The announcement reads: ‘Fifty years ago, on July the third, Jac’s first crossword in this series was published.’ The shaded squares (from top to bottom) can be arranged to reveal SMURF, SARAH (Hayes, aka La Jerezana) MR MAGOO, MASS, COLUMBA, DOC, PABULUM, MARK (Kelmanson, aka CheeseCracker), ASCOT, RICHARD (Browne, aka Fieldfare) and JAMES (Brydon, aka
CHERRY, NETTLE, SMOKE, PLUM-PUDDING, BEES, EGG, SUNBEAM and WIND are the perimetric answers to riddles posed by NUTKIN in The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter. Nutkin’s brother is called TWINKLEBERRY (19/11) and Nutkin is a SCIURUS VULGARIS (33/35A) (red squirrel). Shaded squares give the letters of POTTER. First prize Mark Griffiths, Winsford, Cheshire
The unclued lights form pairs of anagrams, one word in each pair being a place-name: 1A/6A, 1D/21, 6D/13, 11/38, 19/30 and 22/26A. First prize David Danskin, Yaldley Hastings, Northants Runners-up Kenneth Robb, Bo’ness, West Lothian; Dennis Cotterell, Carlisle
Twelve symmetrically disposed unclued entries comprise three pairs of Spoonerisms (an anagram of the title): POURING RAIN/ROARING PAIN, FRYING PAN/PRYING FAN and COTTON REEL/ROTTEN KEEL. First prize John Kitchen, Breachwood Green, Herts Runners-up Eddie Looby, Longbridge, Birmingham; Justin Koprowski, High Wycombe, Bucks
The perimeter quote is from ‘Ode to the West Wind’. The remaining unclued lights were the east wind (24A), south wind (30A), north wind (37A), and west wind (17A) which was to be highlighted. First prize Sarah Drury, Devizes, Wiltshire Runners-up Len Coumbe, Benfleet, Essex; Stephen Billyeald, Pangbourne, Berkshire
The unclued lights (including the pair at 24/28) are CHEESES. First prize Rhidian Llewellyn, London SW14 Runners-up H. Sarson, Guernsey, Jim Dewes, Hartley Wintney, Hants
The unclued lights are characters and places associated with King Arthur. First prize Belinda Bridgen, London NW8 Runners-up John Samson, Edinburgh; Danuta Rosendorff, Coogee, NSW, Australia
The unclued lights are ferns: RUSTY-BACK (26/5A), WALL RUE (48/7A), MAIDENHAIR (1D/11), OSMUNDA (18), BIRD’S-NEST (20/45) and POLYPODY (24). PTERIDOMANIA (diagonally from 10) could have induced this puzzle and was to be shaded. Title: cf. Adder’s-tongue. First prize Lyndsay Ashley, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex Runners-up Peter Taylor-Mansfield, Worcester; Rhiannon Hales, Ilfracombe, Devon
The unclued lights are the final headwords for B, D, E, F, S, T, U, W, as listed in Chambers. First prize Peter Summerton, Southampton Runners-up Mrs D. King, Leeds; Neville Twickel, Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire
Unclued lights are nuts, as suggested in the perimetrical rhyme. First prize Adrian George, Barton under Needwood, Staffs Runners-up Willie Hamilton, Exeter; Svava Davies, Farndon, Newark
The traditional county towns were Chester (misprinted as CHEATER: 27), Durham (DERHAM: 21), Derby (DERRY: 32), Lewes (LENES: 36), Reading (RENDING: 28) and York (WORK: 8). The correct letters could give SUBWAY (26), examples of which are UNDERGROUND (1A), TUNNEL (17) and METRO (22A). Title: ‘Appleby’ misprinted. First prize Julie Sanders, Bishops Waltham, Hants Runners-up
The unclued lights are HORSES. First prize Bob Toland, Ramsey, CambsRunners-up Gareth Davies, Langstone, Gwent; Catherine Knox, London SW4
The ‘Transport of Delight’, in the song by Flanders and Swann, was that ‘big six-wheeler, scarlet-painted, diesel-engined, London Transport, ninety-seven horse-power omnibus’. First prize H. Hinder, Sarisbury Green, SouthamptonRunners-up Kathleen Durber, Stoke-on-Trent; Simon Purves, London N6
The solution grid includes the letter L fifty times (L x 50 = 2500). Coincidentally, Doc and his wife, Jean, celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary on 3 April, the publication date of the issue. First prize Elizabeth Duff, London NW5 Runners-up Jonathan Jones, Oxford; Nicholas Grogan, Purley, Surrey
The theme was C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 38A (of Scotland), 43A and 22D were all called ‘The Lion’ (see Brewer’s entry for lion); 11A, 41A and 9D are all witches; 12A, 34A and 6D are wardrobes. First prize Heather Weeks, Hove, East SussexRunners-up Michael Debenham, Shrewsbury; John Nutkins, London TW8
The unclued lights consist of the names of two countries overlapping by two or three letters: eg 25D ‘JAPANAMA’ gives ‘Japan’ and ‘Panama’. First prize Robin Simpson, Shincliffe, Durham Runners-up Kim Conchie, Falmouth, Cornwall; Mike Corballis, Orakei, Auckland, New Zealand
Six of the unclued lights are RAF stations of WW2. First prize Kathleen Durber, Stoke-on-TrentRunners-up Alison Gillam, Knotty Green, Bucks; Chris Kemp, Little Leigh, Northwich, Cheshire
The play was The Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare. The perimetric dramatis personae are MAMILLIUS, LEONTES, FLORIZEL, DORCAS, MOPSA, HERMIONE and ANTIGONUS; NODI (23) and DIPTERA (17) are anagrams of Dion and Perdita. THE WINTERS TALE (in the third row) was to be shaded. Title: ref. ‘Exit, pursued by a bear.’ First prize Totty Milne, Wells,
Four unclued lights are places in Britain with MARY in their name. The remaining unclued lights can be linked with MARY (see Brewer). (Peter, Paul and Mary have been the theme words of Doc’s puzzles numbered 2489, 2492 and 2495.) First prize Simon Goodlad, Stowmarket, SuffolkRunners-up Kiran Parekh, Wayne, Illinois; Sue Matejtschuk, Stotfold, Hitchin, Herts
Unclued lights are from the ‘Looking Glass’ poem Jabberwocky. First prize Alison Peck, Mathry, PembrokeshireRunners-up Patricia Gibbs, Barrow upon Soar, Leics; Stephen Charman, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex
