| Comments on the clues |
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| 1. A bi man bursting with libido, spurning Dee but desiring Emma and Maurice among others |
| 1. | Nice anagram. Def needs a ? I think | | 2. | Haha – points for the amusement factor! | | 3. | An entertaining short story |
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| 2. A bimbo ailing? No good getting upset. Could be annual fever. (11) |
| 1. | Good wordplay, and definition is OK, although, not having children, I have no idea what "annual fever" signifies. |
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| 3. A passion for undercover work resulting in many charges, … and sentences (11) |
| 1. | I don't understand the reference to charges. | | 2. | I keep looking at this clue and can't see how it works. |
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| 4. A worm’s love of leaves? |
| 1. | This gave me a broad grin | | 2. | Made me smile |
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| 5. Abridged holy book , primarily inspiring and old , a main cause for shelf-stacking? |
| 1. | Bibliomania is derived from Bible | | 2. | I don't see how 'cause' can indicate an anagram |
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| 6. Alibi in a mob cooking the books excessively |
| 1. | The clue does not seem to define Bibliomania | | 2. | & lit? I can't see how this sentence defines bibliomania. | | 3. | I like the anagram; not sure if 'the books excessively' provides a fair definition | | 4. | In what way is this &Lit? |
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| 8. Animal, hominid, regularly crazy with books |
| 1. | Crazy 'with' books doesn't sound natural | | 2. | not a pure &lit – the surface describes a bibliomaniaC rather than his passion | | 3. | Does the definition have the right part of speech? The clue as a whole is describing the subject, a human animal, and not their bibliomania |
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| 9. Arab follows detailed Bible interpretation initially – a passion for books! (11) |
| 1. | Bibli – of the Bible. Same root |
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| 10. Being mad about books androgynous British rugby player takes old lady to Iowa (11) |
| 1. | The wordplay is too complicated for me, sorry. (Not to mention the bizarre surface.) | | 2. | This only happens in crossword clues | | 3. | Slightly far-fetched, but amusing | | 4. | I am happy to accept the British is not doing double duty – the surface is nonsense though |
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| 11. Book love one librarian developed after giving up rights for first manuscript (11) |
| 1. | Good construction . Should have been first of manuscript | | 2. | "first manuscript" for M is horrible! | | 3. | Super clue |
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| 12. Book one topless bimbo to dance with uninitiated Taliban (11) |
| 1. | Looks like an interesting book, although rather too obscure. I like the humour though. | | 2. | Obscure def, and a most unlikely scenario | | 3. | An entertaining scene and a tight clue. Book is perhaps too generic as a definition of bibliomania? I have reservations about using bimbo | | 4. | Bit of a stretch to assume anyone's heard of that book, I feel. |
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| 13. Condition a librarian embodies, eclipsing readers' passion for books |
| 1. | Being strict, a second anagrind for "readers" is required here, but still worth a point. | | 2. | Good idea, but needs to indicate the subtracted letters are out of order | | 3. | Great clue! |
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| 15. Crazy minion Ali Baba has not an ardour for books |
| 1. | The surface is just clunky and not quite English |
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| 16. "Destroy bio lab!" —I. Amin's book, Obsession |
| 1. | Ingenious anagram but fragmented and unconvincing surface. | | 2. | But Idi Amin never wrote a book called Obsession and why is the book wanting destruction of bio labs |
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| 17. Good book edited by an Arab with a passion for the written word (11) |
| 1. | 'Edit' doesn't mean 'delete last letter' | | 2. | Needs to be ‘one Arab’ | | 3. | Never heard of Iomani … Omani? I'd have thought an editor would not remove a letter to leave a non word – abridged might have been better | | 4. | On the long side, but good wordplay. |
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| 18. Graduate has no alibi. "I'm involved in a craze for books" (11) |
| 1. | Two seemingly unrelated statements. |
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| 19. Graduate’s extraordinarily glib — not good, I cry over humanity’s obsession with books |
| 1. | "Humanity's obsession with books" is not something I recognize. |
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| 20. Hankering for storied treasures, Ali Baba's mission in disarray, not having a satisfactory small scout. |
| 1. | How are you indicating subtracting only the initial letters of "satisfactory small scout"? |
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| 21. Hence one into books and literature endlessly scouring nation's capital? |
| 1. | Hence? | | 2. | Original idea and good use of ‘one into books’ | | 3. | I don't understand this at all! |
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| 22. I am in Bilbao madly collecting books |
| 1. | Great anagram spot, poor definition, unless you allow "madly" to do double duty. |
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| 24. "I love going after endless collection of books", man accepted following onset of intellectual condition |
| 1. | In a semi-&lit part of the clue is the wordplay and the whole is the definition. Here it's just the very weak "condition". | | 2. | Needs some indication that it’s semi-& lit., e.g. ‘… condition – such as this?’ |
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| 26. "I'm anal, I love books" – one suffering ——— (11) |
| 1. | Do only professional setters use this blank space device? Minor quibble – one would suffer FROM bibliomania. | | 2. | A good & lit clue, skilfully and economically constructed | | 3. | Easy to solve but ingenious | | 4. | The cleverest & lit. | | 5. | Elegant and concise – does it all! | | 6. | Definition is of a bibliomaniaC, so sadly not an &lit |
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| 27. I'm in a bio-lab cultivating a passion for bookworms (11) |
| 1. | "Cultivating" doesn't work as an an anagrind here; transitive verbs should precede their object. | | 2. | Lovely idea, but I would have much preferred an intransitive verb such as "developing" as anagrind. | | 3. | Great idea. The anagram material is ‘being cultivated’ rather than ‘cultivating’ I think | | 4. | Considerably better than the other "bio lab" clue… which was my own. |
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| 28. I'm in Bilbao — travelling's a passion |
| 1. | Definition is too vague, and defines bibliophilia rather than bibliomania. | | 2. | My favourite of the Bilbao clues | | 3. | Others do this better by stating what sort of passion it is |
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| 29. I'm in Bilboa madly embracing a passion for books (11) |
| 1. | Embracing does not work as a link word between wordplay and definition | | 2. | Defines bibliophilia rather than bibliomania. | | 3. | Best of the Bilbao venturers, I think. |
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| 30. In a lib. I am book mad — showing this, OK? |
| 1. | Pity there isn't a better way to indicate "lib", and what purpose does "OK" serve? | | 2. | A neat and ingenious clue | | 3. | Neat anagram & lit., though the ‘OK?’ at the end is rather forced |
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| 31. Indian wife inspiring liberal Arab, one showing extreme fondness for books (11) |
| 1. | Bibi is too obscure and I'm not sure it means "wife" exactly. | | 2. | Some original (Bibi) and interesting wordplay. |
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| 32. Interestingly, Namibia boils down, in the end, to a state of people obsessed with books |
| 1. | Good if rather wordy definition, but "interestingly" is a horrible anagrind. | | 2. | The coupling of Namibia with 'state' is very nice but "down in the end" for "drop the last letter" feels a bit of a stretch |
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| 33. Italian bimbo lacks time to develop love of books |
| 1. | Defines bibliophilia rather than bibliomania. | | 2. | Is that all that’s lacking? | | 3. | A well constructed clue (albeit using a word that does little for gender parity) |
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| 34. Lack of volume control? |
| 1. | Nice cryptic definition, and a welcome relief from all that convoluted wordplay. | | 2. | The best CD style clue in this competition | | 3. | Good cryptic def., but I prefer a whole clue | | 4. | My favourite of the volume control clues | | 5. | Really nice pun – would benefit from a second half to give the solver more to work with | | 6. | Short and effective. |
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| 35. Liam, Bob and Iain developed a passion for collecting books |
| 1. | Defines bibliophilia rather than bibliomania. | | 2. | Ha – good spot! | | 3. | Original but a little bit too straightforward wordplay. |
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| 36. Librarian's disease? |
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| 37. Main alibi boy detailed sadly leaves a lot to be desired |
| 1. | "Leaves a lot to be desired" doesn't work as the definition. | | 2. | Definition is very ingenious – not sure how fair it is, but I like it! | | 3. | I like the use of 'leaves a lot to be desired' |
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| 38. Man wearing apron stirring aioli is fancy for a librarian (11) |
| 1. | Defines bibliophilia rather than bibliomania. | | 2. | Nicely disguised definition although not sure how fair it is | | 3. | Delightful scene and well coded |
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| 39. MC leaves minicab with a mobile endlessly vibrating showing passion for texts |
| 1. | The 'mobile' + 'texts' combination is nice | | 2. | I like “passion for texts” | | 3. | Best of the mobile/text clues |
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| 40. Mobile libraries abominated tidying van readers left in disorder. |
| 1. | Definition is too vague, and I don't see how libraries can abominate anything. | | 2. | It's a good story, but these subtractive anagrams get less and less fair the longer they are |
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| 41. Must always turn up volume with this thing? |
| 1. | "Thing" could equally mean a condition such as deafness, |
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| 42. Netanyahu imbibes a litre, Arab pursues a jones for tomes. |
| 1. | Bibi for Netanyahu is rather obscure, pursues is the opposite of precedes, overall surface is poor. |
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| 43. No volume control? |
| 1. | Unfortunately 34 does this better. | | 2. | Nice play on words, but quite a big leap for the solver? |
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| 44. Obsession involving Emma and Rebecca, perhaps |
| 1. | "Lolita" is another example. Minor quibble: book titles would normally be italicized (not possible here) or in quotes. | | 2. | Nicely disguised CD but lacking sparkle needed for top marks |
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| 45. Obsession of the Greeks with Phoenician papyrus |
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| 46. Obsession with titles ? (11) |
| 1. | Underwhelming | | 2. | Neat succinct cryptic. |
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| 47. Obsession with titles means taking on unnecessary works! |
| 1. | Why would it mean that? "means" doesn't work as a link between the two definitions. |
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| 48. One's gripped by books, I'm anal, I start to obsess suffering this! |
| 1. | Why not 'I'm gripped'…. | | 2. | Needs a pause before ‘this’ to indicate semi & lit. | | 3. | Unnatural sounding surface, and shouldn't it be suffering FROM this? (I don't suffer fools gladly / I suffer from hayfever.) |
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| 49. Passion for collecting books – most of abominable ones trashed |
| 1. | It's a good clue and accessible to most solvers |
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| 50. Putting out squishy recliner, nice mobile librarian develops passion for books |
| 1. | Hard to imagine this scenario, and a squishy recliner doesn't sound very appealing. Defines bibliophilia rather than bibliomania. | | 2. | Good example of a subtractive anagram that isn’t impossible to solve. Wouldn’t a mobile librarian already have a passion for books?! | | 3. | Clever to get librarian into the anagrind. Amusing story! |
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| 51. Repeated book collecting in a mainly unending love I fancy! |
| 1. | Remarkable bit of wordplay although a bit too contrived for me, and "mainly unending" sounds unnatural. | | 2. | A deftly crafted clue | | 3. | A clever clue. Quite tough too – there's a lot going on. |
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| 52. Rocky Balboa: I’m In Boxing in compulsive collection of autobiographies? |
| 1. | Good anagram spot and definition. | | 2. | Very good. Marginally prefer 60 but gets points. |
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| 53. Rocky Balboa in film regularly about one's love for Emma? |
| 1. | Neat idea to use Rocky Balboa. I'm unclear on the reference to Emma as a definition (Austen book or character in Rocky?) | | 2. | I quite liked this until the 'Emma' which sort of limits the definition to love of just one book |
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| 54. Scramble for a Miliband bio, on date being released? |
| 1. | One of the better entries, although the definition is too specific and doesn't really indicate bibliomania. | | 2. | Good anagram, if an unlikely cause of bibliomania! | | 3. | Lovely! | | 4. | … and the 'ON'? …. suggests that the three letters OND are removed |
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| 55. Shelves crammed? That speaks volumes for this obsession. |
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| 56. Terrible habit in a mobile – the obsession with texts (11) |
| 1. | Great definition, but mobile phones don't have habits. | | 2. | A very nicely disguised definition with a surface reading that threw me in the wrong direction | | 3. | To by sound cryptically, it needs to be “the this obsession …” | | 4. | Elegant story and riff on texts | | 5. | No fan of composite anagrams but this one I liked but for the (necessary) 'in' ruining the surface story. |
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| 58. Those opening books in British Library expressing joy with this craze |
| 1. | Mania clued as mania . | | 2. | How does "IO" mean expressing joy? | | 3. | ‘Mania’ being used In the same sense in def and wordplay is a bit weak | | 4. | Nice work! |
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| 59. Volume control defect? |
| 1. | A bit too elliptical for me. |
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| 60. What draws crowds to the bookshop? A Miliband bio, oddly – Ed’s latest is out |
| 1. | Great bit of wordplay, not convinced by the definition though. Bibliomania is a psychological disorder. | | 2. | Really like this, Not 100% sure about the definition but the QM helps. |
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| 61. What’s one ensconced in books (extremely infatuated and anal, moi?) suffering? (11) |
| 1. | Very ingenious, but extremely won't really do to indicate the first letter, and the surface reading is very contrived. |
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| 62. When one's invested in books—a million pound squandered foolishly—one displays this? |
| 1. | Good except for the S that pound ought to have. | | 2. | Neat & lit., perhaps better cryptically without ‘when’ |
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| 63. With dark rooms this might result in mirabilia mixed up with random books. |
| 1. | Very clever bit of anagramming, but the definition isn't very convincing. |
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