. Dean: Horrid spot of force in Middle East area (forehead … horse; hidden).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Jazz art’s groovy mate? (movie great; anag.).

S. C. Ford: One keeps bopping till one’s out of step (topping bill; sta(i)r).

H. J. Godwin: Tart chopper – second Jack? (chart topper; s tar; ref. J. the Ripper).

E. J. Griew: May a plain roll serve to accompany ratatouille for starters? (play a main role; first letters).

P. F. Henderson: A stew of this nature may do for restaurant diner demanding shark (shiner … dark; comp. anag.).

A. Lawrie: Blight in the loo from flow-back of water at stopcock (light ... blue; hidden rev.).

J. Leete: One in big rage stole —— deer. Might be arrested (stage role; comp. anag.).

H. S. Mason: Dream upon a desert island retiring – not I! (prima donna; rat (I)s (rev.)).

R. Moore: She’d the low spades plus the ace and king (lead the show; S t’ A R).

T. J. Moorey: One’s burly chassis is telling from behind (Shirley Bassey; rats (rev.)).

C. J. Morse: Mark, for instance, occupying force’s horrid indications of Saddam’s truly awful regime (horse’s forehead; first letters; ref. Iraq).

C. P. Rea: Summary way artist is recalled – ‘lacked ear’ maybe (act Lear; St + RA (rev.); ref. van Gogh).

T. E. Sanders: Shame in no way shown by Sun in retraction (name in show; St + Ra (rev.)).

A. J. Young: Amazing blasphemy – black mass on the Sabbath (a blazing mass for me; S + tar).

Dr E. Young: Bob and Jack have made it: have we been certain with Taylor in so big a role? (seen Burton; s + tar; ref. Robson, Charlton, Graham T.).

HC

M. Barnes, E. A. Beaulah, Ms F. A. Blanchard, Mrs A. R. Bradford, B. W. Brook, E. J. Burge, B. Burton, T. Clement, M. Coates, Mrs D. Colley, A. L. Dennis, N. C. Dexter, H. F. Dixon, M. Earle, L. E. Ellis, R. A. England, B. Franco, F. D. Gardiner, D. A. Ginger, S. Goldie, R. R. Greenfield, M. Greenwood, J. F. Grimshaw, G. B. Higgins, A. W. Hill, C. Hinton, T. M. Hoggart, G. Hughes, K. Hunter, R. Jacks, Mrs E. L. Jobling, G. Johnstone, C. Jones, J. F. Jones, C. W. Laxton, J. C. Leyland, P. Long, N. A. Longmore, M. A. Macdonald-Cooper, A. N. MacDougall, Mrs W. J. Mahood, D. F. Manley, P. W. Marlow, H. W. Massingham, J. R. C. Michie, W. L. Miron, A. C. Morrison, H. B. Morton, A. Nash, S. J. O’Boyle, F. R. Palmer, Ms E. Pick, M. C. C. Rich, E. R. Riddle, J. H. Russell, W. J. M. Scotland, A. J. Shields, Mrs E. J. Shields, B. Simon, W. K. M. Slimmings, D. M. Stanford, P. A. Stephenson, F. W. R. Stocks, P. L. Stone, G. Telfer, R. C. Teuton, G. A. Tomlinson, Mrs M. Vincent, Ms J. Ward, D. Williamson, D. A. Wilson.
 

COMMENTS
318 entries, virtually no mistakes. Most seemed to welcome the return of this type of special. In response to queries, I think I was the first to devise such a puzzle: the first Azed ‘Spoonerisms’ was No. 314 in April 1978, and No. 952 was the fourth to date. They are quite difficult to construct (CENAE – pronounced kay-nigh – was regrettable but unavoidable) but the clues are fun to do. A certain licence is tolerable here, I feel. It is doubtful whether Spooner would ever have said ‘nappier’ by mistake for ‘pannier’, for example, but in the context of the puzzle’s overall theme it seems acceptable. I was less tolerant of consonantal exchanges accompanied by sound changes, particularly from a voiced to an unvoiced ‘s’ or vice versa (eg. ‘gaseous mass/Messieurs gas’). If the puzzle type has a weakness it is that half the clues contain no definition, which probably troubles the purists. It troubles me a bit but I haven’t thought of a way round it yet. (I was however quite pleased with the discovery that TABERNACLE’s Spoonerism yielded a genuine compound ‘definition’ in ‘arrester gear’ – such pleasures are rare and all the more delightful for that.)
 
The clue-word gave very wide scope for Spoonerization, as intended. What was harder was dealing with the subsidiary indication for such a short word. Among Spoonerisms I admired but which just failed to convince with the remainder of the clue were ‘assistant done’ and ‘Custer beaten’. ‘Burly chassis’ is not, I think, original. The buxom Miss B. has had to endure jokes based on it throughout her career. But I couldn’t disallow its use here on those grounds alone. Mr Morse’s prize-winner is a gem of originality, though. Few tried to achieve an ‘& lit.’ within the Spoonerisms format, but this one shows that it can be done.
 
One competitor recounts a curious coincidence. While pondering on his clue to STAR in his car he switched on the car radio (Radio 3) to hear the presenter relate how his star violinist Issac Stern used to joke about his approach to music, describing it as ‘leaving no tone unSterned’! (Wasn’t it Diana Rigg who called her showbiz autobiography No Turn Unstoned). Clearly, to quote another competitor, lunar spivs! Thank you for all the fun.